FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1

The Hunt

It was a beautiful morning and the wind gently swept over the banks of the river Tiglus to meet the first houses of the village of Felgan a few hundred metres away. Cyron stood at his front door, enjoying the fresh scent of the water that was blowing around his nose, and listening to the quiet hum of the water pumps and the water purification plants, which tirelessly took the river water to supply the population with drinking water. The first rays of the sun, which had begun to tickle the peaks of the mountains on the horizon, warmed his fur. He looked around contentedly, blinking his slightly narrowed eyes towards the fixed star of the planet Genro and let his thoughts drift. Genro was his home world, as it was for many Chafren, which looked very different. The Chafras are mostly Anthros, the AnChafren, i.e. upright living beings with a human character and the ability to think and speak logically. Their appearance is similar to that of an animal, and there are also four-legged chafras, the QuChafren. Each Chafren species had built its own city, because it failed to reconcile the demands of each species. The big and small cats lived in Felgan. In Strongham lived the dogs, wolves and hyenas, in Festan the anthro horses, Pegasi, unicorns and anthro deer, in Dragobar the dragons, in Trieden the griffins and in Taurel and Minzin the tauren and bulls. In Han-Dun, everyone met at the central market place to trade their products and goods. Smaller business was done on the respective village squares. From time to time flying merchants from other cities passed by, but this was rather rare. Every species had its specialities, which it offered for sale. The cats sold meat, which they caught on the hunt. The dogs were responsible for the living cattle, because not only chafras lived in the world but also normal four-legged creatures. The Minotaurs, also called bulls, were responsible for heavy materials such as rocks, ores and other mineral resources. The Tauren had taken over the transportation and did this by using the appropriate livestock or did it themselves by clamping themselves to the carts.

The griffins were responsible for fresh eggs and poultry and the equids for fresh fruit. Only the dragons stayed out of all this, and nobody had ever really seen one before, one only knew that they existed.

Cyron pondered about life while he warmed his tiger skin from the sun. Funny, he was forty-five years old at the time, he'd heard about dragons from his parents' stories and also that they had a city, but seen, no, he'd never seen one. So they either fended for themselves completely alone or they didn't exist. Personally, he tended towards the latter, which also gave him a certain degree of blind confidence. Damn, what would he do if a dragon suddenly stood opposite him? But that was a hypothetical question, because there were no dragons. But what was very real was his partner Stella. She was a wonderful tigress and had the most beautiful stripes of the whole village. He had got to know her at the age of seventeen years and she was then only tender fifteen. It was love at first sight in the truest sense of the word and her first chubbiness was imminent. She smelled simply seductive. The wedding did not take long and was held in a small circle. Only the parents of both were present and not to forget the village magician. The village magician was never allowed to be absent from ceremonies, otherwise a marriage, for example, would be under a very bad omen. For some inexplicable reason they had let technical progress, such as running water, electricity and much more into their lives, but they were still attached to this old cult. Well, Cyron didn't think much of all this hocus-pocus, but his parents and also Stella insisted on it. As a good married cat he bowed to the will and ordered the herbal wagger to go with it. Slowly he withdrew from his thoughts, chased away a fly that had vehemently targeted his nose, turned around and opened the door. It was time to see if Stella had already woken up. He carefully peered in at the door and noticed that the table was already set and, as always, there was plenty of meat on the plates. The tigress came towards him cheerfully and joyfully and embraced him warmly.

"Good morning, my husband", she greeted him. Her voice was simply stunning and drove him every time the feeling to be freshly in love through his body. He caressed his queen very tenderly, took his chair, pulled it away from the table and sat down on his regular place. Stella did the same and called for her daughter. Hardly a minute passed when Tarja appeared at the top of the stairs and looked quite wrinkled. Cyron looked at his daughter. "You look very grumpy, my angel." "Grrrrrrrrrr", it took Tarja. "Ugh. That bad, huh?" "I don't like getting up this early. School sucks and all hangovers suck." "Thanks for being stupid," Cyron replied. "I don't mean you at all," growled the young tigress. "But you said so." "Oh. Just forget about it." "But darling, it can't be that terrible," Stella interfered. "Yes, it is. The tomcats are annoying, have only silly ideas, annoy you constantly and behave strangely in other ways." "Aha", said the father and had to grin silently. He looked at his wife, rolled his eyes. She then raised her eyebrows only briefly, which should rebuke him and also did not miss its effect. "Tell me what's bothering you", Stella drilled into her daughter and nudged her. Meanwhile, her husband was ragging on the flesh. After all he had captured the animal. He was very successful at it, which not only made him proud and made the others envious, but also earned him great respect. Tarja bit off a piece of meat and chewed on it. She looked at her mother and mumbled something with her mouth full, which probably meant: "Not now and not in front of father." The mother immediately understood that it had to be a purely female affair and nodded briefly. After Tarja had her mouth free again she asked directly out of it: 'Why don't I have a sister? Other cats in my age have a sister. I would like to have one too, with whom I could talk about everything. It doesn't work with you." Stella looked Cyron in the eyes. "Well," he kept printing, "that's a good question, of course." He had to cough and gave the floor to his partner. "Oh, yes. Typical. When it comes to questions of procreation, the male will stay away and leave the battlefield to his female." Cyron shrugged his shoulders in embarrassment and muttered only briefly that he had to go hunting, since the next day there would be a sale in the central marketplace. Stella sighed and saw him close the door behind him from outside. "All right, my darling. What exactly is really bothering you?" Tarja began to slide embarrassed on her chair back and forth. "Hmmm, hmmm..." "Go ahead, say it." "It's just that, well, the tomcats in my class have been so weird lately. They've been looking at me weird the last couple of weeks. In fact, a couple of months, ever since I turned 14. They also whisper to each other when I'm around. And I'm absolutely sure that this is about me. Also, I've heard about other things, that they're supposedly comparing things." Stella took a deep breath. By Bastet! That was worse than expected. "Well then, I guess it's time for the pickles. Why not?" Tarja was all ears and during the following remarks she stared into her mother's eyes and stuck to her lips. "Well, my dear. The tomcats in your class didn't miss that you are going to become a mature tigress. So ripe for first contact with the opposite sex. You've also become very beautiful and have very distinct female charms. This confuses the hormones in the males, because this maturing process also does not pass by them without a trace. It's still a hidden whisper, but soon the first one will want to get to know you better and you will notice certain changes in his body. This should not frighten you, but you should not necessarily respond to it. "What kind of change?" Tarja asked.

Stella thought about how she could get out of this number most cleverly, because she didn't want to go into details. "His gaze will be a little distant near you, he will stare at you but not threaten you. He may purr, as your father used to do. And at the waist, something will change, he'll be, how shall I put it, fuller." She had to smile at the thought of it and continued. "Well, and he'll want to make closer physical contact with you, maybe he'll want to snuggle up to you, maybe even rub up against you. If you feel the same desire, it's okay, if not, you should stop it and reject him." "What's the point of physical contact? Besides, it's a hangover, who wants contact with him?" "You say that now. That's what I used to say, at your age too. And now I've been involved with your father for twentyeight years. Sometimes things happen faster than you think. - Oh, you know what? You're gonna do the right thing, and your heart will point you in the right direction." She smiled affectionately at her daughter. "Well, you'd better get going or you'll be late for class." "Already on the way", she said, already had the door handle in her hand and had disappeared. Stella sat down and sighed, "I hope she's really doing the right thing and isn't rushing things. I feel a catastrophe coming on."

Cyron had gone hunting. He first went to the village square and there he met his hunting companions, a lion tomcat called Hadron, another tiger called Pathenon and a rather nimble fellow called Hylas, a lynx. He was smaller than the others and therefore much more agile in the undergrowth, a real enrichment for the hunting party. "Hopefully we won't have any hyenas from Strongham getting in our way again", Hadron rumbled in his greeting. "Not if I can prevent it", Hylas replied. "Your word in the ear of the great cat goddess" sighed Pathenon. They set off for the nearby forest. Cyron broke the silence during the march to Paws. "Have you noticed that we've been making less and less booty these past few weeks? Even with our improved spears and with the flight-optimized arrows we hardly have a chance. There is simply nothing to shoot." Pathenon nodded in agreement. "You're right. I don't know what it is either, but for better or worse we will have to increase our hunting grounds. This will automatically lead to conflicts with the canids." "Yes, I know... hyenas. - I hate hyenas." "Yes, yes, hadron. We know you don't like those guys. But for all that is right. We have to share with them, because they, too, are entitled to spoils, just like us." "Yes! Unfortunately", mumbled the lion.

"Quiet!!!" hissed Hylas suddenly. "I hear something." "Yes. I hear it too", whispered Cyron. "What is that?" "Which is which?" "Aoorggh... you don't hear anything under that thick mane of yours, do you? It's about time you got a haircut." "Grrrr..." "Oh, great. Are we gonna tear each other apart or are we gonna focus on what's important?" "There, there. There it is again." Now really everybody heard it, because it was getting louder. And - it came closer. It was a fine buzzing sound that definitely could not belong to any known animal. "Maybe it's one of the power plants in the area," muttered Pathenon. "Yes, exactly. Very logical and this power station has now gotten on its paws and is moving in our direction", Hylas added. Pathenon looked at the lynx grimly. All the others stared in the direction the sound seemed to come from. Meanwhile it was even noticeable that the sound was not constant but seemed to swell up and down. The looks became more and more concentrated and nervous. "There must be something to see right away. As close as that...", Pathenon started, but didn't get any further, because with a loud crash three female hyenas suddenly broke out of the undergrowth of the forest and stormed towards the tomcats. "How disgusting!" Hadron was disgusted. "Make haste, make haste. Let's see what they want first", Cyron swayed. When the hyenas saw the cats of prey, they fell back into a quieter passage and approached the four of them rather leisurely. "Good morning!" Uri said. "I see you're already on your feet to make prey." "But of course", Cyron replied, "after all, we're allowed to hunt here and not only you. Which reminds me, why aren't you with your herds?" "Times have gotten tougher, and you've had to watch your step for weeks." The cats of prey nodded, only Hadron had a petrified expression. "I understand perfectly, but why did you run like that?" Cyron continued. "We? Ran? Never!" Lyra rebelled. "Oh yes, we did. We all saw it. You only stopped when we saw you." The hyenas were clearly convicted and were pushing around. "Well, all right. But admit you heard that sound, too. And - we saw something. A huge shadow slid across the sky, and before we became prey, we ran what the legs would give us." "A noise! I see. Of course we heard it. We are not sitting on our ears after all," boasted Hadron. A downright lie, because after all, you had to push him almost with your nose to make him take it for full. Lyra continued: "We suspect that it might have been a dragon." "A dragon? There aren't any dragons!" Cyron rumbled. "Oh, yes, there are. I've seen one myself." "Unbelievable! You think we're stupid?" "No, honestly. But it's a legend that they can breathe fire, and most of them are rather pacifist." That was really enough for Cyron. "Nonsense, they're all fairy tales. I didn't believe in dragons until I saw one. Do you have any proof of your bold claims?" The hyenas looked at each other helplessly, because they had not expected so much disbelief. "No, we have no proof, just our word." "He who believes hyenas is lost", Hadron ranted. He just couldn't help himself. "Oh, so that's what you think. Well, that's just great. Then we needn't talk anymore and we'll end this conversation right here and now." The hyenas were visibly offended. Hylas did not like the situation and he tried to mediate. "Hello? Everybody just, calm down." And addressed to the hyenas: "Please excuse our lion friend. Sometimes his behaviour leaves much to be desired." The hyenas' facial features brightened visibly because of the excuse, but the lion's darkened and he left everyone standing without saying another word. After a short farewell the two tigers and the lynx ran after the lion. "Tell me. Can you explain to me what that was all about?" Pathenon confronted him. Hadron just looked at him grimly and went on. "That's what I call a real precise answer. Only a lion can do that." That was too much of a good thing and the lion cat let out a piercing scream. "I'm no hyena lover, and if you are, that's your problem. But work it out amongst yourselves. I, for one, have had enough for today and will be returning home." "Fine. Let's all go back home to our families and tell them we didn't catch anything because we had to tear each other apart." The lion paused, looked at Cyron and sighed. "Cyron is right. We should really go home. I don't think we're gonna catch anything here today. Besides, a certain lynx had made a loud sound that he wanted to prevent an encounter with the hyenas", said Pathenon. "Great. Now I guess it's all my fault again." Hylas was visibly offended. Cyron looked at the lynx deeply. "Yes, you're right. With our nagging we have probably scared away the game within a radius of eight kilometers." So the four of them went back to the village and reached it in the afternoon.

Chapter 2

Tarja and Chiron

Tarja's lessons were over in the meantime and she decided to pay a visit to the village magician. He was mighty cranky, but what could you expect from an ocelot? So she said goodbye to her friends and set off. It was always fascinating for her to watch the wizard mixing herbal mixtures, brewing water and muttering incomprehensible sayings. And only the many scents. It smelled of all sorts of things, some smells seemed familiar and familiar to her, but this was not possible.

Cyron and his hunting friends had meanwhile arrived in the village and returned to the tavern located at the village square. It was very empty at this time and the four welcome guests. "Hello, what can I get you?" greeted Shiva and bit Pathenon gently in his left ear. "Well, my sweet wild cat!" She was an enchanting jaguar female with firm thighs, well-toned upper arms, a cute little belly indicating that she was a fantastic cook, and gleaming white teeth. Hadron grinned broadly, Hylas had to giggle and Cyron closed his eyes while Pathenon seemed to blush. Fortunately, you couldn't see it through the thick fur, only the tip of the nose seemed to change color. They approached Met and continued their dispute. "There are no dragons", Cyron began again. "And hadron says himself that hyenas cannot be trusted, even though this verdict dates back to our great-great-great-grandfathers and is probably long outdated." "But that does not exclude their existence and the hyenas..." Hylas wanted to explain, but Hadron fell into his word. "But the scavengers are unbelievable, and besides, what should one think of creatures that send their females hunting because the males are too cowardly for that." "... and who knows what is really going on there and what is happening", Hylas concluded his interrupted thoughts out loud. "Besides, it would be nice of you not to interrupt me all the time. Apart from that you always manage to maneuver us into situations that we have to iron out. The maned man snorted briefly, but nodded understandingly. Pathenon sat there, listened, shrugged his shoulders and said that they themselves had noticed that something seemed to develop to their disadvantage. "The prey is getting scarce and no one knows where it will go." Consenting murmurings from the parties involved, even from the lion.

Tarja knocked on the door of the hut. There was no answer. She knocked again, again no answer. She opened the door and peeped in carefully. "May I come in?" No answer. "Hello? Anybody home?" "Meow? Oh, it's you, little one. It's been a long time since you've been here. Come in and let me have a look at you," said the ocelot and climbed down from one of his countless cupboards. But he didn't do this very cleverly and made a small slaughter among five books, which spontaneously decided to follow the laws of gravity together with him. Under loud rumbling they hit the wooden floor. "Oh, damn it. What a mess." He sighed briefly, left the books to himself and turned to Tarja. The tiger girl stepped in and built herself up in front of him. The ocelot looked at her intensely. "You have grown up and are seductively beautiful. - "If I were younger and a tiger, I'd..." Tarja was transferred. Her mother seemed to be right about her effect on hangovers. "What brings you to me?" "Um, yeah, well... I'm here because I have questions." "Questions? Everyone comes to me only when they have questions. Nobody is interested in me. Everyone just wants to know what I'm doing here. Nobody wants anything from my body or my soul. Apparently, I'm not a living being. I'm a piece of wood." Tarja looked at the ocelot in bewilderment. He just shook his head and seemed to come to his senses. "Excuse me. Sometimes I forget how old I am. The loneliness sometimes makes me a little strange." The tiger girl looked at him sadly and felt the longing in his words. "Let's hear what's on your mind", he asked her. Tarja took a deep breath. "Why do my parents avoid my questions or give insufficient answers?" The ocelot stared at her like a zombie looking for a brain, but he got it together again. "Now, that's a question. And you think I can give you an answer?" "Yes, I hoped so." "We all hope for something, my dear. What did you ask her?" "I wanted to know why I don't have a sister and I asked for hangovers too." "Oh. Well, gee whiz. Sometimes you get lucky and the questions are answered or hopes are fulfilled. But sometimes it stays that way and you search your whole life in vain for something that never comes true, because there is nothing corresponding to it. Sometimes you chase after dreams and forget that there are more important things. Sometimes you forget yourself in time and space." Tarja's face became distorted and she got a little grumpy. "Is that the answer to my question?" "Yes, that's an answer. Make the best of it. I've already told you more than I should. I'll give you one more thing to think about. Often there's more behind the façade than meets the eye." Now Tarja was completely confused.

"Ask your parents about Sitara." "After who?" "Sitara. That's all I can say. I fear..." At that moment the door opened and a young tiger cat entered the hut. The ocelot flinched as if he had been struck by lightning. The tiger approached the two of them, greeted Tarja friendly and told the magician to follow him into the back of the dwelling. After twenty minutes and a babble of voices both came out again and the ocelot pointed to Tarja and then to the tiger cat. "May I introduce you to each other? Tarja, this is Chiron. Chiron, this is Tarja." He overemphasized the girl's name and pronounced it as if he wanted to sell a special product under the bazaar table. Chiron looked at her with big shining eyes, took her right hand and felt her shyness. "You have a wonderful name, and that you are beautiful is an understatement. You must have come from a dream." Tarja's heart began to beat faster and she became noticeably warmer. "You are also a very imposing figure." She narrowed her eyes. Great girl, just great. That's as dumb as it gets. But Chiron just smiled. "Chiron lives on the edge of the jungle, and I haven't seen him for more than ten years", the ocelot added happily, easing the situation somewhat. "Tarja! By the way, may I introduce you to my old friend Hargot", Chiron said. Tarja suddenly turned around and looked behind her. There was nobody there. "Who is Hargot?" "Wait a minute. Has Hargot never told you his name?" Tarja shook her head. "Hargot, how could you forget?" "Nobody cares anyway. Everyone just comes in with weird questions." Chiron sighed and pulled a face as if he had bitten on something very sour. "Chiron, do me a favor. Take Tarja and answer her questions. I'm afraid I've already burnt my mouth. You're an outsider, but they'll scalp me later." "What the hell are you doing?" Tarja hated it. "Tarja! Why don't we get some fresh air, go for a walk and talk?" Chiron cheered up. She nodded, but at the same time had a queasy feeling. Something was wrong, and this Chiron seemed familiar to her. They stepped in front of the hut and Chiron hinted that Tarja should accompany him on their walk to the riverbank. Tarja agreed, as she was anxious to finally bring light into the darkness. Besides, she moved a little bit magically to him. "Young missy, you try too fast, too much to find out. You ask the right questions, but the timing is very bad. "What's wrong with asking? What is worse in knowledge than in ignorance? Why is it the wrong time and, above all, when is the right time?" Her last words sounded sarcastic. "That's exactly what I mean. You're very young and too impulsive. You talk a lot before you think and that's not good. You might know everything, but you wouldn't be able to do anything with it." "Aha! And you can judge that, can you?" Tarja ran into him sharply. "Yes, I think so." "You don't even know me." "I know more about you than you think, more than you might know about yourself." Tarja looked at him penetratingly. "Who are you really? I mean that you appear at our herbalist who seems to have finally gone crazy and only answers in riddles, takes me by the hand, leads me here and that only to tell me the same nonsense." Tarja was frustrated and reacted unexpectedly. She suddenly embraced him and pressed him firmly to herself. "You seem so familiar and so familiar to me. I feel I've known you for ages. I know it's the first time I've seen you." Chiron smiled kindly and held her too. "If I were to give you an answer to that, you certainly wouldn't understand, let alone believe it." He detached himself from her, took her by the hand again and looked over the water of the river to the other side. "You are beautiful and intelligent, and I don't want to risk losing you." And so quietly that she couldn't hear it, he added, "Not again." "Chiron! Who am I really and what am I? Why am I so important to you?" "You will know when the time is right."

She looked at him with big gentle but fiery eyes. Chiron's eyes met her gaze. This time he pulled her close, finally embraced and kissed her. At first Tarja wanted to reject him, but then she let it happen because she felt a change in herself. She felt safe and secure with him and there was something else, the need to hold him and never let go again. She had fallen head over heels in love with him and enjoyed it, even if this change came so suddenly. She sat down on the shore and pointed to the free space on her right side. Chiron sat with her and hand in hand they watched the sun as it ran across the sky. "Why does everyone make vague allusions, avoid my questions or answer in riddles?" Chiron sighed to see if Tarja's persistence "Everyone has their purpose in life, including you. It would not be good for you or your further development if certain things were revealed to you. You must find your own way and act independently. If you always knew in advance what was coming towards you, you would not make any mistakes, because you can avoid them on purpose. But mistakes are part of life. You too must make mistakes, because they are part of life and through them you learn and develop. Goals are often only reached in a roundabout way." Tarja nodded, because she understood what he was getting at. Chiron continued: "Imagine that there was life after death and that one day you would know that this life is much better than the one you lead here. How many Chafra and Chafre would voluntarily take their own lives in order to enjoy it as soon as possible. Often it is better not to know certain things in advance. To solve a task you have to find the right way to get the result. But if you know the result before, you might not worry about the way anymore, only it has to be short. But that tempts you to go the wrong way, and in the end that can falsify or even completely destroy the result." He was right, Tarja had to admit that to herself. She was glad that he was with her and cuddled up in his fur, started to scratch his right flank. Chiron purred softly and obviously enjoyed it. Tarja felt a flame flaring up in her innermost being. This feeling made its way to the surface, captured her completely in this moment. She noticed with every fibre that he was the right one, just like her mother had said just a few hours ago. Tarja had made a step forward in her development, faster than expected and almost astonishing. The Tiger Girl, who had sat next to Chiron in the beginning, no longer existed. Next to him now sat a full-grown tigress, who could resist only heavily against a comfortable excitement. Did she want to defend herself at all? So she continued to crawl Chiron's flank, while he purred more and more violently, trembling all over her body and she began to long to absorb this tremor deep within herself. Chiron felt it, reacted accordingly and his purr turned into a loud, throaty and pleasant rumble. Suddenly the tigress of the tomcats let go, pressed him into the sand on the shore and sat down on his lap. The following pairing act was wild, unrestrained and already after few seconds past. Chiron had poured out deep inside her. She was exhausted by her ecstatic movements and her first climax, which captured her completely, physically and emotionally, sank down over him. After both had recovered a little and lay next to each other, they realized what had happened. Tarja was no longer a pubescent child but an adult tigress through the accomplished act. What weighed even more heavily, but at this moment neither of the two was yet so right; Chiron's seed had come across fertile ground in her womb. "Tarja, you have spoiled me with your tenderness and your physical advantages, but nevertheless it was a big mistake. You have nothing to blame yourself for, only me." "Why, dearest? It was just wonderful. Are you apologizing now because it happened so fast, because we were both eager to feel the other one? Or are you apologizing because you were my first partner and now you have scruples?" "Yeah, none of this should ever have happened. I should have stopped it. "You shouldn't have gotten involved with me at all. I'm no good for you." Tarja started to laugh. "You are not good? You are much better and I thank you for it!" But Chiron's face spoke volumes and meant anything but enthusiasm about what had happened. "I'd better go now", he finally said. "You want to leave me now?" "Yes, I think it's better that way." The tigress looked at him sadly and sighed. "Hmmm... if you think it's better this way, then do it. You will know what is right and what is wrong. Even, if it's sad that you're just leaving me here now." Chiron took a deep breath, hugged Tarja once more and kissed her fervently. "You know where to find me." "Huh? Where?" "Ask Hargot, he knows the way. I'm always here for you and if you have any trouble, don't hesitate and come to me at once. I have to go now, because I am afraid that we might otherwise be seen here together and that could lead to serious trouble for you. So it's not about me." Tarja nodded and Chiron set off.

Chapter 3

Sitara

Tarja watched as Chiron walked and got smaller and smaller as he walked until he finally disappeared from the distant silhouette of the rainforest. So she sat on the riverbank for another three hours or so, looking up again and again, hoping that her beloved cat would return, finally giving up and staring at the water and the fish that were cavorting in it. As evening fell, she finally made her way home, for her parents would surely be worried. After twenty minutes of walking, she had reached the house and opened the door. Her parents were sitting at the table, but they were not alone. "Ah, here she is." Her mother ran towards her and was completely beside herself with excitement. "We were beginning to worry", said a leopard woman she didn't know. Tarja looked at her parents and then at the leopardess and the leopard cat who was also sitting at the table and smiling friendly. "What's going on here and who is that?" the tigress asked. "May I introduce your stepsister Sitara and her husband Finlay." Her face must have looked hilarious as Sitara started giggling. "That's Sitara?" Now it was the mother's turn to be amazed. "How did you know about her?" "Ehm..., nothing. Nothing at all. I just thought she looked familiar and I'd met her before. I guess I was wrong." But too late. Cyron smelled the roast. "Didn't you go to the herb man this afternoon? What did the old chatterbox tell you?" "Nothing, absolutely nothing!" "Naaa! Speak the truth!" "He just meant..." "Yaaaaaa?" "... to ask you about Sitara." The father let the air escape audibly. "I knew it, I knew it all along, he just can't shut up." "Hold your breath, Cyron!" Stella raved. "The time was right for her to find out anyway. Even if it's silly that she had to hear it through a third person." Cyron calmed down again. Sitara smiled at Tarja and took her in her arms. Tarja snuggled up to her, soaked up her scent and denied herself a small tear of joy. "I have always wanted a sister and now I actually have one." And to her parents she said, "You have something to explain to me and it's urgent!" "Yes, indeed, we did. But, where to begin?" Stella pondered. "It's best to start at the beginning", rumbled Tarja. "Of course. So - Cyron and I met, he was seventeen and I was only fifteen. We married a year later and tried to have offspring, but it was hopeless. It was discovered that your father was producing infertile sperm, and we were advised to adopt a cub and keep trying anyway, maybe there is luck involved. We decided to adopt Sitara, kept trying of course, and when Sitara was thirteen, it worked for us. However, the message of my pregnancy was not put away by her as easily as I had hoped. She decided to leave us and we couldn't stop her with the best will in the world. Well, that's the way it was. And to spare you the pain and grief you would feel if you knew about your unknown and unreachable sister, we kept quiet." "Why is this always withheld from children?" "Because they wouldn't understand until a certain age."

Tarja realized that her mother was right, as she had made a leap in her personality development on the same day, had become more adult. "Stella! May Finlay and I go to Tarja's room? I think we have a lot to tell each other", Sitara threw in spontaneously. Stella agreed and the three went up the stairs. Arriving in the room, they made themselves comfortable and stared at each other. "Well", Sitara said, "it's really nice to meet you." "I'm glad, too." Finlay had made his first set in Tarja's presence. "I'm happy too, even if it's a bit late and I'm finally overwhelmed by the events of the day." "I can imagine." "I don't think so", Tarja replied with a sly grin. Sitara and Finlay looked at each other and then Sitara examined the young tigress closely. "You really have very distinctive charms for your age, I have to acknowledge that without envy. Look at her, Finlay. The firm, well-formed breasts, the slender frame and the alabaster thighs." Finlay just looked and nodded. Sitaras look remained only briefly, but long enough stuck to the left thigh of the young tigress. Tarja thanked her but was not embarrassed and could only return the compliment, because Sitara was not only good but also quite luxuriously built. "Okay, who is he?" she asked. "Who is who?" Tarja acted innocently. "I mean the cat. The one you gave yourself to today?" Tarja has been transferred after all. "What makes you think so?" "My dear, you can't fool me. Your shining eyes, your scent and finally the dried semen on your left thigh betray you." Tarja got scared. Did her parents notice it too? She quickly went to the bathroom, looked at the stains and washed them out of the fur. "This is really embarrassing", she said when she entered her room again. "Oh nonsense. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. These things happen in the heat of the moment." Finlay rolled his eyes. Well, at least we got a reaction. "I hope you were on something before this." "What should I take?" "Are you trying to tell me you've been mating without protection?" "Oh, that's what you mean. I think my boyfriend took something before." "Holy shit...! A cat can't take anything, you have to. Did you take silphium or at least make another insert of seed-killing herbs before?" Tarja froze to a pillar of salt. "No, it all came so unexpectedly and suddenly." "Then we have a big problem now. Sis, you're probably pregnant and you did it the first time. Congratulations. Tarja did not know whether to laugh or cry. "And what happens now? I mean, what should I do now?" "You must choose. If so, do you want to have the boy delivered or removed?" "Have it removed?" "Yeah. Finlay's a doctor, he could do this. But the final decision is yours. It's your body and your will. Nobody can take that away from you. You should also consider your choice carefully. Because there is the danger that you will never be able to have offspring afterwards, and it is life, even if it is still in an extremely early phase of development. The sperm cells may not even have reached an egg yet." Tarja was really thinking. Finlay and Sitara watched her and felt that it was fighting inside her. "What if I want to keep my cub? What would my parents say? - Oh Bastet, my parents. They'll be out of the clouds. They mustn't find out, under any circumstances. Besides, I firmly believe that with me and Chiron", she bit her tongue, "... which is, or at least will be, serious and we want our cub." "Ah, so Chiron is the name of the proud cat." "Please don't tell my parents. They'll kill him for this." "I don't think so, but okay. It'll be our secret for now." "Thank you, Sitara!" Tarja was relieved and now she seemed more like a desperate kitten than a tigress carrying a puppy inside her. "Look, we'll do the following", Sitara interjected, "We'll take you with us to the country. We live on the outskirts of Strongham because Finlay is the doctor there. The dogs trust his skilled cat hands. I have lots of friends there and I think they'll help us bring your baby into the world and then raise it." The eyes of the young tigress began to shine. "Would you really do that?" "Yes, yes, yes."

So this topic was cleared up pretty quickly and they talked about this and that and that for another hour. Sitara told how she left home, moved around, gained experience and finally met Finlay. "There were funny things and not so funny things. I had an interesting encounter with a male dog. I learned a lot about the way of life and the attitudes of the canids from him." "But you didn't have sex with him, did you?" Tarja asked in between. "Yes, I did. It was a very intense experience, but I don't want to talk about details and it is not that important. After all, among other things, it made me want to stick to our own kind." Tarja smiled. "I wonder what she's hiding", she thought and decided to investigate again at a later date. There was a knock at the door and Stella entered. "Won't you come for dinner?" "Oh, yes, of course. It's getting pretty late", said Finlay. Everyone took a seat at the table and made fun of the meat. During the meal, Sitara laid her cards on the table. "Stella, Cyron!" she started almost solemnly, "I'm taking Tarja with us." "What?" Cyron got the bite stuck in his throat and Stella became a pillar of salt. "Did you hear me right or did I speak so unclearly?" "No, you didn't. I just thought I heard wrong." "Why? You got a problem with that? She can come live with us and tear down her last six months of school in Strongham. Just in case you want to put that as a hindrance in the way now." "I couldn't care less. You just took off and disappeared without a trace back then. Now, seventeen years later, you just turn up and seem to think that all is forgiven and forgotten. And you want to take our daughter away from us." He stood up and supported himself on the edge of the table. "SHE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE, AND CERTAINLY NOT WITH YOU. YOU'RE NOT TEACHING HER ANYTHING CLEVER." "But from you, how? And don't yell at me, it won't change anything!" "I'll shout as much as I want to, because after all, this is still my house and I guarantee she'll learn more useful things here." The situation had escalated and threatened to get completely out of hand. "What did you two teach her? She doesn't even know how to prevent pregnancy." Tarja was frightened and wanted to flee. "She doesn't need to know that yet!" "Oh no? Take a closer look. She's no longer a child, she's become an incredibly attractive tigress. Just the thing for every tomcat. And since you won't believe me, I'll tell you something else. Your daughter will be extremely decorative when she's sitting on the riverbank with a tiger stud underneath her, expertly broken in by her." That's it, it's over, it's done. It was all too much of a good thing and the bomb had gone off. And what happened now? At first everyone was silent. Tarja looked down and hoped that a hole would open up under her as quickly as possible, so she could sink into it. Stella looked at Tarja with wide open eyes and open mouth. Finlay stared at Stella and said nothing as usual. Sitara had turned her head to Finlay for help but, as already mentioned, nothing came from him. Cyron had lost his temper during the fight and had stretched out his claws, but now he stood there petrified and sparkled at Sitara. So everyone stared at everyone except Tarja, who still looked down and tried to become invisible as fast as possible. Slowly but surely the positions dissolved, just in time to avoid muscle cramps. As first, Cyron found the language again. "This - is - not - your - serious." "Oh, yes. When we got to the river, Finlay and I saw a pair of tigers. The desire was very strong. It was very animating, to say the least." At these words, Finlay suddenly had to giggle and in return received a punishing look from his partner. "Well, others saw it too. The two seemed to have completely forgotten the surroundings and I heard someone say that this was little Tarja who was walking around with the cat. Cyron looked sadly at Stella. "We failed. All over. If others have seen it too, we'll be the talk of the village by tomorrow at the latest." Stella nodded and asked Tarja: "Have you at least thought about contraception?" Tarja shook her head. Stella suddenly felt bad and she had to rest her head. "We have really failed Cyron. Our daughter is probably pregnant. Some tomcat robbed her of her innocence. I talked to her this morning about hangovers and to some extent about sex. But apparently, I didn't listen to her properly and I said it wrong. I thought we still had time and she wasn't ready." "Mother. You just said that I would know if it was the right one." Cyron took a deep breath and asked for his name. Tarja shook her head again. "What, you gave yourself to him, you let yourself be mounted and you don't even know his name?" Sitara arbitrated. "But she knows his name FATHER, but she does not want to reveal it and for good reason. She's afraid that you might hurt him." Cyron swallowed. "Am I really so bad that my own daughter doesn't dare tell me the truth? Is it really so bad to come to me and say, 'Father I'm sorry, a cat robbed me of my innocence and I got pregnant'. You could've gone to your mother for me it wasn't your fault." Sitara looked at the ceiling and whistled softly to herself. Cyron seemed irritated by this and asked Sitara what this performance would mean now. Her answer wiped any doubt from the table. "Cyron, what part of my sentences earlier did you not understand?" "Why, did I miss something?" "Yes. Indeed. I said that SHE was sitting on the cat. So... "Oh, great goddess", he clasped his hands above his head, "then she was the driving force." Cyron was getting woozy and he sat down next to his wife. Both looked at each other and took each other by the hands. "We failed completely. We have been blind and have not devoted enough time to our daughter and have not dealt sufficiently with her problems. She has grown up and we did not see it. She has become in heat and we did not notice. She mated and we hear it from others. She's pregnant and we look old." "Okay", Stella said, "so you want to take her with you. And then? What about her and the puppy in her belly?" "Finlay is a medical doctor in Strongham", replied Sitara, "so we have many acquaintances there and also many good friends. They will take care of Tarja's situation and help her." Cyron looked at his wife and Stella at him. Both looked at Sitara and briefly lowered their eyelids. "Good. Tarja, you can pack your things tomorrow morning", Sitara said. "Do you mind if we stay with you tonight, it's already too late for the way back to Strongham." "No, of course not", Stella replied and tried to wring a smile from herself, but she didn't succeed very well. Finlay went to the door to get some fresh air and clear his head. He looked up at the sky and watched the stars. It didn't take five minutes, when the door opened again and Cyron stepped beside him. "A lovely clear night tonight, isn't it?" Cyron began. "Yes, and the air is very pleasant, with the scent of clean river water. This is not the case in Strongham." "Tarja will miss the air, her friends, the surroundings, the village and maybe us." "I'm sure you do, but I think there's no way back. We had talked to her when we were upstairs and that's when we found out that she was probably pregnant. She didn't make it easy with her decision. We gave her a choice. We made her aware of the abortion and the risks. Then she made her choice." "Do you two always decide so democratically?" "Yes, that's the only way we can make it work. Sitara wouldn't accept anything else." "So, so, a real big cat." "Oh, yes, she is. She can be bitchy as hell and opinionated." "That's not really the way we raised them", Cyron sighed. "I believe you, too, but the experiences she had after she moved out with you had a decisive influence on her and changed her personality forever. She's not who she once was, not who you knew. She's the person I came to know and love." Cyron looked at Finlay sadly. "She's become so cold and brittle." "No, she's not. She's just playing that part. Inside, she's loving and very tender." "What must she have gone through to be like this now? Do you know anything, did she talk about it?" "Yeah. I practically fished her out of the gutter. After she had left, she quickly lost her bearings, wandered around at first and was easy prey for other cats and species. Somehow she had managed to keep herself alive from scarce remains she found along the way. Completely run-down she arrived in Strongham after months. At that time I had started to set up my practice there. At first I did not notice her, but she avoided most of the inhabitants and did not attract attention. A hyena took her home and gave her a home and something to eat. Later she fell in love with a male and he took her as a companion. He took care of Sitara quite touchingly but couldn't cope with her moods, especially when she was in heat. After about a year he finally gave up and let her go or rather threw her out of his house. There she was lying on the side of the road, in front of his door, it was winter and she was hypothermic. I had just finished work, I came by there, saw her lying there and took her to my place. I gave her food, a roof over her head and everything else she needed. At first she was very reserved and closed. After four months she began to thaw out and we had many intensive conversations. She started to study many books, especially my medical books and also asked many questions. Her spirit became increasingly alive. Then came the night of decision. I was lying in my bed and sleeping when suddenly she stood in front of me, settled down and crawled under the blanket. We snuggled up and made love. The caresses we gave each other became more intense and more intimate. Finally, I took them as tenderly as I could. After the act we fell asleep together and the next morning I asked her if she wanted to stay with me forever. She accepted immediately and a month later we were married." Cyron looked down in dismay. It was a shocking story. "Have you got boy?" "No, Sitara is barren." Cyron was so sad that he struggled with tears. "Why did she have to go away? She would've been spared all this. - On the other hand, maybe it's good she left. After all, she did end up with a leopard as fine and nice as you." Cyron smiled kindly at Finlay and his features brightened and a smile flitted across his face. "You're better than anything we could've offered her." They hugged each other and patted each other on the shoulders. "By the way", Finlay said, "our society seems to be in real trouble." "What do you mean?" "I am alluding to your temporary infertility. The problem doesn "t only concern you. In Strongham, more and more males and females are complaining of the same symptoms. Whole families are becoming extinct because of a lack of offspring. I fear that we are heading for disaster." Cyron took a deep breath. "That's all we needed." They entered the house together and Stella looked at them. She was still sitting at the table. Tarja and Sitara had already gone up one floor and were already sleeping. The two tomcats sat down at the table. "Let's open a bottle of mead and drink to the health of us all", Cyron said solemnly. Finlay nodded in agreement and Stella looked irritated again. "What happened out there? What have you two philanderers done?" "Nothing of any importance", Finlay replied, "We were just talking and making up." Stella was visibly happy about this turn of events. "Bastet thank you. Nothing could have saddened me more than to let our daughter go in discord." "There's nothing we can do about it anyway. What's done is done. Now it's time to cut our losses and make the best of it." They toasted with the first glass. When they went to bed, it was four hours to go and three mead bottles emptied.

Chapter 4

Groodarn

The dawn was breaking and announced a new day. Sitara and Tarja were the first to wake up. Sitara smiled gleefully in Tarja's direction and the young tigress looked at Sitara with narrowed eyes. "Why did you tell my parents?" "You're coming with us, so the result is right. Don't worry your pretty little head about things that don't matter anymore." "Oh, yes. It does matter. I want this cleared up right now. After all, you betrayed my trust. You promised me you wouldn't tell. Besides, did you really see us? Needless to say, you were so detailed, you couldn't have made it up." "Right. And to refute your accusations, I'll tell you this. I also know our father, and I know him as an adopted daughter and from before you were born. He's always been narrow-minded and persistent. It was the only chance we had to convince him of our intentions." Tarja took a deep breath and wrung a smile from herself. "You are right. I think you would never have gotten me out of here if you hadn't shocked him so much." "You see. So you do understand. But be comforted. Normally this is not my way, I never break promises and I never betray the trust of others. It was really just out of necessity." Tarja accepted Sitaras statement and took it as an apology. The two of them got up and shared the bath for the morning body care. While Tarja brushed her teeth, paying special attention to her fangs, Sitara took a shower. "Sitara", said the tigress suddenly, "What did you actually experience with the male dog of which you have told, but left it with hints?" Sitara snapped at the jet of water from the shower and visibly thought about what she should answer. "Be honest, I'm not a child anymore." "Hmmm... you know, it's not easy to explain, but I'll try. I told you yesterday that a male dog is built differently from a male cat." Tarja nodded in agreement and the leopardess couldn't help but grin. "Well, after I left here at that time I wandered around for a while and was finally taken in by a wolf. He gave me a home and enough food. However, he also wanted to mate with me at some point and since I naturally have this instinct in me, it just happened. In the beginning it was a very pleasant and tender experience. We tried a lot of things, had fun, quickly forgot our special differences and one day this became my downfall. It went through with us and unfortunately it went wrong. I had extreme pain and resisted. I scratched his face and he did not touch me anymore. But the pain did not stop, it became weaker, but was always present. At some point it became too much for him and he simply threw me out of the door. Canids are very drive-driven. You can have a lot of fun with them, but it comes at a price. And since that moment they are my friends, but nothing more. And I can only advise you, my dear, against doing anything with a male dog. I've paid my price, I've become barren. You can save yourself that. Remember that."

Tarja went to Sitara in the shower, hugged her fiercely and wanted to comfort Sitara. The leopardess took her in her arms and so they stood together under the warm water jets for ten minutes and held each other tightly. Meanwhile, Finlay was already standing in front of the bathroom door and stepped from one back paw to the other as he urgently needed to go to the toilet. The Met wanted to leave his body with power. He knocked at the door. "I don't care who's in there and I don't care what he does. Tell him to hurry, because others have to go to the bathroom as well." Tarja slipped out of the shower, quickly dried her fur and left the room while Sitara stayed under the costly water jets. Finlay stepped in and got himself the longed-for relief. Then Sitara stepped out of the shower. Her fur was wet and smelled seductive. She went back and lured him with her index finger. He didn't let him ask for long, stood next to her and the warm water plowed through his fur. Hard the jets of water hit his body, the arms, the legs, the abdomen and also his manhood where Sitara kneeled down in front of him. Finlay couldn't stand it for long and exploded under a loud scream. The cat smiled contentedly, took her by the head and pulled her up to him. "On to the second round", he said eagerly. She put her arms around his neck, pulled herself up against him and wrapped her legs around his waist. Both purred incessantly. The purring grew louder and louder and more intense and finally turned into a common loud scream as they reached the climax at the same time. Exhausted, happy and satisfied they stepped out of the shower - and met Tarja. She had forgotten something in the bathroom and had entered unnoticed, had seen everything and visibly enjoyed the performance. Her eyes were wide open and her body shook with excitement. Sitara pushed her under the shower and turned on the cold water. That brought Tarja back to her senses. "What the hell are you doing?" Outraged, she looked at her stepsister. "You've been a bit absent and what you saw isn't good for you anyway." "You're one to talk. I also found it very interesting and educational." Finlay laughed and said to his companion, "You see, you are good for her. She's already learned something from you." "Stop laughing, you fool. Maybe Cyron was right after all. She may have learned a lesson, but she's not doing the right thing." She considered intensely whether really everything was so correct as it just ran and she and her just as lecherous tomcat had to withdraw hellishly so that the young tigress with charms would not be flooded and possibly further stupidities would commit. "You will first bring your puppy to the world and everything else will show." They dried themselves, Tarja for the second time and went down the stairs. At the bottom they looked around. Neither Cyron, nor Stella were to be seen. "I'll go and collect my things", Tarja remarked briefly and disappeared again into her room. "And now we'll prepare breakfast", Finlay noted. Sitara nodded enthusiastically because she had become hungry after the extensive showering. He went to the kitchen cupboard, opened it and inspected its contents. After a quick search, he found what he was looking for and put plates and cups on the table. Meanwhile Sitara rummaged through the pantry and found water and meat leftovers. "But you can't have breakfast with that", she said briefly and more in her thoughts and went into the cellar, where the pantry was also located. She opened the door, looked around and was literally terrified. "By Bastet, there's hardly anything hanging there." She took just about the last chunk of meat from one of the hooks and marched back towards the kitchen and dining table. On the way she met Stella. "Good morning, Mother", Sitara greeted the tigress. "Oh, good morning to you too. I see you are already awake. Cyron is still asleep. The mead seems to have done him in." "Not just the Met, I'm afraid." "What do you mean?" "Have you been down to the basement supply closet lately?" Stella pondered briefly and denied. "The last time I was down there was weeks ago. Since then, my tomcat has always taken this path from me. I thought it was pretty funny, but I didn't think anything of it." "Then come with me, because I have to show you something", Sitara asked her. Both went down and Stella suspected that something terrible must have happened. Anyway, her daughter didn't behave normally. "Take a look at this", she finally said and ripped the door open. Stella hit the blow. "This is empty!" "Yeah. That's exactly how I was standing five minutes ago. Right in this very spot, looking exactly like you." "I just can't believe it. The chamber was always full. There were supplies in there for months. Now there is only...", the tigress went to one of the wooden barrels and opened the lid, "... pickled meat. And the one where I don't like the stuff." She was convulsing. "That's not normal, is it? I mean, when I still lived with you, father always had a great hunting luck and the chamber was literally brimming with food. And now?" "Something's wrong and I'm gonna find out. Cyron owes me an explanation. And now I realize why he always wanted to bring the meat up himself. He wanted to hide it all from me." She shook her head and put on her ears. "Just you wait, my dear. Sitara, you stay out of this, this is between me and your father." Sitara nodded approvingly and the tigress had a look at it that only a female cat can have. They both went up, Sitara into the kitchen and back to Finlay and Stella into the bathroom. Before the tigress closed the door behind her, she remarked quickly: "Put the meat in one of the cupboards. I want to do a test." After twenty minutes the striped tomcat of the house finally showed up and still had the pillow on his face. "I need something to get really lively now", he murmured. "Ah, good morning!" said the two leopards at the same time. Cyron's good-morning greeting came only as an incomprehensible mumbling over his lips. "Where has my wife gone?" was one of the more understandable phrases he uttered. "She's still in the bathroom", replied Finlay. "Oh, all right." Suddenly Stella stood behind her husband and tapped him gently but firmly on the left shoulder. He turned around and looked into her eyes. She smiled good-naturedly at him and kissed him devotedly. "There, my dear. Back from the dead too?" He struck down his eyelids. "Hmmm." "Fine. I'm glad. Why don't you go to the bathroom and we'll finish breakfast. I'll go down to the basement and get some meat up." That's the cue! A few minutes ago you could see a completely sleepy tiger tomcat pacing into the kitchen, muttering something that he needed to get awake, but now he seemed to be completely awake, changed as if by magic and in a great deal of excitement. "No, no. Stella, dearest! You don't need to go down there. I'll do that for you. "It's hangover work and way too hard for you." He grinned at her broadly and looked at his stepdaughter. But neither Sitara, nor her husband Finlay, could reciprocate the grin. He trimmed and turned his head slowly towards Stella. She looked at him without a wince and put that look back on. "If looks could kill, you'd be on the ground already, my friend!" Cyron felt a huge thundercloud hovering over his head. "Damn it! - Let me guess. You were preparing breakfast and you'd already gone down to the basement supply closet." "Right! And what I saw there brought tears to my eyes and stunned me." "Well, I can see that didn't last long." Stella sparkled at him. "Stop that stupid talk!" He visibly became a few inches shorter. "What were you thinking? You think I never noticed?" "I had hoped so, and before it was too late, I would have filled the chamber again." "Oh, yeah, and you think it just went by me?" Cyron nodded eagerly. "Oh, boy. You really are incorrigible." She could only shake her head. Cyron trudged up the stairs and disappeared into the bathroom. He had just closed the door behind him, another one was opened and Tarja came down the stairs and had her things with her. "Just a moment, my little one. You're not leaving the house that quickly. We'll have breakfast first." Stella's bad mood could not be overlooked. Tarja put down her things and joined her stepsister who smiled at her sweetly. "What was actually going on? Has anyone done anything wrong?" she asked into the room. "Why?" Sitara asked. "I heard my mother's voice and she was more than just strict." "Yes, my dear. I've had a minor disagreement with your father. And it is not over yet", growled Stella. "Oh! What was that about?" "You don't have to care about that, that's between him and me, and we have to live with it and deal with it." "Oops. Did you get pregnant again?" Stella looked at her daughter crooked. "Sorry, what?"

Tarja shrugged her shoulders apologetically. "It could have been." "How did you get on the wrong track?" "I just thought. I heard a moaning from your bedroom last night." "I was. I just moaned because your father was clearing half the rainforest again." Sitara giggled foolishly and Finlay almost banged his head on the table, for whatever reason. The Leopardess stood up, took the successfully laid trap, or rather the meat, out of the cupboard and put it on the table. A short time later Cyron emerged from the bathroom and sat down at the table with her. "Well, now help yourself, as if nothing ever happened again", he said and bit his tongue. "Now that was pretty much beside the point, you guy, you", Stella commanded him. He became a little smaller again. "You're right, my wife." However, the tigress did not want to soothe that so quite and she continued to drill: "What do you have beautiful plans now? How are you going to fill up the missing food stocks in such a short time?" Tarja got scared and interfered: "You have nothing left to eat?" "Yes, my child. We still have something to bite on. But every day only salted meat. You don't want to put your worst enemy through that." "We've had a lot of bad luck hunting lately. Then the hyenas came in between. Hadron always freaks out when he sees hyenas. We got into a fight and we came away empty-handed. Instead, we went to the tavern and drank mead." Stella fell out of the clouds. "Well, this is lovely." "I know it's all a load of crap. Anyway, we've been getting some strange things lately." "What do you mean, and don't give me any cheap excuses I know that your friend Hadron is yesterday's Hadron, and that he's constantly showering with hyenas. You better think of something else." "That's what I'm trying to do." "Meaning what?" "Uhm... Well, yeah, you know, you're not gonna believe this. I wouldn't believe it myself if I wasn't there. Yesterday, three hyenas came running out of the forest and claimed they were followed by a shadow. One even said it was a dragon. Stupid stuff, right? We didn't believe her, of course. But we noticed something else. There was a distinct buzzing sound in the air a short time before, sometimes resembling a high-pitched hum." The two leopards looked each other only briefly, but meaningful in the eyes. "Perhaps a malfunction in one of the nearby power stations?" Finlay asked in between. "No, no. The sound was quite different and very strange. Almost out of this world." "Yoo-hoo, I'm getting scared. Now the extra-generic cat-eaters are coming to get us all", Sitara remarked to Tarja. "What nonsense", Stella slipped it out. After everyone had calmed down again, Cyron continued: "It all sounds very funny, but it's not. The thing is serious, very serious even. The game is getting fewer and fewer, we have to enlarge our hunting grounds and when I say enlarge, I mean it. I'm not just talking about a few hundred metres, I'm talking about square kilometres. This means that I may be out with the others for several days before I come home. Stella slipped up. "Tarja goes out of the house and I sit here all alone, waiting for you to come home sometime. Always worrying that you might have an accident and not come back or be carried home." Cyron sighed and nodded. Stella sobbed briefly and got glassy eyes. Turning to the others, she said: "I see you've already eaten your meat. I'm glad." And I said to Cyron, "So, what's going to happen now?" "Today is market day in Han-Dun. I thought I'd just take you with me. I have nothing to sell, but we'll shop together and maybe even find out what happens to our loot on the way." Stella hesitated briefly and seemed to think about it, then her face brightened noticeably. "You would do that?" "Yes!" "I think that's a great idea. I'm gonna take you up on that offer." That was the end of the matter and goodwill was evident on all faces. The two leopards jumped up from the table and went to pack their things. "How did you get here? On paw or in a carriage?" Cyron shouted after them. "A friend of mine dropped us off here. We made an appointment with him to pick us up here again", Finlay shouted through the house. "Okay, then do it like this", said Cyron.

He was glad the whole thing had worked out this way. In fact, it could have been worse. Normally he always goes to the market with his friends and now he just had to gently teach them that he takes his female with him. 'Well, they'll know when the time comes, after all you can't miss them,' he thought. Finlay and Sitara came down the stairs with packed bags after a short time. "Did you forget anything? Finlay, I'm talking to you", Sitara rumbled. "What? No, no. I packed everything. Did you go back to the bathroom and pack your toothbrushes and mugs?" "Yep, I did." "Good, then we're ready." Stella was a little nervous. "Hold on. Do you have a little more time?" Finlay looked at his watch and nodded. "My friend will be coming by in about an hour, waiting just outside the village." "Okay. We'll hurry and come with you. We'll say goodbye on the spot. Why doesn't your friend come right up to the door?" Finlay pushed around a bit, but finally replied: "We, and especially he, think it's better this way, we don't want to scare people unnecessarily." "Why? Who's your friend? Surely not a little green man or maybe a dragon." Stella was amused by the idea that a dragon would suddenly land on her doorstep and would really be too excited to see Cyron's face. Finlay looked at her piercingly and Stella felt that she was on a hot trail. She looked at him and her eyes grew larger and larger. "That would be something, and Cyron would finally be convinced. You know, he doesn't believe in dragons, and that would be very healing for him." The thought amused her more and more. "He wouldn't have a landing field on your doorstep, only in the village square." "Let him land in the village square", Stella said. "As you wish. He'll find us there." Cyron came to the ground floor, but had not heard the conversation. "Well, we got our stuff together, too", he solemnly remarked, "We'll drop you off at your friend's house and then say good-bye on the spot." "Great. Mother had the same idea and a surprise awaits you", Tarja blurted out. Cyron was amazed. "A surprise? A surprise? Wow. What have I done to deserve this?" "You don't deserve it, but you'll get it anyway", Stella said. "What is it?" "If I tell you this now, it's no longer a surprise." Cyron growled: "I don't like surprises you have to wait for and be surprised by." "Oh, yes. You'll love the surprise and rave about it for days." "Very well. Then we'll go to the village square", Finlay announced. They all went out and Stella closed the door behind them. On the way to the square they met all kinds of friends and acquaintances. Some of them greeted her kindly, wished her a good day, and then went about their business, while others stood together, greeted and whispered behind her back. Sometime it was enough for Cyron and he stepped to two gossiping cheetah females: "Do you have any problem?" The two recoiled and denied. "That's good. Tarja is my daughter and I am proud of her and yes, she had sex, because at least she does not want to end up as dried up and cranky as you do." He was finished with that and joined the other four again. At this moment Tarja was extremely proud of her father and loved him above everything. She seemed to shine all over his cheeks. Arrived at the square they put their bags down and Cyron separated from all of them for a short time to drum up his friends. After fifteen minutes he came back and was alone. "The others don't want to come along and Hylas seems to be already at the market." "Then we'll go alone", Stella comforted her husband. He smiled at her and was visibly pleased. Out of tact, he didn't tell her that the others didn't want to come because he was taking his female with him, but he couldn't fool Stella. She already knew that anyway, or at least suspected it and just didn't let it show. Suddenly Finlay addressed his word to all the cats that stood or were about to cross the village square. "My dear roommates! May I have your attention for a moment. I would like you to leave the village square now as we are expecting someone shortly and they will need the square. You needn't be afraid of him, he's a very good friend of mine and really doesn't hurt anyone." Cyron swallowed. "Well said, Finlay. But who are you expecting?" "Our mode of transportation." "And it takes up all this space?" "Yep, he does." In the meantime and under unbelieving murmurings everyone had cleared the village square, looked around and were curious what would happen now. As if on command, they suddenly heard a soft buzzing sound that seemed very familiar to Cyron. "Eh, I know that sound. That's exactly the sound we heard yesterday." In his dying words he stopped short. "Wait, you arrived here yesterday. Could it be that you have something to do with that buzzing sound?" "Not us", Sitara replied, "but he", and pointed upwards. Everyone stared up at the sky, where a shadow was clearly visible and quickly grew larger. Finlay took something out of his pocket and pointed it briefly at the shadow. It suddenly stopped in the air and then shot down suddenly in their direction. Cyron stood there like rooted to the ground. "What is that?" "That's the surprise", Stella said, beaming with joy and excitement. The shadow took shape and turned out to be a full-grown dragon. "It can't be", Cyron cried out, "They doesn't exist." "Yes, there are, and you have one of them", Finlay called back. Cyron couldn't believe his eyes. It wasn't right. Dragons are only legends and not real, but there was one that flew up and came straight at him. And he realized that it was the shadow the hyenas had seen and which had frightened them so much. The other villagers also stared at it in disbelief. Most of them knew there were dragons, but seen, no, nobody had ever seen one before. So it was a real first for everyone. The dragon was huge, circled the place once more to estimate its size and then landed. It had gigantic wings and no fur. The whole skin was covered by a kind of scale armour. Well, there he stood, in the middle of the square, looking at Finlay. He walked towards him, greeted him joyfully and actually gave him a kiss on the nose as a greeting, or at least on the place where cats have a nose. "This is your friend?" "Yes. He is", Sitara said proudly. "Well, that's something. You might have some fancy friends. I think Tarja is in the right hands and nothing will happen to her." "Don't worry, we'll take good care of her." Finlay had meanwhile stowed the luggage on the animal's back and seemed to be negotiating with him about something. "What is he up to?" Cyron asked Stella. "If it works, the surprise second part. But then it won't be more than that. I think that's enough for you for today." The leopardess looked at Stella and winked at her. Finlay had finished his conversation with the dragon and returned to the others. "Okay, he agrees. He doesn't mind the little swerve." "What kind of swerve? What are you up to?" "You'll see in a minute." Finlay was about to load Stella and Cyron's bags onto the dragon as well. "You're not serious, are you?" Stella grabbed her husband by the shoulder. "Oh, yes. I believe that's his firm resolve." Sitara went to Finlay and waved to Cyron and Stella that they should ascend. Tarja was already sitting when Finlay sat down to her and tightened the belt with her. "There. So you do not fall us down." Little by little, everyone sat down except Cyron. He was still standing around indecisively. "Go and talk to him if it calms you down", called Finlay down. The dragon turned his head towards the tiger. "What can I help you with and calm you down?" he asked in a deep, sonorous voice. "How is it possible that I should sit on you now when an hour ago I didn't even believe in your existence?" "You, too, are constantly learning. You are merely older and more mature and have created a fixed world view for yourself. This is not wrong, it helps you to survive every day because it links certain expectations to certain situations. But it is wrong to use this world view to close your view and only see things you want to see. Open yourself to the unknown and welcome it. You don't have to embrace it and you don't have to make it your friend, you just have to let it get to you to understand it."

Cyron stood a whole ten minutes before the head of the dragon and finally understood what he wanted to tell him. "You're right. I should finally move away from my stubborn, narrow-minded prejudices and let more of them get to me. Far too often I have let myself be influenced and guided by my habits, although I could have done it differently. I believe I have taken the first step with my daughter and will now take the second step." The dragon hummed benignly. "Thank you, my friend. You opened my eyes", Cyron closed his thoughts and gave the dragon a kiss. Stella, who had seen everything, was more than amazed. That was no longer the tiger cat she knew. He had changed completely in only a few minutes. She shook her head in disbelief and put her ears steeply up. The dragon smiled at the tiger. In fact, dragons can even smile, Cyron noticed and climbed on his back. The animal emitted a loud scream and spread its wings. Finlay cried out loud, "Next stop, Han-Dun Marketplace." Cyron wanted to reply something else, but didn't get around to it. The dragon rose into the air and disappeared with the five in the distance. The tigers, who had never flown before, enjoyed the feeling with all their senses.

After the dragon and its passengers had disappeared, the villagers were amazed. The conversations that arose moved between incredulous amazement, enthusiasm and reverence. Pathenon and Hadron had mingled with the masses and had seen everything from a safe distance. They regretted that they had not joined the group and sincerely envied their friend Cyron.

After less than an hour flying time, Han-Dun appeared in the area of the field of vision. Cyron embraced his partner and held her firmly between his arms. Both could hardly hold back their enthusiasm. They cheered and squeaked like two little puppies at play. Tarja was enthusiastic, but held back and found her parents just embarrassing. Finlay had fallen asleep and Sitara enjoyed, as always on such trips, the wonderful view. She tapped Finlay on the shoulder. "Yoo-hoo, wake up!" He had a big yawn. "Gee, that was relaxing. Where are we? Oh, I see." And addressed to Stella and Cyron: "So, my dears, we're almost there. We're on our final approach." "In what suit?" Cyron asked. "I said on approach." "Oh, I didn't hear you right. Must be the wind." "Now hold on tight, it's going downhill." "Did you hear, my love", Cyron whispered in Stella's ear, "we're going downhill together." She tried to turn to him as best she could. "With you I'll go anywhere, and if it's downhill, I'll fall with you." They kissed each other, but only briefly, because at that moment the dragon went into a nosedive. For a short period of time they experienced the feeling of weightlessness and had to struggle with the fact that the stomach contents did not move upwards and thus into the open air. They accompanied the nosedive of the dragon with loud howling after they had put on their ears first. The dragon liked that and he braked off abruptly, stood in the air for a moment so that everyone could sort themselves out for a moment. But he had only done that to go back to the nosedive at the same moment and to upset the order again. "He's got jokes like that and he loves to do that", Finlay remarked. Stella was getting bad and she was getting very pale around the nose. Just in time, the dragon slowed down and gently touched down just outside Han-Dun. The first to open her seatbelt was Stella. As if stung by a tarantula, she shot off the dragon and behind the next bush where she threw up. The sounds she made were heartbreaking. Cyron descended and walked slowly towards the bushes. Tarja, Finlay and Sitara looked at each other anxiously. "I didn't want that", said the dragon. "Of course you didn't want that. Maybe you just overdid it a bit. It was their first flight after all", Finlay replied. "Oh, if I'd known that, I would have held back." "Well, no offense. No harm done. Look, here they come again." Meanwhile Stella had regained her rosy nose colour and was moving relatively normally. She walked towards the dragon, stroked his head and gave him a kiss. "Thanks, that was really fun." "We can do it again", he said. "Well, not so fast", Cyron intervened. "First, you and I are going to the market, and the dragon... What's your name anyway?" "My name is Groodarn." "Groodarn must drop the three of them off at Strongham." "Don't worry, Tiger Cyron. For us dragons, these distances are short." Cyron looked at the dragon crooked, then at his female, then again at the dragon. "When could you possibly pick us up and bring us back here?" "Whenever you want, but not for another four hours at the earliest." "That's good. Would you really do it and pick us up here in five hours?" "Yes. I don't see a problem." "Fine, but only if you promise not to take any more swoops like that", Stella said. "I'll take it to heart." "Have fun, have a good time and buy yourself something nice", Sitara said. She hugged them and said goodbye. Finlay had fallen back into his monosyllables and said goodbye accordingly. With Tarja the farewell was longer and much more difficult. "Take care. I love you both and miss you already now. I am proud of you, but it is better this way." "Don't worry, my child, we'll manage, and besides, we're not out of this world." Tarja nodded but still had to cry. Stella wiped her tears away and sent her to Finlay and Sitara who had already taken a seat on the dragon again. "It was clever not to land in the middle of Han-Dun", Cyron still said. "That wouldn't have been good either, Tiger Cyron. It's too crowded down there and I don't want to hurt anyone and incur the wrath of the people", came the answer from Groodarn. Cyron nodded in agreement, stepped back a few steps with Stella and waved to the three of them, while Groodarn rose and rapidly shrank.

"Well, my dearest. Now we are alone." Stella looked at him with sad eyes. "Have we really done the right thing or have we abandoned our daughter?" "You might actually get that impression at first. But think about this: What could we offer her that they can't, apart from our parental love? What can she learn from us two stubborn people? What does she see of the world when she is with them and what does she experience? She has a lot of friends there now, just through Sitara and Finlay. When the boy is born, who can help her here, except for the two of us and above all, what would have happened if she had stayed? She would have finished school here, good. But all that talk behind her back about losing girlfriends, getting into fights with all kinds of idiots and that might have worn her down in the end." "But you also know that the puppy has a father, and he could have taken care of him." "That's true, but who knows who he is? If Tarja didn't even want to reveal his name", Cyron gave to consider. "She didn't want to betray him because she was afraid you would hurt him. Already forgotten? So she seems very attached to him and he to her. Otherwise she wouldn't want to protect him like this. It's probably somebody we know, but don't have that kind of connection with." "Who could that be? I can't think of anyone I trust at the moment." "I do, but he's more like a ghost. You know he's real and alive, but you never get to see him." "You don't mean...?" "Yes, that's exactly who I mean", Stella breathed. "Chiron?" "Yep." "Oh, dear. I didn't even think about him anymore. But why should he give up his jungle life, meet Tarja and then get the girl pregnant, of all people. Well, you can't leave any more traces." Cyron tapped his forehead. "I don't know. But something's fishy. Maybe he doesn't even know how lucky he is." "Should we pay him a visit and poke our noses into it?" "Do you think that's a good idea?" "In any case, it's better than silence and tearing the couple apart." "We'll talk to Groodarn later. Maybe he won't mind a little detour, and we can save walking." He winked at his wife. During the conversation, both had gone in the direction of Han-Dun and had reached the city limits. They took each other by the hand and dived into the bustle of the chafras.

The two leopards and Tarja had had a long but calm flight when the dragon arrived at the edge of the city of Strongham and landed gently. It had already become afternoon and the sun had passed its zenith. The heat was almost unbearable and seemed even more pitiless now, as the wind had cooled down during the flight. They unloaded their luggage and said goodbye to Groodarn. Finlay gave him a kiss as usual and Sitara did the same. The dragon felt flattered and snorted contentedly. Tarja was the last to go to him and stroked his head. The dragon looked at her and said: "Young tigress Tarja, take the following advice with you on your way. Continue your started way, no matter what is brought to you from the left or right. Fulfill the wishes of the others, but always return to the right path. Do not let yourself be distracted. You have a golden heart and in the conflict between your mind and your heart follow the heart. You've done it before, and I know it was right." Tarja did not look uncomprehending this time. The words made sense to her and suddenly she remembered Chiron. She missed him endlessly and wanted to see him most of all, she hadn't even been able to say goodbye to him. "Groodarn, can you do me a favor?" "What, my young tigress?" "After you drop my parents off at home, can you fly by my boyfriend's house and say hi and tell him everything, I mean, about what happened?" "I'll be glad to do that, young tigress Tarja." It took a load off her mind. She'd forgotten all about Chiron in all the excitement. I don't know what happened to her. It was an unforgivable mistake. Groodarn spread his wings once more and disappeared into the clouds with a low humming sound. Tarja stared after him briefly and then turned to her two surrogate parents: "So what now?" "Now we're going to walk the last few meters and have a nice afternoon," said Finlay.

Meanwhile, the two tigers Stella and Cyron enjoyed themselves at the market of Han-Dun. They strolled back and forth between the stalls, looking here and there. Sometimes Cyron bought a new spear, sometimes a bow and flight-optimized arrows for hunting. With all the modern things they had, hunting had to be fair and traditional. You had to fight for your prey, otherwise their meat wouldn't taste right afterwards. Stella rummaged through all kinds of things. She bought jewellery and thin, almost see-through robes. Even though they were almost naked, like all the others by the way, since nudity was normal, one liked to adorn oneself with light and pleasant fabrics every now and then. It was also the latest fashion and who wanted to follow this. The tigress was intoxicated by the impressions, especially since she was never here before. If she went once on the market, then it was once in the week in the village and on that there were also only the typical small things which one already knew and it served rather to fill up his started reserves. But the offers here really killed them. Both of them couldn't resist at a fruit seller from Festan and bought apples, pears, Bislarzels and some more cherries. The trader looked at them a bit strangely, because cats of prey never bought anything from him, but if they wanted to, why not? They were already quite packed when Cyron walked backwards and Stella was about to say something. Then he bumped into someone and that someone was smaller than him, a whole lot smaller and went down. Cyron turned around frightened and was about to apologize when he recognized the one lying in the sand. "Hylas, you lynx", he said delighted. "So this is where you roam." "Where else would I be if not here You know, today is big market day. But where is everybody else?" "They didn't come. They didn't really want to." "Oh, that's interesting. By the way, I heard what happened to you. Well, about your daughter and Chiron." "Aha! Chiron after all." "Does this mean you didn't know the name of Tarja's suitor?" Hylas collapsed because he noticed that he had blabbed and was guaranteed not to get out of the number. He looked around irritated, as if he was looking for an escape route. But that didn't seem to frighten Cyron at all. On the contrary, he seemed to be very calm and open-minded, as if he was completely different. But that irritated Hylas even more. Suddenly Cyron waved at someone and meant to come to them. Hylas had a weak stomach. And then Stella stood before him.

"You two already know each other", Cyron said. "Stella, my dear. How are you?" the lynx asked exuberantly. "Old slime bolt", giggled the tigress. "Guess what I've just learned?" Cyron said to his wife. "What is it?" "Our lynx friend had just blabbed, because he thought we knew the name of Tarja's lover." "No, we don't know him. Tarja has kept it neatly hidden." Dark clouds were gathering over Hylas and he wanted to disappear in the crowd. "Not so hasty, my dearest. You don't have to be afraid of that. Now it's out there anyway, and we know the name." Stella looked at her husband from shining eyes. "What a surprise", she said. "Yes, and guess what? You were right in guessing." "No!" "Yes, I do." "I don't think so. This guy actually marches out of his jungle into our village, meets our daughter and lands the perfect shot." Hylas started to laugh. "So that's what happened. Nobody knew exactly what it was all about." The two tigers looked at each other and sighed simultaneously. "Have we made all this fuss for nothing?" Stella asked. "No, I don't think we did. It was better that way. It would have come out eventually anyway." Hylas now simply had to ask, because he was bursting with curiosity. "What actually happened?" "We have given Tarja to her stepsister because it is better for her She got knocked up by Chiron." Hylas giggled again. "That's something. I've always known that fresh air and lots of greenery in the surroundings are healthy, but that the stuff also gives you super potency..." Cyron mumbled something to himself. Hylas decided to roam the market with the two, since he was also looking for meat and Stella reminded her husband that they both have the same goal. After three hours they finally found the stand they were looking for. He was literally brimming over with meat. They bought what they could barely carry and when a Taur came by and offered his carrying services they paid him, it wasn't expensive, and loaded the groceries into the strapped carrying bags. Hylas did the same and so the fun shopping could continue for a while. Stella discovered at a small stand still artificial hair to braid. "I absolutely must still have this", she said and bought it promptly without even waiting for an answer. The two tomcats looked at each other. Cyron rolled his eyes and Hylas shrugged her shoulders. Now that they had bought enough and the time had come, they decided to leave. "So, we'll be on our way now. We have to get out of the city to get to our further transport. If you want, we'll take you with us and drop you off at home", Cyron said to Hylas. Hylas was very happy about the offer and accepted with thanks. They indicated to the Taur that they wanted to leave. He followed them out of the city and stayed with them until Cyron suddenly told them to stop. He turned to Hylas and also to the Taur: "Stay calm and don't be afraid, nothing will happen to you." "What could happen to us?" the Taur asked uncertainly. "Well, let's put it this way. Our mode of transportation takes some getting used to." As if on command a huge shadow rushed towards the group and landed unerringly in front of their paws. "Hello, Tigress Stella and Tiger Cyron," the dragon greeted them. Hylas and the Taur were deeply impressed. "That's...", Hylas put on. "...a dragon," Cyron finished the sentence. "How did you come to that? Haven't you always thought there were no dragons? What's the matter, are you sick or sick, have you been replaced or your brain manipulated?" Cyron giggled and Stella grinned broadly. "Not at all, my dearest. I'm fine. I'm just saying good-bye to certain old judgments." The lynx only whistled. "I see I have one more passenger to carry and a lot of merchandise", Groodarn remarked. "Yes, provided that you are willing to do so. In any case, it would be very sweet of you." "Good. Then take your shopping upstairs and have a seat. I've got some errands to run afterwards." "Oh, you have plans?" Stella asked. "Yes. I have to go and see a tiger cat and give him a message." Charging was done quickly thanks to the help of the Taur. The three of them took a seat, said goodbye to their friendly porter, fastened their seat belts and the journey began. The Taur stayed behind, looked behind, turned around and vowed to be a little more careful in future with transport requests from cats of prey.

Hylas was blown away. He had never experienced anything like this before and certainly not from his arch-conservative friend Cyron. Cyron, the I don't believe in dragon tiger. Hylas only had to shake his head inwardly, because he did not recognize his longtime friend anymore. After about one hour of flight time, a gentle approach and a very soft landing the Tigers asked the dragon to wait for a moment. They packed their things together as far as they could and ran quickly to the village. They hurriedly said goodbye to Hylas and stacked their things in the kitchen. Then they ran back to the village and turned to the dragon. "We have a favor to ask of you, Groodarn." "What's this about, you two?" He smiled at her. "Well, now. It may be a little presumptuous. But good. Do you know a Chiron?" The dragon pretended to think for a moment and answered the question in the affirmative. "Fine. That's very good. Because we'd like to find him and talk to him, get to know him." The dragon thought again briefly: "This is my goal too. He's the tiger I'm supposed to give a message to." "Let me guess. You're supposed to say hello from our daughter?" "Yes. - Get the rest of your things into the house quickly. I'll be waiting for you." Those two tigers didn't need to be told twice. They packed the last things into the house, closed the door, stormed out of the village, sat on the dragon and were already in the air again. Groodarn outdid himself and apparently broke every speed record. After only thirty minutes of flight time, they were within range of their target. "Look down there. The rain forest", cried the dragon. Both looked down. As far as the eye could see, a huge green mass opened up that seemed to stretch out its fingers at them. "Look out! I'm going to nosedive to keep the time until touchdown." "Do that", Stella shouted to him. The dragon rushed to the ground at an incredible speed. Suddenly Cyron realized how at the mercy of his flying skills they were, he closed his eyes and put on his ears. The falling movement came to an abrupt end, the Tigers felt four times heavier than they actually were and without further shaking the dragon landed directly in front of a small hut. "Before I forget", Groodarn said. "I want to give you something else. Here ...", he took something out of one of his bags with his lips, "... it's the same device that Finlay has. It just transmits on a different frequency. We don't know exactly how it works or where it comes from, only that there's a receiver, which I wear and several transmitters. You have one of them, three are in my mountain cave and one is, as I mentioned, Finlay's. I only give them to really good friends. And you are." Cyron received the device almost reverently. "Where did you get this?" "As I said, there is no more specific information. These devices were scattered throughout the mountains." "The form and appearance are so strange, seem so extremely technical and cold, as if they had not been created by our hands and were not meant for us." The dragon snorted briefly and turned his head towards the jungle. "Well, this is a surprise. I never thought I'd get a visit from anyone, let alone an air express."