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She was sitting alone in front of a fitfully burning campfire. Her purpose out here was to work on her scrying ability. It was still functioning erratically. Her crystals kept showing the same thing, over and over. No matter what she tried, the images were of the same thing, maybe different in a position or location, but unerringly unwavering. She was never going to pass her wizardry bar at this rate. She was beginning to wonder why she had bothered to even find this spot. It was wet and depressing.

She adjusted herself on the lump of rock she was sitting on. Perhaps she should simply focus on this last image and see if she could determine more about it. Her concentration was rewarded with a name. That was something. She concentrated again. When and where? It hit her hard, like a gale-force  wind. But then, there was a hurricane blowing. In a flash it was gone; she was on her side and a pair of legs were visible from her present position; prone on the ground. The legs rotated a little. She coughed. The legs were joined by arms. A pair of hands pulled her up. "Sorry about that," he said. "I had no idea I would disturb anybody here at the..."

Her eyes met his. "Damn!" was all she could say. She had seen those eyes a thousand times. And his face. And now he was here. Perhaps her ability was better than she realized. He was looking at her and their surroundings. "Hi there, my name is," he started. She cut him off. "Jon-Tom." He stepped back a few feet. "Uh, do I know you?" "She smiled back at him. "No. And yet..." Her brain was flipping through all of the images she had been seeing in her crystals. This was him, no doubt about it. He even answered to the name. But what part was he to play in her present predicament? Some of the images were rather disturbing.

There was a growing silence in her little camp. "I'm sorry wizard. I didn't mean to startle you. You see, I'm an apprentice myself. I've been working on my scrying. I thought it was all screwed up." He made a questioning face. "And?" She smiled. "And you showed up, just as I had predicted." He sat down on a stump. "I can hardly see how you could have seen me coming. For that matter, I have no idea where I am." She made a gesture with he hands. "You are north of the Muddletop Moors and west of the Glades of Foruum." He thought that through, focusing on his mental map. She was right. He was nowhere near where he was supposed to be. Another magical screw-up! 

"OK, uh; by the way, what is your name?" She bowed deeply. "You may address me as Marianis." "Alright then, Marianis, why are you here? This is in the middle of nowhere." She continued to smile. "I am here, great wizard, because I knew that I would find you here." He thought that answer over thoroughly before replying. "I could also have been found in much more comfortable settings than this. Besides, I was on my way to see..." "I am aware of your intended destination. I am also aware that your magic has acted according to the fates, and not your own desires. Your intended location, and your subsequent visit, can presently wait. No harm will come because of the delay."

Jon-Tom made a face. She was kind of a cheeky little lass, even if she was cute as all get out. It wasn't every day he had the chance to talk with a mongoose, especially one this lovely. She had the most unique features, including reddish fur running down her back to her ringed tail. Jon-Tom wasn't an expert on species and their features, but this was, he was sure, not normal. "OK, so I won't be late for a very important date. But you still haven't answered me as to why I'm here." She came up to him and put her nose against his. "Because young human, I need your help." Of course she did, he thought. He pondered ways of escaping, but in the end gave them up. "What is it you need from me?" She crawled up on his lap and put her arms around his neck. "Nothing terrible I promise you. And I am willing to pay for my request within my full abilities as a female." He hardly wanted another entanglement right now. Someone forget to tell his cock. She wiggled a bit on his crotch. "I'll take that as a yes!"

He shoved her off, gently but firmly. "Look Marianis, I think you're cute, but if you need help, I'm willing to do what I can for free." She pouted. "But paying you was going to be the most fun part of this trip." Oh boy, he thought. What have I gotten myself into this time? She knew his thoughts ahead of time. "I'll say it again. You'll come to no harm, and we will both benefit from our collaboration. I promise you by whatever oaths you ask me to swear."

Oh, a way out. All he had to do was make her swear against something she couldn't possibly deliver on and he was free. His stupid gene kicked in. "I'll take you up on your offer if you'll swear on our future children that neither of us will come to harm in this upcoming adventure." "Done!" He fell down to the ground. She came up and stood over him. "I told you wizard, the fates are against you. Everything you say or do only plays into their hand. I knew you were going to say that, and so you did." He was lost, dazed and confused. "But how? And why?" She reclined next to him. "Because I'm among the last of my kind. I have been looking for a male to breed with, but there are none left. In desperation I asked the fates for anyone who could breed with me. You appeared in the crystals. I was flabbergasted. But then, I found it was true. You have great magic, great enough that you have children outside your species." "Yes, that happens to be true. I also happen to be married. Having sex with anyone but my wife is not going to happen."

She smiled again. "I approve of your morals, really I do, and I would like to think that if there was a male suitable for me, he would act the same way. But it doesn't matter anymore. You have to agree to the terms you yourself established." Damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn! She looked down at him, since he hadn't bothered getting up. "Oh, for the grace of the sun and the speed of cobras, why are you making such a fuss? It's not like it's the worst thing you ever did." He looked up at her. "How much do you know about me?" That smile again. "Ohhh, enough. All this time I thought my scrying was faulty. It turns out it's dead on. It's you that's screwy. But then, I guess that's what happens when you're ripped from one world and thrown into another?" It was both a question and an answer.

He sat up. "Look lady, I know you think you have me over a barrel..." She put her fingers to his lips. "Shhh. Quit arguing. I am going to have children, and you're going to give them to me. I don't care how, but the portents say it will be you. If there was another way, don't you think I would be doing it instead?" Ideas began percolating in his brain. "Marianis, have you ever fallen in love?" She was taken off guard. There was no portent for that question. "Yes. Since I know you can understand, I'll tell you the truth. I am in love." Good, he thought. That was a start. "What's his name." She smiled. "Orriela." "Orriela? That sounds like a female name." She was quick to agree. "It is. I never said I was straight, you idiot. I said I wanted to preserve my species."

Ouch! That nixed that idea. And as that was his only one, it meant that he would have to have sex with her, and in some way or another, change himself into a mongoose. It was possible, but then, so where a lot of things. On the other hand, it was possible to turn her human. That could be a lot of fun too. But it still didn't remove his moral objection to the union, as he remembered Talea. Then another thought hit him. "Hey, I thought you said you were the last of your kind!" "No, stupid human. I said I was among the last of my kind. We are all female, the remaining members of my species. We live together, ever hopeful a male will be found. I learned magic to search this world for one. He does not exist." He shook his head. "But I know there are other mongooses out there." "Yes man, there are, but not like us. You noticed the red and the tail? Well, we are a separate and unique form. It was a spell that was laid on us years ago during a dispute between their clan and ours that has created the present problem. It wasn't immediately apparent, but the effect was to have the males love only males, and females love only females. The last male, who was captured and held as a sexual prisoner, died some years ago. He was the unwilling father to many of us."

"That's one sick story. And they say that I can do some dirty tricks!" He sighed. "Take me to your house, or where ever it is you live. I'll see what I can do." She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you wizard. I know you can do it." She pulled out a case from under a pile of leaves, gathered some powders and said an incantation. Jon-Tom had a de ja vue image of Clothahump performing magic. Then poof! The spell was better attuned than his last attempt at teleportation. They were standing in the middle of a room full of mongooses as lovely as Marianis. He half expected to be swarmed, but then remembered that they were essentially lesbians. He was swarmed nevertheless. He couldn't tell what they were saying, other than snatches of sentences, for they were talking all at once.

Marianis shushed them. "Everyone! This is the male who will help us with our problem. I'm certain he has the stamina to handle all of us, whether we like the idea of  sex with a male or not." "Whoa!"cried Jon-Tom. "You never said I was expected to impregnate each and every one of these ladies!" One of the girls was a bit more pragmatic. "Look Marianis, we don't want you to feel bad or anything, but I think our species would be better off dying out than looking like him." That got a bit of giggling going around the room. He would have been insulted, had he not been previously insulted in such a manner.  "Ha, ha, ha. You know, I can go elsewhere and get better insults than that."  Marianis calmed him down. "Look man, it's true your promise is to me solely, but what you can do for one, you can do for all. Can't you?"

He thought about it. There were only thirty girls in the house. That made them a highly endangered species. If he managed to transform into the appropriate form, it would take months of sex to make sure each one was properly with child. There was no way he was going to do that. What he needed was a way of turning himself into the necessary stud and then multiplying himself tenfold. Since both were highly unlikely, he turned his mind to spell-singing them pregnant. Several times this or that girl tried to bother him, but he shooed them away. Marianis began deflecting them for him. "What are you doing man? Thinking up a way of transforming yourself, I hope?" "Maybe. But you must realize that it works both ways. If I made you human, then we could still breed." She considered that. "True, but then what would be the point? We would no longer be ourselves. The effort would be for naught."

He sat and watched the girls, who had no qualms about expressing their sexual desires in front of him or the rest of the assembly. Even Marianis was with her partner. That was when he noticed that they had indeed paired off. There were a few stragglers, but for the most part, they were grouped in twos. It gave him a wonderful idea. It was an idea that would blow the damn fates right out of the water and onto dry land. Where he could stomp them into the ground with his boot.

He stood up. "I need one each from those of you paired off. I don't care who." He soon had a bevy of lovelies surrounding him. Marianis was among them. "So man, you haven't yet changed. Are you exacting payment before performing?" He patted her on the head. "If things go my way, I won't be performing anything more than music and a little magic. But I think that you had better know that your lives will be irrevocably changed from this day forward." One girl tugged his cape. "Man, when our time is up, there will be nothing left of our  race, not even memories. No one will care. What have we to lose?" "Well, said," exclaimed Marianis. Turning to Jon-Tom, she said what they were all thinking. "Play on!"

He did. He drew on his own power, and pulled even more from those surrounding him. It was, after all, their problem he was solving. The song was made up as he went. The words stated clearly what he wanted to happen. When the importance of the words hit the girls, some of them ran screaming from the room. They couldn't go far enough. With a flash of light the room was engulfed in a brightness beyond compare. Everyone's eyes were watering, and some of the girls were moaning. It sounded weird. As his eyes cleared, Jon-Tom looked at the nearest of the ladies. They were ladies no more. Each was equipped with a cock and balls. He had needed a transformation, but he figured why not them instead of him. There were more of them, and they already had partners they were in love with, so why not?

Marianis was fingering herself. "This was your solution?" She looked over the room at the others. "It's brilliant! I never even considered the possibility. Now it doesn't matter how long it takes, we can rebuilt our population!" Some of the others didn't seem quite convinced. She had a discussion with a few of them in a corner. They came away looking less upset, but still not happy. That changed a few minutes later when their respective partners pulled them to the floor to try out the new equipment. It was an entirely new experience for all of them. He felt bad for the few that had been without a partner, but figured in the long run any of the new "men" would happily fill their needs. After all he would, given the opportunity.

He was growing horny watching all of the sexual activity pervading the room. He got up and walked outside. The air was fresh and clean, the landscape unfamiliar, and he then realized had had no idea where he was. It was a shock, when he turned on his map, to find he was just outside of Lynchblenny. It was the first town he had visited after coming to this world, and not far from the tree, relatively speaking. Heck, he could walk back in a day's time. He kept thinking about what Marianis had said, about the fates. They did seem to have something against him. He had fooled them this time. But there was a lingering doubt. Marianis had mentioned a spell. One that made men love men and ladies love ladies. If it was still in effect, it would soon show its ugly head.  It took only a few hours before its power became patently obvious.

The house erupted into a free-for-all of fighting. It wasn't serious in a harmful way, for it was yelling and name calling and bitch slapping. But it had to stop. Jon-Tom strummed his strings, and played the most soothing music he could manage during this uproar. It was more effective than he hoped. They all fell fast asleep. Even he yawned. He sat and wished. Largely, he wished he was elsewhere. He also wished he knew the nature of the spell. After all, its effects were obvious. Not knowing what else to do, he called forth his healing powers. They could sometimes tell him the cause of the problem, even if it couldn't fix it. He chose Marianis to test on, as he was most familiar with her. He touched her (him now) head with his. His magic found several things going on inside her. The most obvious was his magical transformation. The other was buried deep down inside. The magic hidden there wasn't so much strong as it was wily. Every time he seemed to have it cornered, it dodged.

He was going to need some help for this problem. He called mentally to the mongoose, gently awakening her (or him; this was getting hard to deal with). "Wha..." She opened her eyes and looked around the room, then looked at the human. "Were you just in my head?" He nodded. "It felt like you were playing hide and seek in my soul. That was really weird." "Well, it's about to get weirder. I changed you and some the others into males, but didn't account for the original spell. It still exists inside all of you. That's why you started fighting with your mates. Now that you're male, you'll be attracted to other males."

She paled and nearly fainted. He caught her. She looked up at her savior and smiled. "Thanks. By the way, do you know how cute you are? A fellow could really go for a man like you." He dropped him (her?) on the floor. "Hey!" Marianis rolled over and stood up. "Oh dear God, it's happening, isn't it?" "Yes, it is. However I think we can get rid of it permanently. But I need you to help. I can't isolate it myself. Whoever put that spell on was pretty tricky." "Fine, what do you want me to do?" He grasped her hands. "I need you to push your magical power into me, so that I can use it to get a hold of this spell and figure out how it works. Then perhaps I can take it out of each and every one of you."

She got a look that was half sadness and half hope. "Yes, you will need the extra power. I myself have tried removing the spell, to no avail. I believe this will work, though it will exact a high price. But then, I must make a choice as to which I find more important." She was quiet for a moment. "If I am to follow through with my self-made purpose in this life, then I must do this. Please use the power wisely." He looked confused. "Of course I will." They linked, and she drew on her power, focusing it to a point and driving it into him. He gasped as it hit him. The force of it was distracting, but he too focused, only on the spell. This time he was able to track in down and grab it in one fell swoop. When he pulled away from Marianis, in his hand he held what looked like an ethereal worm. It twisted and wriggled and tried to  escape his grasp. The mongoose fell to the floor in a faint.

Now that he had it, he knew not what to do with it. He exerted his healing power in an attempt at analyzing it. What he found was astounding. The thing was literally a life form, somehow conjured up from some other plane. It wasn't harmful in its own right, but whoever did this had really twisted the being's nature all askew. As his power took hold of it, it calmed down and relaxed. The worm hooked onto his arm. "Thank you." came through a mental connection. He looked at the thing in his hand. "Did you just thank me." "Yes." "Well then, you're welcome. But what are you?"

The worm wiggled a bit. "I do not know how to tell you that. We were abducted from our home. We were forced into these bodies, with a desire to over-ride their normal methods of emotional expression. It has been awful. The only release we could have was when these bodies died. Only then may we go back home." Jon-Tom felt great sadness. "Is there any way you can help your...friends...to escape the other bodies without harming them?" The worm answered. "I may. Since you have voided the force keeping me prisoner, I may be able to enter each body and free the others." Jon-Tom carried it to the nearest sleeping form and set the worm on it. It sank in. A moment later the mongoose went into seizures. They lasted a few seconds and then two worms appeared. And so it went.

In no time  the room was full of still sleeping mongooses, and a huddle of eerie glowing worms. The first came forward and touched Jon-Tom's leg. "Thank you. I see you have great power and great kindness. Those two traits are not always linked together in this universe. I look forward to the day when you visit our world. For now though, I am content to return to it myself. It has been too long." The glow brightened, the forms shrank, and zipped out of sight. Marianis put a hand on his shoulder. "Uh, What  just happened?" He patted her (him dammit!) and said, "It's going to be hard to believe. Ask me about it later." They glanced around the room. "Should we wake them up?" He looked around at the snoring forms. "You know, I say let them sleep."

The two of them went outside for some air. "So Marianis, what are you going to do now? It looks like you're back on track for raising a family." He (got it right that time) shook his head. "Yes, I think so. If I have my way, I'll raise a dozen children, so that they can all marry and have a dozen more children. We should repopulate our species within a handful of years" Jon-Tom pursed his lips. "That's not going to leave you much time for your wizardry." "No, it wouldn't. That's why I gave it up."

"What? You're throwing away all that time and study?" "No Jon-Tom, I gave it up to someone who is much more remarkable than myself. I saw it in my scrying. I had to give up my magic to achieve my dream. When you asked for it, you got it completely. There isn't even enough left in me to make a spark." He snapped his fingers. Nothing. Jon-Tom was aghast. "I didn't want your magic permanently!" "Perhaps not, but remember, I told you we would both benefit from it. I will have my species back, and you now have greater magic. And if the future holds what the crystals say is in store for you, you will need every ounce of power you can muster." That sounded ominous. "Uh, just what all did your crystals predict?" She (dammit! - he) just smiled.

"Here Jon-Tom. These are my tools. Take them and see what you can see. I really don't think I should tell you anything specific now that this is done." They walked back into the house just as the others were recovering. The bickering was gone, the couples reunited, and overall, everyone was happy. Marianis and his mate, Ghernoa, were happily discussing their future plans. Everyone seemed to drift away to separate quarters of the house. That left Jon-Tom standing alone in the common room. He wasn't certain what he was supposed to do now. He pulled the crystals from his pocket. He instinctively knew how to use them. "What do I do next?" It presented him with an image of his wife. "That's good enough for me." He was gone in a song and a spell.

He appeared right where he wanted to be. He was in the kitchen of his own home. His wife, Talea, knew the moment he arrived. She turned around and kissed him. He gave her that look. "What's up dearest husband? You haven't gazed at me like that for some time." Then her eyes narrowed. "What have you been doing?" "I'll have you know that I have been very good lately, and I think I deserve a reward." "Do you now? I guess that depends on where you have been. You see, you've been missed. I received word just a few hours ago that you never showed up at the wizard's council. They were worried something had happened to you." "And what did you tell them?" "I told them that where my husband was involved, something was always happening. I also told them not to worry; you'd show up again. And here you are. So about that reward?"

He sat down and told her the basics of what had transpired. She was displeased. "You were willing to break our vows to help someone else save their lineage?" His head sunk. "I was rather tricked into promising I would." She smacked him. "Our vows have always been a matter of love, not a chain that restricts your actions. It's a good thing you came up with an alternate plan that worked, because if you came back here and told me you failed, because of being married, I'd skin you!" He couldn't believe his ears. "Say what?" "Look husband, I know you quite well. You're not likely to do something just to benefit yourself. If having sex helps someone out, besides yourself, then do it. Just don't like it." She smiled in a way that  made him wary. "So, husband, what is this reward you want me to grant you for your wonderfully stupid loyalty?" He whispered in her ear. "Oh really? That is a creative solution. Why not now?"

She pulled off her apron and dragged him to the bedroom. She shed her clothes faster than he could. Drawing on the gift Roseroar had given her not that long ago, she transformed into a mongoose. He looked on with a critical eye. "That's not quite right." She glared at him. "This is what you asked for." "Something with a little more red, and a ring tail." His wife looked at him with suspicious eyes. "A ring tail mongoose. No wonder you got involved. I thought them all gone, something to do with a feud." He agreed with her assessment. "Yes, there were only about thirty left, but there is hope for their future now." "And hope for yours," she added, becoming the most lovely little mongoose he could imagine. He spent all night imagining that Talea was each and every one he had been expected to breed with. She didn't complain until it got to number nineteen. By then, she was beginning to smart. He stopped long enough for her to turn into a unicorn, heal herself, and then went back to work until they surpassed the thirty mark. With any luck, he had any possible desire to have sex with a mongoose driven from his loins. His wife sincerely hoped so too. Any more and he was going to kill her! But what a way to go...

The next morning they wobbled out of bed, saddle sore but quite happy. "I must say, Jon-Tom, it's been a long time since you were that horny. I take it keeping yourself in line proved to be a tough job?" He sighed. "Yes dear, I'm not afraid to admit it that it was." She caressed his arm. "I would be proud of you regardless of how you decided to handle it." She stopped for a moment and thought. "But didn't you say you made her swear on your "future children" together? How is that supposed to work?"

He scratched his head. "I don't know. It's impossible now, since Marianis is one of the males." Talea wasn't satisfied. "But she said the fates where stacked against you. If her ability at seeing the future is as true as you say it was, then she had to be correct. You two are destined to have children."

Jon-Tom didn't like the direction this talk was headed. He couldn't have children with a non-human, especially a male, not without  a major magical change. But if her swearing on it was of any value then it couldn't be said and done. Or could it? He dredged his memory for his exact words. He had said them so spontaneously that it was hard to recall them exactly. They came slowly to his mind, but they came clearly. "I'll take you up on your offer - if you'll swear on our future children that neither of us will come to harm in this upcoming adventure." There was nothing in his statement that said that he and the mongoose had to have children together, only that she swear on their - future - children. Marianis was undoubtedly working feverishly on her end of the bargain right now. But what of himself?  He was certain that Talea would love another child, since for some reason they only were ever able to have Buncan. But neither of them were that young, nor were they really that old. Did this predication mean that she and he were to conceive again?

"Husband? You've been sitting there thinking for a long time. What's up?" He walked over to his pants and pulled out some crystals." I was thinking that I need to look into the future to see the solution to this problem." Talea gently took his hand and with a mighty grip crushed his fingers around the sharp stones. They dropped to the floor as his sucked on his ailing digits. "What the hell did you do that for?" She smiled. "Looking into the future is cheating. Besides, you know full well that foreseeing the ending always spoils the story. Getting there is half the fun." She punctuated her statement by turning into a mongoose again and sitting on his lap. He rose up to meet her. Oh well, he thought, she's right. Getting there is half the fun!