FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Maybe... it might be time, Carbon." Ilaria sat next to the hybrid as she perpetually stared out the Bridge windows into a blue ball of plasma. "It's been a week... I mean, the fleet is mostly repaired and my girls have their barge ready to tow us. We should--"

"We need to rescue the rest of the Ors family. I know." Carbon rubbed her injured chest, which was now left to heal slowly without her veile present. "You're right. It's silly to think she'd come back from the dead a second time."

"No, it's not silly. It's romantic and brave. Don't give up hope, not yet." Ari fumbled with her watch to get a message going with her older daughters. "Let's save your family. Once they're safe, we can come back and have our best minds examine this star. We'll find answers for you... our other alien friends here still permitting."

"Yeah, sure. Let's go."

A hologram flickered into place over Ari's wrist, the otter sending the image of her twins to a proper terminal for a better view of their signing. "So we're sending full 3D captures now? Dee's signal upgrades must be doing great with the black hole gone."

<Yeah. We've been wanting to try this camera rig we built for a while, too.> Michelle took over for Mikhaila as she walked out of frame to adjust something. <So what's up, mom? Status report again?>

"You bet'cha, especially since I haven't seen you girls in days."

<Well... we've gutted the engine pods entirely now. There's room for improvement, but the vapor furnace replacing them is set up to vent in all the right locations at least.> Chelle pulled her sister back into frame, feeling uneasy signing without a Link. <Tests look good. We should be able to move even faster than before, especially now that we can finally use all that spare oxydium we've been saving up.>

"What? I never said you could use that." Ari folded her arms beneath her breasts and frowned. "What are you two planning now? Do I have to remind you we're stuck in deep space, girls?"

<We know. We just... tweaked some things. We're using a power plant combo similar to the Starbreeze's now, only larger.> Mik shook her head and shushed her sister. <All you need to know is that we can open dive portals now, and large, powerful ones at that.>

Carbon finally regained an interest in current matters and spoke up. "Well that solves one issue, I guess. Normally the Starbreeze has to be the tip of the spear when we dive."

<Now it won't matter. The envelope is much larger. Sprite helped dial the extra power into the system with some data she collected during the battle.>

"Yeah, I saw some of that. Dee's been pouring over it for days. We sort of experienced every phenomenon ever." Ari rubbed Carbon's back softly. "With any luck we'll have a solution for you before we even return."

"Yeah... Thanks."

"I know what this feels like, hon." Ari tapped her replacement arm prosthesis with a sigh. "I'm missing most of myself and a wife too. I just... hope we can at least find a fix for your body in the event we can't recover... well..."

"It's fine. My fight is finally over, so I'm okay with it if things come to that."

"You have children. Fight for them, Carbon."

<Don't give up, Uncle Carbon. We love you.>

"Thanks, girls."

Prisma quietly walked into the Bridge and stopped directly between Ari and the projector. "I know this sounds selfish, but... could we move somewhere I won't fall into a star? I'd like to begin my repairs soon as well."

"That's an unusual way to ask that, even for you. Something wrong, Pris?" Ari placed a webbed paw on the AI's shoulder. "We're not going to die from something we missed, I hope?"

"No, nothing like that. It's just that... How should I put this?" Pris adopted a Terran gesture and placed both hands on her belly. "I'm going to be a mother."

Both Ari and Carbon recoiled in surprise. "But how?"

"Remember how I came to be? Sprite needed me to serve as her interface with you, as a body. I was borne out of a concept to help my own kind." Pris let herself ooze out of her robotic shell near her hands. "After merging with this ship though, I've gone from a hive to a single mind. I've learned to think at a higher level. With the recent gravitational phenomena some of my older simple coding was triggered however, creating an anomaly in my cells that is rapidly duplicating."

"That could just as easily be something like a tumor, Pris." Ari gave the android a quick inspection, not noticing any differences in her complexion. "I just want you to be careful so you don't get hurt."

"No, this is not bad. This anomaly was created from a self-improvement protocol, using the recent phenomena as randomcy seeds." Prisma noticed Ari's gaze and coagulated a small blob of blue goo inside her belly. "The output of this process is unique. It will have a mind of its own. For this mind's safety, I wish not to remain broken and in peril."

"See, Carbon? Pris here is missing a whole wing and losing power and she's still being a hell of a parent." Ari eased Pris to the side so she could see her daughters again. "We'll get you somewhere safe. Girls, are we ready to try a dive? The tethers are in place?"

<Yep!>

"Great. Inform the fleet for me so we don't use more power than needed. We're headed back to Yangurraar." Ilaria gave the girls a moment to spread the word, a communications dashboard on her watch slowly filling up with green lights as responses from the remaining ships. "We look ready. Fire things up on your end, girls. Let's make a single dive and do a deep safety check to see how it went."

<Right. We're pulling out the slack first, so hold onto something.> The twins simply set paws on a few consoles and let their Link do the rest. In a moment the Starbreeze jerked side to side, steadying out once the slack left the tethers. <Looks good. Okay, opening dive window now.>

A spherical distortion the size of a planet immediately overtook the entire fleet, sapping it of all artificial gravity and communications. "Well shit... My girls aren't pussyfooting around, as usual." The warping space around the sphere slowed and ceased as it shrank back to nothing, leaving the Earth fleet back in normal space and reopening communications feeds. "Girls, that was impressive. We couldn't have gone too far with that size though, could we?"

<Our estimates were wrong. Give us a second to do some math.> The twins squinted their eyes at various displays, their Link apparently not aiding them enough in a rare show of mental stress. <Ah, we went a bit further than anticipated. We're about... two parsecs from Yangurraar. We guessed we'd be at four or so.>

"That's... about three-pointThree lightyears per..." Carbon walked over to a console and tried Linking with it, resorting to a saddening physical input method without Eve there to help. "The, uh... navigation logs say that with the black hole's distortion gone we were approximately... A hundred and ten lightyears away? What the fuck? It took days and dozens of jumps going there and we just covered ninety percent in a minute!?"

<Yeah. We just told you we upgraded the dive system.>

"That can't be right..." Ilaria scrambled for her own console, falling back on her watch when there wasn't one nearby. "No, it's absolutely correct looking at constellation mapping. Holy shit, girls."

<Is it not enough? We only pushed about four-fifths of our output. We could have saved a second jump if we weren't being safe.>

"No, safe is very, very good."

Carbon pulled up a star chart detailing the entire path taken since leaving the Solar system. "According to this new data... it took us nineteen months to reach this point, but it'll only take us three to head back home."

"Except for the recharge on the oxydium used." Ari checked her reactor reserve fuel logs and harrumphed at the bad news. "We'd need to stop close to whiter colored stars every jump and deploy photoelectric panels to maximize recharging, and even then it takes days to recharge the volume we'd exhaust per jump."

"Recalculating..." Pris updated the charts to show a much more winding, convoluted path that chose the proper stars. "Ten months. That's still not bad."

"I'll take half, most definitely. Amazing job, my whelps." Ilaria kissed their hologram twice--one for each of her children--and breathed a sigh of relief. "Send word to the fleet. It's about damn time we started bringing everyone ~good~ news."

---

"Here we go again." Iolvin slammed the orbiter's tailgate 'Open' button with his shoulder, leaving his paws free to load his rifle. "I hope Pris is right about those scans. It'd be a shame if we got those civvies killed after saving them twice over."

"Don't worry about it. If she says our scanners work better with Xor gone, I believe her." Ilaria pulled an arrow out of her quiver just in time to catch her twins dropping a bundle of yellow-accented ones inside. "What are these, girls?"

<Plan B. Just in case we do have some trouble... we don't want you following Grandpa.> The girls brandished their own weapons and hopped out the back first. <We rigged a few radar buoys to act as tracking beacons for the fleet's mass accelerator weapons.>

"You mean we have big guns?" Sydney gave the girls slaps on their tails as she passed them. "Best victory present ever."

"The equivalent of overkill for an entire war. Only you, meerkitten." Carbon picked up her shotgun and followed behind her wife's quick pace. "Gah... I hate to admit it, but it's so much easier running rough terrain without anything dangling between your legs."

Ari snickered and picked up the pace. "You sound like you're disappointed."

"I am. Sadly with Eve gone I default to female. If I'm going to wither away and die, I'd prefer giving my one remaining wife at least one son first." Carbon slapped Sydney's ass hard as she passed her. "Nothing sexier than seeing you plump with whelps, honey."

"Well you're not the one that has to ~finish~ that process, darling." Cid tugged her hybrid's tail to slow her as she spotted movement deeper into the caverns ahead. "I think I've got one of those big things."

"A rook? Where?" Carbon followed Sydney's paw as she waved toward it, the mechanical beast powered but idle. "That's directly in our path. Shit."

Yoyo took a knee beside the two and frowned at the sight. "Wait it out, then?"

"I'd sneak by it, but I'm pretty sure they can see through my cloaking." Rose slumped to a cross-legged position as she thought of solutions. "Think we could lure it out?"

"Bait and switch. I like it." Carbon stood into a low stance and hobbled toward the beast. "I'm already a dead woman walking, so I'll act as the bait. I'll lure it up that left path to the surface."

Ari sighed as another old dog of war took up the torch of sacrifice. "Here, take one of these arrows. It'll at least give you a fighting chance against the thing if you make it that far."

Carbon turned around and caught the arrow as Ari shot it to her under very low tension. "Thanks."

"Good hunting, Carbon. We'll save your family."

"All except one. I hope you don't mind me following your Path, E--" Carbon froze in place as she stared up at a patch of clear ceiling rocks. "Eve's star... What the hell happened to it?"

Ari quirked her head in confusion, then looked up through the same gap. "Yeah, the light won't hit us here for a century. It won't be visible yet. We've got more pressing matters to--"

"No, that's exactly what's wrong. I see it, somehow." The hybrid ducked behind a boulder so she could balk at the seemingly enlarging twinkle of burning gas. "Is... Is it possible it's still growing? Like, it's consuming the galaxy or something? Xor was pretty damn huge."

"That... I don't think? Yoyo, cover me." Ari skittered over to Carbon's light cover and pointed at the veiled sky. "Which one is it?"

"The blue one here." Carbon moved Ari's arm until it pointed in the proper direction. "See it growing brighter? Or are my eyes just seeing things oddly?"

"Oh, shit. I don't think you're seeing it clear enough." The mysterious star rapidly grew linearly in radius until it gained a distinct roundness. "Okay, we're all about to die in a fireball. What do we do?"

"Run further underground?" Rose turned on her cloaking and stood, considering her chances against the rook versus the heat death of the universe. "Fuck it. Nothing to lose, right?"

"The girl's got a point." Yoyo picked up his rifle and started jogging directly toward death's door ready for a fight. "Lulu, pop one of those yellow things out there for good measure."

"And collapse the ceiling with artillery? Are you crazy?" Ilaria followed her twin brother into the fray--right up to the point that the rook exploded into a ball of flame. "Holy--!"

Blue hellfire and brimstone rained from the ceiling, bombarding the inner cave entrance and anyone unlucky enough to be defending it. The impending doom that was scheduled to follow only fizzled out, however. The flames quashed into smoke and haze, though it appeared that nothing had actually suffered combustion damage. The dust slowly settled, revealing large slabs of the clear ceiling stone embedded in the softer subterranean dirt. Then there was the elephant in the room, a humanoid being created entirely of crusting lava and blue flames.

"That's not looking like a good guy." Yoyo raised his railgun to aim at the newcomer, but Carbon pulled the barrel down with a vine. "What? If that's one of our buddies in white with the big ass lasers, I'm keeping him in check."

"No, that's... That won't be necessary." The hybrid stood and freely walked into the open, pointing to a group of Yangurraa that were sitting and tunneling their queoo into the ground. "They're prostrating? Why the hell...?"

"I think that's a really, really bad idea, Carbon." Ari stood and beckoned her friend back with her bow held ready and armed. "Maybe you should head back here while we figure it out? Carbon?"

"Oh no... Eve, no..." Carbon pucked up into a hard sprint, sliding to a stop a few meters away from the flaming stranger. "What happened to her!? Don't tell me she didn't make it!"

"Fibre! What the fuck's gotten into you!?" Rose tackled her sister to the dirt in an attempt to protect her, though no attacks came from any entities ahead. "Wait... What's gotten into them?"

"They're showing fealty to a god, Xor." Carbon shed her sister gently and stood her ground. "And I'm asking him, 'What happened to my wife?'"

"Words. English. Ah, so this is speech?" The living nova finally found his words, turning to face Carbon now that his attention was freed. "Sorry about that; I've never had a real body before, less a mouth. My sister is safe within me."

"So I was right. Fuck, she... Eve had to swap places with you? She sacrificed her body for us?"

"No, not exactly. Left alone, she would have merged with the singularity you called Xor. She released me so I might consume part of Xor's entropy myself, diminishing her losses." The concerned brother reached into his own belly, breaking his crusted skin to dig out a black orb the size of his head. "She remains dormant, sustaining upon my energy. In just this time she's grown so big, from only a speck remaining."

"Eve..." Carbon stumbled forward, shielding herself from the intense heat of the being's flames with her arms. "Is she alright? Can you--?"

The false god's flames shifted from their gradual transition to red back into blue, immediately losing all felt heat. "Sorry, I forget I've got the energy in me to vaporize this moon." He held up the orb and breathed a blue flame over it, saturating the object until it started growing. In a minute the orb itself vaporized, leading the living flame to a content smile. "I believe she's had her fill for now."

"What's that mean? I--" Carbon shut her mouth when Evelyn reformed her humanoid body, crumpling in the dirt. "Evelyn!"

"Carbon... I'm so sorry. I'll miss y--" The enigma snapped out of her daze the moment two furred arms desperately wrapped around her waist. "Carbon!? What...? How!?"

The hybrid kissed her wife before all else, only pointing to the flaming enigma once she was satisfied. "Your brother saved you, just like you expected. You're safe... Paths divine, you're safe!"

"But I was... riding into Xor..." Evelyn smiled upon recognizing her brother, mostly from the flavor of energy he emitted. "My brother saved me? So that's what I felt..."

"I'd do anything for my baby sister, especially after she brought me back from the brink." The walking flame geyser approached and cradled his sister in his arms, the blue fire oddly not harming Carbon at all. "I'm a bit sad we had to separate, but as long as we're both healthy I can pay that price."

"Well thank you, um...?" Carbon bit her lip and delayed to wipe her sobbing eyes as her mind ran aground. "Wh-What should we call you? Xor?"

The growing crowd of soldiers began chanting the name, leading Ilaria to shake her head. "No, Xor is gone now. We can't have a member of this family reminding us of this war." She turned to Iolvin and grinned. "Well? You're the nickname genius. Any ideas, Yoyo?"

"Ah... You're putting me on the spot, sis." Yoyo walked a little closer whilst mumbling various names, raising his voice with a chuckle as a nice one came out. "Flynt. That's a fucking cool name, right?"

"That's uncharacteristically normal for you." It took a moment for Ari to understand the basis for that name, eliciting a chuckle of her own. "~Oh~. Like a lighter flint. Okay, that's still goofy enough for you. I approve."

"Flynt..." The living lighter smiled heartily for his new family's gesture. "I like it too. Flynt it is."

"So then, Flynt... where do we go from here?" Carbon eased her wife's weakened body back into her arms, nuzzling her cheek affectionately. "Is anything different with Eve?"

"She's the same as before, only less substantial. If she doesn't keep her mass and energy up she'll dissolve back into a black hole." Flynt grabbed a piece of debris from his crash and it disintegrated in his fiery grasp, his flames bursting anew with the fuel. "I can process both for her. Think of it like the way you need Eve for your own upkeep."

Carbon finally let out of deep breath in relief. "So we'll be alright. I can't thank you enough, Flynt."

"Just be my new sister and that is enough. I've never had friends or family other than Eve before." Flynt slid his gaze over the congregation now chanting in fealty for not just Xor, but Gaia as well. "I've never had my own religion following, either. Should we tell them we aren't who they think?"

Carbon quirked her head at that suggestion. "Are you not? I'm not sure why exactly you have matching auras."

"Your father is directly descended from the Great Spirit Xor. His mother's family was only one step removed from Gaia."

Evelyn furrowed her brow as this information came to her as well, the recent events granting her clarity in her own genetic memories. "Our father, in all his genius, decided to put Xor's unfinished and chaotic inventions into action. When that created a black hole, he looked into Gaia's unifying logic to negate his mistakes. When he no longer had the power to continue writing his wrongs..."

"...Your father created us inside of you so you could finish what he started. Hm... Entropy was a fitting name for his first experiment." Flynt walked over to the Yangurraa and bowed before them, beckoning them to rise. "<We may be Great Spirits walking back on our old Paths, but we are no gods. Walk your own Paths, might they bring peace and progress into the universe.>"

Rose chuckled at the formal wording the nova chose to use. "A bit preachy, if I might say so."

"Hey, what's a bit of white lying if it gets them to lay down their arms?" Flynt smiled as the Yangurraa rose, leaving their weapons in the dirt. "<Thank you, my descendants. May our families come together again like they were in our time.>"

"So does this mean the war is over?" Carbon slowly rose, easing Eve to her shaky feet. "Are we finally able to go home?"

"I'm not so sure about that. There's bad history between the great families, not to mention with Earth. We'll probably need to see them through to a stable peace." Evelyn grinned for the whole of her family. "I can't think of any better people to act as ambassadors for good."

Ilaria hooked her bow over her shoulder, knowing it would be a long time before she would ever need to wield it again. "Gladly done. It's an honor." She looked up at the dark sky, imagining the Starbreeze floating in orbit. "We might consider a working ship first."

"One step at a time, Lulu." Iolvin gave his twin sister a hug. "As dad always drilled into us, 'When you're unsure how to continue, keep putting one paw in front of the other.'"

---

"Three, two, one... Houp!" Ilaria eased a final boulder into place in a large pile with the aid of her brother and Adrian. "There. That should do it."

"A fitting final resting place for a warrior." Iolvin crouched near the dirt of Yangurraar's surface and scooped some grainy dust into his mildly bloody paw, sprinkling the sand back over the grave so a part of him remained with his father. "Thank you, dad. We love you."

"The whole fleet loves you, dad. You've inspired a lot of people." Ari pulled a rifle from her back and wedged it against the stones so it stood tall. She then loaded a magazine into the lower receiver and charged the first round. "So what was this little request all about? Did Carbon ever tell you?"

"No, but Sydney mentioned it when she was mourning." Adrian smiled through tears as he recalled the details. "She said he wanted to be buried with his service rifle fully at the ready, so that the next person behind him could protect what he left behind."

"Sentimental to the end. At least that request isn't illegal here, dad." Ari too reached for the dirt to add her blood to the burial. "You've fought long and hard. Time to rest."

Yoyo stood and headed back to Lilith and the damaged orbiter. "I need a drink. Join me for a toast in his honor?"

"I think I could use a hard drink myself for once." Dee waved to Lilly and the fluff drake stood to power up the transport. "Hey... You coming, Ari?"

"No... I need a few minutes." Ari's paw clutched the pair of wedding rings hanging from her neck. "I might have lost too much in all of this. Just... let me cope. I'll take the next boat."

"Lulu, that won't do. You're not going catatonic on us again." Yoyo walked up to his sister and clutched his paws around hers from behind. "You didn't see yourself after Robby. You didn't see how sad it made mom and dad. You didn't... see me crying for you every night, much as I hate to admit it."

"Shit... I'm sorry, Yoyo--"

"Lulu, no. We all loved her, but she was your mate. You two had something special, and when she died... so did that part of you. But since then I've seen you bounce back into an amazing leader and everyone's best friend." Yoyo drooped his head against his twin's and matched his breathing to hers. "We share everything, even our burdens... but you took up this war effort and let it fill that void inside of you. I'm proud of you, sis. Our kids wouldn't have a future without you."

Ari dropped her paws to her sides, then spoke up over the radio. "Lilly, is Ex tied down tight?"

"The big guy's leg fell off so that might be iffy, but he's strapped in alright. We're good to fly."

"Alright. Let's get--" Out of nowhere a portal opened beside the two, leading into an elevator airlock on the Starbreeze. "Girls? I thought you couldn't use portals around here... Oh, they're not there."

"Well maybe we should take it before their brains explode." Adrian hopped through first, beckoning the others behind him. "Come on. Hurry."

Ari took that advice and jumped through the wavering portal herself. "Lilly? Leave without us. My girls found a way to port us up."

"Really? Uh... Sure, I'll meet you guys up there soon."

"Thanks, Lilly. Sorry to leave you alone on the return." Ari held out a paw and guided her brother through as the portal began to shrink. "Crap, that was close. Why do you think they went through the extra effort?"

Yoyo shrugged his shoulders as he began cycling the airlock. "Don't you have that watch set to speed dial them?"

"Oh, right." Ari tried her watch, typing out a basic message to Mikhaila's watch. "Huh. They usually respond right away what with the Link to their devices. I guess they're busy?"

"That's what scares me." Dee groaned as he removed his helmet in the freshly cycled atmosphere. "They've calmed down a lot, but this reeks of their old mischief."

"Yeah, I can agree there." Yoyo went to open the inner hatch, but realized the airlock that was chosen connected to the vacuum-breached Aft Cargo Bay. "Well that's a no-go. I guess we're waiting on them again?"

"Right on time." Another portal opened to a dimly lit area, this passage holding much more stable than the last. "They must be tracking us with Prisma's security systems. Probably best not to keep them waiting if they're so into this."

Yoyo nodded in agreement as he passed through the portal, then stifled a chortle of laughter at what he found on the other side. "Lulu, you gotta see this."

"Hm?" Ari walked through into Carbon's bedroom, where the hybrid was currently scissoring vigorously with Evelyn on the bed. "Gods, Yoyo! Maybe they wanted some privacy?"

"Oh, wow." Dee hopped into the new area and the portal closed. "Well your girls wanted us to see them, apparently."

"Huh?" Carbon froze as she turned to face the peeping furs, then slowly continued gyrating her hips upon recognizing it was her family. "Back so soon? How'd it go, the burial? And... how did you get here so quick?"

"It was nice. You should visit when you're, uh... done here." Ari walked over to a sofa and sat down to hide her growing arousal. "So you missed out to be with Eve?"

"Well, we originally were just getting her checked out, but then Flynt decided to go exploring or something. He said something caught his eye." Carbon shivered as her climax crept up on her, the hybrid snaking her otter tail between the two mashed cunts so the fur would tickle them just right. "I-I figured, wh-why n-not?"

"Hey, I won't judge. It's not every day you get your dead... wife... back..." Yoyo stopped himself and sat down beside his sister, his arm going around her shoulder to comfort her. "Sorry, Lulu."

"It's fine. I'm fine."

"Oh, you too?" The hallway door shut as Sydney hopped through the bulkhead. "I guess your girls have some kind of treasure hunt going. They said to meet someone in..." The meerkat suddenly lost the strength to stand straight as she spotted Evelyn on the bed, climaxing as hard as ever with her legs wrapped around Carbon. "Eve!? B-But... When!? How!?"

Eve trembled as she came down from her euphoric high, her teary eyes locked on Sydney's own. "I-I... Uh..."

"You never told her? Seriously?" Ari stood to help Sydney take her place on the couch. "What the hell, guys?"

"We just got back and Sydney was on the Starbreeze with the kids." Carbon stopped her motions, giving up on her own pleasure for the sake of her mates. "I'm sorry, Meerkitten. I was just so happy to see her, and we had a moment..."

"Oh no, please fuck the shit out of her. Just invite me next time." Cid wobbled to her hindpaws and pounced her returned wife. "I'm so bloody glad you're alive, Eve."

"I love you too, Sydney."

"She came back thanks to her brother. You should thank him later." Ari slumped back into her seat to watch the three lovers hug and cuddle, but a moment later her twins walked in through the hallway hatch. "You two are actually using doors now? Damn, those portals must have really drained you. Are you alright?"

<Yeah. We're a bit out of energy and haven't slept in three days, but we're good.> The 'M's walked over to their mother and sat in their lap. <You're all here. Good. We have something to show you.>

"Gods, I knew this was going too well. What's broken this time?" Ari read her children's troubled expressions and escalated higher. "Are those other alien species after us now? What's wrong, girls?"

Michelle rested her head in her mother's bosom as she signed a slow, cautious message. <We have something to show you, but... we're not sure if you'll like it now that we're done.>

"I'm sure it can't be too bad..."

Mikhaila followed suit, opting to nuzzle her mother's neck. <We can't take it back. We just... We can't. It would be wrong. Please don't hate us if you don't agree.>

"Mikhaila, Michelle... I will never, so long as I live, feel anything but love for you two. You're my whelps. I love you more than life itself." Having made her stance clear, Ilaria placed her paws on her children's heads and rubbed between their ears gently. "Now, don't be afraid. Just be the confident women I've seen you grow into and make me proud."

The two girls still seemed nervous, fidgeting between themselves as they discussed something via Link. Then they both sat up, turned to face their mother, and brought her to tears. "Ouee ahf... lahf ouh."

"G-Girls... My g-gods..." Ari pulled her children into a tight embrace, letting her tears fall where they may. "I love you too. I love both of you so, so much. Thank you. I love this gift."

The girls shook their heads as they opened a new portal. <That's... not what we need to show you. Here, this way...>

"Girls, don't pout. These are happy tears." Ari lifted her girls off her lap and stood, only now noticing the vapor furnace hangar-turnedWorkshop through the portal as Dee passed through. "We're going back to your evil lair? You have a project to show me?"

<Yeah...>

"Oh, hey Ellie. What are you doing here?" Dee waved to his obscured brother, enticing the remainder of the room to hurry through the portal as well. "Oh, what? A secret?"

"A secret, eh? Now this sounds fun." Iolvin followed his husband, beckoning his sister as he walked. "Maybe we should grab Zoë and the kids? Your girls tend to make... fun... The fuck is...?"

"Yoyo?" Ilaria finally passed through behind the others, her girls hopping through the portal last and closing it. "It's a bit dark in here. Where'd you guys go?"

Completely catching Adrian off guard, Yoyo found the surprise and eventually fainted at the sight. "Gods..."

"Yoyo! Damn...it..." Dee caught his husband, but upon noticing the surprise himself his arms went limp and he dropped Yoyo with a thunk. "How...?"

"Wh-What...?" Sydney fell to her knees in shock, clinging to her completely frozen mates for support. "A-Ari... you really need to... um..."

"What in the name of the gods could make Yoyo drop?"

Flynt rounded a corner to inspect the group, notably to see if Yoyo was injured. "I was surprised too seeing this innovation."

"Girls, what did you do?"

<Mom, wait! Please... keep calm.> The twins stopped their mother before she rounded a cargo container between her and the surprise. Mik reached up and snapped the chain from Ari's neck, then Chelle placed the two rings in her mother's paw. <Happy anniversary, mom.> "Ouee lahv ouh."

"I love you... too..."

Ilaria stepped forward, first noticing Elliot near some kind of medical table mixed with a coffin. A moment of blank staring turned awkward as Ellie backed away from the table with a soft smile. Ari took another two steps and froze in place right next to her unconscious brother. She nearly suffered the same fate as she examined the surprise. Wiring and tubes pumping glowing liquids ran into the odd device. Following this collection of connections, Ari shook upon spotting warm chocolate patterns of artificial fur. Eventually her eyes settled into a staring match with another set, deep copper camera apertures glowing dim yellow around the edges. The creation looked confused yet happy all the same, a large, billowing tail flapping about excitedly and tipping over a familiar urn.

Ilaria's teeth chattered in excitement, a smile forming even as solid streams of tears cascaded down her face. "...Pillow?"

"...Ottah?"

---

One girl / in all the world / dreaming of the stars,

she tried to soar / but failed much more / and almost fell too far.

All the world / in one girl / as she finds her dream,

for now two girls / share both their worlds / and all the stars between.

One Squirrel, / one Otter girl, / and Tanuki three,

with daughters curled / they found their world / was always family.

--One Girl in All the World, Robyn Winchester Rihzyet and her loving family.