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Some years in the future...

As many of you know, Jon-Tom did finally win the heart of red-haired Talea. They married, but he left for his own world soon after. When he returned, there was much celebration, for many thought that he would never come back. As the years passed they had a family, and even his friend Mudge had found a worthwhile lady friend to settle down with. Their lives had taken on an air of respectability. That was not to say that things didn't happen to liven up their lives. One strange happenstance started in a most unusual way. Jon-Tom started glowing, a pale white light. He could readily see it, but no one else seemed to notice anything was wrong. He locked himself in their bedroom and tried to figure it out.  He wasn't so dense as not to figure that it had something to do with Roseroar. He was unable to fathom what it meant. The answer finally came quite unexpectedly in the form of two striped warriors who came knocking on his door. Jon-Tom's heart jumped in his chest. He was so flustered that he could hardly speak. Both were female, and both looked like his lovely tigress. His brain amended that for him. They were both tigresses, so of course they looked like Roseroar.

"Wha...wha...what can I do for you?," he inquired as blandly as he could manage.  One of the warriors handed him a note. It had the royal seal of Roseroar's family line. "Our king hereby commands the presence of the wizard called Jon-Tom to appear before the royal throne on a matter quite urgent." He read the note, which mirrored what had been spoken. "What matter? And why is it urgent?" He was stalling, trying to think of a way of explaining to his wife his connection with these warriors. It was moot. Talea piped in with her own suggestion. "Jon-Tom, why don't you shut up and go see what this is about. I can deal with things here." She leaned up and kissed him. "Just don't be gone too long." So it was decided for him. He gathered his duar, his staff, his cape and set off, accompanied by the tigresses.

After traveling in silence for a while, he tried breaking the ice. "If I might inquire, what are your names." The one on the left spoke first. "I am called Selif" He looked sharply at her. "Selif? As in the old goddess of legend?" She broke her stride and returned the look. "You know of Selif?" He nodded. "How unusual that an out-lander would know of such things." He didn't feel like trying to explain. Instead he attempted to engage her in conversation. "I don't mean to be rude, but might I inquire as to the pressing need for me in your kingdom? I have only been there once, and it was some years ago." He wasn't sure just what was still known about him and decided not to elaborate. She looked down at him. "You are the spell-singer they speak of then?" He shrugged. "I guess I'm not in the position to know. But the way I understood it, I was one of the few humans to have entered your city for many years. And I am a spell-singer."

She and her partner stopped and appraised the human. It was more reaction than they had shown up until now. It gave him a chance to inspect them as well. They looked identical, but then he had to admit, animals of a kind often looked alike until he got to know them. "The second of them spoke. "If you are the spell-singer, then might I suggest that you use your magic to hasten our journey. We arrived by magic to save time. Reports of your abilities say that should not be a problem. I for one will be glad to be home sooner rather than later. Then the king can inform you as to why your presence has been requested."

It was a reasonable suggestion. He swung the duar around and across his chest. "I believe that you might want to be a little closer. I cannot always say what form my magic might take, but it performs the job asked of it." They did as told, boxing him in on either side. They had a familiar musky smell, but he ignored it the best he could and concentrated on his magic. He had spent the past few years writing songs customized to the needs of this world. They weren't always pretty to the ears, but they often made up for it with powerful magic. His fingers flew across his instrument, teasing a lilting melody from its strings. He pictured in his mind the city, Roseroar, and the throne room. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the magic, and his final destination. His eyelids lit up, a sign of gneechees and that his magic was working. There was a stereophonic gasp from the tigresses. When he opened his eyes again, they were standing in the throne room.

It was empty, likely because their return was not yet expected. His companions took a moment to gather their wits. Selif finally found words. "Spell-singer you are indeed. I must admit, until this moment I took the tales to be mere fabrication. I see that I was wrong. I ask your forgiveness." So saying that, she took a deep bow, as did her mirror image. When they stood, they spoke again. "Please stay here. The king will wish to see you, but as we are here unexpectedly, I do not know the time or location. Please be seated," pointing out a chair along a wall.

And so he sat. And wondered. He hadn't been given the time to inquire about Roseroar. Was something wrong with her? Is that why the king wished to see him? There seemed to be more questions than he could find reasonable answers for. A door opened somewhere in the room. He leaned forward, trying to see who it was. The two tigresses came into view, escorting someone who had to be the king. He walked hunched over, his head barely visible for the hood attached to his robe. Between that and the dimness of the room, the face was obscured. The throne creaked as it was occupied. The two warriors motioned for Jon-Tom to come forward. He did so with deference, well remembering the massive monarch. The king dismissed the two tigresses with a gesture. They departed back through the door. The king and the spell-singer were alone.

He waited. No words came from the throne. He knew enough to not start the conversation first, but the silence grew unnerving. Then, a barely audible sigh escaped from the lips of the occupant of the royal chair. "I've missed you so." The voice was not what he had expected. It was female. "Roseroar?" The hood came down and there, looking older and more matronly, was his lovely tigress. "You're the king?" "Well sugah, you can say that. You see, around here, there can be no ruling queen. My husband, had I chosen one, would have been given the title of king. Since I was the only one in the royal line, I became the first female king." She had sat there quivering with excitement. All at once she flung aside her robe and grabbed him up in her arms. "Oh Jon-Tom, I have so missed you!" He barely had time to complain about her crushing embrace when they were both knocked off of their feet. There was no one in the room to see it, but the two had lit up like a supernova.

In an instant, they exchanged souls and back again. Jon-Tom found his voice. "Wow. I had forgotten what that was like. Kind of like being turned inside out and then back together again." As he spoke, he saw images fluttering across his vision, images of the life the tigress had led since he had left the city. Before he could begin to make sense of them, Roseroar interrupted. "I see that you have been busy, sugah. That is what I had hoped for. But let us talk. There is much I need to tell you, and as I do, I believe that what you see inside you will make sense. And then, you can do the same for me." It was a logical request, and the two made their way to the room he had once occupied. It was literally the same as when he had left.

There was no one around. The room was deserted.  It didn't make him nervous until she climbed onto the massive bed and motioned for him to join her. "Uh Roseroar, I don't think..." "On the contrary, you think to much. Have I asked you to remove your clothes? Besides, a king can't just go consorting with whomever she wants!" He stared hard at her. She let out a roar of laughter. "OK. I lied. A king can do whatever she wants, but really, this will be more comfortable." She patted the sheets. "You can trust me Jon-Tom. Sex with you was great, but I am pretty much past those kind of primal urges. I didn't ask you here for something that I know would be repugnant to you." He protested. "I never said that I would find it repug..." She cut him off. "Spell-singer, you are  a married man. I would no more ask you to have an affair than you would ask me to. You are dedicated to your wife.  So please stop thinking, shut up and listen."

He climbed up beside her and did as he was told. She may not have urges any more, but the smell of her got him excited. The heady musk that was her scent activated a part of his brain long since dormant. Which woke up parts of him best left sleeping. If she noticed, she said nothing. "You are wondering why I asked you here. It is a good question. The answer to it I think is hidden within you." He was still capable of getting that stupid look on his face. "I am at a loss here Roseroar, err, your majesty." "Just Roseroar, Jon-Tom. We have been through too much for any kind of formality.  As for the answer, I must first ask the question." He waited expectantly. She opened her mouth to speak, but then clamped her jaw shut.

"What is it?" Rather than answer, she pulled a velvet cord next to the bed. In a instant the two tigresses entered. "What is it your majesty?'" they asked in unison. She eyed Jon-Tom. "You have met these two of course, but I understand you used magic to get here. That was regrettable. I had rather hoped that you would have a chance to get to know them, and they you." Turning her attention to the warriors, she dismissed them to wait outside in the hall. "So, how much discussion did you have with them?" He had to admit it wasn't much. "I did learn one's name was Selif. Come to think of it, I never got the other's name. It was she that suggested I use magic to shorten the trip." "Yes, she is rather impatient. I could rather wish she was more like her sister. By the way, her name is Bastet" That tripped up his mental processes. "That was the name of the goddess I told you about! How did she get the name when?...Oh, I get it, you must have told the story to your people" She smiled down, her fangs just as sharp and white as he remembered. She spoke with a distinctly measured tone. "Jon-Tom, you are still just as stupid as ever."

Now he was really confused. "I agree, because I have no idea what is going on." "Stupid, but still simple and honest. Selif and Bastet are my twin daughters!" He fell back against the pillows. Then he shot back up again, joy spreading across his face. "Roseroar, that's wonderful! I had always hoped that you would be able to have children! Congratulations!" He hugged her fiercely, and she hugged him back. He looked up at her eyes, now brimming with tears of joy. "But why did you call me back?" She could think of no diplomatic way of explaining herself. She blurted out, "Because Jon-Tom darling, you are their father."

If someone had pole axed him, stuck a glowing hot pike in his stomach, and torn out his hair all at once, it would have felt better than the effect this news had on his system. If he had had food in his stomach he would have brought back into the daylight. He fell back stunned. His head was swimming, but he still tried to sort it out. Yes, they had sex and plenty of it. But none of it could have produced offspring. It was impossible. She said so herself; like begets like. But then, they had to be hers (he could feel it inside him for one thing and  for another they looked a great deal like her). But he was no tiger. And they were obviously not half breeds. She gave him time to think, sorry that she had sprung this on him this way. "Sugah, if you think I brought you here to chastise you or embarrass you, you're dead wrong. The girls are the light of my life, and someday may rule in my place. But I need answers. How did you make me pregnant?"

It was a good question. He would have answered if he could, but for the moment his vocal chords were frozen. His brain finally got down to sorting things out. There was nothing there. The only way this could have happened was for him to have made a spell, and as he knew of no such magic, he had never attempted it. As he lay there trying to figure it out, images came to him of her life, thanks to their soul sharing. He went backwards in time until he came to their parting at the city. Their last night together as seen through her eyes was a wonder to behold. It was a few weeks later that she learned she was expecting. And no image of any other lover popped into his mind. He had been it.

"Roseroar, honestly, I really wanted this for you, but it can't be something I did." "Sugah, I have been over it hundreds of times. There is no other answer. Are you sure you didn't slip in a spell when I wasn't looking?" He would have been upset with her asking such a thing, but she was right to some degree. If he had been sure of a song that would have done it, he would have sung it. But Clothahump warned against doing things impulsively. It was nothing he had done. "Absolutely not. There must be some other explanation. I love you too much to go messing around with matters like this." She sighed. "I know. But I had hoped that maybe you had. You see, I have never told the girls who their father was, because I cannot say for certain it was you. But they are of age, and at some point in time they need to know. It would only be right!"

Jon-Tom was unsure about that. If somehow he was their father, how would they take to learning that they were the offspring of a human? He wracked his brain for an answer. There was none. Like begets like. He was human. She was tiger. Like begets like... "Oh shit!!" he screamed, jumping off of the bed. Roseroar let out a surprised snarl. "What is it Jon-Tom?" He just stared at her. "Sugah, you look like you've seen a ghost. What's wrong?" All at once he fell to the floor, laughing hysterically. He did so for so long that she nearly called for the royal physician. But his laughing subsided in to fits of giggling, which in turn diminished to snickers. He wiped tears from his eyes. His first words were the ones running through his thoughts. "Roseroar, you had the answer all along. Like begets like." "Sugah, I know that, That's where the problem is. We aren't alike." He just sat there shaking his head. "No, no we are not. Not even close you giant striped beauty, the first and truest love I have ever known. The only way we could have bred successfully was for me to be a tiger." She agreed. "I know that honey, but you never were able to turn into one." He started to answer her, but he dissolved into fits of laughter again.

She couldn't figure out what had gotten a hold of him. He seemed to have the answer, but it had apparently driven him insane. She was sure it was her fault. He finally settled down again enough to talk. "You don't get it, do you Roseroar? Like begets like!" She was getting a little angry at his apparent flippancy. "Jon-Tom, you keep saying that. I am quite aware of the limitations. Now please tell me, if you know how you got me pregnant." He pulled together his composure and stared longingly into her eyes. "Because like begets like. I needed to be a tiger to breed with a tiger. On the flip side you would have to be a human to breed with a human." She started to argue, "But I'm not a human..." Then it struck her, nearly as hard as it had hit him. She had been a human, even if for only a short while. And she was in heat. Sex. Sperm and egg. Pregnancy. Which can only mean that her fetuses had magically changed to whatever form their mother took. She was glad she had limited her transformations one she had returned home.

Her face was radiant with relief and pride. "I just knew it! I knew you had to be their father, but I could not figure out how it was possible." On a whim, she said "I wish I was human." Standing there was the beautiful blonde from so many years ago, a little older and more mature looking, but just as lovely. The lady twirled in place and then lunged forward to hug the spell-singer. "Well what do you know? I never thought twice about it. I was having so much fun switching forms that it never dawned on me that one of them was compatible with you!" She went through a flurry of forms, ending with her own. "That felt good! I haven't changed much recently. No real call for it." She pulled him back to the bed. "You know, I feel so good, I think I want to celebrate!" He fell into her arms from the force of her tug. "Why sugah, and you a married man and all!" He jumped up, apologetic. She laughed with unbridled joy. "Relax! I'm talking about throwing  a party Jon-Tom. However, if you would like we can have a fling just for old times sake." He wished she hadn't said that. Because right now he really, really wanted to. "Thanks Roseroar, but like you said, I'm a married man. I love you both, but my present commitment is to her." She patted him on the back, nearly knocking the wind out of him. "Which is as it should be."

As it happened preparations were already made for the party, which turns out was actually to celebrate the girls' upcoming birthday. Jon-Tom had to ask. "Are you telling them?" "I don't know. I have always felt that you were their father, but now that I'm certain, I am unsure how wise it would be to tell them. I don't like lying to them, but withholding the truth isn't quite the same thing. What do you think?" "That's a tough question. I would have to say yes, but let's wait until after the party. If they don't take it well, I don't want to spoil the celebration." And so it was.

They held a private audience with the girls a few days later. Roseroar began by showing them something they had never seen. She transformed, taking on a dizzying array of shapes. The girls watched spell bound. "Mother! Why have you never shown us this before?" "Simple dears. There was no reason for you to know. Besides, guess how many of the servants I have impersonated so that I could keep an eye on you?" That quieted them down. From now on every one the came in contact with was going to be suspect. Jon-Tom kept his amusement to himself. She changed again, this time into that lovely platinum blonde that he remembered fondly. "This girls, is what your mother looked like when you were conceived." The young tigresses looked on silently, too stunned to speak. "I never spoke of your father even though I knew who he had to be. I brought Jon-Tom here to help me figure it out. You see, it was he and I, together in this form, that brought you into existence. He had tried to become a tiger, but without thinking I became a human. And like begets like."

Needless to say, this revelation brought forth mixed feelings. They had to have everything explained to them. But his girls accepted it more readily than he had supposed.  However, it did nothing to help him in trying to explain this to his wife. But that would happen much later. For now, he had as much joy as any man could handle. He was still marveling at their acceptance of him. It was not until he went out into the city did he find out why. In the town square was a statue. The face was so precisely his that he though he was looking in a mirror. It was made of fused stones of the appropriate colors, mimicking flesh, eyes, hair, pants, cape; even to the colors of his duar. It must have been quite the artisan that created that! Around the pedestal were inscriptions detailing his heroic adventures, including many that happened after they had parted. Apparently Roseroar had been keeping track of his progress. The girls had for a mother the first female king in their land, and one of the most famous wizards in the world. What wasn't to like in that?

He stayed on for some time. Roseroar had a firm set of morals, but she couldn't help but ask him one day, "Jon-Tom, will you stay? If you do, you can be king!" He shook his head sadly. "You know that I can't. Understand that I appreciate the offer, but my life has gotten much more complicated as it is. I don't like keeping secrets, but there is no way I can tell Talea about this." "Sugah, does she love you?" He nodded in the affirmative. "Then there should be no problem." Jon-Tom had to laugh a little. "You don't know her. If I do tell her, she may be mad at me for turning down a kingdom!" She eyed him thoughtfully. "You don't say?. Then perhaps I should tell her. Your whole family would have my leave to move here. That would give everyone a chance at happiness." He was dubious about such an arrangement. "I'll tell Talea. But I can make no promises." Someone coughed. "Tell me what?"

He whipped around so fast that he got dizzy. Standing there behind him was his wife. "Uhhh, Talea? How did you get here?" "Never mind that. So my dear spell-singer." She stalked him like a cat does a bird. "All this time I thought you were only hot for me. Now I find out you have experience with as many kinds as your otter friend. Of course, they were all composed of this large and imposing tigress here. No wonder you were so terrific in bed. Mudge was right, I'll give him that. You really did need to loosen up a bit. Neither of us ever figured out what had happened to allow for it." She turned to Roseroar. "Thank you for including me in this. I told you he would have a problem with it. Did you manage to coax him into bed?" "As a matter of fact, my dear, I did not. He was a purrfect gentleman the entire stay, though I think I might have come close. Another night with him would have been nice..."

Jon-Tom was getting uncomfortable. Talea moved close to him. "Don't be stupid husband. I can no more blame you for things that happened before we were married than you can for the things I did. I must say I was surprised to learn of your, uhm, activity with Roseroar, seeing as your prior disposition was very nearly phobic. But you did good. And if you want to move here and be a king, whom am I to stop you?" He wasn't certain he was hearing what he was hearing. "You want me to move here?" She corrected him. "The invitation is for "us" to move here. You would be king, she would be queen." "And what would that make you?," he asked.  Her eyes were lit from within. "Just someone who loves you very much."

He looked at Roseroar. "I'm not sure how you got her here, but thank you. Thank you too for your offer, but I think that I must decline. You make a fine ruler, and so will our daughters. But my place is in my home, and Talea is it." The red-head smiled warmly at him. Roseroar purred. "I was hoping that you would stay, but I knew in my heart you would not. I want you to know that father was disappointed that you left, even before he knew I was expecting. When he did, he was intent on sending out a party to find you. I stopped him. I knew that if I interfered, you would never find the love that you needed. Talea piped in. "But what of you? What of the love that you deserved?" The tigress put a paw to her chest. Light gathered around it. Jon-Tom instinctively did the same. Light gathered around his as well. "You see, we have part of each other with us at all times. She relaxed and the light withdrew. "Besides, he has given me much more than my two daughters." She demonstrated her magically given talent, changing from one form to another.

Talea was impressed. "Did you ever tell that old hardshell about this?" Jon-Tom shook his head no. "Well spell-singer, I'll say this for you. There isn't another magician that would have ever attempted that kind of spell. You indeed have given her a remarkable gift. I might just have to try talking you into trying it a second time!" She was watching the tigress change form, eyes full of wonder. Her pupils dilated noticeable when she transformed into her human shape. She nudged her husband, eyebrows arched. "A blonde? Really?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Remind me when we get home to get a bleaching spell. Seems I have some transforming to do of my own." Roseroar agreed. "Sure thing honey. Males like variety. Otherwise they get bored and leave. Right Jon-Tom?" He pleaded the fifth. What else could he do?