Apology
#7 of Otter River
Achesha leaned on the Elder's Rock, his tail raised, his chubby tummy pressed into the dark stone. His eyes shifted nervously from member to member of the tribe. They stood around him in a circle, watching curiously, but Achesha saw that they, too were shifting nervously, raising mud from the river bed with their toes and looking at each other.
The Elder, standing in the water beside him, put a hand under his tail. She grasped it firmly and raised it higher.
"Achesha," she said, "are you ready?"
He looked back at her. "Do I really have to?" he whimpered.
"Of course not, dear," she said. "We're all proud of you for promising to be It, but if you're too frightened we can choose somebody else instead and do this tomorrow."
"But it's supposed to be today, isn't it?" (The Elder nodded.)
"What if nobody wants to be It?"
"Then I will have to be It."
"But you're too old! You might... you might..."
"Yes, it might kill me. But this absolutely must be done."
The young otter tried to answer, but nothing came from his mouth. He closed his mouth and looked away; looked down with wet eyes at the little bubbles that spun in the eddies that the water made as it flowed around the Elder's Rock.
"I'm ready," he murmured.
The Elder let go of Achesha's tail and stroked his face.
"Be brave," she said. Then she took his tail and lifted it again, high above his back so that his buttocks opened and his tail hole showed. "The moon has turned," she announced. "The snow is melting and the fish spawn and feed. Hunting will be easy now. But hunting will take life from the river. We love the river, we do not want to hurt it. But we have to eat. So this happy time has a great sadness hidden in it. We know that it is there. We must show our great sadness, or it might hurt us. For us to live means that something must die. We don't want to kill."
"Fish, fish, fish," the tribe intoned. "Crayfish, mussels, frogs, snakes... eggs," they went on, but not in unison any more. "Birds, mice..."
"Rats," the Elder added, and the tribe said it after her, reluctantly. "Muskrats," said the Elder, but only a few of the tribe could answer. "Rabbits," said the Elder.
Every eye turned to Lai'iya, (including Achesha's, although he hadn't had to chant.) She looked back at them, her face blank.
"You know you can't catch us, unless we're sick or lame! If one of you can catch a rabbit, he's as good as dead anyway."
"I don't care!" N'Kanna replied. "I'll never eat rabbit again, even if I'm starving!"
"I couldn't!" Shri added.
"So what, you're gonna leave somebody to die of wounds?"
"If nothing could be done," the Elder replied, "I might quicken a rabbit's death. I could never eat his flesh without thinking of my sister between my teeth. Do all of us agree?"
One by one, each of the tribe, young and old, chirped or said yes. Finally the Elder looked at Lai'iya. The bunny looked back, flummoxed. Esh'Ek, who was standing near her, leaned closer.
"You're a sister of the tribe," the otter girl whispered. "You have to agree, too."
"Uh, well, yes?" the bunny snarked.
"Yes!" Shan declared. "And that's all of us!"
"Thank you, Shan," the Elder replied. "Rabbit is off our list," she declared; the tribe cheered. "Achesha has promised to show our sadness this year."
The other otters murmured his name. Achesha looked around himself, startled by the Elder suddenly shifting attention back to him. He saw pity in the faces of those in front of him. He felt tension in the Elder's grip. Then he heard a loud noise, wet fur slapping dry; his buttocks stung as the Elder's hand whipped across them, upwards between the cheeks. He chirped, more in surprise than in pain. The tribe chirped with him.
"Shan," the Elder called.
Achesha heard water sloshing as the tribe's young chief-to-be came towards him. That frightened him; Shan was strong and fast! The footsteps had hardly stopped before the blow fell, much harder than the Elder's, inside his left cheek and upwards again. He chirped, from pain as much as surprise this time. Once more the tribe chirped with him. He felt a gentle pat above his tail, then heard Shan walk away.
"Esh'Ek," said the Elder.
Of course Shan's sister would come next. She liked to tease, she'd be enjoying this, and she was as strong and as fast as her brother. But her slap, when it came, wasn't as hard as Shan's. She cupped his right butt cheek in her hand; then, still holding its shape in her palm, brought her hand against him in a shove more than a slap. There was just a little sting under his cheek. But the shove parted the lips of his slit against the stone and his tip was squeezed on it, briefly. She gently patted the base of his tail before she walked away.
"N'Kanna," the Elder called.
The tribe's teacher splooshed up to him smartly. He petted under Achesha's butt cheeks, stroked him firmly. Then his hand moved away; Achesha waited for the blow to fall, but it was starting to seem as if N'Kanna had changed his mind... Slap! The older boy's hand struck palm-first just under Achesha's tail hole, his fingers raking upwards, but pressing inwards, bouncing the top of Achesha's slit lips against the rock. Instead of patting his tail, N'Kanna came around. He bowed so that they were almost nose-to-nose and rested his hands on Achesha's shoulders.
"Ash, how are you doing?"
"It hurts," the younger otter whimpered. "You were mean!"
"We have to make you hurt to say sorry to the fish."
"I know, but it still hurts!"
"You can say stop any time, Ash."
He shook his head. "Somebody would have to take my place."
N'Kanna nuzzled his mouth and kissed him.
"I'm proud of you, Ash! Be brave."
"N'Kanna?" the Elder asked.
"'Kanna," Achesha added, "my tip's tingling."
The teacher looked back with a silly half-smile.
"How come hurting me behind is making me tingle in front?"
N'Kanna giggled as he went back around and gently reached between Achesha's legs. He lifted the younger otter's sack, pulling his mound up enough to slip his finger under, felt the lips of his slit, found a small, moist bump, then put Achesha back as he was.
"It's working!" he declared, then sloshed away.
"'Kanna?" Achesha replied.
"Lai'iya," the Elder called; Achesha flinched as the bunny approached, leering and swaying her hips...
#
Slap! The last otter's blow fell straight over Achesha's tail hole. He was quietly sobbing now, his face circled by his own arms. He felt the Elder rubbing his butt cheeks; it hurt even more at first. But it took some of the stinginess away, even if it left the throbbing. It left his cock displayed against the dark granite of the rock as well; round and pink and stiff as a stick.
The Elder lay a little clumsily over him then, hugged him and petted his face.
"Are you all right, Achesha?"
"It hurts," he moaned.
"I know, dear," the Elder replied. "I'm very sorry. But you know that you have to swim now. And after you're caught you'll have to hurt even more!" (Achesha nodded.) "You can still say stop, dear. You can stop this at any time."
Achesha shook his head and tried to stand.
"Are you sure, dear?"
"I hurt! I gotta cum!"
The Elder helped him upright; he leaned woozily against her. She stepped behind him and held his arms out at his sides. She reminded him and he spread his legs so that his cock hung between them.
"All of us take our lives from the river," she announced. "We do not want to hurt, but we do hurt. We do not want to kill, but we do eat. We understand, for we are hunted, too.
"Achesha, we do not catch every fish that we hunt. If you can get through the reeds to the bank, the hurting will stop. Whoever catches you must hurt you.
"Achesha is a boy, only the boys may hunt him. The girls, children and his blood must move aside."
The girl otters stood back in the river, the Elder with them, away from the reed beds and out of Achesha's path; his mother, father and two sisters climbed up the bank to watch. Shan lead the cubs aside and helped them up the bank. The other boys went and stood half way between him and the reeds. They spread out from there in a semi-circle around him. There was lots of space between them. But they were fresh; he was still woozy from the spanking and his ass was stiff and sore. What's worse was that they were in deep water. The Elder's Rock was in the shallows and the reeds Achesha needed to get through were in shallow water, too.
Then everybody around him was taking a deep, diving breath. The girls ducked under to watch as the boys dove. Achesha climbed up on the rock. As the closest boy sprang out of the water at him, he took his own breath and jumped over, kicking the young otter's shoulder as he flattened himself out and dove.
Now he at least had more breath than they did. The others tried to close in on him, but he was already swimming hard and they had to change course. He slipped past them and swam for the reeds as fast as his aching bum would let him.
He almost ran right into N'Kanna's waiting arms. The older boy had dived with the others, then hung back. At the last second, Achesha saw him and keeled over, banked like a bird to one side and slipped around him. But N'Kanna banked too, twisting around himself to follow his prey. He reached and grasped at Achesha's tail. Achesha turned in the water, whipping his tail away from the teacher's hands. They circled each other in the water, kicking and grabbing. N'Kanna had the reach, but Achesha had the breath. Shortly, the older boy made for the surface. Achesha followed and grabbed N'Kanna's tail, hauling it up with him.
By this time more boys were surfacing around them, making for the fight. But Achesha was hauling N'Kanna's tail, pulling them towards the reeds.
"I got him! I got him!" he crowed. "I win, I got him!"
"Buh... but... I was It last year!" N'Kanna wailed.
The other boys looked back and forth between each other. Achesha took advantage of their confusion and pulled N'Kanna into the reed bed unpursued. When tall reeds surrounded them, Achesha let go of N'Kanna's tail.
"Now just stay here," he said and waded towards the bank.
Achesha had hardly turned however before N'Kanna pounced on his tail.
"I got him! I got him!" he shouted.
"You can't get me, I got you!"
"That doesn't count 'cause you're It!"
"It does too!"
"It does not! Elder!"
The Elder arrived shortly and stood over the two boys, who were kneeling, holding each other's tails.
"I caught him fairly!" Achesha claimed. "He didn't catch me until after I caught him!"
"I let him catch me so I could catch him. He can't catch me 'cause he's It."
"N'Kanna! Achesha! This is our Great Sadness, not a game of catch me! Achesha, you promised to be It."
"But I don't have to hurt any more if I can get to the bank!"
"That doesn't mean you can do a turn-around. You promised. Catching another boy and making him be It isn't part of the hunt."
"But I wasn't gonna make 'Kanna be It, I just did it to trick the hunters!"
"Fish never trick us!" N'Kanna replied.
"Rats do sometimes," Achesha countered.
"Anyway," N'Kanna added, holding up Achesha's tail, "I wasn't fooled, I got you anyway."
Achesha opened his mouth, looked at his tail in N'Kanna's hands, turned to the Elder. "What do we do?" he asked.
The Elder shook her head. "It was a clever trick," she replied, "but it didn't work this time. You promised."
Achesha let go of N'Kanna's tail and looked at the Elder's feet, glumly.
"Ash," N'Kanna said, "you can always say stop."
Achesha looked up at the Elder; she looked back patiently. He looked down again with a deep sigh.
"You caught me fairly," he said. "Do whatever you like."
N'Kanna swept Achesha into a close embrace and licked his ear and lips. "I'm proud of you, Ash!" he said.
The Elder scratched his other ear. "I'm proud of you Achesha," she said.
The tribe around him called his name from the reeds and the bank. The Elder petted his cheek again. "Be brave," she said and made her way to the bank.
"Let's start with you," N'Kanna said. "Are you scared?"
Achesha nodded. N'Kanna ran a gentle hand down the younger otter's chest and tummy. He reached under the water they were kneeling in and stroked Achesha's cock.
"Lai likes being spanked, I can get her off that way. I guess her orgasm has to do with being bindweed, though. But it got you hard... Aw, you're not hard any more!" He petted the younger otter's face with his free hand. "I'm gonna get you off first! Want me to suck?"
"Okay," Achesha replied.
N'Kanna smiled cheerfully. "Lean back," he said. "And don't be too scared. I have something special for you, it'll be fun! Except I have to make it hurt... Lean back, okay?"
N'Kanna turned and lay between Achesha's legs, his elbows on either side of the younger otter's tail. He took Achesha's cock in his hand and nuzzled it, then stroked the young otter's tummy until one finger found his belly button. Achesha frowned, puzzled as N'Kanna pressed a claw into the very centre, although his cock got a little harder.
N'Kanna took a deep breath, closed his nostrils and ducked his head under water. He licked Achesha's cock from slit-lips to tip. He nuzzled the tip, rubbed it in his cheek fur. Then he nipped it gently and held it between his sharp fangs, barely pressing. The warm otter flesh rose up hard and shiny. It broke the surface, but N'Kanna kept his nose closed. He licked, kissed and nuzzled every part of Achesha's cock: took his hand from Achesha's tummy and gently massaged his balls instead. Achesha grabbed some reeds in either hand and held on tight. He moaned and cooed happily as the older boy very expertly made his entire cock feel loved. After a while he started to pant. N'Kanna was numming, licking sweet pre-cum from his tip. Achesha's panting grew more ragged; he gasped, then let the breath out slowly. He tried to breathe in just as slowly. N'Kanna looked up.
"Don't try to last," he told Achesha. "Let yourself cum, this one's for you."
Achesha nodded. He leaned his head back. His chubby tummy lifted as he ground himself against N'Kanna's tongue. He moaned louder as his pleasure rose. N'Kanna just smiled at that. He drew another good breath and started taking Achesha's cock deeper and deeper into his mouth, working his tongue around and over it. The tip reached the back of his mouth and still his lips hadn't reached the lips of Achesha's slit. He pressed his fingers into the base, moving it carefully inside his mouth. He started to swallow. Soon his lips had reached the younger otter's slit. Still he swallowed, pressing into the slit and deep-kissing it.
"Oh! Oh, 'Kanna..." Achesha cried. "I... careful!"
N'Kanna pulled out just a little, then swallowed him down again. He pulled out again...
Achesha yowled. N'Kanna kept swallowing, kneading with his gullet as fishy cream squirted into him. He pulled Achesha out enough to get the tip back into his mouth and sucked hard. More cream squirted into his mouth; he kept sucking until it stopped. He licked Achesha's cock clean as it retreated into its slit. Then he pulled himself through the reeds until he was holding Achesha in his arms, cuddling the younger boy's head on his shoulder.
"Does that feel happy?"
Achesha nodded. He nuzzled N'Kanna's mouth and held him close.
"Are you gonna hurt me now?"
"In a little bit. Let's just cuddle first."
Achesha smiled and snuggled into N'Kanna's arms.
#
"That's all it was, sucking off?"
Esh'Ek shook her head and motioned Lai'iya back from the bank. They lay together on the grass above the reeds, (taking a quick look around for predators first), and cuddled.
"'Kanna was just being nice 'cause we're all proud of Ash. He's gonna hurt him pretty soon."
"I still don't get what this Great Sadness is all about. We spank Ash for eating? He's fat 'cause he's a good hunter!"
"Not 'cause he's fat! He got spanked for all of us."
"Did he get hard for all of us?"
Esh'Ek gave Lai'iya's breast a friendly squeeze. "That's what you do!" she said, and kissed the bunny's nipple. Then she snuggled into Lai'iya's shoulder. "It was easier pretending it was sexy spanking, but really it was to hurt him. Any of us could have promised, though. All this is to remind us..." She looked away. "...We kill what we eat."
"So?" (Esh'Ek looked up sadly.) "Fish are stupid!" Lai'iya went on. "They can't talk or learn or anything!"
"But they're alive and we take their lives away. We don't want to kill! And what about birds or rats?"
"When do you catch birds?"
"When they're caught in the ice. Well, not always, we let them go if they're still strong enough to fly away where ever they go in winter. But if they're sick or weak or lame, then we..." (She closed her mouth.)
"You kill them and eat them. Why can't you just say it?"
"'Kanna used to like dark meat. 'Ka told me. One day in winter when he was just turned old enough to hunt, he found a swan frozen in the ice. She was too skinny to fly far, she even said so herself. But when he tried to... to..."
"Kill her," Lai'iya growled, impatiently.
"She fought back. And when he got behind her where her wings couldn't get him, he grabbed her head, but she begged him not to hurt her and let her free from the ice. But... he didn't. He slit her throat with his diving knife instead." Esh'Ek nuzzled her eyes into the fur of Lai'iya's throat. "Her meat fed five of us. But now dark meat gives 'Kanna a tummy ache."
"I think I remember that," Lai'iya replied. "It was almost spring before he wanted to play again."
"And eggs," Esh'Ek went on. "It's like eating a baby in it's mommy's tummy! Or rats! I mean, mice are stupid, they're easy to catch, all they can say is food, sex, nest or bad. But they're still alive. And rats always beg us not to eat them, they're people! It's like we were eating each other! So we let them go usually, but if there's not enough fish to eat... one rat is enough for two of us..."
"Aw fuck sake! Get real, you're predators! How can you feel sorry for killing and still eat?"
Esh'Ek got to her knees again. She pointed to Achesha and N'Kanna down in the reeds.
"That's how," she replied.
#
"'Kanna? Your penis is pressing against my tummy. Are you ready to hurt me now?"
"Are you ready for me to hurt you?"
Achesha's face fell.
"I-I'll be okay," he said.
"Are you still a little scared?" (Achesha nodded.) "Good, it'll be more exciting if you're a little scared and maybe the hurting won't feel so bad. I need you to lie on your side now."
N'Kanna slipped out of their embrace and Achesha rolled onto one side. N'Kanna knelt in front of Achesha's lap, facing his head. He slowly lifted the younger otter's upper leg up and forward. He moved his closer leg over Achesha's lower leg, then laid that over his further leg. He moved Achesha's upper leg around his waist and held it up with his further arm. With his closer arm, he reached over Achesha's tail and under his lower hip. With the younger otter in position, he scooted up until the lips of his slit kissed Achesha's tail hole.
"'Kanna? What is this?"
"You'll see. Bring your knee up to your tummy."
Achesha bent his upper knee and N'Kanna shifted his hand to hold the younger otter's ankle instead. Then he pulled his hips back so that his slit was away from Achesha. He wriggled around until his cock was pressing against Achesha's tail hole.
"Wait," Achesha said.
"Okay," N'Kanna replied, "get ready."
Achesha shifted in the reeds and started to breath deeply and slowly, relaxing himself.
"What about lube?" he asked, plaintively.
"Sorry," N'Kanna replied, and waved towards the bank.
Esh'Ek slid down the bank. Lai'iya handed her down a little reed basket and she carried it to the boys. She reached into it and brought out a handful of something slimy. She smeared it over N'Kanna's cock, then moved it aside and rubbed another handful of goo around and into Achesha's tail hole. Then she replaced N'Kanna's cock against Achesha's snug, little hole, set the basket down near them and splashed back through the reeds towards the bank.
Achesha sighed. He tried even harder to relax himself while N'Kanna shifted his upper leg back around his waist, adding support to his thigh. Soon Achesha's tail hole expanded outwards against N'Kanna's cock, then blossomed a little open. N'Kanna didn't wait; he pressed himself in at once, gently at first, then harder until his tip had entered, then his shaft, slowly deeper and deeper. And deeper! Achesha looked up at him questioningly, then in amazement as N'Kanna's slit lips kissed his groin.
"You're all the way inside me?"
N'Kanna's eyes had narrowed to slits; his mouth hung open in a slack-jawed grin. He breathed with his movements as he ground himself against Achesha's groin, made little circles with his hips, then slowly pulled out, then just as slowly pressed himself back in. Achesha whimpered a little. His head lolled to the reeds as he concentrated on staying relaxed. But his cock tip began to emerge from its slit once more.
N'Kanna leaned his shoulders back with each thrust, leaned forward as he pushed and ground against Achesha's tail hole, straightened his back as he pulled out, only to lean back, moaning with pleasure again. He pressed himself against the younger otter's hole, as if he could push even more of himself inside, worked himself up and down, around and back, side to side, a different grind with each thrust. Achesha was soon hard again.
"Hole suck!" N'Kanna demanded. "Do you remember how?"
Achesha looked up, his eyes wet and pleading, but he nodded and lay his head back down. He started tensing himself inside; tried to pull the invading flesh back in as N'Kanna pulled out, squeeze it out as he pushed himself in.
"Good!" N'Kanna cried. "Now, tighter!"
Achesha started to growl low with each thrust. His teeth were bared in a grimace, but he never complained, only growled. His cock was dribbling pre-cum, but still he only grabbed the reeds and held himself steady for N'Kanna. The older otter was thrusting faster now, faster with each turn. His moans were turning to feral growls, then yips as he got even faster.
Then N'Kanna growled through three thrusts in a row. He pulled out, took a deep breath and thrust into Achesha as hard as he could, once, twice; then ground himself mercilessly against the the otter boy's loins, yowling as loudly as he could. Achesha yowled too as N'Kanna's cream spurted deep inside him, filling him, deep and deeper. His head lolled in the reeds and he whimpered before N'Kanna had quite finished yowling.
N'Kanna didn't pull out right away. He let himself shrink inside Achesha, then gently pulled his smaller, limper cock out of the abused hole. He carefully lay Achesha on his back as the younger otter whimpered. Then he saw that Achesha's cock was still hard and shiny with pre-cum. He knelt back at once and went to work on it again, licking, nuzzling, rubbing, sucking. Achesha soon yowled again; his fishy, starchy cream spurted into N'Kanna's mouth once more. N'Kanna swallowed as little as possible this time. Instead he took everything Achesha had to give in his mouth. When the chubby, young otter was spent at last, he lay down with him, pressed his lips to Achesha's and fed him back his own cum. Achesha took it slowly until N'Kanna stopped, then wrapped his arms around the older boy's neck. He held them close together, twined his teeth with N'Kanna's. For a while they snuggled, licking each other's tongues; Achesha found more of his own cum in N'Kanna's mouth and took it back. At last they broke their kiss and nuzzled each other, then lay still in each other's arms and sighed together.
"That was great," N'Kanna murmured. "Thank you, Ash."
Achesha nodded. "Now I hurt," he said. "You were rough."
"I'm sorry, I had to. I'm sore, too."
"It was really strong, even though I didn't cum. Does Lai like it?"
"Both holes. She likes it better in her cunny though."
Achesha's belly quivered with a laugh he was too limp to give.
"Maybe she'll do that with me later. 'Kanna? I don't think I'll be able to walk for a while, you were awfully rough!"
N'Kanna got up off Achesha. He gently pressed his fingers over the chubby otter's tail hole. Achesha grimaced a little until N'Kanna pulled his fingers away. He spread his legs so that N'Kanna could look.
"Am I bleeding?"
N'Kanna nodded. "It's all blood down there..."
"You didn't use enough lube!" Lai'iya cried from the bank. "Stupid otters... Bring him up here, I've got the herbs for..."
"No Lai'iya!" the Elder interrupted. "Take your medicine out to Elder's Rock, please. There's one more thing to do."
"Are you ready, Ash?" N'Kanna said.
"If you can carry me out of the reeds," he replied.
N'Kanna nodded and lifted Achesha into his arms, his tail hanging down. He carried the young otter out of the reeds and laid him in the water. Achesha, shivering, turned and floated on his tummy, legs spread, arms stretched before him. N'Kanna took his hands and towed him, gently and slowly, to Elder's Rock. A thin trail of otter blood spread out behind him. One by one the other otters swam through it as it disappeared into the current.
#
"You got lube slime in Ash's blood you know," Lai'iya nagged them. "It's a good thing I put some blue powder mould in the slime and I bet he still gets a fever later. He won't be able to play 'til the moon turns again."
"Not even if somebody wants my cum?"
Lai'iya snarled at Achesha, then sighed and draped herself over him. She whispered something to him and he smiled a little.
"I'll keep him in my den until he's healed enough to swim."
"I wish you weren't so rough cleaning my penis," N'Kanna said.
"You'll be lucky if you still have it by the next full moon. And keep it dusted with mould. And stay out of the river for two days. I told you my new slime lube isn't as thick as mud lube, you have to use more. Then maybe Ash wouldn't be bleeding."
"I had to bleed," Achesha replied.
"...to give your blood and pain back to the river to say sorry for everyone for eating fish," she recited, sarcastically.
"For taking life from the river," the Elder corrected. "All of the life that we turn into our own lives; dumb life from the water and people who live beside it. We don't want anything to die, but we can't avoid ending somebody's life, or something's, to keep ourselves alive. Today we at least said that we're sorry."
"To who? The river? It's even stupider than the fish! It's just water, flowing downhill! The fish don't know you're sorry! Fuck..." (She paused while the tribe flinched as one.) "...Ash'd probably've had a water snake up his tail hole if you weren't swimming through his blood! And if you didn't notice, there were no rats or geese or frogs or anyone watching you say you're sorry! So who were you even saying sorry to?"
"You are right of course," the Elder replied. "Perhaps we gave Achesha's blood to the river and we are the only ones who know that we're sorry. But if we don't say it at all, we will stop being people. Even though we can speak and learn and remember, we'd become like water snakes ourselves, taking life from others as if they were just part of us and not creatures with lives of their own."
"You're risking Ash's life as if it wasn't his own! I got the bleeding stopped but he could still get infection in his blood and die!"
"Please Lai'iya, please don't let that happen!"
"Lai?" Achesha said. "Please don't be mad at us. I knew that otters die from the Great Sadness, I didn't have to promise and I could've said stop any time. It hurt and I was scared but I did it anyway. The Elder's right, we have to do this. We wouldn't be otters if we didn't."
"...stupid otters..." Lai'iya murmured as her ears sank beside her head.
"Lai?" N'Kanna said. "I was It last year and I'm still alive even without your help. I even still like giving a friend my tail hole! (If there's lots of lube.) You're helping Ash, so he's sure to be okay!"
"Are you frightened for Achesha?" the Elder asked.
Lai'iya looked up at the Elder, her eyes bright with tears. Her ears sank lower and she held Achesha tighter. (He snuggled into her embrace.) She nodded her head, yes. The Elder petted her cheek.
Lai'iya turned to N'Kanna. "Help me take Ash to my den," she said.
"I'll carry him," N'Kanna replied, "so you don't have to get wet," and he picked Achesha up in his arms again.
"Don't drop him," Lai'iya called after them, "or I'll have to treat his wounds again!"
Achesha shuddered. "Don't drop me," he said, "that hurt worst of all!"
N'Kanna nodded as he splashed through the water towards Lai'iya's den. Lai'iya took a look around for predators, then hopped off the Elder's Rock from stone to stone to the shore and up the bank. She was there to meet the otters when they arrived.
The Elder and the rest of the tribe watched them go. She beckoned them closer; the otters crowded around her, Shan among those in the front.
"What about Lai?" he said. "D'you think she understands?"
"She cares," Nesh said, from further back.
"I'm not sure whether she really understands," the Elder replied. "But caring is a dive towards understanding."
"But what about her?" T'Ka asked. "Plants are alive, she eats them and takes their life for her own. Do we need her to say she's sorry, too?"
"Plants aren't people," one otter said.
"Neither are fish," said another.
"But plants aren't animals..." a third began.
"But they are alive..."
"She doesn't eat river plants, should she say sorry alone?"
"She's a sister of the tribe, shouldn't she say sorry with us?"
"What if she doesn't want to?"
As more voices raised, the Elder sat up stiffly on her feet and tail. She held up her hands and chirped loudly until everyone was paying attention to her.
"Sisters, brothers," she said. "This is all very dense and twisted. It will take a lot of thought to get through and maybe a dream or two. It's been a long day today and I..." She opened her mouth in a huge, sharp-toothed yawn, then lay down on Elder's Rock and curled her tail over her hind feet. "I'm tired," she said. "I'm going to have a nap. Let's talk about this tomorrow instead." Then she snuggled her head into her arms and closed her eyes.
The other otters looked between themselves, blinking and shrugging. Finally, Shan turned to the crowd.
"I'm hungry," he said. "I'm gonna go hunting," and he started edging his way between them.
The others started going their own ways.
When it was quiet, the Elder opened her eyes. She looked towards Lai'iya's den. The bunny was just leaving it, her herb-picking basket in her hands.
"Sister of the tribe," the Elder murmured. "She understands, she will choose our ways. But only if she chooses them for herself." She chuckled and closed her eyes. "Silly bunny," she sighed, and then she fell asleep.
Copyright © 2007 Allan D. Burrows, All Rights Reserved
5546 words