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Ten Nights in Lyra

Chapter 2

The Tour

"So, what do you want to do today?" Caroline asked Matt after they'd woke and dressed.

"Well, let me see" he headed to the closet. She rolled her eyes behind his back knowing what he was after. He fished out the book he'd bought on the city. Jordan Quint's Guide to Red Light Lyra. Matt had roughly three quarters of the pages marked with color-coded tabs. "There are lots of shows we could go see. Or there's apparently an adult art museum not super far, or," he flipped through the book and soon was confounded by the possibilities. "Well, we could do Country Matters this afternoon and hit up the Prostitorium tonight. But maybe it would be better,"

Caroline sighed. She gingerly took the book from him, closed it, and bopped him with it. "I was thinking something a bit more mundane to start. We need to send your mother pictures, remember." He pouted. "Besides, we'll burn ourselves out if we don't pace ourselves. How about we do one touristy thing first and then we can do one sexy thing. Deal?" He nodded. She knew he wasn't as upset as he was pretending to be. "Now then, how about you find us a place for a nice breakfast first. I'm pretty hungry."

He fished out his other guide, Jordan Quint's Guide to Lyra. The regular one, apparently. She would have suggested just looking up a place online but decided to let him have his.

"Uh, there's a good diner about a quarter mile from here with allegedly excellent omelets."

"I'm down for that."

"Should we get a cab or just hike?"

"It's only a quarter mile you said?" Caroline checked the weather on her phone. It was apparently perfect outside. "I think we can hoof it."

**

She had to give Jordan Quint credit; he had good taste in omelets. Her belly ached with the amount of food she'd consumed. The carefulness with which Matt suggested he was in similar predicament. She sipped her to-go cup. The coffee was so good she had to take some with her.

They headed to one of the tour bus operations nearby. It was one of those hop-on, hop-off deals. And immediately they were hit with a wave of options. There was the basic day pass. But there was also a three day pass that was ever so slightly under three times the cost.

"Also you don't have to use the three days consecutively. They can be used at any time in the year," the saleswolf said. She continued, "Also we have the partnered with several attractions through the city to offer the Attraction Pass. In addition to the three day pass you get admission to a few parks and museums, plus a coupon book for many locations."

A quick huddle with Matt said they determined that the three day pass would be good for them. But the attraction pass would probably lock them into specific things that they didn't know if they wanted to do yet. "We'll go with the three day pass," Caroline announced as though she were on a game show.

"Excellent choice," the wolf said. She gathered up some info pamphlets. "So we have four loops running right now. The center loop, which is the main downtown loop. You'll see lots of monuments and things there. Then we have a north loop that goes up by the Promenade. And a south loop that goes by a lot of the theme parks down in Southbank. And lastly there's the East loop which goes around East Lyra, as one would expect." From Caroline's point of view that was three tickets for three good loops. "And during more on-peak seasons we have a few other loops that run."

"Yeah, we came here on off-peak time deliberately," Caroline informed.

The wolf giggled. "Can't say that I blame you. But if you want to come visit us again when we're running those tours there is info in those pamphlets. Now, I don't want to keep you because the bus will be coming by shortly. But would you like to buy the coupon book anyway. It has lots of savings," she sang.

Caroline looked at Matt. He shrugged. Whatever, she'd let the wolf feel like she'd sold something, "Sure."

**

The tour buses were the double decked open roof affairs. They took to the top level as the weather was definitely permitting. Caroline thumbed through the coupon book mentally adding up what they could use to get their money's worth for the thing. She chose to ignore the fact that she'd end up buying things she wouldn't have in the first place had they not purchased the book.

Matt yoinked it from her paw and bopped her with it. "There'll be plenty of time to look through this later."

"Alright, fine." She mocked annoyance with his authoritarian tone. She resigned herself to enjoying the nice weather and beautiful architecture.

The tour guide was a maikong woman named Pecan. "So we're coming to the Lyra Gazette Building now. It is the third tallest building in Lyra. And it is probably one of the only skyscrapers actually used by its namesake company. In addition to the newspaper the Gazette publishes numerous magazines and specials throughout the year."

"They publish Jason Quint's travel guides," Matt whispered excitedly.

"So they are to blame," she replied.

He bopped her shoulder. She laughed.

"Now we're coming up on the Pecru. Some of you might have heard of this place." People giggled. Even Caroline new one of the greatest museums of the world. She stood to get a better look. "The museum consists of eight buildings representing various ages of architecture." They were driving between the large buildings of the museum. Sky-ways connected the wings above. "I would highly recommend spending a day if you are able. My personal favorite piece is Moonlight Walk along the Fisi River by Marco Temmin."

Caroline and Matt had agreed beforehand that the Pecru was a definitive no. Though now that they were close to the mammoth thing she was having second thoughts. Mostly though they had heard horror stories of the crowds there. Mostly by people who are just there for the sake of being there and didn't actually care about the art. And they usually have dragged their children with who wanted to be there far less but are far more vocal about the fact. Anyway it sucked the life out of a peaceful visit to a museum. And this was true even in off season times. Still, passing a giant glass dodecahedron sculpture in a roadside courtyard had her regretting the decision.

Passing out of the Pecru's campus Caroline's regrets were nullified by a small degree. Here were many high-rise hotels that likely catered to those who came purely for the museum and nothing else in the city. The buildings were basic examples of their companies' chosen designs. They far from being counted among architectural marvels in this city. Poor Pecan struggled to come up with amusing anecdotes about the city to distract from this more dull chunk of it.

"Now that we've escaped the post-Pecru hotel labyrinth we find ourselves at the base of the United Federal Amalgamated Tower," Pecan's tone picked back up. "It is the tallest building in Lyra. Anyone know how tall?" Caroline pointed at Matt. Matt sunk back in his chair. "Does he know?"

"He's like the biggest Lyra fan."

"Bigger than me? I doubt it," she laughed. "How tall?"

"Four hundred eighty-nine meters." He sighed.

"Wow, very good! Four hundred eighty nine meters," the grey foxy woman repeated into her microphone. Matt slunk down more. "Anyway, you may also know the building by its nickname Big Albert. That moniker comes from a bunch of people saying the building looks like an Albert." Caroline looked back up at the building. It was difficult to tell being this close to it, but it did sort of resemble an Albert.

"We're coming up to Alexander Park now. This is another location that can be a day or two in itself. There's the fountain, the zoo, as well as numerous events held there throughout the year. We just had the Taste of Lyra festival last week which is why I'm making myself stand for this whole tour." People chuckled. "And in just a couple weeks will be the Big Band Music festival." Caroline scrunched her face that they managed to come right between everything. Of course they had chosen discount rate times for travel and lodging, which of course would be during minimal event times.

"We also have the Natural History museum here on our left," Pecan indicated the fairly drab grey building.

"Xetu's is bigger." Caroline whispered to Matt.

"Shhh," he hissed in embarrassment. Matt didn't want to upset the local tour guide and didn't like his favorite place talked down. Caroline was just glad her own hometown had something on this show-off of a city.

"And now we're turning up Copper Street. If high fashion shopping is your thing, this is the place to do it. Here you'll find boutiques full of clothes, jewelry, and accessories worth more than this bus. This is also the point in the tour where I like to remind everyone that I do accept tips." The tour fox had plenty more anecdotes as they traveled past very beautiful boutiques and restaurants far outside Matt and Caroline's price range. They reached the end of the fancy road and headed through a few more turns. A couple small pieces of public art acted as discussion fodder until the next landmark.

"The Cathedral of Lyra."

"Holy..." Caroline decided not to attach anything more to that. The giant round building with massive flying buttresses. The main building was surrounded by thirteen towers. Caroline didn't count them; she just knew that's how many there would be. A golden dome topped the building and each of the spires. The lower grounds had fountains and many people in various religious garb wandering the grounds. "You should really be taking pictures of this for your mom."

"Oh, crap," Matt had forgotten to photograph things. His mother would definitely want one of this. He rushed to dig his camera out and then started taking photos wildly. He probably figured he needed to make up for what he'd missed already.

Caroline kept her eyes on the cathedral as they moved down the street. She became lost in a daydream for a while. She snapped out when they reached their next major attraction: The Black Cat's Palace. Not a palace at all, but a casino hotel. It was the only legal gambling establishment in the city. "Tim and I almost had our honeymoon here," Caroline told Matt.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. But like the week before our wedding they called and said they couldn't get us the room we wanted. There was some issue with the computer system, they claimed. I figure they had some celebrity or high roller who wanted the space."

"That sucks," Matt snapped a picture of the large glittering casino.

"Yeah. They said they could move us back a week at a discount. But I wasn't having it. We found a nice ski resort and that proved plenty nice enough."

Matt nodded.

"And now we come to one of the centerpieces of Lyra, the Triarch Sculpture," Pecan announced to the bus.

"This city doesn't do much in the way of small, do they?" Caroline asked Matt.

"The Triarch symbolizes different parts coming together to build a greater whole," the fox explained. Three large half arches rose up above a round stone plinth. Three large pools with waterfall fountains bounded the sculpture. Small cubs splashed in the pools. Furs congregated about the plinth. Some just sat on the stairs. Others milled about taking pictures.

"Want to get off and get some pictures?" Caroline asked Matt.

"Um, nah. I think we can come by later," he replied. Caroline nodded.

The bus trundled by more minor landmarks. Art pieces, museums, theatres. It seemed every square inch of this city could be a vacation unto itself. They found the second tallest tower in the city, the Livery of Greengrocers Tower. Why the greengrocer's guild owned a skyscraper was a mystery to all but them.

"And now we come to Isaac's Park." Pecan said. "If anyone wishes to catch the northern loop of the tour up to the Promenade, this is where the two loops meet."

"I'd, uh, kind of like to go up to the Promenade?" Caroline told Matt.

"Now?" he asked.

"Unless you want to stay on this for now," she said.

"No, we can go now." They dragged themselves from their seats. They thanked the maikong for her lecture and tipped her a few small bills.

Standing down on the sidewalk Caroline said, "I don't want to make you do things you don't want to. This is your vacation, after all."

Matt bopped her arm again. "It's your vacation, too. You can say if you want to do something."

She laughed. "I wonder how long until the bus. We could check out the park here for a bit."

"Nope, I think that's it," he pointed to another double decker rounding the corner.

"We'll have to check it out later, then."

"Or another park. They don't seem to be short on the things."

"Indeed," Matt said as the stepped onto the next bus.

**

The tour bus could not drive onto the Promenade itself; vehicles weren't allowed but for special circumstances. The guide, a white fox male, explained that the rules and regulations for vehicles anywhere near the Promenade could change by the hour, so this was always a challenge for them.

The two cats decided to abandon the bus and continue on foot. This meant traversing Wilde Park. But it was far from a chore on a day like this. They walked through groves of olive trees and past ponds home to many exotic waterfowl. They climbed a hill onto the Promenade itself.

"Whoah," Matt said.

"Whoah," Caroline echoed.

The white stone road ran for miles perfectly straight from the Imperial Palace to the Parliament Building. The palace would be a great tour destination but it was impossible to get near. Political considerations meant the whole area about the palace was off limits. Even from here they could see checkpoints and guards set up far down the road.

But at the end of the promenade nearest them was the Parliament Building. They'd walk the white road the rest of the way to get a good view of that much more accessible location. The straight road was flanked by lamp posts that were more like mini lighthouses. They held the Lyra flag out at an angle. The Lyra flag was red with a golden lyre emblazoned on it. Olive trees flanked the sides of the road between the lamps. Guards walked the road eyeing the throngs of tourists with mild disdain. They occasionally chased of a busker trying to hawk freshly picked Lyra olives to said tourists. Given that this wasn't the fruiting season for the trees there was a note of dubiousness to the claim.

The walk down the Promenade to the Parliament building was further than either Caroline or Matt had realized. The building looked like it was much smaller from further up the road. But of course, the thing kept growing no matter how far they walked.

Before the building was the great Bardic Fountain."I'd heard of how big this thing was. I never thought it'd be this big." Matt said as they started a hike around the thing.

"I like it," Caroline said simply.

The towering white fountain was full of stone reliefs of musicians and storytellers. About the performers the stone audience caroused. Water flowed through various pathways about the fountain. In the pool at the base of the fountain koi fish swam. Caroline looked back at the figures. More than a few of the carousers did so with little to no clothing. "I'm surprised no one has complained about the nudity on this thing," Caroline mentioned to Matt. She spied a stone rabbit sporting a generous erection while

watching a topless lioness harpist.

"There's a long story to that," he said.

"We've got time." She actually wanted to hear him ramble on about this thing.

"Well, the fountain has been here a long time. And there have been lots of prudish periods when people would try to plaster over or chisel off the exposed genitals. For a few years it was actually turned off and had a giant tarp over it. But of course Lyra has been going through a sexual revolution for the past twenty or so years. And lots of efforts have been made to restore this thing to its original look. There were a lot of drawings and sketching of the thing from various artists around the time of this thing's construction. So they think they've got it pretty well good as new now. But of course there are still those individuals who dislike it this way."

"That figures" She looked through the actual crowd. A wolfess covered the eyes of her pup and dragged him off in a hurry. The child just giggled at what he'd seen. Caroline suppressed a snicker. She turned her attention back to the fountain.

Caroline became mesmerized by the artwork. She could hear that fox's lute playing. She smelled the alcohol on the breath of the carousers. She wanted to join in laughing at the lewd joke that jester had just told. She could spend years in this place. She took notice of a leopard woman watching a musician in the distance. The lady's back was bare. Her tail curved up and away from the sensual cheeks of her rump. Caroline wet her lips. She'd love to step up and wrap her arms about that cat. She'd nibble the leopard's neck and the woman would melt into her arms. One hand would grope at the woman's breast while the other would stray to her sex. Caroline would lower herself to her knees and plant a kiss on each of those supple cheeks. The woman would turn and Caroline would kiss more sensuous areas.

Matt slapped her on the back and chuckled, "Careful now. There's a legend that people get lured into the fountain by the revelry and become part of the stone work."

Caroline shook herself out of her trance. "Of course there would be," she said. She spared another glance for the leopard's bare butt. Part of her didn't think it would be that horrible of a fate. She made herself step away, though, just to be safe. "Come on, let's go look at the building itself."

The parliament building sat high beyond a giant wrought iron fence. It seemed to exemplify the concept of mass. The building was large and white with tall narrow windows. The front doors were giant wooden things at the top of a tall flight of stone stairs. Pillars held the roof above that landing. It owned its landscape. The fountain was a trinket compared to this.

"You know, I've never understood what people meant about saying they get lost in a piece of artwork until now." Caroline said. "But I could just spend years getting lost in this building and the fountain. There's so much here."

Matt took her hand and squeezed her fingers. "Maybe you could move here and get a job in politics. Then you could spend every day here."

She chuckled. "Tempting." Her mind wandered about the neat white stonework. There was no ornamentation or art carved into the stone. The building in its whole was the art work. Caroline started to feel intimidated by it.

"Did you get enough pictures?" she asked.

"Yeah, of this and the fountain."

"Do us both a favor and don't share any of the close ups of the fountain with her."

"I may have picked a few shots of more decently clad figures. Should mom want to see."

"Good boy. Anyway, how about we wander one of these parks and then head back south. Maybe work our way toward that show you wanted to see?"

Matt squealed, "Yes!"