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First of all, I want to say how sorry I am for how delayed this chapter had become. It ended up coming at a chaotic time in my life where things for the past month haven't been entirely smooth sailing. Still, the waters are calmer and my writing has returned! This chapter also underwent a ton of revisions and rewrites before it was up to my standard and where I want it to be, and I hope it doesn't show too much in the writing itself.

This chapter also has the egg laying scene voted upon by all of you! It is my first time writing such content and it (might) show, and it is surprisingly rare to find good, oviposition related stuff to use as learning or reference material! Still, I hope I did it some justice at least, and it happens between Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 2:47 PM and Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 6:22 PM

Now, Ayo's story is coming to a close shortly. I said I estimated around 12 chapters and I was more or less accurate. It looks like there will be roughly 13, maybe 14 plus an epilogue as a bonus chapter (a free bonus, not a paid-for when it is published). As always, I'd like to thank my editor gryph Mythril Silverfor proofing everything. Enjoy!

Second Note: Also, I'll be starting another vote after Chapter 12 is posted, giving you, the readers, a chance to influence my next story. I have three different ideas in mind, all of which I'm more than eager to pursue. So, when it comes time for it, you'll get a say in which comes next!

Visions Of The Fang

Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 9:52 AM

The tent smelled faintly of incense, a kind of vanilla infusion that calmed the raptor laying prone within. Her eyes were closed and the crest feathers above her head were periodically twitching. She wasn't asleep, not truly, but she wasn't aware of her surroundings either; she was in the powerful grip of a vision, attempting to follow the strings of fate once more. Subira Sightseer smiled faintly in her vulnerable state, finally only seeing one thread leading her forward. She knew exactly where it would lead and she was content with that.

All her life she had tried to follow the threads of fate, delicately plucking one or another from her visions and hoping the narrative it followed led somewhere desirable. Was she always right? No, far from it really. Often, her choices had unseen ramifications or had to be determined long before she understood the full scope of things. Some were outright anomalies, such as Ayo.

Her snout twitched upward in a faint smile in her hazy state before her expression switched back to neutrality. There was an interesting anomaly indeed. The initial threads she tried to follow would have removed Ayo from the picture, not out of spite for the female, but rather to control her would-be mate, Kibwe. In the end, it had been a fluke of personality that had separated the pair rather than any manipulations on Subira's end. To think, the dilo now featured prominently in every thread she had attempted to weave for the past several months, though whatever fate was in store for the dilo wasn't for Subira to know.

She was still attempting to follow the loose threads of fate, though little of them remained for her to follow when she was disturbed in the waking world. It was a jarring thing, going from the infinite void of one's mind into the limited reaches of reality. She shook her head and the raptor before her stood silent, head bowed in reverence. Her eldest daughter and her replacement, as well as one of the few who was clued into Subira's secrets. Not that those would matter after today, Subira thought in a bemused fashion. It was a liberating feeling, to be free of fate's whims.

"He has done it, hasn't he?" Subira spoke as she slowly stood, feeling the age of her body tell itself in full. Just a little longer, that is all she needed. A few more hours.

The female before her nodded and Subira saw the sorrow in her replacement's eyes. Subira placed a paw upon her daughter's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "You are the future of our people now. Keep them safe."

"I will, Matron." It was all that had to be said. A solemn promise and one that didn't require the Sight to believe.

Subira had scrambled a small, but elite force of raptors for this very event, and now each of them stood ready to support her. None of them were her first pick, elite as they may be, as the majority of them were career criminals. The scum of the earth, but they had all willing volunteered to help her into the religious center of their people. The place where it all began years ago for both her and the Prophet. She closed her eyes, seeing the threads of fate dancing at the edge of her vision before she opened them and regarded each snout before her with love and respect.

"You all know the stakes. I did not sugarcoat it," each snout before her nodded, knowing exactly what lies in store for them. "You have the Clan's respect for this choice, knowing that you will give your lives so others may live. Each of you has been pardoned from any crimes you may have committed and may go into the next world free of guilt."

No raptor that stood in front of her was innocent. All of them had committed some crime or another, ranging from petty theft to rape and murder. But each of them desired absolution before their passing and were willing to do whatever it took to ensure they received it. She inhaled deeply before them and turned around, leading them toward their fate.

Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 9:52 AM

Ayo jerked awake, heart thudding in her chest from such a vivid dream. It took her a moment to understand where she was, closing her eyes and regulating her breathing to try and slow her rapidly beating heart. She felt motion behind her and it took several seconds for it to register in her mind that she wasn't hallucinating that solid, warm form and she pressed her back in against the male's chest. She remembered, now, that Umid had been up with her all night trying to solve their current issue and had passed out in her tent. Ayo didn't have the heart to wake him up the night before and must have settled down beside him.

For the moment, she wasn't about to complain, as his presence helped to calm her body in the wake of her dream. She frowned, trying to remember what exactly she had seen within it. She knew it was important, but for the life of her, she couldn't recall the details of it. She sighed, feeling Umid stir behind her somewhat and press himself even closer, draping one of his legs over the top of hers.

She had returned to the camp with Kali in toe as quickly as she could after her deal with the Feather, thinking that the allied forces would have launched a full-fledged attack upon the combined Tuk-Talon forces. Instead, she found out the exact opposite had happened; that the Tuk had sealed the ancient, ceremonial gates to their pyramid and stopped the march dead in its tracks. The allied commanders of the Heart and Claw had been trying to figure out how to get around it and were agitated by it in the first place.

Within less than a week, the entire army was restless. Siege warfare wasn't something raptors were used to, more so such a protracted siege where their only enemy was a large stone gate. Raptors desired the heat of battle, the ferocity and the blood rage. They got none of that when their only opponent was stone. Scouts had quickly reported that the gates had been closed on all five pathways into the heart of the city, and were guarded by what amounted to a token garrison; a few dozen bodies above each, hurling insults or playing a loud, obnoxious drum at all hours of the day and night.

They had tried applying allos as brute force, but they hardly left a dent after hours of hammering away at the gate. Whatever forward momentum they had was gone in an instant, and it bred laziness and worry. Many raptors just wanted to go home, and without a real objective, their desires were growing louder and louder. Raptors never were good at being idle, and within the first two weeks, Kibwe had to dismiss nearly half of the army. Due to obligations with other Clans, the majority of them returned to the other pyramids rather than the Heart.

Ayo felt the idleness herself, of course, but she wondered how Kibwe managed to cope with it. She snorted, knowing exactly how but not wanting to truly admit it to herself. Sauda had started walking around with a smug air ever since Ayo had returned to the camp and while Kibwe seemed himself, Ayo noticed he couldn't quite meet her eye. Over time, both of those attitudes changed as restlessness and the futility of the siege got to everyone. Sauda no longer flaunted her sexual conquest of Kibwe in front of Ayo, and Kibwe, for his part, seemed to take charge once again.

Not that that made much of a difference in terms of the campaign before them. Over time, the morning meetings seemed more of a chore than something necessary, and slowly everyone stopped coming to them. Ayo was among the last, but even she saw how little such a thing mattered when nothing changed. Stand around and wait was a frequent term passed around the camp, and until now, Ayo never truly understood it.

Ayo wiggled her way free of Umid's grasp and slowly brought herself to standing, finding herself without anything to do. It was still something she was having problems wrapping her head around, and while she had appreciated it at first, having been swept up in the turmoil for the past several months, her body was itching to do something again.

She found herself as jumpy as a raptor, purposefully going out of her way to keep busy whereas just a scant few weeks ago she had more to do than most dilos had in their lifetime. She had just started to prep food, something that actually was a reasonable task when the flap of her tent was pushed open by an ash feathered raptor.

The entrance brought Umid out of his sleep and Yeva, who had entered, had her eyes dart from one dilo to the other with a questioning tilt of her head. She kept her snout shut until Umid groggily stood up. "Ayo, I think that tea is working." It took Ayo a moment to comprehend, all while Umid looked on in confusion.

After understanding, Ayo cleared her throat and silently dismissed Umid. Thankfully, he retreated without question, though certainly one lingered in his eye. Yeva, however, had a question right off the bat, "Did you find someone else?" It was straight to the point and made Ayo flush before the dilo waved it away.

"No. Umid just slept here. There was nothing else to it," there was, of course. Umid had, for weeks, shown that he was interested in her. Practically from the moment the two met, and even after Ayo explained that her heart belonged to another, Umid said he'd be patient. Truthfully, it was flattering in a way.

The tea, however, was something else entirely. It had nothing to do with Umid, but everything to do with both females. Neither Ayo nor Yeva had laid their clutch yet, but both knew it was time. The tea was a simple thing (sadly, Ayo would have preferred a complex recipe to keep herself occupied) that was meant to 'encourage' the laying period. Usually brought on by burning incense.

Ayo couldn't tell if it was working or not, as she had never used the tea before. She felt the same this morning as she had the past few: bloated, grouchy, slow, and because of the stalled campaign, irritated. Still, she shrugged, "I can certainly light the few herbs I have," worst case scenario is it wouldn't encourage her body to start the laying process, but she could still be there for Yeva.

Females were encouraged to lay in pairs, even if their timing didn't match up. Males had no interest in such a thing, after all - the vast majority only wanted to help fertilize them, not aid in laying them. Plus, if something went wrong, they wouldn't know how to react and, instinctively, a female would. Yeva had approached Ayo about it and Ayo was more than happy to agree; she didn't know any other female in the camp well enough for such a thing, after all.

Having something to do helped calm Ayo's mind, all while Yeva made herself comfortable. The female raptor tugged over what few blankets and pillows lined Ayo's floor into a large pile; one she unceremoniously plopped herself upon. The dilo, in the meanwhile, gathered up the necessary herbs and bowls required for the ritual. While Ayo had never put much stock in such things, usually selling them as placebo-style medicines, she figured there was no harm in it. She had helped in her neighbor's laying many times before and was comfortable that she could assist Yeva if anything went wrong.

Ayo took an ember that had survived the fire she ran from the night before and applied it to the combined herbs. She fanned the flame for several moments until it caught, controlling it until it was a slow burn and not a wildfire. Bobbing her head in satisfaction, she stepped back and moved toward Yeva, settling the bowl nearby and then placing herself beside her friend.

Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 2:47 PM

Even unassisted, laying took time. Ayo knew that as well as any other female who was of age, having laid several unfertilized clutches in the past. Most of the eggs for those clutches went to the market or alchemical uses; eggs were a delicacy for some, though Ayo found it a little barbaric, not to mention somewhat cannibalistic. It also turned her stomach to think that some mothers (especially where dilos and allos were concerned) could potentially give up fertile eggs as well, to hide their infidelity or to pass on the responsibility.

Normally there was no real warning, just a shifting feeling in the belly and then an instinctual knowledge to get somewhere safe. Ayo hadn't been struck by that when morning rolled around, but after the scent of the herbs had started to linger in a haze, that instinct crashed over her in waves. She moved closer to Yeva and the raptoress did the same. They spent several hours in near silence, just waiting.

Yeva, who had felt it was the right day, broke that silence with a gasp. Ayo's paws grasped her friend's shoulders, feeling tremors run through the raptor's frame as her eyes scrunched shut and her top leg lifted up. It wasn't the first time that Ayo had shared an intimate experience with Yeva, and thus she wasn't hesitant at all to shift her eyes downward and watch.

Yeva went from laboured breathing and gasps that sounded nearly like pain to a sudden moan. Alongside that moan came the shape of a pale egg pushing past the lips of the raptor's cloaca. Ayo was ready to move if necessary, but the egg lingered on the edge for only a moment before almost popping free in a trail of slime; falling safely upon layered cloth that had been bundled between the two beforepaw.

Ayo was going to move to clean that egg when she felt a sudden shift in her own belly, making her own eyes snap shut. She grit her teeth as she felt the movement of an egg within her, grateful that their anatomy knew to only try and pass _one_at a time. Her breathing rapidly joined Yeva's - short, laboured gasps as her own leg lifted and the toes upon it curled inward. It was hard to explain the feeling: a kind of pain that just hurt so good. It was the rush that came with it that every female desired, but damn if she didn't suddenly hate Kibwe with every fiber of her being for a moment.

Even if, technically, he had nothing to do with it.

Then all at once, the uncomfortable pleasure in her abdomen gave and she felt that pleasantly odd sensation of something pushing through her cloaca. She managed to pry her eyes open, her head still tilted down to look between her friend's legs and, now, her own. Her own vent was being pushed open by the crown of an egg and from the movements of Yeva's frame; she had another on the way as well.

She watched in idle fascination as the egg pushed itself further into the world, helped along by tight muscle contractions that squeezed outward, rather than in. Having taken a male now, Ayo could tell entirely that the two provided pleasure in different ways, and caused her body to react accordingly. Her vent wasn't trying to suckle the fertile life from a male, but rather was trying to push the life it had created out into the open. She bit her lip as the widest point stretched her, leg kicking in the air before it slipped free with an almost-lewd slorp, sliding down to join Yeva's egg as a second one was stretching her friend wide.

Then her attention was cut once more by that uncomfortable pleasure. The second egg and beyond, however, were always easier. Her body was still riding on that high and thus even as the egg passed into her cloaca from the deeper egg chamber, she hardly noticed the bloated sense of discomfort. Rather, she only felt the pleasured desire of it passing through her channel and she knew it'd be easier from then on out, riding the waves of pleasure as another egg slipped free and joined the pile.

Raptors and dilos tended to have comparable clutches, roughly four-to-six eggs, though the size of the eggs was different; raptor eggs also tended to be a pale white whereas a dilo's was spackled and more of a true white. There was, as such, no risk to the eggs getting mixed up even as Yeva pushed her fifth one free, panting hotly and shuddering, grasping onto Ayo as she gave a nod of her head. Instinctively, she knew it was done.

Ayo, in total, pushed free four eggs, but something stuck in her pleasure-addled mind as that fourth egg lingered at the threshold and her body signaled, somehow, that it was done. Ayo pushed herself flush to her friend, contorting her lower half in the process until her stretched vent, with that crowning egg, met Yeva's. The raptor's eyes went wide and Ayo grinned in a nearly drunk manner as the egg slipped free of Ayo's body... and right into Yeva's.

The sound the raptor made was one of pure, pleasured surprise. The larger female was still riding out her pseudo-climax and thus wasn't prepared to suddenly have an egg pushed into her. She trembled, grasping Ayo even closer and grinding her hips forward, the contractions of her muscles pushing that egg back out of her and right back into Ayo.

It was weird, to say the least. She gasped from the feeling of her cloaca stretching around something that fit her body just... perfectly, unsurprising when one considers that it came out of her body. Her body, aroused as it was, took that penetration as that of a normal one and she felt that egg traveling back up that vent, making her toes curl once more while the shell of it stretched and prodded right up against every sensitive spot. Then all at once, her body seemed to recognize what that intrusion was and 'reversed', pushing it back out again.

While traveling in 'reverse', it once more moved over every little pleasure point, making her back arch and causing her snout to move up, smashing against Yeva's as the two females shared a strangely intimate moment. Ayo felt Yeva shudder against her as that egg once more pushed its way back into the raptor, Yeva rapidly grinding her vent against the dilo's in the process until the egg once more prodded Ayo's vent.

Ayo completely lost track of time, her mind warped by pleasure and body wracked by a countless number of micro orgasms, each one seemingly better than the last. When at last the suddenly-lewd laying stopped, it was with Ayo rolling onto her back in a panting heap and Yeva laying that spackled egg one final time, the thing slipping free in a surge of fluid and landing harmlessly with the others.

The two females lay there, grasping one another while panting hotly. Their recovery took even longer, longer than it would for an average laying. Ayo, once the high started to wear off, felt positively sapped. She felt as if she had run around the entire city. Twice.

Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 6:22 PM

Eventually two potentially mothers-to-be started to get their acts together, cleaning each other up (which nearly started another lewd bout, since they used their tongues) before shifting their attention toward the pile of laid eggs. Ayo looked sidelong at Yeva and saw a mixture of emotions on that ashen feathered snout, making Ayo frown for a moment.

Yeva's love life was about as complicated as Ayo's, though at least she had a happy ending. Stuck as she had been in an uncaring harem at the peak of her fertility, there was a high chance that every egg present belonged to that harem and the leader who cared not one iota for the female formerly known as Goldheart. However, Yeva did get a happy ending - her pseudo death had freed her from the harem hierarchy, and while recently she had rejoined at the request of Kibwe himself, he had manipulated the system so she was a harem of her own. Because Yeva had no political ambitions, that suited her just fine as she had no desire to climb the social ladder as the majority of raptors would.

Now, of course, there was no hiding that she had a lover. Yeva positively reeked of Dejen, his scent clinging to every one of her feathers. Plus she had a kind of glow around her. One that, ironically, Ayo thought almost made Yeva live up to her former name of Goldheart, even if her plumage was one of ash now.

Ayo, however, had no such illusions as to who the father potentially could be. There was, after all, only one male who had laid with her - Kibwe.

The two moved almost hesitantly, firstly sorting the eggs into separate piles, then moving on instinct alone. Ayo couldn't describe quite what led her to set two of her eggs aside, but deep down she knew one thing in the pit of her stomach, even as her stomach turned. They were fertile.

They were Kibwe's.

Yeva, however, wore a sad smile. She didn't move one egg aside and gave a slow bob of her head, "All duds," she murmured. She seemed almost happy with the fact, and at the inquisitive glance from Ayo, she continued. "Dejen never got to breed me when I was still fertile. Or, at least, not at the peak of it. Maybe my last week or so?" She shrugged.

"Regardless, there was a slim chance of any of them being his... and I'm happier knowing that none of them belong to another male." Even if raptors didn't raise their young traditionally, Ayo knew that breeding lines were important, though it was reverse of how a dilo (or allo) would look at it. The father gave prestige to the mother, not to the child. The child had to earn their own prestige, and that could later come by either by impregnating a female of higher standing or becoming impregnated by a male that was.

Still, Yeva moved to Ayo's two fertile eggs and frowned. "What do you want to do?" A mother's species is what the offspring would become, period. It was why, despite Kibwe's father being an allosaurus, he was a raptor himself. Their offspring, as a result, would be Dilophosaurus. Ayo had never heard of a mother raising young by herself, but she was hesitant to smash the eggs or give them away as 'accidental' sales.

"I'll figure something out," she offered with a smile, moving to stand up on wobbly legs and get the two eggs safely bundled up, safely placed within a pre-made box of thatch and mud. Yeva silently collected the remaining unfertilized eggs in the meantime; standing up on equally unsupportive legs and taking them out of the tent with a soft goodbye to the otherwise engrossed Ayo.

Ayo was unsure of how long she stood there before the two eggs, occasionally moving a paw forward to rub it along the surface. Every part of her rebelled against the idea of giving them away or making them have an 'accident', and yet she didn't know what to do about them. Her mind constantly returned to the fact that dilos never were single mothers. Oh, dilos could separate or find new lovers, but their offspring always had a mother and a father. Barring natural disasters, of course.

Everyone Ayo knew, of course, would know that the father wasn't out of the picture due to some freak accident. No, they would all know they were the offspring of Kibwe, and while that might be silently swept under the rug if she took another as a mate, while she was single her social status among her own kind would plummet.

The argument swirled in her brain while the light ebbed out in the underground world, settling from late afternoon to full-blown darkness. She had, at some point, unknowingly lit a candle with a coal from the earlier incense, and it was in that dim light that she was finally brought out of her reverie.

A familiar snout poked through the entrance of her tent, the raptor beyond clearing his throat and getting Ayo's attention and, nearly, ire. It was only because she recognized him that he was saved from the latter, more so when his eyes darted from her to the eggs and back again, "Kibwe asked me to come and get you."

It was Juhi Stoneheart, one of the raptors that had formerly been under her command prior to the falling out between her and Sauda. She lost any ire she may have had at once and stepped away from her eggs, toward the male with neon-green highlights in his feathers. His lot in life had improved over the last few weeks as well, with his service to the Heart (and Ayo) bumping him up in the hierarchy quite a lot within Kibwe's eyes. As such he was placed within Kibwe's harem.

Kibwe also seemed to regain control of his harem, and his Clan, further by diluting Sauda's control with every new member of his harem. Within those scant few weeks, he had added two others, including a political member from the Feather Clan.

"Has something changed?" Ayo asked, turning her full attention toward the male. A grin cracked his features as he bobbed his head.

"The Talon has come to talk terms."

That was a big change and, without so much as another word, Ayo rushed to get herself prepared. Physically, there was little for her to do, but mentally? She had to hide plenty of emotions away. "That's good. Perhaps finally this damned war will end."

Ayo followed Juhi out of her tent, past her own collective force of dilos and allos. Oddly, she had the largest standing army out of any of the individual tribes. Collectively, the four allied tribes outnumbered her ragtag bunch, but no one Clan fielded a full army anymore. Not after basically spending the past three weeks staring at a stone door.

Surprisingly, racial tensions and hatred seemed to have calmed down since the story of what happened to the Feather passed around. That coupled with the odd growths and mutations within the members of the Tuk had directed the hatred of the Bitah'ta toward the Tuk Clan entirely, meaning they were ready to see it through to the end no matter what.

They were, of course, uncomfortable when several of the tribes started to bring in slaves to take care of their comforts and needs, but after a time her Bitah'ta could ignore them; an uncomfortable reality that they didn't want to face.

Even if she didn't have the camp memorized by that point, it would have been painfully obvious of where the command center of it all was - nearly every raptor in the camp seemed to be crowded around it, trying to see or hear what was happening within that central, long tent. Ayo, by way of being one of the few commanders, was allowed past the guards that kept everyone else at bay. Juhi, however, took up a post with those guards, seemingly only tasked with informing and escorting Ayo.

Inside the tent was little better, with Ayo having to squeeze her way past a plethora of snouts she didn't recognize just to be crammed near the front, standing alongside the heads of the other Clans. That got a look of confusion from a male wearing the colours of the Talon, no doubt their envoy to the allied forces. "The Seers aren't joining us, then?" spoke that envoy after brushing Ayo's arrival off as inconsequential.

"They've camped by themselves, out near their own pyramid," the rest of the allied forces had stayed together by Kibwe's sheer force of will alone, rather than entirely leaving. Kibwe figured that keeping them together meant that the Tuk couldn't get any ideas and attack them while they were separated and isolated from one another. The threat of their unification was always there, right outside one of the Tuk's gateways.

"Well, regardless, our leader wanted us to talk terms specifically with you, Kibwe," a smart idea, Ayo thought - Kibwe didn't care one iota for the political game, after all, and any terms would be light.

Ayo tuned out much of the conversation, only nodding along or throwing in her two-cents where necessary. As she predicted, Kibwe's terms were light: the Talon was to pay reparations to the Claw for their efforts against them and to remove all featherless raptors that had come from the Tuk from any positions of power. The latter had already been done, the envoy declaring that the Talon had done some 'house cleaning' before he ever left.

As the Claw Matron and the envoy argued over their payment, however, a guard rushed inside. Ayo felt bad for the raptor and hoped the news was truly important, as every snout was glaring at him for the interruption. He hesitated for a moment, like prey caught out in the open, before he seemed to recall why he was there in the first place. "The Tuk opened their gate."

Everyone in the room tensed as one, waiting for bad news, but it never came, "They've sent a small party out to discuss surrender." There was a strained silence for several long heartbeats then, followed by a chorus of voices and emotions, each seemingly trying to be louder than the last. The energy carried and Ayo heard the entire camp outside celebrating in some form or another beyond. She frowned, not quite believing it herself, but it wasn't her place to speak up. Not yet.

Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 7:08 PM

The Tuk were clearly not hiding who they were anymore, as their cloaks had all been discarded in favor of showing what they were underneath. All eight of the raptors that entered the tent, escorted by several guards with cloaks of every colour, were missing patches of feathers or entirely featherless. That fact alone earned them uncomfortable stares from every soul present and even Ayo's stomach turned sour at the sight of it. One of the eight stepped forward, clearly speaking for the rest.

"The Great Prophet has sent us here to talk about our unconditional surrender." That was even more surprising to Ayo, as well as everyone else. The murmurs from outside rose in pitch as the words no doubt traveled liked wildfire.

The lead raptor of the group stepped aside and another two moved forward. Ayo noticed for the first time that they carried a small chest between them, and they lifted it up, placing it gingerly upon the table in the center of the tent. They bowed their featherless heads and stepped back, allowing one of the gathered allies to open it. What was within made every eye shine with greed and caused Ayo's stomach to sour even further.

Piled within the chest was more silver than Ayo had ever seen in her lifetime. While silver was a weaker currency than the raptor's favored Golden feathers, it was a currency that never faded. Clearly, the sheer amount of it in the chest earned the attention of every snout but Ayo's. Also Kibwe's, from the quick glance Ayo spared in his direction.

Conversation from there happened rapidly and while Ayo tried to get a word in about the horrors the Tuk had committed and that they shouldn't be won over by a pile of silver, no matter how shiny, she could hardly be heard over the din. Eventually, the voices quieted down as the head of the Tuk's precession spoke up once more.

"Our Great Prophet would like to invite everyone to a feast, to celebrate the end of the war and, hopefully, the continued prosperity of the Clans going forward. He is willing to meet with each leader or Matron and talk concessions as needed."

Ayo was glad to see that, even as Sauda and most of the other leaders gathered were bobbing their heads, Kibwe and the Matron of the Feather both kept themselves expressionless. They either didn't buy it entirely or didn't think any concessions offered would be enough. From what the Matron lost, Ayo assumed she wouldn't accept anything less than blood. But, like Ayo, her voice might be lost in the crowd - one leader against many voices.

Kibwe cleared his throat and stood up from his seat, scythe-like talon upon his toe tapping several times as he considered. He saw, however, that he was outnumbered, "Tomorrow, then. If you are surrendering, it will be on our terms." The head of the featherless raptors frowned, but slowly bobbed his head.

"Of course. I shall return and let my master know, then. We will reopen the gate at 6 PM sharp." Ayo felt that they should keep the gates open regardless, but bit her tongue. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this was just another play by the Prophet. Already he was manipulating people and he wasn't even present. Ayo frowned and shook her head.

Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 10:08 PM

Subira had never known such exhaustion before. Nearly twelve hours straight she had been fighting, moving, and otherwise in motion. Those that had started the journey with her were dead, giving their lives to ensure she reached her goal - the top chamber of the pyramid, the one that housed the Prophet himself. It had taken hours and far too many lives, but finally, she had arrived at the stone door that led into the Prophet's chamber. Surprisingly, she had one another soul still alive with her. Sadly, she knew that beyond that door, it didn't matter. She steeled herself with one final, deep breath and nodded to her companion, who shoved it open with his shoulder. Immediately, a spear caught him in the throat and he toppled to the ground with a silent, gurgling scream.

Subira stepped around the death spasms of the one who had accompanied her so far and instead focused on what was ahead. The spacious chamber was occupied by just one creature, one living thing: the Prophet himself. He snorted with disgust at Subira, shaking his head. "It would have been far too convenient if you caught it, I suppose."

"I was not fated to die there," Subira spoke softly, even as she stepped within leaping range of the Prophet. Her visions now ended and she was, for the first time in so long, entirely in the dark. She smiled faintly at that.

"So what did your visions tell you, Subira? Should I be falling to the ground and begging for my life?" The Prophet spat, slamming the end of his staff upon the ground, snarling faintly. "I will not."

Subira shook her head slowly, "My visions have ended. In this room. With us. The same way they began, if I remember."

The Prophet hesitated for a moment, slowly untensing while he exhaled deeply. "The Shard refused me vision beyond this room as well." He frowned, shaking his featherless head afterward. "I don't need a prophecy to kill you, Mumbi."

Subira tensed at the name, making the Prophet smile, "Oh yes Masamba. I still remember everything. It's been eons, yet there was never any hiding who you were."

Subira nodded her head after a moment of silence, a sad grin appearing upon her lips, "You know me better than anyone else. And I know you. That's why I had to do what I did."

"Did you? We could have been rulers - the only ones in control of every Clan! We had a future, damn it, and you went and threw it all away because... because of a vision?"

"Because of your madness! The Shard isn't a gift, Mumbi, it's a curse!" The Prophet winced, snarling as the name was spoken aloud.

"Mumbi died the same night Masamba did."

Subira exhaled slowly, bobbing her head, "That they did."

The Prophet tilted his head, stepping forward while his paw gripped tight to his badge of office, that gnarled staff he kept by him at all times "The Shard picked both of us. If only you hadn't been scared by what you saw. But, I was also weak. I let you go out of a sense of loyalty and love. I should have killed you that night."

The Prophet's paw reached out, coming to lay upon one of Subira's own before both gasped aloud while a sickly green glow illuminated from the gnarled heart of the Prophet's staff.

Friday, June 15th, 1052 BSO; 9:52 PM

Mumbi groaned, shivering as he pulled himself free of the female below him, flopping upon his side while a paw idly started to trace mindless patterns in the feathers of her belly. Cum pooled between her thighs and his nose pressed flush to her neck, inhaling that warm, rich scent. It was as familiar and comforting as it had been for years and years. He still didn't quite understand the properties of the Shard, but close proximity had clearly extended his life, as well as hers. He was already a hundred and eighty-five, and the female beside him was just two years his younger.

They had 'died' at least twice over, recreating themselves afterward and then climbing back on top of the faithful - the leaders of the Tuk once more. He did it alone, no, as she was always by his side. His lover, his closest friend, and his sister. He couldn't ask for anything more.

Aside, perhaps, from stopping the slow spread of baldness. Already he had patches of feathers falling out and it agitated him to no end; he prided himself upon his looks, after all. It was a small price to pay for all the gifts he had received, however, "How many this time?" he asked his sister, tracing a claw over her belly.

"Six total. Four fertilized," She answered without hesitation, "Five if you put it back inside now."

He grinned, feeling himself stiffen once more until she rolled over and placed a paw on his chest, stopping him. He frowned at her, clearly confused. Her snout darted forward, planting a small lick at his snout. "We need to disappear again."

"Why, Masamba?" Mumbi asked, "We've only lived this life for forty years. Besides," he waved a paw dismissively, "The Shard told me that we don't need to pretend anymore. I'm already seen as a living God among the inner circle of the Tuk, after all."

Masamba frowned, "We need to distance ourselves from the Shard, Mumbi. It is," she looked sideways. "If we stay as we are, we'll become Gods, but we'll doom the city."

Mumbi snorted, "No. We'll rebuild it in our image. As it should be. The Shard whispered that to me - we are meant for greatness sister," he squeezed one of her paws in his, bumping the tip of his snout to hers as he tried to roll her upon her back again. That fifth egg was calling to him...

Once more her paw upon his chest stopped him and she slowly wiggled her way to stand up, moving over to their personal bath to wash clean her feathers. Mumbi frowned and slowly followed, making his way over toward her even as he left dribbles of mess along the ground in the process.

"The Shard is warping your mind, Brother. We need to distance ourselves from it, at least for a few years."

Mumbi tensed at the words and snorted after they had registered, shaking his head. "You've obviously lost touch with reality, sister. The Shard is _helping_us!"

"Helping?" She turned around and Mumbi saw tears in her eyes, making him take a step back in surprise. One of her claws found a feather and plucked it easily, showing off the neon green roots of it before she let it go to drift toward the ground. "Look at what it is doing to you, and that's just physical!"

Mumbi snarled softly, shaking his head in denial. He saw flashes of her in his mind, outlined in a sickly green glow. Of her leading a rebellion against him. Of her uniting the Clans to fight him. Of his own vision turned to dust because of her fright. Every part of his mind screamed to kill her, to grab her and push her down, to shove her snout under the water and hold her there until she stopped struggling.

But another part of him just couldn't do that. She was his sister. His lover. They had had countless young together and had founded a dynasty. Already he knew the Tuk were the most powerful and not just for their name. The only Clan that rivaled them at all was the Heart, and their current leader was wrapped around his claw.

"It has made us strong. It has ensured that we can thrive," he grasped her shoulders, holding her tightly, to the point of drawing blood, "We can live forever sister, as Gods."

"That might be your dream, but it is not mine. I don't want to be a God."

"And yet, you want to be a leader. A Matron, don't you? Of your own Clan."

Mumbi grinned wide as she tensed, "You aren't the only one granted visions, little sister."

"I want to establish a Clan that understands that we need to stand united, no matter where we come from."

"Even the dilos and allos?"

She flushed at that, looking away while Mumbi clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, "I see. Equality for all, but not quite everyone. See, I want us on top, too. After all, not every raptor is destined for greatness. They need someone to guide them, someone to lead."

He took a step away from her and moved toward the staff that had been discarded, tossed carelessly across the room when his sister had tempted him. He picked it back up, grasping it firmly and feeling the warmth from within it flow back through his body. He closed his eyes, turning slowly around once more as he slammed the butt of the staff upon the ground, his claws digging a new notch into it in the process. "Someone like me."

The Shard spoke clearly, telling him that his sister was a threat. One he had to kill here and now. To drag her snout down into the water and drown her, but he couldn't. He closed his eyes, waiting for the haze to fade before he opened them again. "You should leave."

Masamba's crest flattened for a moment before she slowly nodded her head, stepping away from the pool and moving closer to embrace her brother one last time. "I'll never stop caring about you, Mumbi. I'll never stop trying to save you. And hopefully, one day, you'll understand."

Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 10:16 PM

Subira shook her head as the visions faded, looking at her brother who, equally, seemed dazed. Old memories and feelings surfaced within her for a second, only to be snuffed out once more as she looked upon her brother's horrible form. Not a feather upon him and his eyes - those belonging to someone else. Not Mumbi.

However, for a fleeting moment, she saw Mumbi in them as the haze passed. The gnarled, withered staff that he had held for hundreds of years slipped from his grasp, clattering upon the ground and in his eyes, in that instance, she once again saw her brother. She almost cried out in relief as he took a staggered step toward her, "I understand, sister."

One of his paws rested in against his lower back, momentarily putting Subira on edge - but she waved it away. He was most likely feeling his age, heaven only knows she did some days. When her brother practically fell against her, pressing his snout in against her feathers and weeping silently, she instantly embraced him. "Then let us leave," she whispered soothingly.

"The Shard was wrong that day, sister," he whispered, one strong arm holding her close to him. "It was wrong. Drowning wouldn't have worked."

Subira tensed for a moment, but it was far too late. That paw behind the prophet's back surged around and forward, plunging a dagger into her stomach. "Stabbing is much more reliable." He whispered.

He held her as she bled out, her body convulsing against his and her blood flowing out over his hide. During the brief time as she bled out, gutted as she was, he soothed her. For a few moments, she saw her old brother and lover, crisscrossed with the madness of who he had become. In the end, the madness had won and as her vision faded away, her world turned black and the last thing she saw was her brother cleaning the bloody blade of the dagger on her feathers. "Sleep now, sister. Your brother has a better world to make."

Friday, June 15th, 739 BSO; 10:20 PM

Ayo jerked awake, trembling from head to toe. She had that nightmare again, a continuation of the one from the night before. She couldn't recall all the details of it, only that it was important that she recalled something about it. The Prophet. She remembered him clearly. Not a raptor, no, but a monster. She shivered, pressing herself back against... nothing. She had no comfort.

She slowly stood up, taking a moment so her legs didn't give out underneath her, and left the tent. She paused at the exit of the tent, but knew the two eggs would be safe. She needed physical comfort at the moment and her eggs couldn't provide that. She had grown used to it when she had been with Kibwe and now her body ached for it; for a way to ignore and banish the dreams. Her feet moved on their own and all the while the camp was just a swirl of noise and colours. She was whole unaware of where she was going until she pulled the flap of the tent aside and saw who was before her.

The male within slowly stirred at the noise, his first instinct being to grab the spear that lay beside him. His paw rushed out to grasp it, at least until his eyes settled on her. When he saw who it was, he slowly relaxed, allowing the spear to drop from his paw, although his crested head tilted in confusion. Ayo slowly moved inside, letting the tent flap close behind her once more. Wordlessly she made her way over to Umid and, just as silently, she pushed him back down with a firm paw, shoving him flat onto his back.

Kibwe, sadly, was lost to her. She loved him. That would never change in her heart of hearts, but the realization had finally dawned upon her that she was a dilo trying to live in a raptor's world. That would never do. Here though, in her own world, one made of her own people, she was powerful. She was in control. She was on top and she relished that feeling of control as she straddled Umid's frame.

She didn't think she'd ever be in love with Umid and for a moment that realization saddened her, almost made her feel guilty, but his devotion and care of her were apparent, as apparent as his lust was for her. A lust that he growled out, punctuated by a gasp of desire when she took his heated flesh into herself; almost at once, that guilt faded away, leaving behind only a tiny nagging at the back of her skull. She closed her eyes and started to ride, utterly ignoring her fears and doubts, instead rolling her hips up and down upon him as she let herself get lost in the moment. In the feeling and physicality of it all. She may never be in love with him, but maybe she could find a way to love him nevertheless. After all, her children needed a father. She shook her head, scrunching up her snout as she shoved herself down firm enough to cry out in pain. All of that could wait until later.

For now? Now she just needed an escape from the world, and the shaft throbbing inside of her as she rode it past the point of pain was the perfect way to do just that.