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Borders of Understanding

Slowly coming to, Ketilbjörn was slowly coming around as his vision went from hazy and blurry to clear. He soon found himself awake in some kind of hut as he looked around. He felt restrained as he looked down to see himself bound and tied up upon the floor, arms, legs and everything upon some blankets. The last thing he remembered before being knocked out was him confronting six human-like tigers, all female, one of them he had confronted beforehand and was attacked for it. He had hoped it was just some miserable dream, but then someone entered through a flap of a doorway and he was brought back to reality. Before him was another tiger woman, only this one was white and had long purple hair. A sarong hung around her neck and covered her chest and had arm bands along the upper part of her arms. Following behind her was another female but this one was a fox and she wore green garb and her hair was blond and styled upwards. He tried his best to sit up, but was stopped as the white tigress help up a hand for him to stop. She then sat next to him and held up a strange concoction in a small vase and made a gesture to insist he drink it. Hesitantly, Ketilbjörn reluctantly took the strange potion and drank it. It tasted bitter and bland like distasteful cold medicine as he had a disgusted look on his face. He saw the vixen had a small amused smirk on her face seeing his reaction to tasting this strange liquid. But immediately afterwards, he felt a certain change occur as he suddenly began to understand what they were saying. "It should be taking effect any second now." he heard the green garbed vixen say with arms folded.

"What is this?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two beast women. "What did you do to me?"

"Don't worry, I just gave you a little potion to temporarily help you understand what we're saying to you. It's only for a few days but it'll help for now."

"Now if you please," the tigress then chimed in, "we'd like to ask you an important question. Who are you, and why have you come to our home?" She seemed kind and understanding, so Ketilbjörn relaxed a little as he took the moment for formalities.

"My name is Ketilbjörn, son of Dufniall. I am a Viking warrior of the Ragnar clan. I came here to this land to seek a new world to discover and explore, so that my people could live out their lives in another part of the world."

"I am Kiriad, princess and leader of the Tiger nation. This here is my informant Shaleigh who made the potion that you just drank. Just what are you exactly? You have a little bit of fur on you yet not entirely and you have no tail or claws."

"Well,...I believe you can just call me a 'human', a male human who has never seen the likes of anyone like you, just had stories and stories alone. Just what is this place?"

"This place has been our home for many years. We've met no other outsiders here save you."

"Especially one who has such strange attire." noted Shaleigh.

"Are there any others like yourself? Or her?" Ketilbjörn asked the princess, acknowledging the previous point.

"There are others here on this land like myself, like the six you met earlier." Kiriad gestured to her confidant. "For her it is unsure but assumingly yes there are probably others like her."

"Are there... other beast women...of other species?" He wasn't sure how else to word it.

"There are...others." Kiriad was not too happy about the subject brought up as she rubbed her arm nervously, but for for his sake she had to tell him. "Our enemies the Dragons who live near the mountainous region of this land on the far side of this land. We've been at war with them ever since first contact. So far neither one of us has had an advantage over the other." She then changed the subject to him. "So what of you? Are there any more of your kind here?"

"Here no, my people are still at home at another part of the world."

A puzzled look settled upon the princess as she tilted her head at him. "Another part of the world?" she asked curiously. "But how? If what you say is true, then how did you get here?"

"I can't really explain it." Ketilbjörn admitted. "I believe it's best if I just show you. If you can just let me take you down to my camp from where your warriors had last encountered me, I can lead you to it from there."

"How do we know you're not possibly leading her or her friends into a trap where your 'Viking' friends might be waiting for them to be lead into an ambush?" questioned the sly fox as she raised an eyebrow. He felt like she was testing him to see how he would react. Without hesitation, the Viking looked straight at both of them and in a tone of pure honesty "I swear upon my honor as a Viking warrior of the Ragnar clan and upon the honor of my ancestors before all the gods of Asgard I am the only one of my kind here and there is no trap that will be of any danger to her highness or any of her subjects. Just so long as she promises not have any harm come to me."

Smiling at his response, princess Kiriad responded with her own oath to him. "Very well sir Ketilbjörn, by my word as princess of the Tiger nation you will be safe from any harm done upon by any of my people." She held out her hand to confirm her promise to him. In agreement, he reached over with his bound hands and shook hers. With a slight smirk, Kiriad made the obvious remark "But first, I think it's best if we set you free of *some * of your bonds; preferably those on your legs."

++++++

As Shaleigh took her leave, Ketilbjörn was soon free of the bonds around his legs as he was introduced to the group that would be escorting him and the princess: the six tigresses that met him earlier! Much to his sheepish chagrin, he offered an awkward smile and a small wave to them as a few of them returned the wave back save for two, the short haired one with the dreads and another who was also a white tiger with a slightly shaggy mop-top and who also had a sarong covering her breasts in a crisscross manner. All but two of them (Tam'syn and one tiger who had a reverse mohawk styled hairstyle) had an uncertain look upon their puss. "Ketilbjörn, may I introduce you to the warriors that'll be accompanying us today." said Kiriad as she began to make introductions. There was first Scyde, one of the muscular tigers that had helped restrained him who was also her chief advisor; Xiu who was the one who Ketilbjörn stomped his boot upon, Zurina her sister, Kanti who was the musician of the group, and finally there was Ashaki the tiger he tussled with and her little sister Tam'syn who looked happy to see him again. "This here is Ketilbjörn. He is kind enough to take us to his camp tomorrow morning to show us how he has came to our home, under your watch of course for I am coming along with you."

"Are you crazy cuz?!" asked a bewildered Zurina as she and those save for Kanti and Tam'syn did not seem to care for that idea. "How do you even know he isn't leading us into a trap? You can't just blindly believe this...creature can you?"

"For once I have to agree with your cousin, highness." Scyde added. "We know so little of what he is really after and we certainly don't know what he plans to do after he returns home from wherever he is from."

"I understand and both your points are well made. But I gave him my word that he would be unharmed by any of us just the same as he's sworn to not bring any harm upon us. For now, we are to honor his word unless otherwise." stated Kiriad. "Besides, he's to be bound on the way there. If you must Scyde, you can take a few of our other warriors to scout around the shoreline for any sign of any of his kind."

"As you wish my lady." Scyde complied before leaving to assemble some volunteers for tomorrow much to the dismay of her second-in-command Zurina who was still not pleased about it. "I still don't think we should go through with this." grumbled Zurina.

"Zuri please. Just for my sake please just go with it. You do know that should anything else happen you and everyone here have permission to take action. Understood?"

"Yeah sure." And with that, the conversation was over and the group was dismissed for the night. Ketilbjörn, feeling some relief, still had some concern on his mind. "I do thank you princess for your reassurance of our deal, but there is something does concern me."

"What's that?"

"Do you really plan to have me killed if I am lying?"

Kiriad gave him a reassuring smile. "Let's just pray that it doesn't come to that. As long as we both be good to our word, we shall both come out of this happy. Until then, sleep well and I will see you tomorrow."

"As you wish princess. Sleep well Lady Kiriad."

"Good night Sir Ketilbjörn." Looking back one more time at him, she went to bed as two nameless tigers entered to stand guard and watch him until tomorrow. With a sigh, the young Viking made himself comfortable and with slight difficulty fell to sleep.

The dawn soon approached as sunlight beamed in upon Ketilbjörn's face as he slowly woke up and rubbed his eyes. He looks to see the two guards from last night still there who had just noticed him waking up and one of them went to inform Kiriad. He noticed they had been muttering to each other, possibly about him since last night. He didn't let them know he was aware of it as he saw the princess enter with what he hoped was food. "Good morning Ketilbjörn." She nods to the two guards and the ladies left the room without question. Kiriad then sat next to him and offered the bowl of what was revealed to be soup of some kind. She then stopped and realized that his arms were still bound, as was emphasized by the young Vikings' dubious expression. She offered him a sheepish grin, followed by a gesture offering to feed him to which he replied with a little nod and smile. As she presented him with a spoonful, Kiriad tried to make small talk with him. "I do apologize for the overnight watch that had to stay with you. I hope you understand why."

"Oh I do. More than you know. I appreciate you not having the others go completely savage upon me." said Ketilbjörn. He then paused and tried to rephrase what he just said. "That's not what I...what I meant to say was..."

He was stopped by her as she raised half a hand up to him, as she was still holding up the spoon feeding him. "It's alright, Ketilbjörn. You don't have to explain it. I know what you meant. Don't worry, you're not the first being to have the small assumption about what we would be." Upon saying this, her head slumped down a little as he heard the sadness in her voice. Trying to be emphatic but cautious in prying into the issue.

"Just who is all here exactly?"

"I don't think I should tell you. Not that you could believe us."

"Princess, I think the fact that I'm still here alive and breathing entwined in rope as I'm in the presence of actual living and breathing tiger women is enough for me to believe in anything at this point." Ketilbjörn reassured her in an honest tone. "And graciously being fed soup by one of them. I think I'm convinced enough as it is."

Smiling, she relaxed as she offered him another spoonful. "Well then, if you insist." She then told him all about how they supposedly came to be, according to their faith in their goddess and creator Loessa. As they had lived in two different villages, one ran by her and the other ran by another tigress named Mabel, it wasn't long until they had their first encounter with the other occupants of this land and long-hated enemies: the Dragons. He continued listening to her tale as she explained how it all began. Princess Kiriad took out a map as he saw what land he discovered: an Isthmus between two landmasses where the tiger clans resided in the forest to the north, whereas the dragon kingdom lies in the southern hills. In between these two is the designated war zone known as the Borderlands. To the east and west of the war zone were two mountain ranges: the Tary'n and another the Jory mountain range. Continuing her story, Kiriad had surveyed the landscape before her and her army reached the top of the Jory mountain range. She knew that soon enough they would finally step foot into the Dragonlands, securing a foothold into their enemies' realm and bringing them one step closer to victory.

Suddenly, there came a flash of blinding white light! Then another Two light dragons each managed to stun the Princess' army with their light magic, while a two fire dragons used their fire magic to lay down a layer or fire to keep the tigers back, while at the same time separating them from Kiriad. Capturing Princess Kiriad, still dazed and blinded herself, the dragons were gone. With princess Kiriad in her clutches, their queen was satisfied that the war was all but over. At this point, the princess paused as she composed herself feeling emotional about recollecting what happened next. To add insult to injury, the queen made sure that her new plaything provided her with endless amusement. Attired in the most humiliating garb, the princess was in misery, her fate looking bleak. Tortured physically, mentally and psychologically, the only thing the she had looked forward to was her eventual death at the hands of the dragon queen.

It was weeks of planning and several days afterwards until she was rescued. Scyde sent several scouts out into the Dragonlands in the hopes that even one of them would come back with a way in that would allow them to sneak in and out without incident. One of them returned with good news. It appeared that the dragon kingdom featured an intricate system of underground tunnels and pipes with which to remove garbage and waste from the city. The scout had explored these passages from an opening outside the city and discovered a route that would take them straight into the palace. The pieces in place, Scyde was able to continue with her plan. Working off of a map her scout had made, the same map that Kiriad and Ketilbjörn now were looking at, Scyde's team were able to rescue their leader under cover of night and infiltrated the dragon queens' palace, rescuing their princess from the their clutches. And like shadows in the night, they were gone. It wasn't long until the same team sent out to capture her soon tried to bring her back. But fortunately, while the first half of Scyde's plan was to extract princess Kiriad from the dragon kingdom, the second half required a large battalion to meet them after they had traveled a day's journey out from the Queen's abode. As the dragon quartet swooped in for the princess, Scyde's battalion sprung to life in a surprise attack. The ambush was successful, catching all four dragons off guard. Overpowered and outnumbered, the dragons then tried to retreat. All but one of them, a light dragon, managed to escape. After a struggle, the tigers were able to overcome the light dragon and to ensure that there would be no escape, Princess Kiriad placed the dreaded Shackles of Binding upon her. The Shackles of Binding were made of Zhirite which was a metal that nullified a Dragon's magic and renders one virtually defenseless, save for hand-to-hand combat which may also be compromised by the dragons' magic, (as he also learned that many tiger weapons would employ this metal, usually in alloy form) leaving the dragon captive completely powerless. Princess Kiriad felt this was a fitting punishment for the degradation she had suffered at Oscura's hands, but the dragon's punishment was only beginning.

Scyde's team had reached a small encampment of tigers defending the borders to the tiger territories. Tired and weary, Princess Kiriad and her rescuers decided to stop at the encampment to rest for the night. Suddenly, a large contingent of dragon warriors overtook the small encampment quickly. The battle was fierce, leaving many tigers dead or severely wounded. Only Scyde, the Princess, and a few members of her royal guard survived, thanks in part to the Zhirite weapons that they used to defend themselves. But, it was too late, for the dragons were able to successfully retrieve what they had come for, leaving the surviving tigers standing in ruins. When Kiriad was finished, Ketilbjörn was still absorbing all of what just happened. He had heard of such tales from his fellow Vikings who were taken prisoner from enemy nations and suffered cruel imprisonment from them. It seemed that no matter where one be at, hate and cruelty were always bound to follow. He felt sympathy for her, for he couldn't imagine what she could have gone through. He didn't know what compelled him to do so, but he wriggled himself upright and slid over to her. Kiriad soon felt something embracing her; it was Ketilbjörn trying to give her a hug to comfort her as best he could. "I am sorry for what happened to you highness." he said to her. "I'm not sure how I would be after going through what just happened to you." He then awkwardly broke off the hug as he lifted his bound hands over her head. Seeing that there was now an awkward pause between them now, the young human swiveled away from her in embarrassment and Kiriad could see a slight blush in his cheeks.. "And I'm...sorry for that if it made you uncomfortable just now. I was only...wanting to comfort you if I made you regret recalling your story."

Kiriad, blinking in surprise by what the human just did to her, soon blushed as well as she affectionately placed a hand on his shoulder and offered a small kiss on his cheek which made his face burn slightly more. "It's quite alright. I do thank you for caring and being kind enough to do such a thing. But um..." she paused to do a double take at the doorway. "you might not want to do that at least in front of the others. I'm not quite sure how they would react to such a thing and may take it the wrong; at least until we are convinced by your story."

"Understood, princess. I am sorry again for that." He turned back to face her as he said this.

"You're alright. You don't have to apologize. But do me one favor though if that's alright."

"W-what's that milady?"

"Could you...maybe just call Kiriad or Kiri at least when we're alone. Though it would depend on later today."

"If you wish it so, I shall. Just as long you can Ketil for short, or at least if it will help you uh not having any problems pronouncing my actual name."

"Very well, mister 'Ketil'." she said smiling and then held out her hand to shake on it. Smiling, Ketilbjörn reached out to shake her hand with both tied hands. "Now let's get those ropes off your legs. We can't really having you hopping all the way over there can we?"

"No indeed." he said chuckling as he shook his head in amusement. "It would take too long and I doubt any of the ladies would be happy to carry me all the way over there and back." They both chortled in amusement as they both nudged each other in a friendly manner. There was a slight spark between them and how it would develop between the two was only a matter of time and telling.