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Subject: {ASSM} The Luck Bringers 2/3 Post Lady Chrystal (furry, assorted codes) TBD
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Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:10:10 -0400
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The Luck Bringers 2/3 Post lady Chrystal
---

furry Vixen-M)

Merlin's Library
The Luck-Bringers - Merlin and Lady Chrystal
---

"May I wait in his library?"

   The maid looked at me and raised an eyebrow.  "M'Lady?"

   I shrugged.  "A hobby of mine.  It has been said that only in their
library will a person reveal their inner self--to those who know how to
read the signs.  Also, I've found the chairs in them to be quite
comfortable."

   She laughed quietly, gently.  "Merlin mentioned that you might enjoy
spending some time in his library.  He told us to *not* tidy it in
preparation for your first visit.  If you would follow me?"

   I nodded.

   * * *

   "Merlin's library, M'Lady.  May you discover that which you seek."

   "Thank you.  That will be all, for now."

   I turned, opened the door, stepped into...

   Stop.

   'Lady Chrystal.  Close your eyes.  Recenter--and start over.'

   I took a deep breath and then cautiously opened my eyes.

   'Yes.  It *is* a library.' With that reassurance I stepped forward, only
to halt when the chair in the center of the room began turning.

   "Hello, Velvet." Gentle, laughing eyes looked into mine as he held out a
hand.  "Would this chair suit your needs?"

   "Merlin.  Only if you were to vacate it." I didn't try to hide my
exasperation.

   He laughed.  "For you, I shall move to the bed, willingly."

   I settled in his chair and very slowly moved it in a full circle.  "The
tower room, I understand.  The windows that give a panoramic view, I
understand." I shook my head slightly.  "For a library, I see no
organization, no planned arrangement.  and..." I shrugged helplessly.

   He was smiling, as I knew he would be.  "And?"

   "The bed, I don't understand."

   He started in surprise, then leaned back.  "My apologies, I forgot your
customs are not ours.  For us, it was the obvious thing to use."

   "Merlin!" My patience was wearing thin and his obliqueness was
irritating.

   "What is the purpose of a library?  Shared discoveries.  Relaxed
conversations and exploration.  Many times, such happens during the
afterglow.  Which would you rather use?  Chair?  Couch?  Or bed?"

   "Oh."

   I joined with him on the bed.  ===

   Meaningful Dialog 'The Luck-Bringers' Merlin and Lady Chrystal ---

   I chuckled softly.  "At least you don't have to worry about getting
sunburned."

   Vel smiled faintly and turned her head in my direction.  After the
formal welcoming dinner, she had decided to wander the grounds.  I suspect
she knew where she was headed but had been in no hurry to get there.

   We were in a small clearing that faced a small lake.  She had stood at
the edge and studied it thoughtfully.  I felt her summoning her will and
was not too surprised to see a large boulder with a flat top appear in the
center of the grassy area.  Without any words, she had walked over and
proceeded to settle herself on it.  Instead of joining her, I chose to find
some shade.

   "The true Merlin?" She turned back to face the lake.

   I smiled slightly.  "I was wondering when you'd bring that up."

   She shrugged.  "You asked me to wait until it was convenient."

   "That I did.  Thank you for doing so." I walked over and settled so I
was leaning against the rock.  Together, we watched the sunset fade into
twilight.  "I am he.  The one who had the original vision and the powers to
see to its beginnings."

   " 'I was not the first person to be known as 'Merlin'.' " Her voice is
gentle.  "Words worthy of a Bard."

   I reached down and gathered some small pebbles.  Idly, I tossed them at
the water.  " 'Hubert of Merlinsford'.  A young man who lived next to a
small river named 'The Merlin'.  Rather than attending to more mundane
matters, such as the tending of his sheep, he always wanted to know 'why'
and 'how'.  Later, as his knowledge grew, he dared to contemplate 'what
if?'.  Finally he decided that he could best answer that 'what if?' by
making certain that all the knowledge discovered and shared by his people
would be preserved in case of need."

   "The people he had gathered to aid him became known as 'Merlins' because
they had named their growing village 'Merlintown'.  Eventually, as time
passed and their true origins passed into history and were forgotten,
Legend named the one who started it all - Merlin."

   "Hubert was an idler.  A wastrel who, according to many, did nothing
useful.  Still, he somehow managed to provide for the people who gathered
in his village.  Some chose to call him wise because his practical
suggestions seemed to make life easier and less of a risk."

   "The reality is that all he did was gather what was already known and
find ways to apply it to everyday living."

   "He was in his late thirties when he learned there was more to the world
than the visible."

   * * *

   "So, Hubert of Merlinsford, I find you in your favorite position.  For
an idle wastrel, you've done well for yourself and those who shelter here."
The woman's voice was gentle and tinged with gentle whimsy.

   I looked up from the shimmering water of the river and wondered who this
unfamiliar woman was.  "For someone I don't recall meeting, you know me
well." I smiled wryly and laughed softly.  "Yes, I am an idler of some
renown, I suppose.  I'm not surprised that gossip has gone beyond this
small village by now."

   "That 'gossip' as you call it, has often been helped along by those who
see more than physical idleness." She settled next to me and dangled her
feet in the water.  Idly, she swung them back and forth.

   "I wondering if the rumors were true and decided to check.  Long have I
been waiting for you to be born." She smiled a smile so faint I wasn't sure
I had seen it.

   "Waiting for me to be born?  You are scarcely as old as I am if your
appearance speaks truly." I gestured at her reflection.

   "Would that it were so." This time her smile was sad.  "I have been
living here since before this village was founded."

   "Impossible!  That would make you at least one hundred years old." Was
this some village girl out to play upon my sympathies?

   "I am older than that.  How much older, I do not know and do not care."
She turned to look at me.  Her blue eyes suddenly turned black and I
shivered at the depths I saw in them.  She blinked and they were a merry
blue again.  "Set aside what you know as possible and impossible.  The time
has come to learn of other truths than the ones you store within your
walls."

   She stood and walked forward.  Some twenty feet out from the shore, she
turned and looked at me.  "Much may become possible if you believe." She
held out her hand.  "I believe in you.  Come to me, Hubert." It was a
command I found unable to resist.

   When I stepped into the water, my foot sank to the bottom and I paused.
"Believe!" she snapped peremptorily.  "The water is but another path for
you to walk upon."

   I nodded slowly and took another step.  This time, my foot stopped at
the surface as if I were stepping on a rock.  Gingerly, I placed all my
weight on it and brought my submerged foot out of the water to join it. 
With cautious steps, I walked forward and reached for her hand.

   I turned and looked back at the shore.  "How?"

   "An older, more personal way of looking at the world.  One that is
slowly being lost because people believe more in others than themselves."
She stepped back in the direction of the shore.  "Come.  If you do not want
to become wet, we should go back.  Unless you are experienced, small things
such as this can be suddenly lost."

   Gingerly, I turned in place and then carefully walked back to the
waiting sand.  Without warning, I felt a wave of fatigue wash over me and I
collapsed to my knees.  I felt as if I had been working in the fields all
day.  Eyes closed, I fought to regain some control over my body. 
Eventually, I opened them and looked at her.  "A small thing?" I wheezed as
I tried to regain my breath.  "I would hate to try to do something large."

   I was rewarded with another one of her smiles.  She reached forward. 
"Take my hand.  I will help you to a more comfortable place where you may
rest."

   I reached out and as our fingers touched, I felt a tingling.  As I
started to rise, she pulled me gently.  As tired as I was, I knew she had
to be lifting most of my 180 pounds.  She did it without seeming to strain
and without losing that gentle smile.  "No one is around to see, so you may
wrap your arm about me and I shall do so to you.  The place I am taking you
isn't far from here."

   We suited actions to words and she half carried me perhaps a quarter of
a mile.  A small cottage stood in a clearing.

   "My home, these many centuries." She stated simply.  "Long have I waited
for you."

   I was so tired I barely noticed her softly spoken comment.  I had heard
rumors and now was the time to lay them to rest.  "I have heard tales of
those who have 'the sight'.  Do you, then, claim to be such a one?"

   "Hubert, who will someday be known as Merlin.  I do not claim that which
I do not have.  I do indeed have the gift of which you speak."

   She helped me through the door and then let me settle in a well worn
chair that was next to an oak table.  She brought me a mug that was filled
with a fragrant mixture of herbs.  Once she had set the mug in front of me,
she settled in the chair opposite mine.

   "Drink.  It is not too unpleasant and it will help you regain your
strength."

   I nodded wearily and sipped carefully.  When my stomach did not protest,
I drained the mug and set it back on the table.

   "Are you always so careful when food or drink is offered?" Her lips
twitched into a smile.

   "When I have not been introduced and strange things are happening, then
yes, I do err on the side of caution.  If this offends you, forgive me. 
Some quirks of mine have become habits.  I do not resent your hospitality
and meant no insult by my actions."

   "None taken." She leaned forward and became serious again.  "In a few
years, perhaps less, it might be that you will be able to discard that
caution."

   "Oh?" I felt my energy returning.  Experience told me I would need at
least a night to be able to safely make the trip home.  "Discard something
that has kept me alive in this sometimes treacherous world?"

   Instead of answering me, she gestured.  A plant I recognized appeared on
the table.  Hemlock.  "How?" As usual, the means of its arrival interested
me more than the plant itself.

   "A small thing.  I desired it to be here and it came to my call." She
calmly pulled a few of the leaves off and started eating them.  I shivered.

   Her lips quirked slightly.  "Tangy and somewhat unusually flavored.  I
will not ask you to share my repast."

   "I would have refused." I smiled slightly.  "I have heard tales of the
deadly efficiency of the Hemlock.  I do not wish to leave this world as
yet."

   She nodded.  "Nor do I.  I merely wished to demonstrate that in time you
will be able to ignore the summons of death should it chance to speak your
name."

   "Ignore death when it chooses to speak my name?  Arrogant words and yet
your relaxed pose tells me this may indeed be so.  I had expected that I
would soon be digging your grave."

   "The hemlock is attempting to work its mischief.  My body is refusing to
let it have its way.  Soon it will give up and follow the path that all
things which do not become part of my body, follow."

   I leaned back and chuckled.  "Such a delicate way of describing it."

   I forced myself to stand.  I bowed slightly.  "If I may, I would be
honored to call you friend.  May I be permitted to know a more mundane name
by which I may call you?" I collapsed back in the chair and smiled wryly.
"The mind commands but the body is still unready to obey completely."

   "Perhaps that too, shall change soon." She rose and curtsied.  "I am
Kay. In the fullness of time, you and others will gift me with other
names."

   I nodded.  "Lady Kay then.  Even a backwoods person such as I can see
when he is confronted with gentle birth."

   She smiled warmly.  I didn't realize it at the time but that was when
she captured my heart.  It took me many, many years before I realized and
accepted what had happened on that day.

   * * *

   Velvet chuckled quietly.  "So.  Even then, women sought you out and
bound their futures to yours."

   "No, Kay was the first and only one to do so.  I do not flatter myself
that I am so desirable that a woman would wait centuries for the pleasure
of my sometimes exasperating company.  What happened, had to happen once
certain decisions had been made.  At any point, a different choice would
have left me to live a normal and much shorter life."

   I shook my head slightly.  "I often regret one choice I was forced to
make that long ago day." I gazed off and sighed.  "It eventually led to you
- so even with those gentle regrets, I am content."

   Vel turned to look at me carefully.  "I hear the tones of uncompleted
love.  Was that what she asked you to decide?"

   I nodded and let the pain of that decision show.  "The words were simple
ones.  'Hubert, I am a woman.  Seek within and decide if you wish to allow
me in your life as a partner of the mind, or of the body.  Know, however,
that in the fullness of time, one will arrive who is more your mate in mind
and body than I am or ever shall be.  That will only happen if you choose
to ignore the ties of the body that we both desire.  The desires of the
flesh will not be closed to you.  Only that for you and I, the way of the
flesh will be closed until you have met and mated with this other woman.' "

   I sighed.  "There have been others who have briefly shared my couch. 
For...  A long time, the twins and I have been 'partners of the bodies' as
Kay and I have been 'partners of the mind'.

   "Until..." Vel was lost in her own thoughts.  I knew what she was
seeing.

   "M'Lady Chrystal.  It is a decision you and Kay must make.  I know Kay
is wise in the ways of the body.  We have always been open, usually
comfortable with - and accepting - of the consequences of that long ago
decision.  I could have made the choice to let her join me on my couch at
any time.  Instead, I trusted her wider vision.  I waited for you." I
leaned over and hugged her and let myself weep for the past I had rejected.
"You must be certain of your acceptance if you ask her to join us." ===

   Settling In 'The Luck-Bringers' Lady Chrystal, Lady Kay, Cathy and Becky
---

   I turned my chair and gazed out the window at the forest.  Many years
ago, as a result of Merlin's insistence that I make someplace in his castle
mine, I had chosen this room to be my study.

   "You will need a place that is uniquely yours.  A place that none may
enter without your leave."

   I had nodded my acceptance of that wisdom and wandered his castle in
search of a place that 'felt right'.  This room, in one of the corner
towers, had been my choice.

   I was so deeply involved in my contemplation of the past I knew I was
leaving behind that I barely registered the light tap on the door frame.  A
mental check of the currents let me know who was waiting.

   "Enter." I wasn't quite ready to leave my memories so there was an
extended pause before I turned to greet my visitors.  Kay and the hounds
stood in front of my desk.  Their postures told me they were there for more
than a casual visit.  Kay made a slight gesture to indicate her apologies
for interrupting me.  I looked at her in mild surprise.  She seldom
apologized for seeking someone out.  It made me wonder about their motives
for this shared visit.  Castle business, obviously.

   "Lady Kay.  Becky.  Cathy.  Make yourselves comfortable.  There is no
need for formality between us."

   Cathy and Becky shifted to their human forms before settling on either
end of the couch.  Kay waited for them get comfortable and then she went
over and sat between them.  I was fascinated by the nuances displayed in
such simple actions.  Clearly, they were of one mind about whatever it was
they wished to discuss with me.  I waited for one of them to speak.

   "Lady..." Kay began.

   I held up a paw.  "No.  Chrystal.  Or Velvet.  Or Vel.  We share too
much to insist on using my formal name in private."

   "Old habits." Kay's smile was slight.  "All of us come from an older,
more formal time.  Your new status as Merlin's lifemate has triggered
usages so deeply ingrained that until we had your leave, we could not be as
informal as we might have wished."

   I nodded.  "I noticed.  I am from a culture that shares many of those
habits."

   "Then you will understand our problems." Becky hesitated before rushing
on.  "Before, as one of our friends and one of Merlin's lovers, you had a
certain status and authority here.  Now, as his lifemate, that status has
changed subtly.  There will be times when your authority will be equal to
or even greater than his."

   'Subtly?' Becky's careful phrasing and non-mention of my official status
as 'The Lady of The Castle' told me that I needed to choose my next words
very carefully.  Also unspoken was the hint that there would be times when
their authority would exceed mine, and Merlin's.

   I decided to answer the obvious.  "Merlin and I spent a lot of time
discussing Terran and Rabelaisian customs and how they might be merged." I
leaned forward and rested my chin on my linked paws.  "I am a Bard.  I was
nobility on my birthworld.  We all know that situations such as we find
ourselves in are common and can easily be dealt with."

   I made my next words a gentle rebuke.  "What is it you really wish to
discuss with me?"

   The three of them looked at each other before answering.

   "As you know, Merlin is a lusty person.  So are we." Cathy's smile
changed from tentative to relaxed.  Kay made no effort to hide her grin. 
"However, his powers in that area are not unlimited." Cathy giggled after
she finished.  When I looked at her, Becky shrugged and smiled
apologetically.

   I nodded at their points.  "While Kay isn't yet actively involved in the
sexual part of Merlin's life, the three of you have a vested interest in
knowing how my presence is going to shift an already established
situation."

   They nodded solemnly.

   I couldn't stop the slight tilt of my head as I thought about how I
should answer their concerns.  "In my world, a lifemate does not
automatically share the responsibilities and duties of their mate.  I will
continue to live by that custom.

   "Kay, I have no intention of taking on the duties required of the 'Lady
of The Castle' except during those special occasions when I have no choice.
I am a Bard and a Vixen.  My inclinations and training do not lead me to a
desire to stay confined in one place for any length of time.  I spent the
most recent thirty years of my life as a Settled Bard because there were
compelling reasons for me to do so.  Alex's death removed the last of them.
It is time for me to once again use my skills where they are most
effective.

   "It is time for me to return to being a Wandering Bard.

   "Kay, your position as 'Keeper of the Castle' is yours to do with as you
wish.  Merlin and I discussed this problem and agreed on the solution many
years ago." I let myself smile faintly.  "It is our hope that the three of
you will assist me during those times when I must take my place as the
'Lady of The Castle'.  I will be guided by your wisdom in this aspect of my
new life.

   "My days of being a public person are, with good fortune, over.  It will
not bother me if Kay continues as if she were the true Lady.  In truth,
from what Merlin has told me, my eventual responsibilities..." I hesitated.
I knew they saw my hesitation for what it was.  I had just realized from
their subtle body language that those 'responsibilities' were something he
had not discussed with them.  I made a mental note to ask him to explain
his seeming lack of preparation.  With that lapse in mind, I decided to
gloss over my 'almost mistake' with a slightly different truth than the one
I had originally planned to speak of.  "Will not allow me sufficient time
to see that the responsibilities normally taken care of by the one who is
the 'Lady'--are done properly."

   All three of them nodded slowly.  Their eyes told me they accepted my
not telling them things Merlin might not want them to know.

   "As for you two..." I grinned as I looked at Cathy and Becky.  "I
foresee no changes to your physical relationship with Merlin other than the
possibility that the frequency might be less than you are used to when all
of us are at home."

   "On the other hand, your *need* for that frequency may lessen.  My
world's customs regarding such things are relaxed and very accepting of the
idea that people have physical as well as emotional desires and needs." I
nodded my head in mock seriousness.  "Wait a small amount of time and you
will find yourselves invited to share our couch more frequently than you
have in the past.  This too is a problem that Merlin and I discussed and
resolved to our satisfaction many years ago.  We will have to discover if
the solution pleasures you two as well as it will pleasure Merlin and me."

   I turned back to Kay and waited.

   "But?" Her question was softly spoken.

   I sighed and leaned back in my chair.  "How can I answer that?  Merlin
is a complex person.  He will still confide in the three of you, I'm
certain.  There are a few things he shares with you that he will now share
with me.  Some of these things, he or I will share with you.  It will be
more a case of him sharing with whoever happens to be available at the
time."

   "Much of what he has shared with me is what he has been unable to share
with anyone else.  Forgive me, but you'll have to trust me when I say you
don't have the background to fully understand him on some levels."

   "We have always known he has secrets we are ill equipped to share." Kay
was calm.  "At the same time, the three of us will be able to share things
with you that *we* have been unable to share with anyone else.  Perhaps, as
time passes, you will find yourself sharing things with us that you do not
share with Merlin.  To put it simply, we are well aware that only time will
tell us how that aspect of our lives will shift."

   It was Cathy who expressed their true feelings.  "Lady Chrystal.  You do
not intrude and break a completed circle.  Rather, you join us and complete
a circle that has always been broken.  Someday, in the fullness of time,
you will understand this as we do."

   I stiffened in surprise.  Belatedly, I realized I was staring at them.
In order to hide my confusion and give myself time to recover, I turned
away and looked out the window again.

   After a long silence, I turned back and gestured for them to continue.

   Kay went on as if nothing had happened.  "What Cathy is trying to say is
that a long life changes one's views regarding matters of the heart and
body.  I have been the 'keeper of his heart' for many centuries.  It is a
duty I willingly pass on to the one who has become his mate in mind as well
as body.  The twins and I have been the two parts of the one person you
are--for far longer than we have wished."

   She smiled.  "The task has not been an unpleasant one."

   Something in Kay's manner caught my attention.  I leaned forward and
studied her.  She returned my gaze calmly.  "Lady Kay.  Who are you?"

   She smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.  "You are quick." I heard a
note of approval.  "I have many names.  I too have stories told about me.
Legends for the most part.  Some of those stories are based on truths long
forgotten."

   She held her hands out in front of her.  She turned them palm upwards
and smiled gently as a sword appeared across them.  " 'Lady of The Lake' is
perhaps the one I am best known by."

   She laughed softly as the sword vanished.  "I seldom use my skills these
days.  There has been little need for one such as I." She sobered quickly.
"The sword you saw, I hold in trust.  All of us hope I never have to give
it back to the world."

   I whispered wryly, "I am but a child in a world of adults."

   "No." Becky's firm denial startled me.  "You have grown up surrounded by
the wisdom that we needed great effort and time to discover.  We, and I
include Merlin in that 'we', are the wild children who struggled to learn
and comprehend the ways of civilization.  There will always be an element
of that wildness in us.

   "Because you have not struggled against the currents, you have learned
to read nuances in them that we must struggle to detect or can never hope
to see.  You have, at your age, an innate wisdom that the four of us have
taken centuries to learn.  At your most basic levels, you do not think and
react as we do.  In a very real sense, you have a maturity we do not have
and can never hope to develop."

   Becky smiled warmly and somewhat wryly.  "Merlin will not be the only
one to lean on you in the coming years."

   They stood up.  Kay smoothed her dress and then glanced at Becky and
Cathy.  "Enough seriousness.  The reality is that we do not expect many
changes.  Those changes that do happen, will happen slowly.  Time moves
differently here."

   I must have looked puzzled because she explained her comment.  "I meant
inner time.  Physical time will continue its relentless march.  You will
get used to being able to ignore its demands."

   "There is something else you should know.  Given sufficient time and the
right attitude, the body renews itself, if allowed to.  Already, you have
experienced a part of that renewal.  I do not know the ways of your body as
well as you do.  However, if part of your normal cycle of life is the loss
of fertility, know that your body will, sometime in the next century or so,
regain that fertility.  As far as we know, once regained, that fertility is
never lost again."

   She grinned impishly.  "At least *we* haven't lost it yet.  Merlin
hasn't either." With that parting comment, the three of them left me to my
thoughts.  As they left, Kay closed the door behind them.

   * * *

   Before I turned back to the window, I took the time to set a privacy
spell.  Instead of using one of the spells developed on Earth or a more
commonly used one from my own lore, I dug into my memories and used one of
the obscure ones from my birthworld.

   When I gazed out the window, I allowed myself a rueful smile.  My sixty
years as a Master had given me plenty of time to delve into the more
obscure bits of Rabelaisia's past.  It seemed that time was not as wasted
as I had thought.

   I settled back and replayed our conversation in my mind.  Eventually, I
nodded to myself.  Merlin had been right.  There was much we could not
discuss with Kay and the twins.

   I had the feeling that Kay and the twins had been testing me as well as
seeking my place in their lives.  I shook my head and sighed.  I found it
difficult to accept that they considered me more mature than they.  In
spite of my reluctance to admit the truth of the matter, I knew they were
right.

   As I remembered the sword, I shivered slightly.  It had reeked of the
power it held.  Apparently Kay had not noticed my recognition of it as a
talisman.  If she had, she had chosen to ignore my reaction.  Now, with all
of them gone, I was able to let myself feel the awe I had felt when Kay had
calmly held it.  The closest thing Rabelaisia had to that sword, and the
power it contained, was 'Runner's Cloak'.

   As I made the connection, I realized I could understand Merlin's
reaction to the history contained within the Bard's Hall.  Years after we
had become lovers, he had visited my world.  I had taken him to Bard's Hall
and given him my permission to examine our history.

   His reaction had surprised me.  Instead of wandering as all others had
done, he had closed his eyes and slowly turned in place.  Without opening
his eyes, he had continued his turn until he faced me.  Then he had smiled
as he held his hands out.  Runner's Cloak had appeared and settled in them.

   * * *

   "A most elegant solution." His voice had been soft and filled with
wonder.  "There is much power and history within this building."

   He had opened his eyes and looked at the cloak.  His lips quirked
slightly as it vanished.  "I returned it to its proper home.  In truth, I
did not need to touch it for its story to become clear.  Rather, I wanted
to do as you did so many years ago.  I wanted to pay my respect to the
discoverer of 'The Bardic Way'."

   "I never told you I had handled his cloak."

   "Your touch upon its memories was very light.  Nonetheless, I recognized
it." He had grinned.  "Did you think I would not notice the touch of my
lover on something she cared for so deeply?"

   "Merlin.  To my knowledge, nobody on Rabelaisia has ever done what you
just casually admitted to doing." I had taken a deep breath in order to
settle my thoughts and search for the words I needed.  "One of the
strengths of keeping our history here has been that nobody has ever been
able to 'feel' the amount of power and memories contained within things
such as Runner's Cloak.  Indeed, all of us must physically handle the
objects before their stories become evident."

   He had raised his eyes and looked around as if with new understanding.
His next words had been gentle.  "All I did was ask the Hall to show me
itself and what it held in trust for those who could ask it the proper
questions." His eyes had laughed even though his mouth had been serious. 
"It was most eager in its response.  Now, your words explain that
eagerness. I was the first to ask the proper question."

   Instead of answering him right away, I had sought the 'awareness' that
was part of the Hall.  I phrased my question very carefully.  With the
bumbling and enthusiastic response of a kit that has discovered there is
larger world beyond her home, I was taken on a journey that gave me brief
glimpses of Rabelaisia's past.

   With a wry awareness of the irony of the situation, I thanked it and
then returned to the world around me.

   "You did well to be able to glean as much as you did from that brief
journey." I let my suppressed laughter loose.  "I was reminded of the
enthusiasm of my kits when they wanted to show me some new discovery of
theirs."

   "Sabrina would have been highly upset with herself had she lived long
enough to hear of this adventure."

   "Oh?"

   I had shaken my head in wry amusement.  "Oh, yes.  When she and Stefan
were tested for their Master's rankings, it was here, in Bard's Hall.  She
had been cozened into searching for the 'Mage's Library' as part of her
search for knowledge.  As part of her 'lesson', she learned how to interact
with the awareness of the Hall and get it to help her in her quest.  If I
know her, she would have been most displeased to learn that she came so
close to discovering this 'weakness' in our security.  I suspect Stefan
would have been amused that his use of the physical to misdirect her also
prevented him from seeing the obvious."

   * * *

   I looked out at the world again and sighed.  "I wish they could have met
you, my love." They had been the first people in generations who had needed
to stop a renegade Bard.  They never spoke of how they had done it. 
Stefan, with none of his usual lightheartedness, had spoken simply.  "Part
of the solution is the clear command that we leave only the fact of our
being mated - and our success - in the records." For a Bard such as he was
known to be, his comment was terse to the point of being on the verge of
rudeness.  When I had finally recovered enough to look at Sabrina with the
question in my eyes and posture, she had smiled and shaken her head - 'no'.
Both of them had made it clear that I was going to get no further
information from them.

   In spite of their clear warning, when I had time during the next several
years, I searched the records for clues to their solution.  Sabrina's
comment when I told them of my efforts had been an openly amused "We
expected no less from you.  You are not the first to be dissatisfied with
our answers.  If we truly feared that you might discover the answer, we
would have invoked 'Bard's Seal'.  We have no fear of our solution being
rediscovered by one who does not need it."

   So, all my study of the records failed to reveal, or lead me to, the
solution they had discovered.  Merlin had laughed uproariously when I
confessed my failure.  "Obviously, what they and others have left in the
records is adequate.  If what you tell me is true, when there is need, the
clues left will be the correct ones for those chosen by fate to take up
such an unpleasant task.  Indeed, you share much with the vixens of Earth."

   I chuckled softly as I remembered my chagrin at his seeming lack of
concern for my failure.  It was days before I forgave him his laughter. 
Now, with years more of experience, I understand and accept what he was
telling me.  Some knowledge is best passed on only as clues that will lead
to its rediscovery in a time of need.

   Now, thinking of 'rediscovery', I come at last to a barrier that blocks
my understanding of Lady Kay.

   It is time I found a way past it.

   Her parting comments were confusing.  Were they made in true ignorance
of my situation?  Was she discreetly telling me that Merlin had already
discussed my fertility with her?

   Reluctantly, I concluded she really didn't know some things I expected
her to have discovered.  One line stood out as an indication that she truly
*was* ignorant of my personal condition.  'However, if part of your normal
cycle of life is the loss of fertility, know that your body will, sometime
in the next century or so, regain that fertility.'

   Many years ago, at roughly the normal age for such, I had become
infertile.  It was before I met Merlin.  A few years after meeting him,
much to my astonishment, the indications of my fertility had become evident
again.  Alex had been amazed but pleased.  In my way, I had also welcomed
the return to a balance I was long used to.  While the lack of ability to
have kits was an expected condition, the loss of inner balance had been
disruptive to my thinking.  Knowing that every female would eventually have
to relearn inner balance - was no consolation for losing it in the first
place.

   Naturally, at our next meeting, Merlin and I spent many hours discussing
this change.  It was the clue he needed that told him I was probably what
he called a 'long-lifer'.  He also admitted that on his world, it took far
longer for that change to take place.  As far as he had known, based on the
limited information he had available, it usually took fifty to one hundred
years for a woman to regain her lost fertility.

   To learn he had not discussed my fertility with Kay or the twins - was
puzzling.

   Oh.  Of course.  Merlin had not mentioned it for the most simple of
reasons.  Our private lives, especially our times together, are just that.
I had never given him permission to talk of it.  Kay, being who she is, has
never pressed for personal information that hasn't been freely shared.

   Trust is sometimes a sword that cuts the wielder.

   I'll have to find the time to explain the true situation to Kay and the
twins.

   My realization that there was so much that I considered 'ordinary and
sharable' - that Merlin had not shared - placed new meanings in the quiet
statement he had made the day after we performed the lifemate ritual.

   "I have been so lonely - until now.  You'll have to endure the
outpourings of a person who has never, in all his years, been with someone
who is truly his mate."

   Do both of us have these blind spots?  We must.  I see no other reason
for his not telling me what I expected to know.  I'll have to get him alone
so we can explore our assumptions.  ===

   The Luck Bringers - Affirmation Affirmation --

   I couldn't stop my giggles as I settled behind my desk.  It had taken a
few days but the solution to one of my problems had finally occurred to me.

   I sent my thoughts drifting about the area until I found the twins. 
""Cathy?  Becky?  I'd like to see the two of you in my office
immediately."" I could sense their puzzlement but they readily agreed to be
there as soon as they could.

   I watched and grinned as the two of them paused at the door and shifted
into their human forms.  "Vel?  What's wrong?"

   "Nothing's wrong but something is about to go very right and I wanted
the two of you here to see it happen." I grinned.  "Keep quiet until I'm
finished with this.  Ok?"

   They looked at each other and then shrugged.  "Ok." Cathy said it for
both of them.

   I gestured at the couch.  "Relax.  I think you'll enjoy this."

   Next on my list was Merlin.  ""Merlin?  Are you busy?"" When he
responded that he wasn't, I shifted him into my office.

   "Good.  I have something I want to tell everyone at the same time.  Let
me find Kay." He nodded and stood there patiently.

   Last on my list was Kay.  ""Kay?  I have something that everyone needs
to hear.  May I bring you to my office?"" I could feel her puzzlement as
she agreed.

   I placed Kay next to Merlin and then leaned back in my chair.  "Merlin,
you and Kay have been stepping around your love for so long I don't think
you will ever do anything to affirm it.  Both of you have known for most of
your lives that you are capable of loving more than one person and that
allowing yourselves to love others isn't going to do anything more than add
new dimensions to what you already have."

   "Personally, I think you two have been celibate with each other for far
too many centuries.  If the two of you had stopped to think about the type
of person Merlin's true mate would be, you would have realized I would not
be upset about the two of you having a sexual relationship."

   "Now, a special train is waiting at the platform.  The twins and I can
take care of things here, while the two of you are gone."

   "I don't want to see or hear from the two of you for at least a year and
I will be *extremely upset* if I discover the two of you haven't sexually
affirmed the love you have for each other."

   "Do I make myself clear?" Before they could react, I gestured
negligently.  "Begone with you then." I sent them to the platform.

   I looked over at the twins and smiled.  "Well?"

   They were staring at me in awe.  Becky found her voice first.  "Nobody.
Nobody has *ever* used that tone of voice with Kay and Merlin together in
the same room."

   Cathy nodded emphatically.  "Kay or Merlin alone is bad enough.  When
the two of them are together, they are so overpowering that people are
afraid to do anything more than carefully suggest things to them.  I don't
think *anyone* has ever casually told them they are going to do something
and then dismissed them like they were a couple of errant children."

   Cathy grinned a grin that spoke volumes.  "I bet Kay is furious right
now.  Merlin is going to have to do some fast talking to settle her down to
the point she doesn't want to come back here and show you *exactly* what
she's capable of."

   Becky had sobered but there was a twinkle in her eyes that she couldn't
hide.  "Sister.  Think for a minute.  You know Kay's reaction time.  Would
you or I have been able to do what Vel just did?  I'm begininng to
understand just what kind of skill Lady Chrystal has at her command.  She's
been a Bardic Master for 60 years.  She's used to using her skills daily as
a normal part of her life.  She's trained in a way that reacts rather than
initiates.  Do you really think Kay could do anything now that Vel is alert
and prepared for her?  There's one other detail that you seem to be
forgetting.  The Bardic Way was deliberately created to defeat Mages who
were at the heights of their skills."

   They looked at each other for a long time and then Cathy smiled
slightly. "Indeed.  I also think that since Kay has not returned by now,
Merlin has soothed her enough to get her to join him on that train." She
stood up and curtsied to me.  "You have not overtly used your skills
before, so I never really understood just how skilled you truly are.  You
have my profoundest respect." She giggled.  "I'm also glad someone finally
took them to task for their blindness.  You have my deepest thanks.  Now,
if you'll excuse me, I think one of us better go tell the staff there has
been a sudden change in plans."

   I nodded and smiled as I gestured at the doorway.  "Thank you.  I
thought you would enjoy that little display of mine."

   She was still chuckling softly as she left us.

   I turned back to Becky.  "I assume you had a good reason for that little
diversionary speech of yours?"

   Instead of answering me directly, she stood and faced me.  She held out
one of her hands and a formal cloak settled in it.  She put it on and when
she finished arranging it I was startled to see that she was wearing a copy
of 'Runner's Cloak'.  On it was the familiar symbol of a Bardic Master. 
She curtsied formally.  "Mistress.  Shortly after our worlds started
exchange programs I took an extended vacation 'to get away from it all'. 
Where I took that vacation and what I did while there - should be obvious."

   I nodded slowly.  "Who?"

   She chuckled gently.  "Who else?  The coyotes.  They were not that
difficult to find."

   That got my attention.  If any one group was known to be so secretive
that it was common knowledge that they would only be found when they willed
it - it was the coyotes.  "Not difficult to find?"

   "Not if one is used to looking for things that aren't there." She
smiled. "They were most surprised when I casually walked into their home
valley and called to them.  They have since changed their methods of
concealment."

   She made her cloak vanish and then she resetttled on the couch.  "I
needed to be alone with you.  Once I was made a Master, I was asked if I
would accept a duty."

   "Oh?" I took the time to study her.  "From what I know, they are usually
not that direct."

   She noddend slowly.  "Normally, you would be right.  On the other hand,
while the power available on Earth and Rabelaisia comes from the same
roots, the way it is invoked is significantly different.  It is far more
likely for there to be 'renegades' here."

   "There was something else.  The coyotes are divided on how to deal with
Bards on Earth.  Some feel the coyotes should become hidden caretakers
here. Most wish to let us develop without their subtle guidance."

   "When I made them aware of the Merlins and the other long-lifers, they
decided to stay on Rabelaisia.  We know our people far better than they
ever will." She gazed off and I could tell she was remembering something
that had affected her very deeply.

   She turned back to me.  "You aren't the first Rabelaisian long-lifer. 
When they learned that you would be settling here, they asked me to be the
one to ask if you would join us."

   "Us?" Now I was truly puzzled.  "The other long-lifers?  Is that who you
are talking about."

   "No.  Not the other long-lifers.  Join those of us from both worlds who
are prepared to deal with the unthinkable, should it happen."

   "Earth *must* be allowed to find her own synthesis of the two world
views.  To that end, there are those of us who are ready to take action if
anyone decides otherwise."

   I let myself fall backwards in my chair.  I was horrified.  "Renegade
Coyotes?"

   "Not yet and very unlikely.  Renegade Earth-people who have studied the
Bardic Way are more likely.  We have a history of perverting knowledge and
power for personal or short-term gains."

   "Those who have the necessary attitudes are being quietly searched out
and recruited." She smiled sadly.  "Merlin will be one we ask - once he
comes to terms with his newfound freedom from his old duties.  I decided to
wait until all of us were settled into our relationships before asking him
to shoulder a new burden.  Of course, Kay and Cathy will be asked as well.
The five of us would become Earth's primary team should we all decide to
accept the new duties."

   For all her words of potential disasters, I was puzzled by her overall
attitude of relaxation.  She also, and this I definitely didn't understand,
was slightly amused.  "You seem far too relaxed about this."

   Something else occurred to me.  "Merlin.  I think he knows or suspects.
He talked of new responsibilities."

   She smiled.  "Indeed.  I am relaxed.  Are you aware that for all
practical purposes, the coyotes are the living embodiment of your world's
'purpose'?"

   I nodded.  "That's a simple way of expressing it but yes, that much is
obvious."

   "Have you ever wondered if there was a similar embodiment here on
Earth?"

   I looked at her.  "I took it for granted that since power was so seldom
used as part of your culture, that awareness would not have developed in
the same way ours did."

   She chuckled.  "Here it has chosen to manifest itself through and be
guided by - individuals." She openly grinned at me.  "You recently told the
two primmary avatars to merge and become one in body and soul.  Since you
are the present avatar of Rabelaisia's awareness on Earth and you are also
already life-mated with Merlin..." She stopped and smiled impishly.  "It
will be *most difficult* for anyone to successfully 'turn renegade' or hide
their manipulations if they decide to 'meddle'."

   She leaned forward and became intent.  "For centuries, 'power' has been
the stuff of legend and myth.  Our world turned to science and things
mechanical.  For all those centuries, The Merlins and their partners have
stood to one side and simply watched.  Earth's awareness is, for lack of a
better way to express it, not as 'innocent' as Rabelaisia's.  It is
cautious and always seeks to know the consequenses of actions it is asked
to perform.  Because of those centuries of symbiosis with Merlin and Kay,
it is very difficult to use it for personal gain or to cause it to
manipulate others.  Here, far more than on your homeworld, a power
handler's mindset is critical when invoking power.  Uses that are even
slightly 'evil' in the sense of being self-seeking tend to cause large
ripples that are easily traced."

   I nodded thoughtfully.  "That explains something I had wondered about.
Merlin's casual use of the awareness of Bard's Hall in a way that let him
learn all our secrets."

   Becky nodded.  "He kept his explanation simple when he said he 'asked
the right question'."

   "He did?"

   "Yes.  What he really did was something that is very difficult for most
people to do.  He dropped all his inner barriers and told Bard's Hall 'Here
I am.  Judge me by *your* standards and decide what you wish me to know.' "

   "The Hall repaid his trust by allowing him to judge it by *his*
standards."

   "You speak as if you had been there."

   She nodded.  "In a way, I was.  When I asked the Hall what it thought of
Earth's approach to power, it showed me what had happened.  It had been
quite pleased and hoped to meet more of us."

   I couldn't stop my ears from perking in her direction.  " 'Pleased'? 
'Hoped'?  Are you telling me that Bard's Hall is self aware and not just
reactive?"

   She nodded again.  "Of course it is.  It does not think and feel as we
do, but it does those things, and it also ponders, for lack of a better way
to express it, the knowledge it safeguards."

   We studied each other while I tried to understand the implications of
what she was saying, and then one thing stood out.  If Terra's power had an
awareness of some sort, it stood to reason that Rabelaisia's power did,
also.

   The implications staggered me mentally, and my thinking focused on a
concept that would affect my people as much as Nikki and Ash's decision to
redirect the focus of the Bards.

   I spoke far more slowly and carefully than I was used to, because in
many ways, I was formulating things as I spoke.  "What you are saying, is
that the reason the Bardic Ethos spread so rapidly, is because my world's
'awareness' found it most compatible with its own.  It favors cooperation
to competition, and once Ruth and Runner formalized The Bardic Way, it
actively encouraged its spread."

   She thought about it a long time, then nodded slowly, and to my eyes,
somewhat reluctantly.  "Perhaps.  No, it is likely that is part of the
reason for its rapid spread, but only a part, and it may not be a major
part."

   She sighed.  "We have more experience with wars, for all that they don't
involve the use of power.  In practical terms, your world was in the final
stages of your first war that had truly been global in scope.  Many of the
lusher areas were devestated or destroyed, your best and brightest were
dead, and to put it bluntly, everyone was tired of it.

   "Runner fought the last great battle of that war, and won, which made
him the hero of the day.  Since the morphs, as you were known, were the
only effective governing force, and they were global in scope, with a means
of effective and *rapid* communication, people looked to them to provide
the leadership during the recovery process.

   "Their reactiveness and reluctance to firmly grasp the ways of power is
exactly the mindset needed to encourage cooperation.

   "How the Bards developed the social structure that keeps the power
hungry from abusing the power they control, is something even the coyotes
aren't sure of.  They can see its beginnings, and they know the results
work, but the exact details of how it evolved are ones they missed.  They
*think* Nikkolai, his son Ash, and then you, are most likely the
culmination of a long, mostly inevitable process of growth that involved
your world's awareness learning to take a more direct hand in things."

   She smiled wryly, and surprised me when she let her features show some
sadness--and sympathy.

   "My own guess, Lady Chrystal, is that the reason the three of you are
considered Rabelaisia's 'Best Bards' is in reality, a simple one."

   I let my ears encourage her to continue, and she smiled slightly.  "Oh,
yes.  A very simple reason, yet in its way, so revolutonary that it will be
centuries before the ripples generated by your combined actions settle
enough to be studied and understood, on *either* of your homeworlds."

   My ears went vertical with my shock.  "Either?!"

   "Of course, either.  The three of you were your world's first
consciously chosen 'Avatars of Power'.  And you, Lady Chrystal are not only
Rabalaisia's Senior Ambassador, you are also Rabelaisia's deliberately
chosen Avatar, who speaks with its voice--on Terra.  The linking of your
life with Merlin and Kay's was serendipity.  Once that happened, the rest
of what happened was inevitable."

   I studied her again, and was...  Puzzled by the calm assurance that was
behind her assertions.  "That didn't sound like a guess."

   She blushed.  "It was, when I asked how much of it was true."

   I decided to lean back and laugh.  "I begin to undrstand the reasons the
Coyotes honored you with Runner's Cloak."

   She smiled and nodded her thanks.  "And your understanding of the rest
of it?"

   I leaned forward and settled my chin on my paws.  "You are being
charitable.  Call it acceptance of a more comprehensive truth, for now.  It
will take me a long time before I will be comfortable applying the word
'understand' to what you have told me."

   She nodded with a serenity that reminded me of Kay's easy dignity. 
"Fair enough..."

   She broke off when I stiffened and raised a paw.  "Wait."

   She nodded.

   I allowed myself to turn inward.  Once I realized the sense of what Kay
was asking me, I had her pause, then I looked at Becky with a new
understanding and pointed at the door.  "I suspect this is going to take
awhile.  Don't hold dinner for me."

   She nodded and left, closing the door gently behind her.  I smiled at
her thoughtfulness, then caused the door to lock before I cast one of my
more effective security spells.

   Once I was satisfied I wouldn't be interrupted or overheard, I returned
to my conversation with Kay.  --

   End unfinished work 'Affirmation' ===

   Train Ride The Luck-Bringers Merlin and Lady Kay --

   "That..." Kay was so furious she was spluttering.  "I ought to... 
Vixen!"

   I couldn't help it.  I started laughing.  Vel's cavalier dismissal had
shocked me but listening to Kay vent her anger had given me time to see the
funny side.  "Yep.  Vel *is* a Vixen.  Not a thing we can do about it,
either.  She knows it, too."

   "Frozen.  No, boiled.  Better yet turned inside out and allowed..." She
trailed off as she realized I had said sometihng.  "What?"

   "I said Vel *is* a Vixen and there's not a thing we can do about it."

   "Oh." She looked at me.  "What's so funny?" She sounded offended.

   "You.  Us.  Vel." I pulled Kay into the embrace I'd spent thousands of
years dreaming about.  "Now shut up and let's kiss like we've always wanted
to."

   She did.  Thousands of years of carefully controlled interaction was
abandoned.  We didn't kiss as 'Lord and Lady'.  We kissed as 'M'Lord and
M'Lady'.  Our hips pressed together and spoke of the desires we had
carefully controlled as we waited for this time.

   She pulled back and took a deep breath.  "Whew!" She smiled.  "Vel knows
how to push our buttons, doesn't she?"

   I tried to shrug nonchalantly but I knew I wasn't bringing it off
completely.  "She's a Vixen.  A Bard." I hesitated and then gestured.  "Our
coach is waiting." I pulled Kay into another embrace.

   After we shared another lingering kiss, we started towards the open door
of the coach.  "Vel and I share a love that I will never be able to
explain. But, for all that..."

   I gently turned Kay so we faced each other just before we entered the
coach.  "She's not and never will be - 'M'Lady Kay'."

   When I moved to settle on the couch that faced one of the windows, Kay
stopped me and pointed at one of the chairs.  "That one.  Vel and the twins
told me it's the most comfortable."

   I looked at the chair and then at Kay.  "I should have expected that." I
settled in it and when I felt comfortable I motioned to Kay.

   She surprised me.  Just before she settled in my lap for the first time
in our lives, she pulled up the back of her dress.  She nestled into me and
sighed.  "Finally." We just sat there for long minutes and savored the
closeness.

   I felt her shift as she reached down to open my pants.  "Don't argue
with me." She worked me out, got me hard and then shifted until I could
feel myself slide home.  At that point, she leaned back against my chest
and relaxed.

   That was it.  Our first time was nothing more than adding the physical
connection as part of a cuddle that let us savor each other.

   Later, as the train clattered through the night, we ate dinner.

   "Kay?" She looked up from her dinner.  "I suppose it's inevitable that I
would make comparisons."

   She nodded.  "I, too."

   I leaned back and sipped my tea.  We both had too much between us to be
anything other than honest.  "Same.  Different.  Right." I shrugged
slightly.  "Completion that has me wondering how we could have been so...
Innocent."

   Kay turned to gaze out the window.  "Blindness.  Cultural conditioning
that became a habit.  Once I 'saw' Velvet in your future, I never took the
time to 'see' for us.  I seldom use the sight for myself and those close to
me." She turned back and smiled wryly.  "You already knew that much."

   "True.  I also understand your reasoning."

   "Hubert?  Are you content with the ways things have turned out?" She
sounded...  Hesitant about something.

   "It's been a long wait.  If what happened earlier doesn't tell you how
content I am, I can't think of any other way to convince you."

   She nodded.  "Not even might have beens?" Her lips quirked.  "I have
thought of them.  Often."

   I nodded.  "Those, I have contemplated in full measure."

   "Would it please you to know that even though today was our first
'sharing of the couch', any children we have - will not be our first-born?"

   I was sipping at my tea and thinking of our past so what she said didn't
register at first.  When I did at last turn to unraveling the meaning of
her calm words, it was all I could do to carefully set down my cup and
stare at her.

   "Not...?" I made a gesture to let her know she should continue.

   "No." She looked down at her hands and blushed.  "They don't know their
true heritage."

   "They?" Things were not going as I had expected.

   She took a deep breath and brought her eyes up to meet mine.  "Many
centuries ago, a village girl managed to get your attention.  You spent
several nights with her as a man.  One of the reasons she enchanted you was
that she looked as I had when we first met."

   "I remember her.  Darla.  I remember wishing she was you."

   Kay smiled slightly.  "Your unspoken dreams called to me.  When I
arrived and discovered the reason for their intensity, I yearned to give
you what I knew I could not.  There are ways a man's seed may be removed
from one woman and used to produce his children in another."

   "I had the will and the knowledge." She looked away.  "Forgive me, my
love.  One night, after the two of you had danced, I waited until the two
of you were asleep and removed your seed from her and gave it a new home."

   She let her voice fall to a barely audible whisper.  "In myself.  When
the proper time had passed, I left our children with that same woman.  She
understood what I had to do and agreed to raise them as she would the child
that had been born of your love for her."

   "They.  Our children.  You speak as one who knows they still live." I
couldn't hide my yearning.  I had to know them if what she hinted at was
true.

   "You aren't upset?" She looked slightly stunned.

   "Upset?  After all these centuries you gift me with something I have
desired since we first met?  A dream, unspoken but cherished?" I reached
across to take her trembling hand in mine.  "I am only upset that you would
think I would not approve of your actions."

   She looked into my eyes and there was something fathomless in them. 
"Our children live and are well."

   "Who?" I breathed it.  If I couldn't reveal myself as their father, at
least I could meet them.  "Where?"

   Kay's lips had a quirky twist that I was used to seeing on anyone except
her.  She mouthed the words rather than spoke them aloud.  "The twins."

   At first I didn't understand her answer.  Then I was afraid I did.  I
gaped.  "The...?"

   She nodded.

   "The village I rescued them from was leagues away from the one Darla
lived in."

   "They spent many hours telling me of how they had lived and the troubles
they had survived.  It was when they named their mother, and the name of
the village they were born in, that I suspected who they were.  It was a
casual comment by one of them that made me take the time to be sure.  'You
look like our mother, only older and wiser.  Mom always said we looked more
like our father than we did her.' "

   "I..." I fell silent and after a long silence shrugged helplessly.

   Kay smiled.  "You had no reason to suspect.  Ultimately, all things
considered, does it matter?"

   "Yes.  No.  Maybe.  I don't know." I was shaken and didn't bother to try
and hide it.

   "Every once in awhile, something from my youth comes back to cause me
problems.  'I have 'known' my own daughters.  It's done.  I love them
deeply and see no reason to change that.  But..." I stared off at the
night. "It doesn't seem to matter to that early conditioning."

   I took a deep breath and without turning back to watch Kay, I asked the
inevitable question.  "Do we tell them?"

   "We have as long as we need to decide.  I want to and yet..." She
trailed off into silence.

   I turned back to her and reached for her hand.  "A suggestion?"

   She nodded slowly, so I went on.  "If it is to be done, best we do it
quickly.  Speak to Vel, explain the situation and then ask her to send the
twins to us because we wish to give them a gift before we take our
vacation."

   Kay's lips had a wry twist to them when she finally smiled.  "Lady
Chrystal does come from a world where such things are common."

   I watched as she turned her focus inward.  Little 'almost' movements
hinted that some rather unusual things were being shared between them. 
While I waited, I pondered what I was going to say when Becky and Cathy
arrived.  After considering and discarding a lot of flowery words, I
decided to fall back on simplicity.

   I looked at Kay.  She was still turned inward.  When I glanced at the
clock, I realized she had been linked with Velvet for several hours. 
Eventually, as dawn started revealing itself, Kay broke her link and
returned.

   "Chrystal was most surprised and upset with herself.  She is usually
able to spot kin when she meets them.  She also commented that the
discovery explained something else that she had not paid much attention
to." Kay was irritated but not upset.  "She refused to explain herself but
said we'd find out on our own - soon enough.  The twins await our summons."

   I nodded and as we stood I pulled Kay into a brief embrace so we could
kiss again.  I would have held the kiss longer than I did but she gently
pushed me away.  Her eyes had the amused and tolerant twinkle I'd seen her
give all of us at one time or another.  "Heavenly, and you are as skilled
as the twins claim you to be.  However, they do await our summons.  So,
would you call them and get this over so we can return to being
*ourselves*?"

   I couln't stop the chuckle that escaped.  "For someone who has enough
patience for a world, you remind me of a woman who is impatient to discover
the ways of the bridal couch."

   Her response was immediate.  "I know the joys.  I want to finally share
them with the one man who has always deserved what I have to give." She
closed her mouth so suddenly I had the impression she was holding something
back.

   I gazed at her flushed face.  She managed to force down a blush but she
was still breathing heavily when her lips quirked into a smile.  I grinned
back and turned to the task at hand.  For the first time in many years, I
gathered my powers and pointed at the area in front of us.  "Come!" It was
a command that brooked no denial.  Two forms coalesced into the familiar
shapes of Becky and Cathy.  I raised my eyebrows and laughed softly.  They
were naked.

   "Merlin?  Kay?" They looked at us oddly.  "Vel said it was something
that she felt was important enough to violate her ban on contact."

   I nodded and smiled as I squeezed Kay in a one-armed hug.  "Indeed it
is. Kay has given me a gift beyond price and I wanted to share it with you
before we got wrapped up in our vacation."

   They looked around the room.  When their eyes returned to us, I smiled.
"Last night Kay told me that many, many centuries ago, without my
knowledge, she used the seed I left in another woman I loved very much...
to create children of our own.  She has kept watch over them ever since she
discovered their whereabouts.  She also told me they are doing well for
themselves after all these years."

   "I agree with her.  You have indeed, done very well."

   "I wanted to tell you that in person."

   Becky was the first to react.  The fingers on her right hand made a
subtle gesture.  When I looked at her face and raised my eyebrows in a
question, she nodded and made the gesture that Rabelaisian lovers often use
to indicate their deep bond.

   Cathy saw my raised eyebrows and then realized I was studying her
sister. "Sister?"

   Becky smiled slightly.  "Some other time, I'll explain.  That we are Kay
and Merlin's firstborn explains much I had wondered about." She refocussed
on Kay and I.  "To know our true father at last is, indeed, a gift beyond
price.  Kay, thank you for having the courage to allow us into the world."

   She mimed an elegant curtsey and before we could react, touched her
sister gently.  "Come.  Sister.  This is not the time and place to discuss
it.  Let us leave them to their newly discovered joys."

   Both of them blurred into their hound forms and leapt for the window. 
Just as they reached the opening, they vanished.

   Kay was frozen.  "I never taught them that trick." She sighed a bit
ruefully.  "I wouldn't have believed such smooth control of their power was
possible."

   It was a long time before I answered.  I was too busy rearranging my
thinking.  I motioned towards the couch and then settled there while I
waited for Kay to join me.  We settled comfortably and I stared moodily
into the flames of the fire.  "Such control is only taught in one place. 
The same place Vel learned it.  The same place Becky just told me *she*
learned it.  I never suspected that she is a Bardic Master."

   "No, more than that.  She, and possibly Cathy, are a newer type of
Bard."

   Kay was silent as she considered things.  She finally shook herself
slightly and I could feel her laughter before she let it overwhelm her. 
"So, they have become 'Rabel-Rousers'." In between gasps for breath, she
got out a last comment before she turned and hugged me.  "It suits them."
--

   End unfinished work: 'Train Ride' ===
codes: Souvie's wedding gift, furry, M-vixen-F, rom

   It started with Souvie's wedding date announcement.

   Then Alexis chimed in:

   > Is it just me, or does this just *scream* story-writing event as an
ASSD > wedding present?  > > Alexis.  > (I figure with a year's notice, I
might be able to actually finish > something on time -- so start thinking,
folks.  Wedding stories.  MF, FF, > MF, whatever.  Weddings, or other forms
of "together forever" ceremonies)

   I liked the idea but added my own twist by asking Souvie what kind of a
story they would like to have me write.

   Souvie responded with:

   > hmmmmmm Something with cold weather outside, warm fire inside,
smores...  > :-) Either story or poem works for me.

   Sounded simple enough until I did a little research on just what
'smores' are--other than something that sounded good to eat...  --

   Evening Song - Merlin --

   "That's the last of the guests." Velvet sounded tired.  "I'm glad it's
over with.  What possessed him to do it, anyway?"

   The sounds coming from the kitchen stopped.  Kay's voice was tinged with
gentle amusement when she answered Vel's plaintive question.  "He did it
because he loves us both--and it was his way of telling the world how
special he thinks we are."

   Vel appeared in the patio doorway and stood there while she watched me
prepare our pit BBQ the old fashioned way.  "Merlin." I nodded without
looking up.  "You have alternatives.  Remember?"

   "Lady Chrystal, my love, I get feelings of deep satisfaction..." I
tossed a match at the pile of wood and tinder that was soaked with
charcoal-lighter.  It responded with a loud 'whoomph!' "In doing this as a
normal person would." Once I felt the fire would eventually burn down to
coals I walked over and hugged her.  "I started life as an ordinary person,
Hubert of Merlinsford.  The three of us are starting our new lives as
openly acknowledged mates.  'Something old, something new.' "

   Kay called from the kitchen: "Merlin, where are they?"

   "Cupboard above the stove, in the paper bag."

   Kay walked out and joined us in the enclosed patio.  She had the bag
open and was looking inside.  "Graham crackers.  Giant marsh-mellows. 
Semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Aluminum foil.  Condoms??" She sounded
outraged.

   Vel treated Kay to an amused look while they held a battle of wills.  It
was Vel who broke the brittle silence.  "He mentioned something about
starting life as an ordinary person."

   Kay relaxed.  "He did, did he?" Her eyes unfocused as she gazed at
something only she could see.  She returned to herself and looked at Vel.
"You know what he's asking me?"

   Vel nodded.  "The thought had occurred to me, yes.  I'm not the one who
has to worry about getting pregnant if I don't plan ahead."

   "May I say something?" They turned to face me.  "It's our wedding day,
the beginning of our honeymoon.  For the next year I plan to be nothing
more, or less, than 'Hubert of Merlinsford', the person Kay first met so
many centuries ago.  Kay, we have a chance to be what we always wanted to
be, not what destiny made us." I held out my hands and waited.

   Vel put her hands in mine and studied my face.  "Ordinary.  I was never
that.  For the next year I'll do my best to be ordinary as my people know
it."

   Kay put the bag on the couch.  She had tears in her eyes as she joined
her hands with ours.  "To be your lover, your co-wife.  'Something old,
something new'.  One year, Hubert." She grinned.  "Plan on using a lot of
condoms.  I'm fertile--as you already know!"

   Before we settled on the couch I turned on the outside lights.  Their
normally harsh glow was muted by the randomly swirling snow.  Rather than
look at the thermometer, I walked over and put my hand on one of the
windows.  "Not as cold as it could be, but cold enough."

   Kay laughed.  "Get over here, between us.  It's time we showed Vel how
to make smores."

   We settled ourselves.  Kay handed Vel the graham crackers.  While Vel
was opening the box, Kay opened the bags of marsh-mellows and chocolate
chips.  I used the time to make foil squares and stack them on my lap tray.

   I looked at Kay and then grinned at Vel.  "Ready?"

   "About as ready as I was for your 'wedding ceremony'.  I have the
impression that I'm going to suffer some more culture shock." She took a
deep breath.  "Ready."

   I chuckled.  "Think of this as new ritual."

   She giggled.

   I sighed.  "I have a feeling I'm going to pay for this but...  Let's
begin.  Vel, put a graham cracker in the center of the foil."

   She did.

   "Kay?  Your turn."

   Kay picked up a marsh-mellow and poked some chips into it.  Then she
flattened it between her hands and centered the result on the cracker.

   "Vel?  Another cracker, on top of the marsh-mellow and gently hold it
there while I fold the foil around it all."

   I carefully wrapped the 'sandwich' and handed the result to Kay, who set
it on the couch next to her.  "See how easy it is?  We'll put these close
to the coals for a few minutes.  Then we'll unwrap them and enjoy
ourselves."

   Vel studied the situation, then nibbled on a cracker.  After she
finished it she reached across me and picked up a marsh-mellow and a few
chips.  She ate those and obviously thought about the taste of them when
they were together.  "No wonder you and Kay made making them a ritual. 
They deserve it."

   I grinned and Kay laughed again.

   Making the rest of them went quickly.  Once we finished they put the
leftovers on the tray and I took it all back into the kitchen while Kay
showed Vel how to arrange the smores so they'd heat properly.  When I got
back they motioned for me to resettle between them.  Kay pointed at the
window.  "Strange.  I can't remember when we last had the time to be
ourselves.  I'd forgotten how luxurious idleness without purpose can be."

   I felt Vel stiffen and then relax.  "What is it, love?"

   She snuggled closer.  "Until Kay mentioned it, I never realized how
driven we Rabelaisians are.  We know how to relax but we don't have the
concept of 'idleness without purpose'.  You not only have it, you've
managed to make it such a normal part of your lives you take it for
granted." She took a deep breath and I felt her body relax even further. 
"I'm already addicted to it.  People I love to give me inner warmth.  A
fire to gently warm my body while I lose myself in the patterns of the
falling snow..."

   I looked down, then turned to Kay and smiled.  Vel had fallen asleep. 
Kay nodded, hugged me and we turned our attention to the storm while we
waited for our smores to cook.  ===

   Evening Song - Lady Chrystal --

   "That's the last of them." I was exhausted from the day's activities. 
"I'm glad we've finished with all the ceremonies." I leaned against the
counter and studied Kay while she searched the kitchen cabinets.  "He must
have been possessed--to be able to talk us into having a wedding ceremony."

   Kay paused and looked up at me.  "He loves us both.  This was his
special way of finally announcing it to the world at large." She bent back
down and renewed her search.  Her voice was muffled and tinged with the dry
amusement that indicated she was not going to let herself be bothered by
Merlin's antics.  "You're a Bard and a member of the nobility.  I imagine
you've been involved in ceremonies that were far more involved and chaotic
than today's."

   She had a point.  "True." I let my tone turn wry: "However, I wasn't as
emotionally involved in *those*.  The only other time I've felt this
physically and emotionally drained was after dealing with my family's
assassination."

   I moved to the doorway so I could watch Merlin.  He was carefully
arranging the tinder and wood in the BBQ.  I was suddenly reminded of the
times when I had needed a campfire during my travels as a wandering bard. I
laughed softly when he poured the lighter fluid over the pile.  "Merlin."
He nodded slightly.  "You *do* have a more reliable means of lighting the
BBQ.  Did you forget you're a wizard?

   "Lady Chrystal.  My love." I smiled at his use of my birth name.  It
meant he was going to tell me something that meant a great deal to him.  "I
find it deeply satisfying..." He tossed a lit match on the pile and it
burst into flames.  "When I can do some mundane task--as if I were a normal
person."

   He gazed into the flames for a few minutes before he walked over and
hugged me.  "One wedding tradition is: 'Something old, something new.' I
was born 'Hubert of Merlinsford'.  The three of us are starting our new
lives as openly acknowledged mates."

   I started to agree with him and was interrupted by an an exasperated
shout from Kay: "Merlin!  Where are they?"

   His eyes met mine and they shone with his inner amusement as he calmly
shouted back: "In the cupboard above the stove, in the paper bag." He
didn't add that she and I had watched him put the bag there 'so she would
be able to find it later'.

   I didn't try to hide my giggles.  The 'game' he played with Kay was one
that was similar to the one mates on my homeworld often played.

   Kay was inventorying the bag's contents as she appeared in the doorway.
"Graham crackers.  Giant marsh-mellows.  Semi-sweet chocolate chips. 
Aluminum foil.  Condoms??"

   She glanced at Merlin, then me.  I tilted my head slightly and treated
her to one of my best 'Bard's grins'.  I felt her gathering power as her
exasperation was transfered from Merlin, to myself.  Just as she opened her
mouth to start a comment I decided to distract her.  "Merlin mentioned
something about starting life as an ordinary person."

   Kay relaxed and I felt the power she'd gathered dissipate.  She allowed
herself to laugh gently.  "He did, did he?" Her eyes unfocused as she gazed
at something only she could see.  When she returned she faced me directly
in a silent challenge.  "You know what he's asking me?"

   My grin widened "I'm not the one who has to worry about getting pregnant
if I don't plan ahead.  When Merlin bought the condoms, it was obvious he
didn't need them...  With me.  Since the twins are gone, that left--you."

   We continued our silent confrontation until Merlin cleared his throat.
"My Ladies?  May I interject?  It *is* our wedding day." I felt him gather
power and stiffened when he used it seal off our access to outside power.
Both of us, startled, turned to face him.  "I entered life as Hubert of
Merlinsford.  When Kay and I met, that's all I was, an ordinary man.  Then
destiny took over and forced us to be other than what we wished to be to
each other." Suddenly the feeling of restriction vanished.  "I plan on
being that man for the next year.  Kay, Vel, we have the chance to be the
people we've always wanted to be." He held out his hands in the 'greeting
of mates'.

   My reaction was automatic.  I reached and intertwined our fingers.  "I
was never ordinary." He nodded.  "I will, for the next year, try to be
'ordinary' as that term applies to my homeworld."

   Merlin shifted so he could watch Kay.  She seemed...  elsewhere.  She
finally shook herself and smiled before reaching to gently place her hands
on top of ours.  "I've long been your co-wife.  Recently I joined you on
your couch.  'Something old, something new'.  Merlin, your wedding gift
speaks volumes.  For one year, I will be the Kay I always dreamed of." She
winked at me before continuing.  "You'll need a *lot* of condoms.  I'm
fertile, and you know it!"

   As Kay and I moved to the couch Merlin went over and turned on the
outside lights.  I studied him as he reached and lightly placed his hand on
the window.  "Not as cold as it could be, but cold enough." He seemed to be
studying the swirling snow.  I was content to let him relax but Kay had
other plans.

   She laughed and touched the empty space between us.  "Get over here. 
It's time we showed Vel how to make smores."

   After Merlin settled between us Kay started by handing Merlin a lap
tray. Then she distributed what was in the bag.  The first thing she did
was take the box of condoms and drop them in Merlin's lap.  "I'll let you
worry about these, later." He blushed but said nothing.

   She then handed Merlin the box of foil.  She handed me the box of graham
crackers while keeping the marsh mellows and chocolate chips for herself.

   I watched, slightly bemused, as Merlin carefully tore off sections of
the foil and stacked them neatly on his tray.  His movements were studied,
ritualistic and they fascinated me.

   Kay chuckled.  "Vel.  Open the box." I heard the sound of tearing and
watched as she carefully tore open the two bags she held.  I didn't need to
be told that I should give some thought to opening the box of crackers.  I
studied it and decided that I should follow the instructions rather than
casually rip it open as we usually did.

   A nail under one flap teased it up and I felt the glue give.  I repeated
the process until I had all the flaps separated and could see the bag
inside.  I sighed and glanced up to see Kay watching me.  When I raised an
eyebrow she nodded.  I couldn't pull the side of the bag gently apart as
she had done with her bags.  So, instead, I used a nail to puncture it and
tease open a long tear that exposed the crackers.

   When I was done I looked up from my task to see them both grinning. 
Merlin's voice held a note of approval as he asked, simply: "Ready?"

   I snorted softly.  "As ready as I was for the wedding ceremony.  I have
a feeling I'm about to suffer through some more culture shock." I took a
deep breath and sighed.  "Ready."

   He laughed.  "Think of it as learning new ritual."

   I couldn't stop my giggles.  After I recovered I looked deep into his
eyes and smiled as only a vixen with mischief on her mind can smile.  "I'll
try to keep that in mind."

   He reached and lightly touched my muzzle before pulling me into a kiss.
His eyes held his soul but his tone was resigned.  "I have a feeling I'm
going to pay for this later.  So, let's begin.  Vel, center a cracker on
the foil."

   I did.

   "Kay?  Your turn."

   I watched as she carefully flattened one of the marsh mellows and then
poked chips into it.  When she was done she placed it on the cracker and
the two of them gently flattened it.  Kay removed her hand and looked at
me. "Vel?  Another cracker, please."

   Merlin helped me place the top graham cracker and then wrapped the foil
around the result.  "See, simple."

   Kay and I shared a look that we let him see.  "Simple if you already
know the moves." I touched his face lightly.  I still had trouble believing
how much in love the three of us were.  I still missed Alex, just like I
knew Merlin missed all of his past lovers...  I smiled and kissed him.  "As
simple as the love three of us share, isn't it?  My life-mate."

   He blushed and then we busied ourselves with making more smores.  While
Kay and I took them over and arranged them on the BBQ Merlin took the
leftovers into the kitchen.  When he got back I caught him watching us from
the doorway.  "Merlin?  Deep thoughts?"

   He shook his head and gazed out at the snow.  After a long silence he
returned to himself and walked over to hug us both to him.  "Deep thoughts.
I'm filled with the wonder of it all." He let go, settled on the couch and
waited for us to rejoin him.  He kissed me, then turned to kiss Kay.  "I am
content.  With the two of you, I am complete--at last."

   Kay turned her head away in embarrassment.  We knew she was searching
for a distraction when she pointed at the snow and commented: "Strange.  I
can't remember when we last had the time to be ourselves.  I'd forgotten
how luxurious idleness without purpose can be."

   Epiphany.  I stiffened and Merlin caught it.  "Love?"

   I settled into his embrace.  "Until Kay mentioned it, I never realized
how driven we Rabelaisians are.  We know how to relax but we don't have the
concept of 'idleness without purpose'.  You not only have it, you've
managed to make it such a normal part of your lives you take it for
granted." I took a deep breath and let my body relax in the way I had
relaxed with Alex.  "I'm already addicted to it.  People I love to give me
inner warmth.  A fire to gently warm my body while I lose myself in the
patterns of the falling snow..."

   I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remember is waking up
when Kay got up to get our smores.

   Smores and love--shared equally--brought me a contentment I never knew
existed.  It was a lesson I'll never forget.  ===

   (furry M/Vixen rom nosex) Song Fest (mood challenge) furry M/vixen rom
nosex (RP) This one has a rather unusual history, even for one of my works.

   Merlin is one of my talker personas.  Lady Chrystal, aka Velvet, is
lifted from 'The Tails of Rabelaisia, a furry world/series in which I and
another author collaborated or wrote individual stories.  Lady Kay is based
on, with permission, a woman I have known for years.

   The closing scene, ie the arrival and greeting ceremony, is 'lifted'
from a longer story I did for 'The Fantasy Train' but never posted.  After
consideration, I realized that so many of the references in it were linked
to posts in ASSD that unless a person had read the posts indirectly
referred to, the story would be almost meaningless to a casual reader.  The
story was a mystery that had Merlin hosting a group of people from ASSD as
they solved it.  (It was also my first attempt to write a mystery.)

   I appeared as Merlin but used my regular nym.  Lady Kay was a new
character, developed deliberately, as were the twins Cathy and Becky.

   Then, there is the matter of just *who* my guests were.  <vbg>

   In order of appearance: Lord Shon, Maria Gonzales, Starshadow (from my
'Starshadow and Friends' series), Virago Blue, Lord Malinov, Miss Behavin',
Frank Mcoy, Bronwen.

   Oh, the 'train' was also special.  You see, I borrowed none other than
'Dorable Dora...

   In a concession to ah...  discretion, I decided that it would not be
wise to post it because I was fairly new to the group and some of these
folks might take offense to the way I 'saw' them in this situation (no sex
btw, except for what Merlin and his people get involved in).  OTOH, if
enough people request it, I can knock the dust off and post it.  :/

   Anyway, as someone else says: "That's my story--and I'm sticking to it!"
---

   Words of Wisdom Merlin and Lady Chrystal --

   "When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me Speaking
words of wisdom Let it be

   And in my hour of darkness She is standing right in front of me Speaking
words of wisdom Let it be" Quoted from the song 'Let it Be' copyright by
the Beatles ---

   I lean back with a sigh and let the words and music wash over me as I
sit and gaze out the window at the passing scenery.  For thirty years those
simple words have been my means of 'summoning' the only person to ever
become *my* 'Mother Mary'.  There is nothing more for me to do - except
wait.

   The subtle scent of sun-warmed fur is the first thing to impinge on my
awareness and let me know someone is near.  I take a deeper breath and
'taste' the subtle nuances that include something barely detectable. 
Female.  One I know and love.

   Delicate paws flow around my neck and pause before gently pulling me
back against her warm, fur covered body.

   "Hello Merlin.  'Times of trouble'?"

   "My personal 'Mother Mary'.  Hello, Lady Chrystal." I reach to gently
enfold her fur-covered paws in my hands.  "You knew?"

   Her voice is calm.  "Of course.  I knew before you 'called' me." I feel
her body shake briefly and then it stills.  "Kay and the twins said you
needed me.  I was planning to join you anyway.  I also, have needs." There
is a long silence as I consider her response.  During that silence, she has
pulled free and begun massaging my neck and shoulders.  Instead of worrying
about my problems, I return to gazing out the window at the scenery and
relax into her gentle ministrations.

   "Merlin?" She stops massaging me and slowly walks around to settle in my
lap.  As she leans into my chest, I wrap my arms around her and tenderly
hold her as she begins to shiver.  "I need more than your 'words of
wisdom'. I need you." She leans to the side and turns to bury her face in
my shoulder.  I feel her shaking as she sobs.  I have to strain to hear her
next words because they are gasped out in a whisper that is nearly
overwhelmed by her need to cry.  "Alex.  Is.  Dead."

   All of my own problems are forgotten.  I squeeze Vel in a gentle hug and
gaze off at nothing while I wait for her to recover.

   Eventually, as the train cruises through darkness, she explains.

   "I knew it would happen someday.  It's not what you think.  He led a
full life and died of old age.  I thought I would be ready when it
happened."

   She takes a deep breath and wipes her eyes with the back of one paw.  "I
wasn't."

   Under other conditions, her closeness would inspire other, pleasanter,
thoughts.  Instead, all I can think of is our shared past.  Alex, her mate
on Rabelaisia, knew of what she and I shared and approved of the
relationship.  He and I had several quiet talks over the years.  One of
those talks was about the relationship Vel and I share.  He had been
pragmatic about the situation.  'You walk in a world I can only dimly
glimpse.  I wish fate hadn't chosen Vel to walk there but I can rest easy
knowing she has a guide worthy of her.' I had not expected that.  'Alex,
often it is she who guides and comforts me.  Lady Kay has ties to my heart
and the twins have a claim on me that cannot be denied.  In addition to the
love we share, Lady Chrystal has a unique claim on my soul.' I had taken a
deep breath.  'We are one in a way that few would understand.  I am what
she would have been had she been male and living in my world.  She is me,
as I would have been had I been female in yours.  We discovered that bond
after we fell in love with each other.' His huge head had nodded and then
he had smiled.  'She *is* lovable, isn't she?  Take good care of her when
I'm gone.' I had not trusted myself to speak so I had returned his nod.  It
was the last time he and I spoke of our shared love for Velvet, his mate.

   "Vel?" No answer.  I look at her and can't keep myself from smiling. 
She fell asleep while I was letting myself remember.

   The sunrise is glorious but the only sunrise I want to see is the one
that used to live in Vel's eyes.

   I barely remember the first time I lost a woman I had loved for years.
Now, after a long life, the pain is muted but still there as a reminder of
part of the price those such as I and Vel pay for who and more importantly,
*what* we are.

   It is this experience that tells me she will recover from the pain of
her loss.  Eventually.

   I feel her body shift as she begins to wake up.  She stiffens slightly
and then, before her eyes open, her arms pull my face to hers and we share
a kiss.  As her eyes open, I see the barest glimmer of the inner light I am
used to.

   "Merlin?  You once offered me the haven of your castle."

   "Yes."

   She nods slowly and turns her head to look out the window.  "Sunrise. 
Beautiful."

   I wait.

   "Lady Kay and the twins?" I realize she is asking if there will be
problems.

   "Of course they will welcome you as a resident.  You don't need me to
tell you they love you."

   "Be right back." She gets to her feet and heads for the bathroom.  I
smile slightly as I get up and do the same.  When I return, she is settled
in the chair opposite mine and a table has been placed between them.  With
their usual efficiency, the porters have brought us breakfast.  As we
nibble, we talk of many things.  Gradually, I learn she has severed all
ties with her own world.  "I set it up as if I had vanished at sea.  The
family business has run itself for years.  I took a small, one person
sailing vessel out in order to be with my thoughts.  Those voyages are
something of a tradition in our family.  This time, the boat sank during a
storm." She smiles sadly.  "I did listen closely when you chose to talk of
your own past.  Perhaps, my solution was easier to find.  Rabelaisia is a
harder, yet kinder world.  People will wonder what happened to me.  I
imagine most will assume that the storm that came up was stronger than my
skills." She pauses.  "By all reasonable standards, I have already lived
longer than I should.  Some will speak of 'it was time' and eventually I
will be only a vanishing memory."

   "So, here you are.  Eating breakfast with an old man." I let the context
speak for itself.

   "Well, I did wander your world for a few months.  I wanted to meet the
people you live with." A bit of her old self returns to her eyes.

   "I knew about Kay and the twins.  I spent a month at your castle before
I came to you."

   I look at her in surprise.  I've been wandering the world for over a
year without any messages or other contact with Kay and the twins.  Kay, or
the twins for that matter, will make the decision to interrupt my
infrequent 'vacations' only if there is great need.  Belatedly, I realize I
shouldn't be surprised at her delay in letting me know she was on Earth.  I
finally nod and indicate she should continue.  "Merlin?" She holds up those
delicate paws in a gesture I have seen her use in my dreams.  It is
something done formally and only if there is great emotional commitment
between the people involved.  "No ceremonies.  I would feel trapped right
now.  We're already mated anyway.  Now?" Her eyes shrug as her paws remain
in place.  "I've had a lot of years to think about us.  I knew the first
time we met.  It is our way." She tilts that vulpine head sideways and
studies me thoughtfully.

   "And?" I look at her paws and then at her.

   "The formal recognition gesture of mind-mates that also asks if the
other is willing to link their lives together.  There are no ceremonies on
my world.  This...  Is the closest thing we have to a bonding ritual that
is as sanctified as your more formal ceremonies." For a long time, I've
known what Vel means to me.  "I never felt we needed any ceremonies.  We
know what we mean to each other." I hold up my hands and carefully position
my fingers.  Once sure I have things right, I lean forward and gently touch
her paws.  As I do so, our fingers slowly intertwine.

   We hold that pose for minutes and then she gently pulls herself free and
leans back with a slight smile.

   "I won."

   "Hmm?  Won what?"

   "The twins bet me you wouldn't recognize the gesture and know what to
do. Kay agreed with me.  She said you loved me so much that you would have
long ago learned our customs."

   "Nikki taught me when I asked." I settle back after finishing my food.
Thoughtfully, I swirl my juice.  "He was 'gently amused' by my eagerness to
learn your world's more formal customs."

   "I think he knew.  If he didn't, I'm certain Ash did."

   I get a warm smile that turns wistful.

   "Vel?  Be grateful you had a whole new world and someone who loves you,
to turn to."

   "I said I've been here for months." She shrugs.  "I needed the time to
rediscover my center.  I loved Alex.  I still do.  But, once you and I
realized how my future had changed when we met, I started preparing myself.
Alex's pragmatism near the end helped.  Just before he died, he told me of
his request and your promise." Her lips quirk slightly.  "Not that I needed
his reminder of what you and I mean to each other.  I would have turned to
you anyway."

   "Now?  Kay and the twins helped - a lot.  Still, they aren't you and
they understand that.  The twins wanted to let me have you exclusively
until I was ready to share." Her eyes come alive at some memory.  "I
reminded them that our worlds differ in many important ways."

   "Anyway, here I am." She sips at her own glass of juice.

   "My troubles will take time to be dealt with.  I know that.  Shall we
move on to the reasons you need me?"

   "Always my Vel.  Always the consummate Bard." I get a wan smile for my
compliment.

   "I was thinking about emigrating to Rabelaisia." It is a quiet comment
that gets Vel's full attention.  "My first thoughts were that on your
world, it would be easier to quietly live my life."

   I gaze out the window and see nothing but my memories.  "It wouldn't
have worked, of course."

   "No." Her voice is filled with a wry agreement.  We share sad smiles.

   I continue with my thoughts.  "Here, until recently, the use of power
was almost unknown.  Discovering your world changed that.  How long would I
have remained undiscovered on a world where power is a part of daily life?"

   "Your aura is almost unique.  You would have been spotted and welcomed
as soon as you landed." She indicates she needs a refill.  While her glass
is being topped, we study each other.  "I wouldn't have been able to hide
who I am for very long.  That's only *one* of the reasons I severed my ties
to my home."

   I nod.  "About what I had figured out after I reconsidered things."
There's no need for either of us to speak of the main reason.  Once I had
accepted I couldn't go to her, I had settled myself to wait for her arrival
on Earth.

   I pause and gaze into my glass.  Softly, I begin to tell part of my own
story.

   "You know me as Merlin.  Long ago, I was known by another name.  That
name isn't important."

   "No, that's not quite right.  It became meaningless as a natural result
of the path a young man chose to walk.  I was not the first person to be
known as 'Merlin'.  I am not even the last or the only."

   "You see, for many centuries, Merlin' has been a title.  One that honors
the one who set our goals and searched for companions who would be willing
to trek down an often hidden path to a future none could clearly see."

   "We are, in some ways, responsible for things in much the way the Bards
on your world are.  We are seekers after knowledge.  We are the keepers of
a dimly remembered past that in all honesty, we never expected to be needed
or used again.  Unlike the Bards, we do not guide.  We are not here to
remind people of their past mistakes or gently guide them to some vision of
the future.  We gather the bits and pieces of knowledge and we observe. 
Sometimes we might become a 'bringer of luck'.  We can't be everywhere and
we don't try to influence the course of destiny." "We collect the past and
save it.  We feel life's flow but we do not try to move it in any way. 
Sometimes, one of us will quietly collect a person who has found this path
on their own."

   "Above all, we simply hold our knowledge in trust in case a time comes
when it will be needed again."

   "The discovery of Rabelaisia changed everything.  Not just our world was
changed.  The discovery of Rabelaisia and the subsequent coming of the
Bards to Earth removed any need for the Merlins."

   I look up and see eyes that slowly fill with understanding.

   "I gained the fulfillment of my most cherished dream when I met you.  At
the same time, once I learned of the 'Bardic Way', I knew I had lost the
reason for my existence."

   "My vacation has been more than that.  Like you, I have been coming to
terms with a great change in my life."

   "I have lost my purpose." I let the long suppressed tears flow freely.

   Kay and the twins had been nearly hysterical when I showed up.  All they
could tell me was that something was bothering Merlin.  Outwardly, he was
still the pillar of wisdom and strength that was the creator of so many
legends.  Still, as lovers often will, they knew something was bothering
him.  Kay had reluctantly admitted she couldn't get Merlin to confide in
her.  "Lady Chrystal." It was the first time I had seen her famed grace and
poise crumble into nothing.  "He loves me and I love him.  But, ours is an
unconsummated love.  By mutual choice, we agreed that some paths were best
left untrod.  I have often wished otherwise but...  We have reached our
balance.  Until you came, he would confide in me.  After?" She smiled to
let me know she wasn't bitter.  "Something changed.  Some great burden came
to rest on his shoulders.  A burden he refuses to share.  You brought him,
and us, great joy and for that I am grateful beyond anything you can
understand."

   "Somehow, I *know* that his joy is also the cause of his pain."

   "Merlin loves me.  He also loves the twins.  You..." She hugged me and
cried.  "You are his mate."

   I held Kay close.  "I'll see what I can do." In the depths of my mind, I
completed the promise.  'It is not as a Bard that I promise this.  It is as
his mate.' "Kay." I leaned back to look into her eyes.  "Something you
should know.  I am here to offer myself as his mate.  Alex is dead and I
have severed all my ties to my birthworld."

   She gasped in pain.

   I nodded and smiled bleakly.  "I am not ready to see him yet.  The pain
is still too fresh in my soul.  I promise you, when I am ready, I will seek
him out.  I need him as much as you hope he will confide in me."

   She nodded slowly, reluctantly.  "That changes things.  We knew that
eventually you and Merlin would be together." She shook herself slightly
and studied me.  "Yes, I sometimes have the sight.  You must be sure when
you see him next." She gazed off and said no more.

   "Sure?  Of what?" I am not used to the 'seeings' that some Earth-humans
are able to do.  We have nothing that is equivalent.  Still, I have learned
that when one such as Lady Kay speaks from within this 'other sight', there
is great personal peril in failing to heed their words.

   Her smile was less forced.  "Return to your center else all will be lost
between the two of you."

   Now, looking at Merlin and his tears, I understand her cryptic words.

   "So.  Fate, in her attempt to be kind, is once again being her
cruelest." I smile slightly as Merlin looks at me.  "I am reminded of a
time in my own life, nearly forty years ago now, and the events that took
place when I returned to my family home - with Alex." He looks puzzled.  He
knows the story of how slavers assassinated my family and tried to make it
appear the work of the assassin's guild.  "There was more.  A hidden story
that that only a few know of." I gaze off and remember my shock at
Nikkolai's tale of recent change.  "The Bards' stubborn adherence to the
original 'Bardic Way' - almost became their downfall.  In short, they were
quickly becoming useless and if not for the vision of two lonely Bards,
would have lost their relevance and their purpose."

   "Indeed?  You're saying that in your, forgive me this, short life you
have been faced with this loss of everything you have lived for?" He's
quietly studying me.

   "In a way.  Nikki presented the problem and the already implemented
solution at the same time.  He had to.  It was essential that I knew what
had happened before I made my own decisions.  There was another reason as
well.  I became one of the 'Council of Three' at that time."

   "Oh?"

   I sigh deeply.  "Yes.  The thing is, what happened then was nothing like
what you and the other Merlins are experiencing.  We were able to adjust by
redefining our relationship to our people.  We didn't suddenly lose our
sense of direction.  Our people had changed and we unexpectedly discovered
that the values we carefully remembered had become a normal part of
everyday life.  We were no longer needed to remind people of the past and
their responsibilities."

   "Anyway, the ultimate result was that Bards could live as ordinary
people who happened to have some unordinary skills.  The people of
Rabelaisia had long ago accepted that while we are Bards and bearers of
great responsibilities, we are also people.  They accepted that there would
be times when we would have to act as a person rather than as a Bard.  They
accepted, long before we did, that a Bard acting as a person facing a
personal crisis should not be held accountable for those actions - as a
Bard.  As a person, yes."

   "It took an internal crisis within the guild before the Bards could
accept that in order to live in the world we had worked for, we too had to
change."

   "I don't see where you are headed with this." He's leaning forward
slightly.  It's as if he thinks he could see my purpose by getting closer
to my words.

   "It took one Bard to see the coming problem and eventually he and his
son found a solution." I look at him and sigh deeply.  "That is the
position you are in now.  You see a problem nobody knows exists.  Or have
the others seen it as well?"

   "I don't know.  Unlike the Bards, we are completely independent.  It is
often decades between our infrequent contacts." He sighs and settles back.
"We are equals but we also have our specialties.  Something as major as the
end to our purpose would be cause for a call to meeting.  None has been
issued."

   "Indeed?" He nods slowly in response to my question.

   "That explains much I could not understand."

   "Merlin." My voice is gentle.  "I suspect the others see it too.  Like
you, they are so used to working alone they are probably trying to find a
solution - on their own." I gaze out at the passing scenery and let my
thoughts wander for long minutes before I turn back to him.  "Do you trust
me?" He looks startled that I would ask such a question.  I hold up a paw
to stop him from answering immediately.  "You aren't going to like what I
have to say." His mouth snaps shut.  It is my turn to wait.  I watch as he
shakes his head as if to clear it of unwelcome thoughts.

   "You are my mate.  You are also a Bard.  I will hear what my mate has to
tell me and know that she is speaking as a Bard.  This...  Should make the
lesson more palatable."

   I smile reluctantly.  "You sound like a Bard."

   "Very well then.  To business." I lower my voice.  "Listen carefully."

   I reach for his hands and hold then gently.  "You haven't lost your
purpose, you've completed it.  It's time to retire and follow your desires
rather choose your path as a result of some long ago vision.  Let the past
become the past and become the person you were meant to be."

   I squeeze his hands as they tremble.  "I will be there with you as we
look to the unknown future--together."

   Eventually, as trains will, we arrived at our destination.  I've
deliberately not talked about what Vel told me and she has respected that
silence.  During the last few days we've cautiously felt our way to a new
balance in our relationship.  Before, we were lovers and close friends who
seldom had time to be with each other.  Duty had prevented us from taking
the time to relax and intertwine our lives.  'Be myself'.  I think Vel's
assessment of the situation is correct.  There are things I have to do
before I can take that step but her gentle words did point out a new path.
Those words were the the first she had spoken to me as a Bard.  Now, I am
beginning to understand the reasons the 'Bardic Way' had the power to
change a world that was born in war.

   It gives me hope.

   * * *

   It's late afternoon and a whimsical breeze swirls around us in greeting
as we step through the doors and to the ground.

   After we step on the platform, we pause to savor the heady tang of
country air.  The train pulls away and enters a tunnel arch that swallows
it a car at a time.  A last, trailing whistle and we are caressed by the
sounds of a rural silence.

   Before us is a gravel driveway that passes through lawns, shrubs and
carefully maintained flower beds to...

   Home.

   We wrap our arms around each other as we stroll up the driveway.  "I
give you Merlin's Castle.  Be welcome My Lady Chrystal."

   I turn my head slightly to see tears begin to flow.  "It looks... 
Different somehow.  How come so formal?"

   Before us is a stone castle with all the trimmings.  Banners and flags
are draped and hanging from poles.  The groundskeepers are lined up on
either side of the walk that leads to the drawbridge.  "The 'difference' as
you call it, is one I don't think you've seen before.  There is a formal
welcoming ritual that Lady Kay and I perform when I return after a long
absence.  She 'knows' when I will be arriving and she and the others take
the time to deck the place out in full display." I give her a slight
squeeze.  "Since you will be calling it home, she will insist on getting
together with you and working out your own welcoming." We pause and gaze at
the sight.  "Formality is very important to those who live extended lives.
We design rituals that remind us of our purposes." The two stone Irish
Wolfhounds that guard the entrance suddenly shimmer and come to life.  As
they run towards us, they are barking joyfully.  I kiss Vel and barely have
time to disengage from her embrace before the wolfhounds hit me at the same
time and knock me down.  A couple of licks in greeting and they shift
again.

   Once fully shifted, two hermaphrodites fall on me and begin to nuzzle
and otherwise make it clear that I am very, very welcome.

   I hug each of them, bestow some deep kisses and then pull back a bit.

   "Cathy, Becky.  There will be some changes.  Changes I imagine you
already know about.  Lady Chrystal and I are now mated."

   They look at each other and then nod.  "Yes, we hoped it would happen."

   I hug them both and then smile.  "As much as I would enjoy staying here,
the gravel is digging into my back and I think Kay would like a chance to
officially settle Vel in her new rooms before everyone gets involved in the
welcoming party.  You know how she gets if we ignore protocol."

   "Help me up, you two."

   A final hug, quick kisses and we are standing once again.

   I glance at Vel and get rewarded with a tolerant grin.  Cathy and Becky
flank me and I put an arm around each slender waist.  Once we settle our
positions, we continue our sedate stroll to the drawbridge.

   Cathy and Becky are a part of my life that Vel has known about for many
years.

   I whisper to Becky.  She grins at me and then turns her head to smile at
Velvet.

   "Lady Chrystal.  Until the formal announcement of your new status, we
could only hope that things would work out between the two of you and you
would join us here."

   She hesitates.  "Thank you for returning the true Merlin to us.  We have
missed him."

   I look at her and can't help my slight frown.  I glance over at Vel and
see that she too has caught the unspoken nuance in Becky's statement.  I
relax and shake my head slightly.  It is something she will need to know
anyway.  When we reach the edge of the drawbridge, we stop.  Becky and
Cathy pull away and carefully straighten my clothing.  Once finished, they
blur into their wolfhound forms and settle on their haunches beside me.  I
turn my head in Vel's direction.  "My Lady Chrystal.  Please pause here and
enjoy the view.  There are certain formalities to be observed.  I imagine
that it won't be long before you, Lady Kay, the twins and the rest of the
staff build your own traditions."

   In the following silence, I make one last check to be sure my clothing
is just so.  I take a deep breath and begin.

   I start with a rising sweep of my right hand that leaves it outstretched
as my formal cloak appears and settles over it.  I put the cloak on and
carefully arrange its folds.  Next, I clap my hands together sharply from
left to right.  As I draw them apart, a traditional wizard's hat is
revealed.  It gets carefully placed on my head.

   Another clap, this time from high to low, produces my wand.

   With studied calm, I use the wand to produce an arch of water that
extends from each side of the drawbridge to a peak 15 feet above it.

   As one, the hounds and I step under the arch and wait.

   The polished oak gates swing open to reveal a woman dressed in a simple
country dress.

   She walks forward until she is in the middle of the drawbridge.

   She curtseys and then speaks.

   "Merlin - and Master of The Castle."

   "As always, as Lady of the Castle, I greet thee in thy return."

   "As it was.  As it will be, I bid thee welcome to this, thy true home."

   She raises her left hand and holds it there, palm towards me.

   I raise my right hand and walk forward until our palms touch.

   "Lady Kay.

   "Keeper of Merlin's Castle.  Keeper of my true home."

   "Keeper of my heart."

   "As it was.  As it shall always be, I greet thee and thank thee for thy
welcome."

   We drop our hands, briefly hug each other and turn to face Lady
Chrystal.

   "Now that the formalities are over, enter and be welcome - My Lady." ===

   furry, Vixen-MF

   March Hares, and...  Madness!  Lady Chrystal ----

   I was staring out the window, watching the hares get involved in their
mating rituals when an image surfaced.  I giggled and Merlin looked up from
his book.

   "Vel?"

   I shook my head, unable to answer him at first.  Instead, I gestured out
the window and let him feel my amusement through our link.

   He sighed, carefully closed his book, and then came over to wrap me in a
hug while he waited for me to sober enough to explain the giggle-fit.

   The tones were mild, but his resignation was clear.  "Do Rabelaisian
Vixens ever grow up?"

   The riposte was easy.  "Have you?"

   He laughed.  "I suppose not." He glanced over his shoulder when the door
to the library opened, and then turned back to the window.  "At one time, I
believed Kay had, but ever since she and Tom got rid of Excalibur, I'm more
and more convinced she tossed away her maturity along with it."

   Kay's comment was calm.  "Hubert, the only way you and maturity will
ever be near each other is if you stand next to a dictionary."

   I'd already sensed her presence, so her mild retort only made me giggle
more.

   He sighed.  "What have I done now?"

   Kay came over to stand on his other side and wrap an arm around him
before she looked up and smiled.  "Nothing, yet."

   I felt him shiver.  "After hundreds of years living with you, I *still*
get nervous when I hear those two words cross your lips."

   My nose had already told me what was going on, so I decided to seemingly
divert the conversation.  "Kay would know better than I would, of course,
but 'Mad as a March Hare' made much more sense when she was a young girl."
I gestured out the window with my muzzle.  "Those cute little furballs are
hardly as intimidating as the ones who inspired the concept."

   Merlin laughed.  "So that was it?  One of Tom's memories surfaced?"

   "Yep." I giggled some more.  "Kay?  You were there..."

   She choked, recovered--and then started laughing.  In between gasps for
air she managed to tell Merlin what he hadn't done yet.  "Get a blanket. 
The picnic basket.  Open the portal to our favorite field.  Just we three."

   He was calm about it.  "Ah.  The madness is contagious."

   I turned and bent my head until I could nip his ear lightly.  "No talk.
Act!"

   He freed his arm from around me, then gestured grandly.  "Oh, my
favorite instruments of seduction...  I command you...  APPEAR!"

   Kay and I looked at each other and mock sighed.  She was the one who
commented.  "He always did have this almost uncontrollable tendency to be
ostentatious.  I rather hoped the current culture would have taught him
moderation by now, but he backslides from time to time."

   I merely perked my ears in her direction.  "Kay?  From someone who has
what can only be called an *obsession* for indulging in the use of plants
with aphrodisiacal properties, that sounds...  inappropriate, at best."

   Her gaze was innocent.  "It is a wise woman's duty to be certain she
knows the qualities of the herbs she uses."

   Merlin groaned and we both looked at him.

   He was grinning.  "Weak excuse.  She just got back from a vacation with
Tom and Mahika.  From her tones, I assume she still hasn't been able to
recreate the plants of her youth."

   Kay glared at him.  "Vel?  Portal?"

   I smiled.  "Behind Merlin, of course."

   "Good."

   Both of us lunged for Merlin at the same time.  The three of us fell
through the portal to land on the tall grass that had been visible through
it.

   All of us were laughing, and our movements were almost frantic with the
suppressed needs we shared.

   I removed my harness and tossed it aside while Kay and Merlin undressed
each other, then we tumbled together as we let lust overtake our
sensibilities.

   Since I'd been able to smell Kay's readiness to mate, I only smiled
indulgently when she and Merlin ignored me to fondle each other.

   Both of their movements were more frantic than usual, and I noticed
Kay's urgency was more driven than I was used to seeing.

   Suddenly, I realized.  She must have spent most of her vacation as a
wolf, and that had given her wolf body time to enter estrus, which, of
course, left her feeling very horny when she returned to her real body...

   I giggled.  "Spent too long as a wolf and the hormones caught up, didn't
they?"

   She straddled Merlin and impaled herself urgently.  "Mmm!"

   My giggles changed to chortles and I settled beside Merlin to begin
stroking my claw tips lightly across his chest.  I could tell my own
hormones were peaking, so I reinvoked my non-fertility spell and then went
back to enhancing Merlin's pleasure while I tried to avoid distracting him
from serving Kay's needs.

   Not, I thought somewhat whimsically, that her jouncing was going to let
him forget who was on his penis.

   Merlin finally managed to regain some awareness and his hands wrapped
around Kay's waist to help her drive herself up and down.  When he did
that, I shifted until I was stretched along side his body.  After that I
left them alone while they drove themselves to their orgasms.

   Merlin's hips suddenly arched off the ground and he grunted sharply, so
I knew he'd orgasmed first.

   He held the pose while Kay continued to post herself on him, then after
a few more seconds he went limp and collapsed on the ground.  As he did so
Kay wailed her frustration and grabbed to keep him inserted when his penis
started to fall free.

   Her body followed his down, and then she kept up her frantic movements
until, uncharacteristically, she tipped her head back and screamed.  She
held that pose while her body shook and then she slumped forward to land on
his chest with enough force to cause him to grunt as his breath was driven
from him.

   I barely managed to keep my voice droll when I commented.  "That was
impressive.  It's a good thing I'm a predator and know how to be patient.
It's going to be awhile before Merlin can take care of *my* needs."

   Merlin chuckled wearily and stroked his hands along Kay's spine.  She
moaned tiredly, then turned her head so she was facing me.  "I was still
mostly wolf--and wolves tend to howl when they feel intense emotions..."

   I giggled, then began lightly stroking them.  "I know from experience
that Tom's a good lover, good enough to leave you passed out when he wants
to.  What happened?"

   She giggled tiredly.  "It was accidental, really.  All three of us went
into estrus at the same time.  He's good, but he's not *that* good.  Last I
saw them, Mahika and Wolf were still randy and he was passed out, which
left *me* with a problem."

   I could smell her frustrated amusement and Merlin must have sensed it
somehow because he beat me to the comment I was going to make.  "You're
hiding something."

   "Umm...  Maybe."

   He snorted and hugged her.

   She giggled again and I noted she was coming back to life--and the scent
of her readiness was still wafting from her body.

   Her hips moved suggestively, caressing him, and he sighed.  "What's got
into you?"

   She kissed him hungrily.  "My vacation."

   "Uh huh.  Right.  What else?"

   She giggled and kept slowly working him with her body.  "Those herbs
I've been trying to recreate?  Tom and Wolf found a solution, of sorts. 
She found a place that had been left alone for all these millennia, then he
went back and transplanted some of those herbs to that location."

   I was beginning to get an idea about what must have happened, but it was
her story.

   She sighed her frustration.  "We place shifted to harvest some, I cooked
a meal for old time's sake, then, when we woke up the next morning we all
went wolf to hunt breakfast.  None of us had paid attention to how long
we've been wolves when we switch and this time, when we went wolf, Mahika,
Wolf and I went into estrus shortly after we changed.  The effects
*reinforced* each other."

   When she sighed again I could hear the weariness in her voice.  "Worse
yet, that reinforcement stays with us when we're human."

   I couldn't stop my lips from peeling back in a huge grin.  "How much
time is left before your wolf forms go out of estrus?"

   Kay glared at me.  "At least a week, and it's NOT funny!"

   I giggled.  "To me it is."

   Merlin just groaned, and I sympathized with him but I didn't let that
distract me from my primary target.  "I'm sure the twins will be happy to
help."

   She glared at me again.  "They already have, but even *they* need some
time to recharge!"

   "Oh!"

   I sobered, slightly, and then lost it again.  It wasn't that I didn't
understand Kay's frustrated urgency.  I'd been dealing with something
similar as part of my life ever since I'd gone through puberty.

   Kay, though, was human, and I was reasonably certain she'd spent most of
her life as a human, except when...

   This time, after I sobered, I spoke carefully, with none of my normal
'Bardic Overtones'.  "Kay?  Didn't you spend almost three hundred years
with them before you had to go your own way?"

   She never looked up from her nuzzling of Merlin's chest.  "About that,
yes.  No way to be certain because we weren't counting."

   I touched them again, this time deliberately stroking Kay to distract
her from her body driven hunger.  It worked, a little, and the look she
gave me was grateful, but she said nothing.

   I nodded slightly.  "I'll keep it simple.  How is it that you weren't
aware of this possibility?"

   She sighed.  "I can think of two reasons I find myself in this
situation. One: I seldom used the herbs in my cooking for us.  We didn't
*need* them, once Tom agreed to love me sexually."

   I sneezed my amusement, because I was very familiar with Tom's
'readiness and stamina', especially when he agreed to use his anthro form.
Merlin had it too, but he was restrained, while Tom had a 'wildness' to his
passions that sometimes managed to leave me sated as no one else--except a
Rabelaisian Hare could.  Instead of following those thoughts I refocused.
"Reason two?"

   Kay's eyes gleamed oddly while her scent changed to one of self mockery
when she spoke tartly.  "Vel, you randy, nosy, *manipulative* Vixen!  I'm
about 4,500 years old, and until I was forced to settle with Merlin, I
lived a very active life, but it was one that was relatively chaste, and it
certainly didn't involve me doing much shape shifting into my wolf form.  I
spent most of my shifted time as a domestic bitch, and their sexual lives
aren't as 'driven by hormones' as those of wolves.  It's quite possible
this *had* happened to me...  But I forgot about it!"

   I knew my startlement sent my ears vertical, but I didn't worry about
that.  I let Kay have her victory without comment because *I* was mentally
stunned by the concept of her *forgetting* something as intense as what she
was going through.

   By the time I'd recovered she'd already quit paying attention to me.  I
watched her face Merlin and kiss him hungrily, then her hips shifted in a
way that told me he was erect again, and she wasn't going to ignore that
just so she could deal with a nosy Vixen.

   I settled for smiling fondly, and then moved away slightly to meditate
and let them do what they could to temporarily sate Kay's passions.

   * * *

   Fingers working their way through the fur on my thighs brought me back
to reality.  "Vel?"

   "Mmm..."

   Both of them laughed and I heard the tones of completion mixed with
fatigue in their voices.  "So.  Tired and sated enough to be rational for
awhile?"

   Merlin's chuckle was weary.  "Tired, anyway.  She's worse than you've
ever been."

   I kept my tone droll.  "Merlin, you're a great lover, but you aren't a
Rabelaisian Hare, or Tom.  You've never pushed me over the edge, into that
sort of passion."

   When I looked down to smile at them he was spooned around Kay and both
of them were watching me.

   I touched them both and caressed their faces, then let my gentle smile
change to something I knew was both feral, and hungry for something besides
food, as I let myself remember a bit of my youth for them...

   * * *

   I was edgy, knew the reason for that edginess and yet, in spite of my
skills, couldn't completely suppress my needs.

   Sabrina looked up from the scroll she was studying.  "Stefan?  It's past
time you took her on one of your wanderings, and your fidgeting about the
place has become annoying enough I can't study my spells properly."

   His ears went vertical and then he studied her thoughtfully.  "Sabrina,
love, you would have made an excellent Bard."

   She watched him complacently.  "I'm a Mage and content to be so.  I find
it satisfying to have a Bard around to see to the needs I cannot do for
myself."

   I was fascinated by the byplay and layers they added to even their
simple conversations and hoped that someday I'd find the one who completed
me in the same way.  In the meantime, I appreciated their willingness to
include me in that byplay.

   Sabrina suddenly turned on me and regarded me with all the predatory
focus a forest cat was capable of generating.  Then, she sneezed.  "Lady
Chrystal.  We all have functional noses.  Your hesitation is silly and
impractical.  It is my professional--and personal--opinion, that you should
join Stefan on his journey.  He is a Hare, and it is only a Hare that can
adequately deal with your needs."

   Her demeanor changed and she smiled, then reached to touch me tenderly.
"Besides, you love each other, and that will make what happens between
you...  Special."

   She straightened and pointed at the door imperiously.  "Go!"

   Then she went back to her scroll and returned to seemingly ignoring the
outside world again.

   Stefan and I looked at each other and he twitched his head at the
doorway inquiringly.

   I smiled, stood, went over to link my arm with his, then the two of us
left with grins on our faces.

   Just as he was about to close the door behind us Sabrina spoke tartly.
"At least a jog.  She ululates, and I don't want to be distracted."

   He spoke mildly.  "Yes, Dear.  At least a jog.  Probably two.  There's a
clearing I know of..."

   I heard a low voiced snarl and caught a glimpse of her angrily twitching
tail before he finished closing the door.

   We paused on the porch to call our travel harnesses and packs to us,
then, once we were properly attired, we relinked our arms and strolled into
the surrounding forest.

   After we settled into our journey strides I queried Stefan.  "What's so
special about this clearing you spoke of, and the reason for your emphasis
on the distance?

   He laughed.  "She still doesn't like to be reminded of her loss of
control during her time.  The local villagers got tired of being awakened
by her howls and asked that we 'deal appropriately with the intolerable
situation' since we had created it.  The clearing--and the distance--were
our solution."

   I giggled at the drollness of his tones and then laid my ears back in
embarrassment..  "Stefan?  Are hares as randy as the rumors proclaim them?"

   He laughed, then sobered quickly.  "I've heard some of those rumors. 
We're not indiscriminate, if that's what you're asking.  If we were, we
would die of exhaustion shortly after entering puberty."

   I was watching his ears so I knew he was telling the truth, but not all
of it.  I sighed.  "Enough, Stefan.  If you can, quit being a Bard, and be
my lover.  Tell me what I should know, and answer the questions I don't
know enough to ask."

   His nearest ear twisted to focus on me while the off side one kept up
its restless scanning of the forest.

   "Chrystal, there's not much to explain.  The humans who created us all
must have had odd notions of sexuality, and there's no doubt that many of
the Mages of that time were 'perverted' even by our relaxed standards."

   I nodded thoughtfully.  "I've wondered about that and sometimes, when I
am near the Hall, I search the archives.  So far, I've found nothing to
explain many of our sexual customs and compatibilities."

   His nod was thoughtful.  "Nor have I.  It's as if they wanted us all
sexually compatible, but not interfertile.  Considering we were all created
to be warriors, that compatibility doesn't make sense, based on what I know
of the wars raging at that time."

   He suddenly gestured at a barely visible trail.  "This way."

   We turned in the new direction, then he went on.  "Whoever it was that
'created' my ancestors, they took advantage of our seasonal 'madness' and
refined it in two significant ways."

   "Oh?"

   He chuckled.  "Yes.  Be thankful they did.  Otherwise we'd never be able
to function rationally."

   "Sounds ominous."

   "Only if you're a female in season.  For us, the lack of those
refinements would be deadly.  The first refinement is that we have the
ability to either ignore a female during her time, or let ourselves respond
to her."

   I giggled briefly, then managed to sober slightly.  "It sounds similar
to what Vixens do, as long as we don't let the pressures build too long. 
Once we choose, we are...  'enthusiastic' about mating."

   He laughed.  "It is a characteristic of all females, including human
ones.  In the Mage-built it is much stronger, and more...  unrestrained in
its enthusiasm."

   My ears perked.  "You sound as if you speak from personal experience."

   "I do.  One who wanders learns much that stay at homes do not."

   "Mmm.  I see."

   "I'm sure you do."

   I nodded.  "The second refinement?"

   He sighed.  "Once we choose to respond, there is a metabolic shift and
all we can do is mate with the female we have chosen.  We cannot stop this
from happening.  Species doesn't matter, we cannot stop ourselves.  Only
the lack of scent, or fatigue, will cause us to stop and when we wake, we
will seek her out again if she is nearby and her scent says she is
receptive."

   I winced and turned to hug him fiercely.  "Good, for the female and in
terms of species survival.  Not good for the male involved."

   His ears drooped as he hugged me back.  "We've accepted it.  In a way,
we see it as an appropriate use of our natural inclinations.  Elegant,
really."

   I turned my head and sneezed violently.  "Truth.  Not all of it but I
won't ask for more.  I feel much the same way about what happens when it's
my time.  I become...  'mindless' and I find that distasteful, as well as a
perversion of who I am."

   I sighed and leaned into him wearily.  "Forgive me for what I am about
to become, and what I know I will do to you."

   He laughed and hugged me gently.  "I should be asking you to forgive
me."

   I smiled and touched his face.  "Then we will forgive each other, and
what happens, will be what happens."

   He nodded.  "That is what Sabrina and I do when it is her time.  I
agree."

   * * *

   I paused in my narrative and discovered Merlin and Kay watching me.  Not
surprisingly, they wore expressions of mixed sympathy and horror..  Merlin,
of course, could rummage through my memories and I had felt him settle in
the back of my mind while I'd been talking.

   I lowered my gaze to smile at him tenderly.  "No.  Since then I've
learned more control, and it takes special circumstances to release that
sort of passion.  Forgive me, but perhaps it's best that you are incapable
of triggering such a response in me."

   He nodded.  "As you say, Love."

   I returned to my memories.

   * * *

   "We...  Somehow managed to stagger into the clearing.  Stefan half
carried me because my body had taken over, and I must have been begging him
to take me, to use me, to find a way to answer the passion that was
suffusing me.

   "No.  It wasn't all that.  It was worse.  By the time we reached the
clearing I couldn't keep my hands away from his penis, or any part of his
body that was capable of penetrating me, if I could reach it.

   "I burned inside, and it was a fire that could only be put out by being
penetrated.  I knew it, and he knew it, but no matter how much I pleaded,
he refused...

   "Until we were in the clearing.

   "We cast no spells of concealment because even in our hormone inspired
madness, we knew we'd never be able to maintain them--and it would be
energy taken away from our mating.

   "Instead, he did something that would have terrified me at any other
time, but in my lust, it only served to excite me further.

   "He removed the controls that kept him civilized--and a Bard.

   "What happened next, I remember only in snatches.

   "For five days, we raped each other into exhaustion and physical
collapse.  There was no love, no tender touches.

   "There was none of the usual 'seek to encourage our partner's pleasure'
that binds together lovers and mates.

   "We used each other for our own pleasure, and never cared about anything
else.  If they collapsed, or failed to respond, we didn't care.  If one
location or part wasn't satisfactory we found another part of their body to
pleasure ourselves with, until we collapsed into unconsciousness.

   "It was *normal* to wake and seek the other so we could pleasure
ourselves again.

   "I would use his penis in any way I desired, as long as it responded.

   "He did the same to me.  I would collapse into unconsciousness from my
orgasms and often wake to find him screwing me in whatever hole he'd found
convenient, or using a handy part of my unconscious body to pleasure
himself

   "Food?

   "If we managed to remember we had some in our packs, we ate.  Usually we
did not.  We lived on our body's reserves and when it was over it took both
of us almost two weeks to regain our normal weight and vigor.

   "If we felt the need to relieve ourselves, we did so.

   "Immediately.

   "We were mindless *animals*, unable to think, to remember that we were
rational beings.

   "When it was over, our fur was matted and filthy with our combined
wastes and other body fluids.

   "We stank, and I distinctly remember convulsing in a series of dry
heaves that left me exhausted when I became fully aware of the odors that
surrounded us.

   "We were covered with flies and other small scavengers, and it took a
conscious application of our powers--two days after we recovered and had
the energy to spare--to rid ourselves of the maggots who had started to
infest our self or mutually inflicted wounds, wounds that had quite often
been given simply because the pain had enhanced our own pleasure."

   I drifted in my memories of those five days, and other sequences of days
that had been similar, before I looked outward and smiled unrepentantly.

   "One thing I'll never forget as long as I live: For the first time in my
young life I was *completely* sated, and the agony of recovering from my
exhaustion was a well earned reward--in addition to being an insignificant
price to pay for that satiation."

   This time, when I looked at Kay it was with understanding.  "Kay?  In
those five days, I learned many things about myself that I could have
learned in no other way, and I treasure that time of discovery, because,
now known, those desires civilization forces me to conceal will never be
able to surprise me, and take control of my life again, unless I allow them
to."

   I reached again and touched both of them tenderly, deliberately holding
my own passions at bay while I laughed gently.  "That's one reason I find
the 'March Madness' of your hares so amusing.  It is a pale imitation of
the reality I'm familiar with...

   "Intimately!"

   She and Merlin laughed, then she went back to working herself against
his body.

   This time her motions were less urgent, so I snuggled against them and
fondled either of them whenever and wherever I felt like making contact.

   * * *

   Eventually, as I hoped would happen, Kay managed to lose her sexual
edginess and relax into a cuddle between us.

   Merlin seemed to realize she was ready to enjoy the afterglow, so he
prodded her slightly.  "Vel said 'You were there' when she was talking
about the image of Tom's that surfaced.  For some reason she's chosen to
hide that image from me..."

   Kay laughed.  "Vel?  Thank you for protecting my 'dignity', although I
can't figure out what made you feel the need."

   I giggled.  "It had nothing to do with your dignity.  I wanted Merlin to
get it from you, since you're as central to the tale as Tom, Mahika aand
Wolf are."

   "Huh!  It happened *because* of me."

   Merlin laughed.  "Embarrassing?"

   She giggled.  "Extremely so, when you're a wolf."

   He chose to be bland in his reply.  "Do tell."

   * * *

   "This happened a few years after they'd greeted me at Stonehenge and
started teaching me how to handle power.

   "Before I met them, I'd been apprenticed to village wise women, and had
to be around priestesses and priests, so the concept of shape shifting was
one I was comfortable with, even though I'd never experienced it first hand
as a participant or observer.

   "Wolf, based on some understanding of her own, had finally decided I was
ready to try it for myself.

   "I was used to it, of course, because the three of them did it all the
time, and seldom hid it from me.  I'd asked the usual questions, and they'd
answered them as best they could, so I knew the theory.

   "What I'd failed to ask, and they'd carefully never told me, was that
while the shape has the abilities inborn, taking the shape does NOT confer
instant skill in *using* those abilities.

   I laughed and she took time to glare at me, then resumed.

   Her tone was a bit tart.  "I'd say the first times I changed to wolf and
tried to do simple things, such as walk without tripping over my own feet,
were humbling experiences, except that I know bloody well they were
embarrassing and I felt silly."

   She sighed.  "They, of course, made it look easy when they shifted.  But
for me, at least at first, shape shifting was an experience I dreaded. 
Youthful dignity is a fearsome thing to live with and I can only sigh at
what I must have put them through while I suffered from it, because I had
an especially virulent and *arrogant* form of it."

   She suddenly laughed.  "Maybe that was the reason Wolf decided to let me
learn.  It certainly stripped away most of my illusions about my
competence, and did it most quickly, too!"

   Merlin chuckled.  "At least I was old enough to anticipate some of the
problems, but if your frustration at the inability to do the simple things
in life was anything close to what mine was, I do sympathize!"

   They looked at me and I shrugged.  "We're still very close to our animal
heritage, but the ability, if we have it, doesn't arrive until after we've
settled into whatever abilities to handle power we might have.  Then, too,
since our inherent abilities stay with us in any form we take, adapting is
much easier.  Still a struggle though, especially at the beginning, and
sometimes it's possible to forget which form we are wearing.  The result of
that forgetfulness can be...  Many things, but it's seldom a pleasant
experience."

   They laughed, and Kay resumed her narrative.

   "So I'd learned to walk, and run for short distances without tangling my
legs, and even eat and play a little.  I was still unsteady over longer
distances, mostly because the longer runs gave me too much time to think
about what I was doing.

   "I was still very attached to being human, and that attachment never
showed up more than when I was learning to hunt.

   "We'd talked seemingly endlessly about my problem, and eventually we
found a solution, of sorts, that worked.

   "We'd scout our food, I'd settle in a likely ambush spot, and then one
of them would scare the prey into panicking in my direction.  With luck at
first, then later with some hard earned skill, I was able to catch it when
it was within reach.

   "Generally, that worked, so using the technique became a habit, and
we... I hate to say it, but all of us got casual and arrogant about it and
it became a mostly unthinking routine.

   She blushed.  "Tom and I paid for that lapse."

   I started giggling again and she glared at me, again, then laughed. 
"Yes, it's funny *now* but at the time it was weeks before I wanted to
shift again!"

   She pushed herself onto one arm so she could watch Merlin.  "It was
mating season for the hares and we'd found us a nice fat one for dinner
after noticing how indifferent he was to his surroundings.  All that was
left was to frighten him into my jaws.  He was *very* plump and healthy. 
He was also big enough to temporarily sate four very hungry people."

   She sighed.  "I picked my spot, Tom found his position...

   "And he snarled and lunged at it, figuring it would leap away from
him--and towards me.

   "It didn't panic.  All we were able to figure out later is that in its
lusty frenzy, it saw him as a rival for the does and not as a predator. 
It's the only explanation that makes its next actions sensible.

   "Tom wasn't serious about his lunge so he was already sliding to a stop
when it planted its front feet and lashed out with its hind ones, kicking
him squarely on his forehead.

   "Tom was almost unconscious from the blow.  When he staggered and tried
to clear his head, the hare pummeled him unmercifully and finally did knock
him out.

   "By then, I'd recovered from my shock and managed to rush in to try and
deal with this suddenly aggressive hare."

   She blushed and I grinned, even though she couldn't see me.

   "Hubert?  In my panic I reverted to human thinking and instead of using
my jaws...  Well, I slapped at the hare with one of my front feet, as if to
knock him away from Tom.

   "That only served to make him angrier.  He turned, kicked me squarely in
the chest--and I went nose over tail.  Before I could regain my feet he was
trying to do to me what he had already done to Tom.

   "The only thing that saved me was that Wolf and Mahika had heard the
commotion and come rushing in to find out what was going on.

   "I heard two snarls of anger and then *both* of them hit the hare at the
same time from opposite sides.  They weren't content to rip its throat. 
Instead, between them, they *shredded* it"

   She resettled and started laughing.  "They were apologetic, of course,
for dinner that evening being 'hare stew', instead of the 'hare steaks'
we'd originally planned for."

   Her voice went matter of fact, but I knew she must have been exerting
quite a bit of control to leech her emotions out of it.  "Needless to say,
after Tom woke up and we recovered from our headaches, we never made that
mistake again."

   "When I went back to being human, I had some very unusually shaped
bruises on my chest, too.  For years after that experience, if someone
mentioned hunting hares during their mating season, I would flinch and look
down at my chest."

   Merlin got his laughter under control and then looked at Kay
thoughtfully.  "Kay?  Just how big were those hares?"

   She stayed matter of fact.  "About three to four times heavier than
modern European hares."

   "Oh.  Now I understand why the phrases 'Mad as a March Hare' or 'March
Madness' make you turn thoughtful and contemplative."

   "I thought you might."

   He got up so he could look at me.  "Vel?" He took a deep breath and
shivered.  "I'm going to apologize for my inability to completely let go.
I'm too...  Attached to my humanity to be able to completely satisfy you.
I'm sorry, Love."

   I reached over Kay to touch his face gently.  "There are few times when
I need that kind of satiation.  I prefer rationality, not a denial of who I
am.  No need to apologize for what is."

   He nodded into my hand, then held it with one of his.  "Thank you."

   I smiled, then tipped my muzzle slightly.  "My nose tells me Kay is
ready to go again."

   He groaned and let himself fall on his back.  Before he'd fully settled
Kay was on him again, and reaching for his penis hungrily.

   I laughed softly, then settled on my side to watch and enjoy round two
of Kay's...

   "March Madness." ===
Note: This was originally started to resolve some plot points for the

   longer work 'Wandering Wolves - First Stop: Stonehenge!' --

   Blacksmith of the gods Lady Chrystal -----

   I finished raising my fork to my lips and ate the meat I had impaled.

   "It's an odd feeling, and one I don't think I will ever get used to."

   Merlin looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

   "And that is appropriate to what part of the discussion we aren't
having?"

   I sighed and folded my ears back as I carefully set my now empty fork on
the table.  Before I answered Merlin I studied Kay and she shook her head.
"I just got back, too.  How long were you gone?"

   "Two more days, while they recovered."

   I turned my attention back to Merlin.

   "Time shifting.  I just got back from three days spent putting Tom and
Mahika back together after they tried to kill themselves at Stonehenge."

   Merlin leaned back to study me thoughtfully.  "I would have felt it. 
Try again."

   I grimaced.  "It happened before you were born."

   I turned slightly and watched Kay carefully.  "How did it feel to find
yourself so near to your birth time?"

   "What?!"

   A few seconds later she blanched and Merlin reached to grab the hand she
jabbed in his direction just before she slumped and rested her head on the
other one.

   "I never realized..." Her voice was filled with a sense of incredible
loss, and apology for something not done, that should have been.

   I touched her cheek gently and waited until she looked at me.  My smile
was gentle and filled with a knowledge I wouldn't have believed anyone
could hold, until I'd found it within myself.

   "Kay.  None of us could have known, until it was time.  They worked hard
to make sure of that."

   She studied me warily.  "How do you know?  You couldn't have learned
that in three days.  Besides, it hadn't happened yet."

   Merlin was looking back and forth between us and I knew he was wondering
what was going on.

   I ignored him.

   "Kay?  I think you should be the one to explain it to Merlin.  As for
how I know..."

   I sighed and looked down at my paws.  "Our link changed and I have all
of Tom's memories as my own..."

   I looked up and I knew I was pleading with them to accept what I was
about to say--and not ask me further questions.

   "And he used our link to ask me to do this."

   Merlin's gaze sharpened.  I knew he felt *something* through our link.
His mouth opened to ask me about what he felt and I shook my head slightly
while silently pleading with him, through our link, to let it drop, for
now.

   He hesitated, and I knew his following silence was reluctant.  There
would be an explanation demanded soon; when we were alone and safe from
Kay's awareness.

   He turned his attention to Kay.  "Only what you think I should know,
Keeper of My Heart."

   She nodded.

   "I've told you the story of how, when I was a very young girl, I was
shown Excalibur and told that someday its powers would be mine to command."

   He nodded.  "I've often wondered about that person.  He must have had a
great deal of knowledge and control, to so easily create Excalibur from raw
power, with a simple gesture."

   Kay smiled reminiscently.  "He did, indeed.  He had control in other
things, too.  He proved that when he ignored a young girl's wiles and use
of the best aphrodisiacs she had available when she tried to get him to bed
her."

   They shared a look and Merlin laughed.  "You, perhaps?"

   She blushed.  "Yes.  I was very put out with him at the time but a few
years later he more than made up for it when I used the only things he
needed to get him aroused: Honesty and self-acceptance."

   Merlin smiled tenderly.  "A wise man, indeed.  I wish I had been able to
meet him."

   She ducked her head and blushed again.  "He loved me deeply, and I him.
But the time came when I had to walk my own path, and he could not join me,
although he wished to do so."

   She looked up and there was pleading for understanding in her eyes. 
"That is why I was drawn to you, Hubert.  Although I've never admitted it
before, you were so much like him that I could not have left you to live a
normal life span as long as it was within my power to do otherwise."

   He nodded.  "I am honored to be favorably compared to such a man."

   Kay shivered and looked at me.  "Vel?  You say you have all of Tom's
knowledge.  There must be a picture of how he looked.  Will you get it for
me?  Please?"

   I made the request through our link and felt amusement and approval,
along with an image that surfaced from our shared memories.

   I nodded at Kay, then 'reached' into empty air.  When my paw reappeared
I was holding a tattered Polaroid picture.  I held it out to Kay.  "He will
always love you, and since you are both True Immortals, 'always' is a very
long time, indeed.  He wants you to have this as a reminder that when next
you meet, you will recognize him."

   She took it with shaking hands and clutched it to her breasts without
looking at it.  "Oh, yes, I will recognize him even were I blind and deaf.
I am ashamed that I did not recognize his scent when we met again."

   Merlin jerked upright.  "Wait!  He's a True Immortal?  I know of none,
other than we three and the twins."

   I giggled.  "That's because he was gifted with immortality before you
were born and you have not met him again, since that event.

   He blinked in confusion.

   Kay and I shared amused glances, then she relented.  "Vel has been
exceptionally adroit with her evasions.  There are *three* new True
Immortals and Avatars of Power, but they will seldom be active in our time.

   "They are Mahika, Wolf...  and of course, Tom."

   She smiled tenderly.  "It had been 4500 years, and more, since I was a
girl, so of course I would have no reason to compare the scent of every man
I met, with a memory.  He didn't know me when we met in this time, of
course, but when I met him as a young girl he would have recognized me and
realized that their efforts to prevent my recognition would be successful."

   Merlin was staring at Kay in disbelief.  "Tom is 'the flame haired
blacksmith of the gods'?!"

   She held out the scratched picture.  "Of course he is, and this is what
he looked like when the three of them guided me while I took my first
hesitant, yet eager, steps on the Path of Power."

   Merlin took it gingerly and studied it, then shook his head.  "I never
would have guessed.  To see him now...  No.  The reality of his youth is
far more...  Intense, than his offhand descriptions of his life then have
led me to believe."

   He looked at me and grinned.  "The two of you are well matched.  I
shudder to think of what might have happened had you been together at that
age in your lives."

   I know my eyes took on a slightly feral and hungry look while I
remembered those three days in his presence.  "Merlin, you have no idea
what it was like to spend three days bathed in his...  virility.  He was
unconscious for most of the time I was there.  He was NOT..."

   I grinned and finished it simply.  "Unattractive."

   Merlin and Kay both laughed at the firmness I put in my voice.

   Kay leaned back and sobered.  "Vel.  I don't need a mind link to know
that you and Merlin need to talk, and soon.  Sort out your problems, with
my blessings.  In truth, I have my own inner turmoil to settle and I need
to be alone while I do so."

   She stood with her usual dignity, nodded at us both, and left.

   Merlin and I turned to each other and shared wry smiles.  He spoke
first. "She does that so well.  I wonder which of them taught her how to do
it?"

   I sobered.  "I could find out, but I already have my suspicions."

   He leaned forward and rested his chin on his clasped hands while he
studied me intently.  I felt him probing my mind and let him discover what
he could, without offering more, as I usually offered when he queried me
through our link.

   Finally he sighed.  "Vel, you've changed."

   "Kay will change visibly, even more than I have, yet, in some ways she
will remain as 'innocent' as she always has been."

   His eyelids, which had been in their usual lazy state, snapped open and
then narrowed.  "None of your Bardic tricks!"

   I deliberately matched his pose and then watched him calmly.  "No trick.
Obvious truth, once you let yourself see it."

   He finally nodded.  "Her first love not only returned to her, and loved
her again, she did not recognize him.  It must hurt her deeply."

   I nodded soberly.  "She will get over it.  But, right now, she feels she
failed to remember the first lesson they taught her, that *he* taught her
to live by.  'Look beneath the surface to discover the truth that is.'

   "Thus, when they meet the next time, she knows she will feel as if she
failed to learn the most basic lesson, the one that is the foundation for
everything she believes in."

   I sighed.  "It's not true, but until she understands what has happened,
she will feel as if she has just discovered that 4500 years of life hae
been a wasted effort."

   He gasped, and started to rise and go to her.

   "No, Love.  Leave her be.  She is adaptable, and will quickly realize
the foolishness of her thoughts.  She was well on her way to learning that
when she rose and left us."

   He resettled and watched me again.

   I nodded.  "Forgive me for this truth, but there are things I must hide
from the two of you.  You will learn them, but you must learn them in your
own time, and not as I have."

   I paused when Tom's presence floated to the surface of my thoughts.  I
listened to his message, then gave him my reluctant reply and waited until
I was fully in this present again.

   "Tom says he will reveal much when we meet again, in this time.  Our
wait will be short as we see time.  He also told me to answer your
question."

   He was silent a long time, then he nodded and chuckled.  "He warned me
about my frustration at that first meeting.  I thought I understood, and
find I did not."

   He reached in my direction and I wrapped my paws around his hand.  "Kay
does what she does because she is an Alpha who chooses to walk in the
shadows."

   I smiled sadly as I finished my explanation.  "She taught herself, while
the others lived as her pack, even as they hid that fact from her until she
understood on her own."

   I heard the scrabbling of toenails as two hounds ran down the hallway in
our direction.  The twins rushed into the dining hall and skidded to a
halt, then faced us.

   Cathy, instead of returning to her human form, panted breathlessly. 
"Quickly.  Kay wants all of us in the Great Hall!  *They* are here!"

   Without waiting for an answer they spun and dashed out, leaving us to
deal with our surprise, and the summons, on our own.

   Merlin retook my paw after we stood hurriedly.  His tone was light, but
his eyes were narrowed when he spoke.  "I do believe this invitation is
'come as you are'."

   I sneezed.  "The twins acted panicked.  I don't doubt you are right."

   We arrived to find a frozen tableau, as if a play had been stopped until
its audience arrived.

   Kay was in her gingham dress and standing in front of the ceremonial
throne.

   Mahika, Wolf and Tom were facing her, naked, with Tom in the center and
slightly ahead of the other two.

   He and Kay were looking at each other intently, but their expressions
were neutral.

   Kay, without breaking away from her study of the three who stood before
her, pointed at the four of us, then indicated we should stay where we
were.

   Once she was sure of us, she held out the same hand, palm up, offering
it to Tom.

   He stepped forward, took her hand in both of his, then knelt before her
and bowed his head.  "Kay, My Love.  I loved you then, I still love you as
deeply.  What happened between us was both desired, and necessary.  Our
parting from you was not by our choice.  Will you forgive us a sorrow that
had to be?"

   He, Wolf and Mahika shimmered.  Incredibly, Kay shimmered as well, until
four huge wolves sat on the floor.

   Tom and his companions rolled to their backs submissively.

   Kay stood slowly, then shook herself before she crouched and stared
intently at Tom.

   Suddenly she tensed and raised her hackles while she snarled menacingly.

   I felt the twins start to move, and I knew Merlin was gathering power.
"No!"

   I hastily spun a shield to stop my companions.  "What is about to happen
is between them, and must happen without interference.  We are not of their
pack and do not fully know their ways."

   Kay lunged for Tom as she shouted "Defend your honor, wolves!"

   The four blurred into a snarling ball of fur and flashing teeth.

   I felt the twin's shivering terror when they leaned against me.  I
touched each of them reassuringly.  "There is no danger.  As Tom once
reassured an innocent young girl who was unsure of herself, I tell you now:
'The dance is one of love, not death.  A ritual.  Each move is known'."

   Merlin was frozen with his shock.  "I never dreamed...  She gave no sign
she was this capable of violence.  She is the most gentle woman I have ever
known!"

   Movement ceased suddenly, with the four of them panting heavily as they
sat on their haunches in their original positions.

   Kay shifted back to being human, then knelt and held out her hand with a
wry smile.  "I am sorry, my pack, for the pain I caused you to feel for so
many centuries, by forcing you to hide the truth of your bodies when you
loved.  I know it was needful.  That does not make it *right* for the ones
who had to suffer such great loss, for so long."

   She summoned Excalibur and held it out, hilt first.  "Will you forgive
me?"

   Tom changed, and it was not back to the form we knew so well.  He was as
I'd seen him at Stonehenge, then.

   The twins gasped, and I heard the overtones of lust in the sighs that
followed.

   His bright red hair flowed over his shoulders and cascaded down his back
until it ended enticingly, just above his muscular buttocks.

   Except for those well defined muscles, he looked feminine from the
rear--and I knew almost any human male who desired human females, from any
major culture I could name, would have found him highly desirable at first
glance.

   I, however, found him desirable for other reasons.

   I was savoring the heady aroma of his musk, and something else, a scent
I would never have associated with a banked passion as strong as his.

   The smell of serenity.

   The unusual combination was both arousing and enticing--and I was having
trouble preventing myself from rushing to him with my demands for his
services.

   He reached, and took Excalibur from Kay's grasp.

   He slowly lifted it until it was vertical between them, a barrier that
bathed them both with its brilliant white light.  Suddenly it flared,
sending a bolt of energy skyward.

   I could hear his tightly controlled anger when he spoke softly.  "You,
My Love, are forgiven.  What happened was, indeed, needful--and no fault of
ours.  This sword, however, has stood between us for thousands of years,
and I am weary of that."

   He lowered it to the floor and leaned on it casually, then spoke
tenderly.  "I swear to you, Kay, it will do so no longer."

   He spun suddenly and threw Excalibur away from him violently.  It spun,
then slammed into the wall and buried itself to the hilt.

   He raised his clenched hands over his head, then slowly brought them
down until they were pointed at the sword and opened.  His sudden shout
rang out as a rainbow hued bolt of power lanced from his fingertips to
impact the hilt of the sword.

   "I COMMAND YOU!  BEGONE!!"

   It vanished in an explosion of color and when my eyes recovered, the
Great Hall had became an ordinary room again.

   It was Kay who moved, breaking the silence as she stepped forward and
nestled into Tom's side.  They wrapped their arms around each other's
waists

   I removed the shield I'd formed and waited.  I knew there was more.

   Tom laughed and stretched.  "That felt *good*."

   Kay laughed.  "I've wanted to do that ever since I realized what
grasping it would mean."

   She looked at him impishly.  "Excalibur is not truly gone and will
return when one of us summons it, of course."

   Tom chortled.  "Aye, but I think that which moves us will consider
carefully, before tasking us with such a duty, again."

   She grinned up at him.  "Point.  As it was then, you have a unique way
of making them so they are clearly understood."

   They turned to face each other.  When they hugged, the intensity of
their shared emotions was painfully obvious.  I averted my gaze so I could
study Merlin, instead.

   I could feel his sense of loss so I reached and pulled him into a hug.
"You have lost nothing.  They love each other deeply, true.  But, that love
is more the love that comes from being companions with a shared purpose,
than coming from the heart.  It is you, and you alone, who possesses the
love of her heart, and they both know it.  Allow her this time because she
will return to you refreshed and ready to do to the one thing she has
yearned to do but could not, until Excalibur was deliberately taken from
her grasp by the one who would tell her the Great Task was over and she
could be her true self.

   "Soon, Merlin, Kay will gift you with her true soul, as she gave you her
heart those many centuries ago."

   Suddenly there was an unfamiliar giggle and my tenderness changed to
tension as I quickly scanned the Hall.  'Who?...'

   Nobody.

   I looked down at the twins and discovered they were standing stiffly,
with all their attention focused on...

   I followed their sight line and gasped.  They were watching Kay and Tom.

   He was grinning and she was blushing.  "So, Kay, do those 'special
herbs' still exist?  I remember them fondly and would be pleased if you
cooked for me again, and applied them to my repast as liberally as you did
that evening."

   Her blush deepened and we heard that unfamiliar giggle again, from Kay.

   She ducked her head, then looked at him sidelong, through her demurely
lowered eyelashes.  "If I do, will you promise to pester me for my culinary
secrets, this time, as you had always done before that evening?  I felt
quite cheated when you neglected our evening ritual."

   He chortled and touched her cheek lightly.  "My brown haired coquette.
I've missed you.  You were my first instructor in the ways of youthful
exuberance, you know.  No woman or girl ever sought me as earnestly, or
honestly, as you did, before we met."

   She blushed slowly, and this time I knew it was the controlled blush of
a woman wise in the ways of seduction.  "I never knew, of course.  I
believed you to be near my own age, and not the jaded, cynical--and
doddering--old man you turned out to be!"

   He leaned back and let his laughter echo from the ceiling above them. 
"Well said!  I deserved that!"

   I glanced at the twins while he laughed.  "I hope you two are taking
notes.  She does that well, even though she has already captured him. 
Remember that lesson."

   They both sneezed without letting their eyes wander.

   She touched his hand demurely and slowly traced his palm while she kept
her eyes averted.  "Sadly, as the power waned, they lost their culinary
appeal.  I tried to find substitutes, but nothing ever gave my cooking the
same sense of adventure, in quite the same way."

   He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly.  "A pity.  I was
amused, of course, but I also appreciated your effort and wished I could
have savored that dinner, and later, you, in the way you both deserved."

   When she looked up her heart was in her eyes and there was nothing of
the artful coquette in the smoldering look she bestowed on him.

   She raised her voice commandingly.  "Mahika!  To me!  I wish to face
your dangers once again so I may discover if I have the skills to claim my
promised Reward."

   Mahika padded over and settled on her haunches beside Tom.  He knelt and
cupped his hands before him, then waited.

   Merlin gasped.  "She can't be planning that!  Vel!  Link with me and
help me shield the castle!"

   Puzzled, I joined him and we chanted the spell that would protect the
castle from all effects of manifested power.

   By the time we finished, Kay had stood and stretched, then, with a
serene smile, she held her right hand over Tom's cupped ones and stretched
her left one to touch Mahika's forehead.

   Mahika started to glow with contained power until her eyes flashed and a
wave of power burned its way up Kay's left arm, across her body and then
down her right arm to bridge the gap between her hand and Tom's palms,
where it shimmered and built into a brilliant ball of light.

   When the flow of power ceased, Tom held an eye searing ball of energy.
Wolf stepped forward and took it from him to toss it into the air, where it
slowly dimmed to something bearable, then suddenly vanished.

   Mahika stopped glowing and as her glow faded, so did the brilliance that
enveloped the four of them.

   Kay still smiled serenely, and showed no signs of strain.  Once again we
were treated to the coquette as she lowered her gaze before she smiled
demurely.  "Well?  Will my Reward follow me to my kitchen and pester me for
my secrets once again?  He will find I have learned many new ways to cook
since we last shared a campfire."

   She turned her right hand over and waited.

   Tom brushed his hands together, then clasped her hand in them and
allowed her draw him to his feet and into a brief hug.

   When they separated they held hands and walked past us to...

   My jaw dropped when I realized they were headed for the kitchen.

   Wolf giggled and I spun to face her.  She grinned at me.  "Yes, you see
aright.  Sadly, it is true they seek the cook fire and not the bower.  They
share an 'interest' in the culinary arts that can be awesome to behold. 
Many were the meals that burned or got cold when they decided to experiment
or compare knowledge."

   She and Mahika looked at each other and I saw their shared love of Tom.
Mahika grinned back at Wolf.  "And thusly, our carefully considered plans
have gone 'poof' in the smoke of a cook fire, once again."

   I couldn't keep the disbelief out of my voice.  "You're saying all of
that was actually about *food* and not the teasing innuendo of lovers?!"

   Wolf's smile was fond when she replied.  "Between Tom and Kay?"

   She shook her head slowly.  "Only they know for certain.  They play
their game by some set of rules that we were never able to discover. 
Perhaps, someday, they will tell us what those rules are."

   She rubbed her hands together briskly.  "I can tell you this much. 
Dinner will be a banquet like no other you've ever eaten.  Be prepared for
a culinary adventure that will leave you feeling as if all you've ever
eaten was fit only for slopping pigs!"

   She chortled briefly at something, then sobered and turned to Merlin. 
"I felt you form the shield.  It was a wise decision even though it turned
out to be wasted effort, this time."

   He nodded his thanks for her words.

   I looked at him more closely, and realized he was very serious, with
none of his usual easy humor showing.

   I let my puzzlement show.  "It was a pretty ritual, but the danger did
not seem great enough to warrant the use of that spell.  A lesser one would
have worked as well, based on what I saw and felt."

   He sighed.  "The danger was very real.  You've felt the power of
Stonehenge, and the power contained within this castle.  Which is greater?"

   I shivered.  "The castle's power is the greater, by far."

   He nodded.  "You've helped when I rip some of that power away and cast
it into the void to reduce the danger to us all.  Would you attempt to
channel that power as it leaves my hands?"

   "No!"

   He laughed sourly.  "Nor would I.  I don't delude myself into thinking I
am that skilled.  I last tried many centuries ago, and the effort left me
in a coma for a week, followed by weeks of convalescence.  The power
released when my control failed, destroyed the castle.

   "Rebuilding was easy, once I recovered, but it was very embarrassing to
have the need to do so.  Merlin, you see, is not supposed to be so
careless!"

   I looked at him and shuddered.  "Only you weren't careless, were you?"

   "No.  I was not.  All of my skills were not enough, and I paid dearly to
learn that lesson."

   He shivered, then looked at Wolf and Mahika.  "I've never understood why
Kay needed that skill.  She's never actually used that much power at one
time, that I know of."

   The two of them looked at each other for a long time before they nodded
at each other.

   Mahika faced us.  "Kay was not told the real reason, but there is no
reason to hide it, now."

   We nodded.

   She went on.  "Science has learned of the link between energy, and
matter.  It takes a great deal of energy to create even a small bit of
matter, let alone something as large and complex as Excalibur."

   Merlin gasped and turned to stare the way Kay and Tom had gone.

   Wolf's voice was gentle.  "Just so.  When you fuse a circuit, you do not
install a fuse that is 'just good enough'.  You make sure it will be able
to handle brief overloads, without destroying itself."

   Wolf's tones turned sad and filled with a sense of deep sorrow.  "Kay
was charged to keep the true secret of Excalibur to herself, until someone
else revealed it.  She has done well."

   She paused briefly, then her words were stern.  "Merlin.  Face me and
learn the truth."

   He turned slowly until their eyes held each other's.

   Wolf nodded.  "Have you never wondered at the odd fact Kay 'summons'
Excalibur, while you have always 'called' it?"

   His eyes widened in a horror I knew I shared.

   Wolf nodded at our reactions.  "Indeed.  Every time Excalibur is brought
forth, Kay has to *create* it, from raw energy.  When it is no longer
needed, she must convert the matter that is the sword back into pure
energy, and then dissipate that energy safely."

   She smiled.  "The ritual you saw was our way of breaking the creation of
Excalibur into steps Kay could learn without any real danger to herself,
other than passing out, or a headache.

   "Mahika gathered the raw power to herself and concentrated it before
passing it to Kay, who then shaped the concentrated energy into the form of
what was desired as the final result, before she directed it to Tom.  Tom,
of course, gave that shaped and directed power its final form before he
handed it to me--to dissipate."

   Merlin bowed deeply in Wolf's direction.  "I confess I never thought to
consider just where it was that Kay sent the sword when she sent it away.
Thank you for answering a question I never thought to ask."

   He laughed at himself, easily.  "I mistook her evasions for a lack of
knowledge and it turns out she knows more of the subject than I do.  She
is, indeed, a very Wise Woman.  I wonder if there are any other surprises
she hides?"

   I giggled and the three of them looked in my direction.  I controlled my
giggles and grinned at Merlin.  "She was wise enough to let you find her an
'adequate' cook.  I don't doubt she has many things saved up, and has been
awaiting the proper time to reveal them."

   I tilted my head slightly and lowered my muzzle while I slitted my eyes
seductively.  "It will be fun to see which of us you deem the most artless
in our seductions."

   He groaned.

   * * *

   Dinner was, as promised, a memorable adventure.

   Throughout, Kay showed us an aspect of her personality that we'd never
suspected existed.  Oh, we knew she could be humorous, but it had always
befitted her mature dignity by being restrained and sly, not the
outrageously direct and tart remarks that left most of us gasping in shock
at the same time the targets of her words and gestures laughed hugely, then
made thrusts that were even more outrageous, or more direct, in return.

   She giggled and touched them lightly, or seductively, as the evening
went on, and was touched just as tenderly or seductively in return.  At
first I watched Merlin with some concern, but I finally relaxed when he
noticed my gaze and turned to me with a serenely smug expression I'd never
seen before.

   "Relax, Vel.  Let them play together."

   I refused to let it go.  "You're truly OK with it?"

   "Of course I am.  Their love for each other is great, deeper than
anything I ever dreamed possible, until I met you."

   His sincerity made my ears flatten with my pleased embarrassment.

   He laughed and continued.  "As you pointed out a few hours ago, I will
soon be gifted with all of what we see." He sobered and leaned back, a lean
Buddha in a wizard's cape.  "With me, she will also share her heart."

   He gestured grandly at the four of them.  "That, My Love, will be mere
puppy play in comparison!"

   My ears went vertical as the meaning of his words made itself known.  I
slowly turned to study Kay and Tom, who had their heads bent together in
some sort of earnest conversation.

   What I heard made me giggle uncontrollably.  "Merlin, are you listening
to them?"

   "No.  She is happy.  That's all I need to know."

   "Oh!  But you must..."

   "No, Vel.  It would take a spell, and they do not deserve that
intrusion, especially from me."

   I nodded at his wisdom, then giggled again.  "I, on the other hand, have
very good ears and do not intrude when I listen, correct?"

   Merlin hesitated, but before he could say anything, Tom said something
to Kay and she glanced at us, then giggled and said something that made Tom
lean back and laugh before the two of them turned towards us and made
pushing motions before they went back to their discussion.

   I turned to grin at Merlin when Kay's voice came clearly.  "Vel, of
course, is the soul of discretion.  Merlin, on the other hand...  I never
did thank you properly for that nip you gave him.  Filthy habit, but I put
up with it most of the time."

   "You're welcome, Love.  It was nothing, really.  My life has always been
an open book in many ways, and if he'd had the wit to remember what he read
on my web site, he wouldn't have needed to try and steal what was public
knowledge."

   She giggled.  "Yes, but that's part of his charm, the ability he has to
miss the obvious so easily.  Truly, it has made my life much simpler,
knowing that I wouldn't need to be as careful with what I concealed at
home."

   They smiled sadly at each other as they touched their hands palm to
palm.

   Merlin choked and I offered him my tankard without any comment other
than a knowing grin.

   Tom went on, musingly.  "Arthur.  I haven't been there yet.  None of us
has felt a call, and I suspect we will be allowed to roam as we wish for
centuries, after my little tantrum made our feelings so clear."

   Kay laughed and grinned.  "True.  If it is as wise as it's supposed to
be, it will leave the three of you alone, for now."

   She suddenly sobered and touched his face tenderly.  "We both know that
will only make it worse, next time, because the need for our services will
be that much more urgent."

   He held her hand against his cheek.  "I know."

   Then he smiled.  "You're ducking, Kay."

   She blushed and he laughed again.  "Got you!"

   "Oh!  You!  Very well then, Arthur."

   She leaned back and I could tell she was searching her memories.  "It
was Merlin who spent the most time with him, of course..."

   Surprisingly, Tom shook his head slightly.  "Oh, Kay.  Who are you
talking to?  I know your ways well, after the centuries we spent together.
You would not have changed so much by the time Excalibur was to be revealed
to the world.  Arthur would have had hounds, perhaps even a favorite one he
indulged for its faithfulness and hunting skill."

   He leaned forward to touch her hands tenderly.  "A bitch, maybe. 
Perhaps she was a bit ragged around the edges from her battles, but she
would have carried herself with a sense of pride and self worth that he
would have found charming." He sighed and leaned back.  "I am only
guessing, of course, but I know the nature of such men."

   Movement at my side made me look at Merlin.  He was staring at Kay with
a wild surmise in his eyes at first, then his mind drifted away as he lost
himself in his past.

   I turned back to Kay so I could focus on her face.  Her smile was tender
again, with none of the artful play she had displayed earlier.  "No, Tom.
It is your turn to remember who you are with.  It is *I* that you know so
well."

   They smiled at each other and he nodded for her to go on.

   "There is not much to say, really.  If you understand the time that made
him, you understand him, and know that his kind is common, and easily
available because they are created by the conditions they live in.  It is
harsh to say it, but he was a replaceable tool that could be discarded
after it was used."

   She touched his hand again.  "Arthur was necessary, and a good man. 
But, he was still, for all his good qualities, just a man."

   Tom winced, then turned to look at Merlin.  "And Merlin, the twins,
and...  Lady Chrystal?"

   Kay turned to face us and her heart was in her eyes.  "Tools, of course,
as are we all, and as you know too well.  Some tools though, because they
are so difficult to make and hone, are kept, and treasured."

   Suddenly her eyes twinkled with their normal merriment.  "And we are
all...

   "Just men, and just women."

   Both of them raised their tankards and offered them to us in a wry
salute.  They sipped and then went back to their previous discussion.

   "Kay, I know you aren't *stupid*, but didn't you think to try adding the
power back in?"

   She glared at him.  "Of course I did, you ninny!  It was never the same.
I could make them the same all the way down to the molecular level, but the
effects they had on the food and people were always different."

   "But..."

   She exploded and I gaped at her.

   "You...  You...  MAN!  If you would get your head out your crotch, you
would have figured it out centuries ago!  It's the time, you idiot.  The
plants have to spend generations in real time before the fields form, and
they have to be wild, not carefully tended, because our mindsets affect
them!"

   "Oh!  I didn't see that." His voice was contrite.

   "Of course you didn't, because you are inherently incapable of planning
anything past your current conquest in your search for different ways to
satisfy your lust!"

   Her response was withering and made me glance sideways to see Merlin's
rapt face.  "Merlin?  Are you *certain* you want to be the focus of all
that?"

   He was shaking his head at her vehemence.  "I have never seen this Kay
before, and she fascinates me." He leaned back and smiled serenely as he
clasped his hands on his belly again.  "Besides, I am indifferent to food
so long as what is served is edible.  We have known each other for
thousands of years.  What could she possibly know about me that would
trigger so much passion?"

   I gaped at him, and I knew my jaw was hanging slackly.  How could such a
wise man be so *innocent* of the ways of women?

   There was a long silence I barely noticed because of my own shock.

   "The arrogance of the man!"

   Kay's voice started out softly and got louder as she put all of her
exasperation behind her words.  I was amazed that Merlin didn't flinch at
the suppressed outrage I heard.

   "For thousands of years he has gathered the knowledge of the world to
his breast like a miser, doling it out at some great need he claimed only
he had the wit to see."

   At that, he did flinch, and I knew I grinned at him.

   She continued her monologue, and it was obvious she'd temporarily
abandoned her castigation of Tom.

   "I can forgive him that, because, after all, he was easier to lead than
most and by the time I realized his arrogance was innate, and not something
I could train out of him, it was too late.  The time was upon us and I had
no choice."

   "But this..." She spluttered in her fury.  "I should have left him
sitting on that bank, picking grass from between his toes.  I should have
let him drown!  I should have..."

   She sighed.  "Tell me, Tom, why I have put up with a man who has all
that knowledge at his beck and call, but he uses it only to meddle in
people's lives, when he could have spared a thought or two for ours!  We
could have had a heated castle, not these frozen stones.  Can you imagine
what our heating bill is like?  A simple gesture and the walls would keep
us comfortable for thousands of years, yet he never had the wit to realize
he could have made it and nobody would have cared.

   "He's *Merlin* and people expected if of him!"

   Tom laughed and when Merlin, now white faced, turned to watch the snake
Kay had become, Tom caught his eyes and raised his tankard again in an
ironic salute as he spoke gently to Kay.

   "Because, Kay, you are the world's Alpha Bitch, and Merlin is your
mate."

   She turned to face Tom and there was none of her earlier vehemence in
her posture.

   "Aye, you have the right of it.  There has never been, and never will
be, another man who fills that role."

   Tears flowed from her eyes as she touched his face.  "Not even you."

   He pulled her into his lap and held her close while he watched Merlin.
"I know, My Love.  I knew three days before a young, confused girl trudged
over a bramble covered hill.  She knew not what she sought, and she was
terrified to learn that what she had found was her death.  Yet..."

   He bent and kissed her hair, then waited until she was looking at his
face.  "She chose death if that was to be her fate, because she wanted an
end to her confusion and pain."

   "Three wishes asked, three wishes granted."

   She smiled.  "Two of them were granted.  The young girl died, and her
confusion left her.  So did the pain, briefly.  That gave the woman time to
learn that to live, is to sometimes feel pain--and feel enough love to make
that pain endurable."

   Suddenly their lips moved, and we heard nothing.

   They were done with us.

   I shook my head to clear my thoughts, then turned to Merlin.  "Well?"

   He held his arms open in an invitation.  "I was wrong.  I never
understood how alike the two of you are."

   I settled in his lap and he helped me get comfortable.  "She will be
pleased to learn of your understanding."

   I turned my muzzle towards him and invited a kiss.  "It will not stop
either of us from pointing out your faults when we are annoyed by them!"

   He grinned.  "I would be sorely troubled if it did, 'she who completes
my soul'."

   "Man!"

   He made the only right answer: "Vixen!"

   * * *

   Later, after the three of them had gone home and the five of us had
settled in the library, Merlin studied Kay thoughtfully.

   She watched him with a slight grin on her face.  "Well, Hubert?"

   He coughed with his embarrassment and the twins and I giggled.

   "There's something I don't understand about when you met them and didn't
recognize them.  Mahika's name is fairly unique and from what you told me,
they used their real names when they taught you how to use power.  Yet, you
didn't associate their names with your tutors?"

   My ears perked, because I'd been wondering the same thing.  If Kay
noticed my interest, she gave no sign that she had.

   "Oh, Hubert.  Be sensible.  Say your own name in your birth tongue."

   He opened his mouth, paused, eventually closed it and shook his head
wearily.  "Oh.  I missed the obvious, again."

   Kay snuggled into him.  "Yes, you did."

   She turned her head slightly and grinned at me.  "Vel, when you have
lived as long as we have, unless something reminds us of the loss, we tend
to forget that we learn and discard languages as most people change their
clothes.  It will happen to you, too, someday."

   'Forget my birth tongue?' It seemed impossible that I would, yet Kay was
serenely confident that it would happen.

   I came out of my startled introspection to see Kay watching me with a
quizzical smile.  "It bothers you?"

   I laid my ears flat.  "Of course it bothers me.  I'm a Bard, and my
speech is my memory.  I fear losing contact with my past."

   Kay started to reply but Merlin shushed her while he watched my face. 
"Wait, Love."

   I nodded my thanks for his action and then focused on what was happening
in the back of my mind.  Tom must have felt my fear, and used our link to
find out what was causing it.  I felt the sense of his presence change, and
a gentle reassurance flowed through me.

   When I came back to the world, my fear was gone.

   Kay was looking at me intently, and her expression was thoughtful. 
"That was fascinating, Vel.  I envy you."

   My ears went vertical with my surprise.  I'd heard many words cross
Kay's lips but 'envy' had never been one of them.  "Envy?!"

   She nodded.  "Envy.  Any time either of you feels the need, you can
share your love with each other.  I watched Tom's love flow from your mind
and fill you as it mixed with your own, as if he were here in person."

   I tilted my head slightly as I realized the sense of her softly spoken
words.  I was still considering the implications when Merlin asked the
question I was still preparing.

   "Watched?"

   Becky spoke up.  "Watched."

   Kay's head jerked sideways and she stared at the twins.  "You never told
me you could see emotions!"

   Becky blushed.  "We came late to the skill, and since it was one you
kept hidden, we decided to do the same.  Besides, as far as we could tell,
most of the time it is no true gift."

   Kay laughed at Becky's sour comment.  "I will grant that it can be
inconvenient."

   Merlin touched Kay and turned her head so she was facing him.  "I could
say the same, you know.  'You never shared this with me?' "

   Kay blushed and ducked her head.  "Your fear of being naked to the world
has always been too great, and I did not want such a small thing to come
between us, as this would have, inevitably, if I had mentioned it before
you were wise enough to understand and accept it.  As far as I knew, I was
the only person to ever have this skill.  Can you truly blame me for hiding
it?"

   He sighed, and I was fascinated by the way his whole body seemed to
shrink as he withdrew into himself.  "Can the ability be taught?"

   She sighed in her turn.  "No, Love.  It's there, or it isn't.u As Becky
noted, in many ways it is no gift if you are the only one to have it."

   She turned her head to study me again.  "Does it exist on your world?"

   I shook my head.  "No, not that I've ever heard."

   I looked at the twins.  "You've had more contact with the Coyotes than I
have."

   Cathy shook her head.  "No.  They helped us learn how to use it, but
they do not have it themselves, nor could they learn the skill.  It was a
very humbling experience for all of us!"

   Kay sneezed violently, startling all of us.  "Cathy.  You're being
evasive."

   Cathy froze, then turned her head cautiously, until she was staring at
Kay.  Her shock was obvious.  "You can tell?"

   "Of course."

   Cathy blushed.  "Once we got used to the idea there was something the
Coyotes couldn't know, we turned it into a game and learned ways to hide
from each other, or even lie successfully.  The Coyotes got to be quite
good at it, even though they couldn't 'see' what they were doing."

   Kay giggled.  "And you never stopped to think about why you have never
been able to lie to me?"

   "Of course not.  You are our true mother."

   It was Kay's turn to blush.

   Merlin and I laughed at her embarrassment.

   I spoke up before Kay could recover.  "They've never been able to lie to
you?  I've seen you act like you can't tell them apart." I smiled.  "I
haven't had the problem because their auras feel different."

   I pointed.  "That's Becky.  She's a Master Bard, and I can feel the
confidence." I shifted my attention to Cathy.  "Cathy's aura doesn't have
that same feeling to it, but even before that change happened, there was a
difference I could feel, one they can't change, no matter how much they try
to act the same."

   Kay's response was thoughtful as she studied the twins.  "I suppose
there's no harm in letting them know, since they have the ability anyway."

   Cathy looked a little outraged.  "You pretended you couldn't tell us
apart?"

   Kay, incredibly, shrugged and laughed.  "Of course I did."

   Cathy's response was angry.  "WHY?"

   Kay sobered.  "If I had to use my skill to be certain, I usually let you
get away with it.  You were hurting no one, and for prey, successful
deception is a much needed survival skill.  When there was no harm
involved, I would have been foolish indeed to say you failed in your game,
if I was the only person in the world who could see the difference."

   The twins looked at each other thoughtfully, before Cathy whispered
contritely.  "Oh." Then she looked at Kay again.  "So how do you tell us
apart when you see us with the inner eye?  To us, we look the same."

   Kay leaned back into Merlin and smiled.  "So.  It seems *They* taught me
better than even I knew, for all they couldn't see in the same way."

   She grew thoughtful again.  "I've often wondered about how many things
were different between them, and the Coyotes.  I had no way to be certain
until now, but it's obvious the teaching method the Coyotes use has at
least one inherent flaw that must be allowed for when teaching Terrans the
ways of power."

   She faced me after I gasped with my surprise.  "Relax, Vel.  It's very
likely that one problem is the amount of time used to teach.  We spent
centuries together, and one of our constant 'games' was to push my
perception to its limits in any way we could think of."

   She returned her attention to Cathy.  "Your light is sky blue, while
Becky's is the light gray of a summer rain cloud.  Those basic colors never
change, no matter what intensity the light itself is."

   I nodded slowly.  "But the basic problem with the way the Coyotes teach,
is what?"

   Kay nodded back.  "Would you believe that when *they* first met me,
their first reaction to my attitude was that I was far too 'biddable and
passively reactive' in everything except one part of my life?  It was an
over emphasis of part of a cultural mindset we five share, but Tom, Mahika
and Wolf do not."

   Becky interrupted us.  "Mother?  Does everyone have a different basic
color?  All we can see is white, and if the three types are brighter or
dimmer in relation to each other.  Are we...  color blind?"

   Kay started to speak but she snapped her mouth shut and turned so she
could stare at Merlin.  I felt them start a rapid mental conversation, but
before I could do more than realize it was taking place, I felt Tom's
presence.  >>"Hush.  Let them come to it on their own, Chrys."<<

   I had no idea what he was talking about.  >>"Come to *what*?"<<

   He chortled in my mind.  >>"Hint: 'Are telepathy, the mind links between
us, or Kay and Merlin, and contact telepathy as you learned on Rabelaisia,
different because they are, or because we think they are?  I'll wait while
you think about it..."<<

   I felt his presence fade slightly but knew the exasperating man was
still tucked away and watching me think.

   My first reaction after thinking a few minutes was irritation. 
>>"There's no bloody way to check!"<<

   >>"No?  Now who's missing the obvious?"<<

   >>Obvious?...  Oh.  Merlin *hasn't* missed it, has he?" All that hoarded
knowledge he has..."<<

   Tom sent me a mental hug.  >>"You were almost there, Love.  It's a blind
spot in the way your people teach the ways of power, but you've been around
humans, and me, long enough to work past it, usually."<<

   I sneezed mentally and hoped Merlin didn't feel it.  >>I'll be ready
when they ask.  Any suggestions other than 'not here!'?"<<

   >>"Yep."<<

   I waited patiently until I realized he was willing to wait me out. 
>>"Well?"<<

   He chuckled.  >>"Quit thinking linear, and ask yourself if you know of a
place of power that doesn't have any."<<

   I laid my ears flat.  >>"Oh.  There."<<

   Silence filled with amusement.

   I mentally giggled, then sneezed disgustedly.  >>"This is going to take
some getting used to.  We have three different ways to keep track of each
other and with you bouncing all over time, that makes my end *frustrating*.
Where and when are you now, anyway?"<<

   He let me 'see' where they were.  The location looked familiar, but I
couldn't place it.  He laughed, then sobered slightly.  >>"When is a few
years after Kay left us.  Where, is the place where Merlin will build his
castle.  As for what I'm doing, I'm catching up on all the old 'news' that
came from your end of the links, and responding linearly, since we have to
be able to carry on a conversation."<<

   It was his turn to sneeze disgustedly.  >>"Be glad you don't have to dig
through almost four centuries of memories so you can 'remember' all the
things you felt in your mind, but couldn't respond to.  I didn't dare do
anything when I felt you ask me something or when you needed my support,
with Kay able to see our emotions, until after she'd left us to be on her
own, finally."<<

   I laughed at his sour attitude.  >>"Fine pair, aren't we?  I get to
learn everything you've done in the past, all at once if I go looking for
*that* link.  I 'search for updates' every few minutes, by deliberately
accessing your memories a year or so at a time and then stopping, just to
keep the information manageable as I get it."<<

   I felt him nod slowly.  >>Good thing both of us aren't time jumpers."<<

   >>"Mmph!  I hadn't thought of that!  That reminds me.  What's this
'cultural mindset' that Kay was talking about, that we five share but you
three don't?"<<

   I felt his mood shift to total focus on me.  >>"You want the polite
comparison, or the harsh one, Love?  For what it's worth, you show it the
least amount, and did before we met."<<

   >>"Umm..."<< I thought about it and giggled.  >>"I think I know what it
is.  'Settled vs.  wandering.' "<<

   He laughed.  >>"Yep.  I was thinking in terms of 'explorers vs,
stay-at-homes'.  Closest 'proper' terminology is 'proactive vs.  reactive'.
We solve problems before they happen while you folks tend to wait for them
to come to you before they get solved."<<

   He chortled at a memory of his own and shared it with me.  >>"We
anticipate Mr.  Murphy.  You don't."<<

   I mentally sneezed my disgust.  >>"You made your point the first time.
No need to rub it in."<<

   >>"Oops.  Sorry."<<

   He didn't sound very contrite but he didn't need to be.  I was used to
his propensity to wander off and over explain things when he got going. 
>>"Tom?  Do you really think when this is over we'll all be able to see
emotions in the same way Kay does?"<<

   He sighed.  >>"We don't know.  We did try a lot of things, everything we
could think of, as long as touch linking wasn't involved.  You know the
reason we didn't suggest that possibility."<<

   >>"Umm.  I've been trying not to think about what it must have been like
for the three of you.  Kay knew you were hiding things from her, didn't
she?"<<

   He let me feel Mahika and Wolf as they snuggled against him.  >>"Yes,
from the beginning.  It was the only way to do it once we found out she can
'see' emotions.  The denial?  We managed, somehow.  Someday, now that it's
done, we'd appreciate the use of your shoulders."<<

   >>"Right.  I'll be there as soon as we get this taken care of.  Might be
a few days my time.  Err...  Tom?  Stay with me, just in case we run into
something similar to what you did to yourselves?"<<

   He hesitated.  >>"Should we join you?"<<

   It was my turn to hesitate before I sighed mentally.  >>"No.  Family
matter, especially between Merlin and Kay.  Just be ready."<<

   He laughed.  >>"We won't stop it starting, but we can time our arrival
to within microseconds of that point if we have to rescue you folks."<<

   I pounced.  >>"Won't?"<<

   >>"The Zeitgeist has made it very clear.  We can anticipate and react.
We aren't allowed to prevent, if we know it has already happened."<< He
brought some of his memories of their time with Kay forward and shared them
with me.  >>"Even *I* get tired of deus-ex-machina when it's applied to my
life."<<

   I giggled mentally again, then felt a touch on my arm.  >>"Whoops! 
Gotta go!"<<

   He laughed and let me feel his love as he settled and became a mere hint
of a presence in the back of my mind.  >>"Don't worry.  Nobody except you
will know I'm here, unless you tell them."<<

   >>"Thanks."<<

   I refocused on my own present.  The four of them were watching me
intently.  Kay and the twins were frowning slightly.  Merlin was thoughtful
when he spoke.  "Vel?  As I understand what happened while Kay was learning
to use her powers, they never mentioned anything about contact telepathy.
You're the authority on Tom, so I'm asking you if they had a specific
reason for that."

   That was interesting.  Apparently they hadn't noticed my distraction.  I
decided I wouldn't mention it yet.  "Yes, they did.  They couldn't risk Kay
getting past their shields to learn things that would have changed her
until she wasn't the person she *had* to be, if history was to be
followed."

   He nodded.  "OK.  That fits."

   I perked my ears in his direction and he laughed.  "I'm still trying to
get the puzzle assembled.  I have lots of small details, but few things
that let me connect them with any confidence of being right."

   I giggled.  "Applying the hoarded information to your personal life?"

   He blushed.  "Something like that.  Except you're hiding the missing
pieces, mixed in with a lot of others, from a different puzzle."

   "Oh?"

   "Yes.  Next question.  Every power wielder on Rabelaisia senses power in
the same way, right?"

   I tilted my head thoughtfully.  "As far as I know, yes."

   He smiled.  "Good!  That fits nicely.  What about when you change
shapes? Do your senses change?"

   I frowned and thought about it more than I usually did.  "No.  Same
mind, body doesn't matter to the person wearing it.  To someone on the
outside, our effects on the currents increase or decrease, usually because
our size has changed, we think."

   He frowned.  "So if you become a vixen, for example, you can still see
colors."

   "Yes."

   "Hmm.  That wasn't the answer I was expecting.  It doesn't work that way
for Terran shape shifters..." He lowered his voice as he thought aloud. 
"Now how does *that* fit in?...

   "Ah!  Yes.  Of course!"

   He refocused on Kay and the twins.  "It's mindset that does it.  Cathy
and Becky were probably in their hound forms when they discovered they can
see emotions.  Right?"

   I felt laughter in the back of my mind.  I gave Tom a mental glare. 
>>"Hush.  This is getting interesting."<<

   The twins studied each other for awhile, then Cathy nodded and answered
him.  "We think so, but aren't certain."

   He smiled.  "I'm as certain as I can be without going there myself and
watching it happen.  Canids are color blind, humans aren't."

   Kay interrupted him.  "I was human at the time.  Tom in particular told
me each of us senses power differently, and that can change depending on
circumstances.  It was the first thing I noticed because the first time I
tried to feel power, I felt nothing and he did."

   Merlin laughed.  "Oh, that's very good."

   He turned his attention to me again, and grinned.  "Is a multiple touch
link possible?"

   I swatted at him impatiently.  "Yes, and you know it is.  I see where
you're headed with this, and I'm willing to try, but I'm not about to try
it here!"

   He looked woebegone.  "But..."

   I glanced at Kay.  "I believe you mentioned he can miss the obvious?"

   She stared at me.  "I must be missing it, too."

   I sighed.  "Tom.  Mahika.  Stonehenge.  Touch link.  Remember a rescue
mission?"

   She blushed.  "Oh." She faced Merlin.  "Vel's right.  We're *supposed*
to be unkillable, but I'd rather not find out in the way you did, when you
found out you couldn't channel all the power in the castle."

   He blushed again and turned back to me.  "Is it that dangerous?"

   I shrugged.  "It's never wise to experiment in a place of power, Merlin.
You didn't see Tom and Mahika after they did."

   He blanched.  "That bad?"

   I grinned at him.  "I quote Mahika: 'Elementals can't be killed, but we
did try!' "

   He winced.

   I sobered.  "I do have a suggestion though, if you still want to try
it."

   "I'm listening."

   I ignored the snicker from the back of my mind.  "The White Horse, after
it was created, and before the power had a chance to rebuild."

   He froze.  Then he watched me warily.  "That would involve time travel
and we wouldn't be in our real bodies.  If it works, would we keep any
abilities we learned, after we returned here?"

   "Umm.  I know it works for ordinary humans who accept that power
exists." I held up a paw.  "Let me appeal to authority.  Be right back."

   I didn't wait for Merlin's answer, just shifted my attention to Tom's
presence.  >>"Well?"<<

   I felt Tom's frown.  >>"Merlin and the twins have never time traveled,
have they?  And you and Kay do it only at great need?"<<

   >>"Right."<<

   >>"Hang on..."<<

   I felt the edges of his conversation with Mahika and Wolf, then he
refocused on me.  >>"Wolf says: 'No problem'.  She discovered a lot more
than how to handle power before she came back to her original body the
first time she time traveled.  She kept all of her new skills no matter
what form and time she was in."<<

   >>"Thanks."<<

   I refocused on my present.  "Not a problem.  Anything you learn will be
retained."

   He nodded.  "Nice to know, if it works.  Thanks, to all of you, for that
reassurance."

   He hugged Kay and pulled her against his chest.  "Well?"

   She rubbed his hands and sighed.  "I don't like the time travel aspect.
That..." She turned her head and studied me intently.  "There's only one
person who was *ever* able to hide his emotions from me.  *He's* been
meddling, hasn't he, Vel?"

   I laid my ears back like a kit caught doing something she knew she
shouldn't have done.  "Yes.  A little."

   Merlin stiffened.  "He was in your mind?"

   I sneezed.  "He's always there, somewhere.  It depends on which link I
use to focus on him."

   I took a deep breath and opened myself completely.  "Take a look."

   He did and I felt him rummaging through my memories.  Eventually he
left.

   "You can access all of that?"

   I nodded.  "Of course.  I'm adding to it constantly."

   He smiled sourly.  "I noticed.  New stacks appeared while I was
browsing. Startled me.  I couldn't understand any of it because it was in a
foreign language."

   I tilted my head thoughtfully.  "Merlin?  How do you visualize the
contents of my mind?  I see it as something like Bard's Hall, a large
building with many rooms that contain objects grouped by purpose. 
Sometimes, I move things around if I think they fit in a different room
better than the one they ere in."

   He nodded.  "To me it's a huge library, and I can easily browse through
the public stacks.  However, there's a back room where you keep the stuff
you haven't sorted onto the public shelves.  Your own experiences, I can
read if I make a special effort.  Tom's memories are readable, but in a
language I don't know until you've consciously translated them."

   Kay interrupted.  "You're in his mind all the time, right?  So he knows,
roughly, what's happening to you?"

   There was no point in hiding.  "Yes.  Of course."

   "Good!" She smiled and then went on briskly as she spoke to Merlin and
the twins.  "Time travel is similar to place shifting, but a lot more
intense.  Since Vel's the most experienced one here and has the clearest
image of where we should go, she can take all of us there."

   My jaw dropped.  Then, I got suspicious about the sudden change of
subject.  I started adding up the clues and when I finished I realized what
she had to have figured out.  >>"She knows you're here and keeping track of
this."<<

   >>"Yep.  Smart woman.  I was wondering if she'd figure it out."<<

   I gave him another mental sneeze of disgust.  >>"You could have warned
me."<<

   >>Nope.  She can see concealment.  Not what's being concealed, but the
act itself is visible to her.  You needed to be consciously aware that you
didn't need to conceal anything, that I was handling it."<<

   I winced mentally.  >>Someday I'm going to fine tooth your memories and
learn how you managed to hide so much from her, for so long."<<

   He laughed.  >>"I told you.  She knew we were hiding things.  'Wheels
within wheels'."<<

   He sobered.  >>What she was talking about is an ability that only I seem
to have when it comes to power.  I have enough control to turn off what
radiates from my mind, heart and groin.  That's what I did when I snuggled
back here.  Otherwise she would have spotted me as soon as she looked at
you with her inner sight."<<

   Turn it *off*?  That, to me, was like saying you could kill yourself and
then rise from the dead, by your own efforts.

   I sighed.  >>"Life was a lot simpler before I came to Earth."<<

   He chuckled.  >>"Makes two of us with that complaint, Chrys."<< He went
on thoughtfully.  >>"My life wasn't that simple even before Mahika and you
showed up."<<

   I mentally sneezed at him.  >>"True.  Your culture has some quirks we
managed to avoid."<<

   I sighed.  >>"I guess it's time for me to deal with this reality.  Talk
to you later."<<

   >>"Later, Chrys."<<

   I sighed again and refocused on everyone.  "OK.  So we are agreed about
this?  I'll take us all back and then we'll see what happens?"

   The twins and Kay nodded slowly, but Merlin had a frown on his face, so
I waited for him to articulate his feelings of uneasiness.

   "Vel?  There's something I don't understand about this."

   "I know.  I can tell."

   He grimaced.  "I don't doubt it.  Rabelaisians don't have any innate
controls for time travel, right?  How can you be the one to take us back?
Or am I missing the obvious again?"

   It was my turn to grimace slightly.  "After all my fancy words about not
experimenting in a place of power, this will be the first time I do a time
shift that isn't directly to Tom.  I usually 'follow his memories' to where
he is.

   "Before you panic, it will be safe enough, because this time he'll be
along for the ride, and he'll guide me to a point just after he and Mahika
left the White Horse."

   They were all looking at me strangely.  It was Becky who hesitantly
expressed the wonder I could see in all of their postures.  "He can use the
link to 'ride' while you move in time and space?"

   I nodded.  "I have his memories of doing it that way, this time."

   She stared at me.  "Memories of something neither of you has done, yet?"

   "Yes.  As long as his actions happen in my past, I can make the mental
effort to access his memories of our shared future as if they are part of
MY past, too.  I only do it at great need, and when his memories suggest I
have done so."

   She gazed at me a long time, then sighed.  "That's very circular, you
know."

   I giggled.  "Be glad you have the innate controls, and don't have to do
it that way.  Any linear language is inherently incapable of expressing the
concepts involved.  Since it is in my nature to accept the environment and
change myself to live in it, I suspect Rabelaisians are incapable of time
travel unless we are linked with Terran humans or they bodily transfer us
as if we were cargo."

   For some reason Kay and Merlin focused on each other before Kay spoke
thoughtfully.  "That sly, concealing, conniving old wolf..."

   Tom's laughter suddenly rolled through my mind, and It was strong enough
that Merlin felt it and flinched before he stared at Kay, whose expression
had gone smug.

   She turned and grinned at me.  "You're wrong, Vel.  We'll do it that way
because we have, but after that, you and I are going to settle somewhen and
you're going to finally get a solid background in Terran science and the
scientific method of thinking.  There are no such things as 'innate
controls'.  It's mindset.  Time is an energy state, and time travel is
nothing more than macro manipulation of quantum energy states."

   Then she offhandedly did violence to more of my cherished 'truths'.  "So
are place and shape shifting.  They are just like telepathy and all the
various mind links.  If you can do one, you can do all of them, once you
have the knowledge to form the right mindsets."

   We were all staring at her, and she giggled at our stunned looks. 
"Hubert isn't the only one who reads, you know, and I've been doing it all
my life.  A woman can't be thinking about sex ALL the time, after all."

   I gave Tom a mental swat of exasperation when my thinking caught up with
reality.  >>"She time shifted, didn't she?"<<

   >>"Yep!  Gave us hell, too, but her heart wasn't really in it, since it
was such a good joke.  Tell her we're looking forward to her revenge."<<

   My ears went vertical, then I grinned.  "Kay?  Tom says they are looking
forward to your 'revenge', for such a good joke.  My skills, as limited as
they are, will be yours to command should you decide I may have a role to
play..."

   >>"Hey!  That wasn't what I asked you to relay!"<<

   >>"Hush, Dear, and show some sense."<<

   He sneezed at me, and said nothing more.

   Not surprisingly, it was one of the twins, Cathy this time, who focused
on the real subject of importance.  "Does all this mean any of us can learn
to see emotions, and see them in color?"

   Kay sobered and sighed.  "I don't know.  All of our mindsets are
different, and how that will affect what we plan...  It's new territory,
for all of us."

   She held her hands out and smiled.  "I know it's not needed, but it will
help."

   After Merlin took one of her hands and the twins wrapped her other hand
in theirs, she tilted her head in my direction.  "When you and Tom are
ready."

   I sneezed at her, then touched her forehead with a paw before I mentally
prepared myself.  Then, there was shared amusement when we both whispered a
single word in our minds: >>"Go!"<<

   We arrived to the sounds of two women's screams.  I wasn't surprised
when a familiar voice spoke soothingly, and the screams chopped off. 
"Relax.  It is only the absence of all power that you see.  It will
return."

   I turned, and spoke exasperatedly.  "Did you know this would happen?"

   Tom shook his head.  "No.  It is a new skill, one only the twins will
ever share.  We had no way of knowing, until it manifested."

   Becky and Cathy were hugging each other and shivering even though I
could feel a sphere of power that was centered on them.

   Becky was looking around, and opening and closing her eyes.  "It was so
dark!  I knew we'd stopped, but I felt like I was still falling, and would,
forever..."

   Mahika hugged her.  "The power is returning, even as you speak."

   Her hand flashed out and grabbed at something.  "Seek my hand with the
inner vision."

   Becky gasped.  "So bright and beautiful, yet..."

   Mahika opened her hand and released a small fly.  "Its beauty is
normally hidden in the brightness it lives in.  Thus it is, with all that
exists, alive or dead, as we usually think of the terms." She turned her
head slightly.  "Our Alpha?"

   Wolf smiled.  "Of course.  The ability has always been there, but mostly
suppressed until events caused you to delve more fully and open yourselves
to it.  What else have you discovered?"

   Kay giggled and we all turned to stare at her.  "I was reminded of the
day when I was asked to do much the same thing, and plans had to be
discarded.  Will this be another of those days?"

   Wolf laughed at her.  "Not discarded, only extensively modified.  As I
remember, you were not displeased with the later consequences."

   Kay surprised me by blushing before she glanced at Merlin guiltily. 
Then she refound her dignity and wrapped herself in it.  "True.  I was not
displeased.  But I *was* exasperated with your and Mahika's mothering ways,
so I deliberately sought the solace of the one who knew better!"

   Then she deliberately gestured at the twins.  "Enough of us, and our
concerns."

   Wolf nodded.  "As you wish, Alpha of All.  Your entire pack is gathered
in one place again and the clues have been provided.  Create the Context."

   'Create the Context'?  That sounded like the beginnings of a Bard's
Lesson, but there were only two of us present, and I had never planned one,
while Becky was obviously in no shape to be giving any lessons at all.

   When I looked at Tom he shrugged and gestured at Kay to let me know I
should wait for events to unfold.

   When I turned back, Kay was glaring at Wolf.  "Oh, no...  Not this time.
The clues may be there, but I'm not interested in putting on a gratuitous
display of..." She finished weakly and turned to face Merlin.  "My
reasoning powers.  Hubert?  Did you miss it, too?"

   He didn't answer directly.  "Tom?  The three of you have learned some
unusual skills since we last met, haven't you?  We'll need one of them,
won't we?"

   Tom slumped.  "Indeed so."

   Merlin turned in place, slowly, before he walked over and knelt in the
'eye' of the horse.  He picked up a pebble and studied it for awhile before
he carefully placed it on the ground again.

   When he stood, he was grim faced.  "All that, and both of you are still
alive--or are you, really?"

   Tom shrugged.  "What is alive, to one who travels in time?  We are all
energy states, and the strength of our will determines who and what we are.
We will prevent the power from returning, for as long as those conditions
are needed."

   He smiled a little and watched the twins.  "I suggest you close off your
new vision.  What I am about to do will be unsettling enough, without that
to add to your fears."

   When they nodded he raised his hands and...

   I shuddered when I realized what he was doing.  He had created a zone of
'no power', then started expanding it.

   When the edge of the zone passed through me, I shivered uncontrollably,
and then slumped as I felt a great loss.

   The power I usually lived in, was gone.  I still had my own, but for the
first time in my life, I felt isolated from the world.

   After he finished he knelt, picked up a small pebble, and spoke
thoughtfully.  "Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed or
dissipated.  While there is need, this stone will gain in weight.  When
there is no need..."

   He shrugged and pocketed it.  "Do what you need to do.  Our job is over
for now, and you have all the knowledge you need to continue."

   He linked arms with Mahika and Wolf, then the three of them walked away
from us without looking back.

   "Arrogant sod."

   Merlin's mild comment brought me back from my introspection.

   Kay nestled into his side.  "Perhaps.  *I* will allow that the three of
them are focused on a vision we cannot see.  They are also..."

   She sighed.  "Treating us as the adults we are, not the children we
*wish* to be, and you know it!"

   Merlin's mumbled 'Yet it still moves!' sent me on a search of our
memories until a gentle presence stopped me.

   >>"Search your own memories, this time.  Nikki's tale of the Bard's
Council, and your own elevation to membership."<<

   I gasped, and when I realized I'd done it aloud, causing them to focus
on me, I flattened my ears in embarrassment.

   I tried to put it into words.  "Of course, what he does feels arrogant.
People who anticipate, and embrace inevitable change, are always seen that
way by those who have a vested interest in keeping things the same."

   Merlin nodded.  "But which are we, eh?  That's the real question, and I
dislike it immensely when someone deliberately withholds knowledge from
me."

   He shrugged.  "Occupational hazard."

   Kay touched him lightly and turned his head so she could watch his face.
"Hubert, you've spent all your life being passive about learning.  You need
to discover the joys of discovering new things for yourself."

   My head tipped sideways when I realized what had been going on.  "He
wouldn't!  He did!  A Bard's Lesson, tailored to each of us--and he made
*us* plan it and deliver it to ourselves!"

   For the first time since it had formed, I felt him get angry with *me*
through our link.  >>"Not I, Love.  The Zeitgeist.  Perhaps now, the rest
of you will understand my and Kay's shared anger with it, and the *passion*
with which we dismissed Excalibur from our lives!"<<

   >>"Oof!"<<

   I felt like I'd taken a physical blow and after I recovered, Merlin was
watching me worriedly.  "I *heard* that.  Was I supposed to?"

   Kay spoke mildly.  "I think we just witnessed their first lover's spat,
and through their link, his anger with you for calling him 'arrogant', when
he knew he had no choices to make, and we *should* have seen that part of
his reality."

   She smiled and reached to pull me into a hug.  "Visually, the display
was flashy and impressive, and quite enough to remind *me* that what we are
not doing is what we came here to do.

   "Lady Chrystal, if you would prepare yourself, it is time we took
advantage of Tom's efforts, and learned some of the truths we came here to
discover."

   I grinned wryly.  "I've always wondered what it would be like to be
involved in the same sort of intensely deep and individualistic
relationship Stefan and Sabrina had.  I'm pretty certain I finally had my
wish answered."

   Then I noticed the twins were studying me intently.  "What is it?"

   They looked at Kay and she shook her head.  "Once the flare of emotions
died down, she looks the same as she always has, to me."

   Cathy turned back to me.  "You can't see or feel *any* changes?"

   "No."

   Cathy spoke almost reverently, and for some reason her reverence was
directed at me.  "Lady Chrystal's aura is glowing, and it reaches out
to..."

   She stopped and shook herself, then mentally linked with her sister
before she went on.  "No.  Something is reaching out to her, as if she was
being held by a hand, and power is flowing from its fingertips and into
her, where it becomes part of her, without any source, instead of like the
three centers of being we are used to seeing."

   They linked hands and studied Kay and Merlin.  "It's only happening to
Lady Chrystal.  You two look the same, even when we link and use our
combined powers to look."

   I took a deep, calming breath, and settled.  "Kay?  I'm ready."

   She nodded.  "Girls?  Keep your link when you both touch Vel.  Hubert?
Whenever you are ready."

   Then she settled before me and placed her left hand on my forehead.

   Merlin covered her hand with his, then spread his fingers until he could
dig through my fur and touch my skin.

   The twins came over and did something I wasn't expecting.  They placed
their free hands under my chin, then raised my head slightly so they could
watch my eyes.

   Becky smiled slightly.  "We decided to make contact where the new light
seems to be settling."

   I opened myself, formed the many links I knew we'd need, then settled
back in my mind to see what would happen.

   I wasn't surprised when I felt three sets of mental arms wrap me in
their strength before Wolf spoke gently.  >>"Your part of the task is over,
for now.  Maintain the links, and answer questions if they ask them.  They
will do the rest."<<

   >>"Do you speak from knowing what will happen?"<<

   >>"No.  Even to the Zeitgeist, this is a new thing, and that is the
reason it watches, through you."<<

   >>"Watches?"<<

   Wolf's response was mild.  >>"We call it that for convenience. 
'Experiences it' would probably be closer to being correct.  Perhaps it has
joined with you so it may learn more about the only alien avatar it has
ever known, so far.  For whatever reasons, it wished to learn of what
happens through your view point.  Perhaps it has done so before, and this
is the first time it has been 'caught' in the act."<<

   >>"Can it move in time?"<<

   >>"We don't know.  'It is', and we have never been in a time and place
where it hasn't been present."<<

   Tom suddenly spoke thoughtfully.  >>There have been times, usually when
we first arrive in a time earlier than any we've previously been to, when
its focused interest in us seems more intense, I think.  The impression has
always been too fleeting for me to get more than a vague impression."<<

   I sneezed my disgust mentally.  >>"Well, when the touch is so light I
can't tell it's there, there's no point in objecting to it, even if I
wanted to.  Whatever the reasons, I appreciate the subtlety."<<

   They all laughed, and we refocused on what everyone else was doing,
which for now, seemed to be a lot of fast mental talk as they discussed
what they knew about themselves, and what they hoped to be able to do when
they were done.

   Of the four, Kay's images and speech were the most foreign to me, and I
wondered about that until Tom reminded me that of them all, she was the one
who was the most 'scientific' in her understanding and visualization of
power, due, he suspected, to his own influence on her when she was new to
it all.

   I gave him a mental nod when he finished his tentative explanation. 
>>"That makes sense, if we also accept that mindset is most important in
determining our eventual skills."<<

   Eventually they reached some sort of consensus and plan, and they turned
their attention to me.

   Merlin spoke for all of them.  "Lady Chrystal.  Do you desire to be only
a conduit for the energies, or do you wish to attempt to add this skill to
the ones you already have?"

   His formality surprised me but I managed to keep my tones relaxed.  "I
desire to be only the conduit.  There is risk enough when experimenting,
and I feel my focus should remain on our safety, with as few distractions
as possible."

   He was silent for a brief time, then he nodded.  "A factor we hadn't
fully considered."

   They consulted with each other again, then all of them sighed.

   Kay spoke directly to me.  "This may become difficult for you.  We ask
that you allow the power to flow amongst us, unless you feel the levels
will overwhelm your own senses.  Ignore our pain.  We expect there to be
some, we do not know how much, and as Tom and Mahika proved rather
directly, none of us will be killed, no matter what happens."

   My ears went vertical, I knew, then I nodded slightly, and reluctantly.
"I understand."

   "Thank you."

   She took a deep breath and watched the twins.  "Are you ready?"

   They sighed and I felt their hands tremble.  "We are."

   Kay closed her eyes and her awareness surged through me so powerfully I
felt like I was going to explode, somehow.

   Suddenly the feeling was muted and bearable.  I could observe and focus
on the nuances.  Obviously, Tom, Wolf and Mahika had done something to aid
me, while allowing me full awareness of what was happening.  I'd worry
about that later.

   There was a rapid interchange of some sort, then I felt the awareness of
the twins surge through me, towards Kay.

   Kay's aura flared, then settled and felt different to me.  When I
checked on the twins, their auras had changed, too, but the changes were
obvious, yet somehow muted in their intensity, compared to the intensity of
the changes I could feel in Kay.

   There was more internal conversation, and finally Kay slumped and
removed her hand, breaking her contact with me.

   Merlin's hand left with hers, and when I was able to focus on the
outside world, and not the turbulence the unexpected breaking of the touch
link had created, he was cradling her against his chest and watching her
intently.

   The twins had maintained their part of the link with me, and now Becky
spoke to me through it.  >>"The three of us changed, but for some reason
Kay's changes were the most drastic."<<

   >>"Are you able to see colors, now?"<<

   >>"Yes, but not in the way we expected to.  We gained a new ability, not
a change to what we were already able to do.  Can you share images with Tom
if we send them?"<<

   >>"Of course.  They've been monitoring us, just in case they had to
perform a rescue."<<

   She laughed sourly.  >>"We should have expected that, and we think Kay
knew they've been there.  It would explain that damnable serenity of hers
just before she slammed through all of our normal defenses like they
weren't there.  Never mind.  Here's what Cathy and I now see when we look
at people, specifically, Merlin.  Kay's aura is too turbulent for us to see
any details."<<

   What they sent were images of Merlin's aura.  They were incredibly
detailed, instead of the shimmering blur I was used to seeing.

   >>That's similar to what I always see, but far more detailed.  My
memories tell me Tom is familiar with something similar.  I'll pass them
on. Perhaps he can bring that memory to the surface.<<

   I shared the images, but instead of a direct answer, suddenly the three
of them were physically present, and while Wolf and Mahika gently lifted
Becky's and Cathy's hands away from me, Tom went over to kneel so he could
study Kay, before he nodded and looked a little higher, at Merlin.  "She'll
be ok soon enough.  Don't try to talk to her, yet.  She'll let you know
when she's fully back."

   He studied Tom intently, then nodded.  "Time slicing?"

   "Rapidly.  So are the rest of us, but we're used to doing it.  She's
not. It's the only way for her to come to terms with what just happened to
her."

   He sighed.  "What *did* happen to her?  All I could tell is that she and
the twins did something, then had an extended conversation before she
slumped and broke the contact."

   Tom chuckled.  "Information overload is what happened to her.  Or..."

   He paused and studied Kay thoughtfully.  "More correctly, sensory
overload more than information overload.  We're helping her figure out how
to shut down the channels she's not interested in using at any one time, so
she can function in the real world."

   Merlin sighed.  "I realize things are complicated, but will she be ok
when we go back to our real time?"

   Tom snorted his amusement.  "She's fine, there.  Matter of fact, when
you eventually go back, you'll get to listen to a wonderful tirade about
how she's *supposed* to have to time slide *away* from real time to give
herself time to solve problems, not the other way around."

   I interrupted.  "We forgot to mention that time slicing doesn't break
the memory chains.  What happens here will become just another memory you
can access, while the real time memories are continuous.  You don't have to
worry about the need to remember what you were doing when you left.  It's
something that is best experienced instead of trying to understand it
beforehand."

   Merlin took the time to study me thoughtfully before he spoke.

   "Deliberately forgot?"

   "Yes, for a good reason."

   "Ok."

   Then he refocused on Kay, who suddenly tried to sit up.  Her eyes were
closed, but she reached and unerringly stroked Merlin's face with a light
touch as soon as she was in a stable position.

   "So much worry behind those eyes.  I'm fine, now, and any time you wish
to share this skill, it can be yours.  and...."

   She opened her eyes as she resnuggled with Merlin.  "As for you, Vixen,
thank you for being the channel of power that was required."

   I nodded slightly.  "May we assume you have control, now?"

   "Of course.  Calm yourself, Vel."

   Suddenly she reached and put her hand on my forehead, then I felt
something flow through me before she removed it and spoke gently.  "Much
better.  Examine your aura, and perform a calming ritual."

   I looked at myself with the inner vision, and I knew my ears went
vertical before I focused on the twins and held my hands above their
foreheads.  "May I?"

   Becky studied me, then sighed.  "Maybe.  What do you wish?"

   "At the moment, to only share what I see when I look at Merlin and the
others, so we may compare what we see."

   Her head moved slightly.  "Sister?"

   "I think we should.  Better whatever happens, happens here."

   "True." She faced me again and nodded, so I placed my hands and the
three of us shared images.

   Eventually I broke contact and sighed.  "Not too long ago, I complained
to Tom that my life had become incredibly complicated since I moved to
Terra.  I'm reasonably certain it will eventually become less so.  However,
until I integrate what has happened into my usual perceptions, I'm going to
feel extremely put upon."

   Tom settled behind me and started rubbing my back, then he spoke calmly
to Merlin.  "The four of them now share the ability to do something Chrys
has been able to do all her life, except to varying degrees, their ability
is enhanced compared to her old version of the skill."

   Merlin finally nodded.  "The basic skill?"

   "They are able to see Kirlian fields."

   "What about you three?"

   "We see them, but not in the same way.  For us, it is an energy field
that varies in intensity and...  'Flavor' is a good analogy, maybe, if
energy can be said to affect the sensation of taste."

   He chortled.  "It makes sense when you remember that I can get obsessed
about cooking, and seasonings."

   Merlin managed to mostly suppress his grin.  "Mahika and Wolf?"

   Uncharacteristically, Tom hesitated a long time and when he spoke, it
was reluctantly.  "It could be because I gave Mahika the ability to sense
energy fields, and then she helped Wolf learn to sense them."

   Merlin frowned, and I knew I did too, before Tom spoke in my mind. 
>>It's not time for you folks to know more.<<

   >>Hmmph!  I'll accept that, for now.<<

   >>Good!<<

   Kay shifted suddenly and reached for Merlin's forehead.

   He winced, and I felt his awareness fragment.

   Kay giggled.  "He's been pestering me for hours, in our original time."

   Tom laughed.  "At least he learned he shouldn't try to probe us."

   "True."

   She focused on me.  "My job here is over, and I have never been
comfortable with fragmenting my awareness.  Thank you, again, for the part
you played.  There are more than enough people here to help him, so I will
go back, and soothe him past his confusion."

   She vanished.

   I could feel his weary frustration when, hours later, he lifted his
hands and rubbed his temples before he took the time to intently study each
of us.

   When he returned his gaze to me, there was a hungry look to it, so I
nodded without speaking, then moved to settle with my back against his
chest.  "Well?"

   "Days, there.  How long here?"

   "Hours."

   "Felt like weeks."

   I felt him shift slightly.  "Tom, I don't envy the three of you.  Time
slicing is a handy skill to have, but in practice...  Who am I trying to
kid?  I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with it, even though I will
probably need to do it again."

   Tom nodded, but it was Wolf who spoke calmly.  "It's what we get paid to
do, so we decided to learn to do it well."

   "And you had plenty of time for that learning, right?"

   "Of course."

   He hugged me.  "You're pretty calm about all this, Love."

   I touched his hands lightly.  "I gained an enhancement of my usual
ability, not a new skill.  Also, I am used to adapting myself to my
environment, not adapting my environment to me.  Personal change is
something I am used to, far more than most humans."

   "Your point, again."

   "Again?"

   "Yes...  Have you been back, yet?"

   "No.  Kay made it clear I should stay here until you were comfortable
with your new skill."

   He sighed.  "This is getting very circular."

   Wolf laughed.  "Go with the flow, Merlin.  Logic is not very useful,
when time travel is involved.  Tell her what happened."

   He sighed again.  "So I make sure it will happen?"

   "More or less.  What happened, happened because of Lady Chrystal's basic
nature and her life experience.  Mostly, what happened was inevitable,
because she has raised kits who were power handlers.  She would have done
what she did, even if she was not forewarned that she would do it when she
returned."

   It was my turn to laugh.  "Then I know what I must have done.  It will
be a mutual touch link, so Merlin may see my controls, so he can discover
them within himself."

   "I must be getting used to this.  The mixed tenses made perfect sense.
Yes, that's what you will do, and I thank you for doing it."

   "Then, after I give you a good back rub, I will return and give you the
mental equivalent.  Will that suffice?"

   "It did."

   I focused, and devoted most of my attention to Merlin, while I also
wondered about the Zeitgeist's sudden focus on all of its avatars, as a
group.

   I knew it was a task doomed to failure, but I did it anyway.

   Finally, Merlin groaned his contentment, and turned his head slightly.
"As always, my Love.  Your skills have been exactly what was needed.  Even
more so than before, I understand the reasons you are a legend, and
considered one of the two best Bards to have lived.  Truly, you are a wise
choice as the Avatar of your world."

   "Thank you, Merlin.  Time?"

   "For me, yes.  For you, no."

   I sighed.  "So now you understand more fully, the vagaries of time
travel, and the reasons I do it so seldom?"

   "Oh, that I do.  Experience has always been the great leveler.  The
future becomes the past, the past the future and all becomes an eternal
present, during which, we have no control of the inevitable."

   Tom laughed.  "And yet...  'Still, it works!' "

   Merlin studied Tom, then spoke easily.  "That it does, and I thank you
as freely as I do Lady Chrystal, for your lessons.  After all, as one mind
in two bodies, you are as skilled a Bard as she is."

   He vanished.

   Wolf looked at each of us, then smiled.  "It would be interesting, to
see what happens if someone ever mixes the skills of a Bard, with those of
a Terran Wizard.  The result will be..."

   She grinned at me.  "Chaotic, but highly instructive, I think."

   She shifted to her true form, then let her body slowly turn transparent
until her canine grin was the only evidence of her presence.  "My time has
come."

   She vanished, leaving behind a silence that was companionable and
questioning.

   It was Becky who spoke thoughtfully.  "I am already the combination she
spoke of, or so I thought.  The result has been...  Educational, but never
as chaotic as she implied.  Is she a seer?"

   Tom sighed.  "Not as you are used to.  She has been our Alpha, for...  A
lot longer than the man I used to be, believed would be possible, even in
his fantasies of immortality.  Someday, the three of us will have existed
longer than the universe has, yet still, we will have not experienced it
all.  We move freely in a small place of light, and stare at the darkness
around us with awe, when we see the other sparks of people who...  Are who
they are."

   He fell silent as he contemplated something, then he looked outward
again.  "Forgive me, Becky.  My attention wanders, even when I am not
elsewhere in time.  It is the inevitable consequence of knowledge.  Wolf,
as I said, is our Alpha.  She holds that position because she sees a
broader, more detailed reality than Mahika and I do.  Thusly, she also
creates the context of our lives, as she did so cryptically, before she
left."

   He stood, stretched, then shifted to his wolf form.  "Our Alpha awaits
our presence."

   And he and Mahika were gone we knew not where.

   Becky smiled and stood, then held out her hand to her sister.  "Come,
sister.  Lady Chrystal needs some time to herself."

   Cathy reached, and their hands clasped firmly even though Cathy remained
settled on her side.  Cathy looked at me.  "You are who you are, Lady
Chrystal, Rabelaisia's greatest living Bard, perhaps the best Bard of then
all.  You will know when it is time to return."

   Without fanfare, they left, leaving me to my thoughts.

   I looked outward with the sight, and realized that the power was
returning.  Had returned, or my companions could not have left so casually.

   Still, there was a glowing pebble on the ground, and it was within easy
reach.

   Memory told me what it was, and how to deal with the problem of its
presence.

   I reached, and studied it as it lay in my palm.  "So innocent looking,
for the power within you, aren't you?"

   Before I bent my head and blew on it, I spoke gently, not caring that my
words would go unheard.  "It is time to return to who you truly are.  I
thank you.  Your task is done here, as is mine."

   My breath touched it as I let myself remember the words of release that
were in my mind.

   It flickered slightly, then the glow of its presence expanded, becoming
fainter and fainter, until I could feel the presence of the power it had
contained, instead of see it.

   Then, I sat there and meditated on the strange reality my life had
become, before I stood and smiled after I tilted my head back to study what
was only visible in my mind.  "Thank you, for all of us.  I hope we have
done our jobs well, this time.  It is an honor to be your tools."

   My final task done, I formed the inner vision...
   And returned home.  
---

End:  Blacksnith of the Gods
====

Lifeline - Lady Chrystal (partial)
---

13 - Ship's Master/captain's papers
16 - accepts offer and becomes apprentice Bard
22 - becomes a Master Bard
31 - Events in 'Final Slave.  Meets Alex, her second lifemate
33 - Buys 'Laughing Lady and becomes Mistress/Owner
43 - Returns to take over family fleet
52 - She and Merlin first meet and become lovers
54 - She and Merlin discover she is a 'long-lifer'
82 - Alex dies.  She travels to Earth and makes the offer of lifemates
to Merlin

====

Assorted notes for 'The Luck Bringers:
---

The Luck-Bringers takes place on Earth.  The series revolves around
Merlin, a 'magician-philosopher' and his activities.  Many of the
stories also involve his lifemate, Lady Chrystal (aka Velvet), a furry
vixen and Bard from Rabelaisia. (Her adventures on Rabelaisia are
chronicled in 'The Tails of Rabelaisia'.)  Other supporting characters
are Lady Kay, also known as 'The Lady of the Lake' and the
hermapdrodite, shape-shifting twins - Becky and Cathy. Most of these
stories do not have any explicit sex or only mention sex in passing.
This is a sorcery/SF/fantasy series.
---

This is a series/serial that merges 'The Tails of Rabelaisa' with an
alternate Earth.

Also, it builds heavily on my own concept of 'Merlin' as I developed
him as one of my talker personas.

The sections I have them posted in are the nearest I can get to some
sort of suggested reading/chronilogical order that spans well over
1,000 years of Earth time.

For Lady Chrystal's history, see the stories about her in 'The Tails
of Rabelaisia'.
====

End: The Luck Bringers 2/3 Post Lady Chrystal

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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