This file is a part of Elf Sternberg's Collected Works on ASSTR.  The
complete archive of Elf's work can be found on his website at:

http://www.drizzle.com/~elf

The author can be contacted at:

mailto:elf@drizzle.com

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                           Family Negotiations

Journal Entry 159 / 00527

Elenya, Cerim 12, 00527

Sometimes I think of the beach at night as the perfect place to go and
think. When I get there, though, I usually find myself distracted. It's
my raw sensuality. I enjoy the feel of the sand and the salty water,
the smell, the cool wind. It was a warm night, so I wore only a pair of
jeans, no shirt or shoes. The sounds of gulls squawking in the distance,
and the quiet roar of the surf, especially when they echo off the cliffs
of Marbletop behind me, are old and familiar lulls.

Behind us, actually. Aaden and I had walked out here again, only this time
we had decided to turn right and explore the 'northern' side of the beach.
"Explore" is a silly word for me, since I had done this probably a
thousand times with the children of Shardik Castle. We walked for a while.

"Ken?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"You want to sit down?"

"Why, tired?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Not really. I just want to sit down with you for
a while."

"Fine with me." He sat down and lay against a large rock that jutted
out of the sand. With a smile he held his arms out and parted his legs,
encouraging me to sit between them. I did, leaning back against his chest.
He wrapped his massive arms around me and I just melted into him like
I always do.

I wrapped my right arm up and over his, running my fingers through the fur
of his arms. I was struck by the obvious masculinity of Aaden. In some
species it's difficult to tell the sexes apart. Felinzi, for example.
Although the fems have obvious breasts, they aren't usually large, and a
flat fem looks pretty much like a mel. Uncia have no visible mammae of any
type, and no tourist can tell them apart. Any Pendorian over the age of
two can point out in a heartbeat the obvious sexual characteristics, but
off-worlders always seem to have trouble. Mephits are similar to Felinzi,
but what always strikes me about Aaden is that he is so obviously male.
Even from the back the lines of his musculature show through his fur, and
his wide shoulders and well-proportioned hips only emphasize it. There's
even something about the way he holds his tail that suggests "I am male."

"Ken?" he said, his soft voice rumbling through his chest. I felt it
against my back. I lay my head against his shoulder and sighed, happy.
"Hmm?" I replied.

"Penny for your thoughts."

I laughed. "And a dollar to act them out, right?"

"What's a 'dollar?'" he asked.

"Where'd you get that phrase? By the way, good pronunciation."

"Thank you," he replied. "I found it while I was studying Anglic a few
days ago. I understand the idea."

"Mmm-hmm," I replied, then explained what I had meant. He laughed gently
when I was done. It felt like soft thunder against my head. "I was
thinking about... Aaden, am I denied something by being as completely
pansexual as I am?"

"I doubt it. What makes you ask?"

"Oh, I don't know. I was running drills with Steve this weekend,
keeping in practice, you know. And he and Dillion went drinking together
afterwards. What gets me is that I didn't really see the point. I guess
what I've been thinking is that I've never really been anybody's 'buddy,'
if you get my drift."

He shrugged gently and said, "You're my buddy," he said.

"No, I'm not. I'm your lover. I'm your friend. But I'm not really a
'buddy.' I guess I've never tried to participate in quote male bonding
unquote. I've seen it happen, but I don't understand it."

"I think you're letting your imagination run away with you again, that's
what I think. Ken, you've got plenty of friends, even some you don't
want to have sex with."

"Name one."

"Dave."

I stopped and thought about that. "Well, he's an AI."

"Yeah, so? How long did you want to have sex with Lynn? I think the point
is that there are some people you want to like that you don't want to
have sex with."

"Think so?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know you. But I do have the evidence
of The Journal Entries. As I recall, you were pretty celibate for a
while there."

I smiled and said "Well, I guess. I don't know." We were both silent
for a short while.

"My turn to ask a heavy question," he said.

"Go ahead."

"Do you ever think about running away?"

I stopped for a second and said, "No."

"Never?"

"I think about it. Usually it comes in tiny flashes that I snuff out as
fast as I can. I don't really want to run away. I chose to do what I'm
doing, and I like what I'm doing. I like what I am, Aaden. There are
times when I get tired of playing the role of Vatare'. That's when I
feel like running away." I leaned my head further back so I could look
up at his face, even upside-down. "It's people like you I need, Aaden,
people who can hold me and love me and yet tell me to go fuck myself
when I need to be told."

He chuckled. "But you never want to leave it all behind."

"I guess there are times when I wonder what would have happened if I
hadn't created Pendor."

"And what's the answer?"

"There isn't one. I see now that from the day I visited myself in my
kitchen, there was no choice. From that day until the day before Decant,
everything was set in motion."

"What happened the day before Decant?" he asked, confused.

"I took the box I had been given and gave it to myself."

"You time traveled to the same point where it had started. I read that."

"Yeah. Damned language isn't really equipped to describe the strange
loops of time travel. See, once I'd closed the loop, I was free to go
on. But that twenty-eight year period where I had Fawn I wasn't free. I
was following a program that would only end when I got rid of her."

There was silence for a moment. "And you accepted that?"

"I accepted that I eventually would have to hand Fawn to myself, my past
self. What I did with her in the meantime was entirely up to me. What I
chose to do with it is collect the hardware necessary to build Pendor. I
tend to think of time as a spiral, not a loop. Every Shardik in that loop
may choose to do something different. This is my choice." I shrugged.
"There is no 'running away.'"

We were silent for a while. "Okay, my turn," I said. "And it's a doozy."

"I'm ready."

"Do you really want children?"

"I've never had any. I've been here for nearly four years now, Ken. I've
almost decided to accept P'nyssa's offer and shut down my residency at
Rhysh. And all I can think about is, yes, I want children. I want to
have them, here, in the Castle. I want you to be there for them. And I
want P'nyssa there for them."

"We still have the trouble that we've yet to find the legendary 'nice
girl.'"

He chuckled. "Yeah, that is a problem. But P'nyssa and I were talking."

About what? I wondered. I wanted to press him for more, but I decided to
quell my curiosity. I could wait. But something he said occurred to me.
"You and Nyss were talking? See, I think you two qualify as 'buddies.'"

He laughed. "No, that's not right, either. I don't think there's a good
word for it. But I do like her. It's a nice feeling. It means that if
I want you, I can accept her. Unconditionally."

"Well, on one condition."

"No, not really. P'nyssa's about as unlikely to try and seduce me as
Ress is to visit Rhysh of her own free will." I chuckled, leaning back
and closing my eyes as I rested against his chest. "I love you," he said.

"I know. I love you too."

He nodded quietly, his claws reaching up and scratching my chest lightly.
I squirmed slightly under his touch. "Don't tickle," I said, "Or I'll
do it back."

He smiled and said, "Good luck," as he gently pinched my nipple between
his fingers. I sighed, going all limp and lightheaded on him. As he
rolled it softly, I closed my eyes and sighed, concentrating, feeling
this small point of sheer pleasure sending it's signals to my brain. "Oh,
Aaden," I sighed. "I do love you so."

"Come on," he said. "Let's go back to the castle."

I smiled. "Yeah."

We walked back towards the light glowing through the crack in the rocks
where the Castle hovered. It was still early enough at night that the
garden lights were still on, and a few people lounged around the lagoon.
"Can I ask you a question?" he asked.

"A serious question?"

"Not really. Do you really glue the caps to your pens?"

"Do I what?" I asked.

"Nyss told me that," he continued. "She said you would glue the caps
to the backs of your pens so that you when you chewed them, they would
last longer."

I chuckled and said, "Yeah, it's true. It gives one more layer to keep
my saliva from reaching the ink." A thought occurred to me, one that
made me changed the subject. "Aaden, do you know, I just realized that
you're a missing two percent."

"A what?"

"A missing two-percent. Your genecode is absolutely unique of all the
Mephits. You're a Tleil, and yet you've never had kids. You have a set
of chromosomes that isn't part of the base Mephit genecode. Aaden, if any
femMeph knew what you were, you wouldn't be able to keep them off you. I
haven't gone back to look at the records, but I'd say you represent a
systemic limit on physical size." I paused for a second, then added,
"Including the size of your dick."

He smiled and said, "Your mind is a one-note song, Ken."

I shrugged and put one hand on his furry chest, trailing downwards until
I ran my fingers over the bulge in his shorts. "But you like percussion,
don't you?"

"Oh ho, so it's going to be one of those nights," he said with a smile.
His tail trembled over his shoulder at my touch. "Race you to the
bedroom," he said, leaping for the dry SDisk and vanishing.

"Bastard," I muttered under my breath, racing after him. I came running
down the hallway towards my quarters, charging into the main room and
diving headfirst down the portal to the bedroom. He caught me in his
arms and held me close. "Love you," he said gently.

"I love you too," I said, closing the distance between our mouths. His
lips parted gently as we touched, kissed. His tongue was forceful in
my mouth, exploring my teeth. My hands wrapped around his back and I
dug my fingers under his fur. He growled slightly as I scratched him,
his back arching and trembling. His tail brushed against the back of
my hand, and I reached over to grab it. As I ran my hand down his tail
towards the base, I curved it around so that, as I touched the root
I reached through the hole in his shorts to brush against his anus,
and he moaned. "Like that?"  I said.

"You don't know by now?" he growled softly. He unclasped my jeans and
reached a hand in, his fingers lightly trailing over my cock. "What am
I ever going to do with you?" he asked.

I pulled loose the snaps holding his shorts closed. I pulled his cock,
still not quite erect, from its confines and stroked it in my hands. "I
don't know. What are you going to do with me?" I pushed him back against
the bed and held his cock in my hands, stroking it. It became a solid hunk
of maleflesh, and I admired it as I stroked him, leaning over to slowly
lick him from base to tip, then back down. He reached up and tousled my
hair. I smiled, dipping down and taking part of his ballsac in my mouth,
holding one testicle in my lips.

He sighed and said, "I want to fuck you."

"Oh, really?" I said. "Seems to me you're enjoying yourself enough
already." With two fingers I lifted his balls aside and probed his
asshole gently with my tongue, caressing it. He squirmed.

I moved back up, opening my mouth and taking the head in, suckling him
softly. He sighed. "You're so good at that." I could feel my glands
working overtime, getting him slick and wet as I sucked his beautiful
cock. I rose off and looked up at him. "You want to fuck me, huh?"

"Yeah," he said with a smile.

"Then go ahead," I said. "I'm always ready for you."

We switched positions. I like it best when he takes me from behind. And
he knows it.

"So, are you really ready?" he asked. He knelt on his knees behind me,
his thick cock sliding between my buttocks. I looked up into the mirror
we'd put on the headboard recently, and I could see the head of his cock
pointing up over my ass.

He looked so overwhelmingly wonderful, I knew I was where I belonged. "I'm
really ready, Aaden. Fuck me."

He smiled and slid a finger against my anus, pressing it gently inward.
"You know, there are times when I wish I wasn't furry," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because then I wouldn't have to wear a glove just to put a finger into
you," he said. "At least this isn't furry." He pressed the head of his
cock against my asshole. The familiar pressure made my anus relax, almost
out of habit, and he slid into me without so much as a pause. "How's
that?" he asked, gently grinding his hips against my butt in small,
massaging circles.

"Perfect," I sighed, feeling his thick cock press against my insides.

"I feel the same way," he smiled. I'm beginning to like that mirror,
especially from this angle. He reached for my hips, holding tight and
sliding until his hips pressed against my butt, pinning me down.

"Do it," I asked. He gave a few gentle strokes, just to give me measure,
then slammed once into me hard, grinding his hips against me. I pressed
back, responding in kind. He began a slow retreat, then slammed against
me again, harder. I groaned.

His strokes became faster, quicker, but also just a little softer. I
groaned as I buried my head into the pillow, just letting the waves of
pleasure roll over me.

He stopped. "Ah-ah," he said, reaching forward and grabbing a handful
of my long hair. "I want you to watch this." He pulled back, like he
was pulling the reins of a horse, holding my head up, arching my back,
forcing me to watch in the mirror as he slid forward and back, his cock
filling me.

I felt like I was on the receiving end of a piston. I shuddered and shook
with pleasure, with the demands being made of me. The way he held my
hair made me feel like some hard-tamed animal. His animal. "I love you,"
I managed to whisper as he fucked me, harder and harder, relentless even
as he came, roaring. He gave me one strong finishing stroke, then stopped.

I sighed as he released my hair, falling forward onto the bed and away
from him. The feeling of his cock sliding out of myself was almost
heartbreaking. I turned over and said, "Thank you," rising and kneeling
myself, hugging him, holding him close.

"You're welcome." He pulled me over, down onto the bed together. We
cuddled and kissed, making love softly after the wild fuck he'd given me.

We were both startled by a sudden shout from upstairs. "I hope you boys
change the sheets before we go to bed!"

"Have you been listening for long, Nyss?" I asked suspiciously.

"Only a little while," she shouted back. "Can I come down?"

I looked at Aaden, who looked back at me with a smile and a shrug. He
said, "Come on down then."

P'nyssa floated softly to the bed, curling into a sitting position. She
leaned over and hugged me, saying "Sounded like you two were going to
tear the bed apart."

Aaden looked over the side of the bed, sticking his cute ass up in
the air, and said, "Never noticed that before. This is a Rocchodain,
isn't it?"

I nodded. Then something P'nyssa had said occurred to me and I said,
"What did you mean, 'We?'"

"Well, I want to sleep with you tonight, and I don't want to break up
the little get-together you two are having, so..."

"All three of us?" Aaden asked, skeptically. Although we'd been sleeping
around each other for nearly four years now, we'd never actually slept
together as a threesome.

"I'm not asking you to have sex with me, Aaden."

"I didn't think you were, Nyss. What I meant was, will that work?"

"Well," I said, "it is a Rocchodain. There's no reason why all three
of us won't fit." Rocchodain is the name of a mostly Centaur town near
the Castle. I had asked one of the woodcrafters to make a bed for me,
and he'd agreed. I had forgotten to give him dimensions, so a "small"
bed for him was a virtual ocean of mattress for P'nyssa and me. There
was room for six here.

Aaden nodded. "I'm willing to try," he said.

"Then let's change the sheets."

"We didn't get the sheet messy," Aaden said.

"No, just each other," I laughed.

"You two, go! Shoo! Go clean up and I'll tuck in the sheets," P'nyssa
said.

I laughed and crawled out of bed, grabbing Aaden's arm by the wrist and
hauling him along. He came willingly.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke in the morning to feel one of them snuggling close to me. The
long fur and hard muscles told me which one: Aaden. I opened my eyes
and tilted my head to look down at him. His eyes opened and he returned
the stare. We laughed for a second, which woke Nyss, who raised her head
and shook it slightly. I reached for her and pulled her down, kissing her.

Aaden, much to my surprise, leaned up and kissed her gently on the
forehead. What he said next amazed me even more. "Good Morning, werren."

P'nyssa looked at him for a second, nodded, then said, "Be right back,"
disappearing into the bathroom.

I looked over at him and said, "Is that how you plan on handling this?"

"I don't know. I tried to think of a good word for it, and that was the
best I could do. I've never really had a sister. I mean, I know I had
one, but we didn't get along all that well. I haven't seen her since I
went to backwater."

I looked at him querulously for a second, then said, "There are worse
ways."

"Worse ways for what?" P'nyssa asked.

"Nyss," I said, "Come here." She walked and sat down on the bed, pulling
an oversize terrycloth robe around her and tying it. "Aaden and I have
been talking. He's a Tleil who's never had children, even though his
species has been around for over four hundred years. You know what
that means."

She nodded. "It means he's genetic gold. I remember that that was one of
the reasons you wanted Carroll and Paul to have children so badly." She
saw the expression on my face and said, "Sorry."

"Yeah. Anyway..."

"I get the picture. You want children," she said, pointing to Aaden.

He nodded. "The problem lies in two things. One is that I can't perform
with a fem. My turn to say 'Sorry.'"

"For what?" P'nyssa asked. "You're not insulting me by telling the truth,
Aaden. I don't expect every mel on the planet to chase after me, or to
even want to."

He smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm glad you think that way. I've gotten
some pretty strong reactions in my time."

"Like what?" I asked. I tend to be insatiably curious.

"Oh, you know." He paused for a second, looking off out the window. "Fems
coming up to me and saying, 'If you spent one night with me, you'd know
better.' What do they know?"

I shrugged. "There are bigots, even on Pendor. Anyway, the other problem
is more complicated."

"Right," Aaden continued. "I want children. And I want Ken involved. And,"
he barreled on before P'nyssa could interrupt, "I want you involved too."

"That's why you called me werren earlier."

Aaden nodded. "There is absolutely no way I want to come between you
and Ken. Despite the offer you made a few years back, I don't want you
to ever go. To be completely honest, Nyss, if ever there was a fem I
understood well enough to be curious about, you're it. I want, I need
you to be here, for our children."

"'Our children,'" P'nyssa said. "As in, all three of ours, or just
you two?"

"All three. Or four."

P'nyssa nodded.

Aaden continued, "In the case of you and Rael, you were experiencing
one night with a mel you were very close to. I can't think of a single
femMeph I've ever been even friendly with, and now I've got to ask one for
two hundred days and childbirth." He laughed. "This is more complicated
than I thought." He paused. "I suppose we should have asked earlier,
but do you want to be a mother again?"

P'nyssa's eyes lit up. "Me? Aaden, I'd do it in a heartbeat, especially
if it'll make you two happy. Dave! Tell Jean I'm going to need some
hormonal balancers and a lactatant."

I laughed. "Calm down, sweetheart. We haven't yet begun to get down the
final details."

She smiled back at me and said, "Can I ask a favor, then?"

"What's that?"

"Can I have one more of my own?"

"What?" I heard myself and Aaden say in unison.

"I want another child, Ken. Is that so much to ask?"

I sat there, open mouthed. Aaden reached over and pushed my chin up,
saying "He doesn't think so."

I turned my head slowly in his direction and said, "Why you... I'll tell
you what I think!" and tackled him, knocking him down onto the bed. His
fingers dug into my sides, tickling me, and I tried to get back, but
Aaden isn't very ticklish. He had me screaming for mercy before we
finally broke. P'nyssa had retreated off the bed.

I looked up and said, "He's right. It's not so much to ask."

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The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales
are Copyright (c) 1989-2000 Elf Mathieu Sternberg. Distribution limited
to electronic media not-for-profit use only. All other rights are reserved
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