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Subject: {ASSM} Lay Lines 4/4 'Wandering Wolves: Stonehenge!' (Winter Solstice 2008, Man and Muse, MF+, 'magic', self discovery, caution (zoo/best)) TBD
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Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:10:02 -0400
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Codes: Man & Muse, MF+, 'magic', self discovery, caution (zoo/best)
----

This work, like so many of my more recent works, is about far more
than the codes imply.

Yes, there is zoo/best in it, but it is only at the beginning and once
done, it is over for the rest of the story, except as a complication
that has to be kept in mind.

For the first time, my characters not only hide their zoosexuality,
they are forced, by circumstances, to deny it any expression at all,
except for  the platonic aspects.

'Wandering Wolves' is a new story cycle that is both a continuation
and spin off from my 'Man and Muse' collection.  It merges that series
with two other collections.

The main series characters (Tom, Mahika and Wolf) are, of course, from
the 'Man and Muse' collection.

Kay (Lady Kay, Lady of the Lake) is from 'The Luck Bringers', which is
my interpretation/continuation of the private lives of Merlin and the
Lady of the Lake from the Arthurian legends.  In 'Wandering Wolves' we
first meet her as a teenager/young adult who is just discovering her
powers and learning how to use them.

Lady Chrystal, a major character in 'The Tails of Rabelaisia', who
becomes Merlin's primary lover and life-mate in 'The Luck Bringers',
makes a cameo appearance near the beginning to help with a couple of
plot points before she returns to her life with Merlin and the rest of
their family.

From a technical stand point, 'Lay Lines', written for the 2007 Summer
Solstice and 'Wandering Wolf', written for the 2008 Summer Solstice,
are the beginning stories in the prequel to 'Wandering Wolves'.

'Wandering Wolves - First Stop: Stonehenge' stands on its own as a
complete story.  However, if you wish to read and learn more about the
primary characters, I suggest the following stories as reading
material:
----

From 'Man and Muse'  (call these 'The Essential Man and Muse'):

Muse, Muse, Which to Choose  (May, 2001 - Introduces Mahika)
Need of The Wolf  (2001)
We Moved as One  (2001)
Masseuse  (2002)
Something to Say (2002)
Nothing--Or Double  (2002  Includes Lady Chrystal)
Captain's Discretion  (2003)
Side Effects!  (2003)
The Tears of A Muse  (2003  Mahika, as told to Tom)
Wanderings in the Night  (2004)
The Unasked Question  (2005)
Middle of the Night Musings  (2006)
Foxed!  (2006  Includes Lady Chrystal)
Action and Words, Together  (2007)
Wandering Words  (2006)
Anger Mismanagement (2007)
The Dilemma (2007  Includes Lady Chrystal)
Night Runners (2007 Winter Solstice)
The White Horse of Uffington  (2008 Summer Solstice)
A Meeting of the Minds  (2008  Tom and Mahika 1st meet Lady Chrystal)

Prequel to 'Wandering Wolves':
Lay Lines part 1 - Lay Lines  (2007 Summer Solstice)
Lay Lines part 2 - Because I Loved You  (2007 Summer Solstice)
Wandering Wolf  (2008 Summer Solstice)

----

Next, if you wish to meet Lady Kay after she has met Merlin, read the
following stories from 'The Luck Bringers':

Quest for Power  (2000)
The Power That Binds Us Together  (2001)
New Beginnings  (2005)
----

Lady Chrystal, the Rabelaisian anthrovixen and Master Bard, first
appeared in her own series as part of 'The Tails of Rabelaisia'.  She
then 'jumped ship' to join Merlin and Lady Kay in 'The Luck Bringers',
where she becomes one of the primary characters, and the mother of
'Chryslin Merlinson', who, life-mated with Arleta, a Rabelaisian
Bardic anthrovixen, has his own story series.

She also appeared in 'Those Were The Days', a collaborative work by
various authors that took place on 'The Fantasy', a steam driven,
ocean going, side-wheel paddle ship.
----

Will there be more?  Yes, eventually.
----

Lay Lines 4/4 Winter Solstice 2008
Wandering Wolves:  "First Stop - Stonehenge!"
Tom, Mahika, Wolf and Kay
------

I stood there, shaking with fear while I stared out the kitchen window
and watched the white wolfess and the Golden Retriever bitch romp in
the back yard.  Finally I gathered my courage and shouted for my
lovers.  

"Mahika!  Wolf!"

Their heads jerked up and around before they spun and ran for the
house.  I heard the scrabble of toenails on the porch, then two furry
bodies lunged through the dog door in rapid succession.  They skidded
to a halt next to me.

Wolf stared at me worriedly for a few seconds before she spoke
carefully.  "Tom?  Are you OK?"

I sighed.  "I'm fine, physically.  It's not what you think."

They looked at each other, nodded slightly as they agreed about
something, then faced me again and sneezed their disgust.  Wolf
shifted to her human form and hugged me from behind, fiercely. "Good!"

I blushed.  "Sorry.  Didn't think it through before I shouted.  Need
you two to do something for me, though."

I could almost taste Wolf's suspicion when she finally acknowledged my
desire.   "Oh?"  

I winced at the lack of enthusiasm she put behind that simple word. It
was obvious she wasn't ready to forgive me for the mistake I'd made. 

I sighed and put my hands over hers and stroked her fingers lightly.
"Yeah.  It's something pretty odd, too."

This time it was Mahika who responded, somewhat tartly because of her
exasperation with my false alarm.  "Odd?  From you?  Isn't that a bit
redundant?"

I sighed again and faced her.  "Odd.  Even for me."

I took a deep breath and plunged past the lingering fear I felt.  "I'd
appreciate it if both of you took the time to check out Stonehenge and
confirm or disprove that when it was first built, it was
*deliberately* left unfinished."

I was 'rewarded' with a sudden tightening of Wolf's arms, and by
Mahika's sudden settling on her haunches.

Wolf let go and came around so she could see my face.  "How?..."

I slumped.  "None of us had anything to do with it, did we?"

They answered almost in unison.  "NO!"

I laughed with a tinge of hysteria in my voice.  "Good!  One time is
*enough*!"

Mahika came over and nuzzled one of my hands.  "I could feel your fear
when you shouted.  Are you ok, now?"

I let out a shuddering breath.  "I'm better, Love.  Thanks."

I shivered again.  "Thanks, to both of you, for checking.  I was
afraid..."

Mahika whimpered and I knelt and hugged her until we both stopped
shaking.  "Yeah.  But I *do* wish you had come back and said it was
completed, then destroyed later."

Wolf settled next to me and hugged me, then Mahika.  "Tom?  How did
you know it was deliberately left unfinished?"

"I didn't know. I only suspected that might have been the case, but it
made sense when I started thinking about it."

"All that work, just to abandon it before it was done?!"  She sounded
outraged, and I couldn't blame her.

"Yep.  It was all the ley lines.  There are too many of them."

I felt Mahika flinch and then she sighed.  "You have an odd habit of
seeing the obvious when everyone else misses it."

I leaned back and watched while she turned her head until she could
study Wolf, who had switched from outrage to looking confused.  

Mahika spoke gently.  "Stonehenge was built to help focus energy. What
happens when you confine too much energy in too small a place?"

Wolf blanched.  "It explodes.  The accumulated energy at the White
Horse was *nothing* compared to how much there would have been at
Stonehenge."

I shuddered and got a hug and nuzzle in return, before I expressed my
relief.  "At least they figured it out in time."

That Wolf's reasoning paralleled my own was evident when her next
comment was whispered and filled with her horror. "They sometimes talk
about 'restoring' Stonehenge to its full glory..."

I nodded slowly, then watched her face.  "There's one chance really,
and I think it's a good one, that nothing would happen if Stonehenge
were completed."

"Oh?"

"Yes.  Plate tectonics.  Hopefully Great Britain has drifted far
enough away from the original source of energy that Stonehenge would
no longer focus all that energy, just what passes through it now,
which would be far less than it was then."

She thought about it for a long time.  Through dinner in fact, and
didn't mention it again until we were in bed.  "Be hard to prove,
either way."

I'd forgotten about the morning's insight, so I was clueless.  "Prove
what?"

"That a completed Stonehenge would or would not focus enough power to
be dangerous."

"Mmm.  True.  And anything proved now, might not apply in the future."

Her eyes opened in shock.  "I never thought of that!"

I laughed bitterly.  "Love, you and Mahika ignore time."  I touched my
chest lightly, over my heart.  "I'm too familiar with it."

Mahika wrapped me in a hug.  "We know.  But, finally, we can offer you
a solution, of sorts."

"Oh?"

She kissed me tenderly, then pulled back far enough that she could
watch my face.  "Billions of years of life, lived in what is here,
only an instant or two.  Many billions, until your final breath."

"But I thought..."

Wolf hugged me.  "My life provided the clue and we confirmed it a few
days ago.  Mahika can go back to her beginning and follow links of
energy back to the *real* beginning--if one of us is there to help her
find what she cannot feel alone."

She ran her hands over my chest.  "Tom, Love...  We don't have as many
years together, with you as our Alpha, as we want, in this time
stream.  Neither of us knows how long you will live.  We cannot go
forward to find out and our love is so great we have decided we don't
want to learn when that day will come even if, someday, we are offered
the ability."

She paused and tightened her arms around me as some great emotion
swept through her, causing her body to vibrate against mine.  

"But, My Alpha, we can give you the past.  From there, you can choose
a future that will last..."  She nuzzled me and then turned my head so
she could watch my eyes.

"As long as you desire it to."

I gaped at her, and my thoughts froze briefly when I understood what
she and Mahika were offering me.  

The implications had my mind skittering in all directions,
uncontrollably.  One implication finally overwhelmed my reasoning,
causing me to focus on it.  My voice was hushed when I finally managed
to express it.

"How many instants of thought, in a second?"

Mahika pulled me against her hungrily.  "And you, Our Love, probably
have years, not seconds, left before you must draw that final breath."

I didn't need to think about it any longer.  "Take us back.  Anywhere.
Now!"

* * *

They looked at each other and nodded.  I felt the swirling vertigo of
a time and place shift, then, suddenly, the three of us were standing
on an overgrown hill, and I was looking at a familiar sight.

Stonehenge.

Mahika stretched and giggled.  "Life with Wolf has been good for me. I
had spent too long only in the company of humans--and that proximity
caused me to forget many things I had known without thought.  This is
just a staging point on our journeys, a place we can return to before
we go forwards or backwards in time."

I couldn't quite stop my protest that what she suggested was
impossible.  "But..."

She laughed, and her laughter was the relaxed kind I hungered for
because it said she was extremely pleased with life.  "Wolf sees time
differently than humans do, and she taught me to see it her way, not
yours.  Returning to the time we started from is not needed."

There was really only one response I could make, so I made it in an
awed whisper as I thought about the new vistas ahead of us.  "Wow."

It was my consideration of those vistas, and my wistful desire to
share them with my friends, that caused me to suddenly whimper from
emotional pain.  "Chrys.  My friends.  I can never see them again for
very long, if I don't want to cause all of us pain."

Wolf hugged me.  "Your friends, yes.  But, for anyone capable, or
willing to pay the price, you will still be accessible.  As long as
you never return to your true present, it is certain that you will
live as long as you choose to live.  As for Lady Chrystal, Kay, Merlin
and the twins, they are special cases.  You need not worry about them,
because they are immortal and time behaves differently for them."

I slumped and she caught me.  "Wolf.  Oh, My Love.  What the two of
you offer me.  Gift and curse, together at one blow."

"Curse?"

"A curse...  Because no matter how long I live in the past, I will
never know a future past the ending of my body."

Her strong arms held me while I came to terms with the future I could
choose to live.

Eventually she lightly touched my lips with hers, then placed her
cheek against mine.  "Maybe not."

I froze, then whispered her words back to her as a question.  "Maybe
not?"

She remained silent and I knew I had to respect that lack of
communication.

Eventually I pushed slightly, letting her know I wanted my freedom. As
I pulled away I let my hands slide along her arms until I was able to
grasp her hands.  When I held them gently, I shivered briefly, then
forced myself to abandon my depressed mood before I kissed her firmly.
"My Love.  Thank you."

I felt a furry body work its way between us and I let go so I could
kneel and wrap Mahika in a hug.  "Together, Love.  Facing forward and
snarling our shared challenge."

She licked my face enthusiastically.  "Together, My Love."

A thought intruded and I looked at it closely before I made a
decision.  There was no reason to limit myself to one form and I
seldom had when we traveled in time.

On the other hand, I'd still been linear in my thinking and kept my
human form identical to my 'real time' one out of a sense of
maintaining continuity.

There was no need for that parochialism, now.

I walked over and gently placed my hands on one of the stones.  "A new
home, an anchor in the vast seas of time and space.  It's only fitting
that I use a new form, as well..."

I built an inner image and let myself flow into it.  When I was done,
I had returned to the way I had been during what I considered the
prime years of my life, my early twenties.  It had been a time of
physical maturity, with my body well conditioned, and before I'd let
myself start getting overweight.

I felt something I'd given up for over thirty years, my brilliant and
flowing red hair, that had hung between my shoulder blades when it was
calm, but flared around me when it was breezy, as it was now.

I laughed when I heard the twin intakes of breath, and was grinning
when I turned to face my lovers.  "Well?"

Mahika had her tongue lolling out and her eyes were gleaming.  Her
posture spoke of her hunger and I laughed at her reaction.  "Maturity
has no need to hide within a frail body, if it can choose."

"Grrrrrr-ooowwooo!"

I chortled at her answer, then faced Wolf, tilted my head slightly and
just smiled at her.

She was frozen.  "Oh.  Wow..."

I chortled again.  "So.  My friend was right, those many years ago.
This time I understand..."  I sobered and walked over to rest my hands
on her cheeks.   As I leaned forward to kiss her I smiled and
whispered.  "Many things.  Not the least is how to love--and how to
show that love to those I care for."

Her response was simple, yet eloquent:  "Mmmmmm!"

When we broke our clinch I was grinning, and hungry for something
other than food.

Still...

I trailed my hands over Wolf's breasts and then along her torso until
I found her center, and cupped it gently.  "I've been thinking..."

"Ohhh..."  She laughed.  "I don't understand how!"

I grinned and pulled my hand away, then laughed when she arched her
body in my direction.  "Not just about that, M'Dear."

I felt another set of arms wrap around me from behind.   Mahika
nuzzled my neck.  "Mmm...  Who wants to think?"

I chortled and turned in her arms.  "I do, when it means I might be
able to give you the gift of being able to always sense power in the
same way Wolf and I do, without needing one of us to be there to
rebuild the link every time we shift."

She froze.  It was as if time stopped for all of us, and I waited her
out.

"You can do *that*?"

I nodded slowly.  "I think it might be possible."

"How?!"

I could hear the yearning hunger in her demand.

I sighed.  "I've always needed to consciously remember our link, and
when I'd forget, or you shifted us, we'd have to restore the ability
in you.

"Thinking about losing contact with my friends reminded me of an
alternative, a type of link that I don't think about, because I always
have it, with someone I love as dearly as I do the two of you..."

"Chrys!  The link of mind mates!"  It exploded out of her and her eyes
blazed with eagerness.

Suddenly she sagged against me.  "We'll be traveling in time."

I wrapped my arms around her and felt her resignation.  "Mahika.
Listen to me.  The euphoria of coming to terms with living as long as
I choose to live hid it from me at first, but the link I share with
Chrys has changed.  I don't understand how it changed, or why--yet.
It's there inside me, the same as it has been there in my true time."

I smiled and hugged Mahika reassuringly as I felt what flowed through
that now changed link.  "Chrys knows what we've done, and she
approves."

Her head snapped up and she stared at me.  "You're sure?"

I could hear the disbelief in her words so I nodded.  "Touch link with
me."

She brought up her left hand and looked at it while it shook.  Her
sudden laughter was strained, and there was something hungry in it,
too.

She looked at me again and uncharacteristically, hesitated.

"Go ahead.  We need to find out."

She shuddered for a few seconds, then touched my forehead--and
screamed in a way that spoke of incredible pain.

I wanted to join my scream to hers as our shared pain took my thoughts
away, but my body was frozen, and refused to respond to any command I
gave it.

I felt the darkness as it began to drown me, and I embraced it.

* * *

I shuddered awake to see darkness and I felt as if someone had
pummeled my mind and body.  My head was cradled in someone's lap.
"What happened?...  Who?...

I heard a resigned giggle that came from somewhere above my throbbing
skull.  "Even my youngest kits knew better than to experiment in a
place of power."

"Chrys!"

Then, almost immediately, I remembered a pain filled scream.
"Mahika?!"  It was a wail of grief.  What had we done?...

I could barely hear her hesitant response.  "I'm...  Here."

My god.  She sounded weak, as if she were barely alive.  I blindly
reached in the direction I thought her voice had come from and when I
felt her familiar fur I clenched my fingers in it hungrily. 

"You're alive!"

Her nose touched the back of my hand and she nuzzled it gently.
"Elementals can't be killed, but we did try!"

I laughed weakly.  "Right.  Let's not try that again, Love."

"Agreed.  However, it worked.  I can now feel the connection between
you and Chrys, as well as see every smallest bit of power that's
available, for miles."

"Miles?  But..."

Chrys laughed kindly.  "It would have helped if you'd paid attention
to your own warning about this place.  Mahika is manifested power, and
when you linked her to all those ley lines..."

I felt her paw stroke my face lightly.  "Let's say her consciousness
was 'expanded' more than a bit, you caught the overflow through the
new link, I have a raging headache as a result, and it took this long
for her to reintegrate her local consciousness."

I shivered.  "Wolf?"

Wolf's calm response came from somewhere behind me.  "I'm fine.  When
the power flared, I was able to drop myself out of this time and
shield myself, then I came back and started working on cutting you two
off from all that power until Chrys and Kay showed up to cast a couple
of their fancy shielding spells before they worked on you two.   Once
we knew you'd survive, Kay went home."

"Whoo!  Busy puppy."

"Yep.  Now, you two just lie there and rest while we take care of
everything else.  There's no hurry, after all."

I heard the drollness in her tones and laughed weakly.  "You two give
me functional immortality, and I nearly kill us all as a thank you.
I'll be good."

There was a long silence.  Then I felt a hand brush my tear stained
cheeks.

"No...  You didn't nearly kill us, My Alpha.  What happened..."  She
sighed and I felt her hands stroke my chest.  "Chrys doesn't want to
talk about it yet, but once she figured out what happened, she said we
can't change back from it.  Rest now, OK?"

I nodded weakly and let myself drift off.  "OK..."

* * *

When I awoke it was late afternoon and Mahika was gone from my side. I
sat up, and was amazed to discover I felt fine and somehow charged
with a restless energy that wanted to express itself in movement.

The light breeze swirled around me and the smell of cooking made my
mouth water.  "Whatever it is, I'll have some."

I heard three giggles before Chrys offered her invitation.   "Then get
up and join us."

"Be glad to.  When I went to sleep I felt as if I'd be convalescing
for days."

I bounced to my feet and strolled over to the fire.  When I saw what
was on the spit, I gaped in shock.  "That *can't* be what I think it
is.  It's too big!"

Wolf laughed.  "If you're thinking it's a hare, you'd be right."

I knelt and looked it over in disbelief.  "I thought the ones I'd seen
years ago were big.  This one makes those look like babies."

I tore off some of the meat and ate several pounds of it before my
hunger lessened and I could think about more than eating.

Finally I settled on my side and belched happily.  "Delicious.  How
long did it take to catch it?"

Mahika and Wolf giggled while Chrys' ears went flat with
embarrassment.  

Mahika grinned.  "Chrys caught it by herself after chasing it for
several hours.  Poor thing finally gave up though and she was able to
walk up and nip it."

I looked at Chrys and raised my eyebrows.  "Several hours?  You're
usually a lot faster with  your kills."

She leaned forward and pulled some meat off the carcass before she
grinned at me.  "I needed the practice."

I gave her my best imitation of a 'sneeze of disgust' and then
laughed.  "Nice to know you're as heartless as ever."

She laughed.  "As if you've never done the same thing, eh?"  Then she
shrugged.  "It was more skilled at evasion than I'm used to.  After
the first few times I took it personally and decided it was going to
be *mine*, eventually."

We grinned at each other while I raised the bone I'd been chewing on,
as I saluted her hit.  "Well said, My Bardic Mistress."

I was rewarded with a choking sound as she started to laugh and
swallowed wrong instead.

I went back to idly nibbling at the scraps hanging from my bone. "Wolf
said something happened, and that you weren't ready to talk about it."

She sobered and looked at each of us.  "If it makes you feel better, I
haven't said anything to them, either.  You're all getting the news at
the same time."

We focused on her and waited.

She sighed.  "It's simple to say, bloody difficult to deal with at
times."

Mahika said it for all of us.  "Chrys, you're waffling."

She smiled but said nothing.  We were used to her tricks, so we waited
patiently, until she felt the mood was right.  Then she pointed at
each of us in turn.

"Wolf."

Her paw shifted slightly.

"Mahika."

It moved again.

"Tom.

"Someday you'll have to tell me why the Zeitgeist made the three of
you Avatars of Power."

She stood and stretched before she giggled.  "Welcome to the ranks of
the True Immortals."

She vanished.

We stared at each other with mutual shock.

I reacted first.  "Crap!  I thought I was finished with that sort of
responsibility!"

I was brought out of my incipient tantrum by Mahika's anguished howl
of loss.

I jerked around to face her.  "What happened?  How come you shifted?"

She brought her muzzle down and padded over to press her head into my
chest.  "Hold me!"

I wrapped her in a hug until her shaking stopped.  Without breaking
free she whispered her pain.  "I never wanted to be an Alpha!"

Wolf scooted over to hug her.  "Mahika, you've always been a good one
when you had to be.  Nothing has really changed."

She studied me carefully before she let go of Mahika and hugged me.
"Tom?  I don't think we need to worry.  We won't be doing anything we
haven't already done, or planned on doing, except there will be times
when something will tell us our decisions have a special meaning. Look
at Chrys' life.  Does she do anything out of the ordinary most of the
time?"

I closed my eyes and thought about her words.  "Wolf, perhaps you're
the wisest of the three of us in this.  If Mahika is willing, I think
you should become our Alpha."

"But!..."

I never opened my eyes while I laughed bitterly.  "It's always there,
waiting to ambush you, isn't it?"

Her arms tightened briefly before she loosened them and whispered her
acceptance.  "Damn you!"

I chuckled.  "Thanks, but you'll have to stand in line.  Something
else beat you to it."

She sighed and I opened my eyes to watch her.  "Well?  Thoughts?
Plans?"

She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and turned to study
Mahika.  "Well?  Wolf-Bitch?"

Mahika giggled.  "Tag.  You're it.  He's serious, and I don't blame
him."

She glared at Mahika, then shook herself out of her mood and turned to
glare at me some more.

I touched her face and gazed into those brown eyes for awhile before I
nodded slowly.  "You and Mahika brought me here, and I can only assume
you had a reason for making this time and place our new home."

She smiled at last.  "Once we confirmed that all of time past was ours
to move around in, we had to choose a place to work from while we
perfected our skills."

"Makes sense.  But...  Stonehenge and not some of the other places I
could name, such as the campground where you were given your powers?"

She took a deep breath and let it out before she looked away, then
back.  "We chose Stonehenge because of all the places you've been, we
knew you had been happiest here, when you dowsed it and rediscovered
your ability to sense the power directly, with friends who saw you as
yourself."

I blushed.  "Oh."

She reached and touched me while Mahika raised her muzzle until she
could wash my face with her tongue before she settled at my side and
rolled over to her back.  

After Mahika settled and I started petting her, Wolf continued her
explanation.  

"Mahika chose this time because the area is shunned, and will be left
alone for hundreds of years.  And..."

She slumped.  "We had no choice.  While we experimented, we studied
the peoples of many times and places.  There have been many tales told
about wanderers and wise people who drift through the world, mostly
unnoticed, but the stories all tell of their implacable resolve when
they do decide to act."

I reached and lightly stroked Mahika while I studied Wolf's face
calmly.  "That's all very interesting, but it's not enough."

"You won't let it go?"

"I could discover the reason on my own, but I'd rather hear it from
you, My Love--and Alpha"

She winced.  "I see."

I chuckled bitterly.  "You're far older and more experienced than I
am.  I'm certain you do, indeed, see."

"Tom, Love.  This is the only place and time in the world where they
spoke of 'The three wolves who chose to walk as Elders'.  Everywhere
else, in all times and places, the legends speak of a man and his two
female companions who sometimes take on the forms of animals."

I winced, then looked around while I mulled her words.  "It doesn't
make sense.  My true home has always been the mountains, not these
gentle hills.  Mahika's birthplace was in a mountain forest and you
were 'born' in the mountains, too."

She tilted her head slightly.  "What are you saying?"

"There's more than my happiness involved.  We are here for a reason,
and that reason has something to do with our becoming Avatars."

She thought about what I'd said, then nodded her reluctant agreement.
"You're right.  We were called to this place."

I stopped my idle stroking of Mahika's fur and looked at her.  "You're
the one who has the strongest sensitivity to power, now."

She rolled to her feet suddenly and stared off at something only she
could sense.  "Of course!...  I've always wondered..."

Wolf interrupted her.  "Share!"

Mahika looked backwards over her shoulder before she pointed with her
muzzle.  "Out there, a few days travel away, is a young girl we came
to know quite well, when she is much older.  You two, she will not
recognize when she meets you in the distant future, but I must
change."

She blurred and her pure white fur became dappled with the grays of an
ordinary wolf.  "This will do."

I jerked my head around and stared at Wolf when she gasped and spoke a
name we knew well.  "Lady Kay!"

She looked at me and I could see the resignation in her eyes.  "So.
Now we know who taught her the ways of power, and who forged the sword
the world knows as Excalibur."

I winced.  "Aye.  'The flame haired blacksmith of the gods' who called
forth Excalibur from the void and gave it life.  At least I know the
reason for my lifelong fascination with knives, and the reason I
learned to make my own."

I grinned impudently.  "At least *I* am not the one who tutored Kay!
That job will be 'woman's work'."

"GRRR!!"

Wolf and Mahika both lunged at me and bore me to the ground.  We
tussled for awhile and worked out our frustrations, then calmed
ourselves enough to take the time to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh.

We did, after all, have several days before we had to put on the
cloaks of 'Elders in Power'.

* * *

When the lonely figure trudged over the hill, we were waiting for her.
Wolf was in a flowing robe and standing slightly in front of Mahika
and me.

Mahika was in her lupine form.  I was standing next to her with my
arms crossed over my chest and a blacksmith's hammer in my right hand.

The slender girl froze when she saw us, then straightened and came on
until she was standing in front of Wolf.

The two women studied each other, then the girl lifted her head
slightly.  "I am Kay and I have been called.  Let me pass."

Wolf nodded slightly.  "Welcome, Sister in Power.  You mistake our
intentions.  We are not here to hinder, but to guide."  She moved off
the path that led to the center of Stonehenge.

"Kay.  Before you is the beginning of your journey on the Path of
Power.  Continue."

When Kay looked at Mahika and me, I bowed and stepped sideways while
Mahika stayed settled on her haunches.

I bowed again, pointed with my hammer, and allowed a bolt of energy to
lance towards the altar stone, where it shimmered and solidified into
the sword that would be known as Excalibur.

"Behold the Sword of Power.  Born of light, it will be yours to
command when you prove worthy.  Continue."

I recrossed my arms and waited.

Kay turned her head slightly and I knew she was studying Mahika.

Mahika said nothing, only waited silently.

Kay finally sighed when she realized it was up to her. 

"Can you speak, or must I guess what to do?"

Mahika laughed.  "When you can touch my forehead and remain standing,
only then may you pass me to grasp the future that awaits you."

Kay's eyes widened in shock and she spun to face Wolf.  Every movement
she made told of her confusion and the questions she had.

Wolf smiled.  "You have had a long and difficult physical journey,
thus far.  Did you truly expect that the journey on the Path of Power
does not have its own joys and dangers?

"She is the danger and he is the reward.  I represent the knowledge
you need to reduce the danger and properly grasp your reward.  Choose
one of us as the next step on your journey to find wisdom."

Kay studied each of us for a long time, then faced Wolf again.

"If I do not choose one of you?"

I stepped back on the path and changed to my lupine form before I
settled on my haunches next to Mahika.

Wolf smiled sadly, then became a wolf.  When she had fully reformed
she looked up at Kay.  "We will choose your next step for you, as
wolves often decide the fate of the sheep they encounter."

Kay's face whitened, then she slumped and cried.  "I cannot go back
and I do not know how to go forward.  If my life must end here, then
it ends and I will be glad of the end to my pain."

She raised her head and stared at Stonehenge while she continued to
cry.   Her next words were whispered and filled with her despair.
"Choose for me, because I cannot."

Wolf rose and went of to nuzzle her hand.  "We accept the gift of your
life, and in return offer you a new one.  Join us, and be welcome."

Kay had flinched at the touch of Wolf's nose, then jerked her head up
and looked around wildly, as if seeking a way to escape Wolf's gentle
words.

"I thought!..."

I shifted back to my human form and walked over to hug her.  "You
thought that ones wise in the ways of power would truly desire to gift
a true seeker after knowledge with the final end to all seeking?"

She blushed and ducked her head in a reluctant nod.

I gently tilted her head up so our eyes could meet.  "No, Kay.  The
only death we give willingly is the death of ignorance.  When that
death is chosen, we aid the one who chooses to accept its embrace.
Join us, and be welcome."

Mahika stood and stretched, then shifted to her human form and moved
to stand in front of Kay.

She took Kay's hands in her own, and held on to them while she leaned
forward to kiss her lightly on one cheek, as a mother would.  "Wolf
only asked that you take the next step on your journey by your own
choice.  Join us Kay, and be welcome."

Wolf laughed and looked over her shoulder at me.  "Build us a cook
fire."  One eye closed in a slow wink.  "A *natural* one."

I laughed.  "Consider it done."

She turned to Kay.  "While I hunt, would you gather the herbs to
season our meal?"

Kay smiled.  "Of course, Priestess!"

"Good.  Thank you."

Wolf turned slightly.  "Mahika?  If you would deal with the sword..."

Mahika stretched her arms over her head.  "Of course.  Kay?  If you
would join me while I put the sword in its proper place, then I will
carry the basket while you select the seasonings for our dinner."

"Of course, Priestess."

Mahika reached and touched Kay's cheek lightly.  "None of that, Kay.
Formality is for strangers and people who have a need to see
themselves as other than they are.  Our names will do."

She blushed.  "Yes...   Mahika."

I watched them while they walked over to the altar and held a brief
conversation before Mahika put her hands over the sword and caused it
to vanish.

I looked down when I felt a nose nudge my hand.  Wolf was watching Kay
and she was smiling sadly.  "She is extremely vulnerable right now."

I nodded.  "I noticed.  There was a flash of the Kay we know when she
confronted Mahika."

Wolf turned to study the two while they drifted away from us.  "Yes.
Most of that was bravado and a desire to present an appearance of
confidence in a new situation."

I smiled.  "You're going to change that, aren't you?"

She sneezed her amusement.  "Of course!"

Then she tilted her head slightly and swished her tail seductively.
"Go rub two sticks together or whatever you plan on doing to get the
fire started.  I will bring back our dinner."

I grinned and ran a hand over her flank.  "Perhaps I should rub my
stick against you instead, and capture the flames of our desires."

She laughed and turned away.  Before she loped off she glanced over
her shoulder.  "Perhaps you should...  Later."

The frustrated passion that had been in her voice kept me smiling
while I built the fire and prepared everything for her return.

Mahika and Kay never drifted too far away while Kay sought and
selected the seasonings for our meal.  That let me have plenty of time
to study the two of them while they worked together.

A few times I caught Kay looking at me, so I smiled and waved to let
her know I'd noticed her interest.  If the wind was right, sometimes I
would hear shared giggles along with the glances.

Mahika had worked her usual magic, drawing her companion out and
getting her to relax and feel welcome--as well as useful.

Kay wouldn't have been seeking if she didn't desire to be useful.

When they joined me at the fire I watched Kay's face while I reached
for the basket she now held.  "May I?"

She blushed.  "Of course..."

I chuckled at her confusion.  "Tom."  I took the basket and lifted it
so I could breathe deeply of the mixed fragrances.  "Excellent!  I
think you should apply the seasonings to whatever Wolf brings back."

She blushed again and looked at Mahika for guidance.

Mahika giggled.  "I told you he is a man who appreciates beauty in all
its aspects!  Wolf and I are not so discerning in our tastes.  We will
eat what we find before us when we are hungry.  So will Tom, but when
he can choose, he will savor life as he experiences it."

Kay blushed and then turned to bob a respectful curtsey.  Something in
her eyes spoke of more than seasoning our meal when she looked at me.
"I will do my best to see that anything I serve you is something to
savor."

I laughed at the hint of a saucy and challenging tone.  "As you choose
to let me experience it, I will savor anything you do."

She lifted her chin slightly, then lost all traces of her assumed
dignity and giggled.

* * *

It was almost noon when Wolf trudged over a nearby hill with a deer
draped across her shoulders. 

After she let the gutted carcass slide to the ground she stretched
luxuriously.  "It was a long run out and a longer walk back.  I
enjoyed them both."

We disjointed the carcass and spitted it over the fire.  Once we
finished and had settled with Wolf next to me I spoke in a normal tone
of voice.  "Wolf, Love."

She turned her head lazily.  "Tom?"

I watched Kay out of the edge of my vision while I regarded Wolf
directly and frankly as I let my hand fall to my lap.  "It's later."

Kay gasped and then blushed when both of us turned to regard her.

Wolf grinned, stood up, and then slowly disrobed.  Once she was naked
she pulled me to my feet and helped me strip.

We embraced, and then we settled on the ground again with her
straddling me.

Kay had looked away, but she kept glancing at us and blushing.

Mahika giggled and gestured at us while watching Kay.  "There is no
longer any need to ask one of your questions, but if you ask the
others, they will not seem inappropriate."

Kay blushed again and looked at Mahika, who smiled and nodded her
encouragement.

Kay's whisper was barely audible over the crackling of the fire.  "You
don't look like a warrior."

We knew it wasn't the real question she wanted to ask.

I touched Wolf's thigh to get her attention.  "Get off and let me deal
with this."

She nodded slowly and let me up.

After I got up I bent and picked up Wolf's robe, then put it on before
I went to sit in front of Kay.

I sat there calmly and waited until Kay relaxed enough to face me
without trying to shift her gaze away.

"Isn't your real problem that I act like no man you've ever known, and
it confuses you?"

She nodded.  "You have long hair, like a true warrior, but you leave
it free, like a..." 

She blushed and rushed on.  "Like a man who lets himself be used like
a woman!"

I nodded solemnly.  "Indeed, I have known those pleasures."

I ran my hands over my body as if I was a woman and offering myself to
a man.  "Sometimes it pleases me to be taken for a female, and partake
of a woman's joys, as best any man may, who does not have the same
parts."

I stopped, touched my forehead with one finger and smiled.  "But I am
also a warrior.  My chosen battlefield is here, in the place that
matters most, to those who have chosen to walk the Path of Power."

She thought it over.  "The men and women of my tribe do not respect
one such as you, thinking you only fit to live as a slave of a
priestess or wise woman--or to be used at any true man's whim.  How do
you prevent that?  I saw no scars or evidence of the battles you must
have fought to gain your freedom."

She appraised me thoughtfully.  "You look weak and helpless.  And like
that, unfit for a woman's regard."

I smiled.  "You are confident for one so young." 

My hand came up, and stopped any words she might have uttered. "Aren't
you saying I look unfit for *your* regard?   That you don't understand
what Wolf and Mahika see in me, and they shouldn't see me as their
equal?"

She controlled her blush this time and nodded again.

I tilted my head slightly and regarded her thoughtfully.  "We do
things differently, and each of us does as we choose, not as we are
expected to do.  If you choose to stay past this night, you will earn
the same right--and eventually possess the skills that will allow you
to make choices of your own, no matter who opposes you."

I stood and walked away from the fire a few yards, then looked over my
shoulder at Wolf.  "Shall we dance, My Love?"

She nodded, then launched herself at me in what appeared to be an all
out attack.  We moved in a violence filled kata until, panting from
our exertions, we stopped and hugged each other before she returned to
her place by the fire.

I returned to stand in front of Kay calmly.  "I am not entirely
helpless." 

I smiled gently at the stunned look she had, then rearranged the robe
and reseated myself.  "Nor am I weak without the powers I can wield if
I choose to do so."

She shivered and stared at where Wolf and I had performed our mock
battle.  "I do not wish to follow the ways of battle."

"The dance was one of love, not death.  A ritual.  Each move is
known."

She faced me and her shock was evident.  "It looked violent!"

"Indeed, it does look that way."

I stood again and held out my right hand to her.  "In truth, you have
many things to learn.  But the first lesson we give is that to grow,
you must always look beneath the surface of things, and discover the
truth as it is, not as you wish it."

She gazed at my hand and then looked at my face.

I nodded.  "But for now, I think it's time for you to season our food
before we eat.  Will you share your skills with us?"

When her fingers closed around mine I could feel her fear and
hesitation.  I pulled gently and helped her rise.

Once she stood before me she looked down.  "Will you be gentle?"

I squeezed her hand slightly.  "If the time comes, I shall be as you
choose, Kay."

Her answering squeeze was barely noticeable, but it was there.  "Thank
you."

* * *

I left her with Wolf, then looked at Mahika and gestured with my head
to indicate I wanted to walk with her.

She smiled lazily and held out her hand.  I laughed and went over to
help her up.  Once we were well away from the cooking fire she pulled
me into a hug.  "How did you know what Kay was thinking?

I chortled and kissed her before I slid my hands along her spine.
"When a woman and a girl glance sidelong at a man and giggle, he knows
what is being discussed."

She arched into me, then glanced at the sun, which was just past
zenith.  "It is a pleasant afternoon and it will be hours before we
eat."

I laughed.  "And you wish what Wolf was cheated of?"

"Of course!"

Then she sobered.  "Let's move past the rise.  Kay must not see what
happens between us, this time."

"Oh?"

She linked her arm with mine and we started walking.  "I want you to
take me in our true forms and this may be the last chance we have for
many years to come."

"I don't understand."

She sighed.  "We can do nothing to eliminate Kay's distaste for the
coupling of man with beast.  It is given to others to remove that
blindness in her thinking."

"Oh!  The twins and Merlin."

"Yes."

It was my turn to sigh.  "What is time to an immortal?  We could move
in time, but when Merlin discovered us, they had no awareness of the
possibility.  Time shifting is too great a risk and we will have to
stop until Kay leaves us to walk her own path again."

I shook my head, sadly, and let some of my irritation show.  "It will
be frustrating, but the other pleasures will compensate, I hope."

She squeezed my arm gently.  "You speak wisdom.  There is something
more that you may have to do, but for now, you can relax.  I felt your
desperation when Kay sought to offer herself.  She is not a virgin,
although she has never experienced the joys she may share with a man.
She has experienced only the pain that is felt when a woman couples
with a man who cares nothing for her as a person."

"You work quickly, to have learned that much."

"There was no need for my usual stratagems.  She gazed upon you, and
wondered if you were as gentle as you seemed womanly in appearance."

She giggled.  "She also wondered if you *were* a man, or if your
testicles had been removed from your life in order to gentle you into
your role."

"Hmmph!  So that was the question she no longer needed to ask.  I hope
she was satisfied with the answer."

"I imagine she was, since they fascinated her once she saw them."

She pulled away and shifted.  When she was done her green eyes gazed
at me.  "Tom, my love.  Run with me this afternoon, until our love
catches us both."

"Of course.  As we both desire, so it shall be."

She laughed.  "Enough role playing!"

I shifted, then the two of us ran for miles as we romped and tussled
in the sunlight.  At one point we followed Kay's back trail and took
the time to ghost through the hamlet she had grown up in.

Eventually we found ourselves only a few miles away from Stonehenge
again.  

She stopped suddenly and flagged me.

I changed back to my human form and kissed her muzzle gently.

Eventually I shrugged myself out of Wolf's robe and moved until I was
behind Mahika and could taste the fluids leaking from her vulva.

She braced and waited for the inevitable.

My need was as great as hers so I took her quickly, then settled into
a gentle motion that let us both savor our feelings while we also
worked our partner.

This continued for awhile, then she broke away suddenly and settled on
her left side.  "Let me be woman, to your man."

I laughed and lay beside her.  After I slid into her heat I kissed her
hungrily.  "Mahika, my love.  You will never be my woman.  You will
always be my bitch."

She sighed, then laughed to let me know I'd made the right answer.
"Good!  Now, fuck me!"

* * *

It was almost dark when we strolled over the last rise.

I had Wolf's robe draped over my arm when we joined Wolf and Kay by
the fire.  I offered it to Wolf with a smile, and said nothing.

She smiled and set it behind her.  "Time well spent?"

"Aye. It was."  I smiled when I faced Kay.  "Your people do well for
themselves."

"You went that far?"

"Wolves can run fast and far, when they desire to." 

I switched the subject.  "Is dinner ready?"

Wolf smiled.  "It has been, for awhile.  We already had our portion. I
think Kay did well but she awaits your judgment."

I laughed.  "My nose says she did, but I need to taste to be certain."

I turned slightly and smiled at Kay.  "Serve me what you will, Kay, so
that I may savor your skills."

She ducked her head in embarrassment, then walked over and studied the
meat left on the spits.  She reached, hesitated, glanced at me,
thought briefly, then reached for a different location and used her
knife to cut off a portion and hand it to me.

I nodded my thanks, then held it to my nose and inhaled deeply before
I ate some of it.

She was a good cook.  I didn't think anyone could have done better
with fresh game.  I knew I couldn't have.

I smiled.  "Your people must miss your skills, Kay.  The seasonings
give it a life and flavor that is all its own--and very much worth the
wait.  Few could equal your skill and none could do better."

I bowed.  "Thank you."

She beamed and smiled at me, then tensed and ducked her head, as if
she had overstepped her place.

I hid my first reaction, which was dismay at her fear, then touched
her hand lightly.  "You really are that good.  Hold your head with
pride because in this, you are equaled by few, and bettered by none."

I chuckled...  "Especially not by these two."  I grimaced.  "They
think food is merely for eating."

Her eyes widened and she glanced at Wolf, obviously fearful of her
reaction to my words.

Wolf giggled.  "Tom is right.  We cook or eat.  He creates a journey
that is filled with adventures, all of them savory and memorable.  Our
palates aren't up to appreciating his work.  When he meets someone who
shares his interest, he will ignore us for hours in favor of debating
the relative merits of this seasoning over that, while the food
chills, or burns."

Kay looked at Wolf with amazement, then giggled.  "Really?"

I laughed.  "Really.  I saw you hesitate.  Was it because you weren't
certain if I would appreciate the way your first selection was
seasoned?"

Her head jerked around and her eyes widened with shock.  "You knew?"

I shook my head.  "I only suspected because it was what I would have
done.  Any cook knows that different portions need different touches
to bring out the best in them." I laughed again.  "Most people don't
have the wit to appreciate that, or care."

"Oh!"

I grinned at her.  "So, entice me and tell what you have done.  We are
newly arrived and I haven't had time to seek out a proper teacher in
the ways your people seduce the stomach and thus, the person.  In
this, I will be your student."

She blushed and ducked her head, then turned back to slice a portion
from the area she'd first reached for.

Mahika laughed.  "I guess I must serve myself."

When Kay squeaked in embarrassment and started to serve Mahika, Mahika
laughed again.  "Serve Tom.  As Wolf noted, people who share his love
for food are rare.  You may find his interest flattering now, but see
how you feel when he has been pestering you for hours and hovering
over you, questioning your every decision in an effort to steal your
secrets."

Mahika touched me and smiled.  "We do not discourage his desire to
learn because it is useful in other areas we *do* have an interest in.
What he learns, he learns well..."  She giggled.  "And remembers!"

I was watching Kay so I knew that when Mahika made her last comment,
Kay had lowered her eyes in embarrassment and probably seen my penis,
because her head jerked sideways when she quickly averted her gaze.  I
silently observed her mixed embarrassment and fascination.  She would
glance at me, then quickly avert her head.  It was obvious that what
she wanted to do was look as long as she could.  After awhile I
coughed to get her attention.  "My dinner?"

She jerked her head up and watched my face fearfully.

I grinned at her.  "Mahika and Wolf tease me often and without mercy.
I don't mind, because they are somewhat simple and take pleasure in
simple things.  We, on the other hand..."

I left it hanging, then seated myself and gestured at the piece of
meat in her hand.  "It is your turn to guide.  Where you lead, I will
follow."

"Oh!"

She handed the meat to me and started explaining what she had done,
and why.

I learned that she had been drawn to the wise woman at an early age
and been considered her apprentice.  The old woman who encouraged her
had died few years ago and her replacement was younger and unwilling
to have her activities interrupted by Kay's 'pestering ways'.

She would have gone back to being an unmarried child but another
hamlet had asked for her by name when they learned she was available
to be apprenticed.  It was from their wise woman that she'd learned
how to do more than 'burn food', as she had tartly been told when the
woman had realized she had no knowledge of seasonings.  She'd giggled
when she mentioned the wise woman's comment and freely admitted the
truth of the statement.

I laughed, and explained that my love of cooking had started when I
was about her age, because my own mother had been a simple cook with
little interest in nuances.  If I wanted fancy, since we couldn't
afford to have someone else do our cooking, she had tartly informed me
I would have to learn for myself.

 "So, I did."

Kay looked at me with surprise.  "Your mother encouraged you?  The men
of your tribe didn't mock you for wanting to learn woman's ways?"

"Yes, she encouraged me in that and many other things.  No, I was not
mocked.

"I was teased at first, by both men and women.  The teasing was
especially strong when I turned good food inedible with my
experiments.  It was the good natured camaraderie of respect for
someone who sought to improve himself, not the malicious destruction
generated by a fear of being around someone who was 'different'.

"In my land, good cooks are admired and treasured.  It doesn't matter
if they are male or female."

She sighed  "It must be nice to be appreciated."

I leaned forward from where I was seated so I could touch the back of
her hand to draw her out of her melancholy.  "Here, you are.  I
promise that someday you will be appreciated and cared for in ways
that will fill you with wonder at the shallowness of the dreams you
have now."

She blushed, letting me know what she was thinking, and then she
tentatively touched my bare thigh.  "You are nothing like the men of
my tribe."

I put my hand over hers.  "And you are like, yet unlike many I have
met.  But that is true of all of us. We are all alike in many ways,
but we are all different and those differences should be treasured. In
a world of sameness, there would be little value in seeking to do more
than understand ourselves."

She suddenly yawned and I chuckled.  "You've had a long and busy day.
It is a wonder you have stayed awake this long."

She looked at Wolf for guidance.

Wolf smiled from where she had stretched out to watch us and listen to
our conversation.  "Seek your rest if you desire it.  There will be no
grumbling that you have not performed your proper duties, or
punishment because you have left a task unfinished.  You are here, and
seeking to learn.  You cannot learn if you always study what you
know."

Kay sat still for a long time.

Her hand moved slowly and I knew she was being very daring when it
explored my penis tentatively.  After I was erect she looked at my
face.  "Will you lie with Wolf?"

I nodded.  "Probably."

"I'm sorry I interrupted you."

"Your unneeded apology is accepted.  You were encouraged to interrupt
and your needs were more important than ours.  Truthfully, we are not
upset and there is, in our eyes, no action of yours that needs
forgiving."

She looked at Wolf again.

Wolf smiled.  "Truth."

Kay looked at each of us, then went to Mahika and settled next to her
before she fell asleep.

* * *

Wolf patted the ground beside her and I smiled before I went to her
and settled so my head was resting on her thigh while I looked at the
stars.

Wolf stroked me and there was gentle amusement in her tones.  "She has
been lonely and her desires have been poorly dealt with."

"Indeed."

Wolf laughed and her fingertips massaged my chest.  "She dared much,
to let herself trust your control this soon."

I smiled and captured Wolf's hand, then pressed it against my cheek.
"I don't think it was my control she trusted.  You are the High
Priestess and Mahika is the Wise Woman.  I think she trusts your
control of me more than she trusts that I will maintain control.  I
also doubt if she could explain it if she was asked."

Wolf pressed her fingertips into my cheek, then lightly stroked my
face.  "Perhaps she trusts you because in her eyes, you have the most
in common.  You are both young, and moved by other's desires more than
you move by your own.  She wants freedom, but is still uncomfortable
unless she knows her place in the greater picture."

"Mmm...  You're probably more right than I am.  Time will not only
tell, it will make today's truth irrelevant."

Wolf giggled.  "There's one truth that is obvious.  Of the three of
us, she definitely trusts Mahika to have her best interests at heart."

I pressed Wolf's hand, stopping her movement.  "It's a shame we cannot
meet the wise woman who took her in.  But, our bodies move in time
only forward, never backwards, no matter how much we might dream it be
otherwise."

Wolf laughed, then stood and held out her hand.  "Come, My Love.  I
need what we started to share this morning, and I do not want our joy
to disturb Kay's much needed rest."

I looked at her calmly, without moving.  "You felt no need of privacy
earlier.  Besides, the joy that lovers share is something Kay needs to
see someday.  That day could be this one."

She shook her head...  "Ah...  My Tom.  Then, I was a Priestess.  Now,
I am a woman.  One has no need of privacy, the other hides things even
from herself.  Kay, as wise as she is for her age, is not ready to
share in our joy."

I glanced over and noticed Kay had her eyes slitted.  The minx was a
light sleeper in spite of her obvious fatigue.  I got to my feet and
held out my hand.  "Who better than a woman to know which mysteries
should be shared, and which should be discovered?"

Wolf took my hand and let me help her stand before she laughed gently.
"Wise, for your age.  Few males understand that basic truth!"

I grinned at her and laughed.

Hand in hand, we strolled into the night while Kay watched.  I was
sure she wondered what secrets would be kept from her.  I also
wondered how long it would be before she actively sought answers.

When we were far enough away that we judged our voices would not carry
and be heard by Kay, Wolf asked me about my insistence that we not
travel to Kay's past.

I sighed.  "That was the lesser of our concerns.  When Mahika and I
first met Kay and Merlin in the future, she had no knowledge of time
travel.  She has the controls for it, but until Merlin discovers me
and Mahika, she will have no idea that time travel is possible."

Wolf squeezed my hand.  "Then we must avoid giving her that knowledge.
Perhaps we should stay linear until she leaves us."

I laughed.  "That is what Mahika and I tentatively decided would be
best.  It should be enough that we act wise and tell her the obvious,
that some things will happen in their time.  It is what she would
expect, anyway.  If we are vague, well, that is also the nature of
those who predict the future, and something she will take for
granted."

Wolf nodded thoughtfully.  "I wonder when she will discover she is a
seer?"

"We never sought that answer."

Wolf stopped us and turned my head so she could kiss me hungrily.  "I
felt your joy, and sadness, when you loved Mahika.  What was it you
lost?"

I sighed...  "The same thing you and I must lose, before we return to
Mahika and Kay."

"Oh?"

"Kay must keep her shape prejudice, and distaste for the joys of man
and beast, My Love.  It is not given to us to instruct her in that.
Mahika and I knew it would be many years before we could share those
joys again."

"Must we stop?"

"Yes.  It was Lady Kay who told us the tale of her bias, and laughed
at her own innocence as she idly stroked Merlin while he lay at her
feet--as a hound."

Wolf hugged me, then rested her head on my shoulder.  While she cried
I stared at nothing and wished that our senses of responsibility were
less strong.

Darkness was slowly changing to the twilight of a new day when she
loosened her grip, then gently pushed herself away from me.
"Friendship and the love of souls, we may show.  The passion of the
bodies we will not be allowed.  It will be difficult, My Alpha."

"Not impossible, though.  We know we will succeed."

She nodded.  "True.  Someday we will look at these years and wonder
why we felt they were so long."

She shifted to her true form and looked up at me with her usual canine
smile.  "There is no need for us to hurry our return, My Alpha.  Run
with me as a man would, and when the time is right, lie with me so we
can savor our love, as only a bitch and man may share them."

I knelt and held her nose gently so I could look into her eyes.  "What
you mean is that you want to pretend we are ordinary, then spend the
night getting fucked so thoroughly you have trouble walking the next
day!"

She tongued my face before she responded.  "Of course!"  She touched
my cheek with a paw.  "When we return, Kay must see visible proof that
a woman can lie with a man and get more from the experience than pain,
sticky thighs and memories she'd rather forget."

I nodded, then grinned.  "I hope it's as difficult for you to avoid
cleaning yourself as it will be for me to prevent myself from sucking
you empty!"

She returned my grin, then dropped her paw to the ground and bounced
off to run and do whatever her whims told her to do.  I picked a
direction at random and started jogging, content to lose myself in the
joy of sharing my time with a canine companion who loved me as much as
I loved her.

It was almost noon when Wolf spotted movement in a field and bounded
off to hunt our lunch.  The grass was tall enough to hide her body,
but its movement gave her away.  I searched ahead of her and laughed
when I realized she was after another of the giant hares.

It wasn't long before I heard a shrill squeal and there was a flash of
Wolf's golden fur as she lunged and flipped her prey into the air when
it leaped in an attempt to evade her.

The grass hid her while she returned, but its movement as she passed
through it told me she was nearby when I heard laughter behind me.

"Come!  Join us and we will protect you from the dangers of the road!"

A deeper voice went on suggestively.  "Perhaps you seek those dangers
and do not desire our protection from them?"

I laughed at the leer in the second speaker's voice and turned to face
them.  

They gasped, then started laughing again as they approached me with
confidence.  "So!  You are no woman, only a weakling and fit pickings
for anyone who takes you.  Nobody will care what happens to you." 

They stopped a few feet away from me and groped themselves
suggestively.  "Easy or hard, but part of it will be hard no matter
what you choose."

I grinned at his easy manner.  "Aye, and I can be soft when I choose
to be.  But I am already claimed, and one of my companions watches you
even now.  You had best count your blessings that she considers you no
threat to my virtue.  Go, and seek easier prey."

They laughed.  "You bluff.  We saw no companion, male or female."

I raised my voice.  "Wolf!  To me!"

She stepped from her place of concealment with her head held high. Her
muzzle was blood soaked and the hare was hanging limply from her jaws.

The young men stared, then one of them reached for his knife.  "She is
only..."  He froze.  Wolf had dropped her prey and lunged at him.  She
stood before him, snarling her warning.

His companion, all thoughts of sex forgotten, reached for his own
knife only to discover that I had stepped into him and had my hand
over its hilt.

"Hold, both of you!  Wolf!  Guard!"

She settled on her haunches and grinned at the youth she faced while I
removed my opponent's knife from its sheath and held it with the tip
at his throat.  "Do you doubt that we could have killed you if that
was our desire?"

He gulped fearfully and I smiled at his fear before I stepped back and
spun his knife in my hand so I held it by the blade.

I could see the sudden flaring of hope in his eyes so I grinned at his
obvious eagerness to 'correct' his misjudgment.

"We do not fear you, or your blades...  Wolf!  Catch!"

My hand blurred into an underhand throw and there was the sudden
'clack' of teeth on flint after Wolf leapt to catch it by the hilt as
it spun over her head.  

As soon as she hit the ground she flipped her head and tossed the
knife back in my direction.

I reached and grabbed it from the air.

I was smiling when I offered it to him hilt first.  "Another time, and
I might have welcomed your embraces, and more.  But, I am claimed by
the Priestess and Wise Woman who have settled at the Great Circle.  I
cannot always follow my own desires."

Both of them blanched.

Wolf sneezed her disgust, then reclaimed her hare and placed it on the
ground between her and the one she had challenged.

I laughed.  "It seems a decision has been made for me.  Will you share
our lunch?"

Wolf's opponent looked down at Wolf, then at me.  "We have nothing to
share except spices."

I nodded my approval for his candor.  "It will be enough, warrior.  We
can eat sparingly this time and fill our bellies this evening."

They cleaned the hare while Wolf and I gathered sticks and dried grass
for the fire.  By the time I had the fire pit built and everything the
way I wanted it, they had the the hare disjointed and spitted.  When
one of them reached for his fire starter I smiled and waved him away.
"There is no need."

I held my hand over the carefully formed pile and let the energy flow
freely until the wood burned merrily.  When I was satisfied, I let go
of the power and held my hand out for the spitted meat.  They handed
it to me and their nervousness was obvious.

"Relax.  I am not a warrior, so concerned with my dignity that I must
dominate all I meet.  I hold no grudges, and desire only the relaxed
companionship of a shared meal."

I looked up and smiled easily.  "There was no way you could have known
what you truly faced.  There is no shame, because you made no
mistake."

They nodded at the truth of my statements and finally relaxed.

Lunch was an amiable sharing of adventures, some fanciful, others
true. Near the end of the meal the man Wolf had confronted looked at
her and shook his head admiringly.  "She is an intelligent beast.
Should you find a dog worthy of her, any puppies she whelps would be
welcomed."

Wolf turned to look at him, then sneezed.  We all laughed.  He grinned
at her antics.  "A man could learn to believe she understands what we
say, beyond what her training has taught her."

I spread my hands casually.  "Aye, a man could, if he wanted to."

Wolf and I looked at each other and she nodded slightly.  I sighed. It
was sooner than we had really expected, but there was no real reason
to hide.  People would find out who we were anyway, no matter how we
tried to avoid that discovery.

She gnawed on her bone until we had finished eating, then stood and
shook herself before she looked at me expectantly.  I laughed and
faced our newly met trail companions.

"The meal and companionship has been appreciated.  You are true
warriors in spite of your impulsive ways."

They ducked their heads, embarrassed at being reminded of what had
happened between us. 

I chuckled at their reaction.  "What's past is past.  Leave it there
and worry about it no more.  We are not here to change your ways.  We
wish to reside in peace until we are called elsewhere.  We knew the
Great Circle is shunned.  We also hoped that your fear would allow us
time to better learn your ways before we were discovered."

I looked at Wolf, taking their attention with me.  "Just as I am not
what I seem, my companion is more than she appears to be."

Wolf shimmered, then stood before us in her human form.

They both blanched again and sank to their knees while watching her
fearfully.  "Priestess!  Please!  We had no way of knowing..."

She walked over and laid her hands on their heads.  "There is no need
to fear.  I did not wish anyone to know.  I needed to learn the ways
of this land, and you have given me much of the knowledge I seek.  As
Tom said, we are not here to change things, or judge.  We seek only
knowledge, and a place to be ourselves while we wait to be called
again."

They looked at her with renewed hope.  She smiled impishly.

"You will be welcome at the midwinter celebration.  If you haven't
found suitable companions by then, join us and it may be that one or
both of you will be chosen to take part in the Great Rite.  For now,
however, I must ask that we be allowed to live at the Great Circle
undisturbed.  There is much that needs to be done before we will be
ready to welcome your people properly."

"Of course.  You will be left alone, and truly, none wish to go near
the Great Circle.  It is a fearsome place."  

He looked at her thoughtfully.  "Will it be reconsecrated?"

Wolf nodded her head slightly.  "Someday.  But it is not my task to do
so.  Someone else will do that, many years from now."

They nodded.  "May we go, and spread word of your presence?"

"Yes.  And you may tell your people that when the time is right, we
will walk amongst you as your friends."

They stood and the one who had started to confront me with his knife
looked at Wolf's nakedness boldly.  "I know you do not need a
guardian, but I would be honored if you chose me as an escort when
that time comes.  Any man would be."

She laughed.  "Thank you.  When the time comes, I will consider your
offer.  You may go."

He nodded at her abrupt dismissal, then turned to walk away with a
jaunty step and his head held high.

I waited until they were out of sight, then turned to Wolf.  "I think
that was an easy victory where none was needed."

She giggled and switched back to her canine form.  "Our lives will be
simpler, and Kay's instruction less likely to be interrupted."  She
looked up at me and grinned.  "And you will not need to defend your
virtue from every warrior and woman who sees you!"

I laughed at her vehemence and then gestured at the road before us.
"Shall we?"

She nodded before she turned to face in the direction we had traveled
from.  I grinned and laughed at her enthusiasm, then started jogging.
She let me get a few yards past her, then she woofed happily and
joined me.

It was time to find a quiet place where we wouldn't be disturbed, and
that meant we needed to be somewhere near Stonehenge before twilight
found us.

* * *

It was early evening when Wolf stopped on a ridge top and waited for
me to join her.  When I paused next to her so I could catch my breath,
she smiled up at me, then turned so she faced the way we were headed.
"I can see Stonehenge.  There are no recent scents other than ours and
Kay's.  This will be a good place to spend the night."

She glanced at me, then lifted her nose to sample the air.  "I will
find our meal again, and there will be no need for a fire."

I smiled at her firm tone.  "As you wish, Bitch.  I will prepare
myself in other ways while I wait."

She sneezed her amusement, then ran off in search of dinner.

I moved about one hundred yards to the side of the path, and carefully
cleared a space large enough for us to settle without worrying about
twigs, rocks and pebbles.

Insects and other dangers were another matter so I used some power to
cleanse the area.  I knew Wolf was indifferent to insects, but I
wanted to savor her without needing to worry about itching in the
morning.  I took the time to set up a barrier that would keep insects,
and anything other than Wolf, away.

Once I had everything arranged the way I wanted, I settled to meditate
and await Wolf's return.

* * *

I'd traveled an odd and twisting path to reach this point.  I'd lived
through a normal childhood, one that had been filled with the usual
petty squabbles and intense yet often brief friendships normal to
people at that age.

I'd been shy, and uncomfortable around girls when I entered puberty.
Fear had led me to avoid seeking out girls my own age, yet I'd been
comfortable around women who could have been my mother.

Puberty, and hormone driven urges, had driven me to explore my
sexuality.  Since we'd owned both a dog and bitch who had been
unaltered, I had been drawn to their actions and attempted to
duplicate the dog's ways with our bitch.

I'd been unsuccessful and settled for helping him mate with her,
instead.

When I was older my fear of girls my own age led me into a gay
relationship with my dog.  It had been enjoyable.  I still remembered
him fondly, and only wished that I had taken the time to see him as a
person worthy of the same treatment I expected.  I hadn't seen it as
neglect, and setting him aside when I had no interest in him.  When I
thought about it deeply enough, I supposed it really hadn't been
neglect and true selfishness.

We'd enjoyed each other and the life we shared, and that is what
really matters.

There were a few failed relationships with young women when I was
older, and shortly after the last of those, there had been the day I
made the decision to seek a bitch and make her my sexual and emotional
companion.

Serendipity, fate, destiny...  Call it what you will but the end
result was a companion who was able to stand up to me and teach me
what love was all about.

There were more years.  I grew older, and sometimes learned wisdom as
I linked my life to other dogs and bitches.

Then, for some unknown reason, I allowed a small, but intensely self
confident stray female cat into my life as more than something that
helped control the vermin.  That night I discovered the 'cat' had been
something more, an elemental who had decided to link her life with
mine.

Life continued.  Mahika, as I'd decided to name her, had shared my
passions and discoveries until I'd forgotten I'd ever lived my life
without her at my side.

There was the day when I'd whimsically dowsed Stonehenge, and
rediscovered my affinity for power.

Mahika's anger, and her demanded apology, led to Wolf.

Then, incredibly, the synergy generated when Wolf and Mahika joined
their lives together... had led to their selfish search for a way to
prolong the time they shared their lives with mine.

So here I sat, a newly created 'Avatar of Power' and a 'True
Immortal'.

I was one of the three companions who would guide 'The Lady of The
Lake' and set her on her path through life.

Finally, as part of a madly appropriate cosmic jest, I discovered I
was 'the flame-haired blacksmith of the gods' who had given Kay, and
through her the world...

Excalibur.

I came out of my reverie when I felt a snort against the side of my
face.

"You're smiling.  Good."

I laughed and hugged her.  "Of course I was.  I was remembering my
past, and thinking about our future.  It's all absurdly inevitable,
when I take the time to exam it closely.  It became even more absurd
when I accepted that all I can focus on right now is the fact I'm
going to be fucking a bitch all night, and I consider nothing in my
life more important."

She turned her nose away slightly and sneezed her approval for my
sentiments.  "Eat first.  Then, we fuck."

Dinner was simple, the shared experience of tearing the power cooked
flesh from another hare.  Wolf had 'cooked' it by touching it with her
nose and letting the power flare when she sneezed.

We laughed together at the silliness of her gesture and then I used my
fingers to tear off enough to satisfy my needs before she snagged what
was left and made a production of snarling and ripping as she ate her
fill.

"Aren't you overdoing it, for a Golden?"

She paused long enough to grin at me.  "No.  What I do is a poor
substitute for what I would like to do to whatever it was that decided
to take away something so important to who we are.  I am angry, even
though I know that in the grand view, the time we wait will be less
than an eye blink."

I nodded and let her get back to her destruction.  "Rip a few times
for me, Love."

When we finished eating we were grinning at each other.  Cleaning up
was a simple chore.  I waved a hand in a grand gesture and vented some
of my frustration with fate by shouting "Begone!" and causing all
signs of our repast to vanish, except for what was inside our bellies.

Wolf sneezed her amused agreement, and then, not to be outdone, turned
her hindquarters in my direction.  She froze and let her tail curl up
and sideways to reveal her raised and swollen vulva.  Time seemed to
stop, then she whispered her command.  "I desire the silence of a
lover's bower.  Let no evidence of our passion leave this place."

A barely visible flare of power spread from the tip of her tail and
vanished into the darkness when it reached the edge of our clearing.

"Showoff."

She giggled without moving.  "Yes.  For you."

I was chortling while I scooted over in front of her before I wrapped
her in a hug.  She sighed and leaned into me for awhile, then shivered
with her suppressed needs when I moved my hands over her flanks
seductively.

I laughed at her eager readiness.  "You weren't upset by Kay's
interruption, but I know you were frustrated.  So was I!"

Wolf giggled again.  "Someday she will understand, and appreciate, the
amount of control that was hidden behind your light hearted facade."

I let my hands drift lightly until my fingers moved over her nuzzle. I
turned her head gently so she could see my amused smile.  "No more
control, this night, My Love.  My passions will be unleashed, with
your joy the only thing I seek until you wish otherwise."

We kissed, and while my lips touched her nose, her tongue laved
wherever it could reach.

We held that pose while my hands roamed the parts of her body I could
reach without moving from where I knelt.

I felt her spine and massaged her front legs.

I rubbed her chest, and savored the curve where her ribs ended and the
taper of her form pointed toward her true essence.

At times she groaned with her increasing passion, at other times I had
to brace her while she slumped against the pressure of my hands.

Throughout it all, our eyes were open as we watched each other, and
waited for the magical moment that was rapidly approaching.

It came calmly, inevitably, when I slid my hands from her taper and
over her ribs.  She groaned and her tongue stopped its gentle
explorations.

Her eyes closed when my fingertips traced her back, along either side
of her spine.  

They opened again when my palms slid below her ears on their way to
cup her jaw.

Her head lifted slightly, then her eyes closed again when our open
mouths met and our tongues touched each other, in the way only lover's
tongues will meet.

I savored the wild taste I found.  I found the tang of the blood from
her recent kill, when mixed with the aroma of her own leaking
desires...

Inflammatory--and I knew my penis, already swollen by my needs,
twitched as the restrained blood within stretched it further in her
direction.

We both moaned as our passion started to overwhelm us, then,
reluctantly, I let go and watched while she turned away from my
embrace.  She settled demurely, then rolled first to her side and then
to her back.

She folded her fronts legs until it appeared as if she was begging for
something, then curved her neck and head until I could see her smile
of invitation.

She sighed, and as she sighed, she let her hind legs fall apart in the
way only a truly relaxed--or needy--bitch, could make them move.

A breeze wafted her scent to me as I admired her glistening vulva and
the way it twitched invitingly as her lust took over her thoughts.

I lay on my belly and stretched myself eagerly until...

Tongue touched need, and rational thought ceased.

I teased her open and started withdrawing her essence.  Her scent
surrounded us both and when I heard her inhale sharply, then relax
again, I knew my own scent was flowing over her and telling her,
without words, how much I needed her in my life.

I suckled her, and drew from her everything she offered me.  Sometimes
I held her gift in my mouth briefly, then gently used it to wash the
area between her legs, that I enjoyed so much.

Suddenly her hips curled upwards in an unmistakable command for more
than my mouth and tongue.

Three of my fingers joined my tongue, sliding in easily.

I twisted them gently as I slowly slid them in and out

Sometimes I curved them and pressed them against those places that I
knew sent jolts of pleasure through her.

It didn't take long before I felt the fluttering of her rings that
told me she was nearing the peak of her pleasure

I slowed my movements to a stop and waited until the fluttering
pressures ended.

Then, suddenly and without warning, I kept my middle finger extended
and curled the fingers beside it, as I simulated the sudden expansion
of a dog's knot.

Her hips arched in response and I fought to keep us connected.  Her
rings spasmed violently around my extended finger, and I knew that for
her, time and thought had vanished.

When the spasms started slowing I tugged my still curled fingers
against the inside of her vulva, and encouraged her body into another
series of spasms.

This went on for an unmeasurable length of time, until, suddenly, she
went limp and sighed.

I kept my fingers inserted and slowly straightened the curled ones
before I withdrew all of them.

Now, at last, I refocused my awareness and looked towards her head.

I smiled when I saw the unique expression that came to her jaws only
when she was completely satisfied, sexually and emotionally.

The vision before me was one I always savored, in spite of how many
times we'd shared this timeless moment after her satiation.

At last, somewhat reluctantly, I allowed myself a slight smile and lay
beside her so my lips could touch her muzzle again.

We held that pose while my hand went to the flat area between her legs
and pressed lightly before I slowly petted her stomach.

For now, it was time to let our bodies speak to each other directly as
we shared her afterglow.

My time would be later.

* * *

I was drowsily watching Wolf and letting my mind drift when she opened
her eyes and regarded me without speaking for many minutes.

Eventually she touched my nose with hers and sighed.  "Tom?  Why did
you refuse to respond as a man to Kay's advances?  Her body and scent
indicated she was ready, and eager for what a man can give her.   Even
her words hinted at her desires.  I know you couldn't smell her
ripeness, but your gentle refusal confuses me."

She pulled away slightly.  "Long before this night, I'd gone back and
watched you with all of your lovers.  I've never been able to figure
out how you know when the time is right to 'make love' with them for
the first time."

I sighed.  "The easy answer is that I just know when I should act and
when I should not.  The real answer sounds simple, but it's actually
very complex in action."

I held her muzzle and watched her eyes while I spoke my next words. "I
add love to the sex and caring when I am with those who seek me out
for sex because they see me as a person.  Everyone else gets the sex
and caring, only.

"We both know Kay needs to be made love to, not fucked--and fucking is
what she was seeking, even though in her mind she probably thought it
was love that made her want me inside her.  What she sought was
physical, and caring.  It wasn't love."

Wolf studied me in silence.  Finally she touched my nose with hers
again.  "So she has to learn what love is first, and know that she
knows what love is, before you can give her more than your body when
you fuck?"

I sighed again.  "Essentially, yes"

She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again.  Her tongue came
out to wash my face gently.  "If there's one thing I've learned in my
travels, it's that the reality of sex, for most people, is that they
gain physical expertise long before they have the emotional knowledge
to understand what 'making love' really means.  Would you deprive Kay
of the chance to gain that knowledge?"

"From me, yes.  From others, no."

"You confuse me, again."

"Kay is no virgin, right?"

Her lips curled into a slight smile.  "True."

"She has been apprenticed to two wise women and I imagine she has seen
for herself many of the ways two people can have sex together.
Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"So, Kay is a young, confused girl who knows the theory, has lost her
virginity and has most likely seen that sex can be an expression of
much more than physical sensations.  Right?"

Wolf's sneeze of amusement was so slight it barely disturbed the dirt
next to the tip of her nose.  "You are most probably correct, or very
close to correct."

I reached and tapped Wolf's nose lightly with a fingertip.  "So,
'Priestess of the Great Circle'.  With your great wisdom to guide you,
explain to me how she will use her body to express what she has never
felt?  Furthermore, it will be thousands of years before she can give
her heart to Merlin, but meet him and give him her love, she will.  If
I have sex with her before she knows what it is like to feel love
without sex, I risk that her thinking will link sex and love in such a
way that she will feel she cannot love someone without sex.

"What is the *one* thing we know beyond doubt about the love Kay and
Merlin shared--until he met Lady Chrystal?"

Wolf closed her eyes and whimpered.  "Their love was strong, but
sexless.  There are legends about the purity of their love for each
other, and thousands have wondered where she learned the strength to
let it be so, yet keep Merlin always at her side."

She nuzzled me tenderly.  "Tom, love me.  Give me the strength I will
need to remember this night and still be able to hide my body's needs
from Kay for the years it will take before we can be our true selves
again."

I hugged her fiercely.  "I need the same from you, Wolf.  I've hidden
who I am from the world, but never have I denied it.  Without you and
Mahika, I don't think I could for very long.  Give me your strength,
Wolf, because I am weak--and I know it."

She curled her hips until I felt the heat of her vulva against my
penis.  I reached, lined us up, then pressed gently and felt her lust
slickened flesh engulf my tip.  Once I was sure I wouldn't slip out of
her, I wrapped her in a hug and whispered  "Together, Wolf.  Always
together."

Her tongue escaped to press firmly against my lips.  I opened my mouth
and she snaked it between my teeth, then paused.

It was time for me to satisfy my selfishness.

As I pulled us together and my penis found her center, all rational
thought ended.

I became a question, and Wolf's heat was the only answer I needed.

Initially I was content to passively savor the sensations of Wolf's
vagina surrounding my penis and cradling it.  My entrance had been
easy of course, since her body had long ago become used to my
attentions and her vulva was stretched enough that my entry caused her
no discomfort.

I felt a little sad that I could never consciously feel the
contraction of the two rings of muscles that I could feel with my
fingers.  I'd tried to focus on them when I knew they were
contracting, but I'd never been certain I could actually feel the
rippling pressure as they alternated to milk my semen from me, or
entice my body closer to orgasm.

There were, however, sensations I *could* savor, and they were ones no
woman would ever give me.

I was just long enough that the tip of my penis could make contact
with Wolf's literal center, the base of the 'y' that joined her uteri,
when I drove myself firmly enough.  Since that sensation only happened
just before my orgasm, it was so intense it sometimes bordered on
painful, without ever going past that point to become actual pain.

For now, though, I was content to move slowly, and enjoy the
'once-felt-never-forgotten-always sought-after' feelings generated
when my penis slid from her vagina into the wider space where she
split internally.

It was as if a squishy ring slid over the sensitive base of my glans
with every stroke.  Sometimes I felt as if bitches had been
deliberately designed to pleasure both dogs, and men, because a dog
was not designed to be aware of her innermost ring of muscle in the
way a man couldn't help but feel.

I was patient, and deliberately worked Wolf to the *other* type of
orgasm bitches could have, the one that came from my penis sliding
through her rings to stretch them, then back out to let them close
again.

The first ring, just inside her vulva, was muscular enough to make my
penis hesitate slightly before every entry if I withdrew far enough.
When I did not withdraw to let it close, it was if it wasn't there.

By merely varying the amount I withdrew before sliding home again, I
could vary what we both felt, and change the intensity and duration of
my rise to orgasm, as well as the length of Wolf's contractions when
they happened.

Her inner ring was less noticeable pressure wise, yet it generated the
most intense feelings in my penis as I slid through it in both
directions.  In, and there was a barely felt lessening of resistance.
Out, and it held me briefly before it massaged the sensitive nerves at
the base of my glans.

I kept up my stroking, and my pauses, while I slowly helped Wolf reach
her orgasm.

I was lost in her moist heat when it happened, and the only way I knew
she orgasmed again was when her vagina suddenly lost all resistance to
my movements.

Where before there had been velvety pressure and a slight friction
even with her copious fluids, the way became frictionless and I felt
as if all pressure around me had vanished.

Except for her inner ring, I felt nothing along my length.

It was if she had turned to vapor, with only the inner ring connecting
us, and milking my glans as it passed through.

It was what I had been waiting for, selfishly, because I knew it was
this action that gave me my most intense orgasms.

My breathing changed, my hips began to drive more forcefully.  I was
no longer consciously seeking release.

My tip started hitting her interior junction as as my pumping sped up.
The time between the sharp touch of my tip with her junction and the
sudden clasp of her ring as it briefly held the base of my glans,
vanished.

I vibrated between the two intense peaks, unable to go forward and
unable to go back because either way, my body feared the pain that it
knew would happen.

Finally however, the sympathetic tingling at the base of my penis
exploded through me and drove my hips forward with all my strength as
my hands jerked Wolf into my crotch.

My tip hit her junction solidly, then it slipped to one side as my
semen was forced out of me and into her waiting cavern.

Again and again my hips twitched, unable to withdraw because the
intense tingling at the base of my glans would not allow it, and
unable to go forward to escape because I was already as deep as her
body would allow.

I was in a state of nothing.

I had no thoughts.

I had no mind, and it was carried by no body.

I was glans, with no awareness of anything except Wolf's inner ring
and her heat.

Some mystics talk of Nirvana, and the inner peace that can only be
reached though passiveness.

I reached *my* Nirvana by traveling a different path.

My Nirvana was the peace that arrives immediately on the heels of the
explosion that comes from the orgasmic peak shared with the one you
love.

* * *

I awoke to daylight, the heat of a woman's body against me, and the
pressing needs of my body.

I impatiently took the time to send my wastes away, and disperse them
into the soil beyond our clearing, then returned to the matter that
was most important.

"Wolf?"

"Mmm..."  She giggled.  "You were wise to use your skills in that
small, but necessary matter.  I would not have let you go until I was
satisfied."

I laughed gently, and pulled us together.

She had shifted her form, but not her position, so my flaccid penis
had remained embedded in her.  Now, as I awoke to greet the new day,
my maleness awoke to greet her new body.

I knew I was fully engorged when Wolf suddenly tightened her arms and
used her wiry strength to roll us until I was on my back and she was
on top.

She kissed me hungrily, and her eagerness told me of her desires.

When she was ready, she started to push herself upright, pivoting on
where our souls were connected.  I helped by placing my hands beneath
her breasts and steadying her when she paused to shift her legs as far
as they would go before they levered her off my impaling penis.

She closed her eyes and waited for a signal I'd never been able to
recognize as she massaged me with her inner muscles.

The moment arrived and she jerked herself upright and brought her legs
underneath her until she straddled me.  She'd lost my penis, of
course, and it glistened as it lay flat on my pubes.

We grinned at each other as she reached to stroke me lightly.  "Mmm...
So red with your need.  It looks like it should be on fire."

I touched her breasts and massaged them.  "It burns for you, Wolf."

"Mmm!"

I slowly worked her chest and stomach while she used my penis and her
hands to excite herself.

Finally she raised herself enough to line me up, then she let herself
drop.

She whimpered when our pubes slammed together, but it was not a
whimper of pain.

She whimpered from need.  Her hips ground her into me as she stirred
her passion hungrily.

I knew my part, and I spoke my lines, whispering them enticingly.

"Take me.  Use me.  Everything I am is yours to use as you will..."

Her head fell backwards as she lost herself in her need.  My task was
simple, to keep from orgasming until she was done pleasuring herself,
and ready to receive my offering.

It was a familiar game, and Wolf played it with great skill.  She
brought us both near our peaks rapidly, then slowed to let us recover
from the breathless journey.

She knew herself, and my body, well, and used that knowledge to take
us on a journey that traveled through the peaks and valleys of shared
passion.

Finally though, she slowed her movements, looked down at my sweaty
face...  and whispered a single word.  "Time!"

I grabbed her hips and helped her when she slammed downwards.  With
each stroke her grunts became louder and the grinding at the bottom
more violent and demanding.

Eventually she raised herself and paused...

Then, with a shrill wail, slammed herself down and shuddered while my
penis spasmed, adding its pulsations to what she was feeling.

I was ready when all of her muscles relaxed at once and she slumped
bonelessly as her mind left her body.

I gently guided her until she was lying on my chest, then wrapped her
in a hug while I kissed her tenderly, even though I knew she wouldn't
feel it.

While I held her, I gently explored her body, patiently providing the
light that would guide her back to awareness.

My fingers were drifting along her spine when she let me know she was
back.

"Mmm...  Don't stop."

"Of course not.  I enjoy the chance to explore when you can't tell me
no."

She giggled.  "If I did ask you to stop?"

I kissed her again.  "I don't know what I'd do.  You've never asked me
to.  Shall we find out what happens?"

"Mmm.  No.  Not this time.  Don't stop."

It was a familiar challenge and response.  What had started as a
private joke somehow changed and became our special way of sharing the
afterglow while we let each other know how much we loved each other.

She shifted slightly and allowed my softening penis to slide into the
air.

I felt the sudden chill and smiled.  When she didn't reverse herself
so we could clean each other, I realized what she was doing.  She
wanted our mingled fluids to escape and coat us both, then dry.

I chuckled.  "And just how do you plan on giving Kay the chance to
see, and begin to understand what she sees?"

She pushed herself upright, then gazed down to show me her amusement.
"Kay is an acolyte, is she not?"

I mused about it, then smiled.  "True."

She grinned.  "I will take her to the river, then let her help while I
bathe myself, and remember how I came to be... So sticky and sore.  I
think, then, she will begin to understand what a man can do for a
woman besides satisfying her physical needs."

She touched my chest and there was none of her previous laughter in
her next words.

"My true body was frightened, even though my mind had experienced the
joys and sorrows I asked from you.  When the time comes, give her the
same gift you gave me, when you took my virginity.

"Make her joyous discovery inevitable, as mine was, when you are there
at the end of the path I will point out to her this day."

I touched her inner thighs and felt the still sticky fluids that
coated them.  Reluctantly, I stopped myself from doing more, as I
usually would.  Instead I withdrew one hand and touched my finger to
my lips so I could taste it.

"I shall do the best I can, Love."

She giggled.  "Your best is very good, indeed--and I will be satisfied
with it, as I am certain Kay will be, too."

She stood and stretched, then offered me one of her hands.  "Come. The
evidence of our love will finish drying as we walk."

I laughed and allowed her to help me rise, a task we both enjoyed.

* * *

We paused at the top of the last hill to study Stonehenge and the two
small figures who moved within its confines.

Wolf's tones were thoughtful and I had the impression she was thinking
aloud while she tried to solve a problem that was vexing her.  "It's
such a small object, to have so great an impact."

I nodded.  "True.  Look at the effect it had on our own lives, in our
birth time, and now."

"I know."  Her hand, where it held mine, clenched suddenly.  "What we
do here will have consequences far more reaching than most people are
given to understand."

I felt like shrugging but kept myself from it, barely, and let the
tone of my voice speak my feelings.  "True."

"Hmmp.  Tom?  Speak truly.  Am I your Alpha, here?"

I turned us so we could face each other, then brushed her cheek with
my hand.  "A forced decision you must make?"

She nodded.

"Make it, My Alpha."

She blushed and ducked her head.  "Very well.  When Kay seeks the
union of your bodies, allow it.  Fuck her and help her find whatever
pleasures she may discover.  Pleasure her, Tom.  Help her understand
her own body as only a man may help a woman."

My thinking froze.  Wolf knew me, and knew how I felt in this matter.
"Wolf, My Alpha.  I don't understand you."

She brought her head up and her smile was grim.  "I did not say 'make
love', with her, or to her.  Our thinking has been backwards.  Let her
discover, and savor, the physical joys.  Eventually she will tire of
them, and realize there must be more, because you will be sharing your
heart with us, as we share our hearts with you."

She touched my penis gently.  "Give her this."  

Her hand moved to cover my heart.  "But not this, when you couple as
man and woman.  As your Alpha, I command it."

The clarity of her vision awed me at that moment.  "Your desire is my
own.  It will be done as you command."

"Thank you, Tom."

She kissed me and when she pulled away there was laughter in her eyes.
"I am not so foolish as to forbid you to love her, and openly display
that love."

I chuckled.  "Someday, My Love, Kay is going to very vexed with you!"

My stomach chose that moment to remind me that I hadn't eaten yet.

Wolf giggled and waved a hand airily.  "Go!  It's your turn to
provide."

I laughed and let myself flow into my wolf's body, then loped off in
search of whatever I could find that would satisfy our hunger.

* * *

I ranged freely for awhile, and took the time learn the area.
Eventually I found a small wooded area that contained no recent signs
of humans.

I circled the area once more, then spiraled my way in until I was
certain  I would find no surprises, such as a forgotten trap.

Then, satisfied I was in no danger from humans, I settled into the joy
of my hunt.

Eventually I found a hare who limped slightly, almost imperceptibly.
It was wary, and cautious, but that was going to doom it, this day.  I
studied it until I understood the way it moved at the first hint of
danger, and learned its habits when it foraged.  Because of its
slightly injured leg, it favored one direction when it moved.  The
difference was slight, but it was enough for me to work with.

I circled widely until I knew I was upwind of it, several hundred
yards away.  I urinated on a tree, then loped off to complete my
circle.

Once I was downwind of my prey again, I crept to a location that was
likely to put the hare within easy kill distance, and waited patiently
for the inevitable.

The breeze had carried my scent to the hare's nose, and it was getting
increasingly nervous.  It paused more often, and looked upwind
frequently while it drifted nervously away from the scent, and towards
me.

Eventually, as I had hoped it would be, the hare was close enough.

The next time it focused on my scent, I lunged in a nearly soundless
rush.

Its reaction came to late.  It panicked and leapt...  Slightly
sideways and almost into my waiting jaws as I made my own leap.

Jaws met throat, and I clamped them shut, then held on while I twisted
my head violently to break its spine.  I felt it go limp so I dropped
it and settled on my haunches to await its death.

When I knew it was dead, I bent down, found my grip and then, once I
was certain I had it balanced for carrying, raised my head and started
my run for home.

Once I was a few hundred yards away from where we had built our camp I
slowed my run to a casual amble.

The three of them had spotted me and were waiting when I casually
dropped the hare at Wolf's feet and settled on my haunches to grin up
at her.

"So, wolf.  Proud, are you?  How many escaped your efforts this time?
Mahika and Kay have eaten, but I have not.  I was starting to think
you'd forgotten me, or were so inept you had to wait until one of the
hares died of laughter."

"You shame me before Kay.  I had hoped to impress her with my prowess.
Perhaps I should have given her my gift, instead."

Kay giggled and blushed when I turned casually to bob my head at her
and let my tongue loll in a grin.

Wolf tapped my head sternly.  "Answer my question!"

I faced her and laughed.  "None escaped.  This one leapt into my
waiting jaws, of course."

Her eyebrows raised, but she said nothing.

I looked at the hare then back at Wolf.  "I spent the time searching a
small woods for signs of man, and found none before I began my hunt. I
did not wish to capture myself in some forgotten snare.  It will, I
think, make a good sacred hunting ground while we are here."

I tilted my head thoughtfully.  "The hare was wise, but lamed and
therefore predictable.  The only pride I take in the kill is that its
death was quick.  It was as I said, it leapt, and my jaws were there
to greet it."

"Hmmph!  It's never that simple, but since it's Kay you wish to
impress, not me, and you seem to have done so, I will not press for
enough details to destroy her illusion."

Our lunch was plain, and Kay managed to keep her dismay limited to a
mostly suppressed squeak of outrage when Wolf held her hand over the
hare and let the power sear it.  

I had stayed wolf and enjoyed the chance to briefly discard most of my
humanity.

When she finished her meal, Wolf spoke without turning her head.  "I
was hungry, and had no desire to wait the hour longer it would have
taken for you or Tom to prepare my meal.  Now that my stomach is as
satiated as the rest of my body, we will go to the river.  I,"  She
slid a hand over her inner thighs and smiled dreamily.  "Need a bath."

She finally turned to watch Kay.  "Will you attend me?  There are
things we must discuss, and that will be a good time to discuss them.
Is that agreeable to you?"

I sneezed my amusement and Wolf glared at me while she pointed an
imperious finger.  "You will attend me as a man.  Clear?"

I changed back, then went to her.  I lifted her hand until I could
kiss her fingertips while I grinned at her.  "Don't you get tired of
bathing so frequently?  I marvel that you still have skin on your
thighs!"

She started to blush, managed to force it  back from her breasts, and
finally lost it and giggled while she let me help her to her feet.

She brushed my penis with her hand and smiled dreamily again before
she became all business.  "Enough!  Kay must begin her journey."

Kay was wide-eyed and watching us both intently.  She didn't bother to
hide her fascination for my penis, and the promises it made to her
body.

Wolf laughed to get Kay's attention.  "Kay?  Will you join me?"

Kay bobbed her head.  "Of course, Wolf!"

Wolf laughed.  "Come then.  You may walk ahead and lead the way.  Tom
will stay behind, and escort Mahika and I, as befits our status."

Kay's frown was slight, but Wolf saw it anyway.  "Is Tom's regard so
unwelcome that you would avoid his gaze?  We will be beside him, true,
but it will be you he sees while we walk."

She blushed, then giggled and moved to her place of honor.

The walk was long enough, and the ground uneven enough, that Kay
quickly stopped showing off for me and settled into the relaxed stride
of someone who was used to walking long distances.  She also stayed
close enough that Wolf and Mahika could talk to her without raising
their voices.

I, of course, openly enjoyed watching Kay, as I was supposed to, and
kept my mouth shut unless Wolf or Mahika addressed me directly--as I
was also supposed to do.

* * *

When we got to the river Wolf knelt and dipped her hand in it, then
frowned.  "There was a time when I would have enjoyed its briskness."

She stood and looked at the flowing water, then sighed.  "Tom?  If you
would keep the breeze away from our bodies, I will attend to the water
and the problems it presents."

"Of course, Wolf.  How large an area?"

"Wait."

She turned to Kay.  "Kay.  Close your eyes, and let yourself feel what
is around you.  Feel the heat of the sun and the touch of the wind."

Kay closed her eyes and waited silently.

Wolf watched her for a couple minutes, then spoke softly.  "Describe
what you sense, and if you can, point to where it comes from.  This is
a test, but what is important is that you become aware of what
surrounds you, not its source.  Do not worry about getting things
right or wrong, point when you feel you must, or not at all when you
describe something.  It doesn't matter."

Kay nodded and then carefully turned in place.

"I feel the heat of the sun on my skin.  I can smell many things but I
cannot tell where they are because of the wind.  The wind flows over
me and mostly, it comes from that direction."  She pointed into the
wind, then lowered her hand slowly and continued.

"I can hear the water in the river as it laps at the bank behind me."

She paused in her descriptions and turned from side to side.  "How
strange.  The air changes.  One side of me feels the wetness from the
water more than the other."

Wolf nodded even though Kay couldn't see her.  "Anything else?"

"I'm...  Not certain, Priestess.  When I try to locate it, it
vanishes.  I think it comes from that direction."  She raised her hand
and pointed directly at me.

My eyebrows shot up with my surprise and when I looked at Wolf she was
frowning slightly.  She gestured for me to move to one side, silently.

I looked down to be certain my movements would be silent, then shifted
about ten feet.

Kay gasped.  "It moved!"  Her hand shifted to point at me again. "It's
strongest there.  I think."

"Thank you, Kay.  Keep your eyes closed.  Tom is going to call the
power to his hands before I tell him to expand it to protect us from
the wind.  Tell me when you are ready, then I will have him call the
power."

She nodded, shifted her head back and forth a few times and when she
was done she turned her body until she would have been looking
directly at me if her eyes were open.  "I'm ready."

Wolf started to open her mouth, then frowned again.  "Kay?  Is there
anything unusual about whatever it is you are sensing?"

"Yes!  I can feel it..."  Her hand touched her chest over her heart.
"Here."  She blushed and touched her pubic area. "But it's stronger
here."

Wolf choked slightly as her eyes glittered with mirth and she
suppressed a laugh before she was solemn again.  "Thank you, Kay."

Then she spoke softly.  "I'm going to use gestures to tell Tom when to
gather the power, but I want you to tell me as soon as you think
anything has changed."

She waited calmly for several minutes before she cupped her hands in
front of her.

I nodded, cupped my hands--and called the power to them.

Kay's reaction was immediate.

"Oh!  It's beautiful!"  Her eyes snapped open and she focused on my
hands raptly.  One hand reached in my direction, as if she wanted to
touch what I held.

She went on softly.  "It's as if he holds a rainbow in his hands.
And..."  Her eyes suddenly dropped lower and I knew she had focused on
my penis.  "The other feeling!  It's coming from Tom!  It makes me
feel as if..."

She blushed and ducked her head.  "As if the sun warmed me on a
midwinter day when I was cold and wondered if spring would ever come
again."

It was Mahika who shattered the sudden silence, by giggling.  All of
us turned to face her.

She waved a hand at Kay and I.  "I'm sorry, Wolf, but this is my
territory.  I know about being called, and Tom."

Wolf laughed.  "Indeed.  So you do.  However, we will deal with this
after my bath."  She sniffed daintily in Mahika's direction.  "Yours
too, please."

I laughed at Mahika's blush.  Wolf had caught her by surprise, for
once.

When I was done enjoying Mahika's rare bout of discomfort, I sobered
and raised my voice.  "Kay, you've just managed to change some well
laid plans for your future.  We did not expect your affinity for power
to be so great, for one so young."

When she faced me I grinned at her before I let myself turn tender.
"Nor did we expect you to be able to sense my feelings for you, so
soon.  That changes things between us, a great deal.  We will deal
with that later."

I motioned with my head.  "Please, Kay, stand beside me and watch with
your inner vision while I shield us from the elements."

She looked at Wolf, who nodded her encouragement.  "For now, watch
without trying to understand what you see."

Kay came over to stand beside me.  She started to reach for the power
she 'saw', then jerked her hand back and looked at me with fear in her
eyes.

"I can see it, yet I cannot.  Is it safe?"

It was Mahika who stepped over and touched Kay's hand lightly.  "It is
safe, yet incredibly dangerous, and can be deadly.  For now though,
reach and do not try to grasp what you see."

Kay nodded and looked at Mahika carefully, who smiled and gestured her
approval.

Kay then raised her head to watch my face.  "I'm afraid."

I looked at my cupped hands and the ball of power that hovered above
them.  I reached a decision and raised my head to look at Kay.  "Do
you remember asking me if I would be gentle?"

She nodded slowly.

I smiled.  "Do you want this from me?"

Her eyes glistened with her tears.  "Yes!"

"Watch my hands, then."

As soon as she was focused on my hands I returned the power to where I
had called it from.

She gasped and looked at me with obvious disappointment.

With the power gone, my hands were free again.  I touched her cheeks
to brush away some of her tears.  "I can recall it, Kay, and will do
so, for you."

I cupped my hands again and held them out before me.  "Cup your hands
together, and place them in mine."

She did and I could feel her trembling.

"Very good, Kay.  Now then, I will summon the power slowly, and a word
from you will make me send it away.  If you feel uneasy, or unable to
continue, tell me immediately, OK?"

"I promise."

"Good!  Kay?  One more thing.  I promise you I will be gentle."

She nodded solemnly, but her lips twitched briefly, as if she wanted
to giggle suddenly.

I grinned at her, then bent my head.  "Watch my hands, and tell me
what you see and feel."

I summoned the power slowly, and this time made it visible.  I created
a ball of light above our joined hands, and then waited patiently
while Kay studied it.  She looked at me with wonder in her eyes.  "I
feel nothing.  What was I supposed to feel?"

I shook my head slightly.  "I don't know.  For each of us it is
different, and can be different depending on what we wish to do. Right
now, I feel a gentle heat.  At other times I will feel a gentle
prickling, as if I were grasping nettles that didn't penetrate my
skin.  And, there are times when I feel nothing, only see it in my
mind's eye."

She nodded without looking up.

I let her study the energy for a few minutes, then let it vanish.

When she finally raised her head I could see her wonder at what she
had seen.

"I'm sorry, Kay, for what I need to do..."  I gently clasped her hands
in mine.  "As much as I enjoy touching you, I will need my hands to be
my own again."  I let go so she could pull her hands away.

I nodded.  "There are many ways I can do what I need to do, but this
time I will do it simply.  I'm going to make the ball again, then
expand it until Wolf tells me to stop.  You may stay where you are and
watch, but don't do anything other than watch what I do."

I gathered power again, but this time I made it large enough that it
surrounded us with a shimmering haze.  When I was ready I raised my
voice.  "Wolf?"

"Begin."

I started spreading my hands slowly, as if I were pushing the ball
from the inside, making it larger.  The shimmering moved away slowly,
until Wolf called softly.

"Enough."

I nodded and stopped moving my hands.  I made the mental adjustments I
needed, then made the changes so that we were standing in a sudden
calm and the barrier had become transparent to our eyes

I smiled.  "Done, Wolf.  Your turn."

She laughed and moved to the riverbank.

I  watched Kay while she turned slowly, opening and closing her eyes
while she came to terms with what she was seeing.  Eventually she
stepped away from me and walked until she was just inside the barrier.
She reached, palm out as if she were going to touch a wall.  Before
she made contact she stopped and looked at Wolf.

"I can't see it with my eyes, or feel it with my hand, yet it is
there.  Is it safe to touch?"

Wolf made a motion with her hand.  "It is safe.  It was commanded to
be harmless to anything that passes through it."

Kay turned her attention back her hand and pushed it through the
barrier.  As it penetrated, she gasped.  "I felt that!  It resisted
me."  

Her eyes widened.  "And I can feel the wind again!"

She kept moving her hand back and forth as she explored.  I took the
time to mentally set the barrier in my mind, then lowered my hands and
settled on the ground to make myself comfortable before I looked at
Wolf and Mahika.  

Both of them noticed me, smiled, and then Wolf turned her full
attention to making a small section of the river her private bath.

Mahika walked over to stand beside Kay for a few seconds, then she
stepped through the barrier.  Kay gasped again, then took a deep
breath and followed.  She shivered as the barrier flowed through her
body, then, after she was all the way through, spun joyously and
hugged herself.

"That was fun!"  She seemed to remember who was watching and she
blushed and ducked her head after she looked at Mahika.  "It was
scary, too."

She didn't hold her pose of contrition very long, though.  She giggled
and went back to the barrier, then concentrated and walked through it
again.  She repeated that several times, until she was walking next to
the barrier in such a way that she could dance from side to side,
letting the it pass back and forth through her body.

Mahika was wearing an amused smile when she stepped back through the
barrier and settled at my side.  "I think she is discovering her
childhood."

I chuckled.  "Yes.  She is definitely exuberant.  I wonder though, how
long she will stay diverted from other, more serious things."

Mahika shrugged but her eyes glittered with suppressed mirth.  "Not
long enough, I suspect.  Did you notice the way she moves as she lets
her body cross the barrier?"

I smiled.  "Oh, yes.  She hesitates slightly, and her look changes
when the barrier passes though her pubic area.  She is quick witted,
too.  Watch her carefully, Love, and do nothing to draw her attention
to us."

Mahika turned her head casually, as if she wished to refocus her
attention on me while she shifted to settle with her head in my lap.
When the move was completed she giggled.  "So.  Perhaps someday she
will seek fingers that are more substantial, and able to move with
their own desires, to touch her breasts."

I laughed quietly.  "I can wait.  I'm experienced enough to recognize
a first time voyage of discovery, and pleased she is able to relax
enough to share it with us."

I sobered and went on.  "Have you noticed how biddable she is?  She
accepts, and makes no effort to control the world around her."

Mahika sighed.  "I have noticed.  She is still controlled by her past.
Her future was preordained, once she was born, and again when she
attached herself to the wise women.  Until something made her leave,
she was destined to be always used.  She was to remain chaste, only to
be used impersonally as a symbol of what she desired, but would never
have for herself.  She did not say it that way, but that was her
truth."

I nodded.  "Did you ever find out what made her leave her people?"

Mahika surprised me with a rumbling, almost inaudible growl of anger,
that was one I'd come to recognize as promising death, if the one who
had angered her came within reach of her jaws.  "Wolf told me to do
nothing.  I am not pleased with her decision, but I recognize its
wisdom."

"Umm."

She laughed sourly.  "Relax.  Wolf pointed out that Kay will someday
have her own revenge, simply by outliving the man.  I am not yet able
to fully appreciate the nuances involved, but I am getting better at
it."

I chortled.  "So that's the way of it?"

She watched Kay, who was now drifting, looking at things and opening
and closing her eyes as she compared the two types of seeing.
Sometimes she'd pause and glance in our direction, but she seemed to
be enjoying the world around her too much to be able focus on whatever
it was she saw when she looked at one of us.

Mahika continued her tale.  "Today is the equinox, and Kay feels she
has escaped a duty she fears more than death.  She was being
'prepared'..."

She hesitated and that growl escaped again.  "Kay has seen, and helped
with such preparations.  While she wasn't eager, she wasn't actively
hostile to what was going happen."

She sighed.  "As you noted, she is biddable, and accepting because
that is the lot of all women in this time and place unless they are
Wise Women or Priestesses.  The man chosen to coach her brutalized
her.  He took her as if she were nothing, and made no effort to teach
her body, saying that the giving of knowledge about herself was the
proper task of other women.  Worse, he took her in other ways as well.
All of her passages have known the touch of man, all have been opened
violently, with no thought for Kay."

Mahika turned to look at me seriously.  "Kay knows that there can be
more between a man and a woman.  She, in her way, offered what she
knew, in return for a chance to begin to learn more, as little as she
knew it had to be for one such as she was."

She touched my penis and whispered.  "She flirts to hide her fear, and
pain.  Wolf and I cannot guide you in this because we have no
experience.  We know you succeeded, but we have no idea how."

Kay chose that instant to turn and flash a smile at me when she
realized I was watching her.  I smiled back and made a gesture as old
as mankind.  I kissed my palm and then held it before me and blew my
kiss in her direction.

Kay blushed, giggled, and then turned away to resume her explorations.

Wolf settled on my other side.  "I still don't understand how such a
simple gesture, that invokes no power, can have such a tangible
effect, even though I can both give and receive it and feel it working
its magic on me."  She nestled herself into me and got comfortable. "I
took my bath alone because the situation changed and what I would have
discussed was inappropriate to the reality."

She looked across at Mahika.  "The water is still warm, Beta."

Mahika rose with a smile.  "I hear, My Alpha."

All three of us snorted our amusement with each other.

Wolf hugged me.  "I heard.  I helped raise Marie, and many other young
girls, but none were as traumatized as Kay.  All I can do is counsel
patience, and release you from my earlier command."

I closed my eyes in pain.  "It's Kay's patience we need to worry
about, not mine.  How do we get her to realize she has it?"

I let my eyes open again.  "I think your decision was wise, Love. Only
the way it is to be used has changed. I'd like to believe that if any
of us could see what Kay saw when she looked at me earlier, we would
have mentioned it as soon as we noticed.  I conclude she has a skill
we don't."

Wolf studied me thoughtfully.  "You're too smug.  That means you have
a plan.  Out with it."

I touched her face gently and smiled.  "I'm a quick learner when it
comes discovering what pleases a female I'm interested in.  We will
let her guide us at the same time we guide her."

Wolf's eyes glittered with mirth again, but her hand was gentle when
it covered mine.

We were still silently communing when Kay's voice came from beside us.
"Will you teach me how to do that?"

Wolf's eyes never left mine.  "Do what, Kay?

"Make the power flow from your bodies and mix until you both glow with
the same color."

She paused and we waited.  "Is it only love that has colors?"

Wolf and I looked at each other.  I raised my eyebrows, shrugged, and
turned the conversation over to her.

"Do you remember when Tom told you we each feel power differently?"

"Yes, of course."

"Good.  Kay, you 'see' a power we can only feel.  We can help, I
think, but you'll have to help us."

"I don't understand."  She sounded stricken with fear and after her
previous euphoria, I knew she had to feel it that much more intensely.

I held out my hand.  "Kay?  Will you trust me?"

She looked at my hand, then my eyes, and shivered violently and hugged
herself.  Her head came up and she studied my eyes before it lowered
again, to focus on my chest.  Her shivering lessened, but didn't go
away.  Her gaze dropped lower, to my penis, and then jerked up until
our eyes met and she started shaking again before she turned and
blindly reached for Wolf.

"I want to!  But...  But I can't!"

It was a wail of despair.

Wolf wrapped her in a gentle hug and glared at me for what I had done
to Kay.

I smiled in return as I gestured to the two of them.

Wolf's glare turned thoughtful, then she focused on holding Kay
tenderly until her wracking sobs slowed.

Her head was still buried in Wolf's shoulder when I spoke gently.
"Kay.  It's OK.  Mahika told me.  I understand.  You're not the first
one I've helped.  I'll always he here for you, and when you reach, my
hand will always be yours."

She turned slightly to watch me intently and I could see the doubt in
her eyes.  "Always.  Even if I am with Wolf, or Mahika, if you ask, I
am yours.  I swear it,  just as I swore to be gentle."

Mahika had returned from her bath and settled her hands on my
shoulders.  I reached and let all of my love flow through my light
touch on one of her hands.  "Call me to you.  I will not move, and you
need not come to me.  Use your inner vision and watch.  Will you do
that for me, this once?"

Kay raised her head to study Mahika, who answered the unspoken
question calmly.  "Tom speaks truth.  In all the years I have known
his love, he has never directly lied about his heart, when he is
asked.  He will sometimes evade, if given the chance, or conceal how
he feels if the situation warrants it." 

She tilted my head backwards until we could gaze at each other and Kay
gasped when Mahika kissed my forehead.  "But he has never lied, when I
asked directly."

Kay pulled away from Wolf slightly, and looked at her.  "Wolf?  I have
seen you together.  Would you let him go?"

Wolf reached up and wiped a few tears from Kay's cheek with her
fingertips.  "He is as a woman in this.  His love cannot be contained
within a single body, or expected to always be given to one person. We
do not ask how he does it, but he gives us his love, according to our
needs.  We give up nothing when he leaves one of us, because when he
returns his love is increased by the amount he has received, not
diminished by what he has given.  I would let him go, even were I in
the middle of my passions, as you saw the first night you were with
us.  Passions can be banked, and re lit.  Trust is not so easily
restored, once its heat is diminished.  He knows this, as Mahika and I
do not."

Kay kept watching Wolf while she thought about things.  Finally:
"Truth?"

Wolf smiled.  "Truth.  Watch Tom, not as a wise woman or a priestess
would, but as any woman would--and learn."

Kay nodded slowly.  "Wolf, what would a *man* know of trust betrayed?"

Wolf shook her head and let her tears start to flow.  "It is not my
story to tell.  Ask Tom, and he will tell it."

Kay finally stopped shivering constantly, but occasionally a shudder
would flow over her body.  By that time she had turned so she was
settled and leaning against Wolf, who had her arms wrapped around Kay
in a protective, and comforting hug.

The silence lengthened along with the shadows before Kay finally spoke
again.

"Tom?  You heard?"

I nodded.  "Yes, Kay.  I heard."

"Sometimes you act like a man, at others a woman.  You have a
confidence that borders on the arrogance of a newly blooded warrior.
What would *you* know about being unable to trust, even if you wanted
to--with all your heart?"

I let the memories overwhelm me.  They no longer crippled me, but they
did have the strength left to make me weep uncontrollably.  My vision
blurred and I blindly reached for Mahika's hands, then squeezed as I
held on to my sanity through my physical contact with her.

Eventually I was able to see past my thoughts and I looked at Kay, who
watched me with horror filled eyes.

I took a deep breath and let it out to calm myself a little.  It had
been a long time since I'd taken the memories out to examine them, and
they had been more intense than I'd expected.

"Kay.  Many years ago someone who asked for my help, by their actions,
proved they were a conscienceless one, and only using me for
themselves.  They never intended to use what I offered for the purpose
for which it was intended, and when things did not go as they wished,
they attacked me remorselessly, and recruited others to their task.
This went on for months, and because of the life I led, I could not
escape their attentions until they tired of their game."

I held my hands out, as if I held a stick between them.  "I cannot
deny..."  I flexed my hands sharply while watching Kay's face.  "That
I broke, and the way I broke was by not being able to trust my own
judgment--at all.  When I looked at people, I could not decide, so I
hid within and refused to reach for those who could help me or allow
them to touch me, even when they wished only to help."

I leaned back and looked into Mahika's eyes sadly.  "I even, in my
misery, commanded Mahika away from my side, and she left me for a
time.  It was only her trust in me, and the trust of a few friends
that finally, after years of pain and uncertainty, brought me back.
She and they gave me back myself."

I brought my head back so I could gaze at Kay.  "I will deny my help
to some, but to one I care for deeply and have promised I would be
there for?"

I shook my head slightly.  "No.  If that person I gave my word to
called me, I would come, because I know how great their need truly is,
to know they can trust someone."

I wanted to lean forward, but knew I could not or I'd destroy the
moment, and Kay.  I leaned back on my hands and let my face become
thoughtful.

"Two things you should think about, Kay.  Anyone can fear.  It's how
we deal with that fear that is important.  We can let it dictate how
we deal with the world for the rest of our lives, or we can dig deep,
and confront it.  There's an odd fact about fear, known only to those
who have dared it to do it's worst, and I think you already know what
it is.  Fear is afraid to live in the light of self knowledge.  It
doesn't die, but it becomes weakened and one can more easily set it
aside.  My people have a saying:  'That which does not kill me, makes
me stronger.'

"The other thing you should think about is more complex.  When you
came here, were you running away from something you feared, or running
towards an unknown future that you wanted to be better than the one
you knew was certain if you stayed?"

I sat up and looked at her solemnly.  "Remember this, Kay, every time
you feel the mind numbing touch of your fears.  As great as it was,
and unbearable, the fear didn't take away your ability to choose. Only
you can do that--and you didn't."

Again, there was silence while Kay thought about what she'd been told.
Mahika and I left to gather materials for a small fire, then returned
to light it in the space between us.

When I held my palms out to warm them, Kay's lips had twitched
slightly before she held her palms to the fire and looked at me with a
sad smile.

I smiled and nodded, appreciative of what she was saying.  'It was too
soon for a direct sharing of our warmth, but this much, she could
manage to bring herself to do.'

* * *

I was crushing some moss I'd gathered and was pressing it into the
fish I'd caught and cleaned for breakfast, when Kay finally woke up.

"Mmm"  She stretched and inhaled deeply.  "That smells..."  The wind
swirled and a bit of the smoke blew over her.

Her eyes snapped open in surprise.  "What are you doing?!"

I shrugged and didn't look up.  "Cooking our breakfast."

Her response was tart.  "I can see that.  I meant, what on earth are
you doing using that spice?"

I pretended to ignore her outrage.  "You weren't awake, so I had to
choose on my own.  Besides, it complements the flavor of the fish, as
you probably know better than I do."

She sighed.  "It does, but that's not what you want for breakfast."

She stood and looked around, then walked over to a nearby plant and
picked a few leaves.  She crushed part of one and held it up so she
could smell it before she came back to me and held it out imperiously.

"Smell!"

I did, and shrugged again.  "Nice.  Tangy.  Should make a good
contrast for our lunch when we're alert enough to appreciate it."

She inhaled sharply, then let her breath out explosively.  "That's my
point!  You want people to wake up, Night is over, it's daylight and
time to do things.  This will get them moving more quickly." 

She went on scathingly.  "What you're preparing will relax them, make
them lazy."

This time I paused and looked up.  "Good.  Thank you.  That's the
effect I wanted, but I couldn't be certain."

Her jaw dropped.  "You...  Want them sleepy and relaxed?"  She sounded
like she couldn't believe how crazy I was.

I nodded.  "Of course I do.  I want them relaxed after a pleasant
night of gentle touches and love.  I want them to remember what we
shared together, and be able to feel the afterglow, and savor it as
they look forward to another day together, and later, another night."

I grinned at her.  "I want breakfast to be a seduction of their
senses, a foretaste of what is to come."  I looked at the leaves she
held.  "Lunch.  That is when we will need something to let us know we
have a lot to look forward to."

I bent back to my task, hid my grin, and waited for her response.  It
came, finally, accompanied by a disdainful sniff.  "Hmmph!  I will
season my own food this morning."

I gestured indifferently.  "There is more than enough to feed us all.
Do as you wish."

She settled across from me and started working on her breakfast.  Her
movements were almost violent and I knew she was deliberately
reminding me of my folly while she divided her attention between
pressing in her spices, and glaring at me.

At one point, when her movements were especially vigorous, I looked up
innocently.  "What are you planning on doing with that paste?"

She froze, then looked down.  When she realized what she'd done, she
blushed.  Finally she looked at me and  smiled sweetly.  "I'm thinking
about feeding it to you, since you don't have the wit to appreciate
real food."

Instead of reacting immediately I studied the mess covering her hands.
"If you save it, and use it as a batter to cover the fish, I will eat
it, and willingly, for lunch."

She froze again, then looked down thoughtfully before she reached over
and pinched off a small bit of the moss I was using.  She rolled that
and a small bit of her paste together, ate it, and thought some more.
She nodded to herself before she looked at me again.  "Dinner.  A
hare.  I will season it and you can cook some fish, plain, with
nothing on them.  The fish will allow your tongue to recover between
each bite so you can savor the next one."

I nodded.  "Done."

She made another bit of her paste and held it out for me to taste.
"Sample.  You will understand and then take more care when you cook
later."

I was watching her eyes when I leaned forward and held my mouth open.
She gently placed the food in my mouth and leaned back.  She was all
cook now, imperious and sure of her judgment.  I chewed thoughtfully,
then nodded my head.  "You are right.  I will take special care to
make sure the fish does nothing other than clean the palate for the
next bite."

She gave an 'I told you so' shake to her head, then bent back to her
chore with a smug smile.

After we ate, Mahika and I left Kay with Wolf and went off to find a
hare for dinner.  We had plenty of time so instead of changing into
wolves we strolled off hand in hand.  After we were hidden from view,
Mahika allowed herself the fit of giggles she been suppressing and
bent over to keep from laughing so loud she'd be heard.

"She was watching us."

I chortled.  "Of course she was.  I wonder what she saw?"

Mahika finally straightened and glanced back the way we had come.
"Something fascinating, I'm sure.  Wolf had to raise her voice to get
her attention."

I shook my head with mock sadness and held out my hand.

Mahika took it and we started walking again.  "I've heard of using
food to seduce, but *talk* about food?  I wouldn't have believed it,
even though I've seen you get into arguments with other cooks."

I chuckled.  "I've never tried to explain how cooks seduce each other
in the kitchen, and that , I have to admit, is because I've never
tried it before."

She sneezed at me.

I thought briefly, then went on.  "Right.  Most people are familiar
with the idea of using food to seduce someone into the eating
experience, or something more, like sex.  There's the other side to
that experience though, the cook's realization that to be able to
seduce the other person, they have to be able to seduce themselves.

"The best cooks know how food speaks to them, then they use that
knowledge, combined with learning about other people, to fine tune
their work."

I smiled.  "The key point with Kay is that cooking is the one thing
she knows she can do, and people appreciate it.  If they appreciate
her food, they appreciate her by implication. 

"Plus, whether anyone realizes it or not, the eating experience is
intensely personal, and throughout it, Kay is the one in control from
start to finish once it starts."

Mahika stopped and studied me.  "Transference.  Kay has the self
confidence already, she only needs to realize she can use it in other
ways than her cooking."

I nodded.  "Essentially, yes.  Talking about food, and how it affects
people, along with the intensely personal involvement, provides a
context where she can feel the passions and closeness of love, without
the sexual overtones unless she adds them."

Mahika's eyes went wide.  "So that's it!  When she placed the food in
your mouth, she wasn't trusting you, you were trusting her."

I grinned smugly.  "Yep."

Then, suddenly, a strange thought made me freeze in mid step.  When I
was finally able to get past the insight, I placed my foot carefully
and stared at Mahika.

"Tom?  What's wrong.  What frightens you so much?"

I shook myself and pulled her into a hug.  "You do.  Mostly, though, I
frighten myself--with my blindness."

She pushed away so she could watch my face.  "What did I do?"

I sighed.  "It's what you've never done, because you were never told
you could, and I'm ashamed to admit I didn't see it until now."

I held her hands in mine and smiled.  "Mahika, My Love.  You've never
flown free, only known the cage of someone else's needs."

I lifted our joined hands so I could kiss hers lightly, then watched
her eyes.  "Once, long ago, when I didn't understand, I commanded you
to leave my side, yet you came back, because you knew me better than I
knew myself...

"And because you were selfish and needed to give me what I did not
truly need."

She trembled at the reminder of that terrible day and terror blazed
from her eyes.

"This time, I know better.  Fly free if you wish, and I will
understand, and wait forever if need be, for your return."  I
deliberately opened my hands.  "I give you your freedom."

She stared at me in shock.  "Are you asking me to leave?  You don't
want me around?"

I shook my head.  "No, Love.  I *don't* want you to go, and that is
the problem.  I want us to be a partnership of equals, which means
even as I did to you, you should be able to do to me.  It is *you* who
can command *me* to leave, whenever you feel it has to happen, for
however long you want us to stay apart, and I will accept that
decision, as you once accepted mine."

"I came back against your wishes.  Would you do the same for me?"

"Would you want me to come back, even though you commanded me to
leave?"

"I wouldn't then, just as you felt that day.  But I know now, because
of what happened then, and because of all that has followed, my desire
to not have you in my life wouldn't last, and that it would be foolish
to pretend otherwise.  Yes, come back to me before I am ready, because
I know I will understand when I can think clearly again."

She slowly slid her hands from mine, then turned to study the
landscape.  I waited until her trembling stopped, then walked up
behind her, wrapped her in a hug, and kissed her neck.  

"I love you, and never want to lose you.  But, if I'd never struck the
chain, you'd always be my slave, and your own."

Her hands touched mine and squeezed hungrily before she whispered.
"I'm afraid.  I was never meant to feel this way after I bonded with a
mortal, able to choose for myself."

"I know.  You were created to always give without taking for yourself,
and I selfishly allowed it to continue too long, until I forgot it was
happening.  Your shackles rusted away years ago, but I never realized
we both needed to externalize what we knew and accepted, until now."

I hugged her again, pulling us together hungrily.  "Mahika?  Will you
forgive me?"

She turned in my arms and kissed me, then pulled back slightly until
we could watch each other's eyes.  Her smile was a little lopsided and
her tone was sad.  "No, Tom.  It is not I who should forgive you.  We
need to forgive ourselves."

My arms tightened.  "You ask much, Love.  It will not be easy."

"I know."

We stood there and wept the tears of lost innocence, shared.

* * *

Eventually she pushed herself away and laughed at me.  "I feel your
distraction, you know.  It's as if you are puzzling out how you want
to write a story and you itch to get home and write it down."

I blushed.  "It's the story that Kay and I are creating together,
though she knows it not."

She smiled and touched my face.  "I thought as much."

Her hands went to my chest and she applied a barely perceptible
pressure, pushing me away from her.  "Go to her.  I will hunt our
dinner alone, and look forward to the time when we are together again.
I will always need you, but Kay needs you more, and she is unable to
place her needs above mine because of how she was taught, and what she
sees when she looks with her inner vision."

I placed my hands over hers and when my tears came, I didn't try to
stop them.  "Love?  We've done this before, but I hurt because you've
commanded me to leave you."

"I hurt, too.  You aren't creating a fantasy this time, that I can
tease you away from and know that you will resume it exactly where you
left off.  You must go, Tom.  Things will work out."

She leaned forward and kissed me, then pulled away.  "I'll be back as
soon as I catch our dinner.  Trust me."

She stepped further back and shimmered into her natural form, smiled
at me tenderly, then spun and ran off as if all the dogs of hell were
chasing her and she was fleeing for her life.

I stood there, let my tears flow, and watched until she went over a
ridge and vanished down its other side, without once looking back.

'Trust me.'  

How strange, I thought to myself,  that somehow, in spite of knowing
so much, and never taking her for granted in so many ways, I'd been
blind to her slavery until I'd given her freedom.

I turned around and headed back--to Kay.

Kay noticed me first, and by the time I was close enough for speech,
she and Wolf were side by side and waiting for me.

Wolf was watching me intently, and Kay was...

I wasn't sure what she was feeling.  She would look at me, then look
away but it wasn't the glance of of a young girl looking at a man, as
a man.

She acted..    Confused?  Whatever was bothering her, she acted like
her eyes were being drawn to me against her will by something other
than a  fascination with my naked body.

When I stopped before them, Wolf reached and pulled me into a hug.

"What happened?  I've never seen you walk like that unless you were
exhausted."

She leaned back to study me and this time when she spoke I could hear
her fear and concern for me.  "Kay's frightened.  She can't see you.
When she looks, she sees nothing."

I turned my head and gazed at the river as it drifted past us.  "What
happened?  Something that should have happened a long time ago.  I
gave Mahika her freedom..."

I looked down and smiled slightly.  "She commanded me to return while
she would continue on and hunt our dinner."

Wolf gasped with her shock.  "She *commanded* you?  But that's..."

She shook her head slowly.  "She did it, so it *is* possible, but what
made her do it?!"

I brought my gaze down and looked at Wolf.  "It was something we both
wanted, but it hurt both of us deeply when she said the words, in
spite of our love for each other.  Her last words before she ran off,
were 'Trust me.' "

I looked at Kay, who was watching me closely, with disbelief,  and
smiled at her a bit wryly, in spite of my emotional numbness.  "The
pain will pass with Mahika's return."

I lifted my arm and held my hand, palm out, towards Kay.  Then,
finally, I let myself feel again.  "Mahika knows when my distraction
is so great I cannot think past it, and she sent me back so I could
work on my newest tale."

Kay's eyes widened, then she closed them and turned away.  "It's too
bright.  Please..."  She hugged herself and fell silent.

I banked the inner fire and lowered my hand.  "Know this:  Soul
warming love does not need the coupling of the bodies.  *That* is just
a spice that has different flavors, depending on when it is picked."

Kay jerked her whole body around to face me.  Her eyes were wide and
her jaw was slack with her surprise.

I turned away from them, then went to settle on the bank and toss
pebbles into the uncaring water.

* * *

The sun was well past zenith when Kay settled in front of me with a
woven mat that held several cooked fish that were surrounded by small
piles of spices.  When I reached for it she pulled it away slightly.
"No.  This is food we eat together.   Wolf said you would trust me
without knowing more than the fact this is something I desire to do."

I nodded.

She smiled slightly.  "Good.  It is a betrothal ceremony between a man
and a woman that is a promise for the future.  As I choose, so must
you, then we feed each other.  Either of us may speak or not, it is as
we choose.  There is no spoken ritual for this because for every
couple it is different."

She looked down and blushed.  "Because we are using only fish, it
promises no more than our souls to each other.  Were it a marriage
ceremony, we would be using other meats and giving each other the
appropriate parts of their bodies to symbolize what we would give each
other physically"

When she looked up I smiled.  "I understand."

She nodded, then broke off a piece of fish and touched it to one of
the piles of spice on the mat.

I did the same and waited.

She smiled and whispered as she offered me the bite of food.  "I
desire this with all my heart, and wish I could offer more."

I ate what she gave me and then offered the bite I held.  "Kay, My
Love.  As you choose, so shall it be."

Near the end of the ceremony she smiled impishly.  "Prepare yourself
because the next spice is extremely tart and will cause tears.
Remember that I must eat it as well and thus share your pain, as we
will share other pains as we live together.  The spice after it will
soothe the pain into a memory, as our love will soothe any pain we
cause each other."

By the time her offering touched my lips my nose had warned me.
Whatever it was she'd used, it wasn't as spicy as a habanero pepper,
but it was well above average on the heat rating scale.

By the time I finished chewing and swallowing, Kay had the next bite
waiting, but she didn't offer it to me.

She dutifully ate what I offered and by mutual, unspoken, agreement,
instead of alternating after I'd prepared her food,  we jabbed the
pieces of fish at each other at the same time, then chewed them a pulp
before we swirled the resulting paste in our mouths.

She'd been right.  The tang of the pepper vanished as if it had been
neutralized, which, I reflected, was a nice culinary trick that as far
as I knew, hadn't survived to reach my original time.

When we were done, Kay casually tossed the remains in the river before
she smiled at me and walked away.

I was lost in my memories of the ceremony when hands on my shoulders
brought me back.  They squeezed gently, then Wolf settled us so she
was  spooned in front of me and we were gazing at the river.

"How did you manage to find the key so quickly?"

"Key?"

"As we age, we forget how resilient youth can be.  Oh, Kay will be
traveling through valleys and peaks of emotions for a long time to
come, but hers is also a harsher world, and such is a normal part of
life.  She was raised to expect them.

"When you called sex a 'spice', her thinking shifted and she realized
that she thinks of life as a meal, and it has to be balanced if you
want to experience it properly."

Wolf giggled.  "As Kay put it, she expected something sweet, and
instead she was served a pepper!  Worse, the man had not the wit to
offer her the spice that took the sting of the pepper away."

I chuckled.  "Ah!  So that explains the significance of the food and
spices during the betrothal ceremony.  Her people use the various
spices as metaphors for the ups and downs of life, and the food is
life itself."

I sobered slightly and went back to watching the patterns of the
ripples.  "I didn't know my words would provide the key.  There's
something in me that finds the words when I cannot."

Wolf touched, then held my hands.  "Perhaps.  I think it's something
more in this case.  The words wouldn't have mattered.  They could have
been anything."

"Oh?"

"Yes.  The key was not the words, it was that you spoke them
truthfully, and Kay knew you did."

"Ah?  She *knew* I spoke truth as I saw it?  I don't understand."

Wolf sighed.  "It's part of who we are, and the way we learned to
interact with the world while we were growing up.  You, being human,
feel emotions.  Mahika and I, since we are canids, smell emotions.
Kay, of course, until now has felt them, as you do.  Today she
discovered she can see them.  For her, emotions have shades and
textures she can see as easily as she does the blue of the sky or the
green of the grass."

She paused and tossed a few pebbles into the water, then went on again
thoughtfully.  "When she caught sight of you, she looked with her
inner vision and saw nothing.  Before that moment, you had three
places within you that radiated a light that would fill your body, or
flow and meet with our light and then enter us."

Her hands tightened and she shuddered.  "Can you blame her for her
terror when she looked and saw only the absence of your light?  No
light filled you, as she expected after you had been with Mahika. Your
three points didn't glow.  It was if a fire had gone out completely
and the embers were cold."

"As she explained it to me after you settled on the bank and started
tossing pebbles, even though she feared and hurt deeply, she could
still see her own light in her heart, mind and groin.  It was dim and
flickering, but it was there."

I slumped.  "And of course, since she just discovered this ability she
would mistake control for death.  None of us would have thought to
warn her before it happened, because we had no idea it could."  

Wolf shivered again and sighed.  "How ironic that Kay will come to
love you as deeply as we do, for the very same reasons, and we can't
tell her how you learned to be that way."

"Damn!"  I hugged Wolf.  "If I tell her the truth, she will not be the
Kay the world knows later.  When I hide or lie, she will know it, and
thus I destroy part of her trust in me."

We were silent while we searched for a way to solve our problem.
Finally I sighed.  "Right now I can see only one solution that will
let me keep her trust.  I have to tell her there are things about my
past that I will have to keep from her, for now."

Wolf agreed with me.  "I see much the same solution, with some
differences.  We place the blame for that on a higher purpose.  I am
the one who *knows* this must be, and because we live as a pack, I
have commanded your silence--as your Alpha."

I sighed.  "It will be painful for all of us, but because it is a
shared pain, it will be easier for her to accept.  She is already
familiar with the pain of doing what has to be and not what you wish."

I kissed Wolf's neck.  "It is good that we had already decided to stop
making love in our natural bodies, and had begun to adjust our
actions.  We thought to hide the visible signs of our love, never
knowing Kay would be able to see beyond that to the inner truth if we
attempted to hide our hearts with rituals."

She moaned briefly from the pleasure, then relaxed and nestled back.
"At least we can explain our platonic love between forms and not raise
her suspicions.  That much she will accept because of the love she
sees in our daily lives."

I sighed into her neck.  "It will have to be enough, My Love."

Movement caught my attention and I lifted my head slightly to see what
it was.

It was Kay, settling where she could watch the river, and us.

She sat in silence, not bothering to hide her interest in us while she
tossed pebbles in the water, or made idle patterns in the earth.

Suddenly her head jerked up and to the side, while her law dropped in
astonishment.  She froze that way for a few seconds, then started
giggling.  "Mahika has returned, with the hare for our dinner, AND
enough extra meat for several days.  How she managed to carry all that
must be an *impressive* story and much better than 'it jumped into my
jaws'."

Her glance was sidelong and accompanied by a grin.

I twisted my head over my shoulder, then laughed.  "I hope nobody saw
her.  Wolf, I think we'd better greet her return."

We stood, then went to the fire and watched the 'apparition' that was
approaching.  She had her head high and walked easily, almost flowing
over the ground.  To one who knew the body language she spoke, she
strode jauntily.  She was obviously pleased with herself about
something.  In her jaws, was another of the large hares.

That much was normal, and expected.

What turned her into an apparition suitable for Kay's and Wolf's
giggles--and my laughter--was the buck that was balanced on her back,
as if it had mounted her, then decided to share her journey home with
its head held high, as if it proudly surveyed its domain.

Mahika reached us and dropped the hare at Kay's feet, then turned her
head and coughed to clear her mouth.  She shook herself slightly and
the buck slid from her back.

She shook herself again and gave the buck a glare while she sneezed
disgustedly.

That was obviously my cue.  "An interesting way to catch dinner."

Her head slowly turned until she could give me the same glare she'd
given the buck.  "He annoyed me."

I laughed.  "Things are never that simple."

Wolf and Kay giggled even harder and Wolf included them in her glare
before she settled on her haunches.  "He was amorous and sought to
mate with me.  I would snarl and lunge, to scare him off, only to
catch him a few minutes later, creeping back to repeat the process. He
was very skilled, but it was wasted effort.  I'm sure one of his own
kind would have found him irresistible.  When he scared off a hare
larger than this one, I tired of his game and killed him."

I grinned at her and she curled a lip slightly in return.

She tilted her head thoughtfully, and when she spoke musingly her
tones were gentle and filled with malicious humor.  "I begin to hope
he actually produced offspring.  I would enjoy hearing your tale of
how you had a successful hunt after meeting one of his daughters. What
method would you use to bring her home for dinner?"

Kay gasped and blushed, then doubled over in a fit of uncontrollable
giggles.

I smiled blandly.  "How could I know before the event?  I certainly
wouldn't choose to let her have in death what I refused her in life,
as you did for him!"

She started to respond, paused to think about what I'd said, then
nodded.  "Sometimes I forget we do not always share the same sense of
humor.  He was a problem to be solved, so I solved it in a way that
would let his memory know he'd made a mistake by seeking outside his
own kind.  I carried his body thus, to emphasize my indifference for
what he'd tried to do in life."

I chortled and she gave me a disgusted look, but said nothing before
she turned her head so she faced Kay.  "I have already prepared the
hare for you.  Ignore our banter.  I had need to be alone to think,
and this fellow took that away from me for the several hours I spent
trying to escape his rut befuddled sense of priorities."

She glanced at the dead buck again.  "Truly, the thoughts of mating
with *him* were ones I found distasteful."

* * *

Kay and I prepared the food in amiable silence.  Once she had
everything cooking to her satisfaction we sat across the fire from
each other and she grew contemplative while she watched Wolf and
Mahika prepare the buck for smoking later.

I let her relax, then stirred the fire idly and spoke softly.  "Kay?"

She turned her head towards me and I went on.  "I have to make a
decision, and only you can help me make it.  Should I hide things from
you, or openly lie, knowing that you can tell the difference and be
hurt no matter which I choose?

"Please, let me explain before you believe I would betray your trust
in me.  There are things I've done before I met Mahika and Wolf that I
have not told them about, or hidden from them until the time seemed
right for them to be mentioned.  There are things since, that each of
has shared with one and not the other.  We keep secrets from each
other, and have learned to simply accept that it is something that has
to be."

"There will be things you and I share, that we desire to be kept
secret from them.  They won't know what we hide, but they will know
the hiding is inevitable, and normal."

I looked down at the fire, then up at her again.  "Truly, I am not
uncomfortable speaking the truth all the time with them  Their natures
demand it from me when I am asked directly.  Can you see my problem?
They allow me to hide things, or not say them, and I do the same for
them, because we do not see as you do."

Wolf choose that moment to look up.  "We live as a pack does, because
that is also part of our natures, and I am the Alpha.  There are
things that must remain mysteries to you until you learn them on your
own.  I have commanded his silence.  Because you are who you are, he
had to be open about that instead of silent as he would have been with
one of us or a young woman without your ability to know the omission
was there.  We cannot hide the lack, so we must explain it so you can
understand we do it from need, not whim, or lack of trust.  Instead,
we trust the future to do what we must not.  When you have the
knowledge to understand your discoveries, they will be made."

Kay was silent for a long time.  Eventually she nodded.  "The wise
women tried to get me to accept that there were mysteries that I would
not understand in others until I discovered them on my own.  Once
felt, they could be talked about and explanations could be searched
for.  Until that day..."

She sighed.  "For each of us, some things will look the same, but we
will see and feel them differently.  She told me, but I still had to
experience it to understand it."

Her shoulders slumped.

I spoke again, gently.  "Kay?"

"What?"

"None of you were to blame for what happened, or all of you were at
fault.  You acted according to what you knew.  So did the man act
according to his knowledge and nature, doing what was right for both
of you, until his desires became stronger than his reason.  When the
wise woman sent you to your duty, she acted according to her knowledge
and experience.

"A few words from any of you would have prevented what happened, or at
least lessened the pain for you.   Nobody thought to say the words
because none of you had any expectations beyond what you knew, and
thought the others were the same way.  You trusted each other, as you
should have."

I bent my gaze to the glowing coals of the fire.  "It was just as it
happened today, when I came back.  I made a mistake I couldn't have
foreseen, because I didn't know it was possible to make it.

"This why I have to give us both a lesser hurt now, so we can
communicate and share with each other, and thus prevent greater hurts
later."

I found an analogy I hoped would work.  "Do you not cause a small pain
when you remove a splinter now, to prevent the greater pain of losing
the hand, arm, or even life, later?  Thus it is with all things,
including love."

I let her think for a time, then chuckled.  "Relax, Kay, You've just
learned you have the skill, it will take time to train it.  Think of
the fun of being able to lie to me outrageously, while I must always
stick to the truth, or be caught out in my lies, no matter how subtle
I make them.  The real question, then, is how far will you let me
wander from the truth, before you laugh and tell me I'm evading you?
Keep me guessing, the way Wolf and Mahika do, and you will keep me in
my proper place!"

She giggled.  "Perhaps I will do it that way, perhaps I won't.  But,
know this:  I won't let you lie about food.  It's too important!"

We grinned at each other before we bent our heads to the fire and
adjusted the food so it would cook evenly.

* * *

Once we'd eaten, Kay and I left the fire for Mahika and Wolf so they
could start smoking the deer meat.  Kay had looked at their
preparations dubiously, then finally allowed that their work was
'adequate' before she wandered over to stand just inside the
protective shield.

She lifted her hand and held it up next to the barrier and just stood
there for a long time while she looked back the way she had come just
a few days  ago.

I settled on my side and watched her without saying anything.

After a time she sighed and let her shoulders slump, then she turned
and came over to settle cross legged in front of me.

When she shivered slightly and hugged herself I reached in front of me
and built a ball of energy, before I made it shift color until it was
a deep red.  Then, I made it radiate heat.

After awhile her shivering slowed, then stopped.  When she held her
hands over the ball of energy to warm them, I spoke.

"Will they miss you as much as you miss them?"

She looked up, then shook her head slowly.  "I don't know.  If they
miss me, it will only be because they wish to punish me for not being
there for the harvest ritual."

"Umm. Kay?  This is important.  When you left, did you take anything
that wasn't yours?"

She shook her head in a 'no'.  

"Good. We don't have to return anything to make things right.  If they
come looking for you, they will have no claim on you."

She bent her head and studied the ground.   "Do you think they will?"

"It doesn't matter."

I held up my hand.  "Wait before you speak."

I gestured and created another ball of energy, then pushed it out far
enough that we were inside it before I made it a zone of silence.
"Wolf and Mahika can see us, but they cannot hear anything we say.  I
would like to share some words and thoughts with you, alone, but if
this makes you uneasy, I will wait, and ask one of them to be the one
to speak of these things."

I allowed myself a slight smile.  "Or, you can simply lie down and
sleep.  It will stay warm, and nothing will disturb your rest while I
keep guard.  You've done a lot today, and there will be more to do
tomorrow, if you desire it."

She drew some random lines in the dirt.  "They would not have made me
one of their own.  I do not think they will come looking, or claim me.
I was 'borrowed', to fill in until their chosen one was old enough to
take my place, and later become their wise woman."

"What about your own people?"

She shuddered.  "To them, I was useless once the new wise woman cast
me out.  I had not the skills to become a proper wife for a warrior,
so I would have become a servant, or..."

"I understand, Kay and that is a very good thing."

She jerked her head up and I could see her hurt disbelief.  "Good?!  I
had no future."

"You had no future with *them*.  Now, you have a future ahead of you
that will be unlike anything you could have dreamed of."

She yawned and I laughed.  "Forgive me, Kay.  You need some sleep and
I prattle on, keeping you from it."

I took down the barrier, then gestured Mahika over.  I pointed at Kay.
"I think she's ready to quit for now."

Mahika laughed softly.  "Yes, she is.  Go.  I will take care of her."

I pecked Mahika on the cheek, then walked over to settle next to Wolf.
"I know the *real* reason we're here."

"Tom?  Should Kay be hearing this?"

I finished settling on my side and then laughed.  "It doesn't matter.
We're going to make sure she knows, by telling her the reasons,
anyway.

"See if my logic makes sense.  We know we were 'sent' here, to meet
Kay when she arrived, right?"

"Of course."

"Good.  Now, the one thing the four of us have in common is that we
all have at least one thing that we have to hide from most of the
world.  Mahika is an elemental able to take on any form she wishes.
I'm a power handler, amongst other things, and each one of which, is
something best hidden.  Your life has been directly influenced by
power, and as a result, you are immortal.  Kay has the ability to see
people's emotions.

"We should have been looking at our differences, not our similarities
when we were trying to plan for the future."

I paused while she adjusted the meat, then continued after she settled
back.  "The *one* thing we three are good at, that applies here, is
also the thing Kay will have to know *before* she leaves us.

"We're here to guide, yes, but the most important thing we have to do,
is teach her to be able to blend in, because her survival and sanity
depend in it."

Wolf thought about it for awhile.  "We still can't tell her
everything."

I nodded.  "I know.  But we *do* have to tell her enough so she can
make informed decisions, and that means she needs to make decisions
now, that must be based on information she hasn't had time to learn.
We have to give her a perspective she's too young to have reached on
her own."

Wolf looked at me.  "You risk much, Tom."

"No, I don't.  Something is guiding us, and it's not about to let us
screw up its plans for Kay.  Think about some of the things that have
happened that we didn't foresee, and then think about how 'easily'
something else happened to make certain Kay will develop the way she's
supposed to."

I took a grim satisfaction in watching Wolf's jaw slowly go slack as
she thought things through.

When she finally shook herself and turned to me she had a stricken
look in her eyes.  "Perspective.  Do you know what that means?"

I sighed and reached out with my hand.  "I do, and I already have the
words to tell her."  I looked sideways at where Kay was sleeping and
allowed myself a smile.  "After breakfast, when she is alert enough to
hear them, and begin to understand."

She grabbed my hand and pressed it to her breast.  "But it is I, the
Alpha,  who must give you permission to say them.  It will not be easy
for me, and Kay will know that I speak as a Priestess, and not as a
woman."

I nodded.  "Everything that has happened to her, and to us, was done
to arrive at that moment, My Love.  Remember that when you speak."

She nodded and then leaned forward to kiss me.  "Get some sleep, Love.
You need it.  I will watch the fire, and you, until it is time for us
to speak again."

I lay on my back and watched the stars until I drifted into a
dreamless slumber.

* * *

I woke to the smell of food and the weight of someone straddling my
hips.

I kept my eyes closed and slowly stroked whoever it was. 

"Mmm!"  It was not a voice I expected to hear and my eyes snapped open
to let me see her grin and the food she was holding under my nose.
"Kay?!"

She giggled and touched my lips with the fish.  "Eat!"

I took a bite and she nodded.  I knew I was supposed to savor it
before I swallowed, so I made my appraisal of her cooking obvious
before I swallowed.  She touched my lips again, and I suddenly
realized the ritual she was offering.  She could not give of herself,
yet, but this much she could do, willingly.

We stayed in that special world until the fish was gone.

I kept it simple, without any banter.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Instead of leaving, she sobered.  "Wolf says you have something to
tell me, and when you speak, you will be speaking for all of you, by
her command.  She also said that I could choose to hear your words
now, or later, but I could not avoid hearing them."

I sighed.  "Truth.  Know we had hoped to not say them at all."

"She said that and I had to believe her, as I believe you.  I will
hear them later, after you and I have words that are spoken only
between us, but not before I move from this position."

I grinned at her formality.  "You are much taken with ritual, Kay."

She nodded solemnly, but her eyes let me see the mirth she was
suppressing.  "I was told it was the gift that would make me a wise
woman or a priestess, when the harvest ceremony was over and I would
be forced to choose one or the other, as I left my youth behind me
forever."

Her eyes dimmed with her pain and I moved my hands until they were
resting on her thighs, providing nothing more than touch, and contact
with my feelings for her.

"I wanted more, and..."  She broke off and touched my hands.  "Can you
shield us from their view and hearing without moving your hands?"

"Of course.  The gestures are an aid, a habit born of the need to let
others see what I am doing."

I hesitated, then let all of my worry for her join my love.  "Do you
truly wish this, and do you trust me?  If we do this, there are things
I could do to you before they would have a chance to know my thoughts,
and prevent it."

"I trust you, Tom, and I do not *wish*, I *desire*!"  She slitted her
eyes at me.  "And I want you to know what made me trust you so
quickly, without having to put up with their smug, knowing and...
*mothering* ways!"

I snorted.  Her voice had started out calm and matter of fact, but
when she finished it was filled with her frustrated outrage.

"I'm going to focus the power between us, in the same way I did when I
shielded this place, then push it out until you tell me you feel
comfortable within the space it encloses.  When I'm done, we'll be
able to see out, but they won't be able to see or hear us.  Will that
be OK?"

She ducked her head for a long time, and when she brought it up again
there was something in her eyes that suddenly reminded me of an abused
dog I had taken in.  'I want to trust you.  I *need* to trust you.
*Help* me trust you.'

She nodded slightly and I nodded back, then gathered the power and
pushed it out until she relaxed slightly and said:  "Enough."

I set the barrier, relaxed, and waited.  Instead of speaking she ran
her hands over my chest to some inner prompting of her own.  "It's the
same, yet it's different."

She went back to her exploration until she slowed to a stop and looked
down at me with a smile.

"We talked a long time after you went to sleep.  They told me many
things about all of you but there was something I had to try for
myself, and they allowed it."

"Oh?"

"Yes.  They said that sometimes they liked to touch you while you were
sleeping, and over the years they'd made a game out of seeing what
they could do without waking you up."

I chuckled.  "The game is mutual, and enjoyed."

She giggled and I wondered what tales had been told.  I had a feeling
I would find out fairly soon.

She touched the tip of my penis, where it was limply nestled between
her thighs.  "It was when they told me that even in your deepest
sleep, your body could tell them apart, and your hands would, on their
own, pleasure them differently.  I didn't believe them, of course, and
dared them to prove it."

She placed her hands flat on my chest and grew solemn.  "They did, and
you never woke."

"Ah?  I can guess the rest."

She blushed.  "Your body knew me, even to refusing to let us couple. I
could get you ready, but as soon as I tried to do more..."   She
touched my flaccid penis.  "Your body refused to allow me this."

I smiled wryly.  "I never knew that about myself, that my body would
refuse a woman on its own.  The problem has never arisen before."

She giggled.  "I imagine not.  There are some spices that are
addicting, and once they are eaten, they cannot be left alone ever
again.  You are one of them and now that I've seen your soul, I
understand why Mahika and Wolf are by your side, and only find my
desires 'amusing' and not threatening to their places with you."

I chuckled.  "Adding a new pack member is something we are used to. We
are like a small hamlet that grows and shrinks with the seasons and
years.

The color drained from her face.  "Years?  You speak of them quite
casually, for one so young."

I sighed.  "You will too, someday, and it is that of which I must
speak."

I waited until some of her color had returned, and eventually she
nodded.  "Go on."

"Just as you were running away from a situation you could not bear, I
too, was running away when I came here."

"What would one such as you fear?"

"Death."

Her face turned white again and she put her hands on my chest while
she watched my face.  "You speak truth."  It was a statement and not a
question.

"Yes.  I was dying when I came here, and this is not the body I
arrived in."

She shook her head slightly, and frowned at something.  "You tell the
truth, but that which fills you has changed."

It was my turn to frown.  "Changed?  How?"

She sidestepped me.  "You really can't see anything?"

"No."

She looked around for awhile, obviously searching for something, so I
waited.  Suddenly she nodded to herself and when she looked at me
again her smile was impish.  "When one searches for new ways to season
food, they add or take things away carefully until they know what
changes can be made."

I chuckled.  "True.  I can remember times when I made choices in my
seasoning that left me wishing I could take my mouth away from my body
until it recovered."

We grinned at each other before she turned serious again.  "Your love
for me is the main course of the meal you serve me, and I am learning
that the seasonings you flavor it with can be obvious...  Or subtle."

I nodded.  "I understand so far."

"Good."

She touched my chest.  "When you told me you were dying, you removed
something.  Your love is like a fire, and warm. When you spoke, I saw
no change in the light, but there was less heat."

I sighed and inwardly cursed that which had brought us here.  Kay
stiffened, then giggled.  "That was pretty.  Can you do it again?"

"Huh?  I did nothing, that I know of."

"You looked like a rainbow.  It was very pretty."

"My feelings were mixed.  Mostly, I was angry and resentful.

"The Purpose that guides us all brought us here and gave us a task.
You are that task, Kay.  Yet, because we know more of your future than
you do, there are things that you will have to learn when the time is
right."

I snorted softly.  "The Purpose has its ways, and I do not appreciate
some of them.  One of them is to give its own lessons in ways that are
'memorable' when we make mistakes.

I grinned at her.  "We had chosen to prepare you a banquet, only to
discover we had chosen the wrong spices and needed to throw out things
you would have enjoyed now, but they would have given you severe
cramps later."

"We feel as if our hands were slapped, and we were told that we must
give you small hurts at the beginning, in the manner of the pepper and
what follows."

She giggled at the last image and held up her hands so she could look
at them.  "When I was just learning the spices, I had a similar
experience, so I know how you feel!"

Her hands came down slowly to rest on mine.  "I know we are evading
what must be said, and it has been a pleasant diversion.  I fear what
you might say."

I rolled my hands until I could wrap them around hers.  "Kay, I love
you, and do not want to hurt you in any way.  But there will be times
when I must, both now and in the future.  I hope that your special
skill will let you know when those hurts are deliberate, and when they
are accidental.    No matter what happens though, I want to know when
I have hurt you, and how I may soothe you."

She nodded and squeezed my hands.  "Say your words, and then we will
do what we can to take away whatever pain they cause us."

Her lips twitched slightly.  "Wolf and Mahika think me a child, but I
have been a woman for many years even though I have not given my
people children."

"I know you have, My Love."

She nodded.  "I know you know."

We held the pose for awhile, then I sighed.  "I don't know which words
I should say first, so I will start and eventually say them all.

"I am older than I look, much older, and this is not the body I should
be wearing at my age.  It is, however, the one I wore when I was not
much older than you are.

"As you have seen, we can change our bodies as easily as most people
change what they wear, and that is how we see whatever body we use. It
is something suitable for what we must do at that time.

"When we arrived here, I realized I could choose the shape I wore in
my daily life, and decided to use this one.  I was not ashamed of the
body time had built, but I did have many reasons to quit wearing it."

I paused in my story and waited for her to assimilate what I had told
her.

"Tom?  How old are you?"

"Much older than you are.  It is the only answer I am allowed to
give."

She sighed and bent down to kiss me.  "I'm beginning to learn that it
is not only a woman's fate to accept what cannot be changed.  Men are
not as in control of their lives as I have been taught.  It explains
much."

I laughed bitterly.  "I was one who thought he controlled his own
life.  The Purpose has its ways, and I think it has a sense of humor,
too, or it would not have convinced me of its existence in the way it
did!"

"How?"

"By subtly ordering my life until, when I sought to escape a death I'd
thought was inevitable, I made the decision to come here, only to
discover we would meet you.

"It was then that I realized my youthful challenge of 'prove you
exist!' had been accepted--and answered in Its own time and fashion."

I sighed and watched her eyes as I placed a palm on her cheek.  She
shivered briefly, then put her hand over it.

She was watching my eyes when she spoke.   "Arranged marriages are
something I am familiar with and it is not unusual for one or both to
arrive at the marriage bed unwillingly."  Her voice turned a little
tart.  "I think I will let myself be angry with It because It did not
tell either of us what was inevitable!"

I smiled.  "It is not so simple, Kay.   We are sometimes given to know
about certain things that will happen.  How we journey between them is
up to us.  One reason we are here is to help you find as much joy as
possible in your journey."

She lay there on top of me and for a time we enjoyed the contact.  I
wrapped her in a hug and simply waited until she was ready to
continue.

Eventually she pushed herself upright again and studied me
thoughtfully.

"You are very female, Tom.  I don't need my new knowledge to
understand you are being evasive.  Tell me.""

I sighed.  "I said The Purpose has a sense of humor.  It also has a
sense of appreciation, perhaps it is Its version of what we know as
love.  Or, perhaps, It is lazy and selfish.  I truly don't know.

"For whatever reasons It has, It gave us something that is both a
great gift, and at times, a great curse.

"We cannot be killed, or choose to die.  Only at the end of all, will
we end--and that is a very long time away, indeed."

"Mahika, Wolf, and I have learned to ignore time, and adapt so we fit
in wherever we are."  My hands went to her thighs and I knew I was
pleading with her.  "Truly, it was not our choice to speak of this
yet, but again, The Purpose made it clear that we must, and who must
speak the words."

She nodded slowly and I watched the tears flow down her cheeks to
where they dripped onto my chest, chilling me before they evaporated.

When she closed her eyes, hugged herself, and shivered, I touched her
cheek again.  "Kay.  My Love.  There is one more thing I must speak
of.  My people have a saying, that reflects a truth everyone learns.
There are many ways to say it, of course.  'Shared joy is increased,
shared pain diminished.'  We will share many, many joys together, for
a long, long, time.  There will be pain, but someday the tangy bite of
the pain will be more fleeting than the bite of the pepper during the
betrothal ritual because the joy will be working to get rid of it even
as you begin to feel it."

She opened her eyes and stared at me with sudden hope.  "You speak
truth!"

Then she sobered slightly.  "A mother and father do not tell their
child all they know, just as the Wise Woman or the Priestess does not
share all they know with their chosen ones, when they meet for the
first time.  She giggled again.  "It was the hardest lesson I had to
learn, and I still forget it because I am a very impatient person and
I desire to know everything."

I laughed.  "I am much the same way, although my eagerness has been,
to some extent, replaced with planning and patience."

She sighed.  "Tom?  How long must I wait before we live as man and
wife?"

"We could do that now, if you wish.  However, there is something
within me that withholds a part of me when it does not feel itself
being given in return.  Do you want something that will be nothing
more than spices?  Or do you want to wait, and learn how to properly
cook the meat, then add the spices?  You can also choose to do both,
and I truly do not know which way is best for you.  Only you can
decide that."

She smiled a sad smile while she studied my face and let her hands
idly explore my body.  "What if I ask you to choose for me?"

I stayed silent while I thought about all the possibilities.  Finally
I picked one and hoped it was the best one for this time and place.
"Kay?  You've been taught that sex, to be the best possible, has to be
a sharing, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"And you've been taught how to please men, in a general way, while you
were also told that each man is an individual, and there will be some
things one likes while another does not care for them?"

"Yes."  She anticipated one of my next questions.  "It is the same way
for women."

I chuckled.  "True."

Then, I lightly touched the insides of her thighs and stroked them
with my fingertips.  "Did anyone ever think to tell you that the most
intense pleasure anyone can feel, be they man or woman...  Is the
pleasure that comes from being totally selfish during sex?  To take
and never give to your partner, unless it pleases you to do so, while
your partner selflessly gives without thought of receiving--because it
pleases them to see your joy?"

I rested my palms on her inner thighs and smiled.  "Love is much the
same way, but it is a pleasuring of the mind, not of the body.  It can
be sharing, selfless, selfish, or any mix, yet still bring pleasure to
those who feel it.  It can even..."  I sighed.  "Cause incredible pain
when mistakes are made.  But, Kay, love does one thing selfishness
never does.  It takes no pleasure in another's pain--even if that pain
is deliberately inflicted."

She closed her eyes for a long time and let her hands slide over my
pubic area and torso.  Eventually her movements slowed until her hands
stopped next to each other, over my heart.  "You speak truth."

Her eyes were still closed when she slowly lowered herself until she
could kiss me before she turned her head slightly and whispered. "Tom?
Hold me.  Help me..." 

She started crying.   "Help me learn to love, instead of fear."

I hugged her gently, then, when I felt her shivering slow and stop, I
squeezed slightly and whispered.  "I shall."

I felt her breathing steady into the gentle movements of sleep.
Eventually something inside her changed, and her whole body went limp.
I wondered if I'd ever know what made her body decide to give me such
total trust, or how long it would take her conscious mind to realize
the decision was made.

I spent the next few hours on my back, holding her so she wouldn't
fall off and disturb the rest she was finally getting.

* * *

I was drifting in my memories when I felt her body stiffen slightly,
then she stretched without moving from where she was.

She shifted her head enough that she could find my lips with hers and
kiss me firmly.  "Thank you.  My father used to hold me like that and
protect me from the things I feared at night."

"You're welcome, Kay."  I ran my hands along her spine and felt her
muscles respond.  "Feel better?"

"Mmm.  Yes.  How did you know what I needed?"

I hugged her tightly.  "I didn't, I did what I would have wanted
someone to do for me, if I felt the way you were feeling, and hoped it
was the right thing to do."

"I think it was."

She pushed herself upright, then reached down to stroke my penis.
"It's strange, to do this because I want to.  Always before, it was
part of a lesson."

She slid down my legs until she could bend down and kiss my glans
before she lightly stroked me again.  She kept exploring, and I let
myself respond to her touches.  

"Kay?  If you keep doing that, it won't be long before I orgasm."

She looked up.  "It pleases you that much?"

I smiled.  "Very much, and more so if it pleases you to be doing it."

She looked down and used a hand to explore between my legs, then
cradle my scrotum.  She had a thoughtful look on her face when she
lifted her head.  "You enjoy it when I'm being this selfish?  I'm not
trying to please you.  I want to know what you feel like, I want to
know all the small things about you."

She slid back up my body and kissed me.  "Can love be that selfish?"

I hugged her again.  "Yes.  Someday, I want to know you with the same
intensity--in the same way I know Mahika and Wolf."

I used my fingers to trace on either side of her spine in a gentle
exploration while I let my love for her overwhelm me.

I must have done something right because suddenly she gasped and
pushed herself upright.  "Oh!"

She grabbed one of my hands and placed it on her chest over her heart.
"Oohhhh!..."

Her eyes opened wide and she shuddered.

"Kay!  What is it?"

She shivered again.  "You can't see it or feel it?!"

I sighed.  "No."

"Mmmm..."   She hugged herself.  "Your light fills me...  It's so
warm..."

She shuddered again and suddenly slumped against my hand.

"Kay?"

"Mm."

"Are you OK?"

"Mmm!"

She smiled dreamily and my thinking froze briefly when I recognized
her smile for what it was.

Satiation, as only a woman can express it after an intense orgasm.

Her eyes slitted as she watched my face with an almost feral
intensity.  "Now, I understand what I see when I look at Wolf and
Mahika after they've been with you."

She placed her left hand on my chest and then frowned.  "My light
refuses to leave my heart."  She looked up and I saw tears in her
eyes.  "Why?  I LOVE you, Tom.  I do!  Why won't it leave me?"

I captured her hand and brought it to my lips.  "Because something in
you still fears me, as a woman who has been hurt by a man will fear
all men.  Let your mind be patient, because in many things it cannot
rule the heart.  I promise you, someday your heart will catch up to
your mind.  When it does, you will know, and so will I, without the
need for anything spoken between us."

I chuckled and she frowned at me.  "What's funny?"

"You.  You have all the patience any spoiled child would have, when
she does not get her own way when she wants it."

"Oohh!  You!"  Then she giggled.  "As long as you can do to me what
you just did, I can stand the wait."

I laughed.  "I would, if I could.  But, you did that to yourself by
letting yourself trust me.  Someday, when you trust yourself, your
heart will open."

Her head tilted and she frowned again.  "That doesn't make sense."

I grinned.  "It will, when you quit thinking about it and wait for the
knowledge you need to arrive."

"Hmmph!"

Her stomach growled and she looked at the sky.  "It's late!"

"True.  Are we done with our private discussion?  I'd like to go to
the bathroom, then get something to eat."

"Arrgh!...  Is that all you men think about?  Your bodies and food?"

I grinned at her vehemence.  "I wouldn't know.  I'm not a man, I'm a
cook."

She jerked her head around to look at the fire.  "The food!  If
they..."

I barely had time to release the shield before she ran into it on her
way to take over the cooking chores.
====

End: Wandering Wolves: Stonehenge! (Lay Lines 4/4)

-- 
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reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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