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A Gryphon's Tail, Part V

What Doesn't Kill You...

Kira plodded along in silence, watching her troublesome charge from the corner of her eye. It had been half a day now since the ambush, and Rhaelyn hadn't really talked to her since the battle. She had tried to start up a casual conversation a few times now - three times, in fact - but he just didn't seem interested.

The hen sighed to herself, and from the slight twitch of the panther's ear she knew he had heard it. He didn't say anything, though. He didn't even look back in her direction. He just kept trudging through the wilderness ahead of her, only truly acknowledging her when she chirped out a course-correction. Even then, he would just glance back at her quietly before he followed her instructions.

"Take a right up ahead," she called out, experimentally. "Around the bushes. Don't want you to get tangled up in a bunch of thorns again." She kept a carefully neutral expression, but the faintest hint of a tease crept into her voice.

Rhaelyn grunted, but he didn't say anything. He just glanced back at the gryphon, then dutifully circled around the foliage.

"Oh, left right past that shrub!" Kira called out again, her pace slowing as she watched the beastkin. The panther glanced back at her again, and then looked in the direction she had indicated. Past the shrub and to the left, the path dropped off into a sharp slope that ended at the bottom of a shallow ravine.

Rhaelyn curled his lip a bit, looking back to the hen as if to say something, but he evidently thought better of it. He turned away and continued trudging in the same direction without a word.

Kira sighed again, louder this time. She wanted to talk! In her opinion, the panther was being both childish and more than a little inconsiderate, sulking the way he was. So what if he'd gotten his balls handed to him, time and time again? She was past teasing him about that! Or, er, mostly past it. Kind of. But really, she just wanted him to start talking again!

"So, um... how are they hanging?" The hen chirped, slipping over to the male's side. She had to bite back a laugh, since she was trying to sound as sympathetic as possible - but still, she was inordinately proud of that phrasing. It was a question that bordered on the edge of obscenity, but still managed to somehow sound politely curious. She wondered if anyone back in the beastkin cities had ever thought of saying it like that?

The panther snorted, but then he surprised her by actually responding. Not to her question, but he did finally voice what had been on his mind for the past few hours. It had been weighing on him ever since the confrontation with the hunters. "I'm just... not sure what to think, Kira."

Kira blinked, her head cocked as she peered sidelong at the beastkin. "What, about your balls?" Okay, that was less subtle, but at least he was talking again.

"No," the panther scowled. "About the way you handled Kerrik."

The hen eyed the male with her beak set in a deadpan expression, "What's a Kerrik?"

One corner of his mouth curled downward, Rhaelyn frowned slightly as he replied again. "Kerrik. The, ah... he was the gryphon with the tiger stripes. Didn't say much? Kept trying to sneak up on me whenever I took my eyes off of him?"

The hen frowned a bit at that, and for a second her expression almost matched the feline's. She forced a smile, though, and she allowed herself the slightest bit of teasing. "Kerrik. Hm, was he the one who had you on your back, screaming? Is that what's been bothering you?"

"What?" The panther's brows furrowed, but he quickly shook his head. "No! That was the other one, Quetzyl, and SHE only got her claws on me because-" No, wait, the hen was clearly trying to steer the conversation back toward her obvious interests. Rhaelyn wasn't about to let that happen, so he steered it right back. "No, Kerrik. The tiger-striped drake. He was the one you maimed after the fight was over."

Kira grunted, her head twitching away as she studied the rocks and plants along one side of the crude footpath they were following. They had left the frozen woods behind them an hour ago, and now they were navigating the maze of hills and valleys that made up the treacherous Fire Peaks. The cliffs were a cesspit of jagged, icy terrain and dangerous volcanic fumaroles, so there wasn't really much to see.

Normally the wide stretch of hostile terrain wouldn't have posed a problem to the hen. She would have simply flown over it. Sure, there were still the occasional lava bats or errant fire elementals to contend with, but nothing that she couldn't have outflown. Really, the region only acted as a deterrent to land-bound beastkin who might wander into gryphon territory.

"So, uh, Ser Rhaelyn. You're a wizard, right?" Kira chirped, trying to sound as polite as possible. "I hear that the Peaks used to be a majestic mountain range, until two wizards fought a battle here. Do you think that's-"

"Kira." There was a note of warning to the panther's tone. Perhaps he didn't like the idea of blaming the existence of the Fire Peaks on wizards? Or, more likely, he didn't care for the hen's blatant attempt to once again change the subject.

The hen sighed again, for the third time in as many minutes. "Okay, fine. So this Kirk, or Quark, or Jerk. Whatever. You're concerned about him, or about me. Maybe both of us. What's the problem?"

Rhaelyn growled softly, his ears flicked back at the female's flippant tone. "Look, I'm just- I'm trying to tell you what's been on my mind. I haven't been fair to you, and I'd really like to get it off my chest. I think I owe you that much."

Kira furrowed her brow, eying the male. He really did have a talent for beating around the bush - it took him a hundred words just to say nothing of substance. A note of uncertainty crept into her voice as she prowled closer to the panther's side. "Er... okay?"

The beastkin drew in a deep breath before continuing. "Well, it's just that I, uh, guess I had this image of you in my head. I mean, we've only known each other for a short time, but with the way you talk and the way you act I guess I was starting to think of you as somewhat naive and innocent."

The hen laughed, her feathered mane rousing a bit as she shook her head incredulously. "Innocent? Seriously? Have you ever even MET a gryphon before-" And a brief pause before before she bumped herself up against the panther's leg, scowling. 'Is THAT what this is about? Ser Rhaelyn, we've only known each other for three days!"

"Right, that's true, but I think it's been enough time for us to..." the male gestured vaguely with his hands, although Kira really had no idea what it was supposed to mean. Gryphons didn't generally talk with their hands. "... form opinions of each other. So I guess when I saw you maiming Kerrik, I found it a little disturbing. That's all."

Kira grunted, shaking her head again. "Well I find it a little disturbing that you bothered to learn their names in the first place."

Rhaelyn blinked, eying the hen warily for a second. "What? It wasn't HARD, Kira. I mean, it's not like I went out of my way to do it. They SAID their names right in front of me! They introduced themselves-"

"Right before they tried to kill you!" The hen hissed, a distinct note of exasperation in her voice. "Rhaelyn, they tried to kill you!" She tried speaking slowly, in hopes that it would finally sink into the panther's incredibly dense brain. "Kill. You."

The beastkin's expression darkened, and for a second Kira thought she might have gone a bit too far. He surprised her, though, by agreeing with her. "Yes, I know. Or, uh, I don't actually think that they would have killed me, but... yes. They clearly wanted to kittnap me."

"You mean kidnap?" The hen queried. Kittnap didn't sound right.

"What? No," the panther quickly replied. "Kidnap only applies to goat beastkin and satyrs. With a pantherkin, it's kittnap."

"Er, okay." Kira wasn't so sure about that, but she'd take his word for it. "Well still, they wanted to physically harm you, and we stopped them.They don't deserve your compassion."

Rhaelyn arched his brows, eyes wide for a second. "Oh, did you think that I meant-?" And he laughed. Kira smiled. It was nice to hear him laugh again - or was this the first time she had heard him laugh? Well, either way, it was nice to hear.

She grinned, "What's so funny?"

The panther chuckled, absently thumping a hand lightly against the scruff of the gryphon's neck. It was an affectionate gesture, and Kira had to deliberately keep herself from purring. "No, Kira, I'm not... compassionate about their well-being - not about Kerrik or the rest of them. Really, it's just you that I was worried about."

Kira blinked, the purr dying in her throat. "Me? Why?"

"Well, you're-" He seemed hesitant now, but he pushed forward with his thought. "You have this, uh, disarming quality about you. The way you talk. I guess it was just a little... jarring to see you tearing someone apart. Even, uh... I mean, even if they clearly deserved it."

The hen groaned, softly, circling in front of the male to stop him in his tracks. "Ser Rhaelyn, what am I?"

Rhaelyn stopped, shooting a quizzical look at the hen. "Er, pardon?"

"What do I look like to you?" She repeated.

"I don't, uh-"

Kira cocked her head, cutting him off with another pointed query. "Do I look like a beastkin princess? Raised in a pretty castle with nothing but servants for company?"

"What? No, of course n-"

"Or a dainty kitten," she continued. "Intent on impressing the boy next door? Am I wearing a pretty dress?"

Rhaelyn frowned. Where was she going with this? "Don't be absurd."

The panther flicked his ears back, his brow furrowed with some consternation. "You're, um... you're a gryphon? A rogue tracker from the outlying settlements on the edge of-"

"No, stop." Kira bobbed her head again. "You already answered my question.

Rhaelyn leaned back a bit, his weight settling onto his heels. "You're a gryphon."

She nodded smartly, beaming. Kira pushed herself up onto her hindlegs, precariously balancing herself as she planted a taloned hand against the panther's chest. Pushing up onto her toes, she almost-but-not-quite managed to reach eye-level with him. "And don't you forget it!"

Kira wavered for a moment, but she kept herself stretched upright to keeping her gaze fixed with the panther's, before she finally slid back down onto all fours. "Gods know that the tigers never let me forget it."

Rhaelyn smiled faintly, setting a hand lightly to the hen's shoulder- well, no, her shoulder was a little too low, so he set it atop her head. That felt somewhat awkward, though, so after a second he quickly withdrew his hand again. "So, ah... how was that? Being raised by the tigerkin?"

She laughed, rolling her shoulders in a casual shrug. "Well, not so bad, I suppose. I mean, I can't complain. I was a favored servant, but I wasn't exactly family." She waited for the panther to let his guard down before jabbing a talon at his crotch, suppressing a laugh as he squawked and twisted away. She continued quickly before the beastkin could interject.

"They had me carry stuff around for them, and I pulled a cart around sometimes, but they mostly used me to intimidate folk or kill bandits." She ruffled her feathers a bit, her wings stretching out again as she looked a little smug. "And I was pretty good at it, too. I may be a little on the small side for a gryphon, but that doesn't seem to matter when you're dealing with beastkin who have never seen one before."

The panther laughed, his ears flicking forward and his tail swaying behind him as he considered that. "Well, that's certainly understandable. Gods know I'd find you terrifying, if I hadn't run into gryphons like Jarol or The Queen before."

Kira smirked, aiming another jab at the male's crotch, although he was quick to twist away again. She feared she might be growing too predictable! "And what, now I'm not terrifying anymore?"

"More adorable, I think." The feline drawled. He squeaked faintly as hen's eyes narrowed, and hastened to add, "But still moderately terrifying, at times!"

Kira grinned broadly, so much so that the edges of her beak hurt a little. Head lowered some, she twisted about and quickened her pace to lead the way again. "Good." She cleared her throat, absently trying to control her blushing. "But, uh, I can control myself, so you shouldn't be TOO terrified of me."

Rhaelyn trailed behind the hen, brow arched and an ear quirked skeptically. "Even when you're hurting me?"

Kira laughed, her wings rousing as she peeked back at the male. "Especially when it's you getting hurt. But, uh, that's just how I show that I like you. I would never actually break anything!"

"Really?" He sounded even more skeptical, this time, but he seemed to readily accept it.

"Probably never," the hen chirped. A sly grin worked its way onto her beak, and she tried to keep her tone even. "Maybe probably never, but beastkin are fragile. No promises."

Rhaelyn narrowed his eyes, but he smiled despite his misgivings. "Gods, that's... uh, awfully reassuring?"

"I thought so!" She chirped, brightly. She kept quiet for a moment, her eyes fixed on the terrain ahead, before finally glancing back at the panther again. She gestured with a wing, folding it to point at the male's lower body. "So... how are they hanging?"

The panther snorted again, but he was still smiling. He couldn't help but wonder where the hen had heard such a crude phrase, though - it sounded like something he'd hear at the Cat House in Karash. "Low and aching."

Kira had the good grace to at least look mildly concerned, her gaze flicking to the male's crotch and then back up to his face. "Oh?"

"But, ah... still intact," he was quick to amend. "All of this walking isn't helping things, though. Which way are we heading? The sooner we find a place to set up camp, the better off I'll be."

Kira chirruped, innocently. 'Then you're in luck! I think we're already here!"

Rhaelyn turned about, leveling a critical eye on his surroundings. The two had worked their way up the side of a low plateau - a wide shelf of stone raised perhaps twenty twenty paces or so from the ashen ground below. There wasn't much to see beyond a few twisted trees, and even those were long-petrified. The only signs of life were a few glittering fire orchids which peeked up from the scorched earth.

"Er, here? Are you sure?"

"It's perfect," the gryphon nodded. She prowled about the edge of the uneven plateau, peering down each side in turn. "It's high enough off the ground to protect us from the ash, and the heat-flowers will keep us warm overnight. If anything wants to get at us, it will have to either climb up these cliffs, or fly down from above. Either way, we'd hear or see them coming."

"Well," Rhaelyn grudgingly admitted, unshouldering his pack. "I suppose that's true. I'll put up some wards, then, and we can get some rest."

Kira arched a brow, "Put up some- wait, you can do that?"

"Er, hello?" The panther chuckled, trying to emulate the hen's oft-used sarcastic tone. "I'm a mage? Or did you forget that I can use magic from time to time?"

"Well why didn't you set those up last night? Or the night before?" Kira didn't mean to sound annoyed, but it seemed like a fair question. Was the beastkin only now finally beginning to take their survival seriously?

Rhaelyn rolled his eyes, rummaging through his pack for a moment before finally coming up with a velvet satchel. Carefully plucking a few colored stones from the bag's confines, he carefully packed the rest away once he had made his selection. "Well, you may recall that I was a tad comatose the first night we spent together. And last night? Well, I was hardly in any condition to re-weave the fabric of reality, since you had decided to rearrange my delicates."

The panther paused, looking up from what he was doing to eye the hen pointedly. "Again."

Kira thought about arguing, but it was a valid point. She thought about trying to shift the blame, too, but what was she going to say? So she opted to take the high road, instead. She stuck her tongue out at him.

The beastkin rolled his eyes, although Kira could pick out the faintest hint of a smile on his muzzle as he turned back to his work. One by one he planted the stones around the edge of the plateau, uttering a few words and making a few symbols with his hands each time he did so. It was mildly interesting at first, but after a moment or two the hen had already grown bored.

"Uh, so..." She drawled, her wings rousing as she peered about. She was hesitant to ask, since she knew how much the panther loved to talk, but it had to be better than sitting in silence. "... how's it work?"

Rhaelyn arched a brow, tossing another fleeting glance in Kira's direction before he returned his attention to what he was doing. It almost seemed as if he was deliberately ignoring the female, but he finally spoke up. "Well, ah... are you sure? It's pretty complicated."

Kira scowled a bit, her eyes narrowing a fraction as she considered that. Was he trying to say that she wasn't smart enough to understand how his stupid tricks worked? A brief streak of white-hot anger flashed through her brain, but she quickly swallowed it back down. Sure, she could resort to violence, but that wouldn't do much to prove how smart she was.

The hen prowled over to one of the stones that the panther had already set in place, gouging into the ashen dirt with a talon as she investigated. "Looks like a rock."

"Don't do that!" Rhaelyn quickly closed the distance between the two, swiftly replanting the stone and firmly nudging the hen away from it. "These have to be placed precisely, to maximize the energy flow. You can't just warp space and time without following the proper rituals."

She grumbled at that, and for a second Kira had to wrestle with her desire to shove the panther in return, but she swallowed that urge down too. That little voice in her head had returned, but it was soft enough to easily ignore. Treading back to the center of the plateau, she flopped down onto the ground with enough force to kick up a small cloud of ash.

"Hff, it LOOKS like a ROCK." She repeated, putting an emphasis on the words she thought were important. How was he going to protect them with rocks? Was he going to throw them at intruders?

The panther glanced at Kira again, although this time his gaze lingered for a few seconds. Was she upset with him? It was exhausting, trying to keep up with her mercurial moodswings. Still, it couldn't hurt to humor her.

"Well," he began hesitantly. He resumed walking the edge of the plateau, looking for a good spot to plant the next stone. "These are purified fragments of haematite, ah-" Another glance at the hen, which she met evenly with a blank stare.

Rhaelyn sighed, but he continued. "Bloodstones. It's a special kind of, ah- well there are five types of elemental spirits, and each of them is attuned to a different kind of material focus. For earth spirits, there are sixteen types of unique minerals that are most ideal for binding-"

Kira groaned loudly, her wings outstretched and then flicked back at an angle in a gesture of defeat. She couldn't even understand half of what the beastkin was saying, and what she COULD understand was even more boring than she had previously anticipated. "Wait, wait! Ser Rhaelyn, is this really going to be as boring as it sounds?"

"Well, only if you think that bending the elements to your will with nothing more than knowledge of geology and fourth-dimensional math is boring." The panther grunted. His tone had taken on a distinct note of irritation, but Kira chose to ignore it.

"Ugh, then no thank you." Kira grunted right back, absently trying to scrape ash off of her feathers. It was a hopeless effort, though, since it was everywhere. "Let's just talk about something else."

Rhaelyn rolled his eyes halfway about, but he kept quiet for a moment. The last of the stones were planted, the last few sigils traced in the air and the proper incantations made. There was no dramatic crack of thunder or flash of lightning, but there was an undeniable charge in the air - and the faintest hum of unseen energy.

"Alright," the male chuckled. He returned to his backpack, carefully storing away the components that he hadn't needed. "What do you want to talk about, then?"

Kira perked at that, her wings rousing again. Her mind raced with the possibilities - after all, this was the first time the beastkin had actually invited her to pick a topic of conversation. Her tongue traced along the edge of her beak as she considered this grave responsibility for a moment, but it was mostly for show. It had only taken her half a second to pick something.

"Okay," she ventured. "How does that healing potion work?"

Rhaelyn chuckled again, shaking his head slightly in bemused fashion. He produced a blanket from the confines of his pack, picking out a spot next to Kira before spreading it out over the ash. "Are you sure you want me to answer that? Alchemy can be boring, too."

"Well..." The hen cocked her jaw, her eartufts perked as she watched the panther pad back over to his backpack. The second he wasn't looking, Kira rolled over onto the blanket he had just spread out. It was just as soft and comfortable as she had suspected. "Does it involve math?"

The male poked through his backpack for another few seconds, briefly inspecting a few cloth-wrapped bundles. Fetching one that was full of dried fruits and meats, he rose back to his feet and moved to rejoin the hen. "No, not particularly."

"Then a won't get bored!" Kira announced, in as genuine a tone as she could muster. The feline still looked a little skeptical, so she gave him an innocent smile. "I promise!"

Rhaelyn arched a brow - her innocent act had long since worn thin, but he still had to admit that it made her look deceptively adorable. Picking an edge of the blanket, he lowered himself down onto the ground and briefly jockeyed for position before simply leaning against the gryphon's side.

Kira shifted, scootching over just enough to let the panther sit comfortably. Flexing her closer wing outward, she draped it over the male and pulled him close. "Pleeeeeeease?"

He sighed again, but this time there was a smile on his lips. Rhaelyn took a few seconds to unwrap the bundle he was carrying, sorting out a few pieces of dried fruits and jerky before offering the hen a piece. "Yes yes, fine. I'm not an alchemist, though, so I'm not sure where to begin."

The female sniffed lightly at the offered chunk of dried and salted meat, before gingerly closing the edge of her beak around it. Jerking her head back, she flipped it into the air, caught it in her beak, and then swallowed it whole. It wasn't anywhere near as good as fresh meat, raw and dripping with blood, but she appreciated the gesture. "Yum!"

"Er, normally we chew-" The beastkin cut himself off, a faint smirk on his muzzle. No sense in debating table manners with a gryphon. Instead, he set the unwrapped bundle of foodstuffs onto his lap before picking out a piece for himself. He focused on the hen's question, instead, absently nibbling on the edge of his jerky as he mused around it. "Mn, well you've heard of dragons, yes?"

Kira bobbed her head, one brow arched. "Um, sure? In stories and stuff." She ducked her head about, her neck craning as she carefully plucked another piece of meat from his lap. She feigned chewing for a few seconds - but her lack of teeth made it problematic, so she simply swallowed it down. "Never seen one, though."

"Well, most folks haven't." Rhaelyn smiled, his empty hand sliding about to rub behind Kira's closer eartuft. She started a bit at his touch, but quickly leaned into it. "But they're inherently magical beasts with a number of inherent arcane abilities that vary from one type to another."

Kira crooned happily, pressing up against the panther's rubbing hand. It took her a moment to realize that he was waiting for her to say something, and the hen flushed ever so slightly as she quickly bobbed her head again. "Um, right! Yeah, uh, they can fly and breath fire and stuff, I think? Some of the traders used to talk about them."

Rhaelyn smirked, experimentally raking his short claws through the thick feathers that covered Kira's skull. Predictably, she leaned into it again, her eyes half-closed and her beak gaped open some. "The eastern dragons do, yes. But there are other types of dragons as well, each with their own unique abilities. Some have impenetrable scales, others can move as fast as lightning, or exhale plumes of acid, or heal away mortal wounds in the blink of an eye."

"Mmhm?" She was only half-listening now, her eyes closed to slits.

"Well, it's that last type that are used to make the most potent healing potions." He watched Kira for a moment, his fingers tracing along the back of her head before he rubbed at her neck. He could hear her purring now - a thick and grating sound, but soothing nonetheless. "They're notoriously hard to kill, unless you can pierce their vital organs with an enchanted blade."

Kira furrowed her brow, butting her head back against the panther's hand as she peered up at him. "Er, okay? But what does that have to do with making healing potions?"

"I'm getting to that," Rhaelyn scolded, patting the hen lightly on the beak. "The blood is actually superior for use in healing elixirs, but it's... ah... well, it's understandably difficult to collect. Apparently, it's easier to..." He trailed off, ears twitching back. "Well, there are apparently easier ingredients to obtain."

The hen rasped softly as she stifled a laugh. She could tell that the subject was making the beastkin uncomfortable, and she rather enjoyed teasing him about it. Still, there were more important things to tease him about.

"And why didn't it work on your balls?"

Rhaelyn narrowed his eyes, peering at Kira for a second. Suddenly, he didn't feel like petting her quite so much. Instead, he quietly chewed on a piece of jerky for a moment.

"Come on," Kira chirped in as innocent a tone as she could manage. "I need to know this kind of thing, in case you get hurt again! In fact, given your current track record, I think it would be a good idea if you told me as quickly as possible."

"Oh?" The Panther didn't seem convinced.

Kira stuck her tongue out a bit, before nudging the male with a wing. "Before it's too late." No, that didn't have quite the right tone. She narrowed her eyes, set her beak, and leaned in menacingly. Her tone was grim, this time, with a distinctly threatening undertone.

"... before it's too late."

Rhaelyn still didn't seem convinced - perhaps because the hen had quite literally just repeated herself with an extra dose of melodrama, or perhaps because he didn't find her nearly as terrifying anymore. Relatively speaking. "Uh... huh."

Kira grumbled, forelimbs crossed and her head lowered to settle atop them. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to wait until one of us is lying gutted in a ditch. Then you can tell me all about it while you're bleeding out."

"Wait," the panther scowled. "Why do you just assume that I'm the one who'll be bleeding- oh for the gods' sakes. Fine."

She perked at that, head lifted again. "Really? Yay!"

Rhaelyn looked just mildly perplexed, mouthing the word 'yay' in silent echo of the hen's celebration. Still, he decided not to invest too much thought on the matter. Females were already complicated enough, before the addition of things like predatory instinct or six-inch talons. "Uh... right. So, what was the question?"

Kira crooked one taloned finger, gesturing toward the male's lap as she shifted against him. "Your potion, it healed up our cuts and bruises, but you're-" she paused, trying to think of a way to put it delicately. She liked watching the panther squirm, sure, but she also wanted him to actually give her a straight answer on the subject. "But you still have a pretty bad limp. How come it didn't heal you all the way?"

The male snorted at the hen's wording, but he at least seemed to appreciate her minor effort at being tactful. "Well, the potion I have is low-grade. The, ah, main ingredient is rare and expensive, so a lot of alchemists stretch out their supply with weaker draughts like this one."

"So, wait-" Kira interrupted. "You came into the heart of Shardclaw territory with just one bottle of bargain healing goo?"

"Well, I wasn't really expecting trouble." Rhaelyn sounded more than a little defensive, but his expression made it clear that even HE realized how silly it seemed in retrospect. "I suppose I may have been a little naive, but I really thought the gryphons would be more... reasonable."

The hen just stared at the beastkin for a few seconds, but she didn't push the point. No sense in letting him get TOO far off-topic. "Whatever. So, what, the cheap stuff doesn't work on your balls? That seems like a pretty big drawback, considering how often you get hit in them."

Rhaelyn winced, but he managed to bite back the first retort that rose to his lips. Whiskers twitching, he absently started packing the rest of the food back into a neatly wrapped bundle as he murmured. "No, it's just that the more diluted elixirs don't tend to work very well when it comes to mending, er... internal damage."

"Internal?" She seemed genuinely interested, now.

"Er, yes." Rhaelyn nodded, glancing to the hen a little uncertainly. "High-quality healing potions can bring a beastkin back from the brink of death, and sometimes even resurrect the recently deceased, but the low-end draughts are mostly just for flesh wounds. It can mitigate damage to bones and internal organs, but it can't heal it outright."

Kira was no surgeon, but something about that explanation seemed off. Brow furrowed, she waited until the male had set the bundle of food aside before she wriggled about just enough to drape her forelimbs across his legs.

"So wait, your balls are internal...?" Brow still furrowed, the hen shook her head. No, she had gotten up-close and personal with them more than once already, and she was fairly certain that they weren't. Unless she REALLY didn't understand beastkin anatomy.

Rhaelyn flushed a little, his ears flicked forward as he suddenly found a gryphon sprawled halfway across his lap. "Ah, no, they're not... well they're internal organs, but they're... uh... external. I mean, unless something forces them back inside of me, anyway."

Kira blinked, "That can happen?"

The panther winced a little, one ear going ever so slightly skewed. "It, ah... yes, it can, although it's rare. But, uh, anyway that's why the healing potion has a hard time coping with the... damage that I've taken down there. The stuff I brought can mitigate some of the bruising and swelling, but if something gets ruptured then I'm going to be out of luck."

"What does that mean?" She was quick to query, her head lifted to meet the male's gaze. She tried sounding out the word, rolling it on her tongue. "Rup-cherred."

"Really?" The panther's brow quirked, his ears angled forward as he tried to gauge whether Kira was being serious or not. Given how swiftly her mastery of the beastkin-tongue had been progressing, he had almost forgotten that she struggled with some of the words he used. Still, this was quickly moving into an area he wasn't comfortable with.

"Yeah!" Kira shifted against him again, a taloned hand set to his thigh as she pushed herself up until she was eye-to-eye with him. "What does it mean?"

Rhaelyn flicked his ears back, his whiskers twitching again as he cleared his throat. "Ah... well, it means, uh, that the organ gets punctured or, um... crushed hard enough that it collapses. It's, ah... it's very dangerous. And, er... like I said, only the strongest potions or magic can fix that kind of damage."

Kira's eyes widened now, her head drawn back as she considered that. Given her recent fascination with the panther and his organs, that sounded like it might be important. "That can happen!?"

"I, um... yes?" Rhaelyn was nonplussed by the hen's shocked expression, and for some reason he also felt more than a little nervous. "Er, just like any other organ? I, uh- how can you possibly not know this?"

The hen laughed, trying to mimic one of the beastkin's dismissive hand-gestures with her talons. "Please, do we really have to go over this again? I'm a gryphon. Normally I just rip and tear, so just beating on someone is new to me!"

The panther rubbed lightly at his temples - he could feel the beginning of a headache taking root just behind his eyes. "Of course. Well, just 'beating' on someone can still cause serious injuries. If you hit someone hard enough, especially down THERE, then things can just... burst."

Kira had the decency to look sympathetic for half a second, before she pressed the verbal assault. "Ouch, and then what happens?"

"And then...?" Rhaelyn eyed the hen warily, "What do you mean?"

"What happens if a guy's balls get rup-cherred?" She chirped, just a little too enthusiastically for the beastkin's liking.

The panther frowned, but he decided to answer her question. If anything, a better education on the matter might discourage her from targeting that particular part of the male anatomy in the future. Or that part of HIS anatomy, at least. "Well, if a fellow's testi- er, ball is hit hard enough to be ruptured, then it basically becomes useless. It won't be able to produce seed anymore, and depending on the circumstances it can cause other serious medical issues as well."

"Oh..." Kira cooed softly, looking appropriately solemn for a brief moment. It didn't last. "Well, I guess it's a good thing that guys have two of them, then!"

Rhaelyn groaned softly, batting lightly at the hen's beak as he shook his head. She hadn't learned her lesson at all. "No! I mean, yes, they do have two for that reason, but... losing even one ball can reduce the sex drive, and make it less likely for a fellow to sire children."

The hen considered that - was that what she had done to that tiger-striped runt, Kerrik? Honestly, all things considered, she didn't feel too bad about that. She certainly wasn't going to lose sleep over the idea that the drake might have a harder time siring hatchlings, and the thought that he might have trouble performing tickled her a little. She liked the idea of the Shardclaw hunter having something so personal and intimate to remember her by. Still...

"What happens if both of a guy's balls are rup-cherred?" Kira chirped, innocently.

The panther leveled a look at the hen, and for a brief moment she feared that her innocent act might be wearing thin. After several long seconds, though, he sighed and answered her question. "Then he's basically ruined. If a fellow loses both balls, or if they even get damaged too badly without rupturing, then he can end up losing the ability to... well... have sex. And children."

She cocked her head, quickly firing off another question. "What, like he just loses interest in sex, or...?"

"Er, sometimes? I mean, possibly, but even if they did still want to, they would lack the ability to do it without magical aid, I think. I mean, I'm not an expert in this kind of thing." Rhaelyn cleared his throat, ears twitching slightly as he glanced away from the hen. "Look, can we... change the subject?"

"Sure!" She chirped, springing to her feet so abruptly that it sent the panther sprawling onto his back. "It's time to practice our beastkin-to-gryphon combat, anyway!"

Rhaelyn frowned, pushing himself upright again and rubbing the back of his head. Ears flicked toward the female, he scowled - but then comprehension set in, and his expression quickly changed to a grimace. "Oh, I... uh... Kira, are you sure that's a good idea?"

The hen grinned, her beak gaped slightly and the corner's of her mouth curled upward. It was a friendly expression. Reassuring, even. Still, something about it set the panther's fur on end. "Of course it is! Why wouldn't it be?"

He furrowed his brow, the beastkin's tail lashing behind him as he tried to think of a way to put it tactfully. "Well, we just ate, so..." Rhaelyn's ears slicked back, his gaze briefly averted as he finished lamely. "So shouldn't we wait at least an hour before we start 'practicing'?"

"Er, Ser Rhaelyn," Kira hesitated. "I may just be a hen but, er, I'm pretty sure that's only for swimming."

The beastkin slowly pushed himself to his feet, suddenly preoccupied with smoothing out his clothes with his hands. "Hn... well, I just, uh... I don't think I'm feeling up to it right now. I'm still pretty sore, and I'm starting to get tired..."

Kira set back on her haunches, leveling The Look at Rhaelyn. It was a potent weapon in the hen's arsenal of intimidation, and one that she rarely used. She could count the number of times she had needed it on one taloned hand - once on a merchant in White Palm who had insisted on overcharging her, twice to discourage a particularly amorous drake who had stalked her across the Desert of Desolation, and again on a runt of a tigerkin in Pazar who had stubbornly persisted in trying to hire her as a 'personal gryphon mount'. It never failed to get results.

Her smile was gone and in its place was a look she normally reserved for someone she was about to maul. For a fleeting second, all traces of reason and understanding seemed to evaporate, and she became something that seemed impossibly cold and dangerous.

Rhaelyn balked, his blood running cold. He tried to say something, but his vocal chords seemed to be paralyzed.

"Well, I guess that's just what we'll tell Quetzyl when she catches up with us again." Kira snapped, her beak clacking shut sharply to punctuate the sentence. "I'm sure she'll hesitate at least three seconds before she slices you open from one end to the other."

"I-" Rhaelyn started, but the hen cut him off.

"But I did my best," she sighed, her wings ruffling behind her. "I guess the only thing to do now is plot my escape route. I can probably slink off into the ash while they're tearing you limb from limb. Really, the hardest part will be explaining this whole thing to your clan."

"Well-!"

"Do you think they'll still pay me?" Kira chirped, her head cocked as she looked back to the panther. "I mean, obviously not my whole fee, but I think I'd still deserve something for my pain and suffering. I've put a lot of effort into getting you this far, so it's hardly my fault that you want to call it quits just a few days from home."

The beastkin sighed, rubbing his temple with two fingers. "Fine! By the gods, fine." His tail lashed again, his whiskers drooping. "I just- You can't- I mean-" And another sigh, as the panther threw his hands up in the air. "Fine."

Kira grinned anew, pushing back up onto all-fours as she prowled around the male. "Good. Anyways, you already agreed to it, so I don't know why you're trying to back out of it now!"

Rhaelyn frowned, one hand set to his hip as he swiveled about to keep an eye on the gryphon. "Yes, well, I had assumed the 'practice' sessions would take place after I had healed and, ah, after we had put the Shardclaw territories behind us."

"Well that's stupid," Kira chirped, still grinning.

The feline frowned, "Excuse me?"

The gryphon padded over to the taller biped, neck craning so she could head-butt him lightly in the gut. "'Cuz then you won't need to know how to fight gryphons anymore, right?"

"Oh," the panther grunted. This time, he had no trouble resisting the urge to pet the hen. The panther sounded sullen and defensive, as if it almost pained him to admit that she had a point. "I... do suppose that makes sense."

Kira's grin twisted a bit, her head lowered as she smirked. "So, you ready to do this?"

Rhaelyn heaved one last sigh, taking a few steps back to put some distance between the hen and himself. Setting one hand to the hilt of his sword, he subtly shifted his stance to a more comfortable fencing pose. "As ready as I'll ever be. Now, how do you want to-?"

And he was down in a sudden, violent flurry of tangled cloth, feathers, and ash.

"Dead." Kira chirped cheerfully from atop him, the tips of her talons rapping against his forehead.

"W-what!?" He sputtered.

"Dead." Kira chirped again, her head tilted as she mimed snapping the sharp tip of her beak at his throat.

"N-now hold on!" He hissed, shifting beneath the hen as he tried to find the leverage to push her off. She had planted herself firmly, a taloned hand set wide against his chest, but she hadn't pinned his arms.

"Gutted," she chirped, her free hand swiping talons across his stomach. "Bleeding. Dead."

Rhaelyn scowled, making no headway in his efforts to displace the gryphon. An ear twitching, he shot a brief glance downward to make certain he still had a knife at his belt, before darting a hand toward it.

Kira twitched her head downward, following the male's glance. Smirking again, she shifted her weight onto her forelimbs, barely hesitating as she swung one hindpaw up into the prone panther's crotch. She didn't do it too hard - it was an awkward motion for her, since she didn't 'kick' at things under herself very often - but that's why she had wanted to practice.

Unsteady or not, the blow struck firmly enough to elicite a dramatic response from the spreadeagled beastkin. As the leonine beast's thick toes thumped up into the crux of his legs, Rhaelyn just grunted softly, his fingers fumbling with the hilt of his knife. A split second later the pain raced to his addled brain, and he uttered a wavering moan as he did his best to curl beneath the hen.

Still smirking, the hen bore down on the male's chest to push him flat onto his back again. Pulling her foot back out of the beastkin's crotch, she settled it against the ashen dirt between Rhaelyn's thighs as she watched the feline squirm beneath her. "And castrated."

The panther coughed, eyes closed to slits as he dipped one hand to his groin and the other against Kira's chest. He could tell that Kira had really held back this time, but given his persistently tenderized state it had still been more than enough to send a sharp burst of pain straight into the center of his brain. Panting for breath, he groaned again. "W-... wasn't... ready!"

"Oh please," Kira leered. She stuck her tongue out a little, patting Rhaelyn lightly on the cheek with her taloned fingers. "Lesson one. Gryphons are ambush predators. If they announce themselves first, like those idiots back in Bleackwood did, it's only because they want you to be scared first."

Rhaelyn drew in a slow breath, then another, and another, until he had evened out his breathing. His oft-bruised kittenmakers were aching fiercely, but he felt an odd sense of pride that he had managed to regain his faculties so swiftly after the cheap shot. He could only hope that it meant he was building up a tolerance. "Nn... r-... right, duly noted. C-... can you get off me now?"

"What?" Kira blinked, "Oh! Sure!" And she scampered off of the panther, grinning widely as she moved back a dozen paces. "Now get back up. We're not done yet."

The panther worked his way back up onto his feet, just a little slower than normal. This time, however, his hand was already at the hilt of his sword before he straightened all the way up. With the sound of metal on leather, the gleaming blade flickered through the air as he set himself again. "Read-"

And he was down again, his sword spinning end over end through the air before landing point-first in the ash just out of reach.

"Aaaaaaaand dead." Kira chirped, snapping her beak a scant inch from his face. She feigned raking the talons of one hand over his chest, the clawtips tearing lightly over the fabric of his shirt. "Dead, dead, dead, dead-"

"This is bullshit!" Rhaelyn sputtered, his gaze flicking sidelong as he vainly tried to see where his sword had landed.

Kira laughed, both hands planted on the male's shoulders this time as she stared down at him. "Yeah yeah. Lesson two, gryphons like to pounce. If you're not ready to fight when you see a gryphon, then it's probably already too late."

"Ugh, really?" Rhaelyn grumbled. He planted his own hands on Kira's feathery chest, and with a concerted effort he managed to push the hen back a step. "I hadn't noticed."

The hen arched a brow, stumbling back a step, although she was quick to plant a hindpaw between the male's thighs again. Not RIGHT between them, but a handspan from anything delicate. Her own hands planted again, her talons digging lightly between the panther's ribs. "Dead, maimed, and dead again. Do you want me to castrate you again, too?"

"I, uh, w-... wait-" He glanced downward, his ears skewing. Even with his dark fur, Kira could swear that the panther paled a little. "N-... no, of course not. No. Lesson learned and message received. Let's move on."

The gryphon uttered a chirping giggle, scrambling off of the fallen beastkin once more. Stepping back to a distance of a dozen paces, she waited patiently as he rose once more. "Didn't think so."

Rhaelyn was a little slower to rise, this time. He was disheveled and more than a little irritated, covered in ash and glimmering crystals of frost that clung stubbornly to his whiskers. This time, the second he reached a crouching position he lunged to the side, rolling neatly before springing to his feet. His sword appeared in his hand as if by magic, and he brandished it dramatically as he straightened to his full height once more.

"Wow," Kira whistled. "Nice."

The beastkin was a bit taken aback. He had really been expecting Kira to pounce at him again, but she was still standing a dozen paces away. She prowled a few steps this way and that, but she seemed to be keeping her distance. The feline kept his sword raised and ready, although he had to admit that he wasn't quite certain about how he was supposed to stop the gryphon's next charge.

"This is just practice," Kira chirped, as if echoing his concerns. "So if you stab me with that thing, I really will castrate you."

Rhaelyn scowled, flicking the blade lightly through the oddly crisp air. The sun had almost completely drifted beyond the ruined mountains, but the starry sky gave off more than enough light to see by. He was ready for her, this time. "I've been trained by the third-best fencer in the Clanhomes."

Kira snorted, darting forward a half-dozen paces, but she shied back as Rhaelyn's sword flicked down to intercept her. She drifted left, then right, testing his defenses. Twice more she darted forward, and twice more he flicked his sword about to ward her off.

"You see?" The panther chuckled, sounding more than a little smug. "Now that I know what to expect, you can't get near me. If this were a real fight, I'd have already cooked you while you were still looking for an opening."

It was a valid point, but Kira wasn't about to concede. She prowled to the left again, carefully watching the male's hands before she darted in again. This time she flared her wings upward and outward as she bounded toward him, and as she had suspected his sword flicked upward as if to defend against the feathery limbs.

The hen had her sights set lower, though, her head ducked down as she lunged forward to butt the beastkin with her skull. She came in a little TOO low, though, and the crown of her head rammed soundly into the feline's groin. Soft flesh briefly competed with unyielding bone, and the victor was swiftly decided as Rhaelyn jack-knifed forward at the waist and tumbled right over the gryphon.

"Awk!" Kira was almost as startled as the panther was, as she suddenly found the biped rolling over her. Her wings tucked tight to her back, her muscles bunched as she twisted out from beneath the male, and she launched herself away from him. Twisting back about as she got to a safe distance, she perked her ears as she spied upon the beastkin.

Rhaelyn, of course, had made no move to pursue the gryphon. Instead, he was on his knees, one hand planted against the ground and the other clutched tightly at his balls once more. His breathing was ragged, his jaw clenched and his toes curled tightly as he tried to focus through the pain.

The blow hadn't been precise - the gryphon's skull had crashed into the front of his pelvis, hard enough to crush his manhood between bone and bone. If that had been the end of it, the panther might have only been winded and mildly pained, but as Kira had pulled back she had inadvertently jerked her beak upward into the crux of his legs. Again, it wasn't a devastating blow, but it was certainly hard enough to send agonizing spasms through his loins, and pangs of nausea through his gut.

"Oh for- again? Ser Rhaelyn, you've got to be kidding." Kira rolled her eyes in exasperation. Honestly, even when she didn't mean to hit him in those stupidly fragile organs, it seemed to happen anyway. She plopped down onto her haunches, settling comfortably as she ignored the beastkin's theatrics.

"So, lesson three. Your swordfighting techniques are neat, but they're clearly intended for fighting against other beastkin. When you're fighting a gryphon, you need to keep your guard low."

The panther coughed a few more times, swallowing back the bile that was rising in his throat. His ears were slicked flat against his head, the claws of one hand unsheathed as he dug them into the packed dirt. It took him a moment to find his voice, but he finally managed to rasp faintly. "R-... right."

Kira waited for a moment, giving the panther a chance to regain his composure. He stayed down, though, on his hand and knees, so she waited another long moment. And another. Arching a brow, she drummed her talons impatiently against the ground. "Oh come on, Ser Rhaelyn. I barely even touched you."

Rhaelyn swallowed hard, blinking away pained tears as he laboriously pushed himself back to his feet. Wincing as the movements set off a new cascade of aches and pains through his nethers, he gingerly rubbed at his crotch with his free hand. "Ng... th-... that's easy for you to say, Kira. You've never been hit in the balls."

"Well I should HOPE not!" Kira chirped, her eyes wide. "But still, honestly, every time you get tapped down there, you cry and wail for hours. It's a little ridiculous."

"C-... come on, Kira, you don't know what it's like." He groaned. Planting the tip of his sword in the dirt, Rhaelyn leaned his weight onto the weapon as if it were a cane. "Hf... it's like being hit in the stomach, but worse."

"Really?" Kira sounded skeptical, but her curiosity was piqued. Besides, it seemed like the male was going to need another moment to gather his wits and regain his composure. "Tell me about it, then."

The panther wasn't certain if the question was serious or not, but he was happy to answer. At the very least, it would give him a chance to regain his bearings. He was just glad it was so easy to manipulate the hen. "W-well, uh, it's intense."

"That's it?" Kira chirped, her head cocked to one side. "How is that any different from being stabbed? That's pretty intense, too."

Rhaelyn winced, his ears flicking forward as he muttered something impolite under his breath. Fortunately the gryphon didn't seem to hear it, but he didn't press his luck. "Ah, well, it hurts. I mean, it aches pretty horribly, and it sends sharp, uh..."

He frowned, trying to think of a way to more accurately describe the sensation to someone who lacked the organs in question. "It's like being punched in the kidney, I suppose. It aches worse than anything you can imagine, and it sends a sickening pain like a lightning bolt up into a fellow's stomach, so they feel like they're going to throw up. When it's really bad, it gets even worse - blurred vision, headaches, loss of muscle control. Sometimes it feels so bad that I think I might even die."

"Wow." Kira shrugged, looking fairly unimpressed. "I guess that's a pretty good reason to not get hit in them, then."

Rhaelyn sighed, finding his urge to argue with the hen waning. "Well, it would help if you stopped aiming for them, Kira."

Kira snorted, rising back to her feet. She figured the male had gotten more than enough time to recover at this point, especially since his attitude seemed to be returning in force. "Please, I've done it, what, twice?" 'More like twelve times,' the voice in the back of her head chirped.

"Maybe three times, tops." She conceded.

"Are you kidd-!?"

Kira cut the panther off, her wings roused as she stalked toward him again. "Besides, I'm hardly the only one! If I hadn't rescued you back there, that Quetzyl bitch would have ripped them right off! Gods, I'll bet there's a whole gang of femmes back in your Clan who are just lined up waiting for their chance to kick you in the balls!"

Rhaelyn blinked, taken aback at the gryphon's sudden shift in demeanor. On the one hand, he was incensed at the insinuation, but he was also leery of fighting the hen when she was clearly irritated. He slowly circled to one side in careful, measured steps. "Ah... well, not a whole LINE, but I suppose there might be one or two."

"Oh, only one or two?" Kira's voice dripped with sarcasm, and her lithely muscled frame rippled as she moved in counter to the panther's maneuvering.

The panther's ear twitched, his eyes narrowed slightly as he changed directions. Stepping back toward the center of the plateau, the gears churned away in the back of his head as he tried to decide on the best course of action. "Tch, fine, maybe closer to five. You know how it is with the catkin - they like to hold grudges."

Kira smirked, placing a mental bookmark on the conversation. It certainly bore further investigation, but at the moment she really wanted to hit the panther again. Her talons raked at the ashen ground, gouging deep furrows in the packed dirt. "Oh, gryphons too, but most of them play for keepsies."

Rhaelyn took another long step to the side, and again to place the one tree that graced the plateau squarely behind him. If it were a real fight, the tree might serve to protect him from flanking enemies, but against a singular opponent it just seemed to cut off his path of retreat. He pretended not to notice, though, his blade weaving lazily through the air. "Yes, well, most gryphons are also half-insane beasts."

"Oh," Kira grinned. "Civilized gryphons, too." It was only after she'd responded that she realized the panther might have been trying to goad her. One feathery brow arched, and she crept forward a pace, trying to gauge the beastkin's intentions.

The panther chuckled, despite himself - although he had half-expected the hen to hurl herself at him for the remark. He would just have to find another way to bait her into making the first move.

He decided to hedge his bets, sword clutched in one hand, but his attention deliberately focused on his ring-hand. Since he had recovered his backpack, he had gotten the chance to add to his magical arsenal, and now a half-dozen rings graced his clawed fingers.

The hen hissed softly as she spied the male's intentions - was he really going to light her on fire? Sure it was a practice match, but that seemed like overkill. Still, with his attention on his hand, she decided she wasn't going to get a better opening. Ash crunched underfoot as her hindlegs curled beneath her, and she launched herself toward the panther. Her wings flicked outward to cut through the air like feathered blades, helping her cover the distance in two great bounds!

This time, the beastkin really was prepared for it. With the click of his claws and a snap of his fingers the opaque crystal on his pinky ring sparked, echoed a split second later by a thunderous boom! A solid column of air sprung from the ground, kicking up dirt and ash in an almost perfect circle, catching the gryphon and hurtling her upward into the air.

Kira was flabbergasted - this was a new trick! Flipping head over heels, she cartwheeled backwards, her wings flapping awkwardly as she tried to catch herself against the unnatural wind. Before she could right herself, though, she crashed heavily onto her back with one wing pinned beneath her. Squawking in pain as the joints bent the wrong way, she twisted against the ground to work the pained limb out of the way.

"Dead." Rhaelyn uttered smugly, lightly tapping his blade against the fallen hen's ribs. He was standing at her side, his cloak fluttering dramatically in the artificial wind as he looked just as dashing and heroic as a limping panther could manage. Kira was impressed!

Of course, she was also annoyed, so she indulged the little voice in the back of her brain. Twisting against the ground again, she planted one wing to help roll onto her side, lashing out with a hindpaw to kick up into the male's crotch as she did so. Hard, this time.

The panther skipped back a quick step as he saw the gryphon's avenue of attack, his eyes wide. Her heavy hindpaw missed his nethers by a hair's breadth, passing so closely that he could almost feel her toes brushing the fabric. "Ah, hey!"

Onto her feet again, Kira quickly pursued, snarling fiercely as she herded him backward. Rhaelyn tried in vain to defend against the sudden rabid assault, but he didn't REALLY want to hurt her. He took a step back as her beak snapped, and another as her talons swiped through thin air. Soon, though, he had run out of room to retreat and the edge of the plateau grew far too close for comfort.

"Kira, hold on!" Rhaelyn warded off another snap of her beak, and another, each closer than before. He tried skirting to one side, but she cut him off before readying for another lunge - and he finally decided that enough was enough. As she darted forward he swung the pommel of his blade smartly into her beak, sending her reeling backward.

"Ow!" the gryphon cried out, stumbling away from the panther. "You bastard!" She moved unsteadily, her wings flicking outward as if she were having trouble balancing. "I-... I can't see! I think you blinded me!"

Eyes wide, Rhaelyn was quick to move to the hen's side. "What? Oh shit, Kira! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-"

The gryphon looked right at the panther, her beak set and her eyes narrowed dangerously, but it was already far too late for the male to scramble backward again. Scaled fingers balled up into a mace-like fist, and the hen's hand lashed upward and outward to crush into the beastkin's groin with deadly accuracy.

Rhaelyn was abruptly on his toes, the hen's harsh knuckles grinding up into him, and then just as quickly she had reared back to wrap her other hand around his throat. Rolling hard, both beasts tumbled sideways, and the panther's breath exploded from his body as he was slammed down flat on his back.

He wasn't about to go down for the count, though. The pain from the punch hadn't quite set in, and adrenaline fueled the beastkin's reprisal as he wrapped an arm tightly about Kira's neck. Remembering her warning about being caught beneath a gryphon, he lurched sideways and the both rolled again, pulling her over onto her side.

Tucked close, the two grappled ineffectually for a moment - the panther had lost his sword when the gryphon had flipped him, so now the best he could hope for was to pin the hen. Kira was startled by the sudden change in tactic, and for a split second she almost forgot that it wasn't a real fight. Her forelimbs curled about the panther's torso in turn, her talons gouging into his back as she tried to pull free from the awkward headlock and her wings thrashed against the ground behind her.

Rhaelyn held fast, his arms locked about the female's head as she bucked and thrashed against him. Her hindlegs kicked out blindly, striking against the male's stomach and thighs, but he tucked himself close to her body before one could inevitably find its way to his groin.

Finally, the hen settled some, panting for breath as she slumped against him. He slowly loosened his grip on her throat, panting in tandem and wincing as the sharp ache in his loins slowly cut through the waning rush of an adrenaline high. "S-... so... can we call this a tie?"

"N-... never! Gryphons d-, hf... don't settle for ties!" Kira panted, squirming against the male. She had to admit, he had turned things around faster than she expected, but at the same time a small part of her - okay, no, it was a medium part of her at the very least - really did want to hit him in the balls again. Just her luck that he had finally learned how to protect them.

She tried working her hindleg against him again but he was too close, and he'd wrapped one leg behind her hindlimbs to keep it that way. Honestly, another part of her LIKED being this close to him - maybe she could get him to sleep with her like this...? But no, she had to have priorities!

She squirmed against the male half-heartedly, taking stock of her options. She was too close to kick at the male, and she couldn't bite or scratch without seriously hurting him, so - well, a thought sprung to mind, but she wasn't certain how practical it was. Still, she didn't have much choice.

"Kira, I really thin-awk!" Rhaelyn tried to put a note of warning into his voice, but it was cut off sharply as his voice lilted upward. One ear folded flat against his skull as he tried to keep the hen still, his arms still wrapped about her neck as she bucked against him.

Eartufts perked, the gryphon grinned breathlessly as she bucked against him again, the muscles of her haunch tightening as she jerked her leg forward again. She was far too close to kick at the male, but he was apparently at just the right distance for her to jerk her knee up into him - the first blow had been uncertain, but she corrected on the fly so that her second attempt landed with a satisfying 'crunch' of impact.

Rhaelyn's eyes bulged as he felt the gryphon's limb slam up between his thighs and he bucked in turn, reflexively grinding against the hen's body as he tried to escape the vicious pressure. Sadly, given how closely the two were locked together, there wasn't much chance of escape. He tried to angle his body away, to shield his nethers with a thigh, but he could already feel the strength leeching from his muscles.

Kira was still panting for breath, but she could tell that she was suddenly on the winning side of the exchange. She could feel the male's body squirming against hers, and his arms trying to tighten about her neck, but her counter was simple - her taloned fingers curled tightly against the beastkin's tattered shirt, and her leg flexed upward to grind her knee into the feline's soft spot with unrelenting pressure.

His grip slowly went lax as he felt Kira's unyielding joint grinding and thrusting up into his increasingly scrambled eggs, and his attempt at a protest was choked off to a lilting mewl. The panther tried to leverage his position, to pull himself away, but it had truly become a hopeless effort. With every passing second the agony in his loins grew more acute, and the rocking of the gryphon's leg seemed intent on driving one of his kittenmakers - the left one - right back up into his pelvis.

Feeling the male's arms loosening, she only tightened hers to keep him close. Still, Kira couldn't help but notice that his own grinding - well, apparently she hadn't been the only one to think that their embrace was somewhat erotic. The two were far too close for her to look down and see, but she could feel a distinct bulge pressing against her stomach even as she was doing her best to emasculate the male.

She ALSO couldn't help but notice that she could actually feel his plump eggs against her leg - the scales on her hands and the pads on her toes prevented her from really getting a good feel of those fragile bits while she was tenderizing them, but the feel of his cloth-covered jewels against her thigh somehow felt far more... intimate.

She wriggled her leg some, trying to picture the exact positioning in her head. It felt like one - what would that be, his left one? No, not unless they'd been spun around. That was definitely his right one, warm against her furred skin where it was firmly trapped between her thigh and his. She rocked her leg to one side, and the male gasped in response, as the oblong organ was pressed just a little flatter along it's length.

The other was easier to find, pinned between the bone of her knee and the feline's crotch - she eased her leg upward, her toes curled as she tried to find the leverage to grind anew, and she had to stifle a giggle as the male uttered a pitched groan in response. It was harder to feel than the one trapped against her thigh, but she could certainly... "feel" it as her movements pressed the orb out of shape, the pliant flesh flattening out against the curve of her kneecap. She couldn't help but wonder just how much more it might be able to take.

Swallowing hard, Kira kept herself close for a long moment, and it was only when the panther started squirming again that she moved. Steeling herself, she drew in a deep breath and then put her all into one last buck of her body as she drove her knee between the beastkin's thighs. Leverage wasn't on her side, and the motion was still both awkward and foreign to her, but she was a quick learner.

Rhaelyn barely managed a soft squeak this time, as the gryphon's powerful leg crushed up into his nethers with unbridled force. It caught both of his plump, bruised balls this time, grinding the quivering orbs against his pelvis as his body spasmed uncontrollably. Again, she could feel that distinct bulge grinding right back against her, and that only encouraged her to press into the panther more firmly as she worked her knee back and forth as she uttered an almost orgasmic moan.

From the panther's point of view, things were far less erotic - and honestly, he could barely even make sense of what was happening. He had thought himself safe from this kind of assault, and that only made the pain that much worse. Any awkwardness on the female's part didn't seem to translate into less pain for the male.

Sure, the first knee hadn't been TOO bad. It was more surprise than pain, at first, although the grinding had certainly gotten his attention. The gryphon's legs were powerful - built for pouncing and mighty leaps that allowed her to go airborne - and although awkward, the short motion that planted her knee against his crotch had built up far more force than he thought possible.

The second knee had been worse of course, especially since Kira had obviously used the first as a probing strike. She had clearly gauged her position and leverage on the fly with an impossibly keen primal instinct, and the second knee had taken the wind from his sales. With the impact came an explosion of pure agony that cut through his right gonad and straight up into his gut like a white-hot spike.

He tried to think, but every movement of the gryphon's body sent a new pang of agony streaking through his gut. His mind was spinning, and he had lost the ability to track the passage of time - had it been a few seconds between blows? An hour? He gasped and wheezed against the hen's feathered frame, settling into her embrace as he tried to somehow regain his wits and salvage his manhood. As he felt her moving against him again, though, he desperately tried to muster up the voice to protest.

"K-... Kira!" He squeaked, although the voice he spoke in didn't seem to be his own. Surely that couldn't be his voice, could it? It was pitched and wavering like the cry of a newborn kitten, and just as quickly it was lost amidst the crunch of impact that quickly followed. Eyes crossed and watering, he finally found the presence of mind to curl his leg tightly about the hen's, but the damage had already been done.

Kira drew in another deep breath, flexing her leg against the panther's. She savored the feel of his body trembling against hers for a moment, and that soft mewling sound that she had only heard twice before. Drawing in a slow breath, she finally eased herself up, rolling the beastkin onto his back as she settled lightly atop him. She was surprised to find that her own legs were a little unsteady, and there was that soft fluttering sensation in her gut -

But she was quick to tune it out. The cringing beastkin was hurt again, and from the sounds he was making it sounded like it might be bad. Not that it was easy to tell, given how much he over-reacted every time he was hurt, but still... there was blood on her talons. She shifted him slightly, and frowned as she spied the shallow gashes she had inadvertently cut into his back while holding him steady.

"S-... sorry, Ser Rhaelyn!" She chirped, lamely. "I'll, uh... I'll go get that bottle, and we'll have you as good as new in no time!"

She began to move away, toward the panther's pack, but she paused as she felt his hand at her side. Looking back to the panther, she was surprised to see that he had already managed to recover. Kind of.

"W-... wait," he wheezed softly. He had rolled onto his side, and he looked distinctly green around the gills, as if he might be sick at any moment. Then again, he had also managed to work himself up onto one elbow, and even as Kira watched he withdrew his hand to quickly cup his oft-abused delicates. "W-... we should... nf... we can't waste that."

Kira frowned, stepping back toward the panther. "Rhaelyn... I don't think-... are you sure that's a good idea? You're hurt."

Rhaelyn sighed softly - 'hurt' was an understatement, although he had to admit that it at least wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was kind of sad when he had to admit that NOT passing out from repeated kicks to the balls was an improvement. Swallowing back bile again, he groaned. "We need, ng... we need that for emergencies. J-... just come back over here and sit with me f-... for a minute..."

The hen blushed, but she was quick to comply. Gingerly pressing the male onto his back again with one taloned hand, she carefully settled at his side, pressing close. Beak settled across his heaving chest, she drifted her hand downward almost as an afterthought, her talons gently joining the male's hand in cupping his nethers.

He cringed at the touch of her claws, but the panther let her probe lightly over his crotch. Scaled fingers brushed about the soft fabric as she outlined his obviously swollen sac, then a little higher as she traced one talon along the distinctive bulge of his half-hard manhood. Her fingers crooked, she prised his belt open and tucked her hand into the beastkin's pants to cradle his oft-abused organs more directly.

"W-... well at least you, uh... at least it doesn't FEEL like anything's been rup-cherred...?"

The panther just groaned softly, his hands quickly folding back over the gryphon's hand to keep it snugly against his aching kittenmakers. "Kira..."

She perked uncertainly, "Yes, Ser Rhaelyn?"

"C-... could you just, nf... shut up?"

Kira giggled softly, tucking herself close to the feline's side as she bobbed her head in agreement. Tucking her beak against his chin, she blushed again as a bass rumble worked up deep in her chest.

And it only redoubled in intensity as she heard the panther's breathing even out, and his own purr welled up to join hers. He certainly could have lived without the abuse, but this... THIS part was nice.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

"By the queen, what are they DOING down there?" Quetzyl hissed, from her perch atop a distant cliff. Jarol was with her, a big brooding shadow, but he seemed at a loss as well.

"Rrr... dunno?" He shrugged, hanging back as he spied upon the beast and beastkin with his packmate.

The two had been stalking their prey for half the day, ever since they had cut Kerrik loose - Jarol hadn't been happy about it, but Quetzyl had insisted. Kerrik might have survived long enough to limp back to the nearest Shardclaw encampment, but there was no certainty of that. There were strange creatures that lurked in the blighted wastes, many of them far more dangerous than a single maimed drake.

Quetzyl quirked her brow as she squinted, her bird-like eyes refocusing to focus on the beastkin as he fenced with the hen that she hated. As the two tumbled and fell, she cocked her head, her jagged jaw gaped. "Are... are they having sex?"

Jarol grunted, watching for a second or two, before he shrugged again. "Dunno. If they are, then they're doin' it wrong."

The serpent-gryphon watched for a moment longer as the two - her prey and her enemy both - rolled and squirmed against each other. It didn't LOOK like sex, but there was... something to it. Something about the way they were playing with each other that, well, it set her blood to boiling.

"Should we kill them?" Jarol grunted, his massive bulk moving to the edge of the cliff. Honestly, the drake wanted nothing more than for this hunt to be over.

"N-... no." Quetzyl hissed, her forked tongue licking lightly along one edge of her beak. "Not yet. But sssoon."

"Why?" The drake grunted again, a faint snarl to his voice. He wasn't happy about the way the female was handling things, but he wasn't suicidal enough to challenge her for command. He was strong, but he knew well that she was stronger. Besides, he knew just as well as she did that the Queen would slaughter them both if they failed to retrieve the beastkin.

Quetzly hissed softly, her snake-like tail swaying behind her as she peered back toward the larger drake. She gave him an unsettling, jagged smile. There was nothing soft behind it, and from her slit-pupiled gaze the drake knew that she could tell what he was thinking. She just didn't seem to care.

"Becaussse I want you to mount me. Now."

Jarol was taken aback, by that. It wasn't that he was balking at the thought of cozying up to a hen like Quetzyl - she was attractive and lethal, both admirable traits in a potential mate - but the timing seemed... odd.

"What?" He grunted, eyes narrowed some.

Quetzyl sneered, turning to place her back toward the drake, her tail raised in a fairly unsubtle display. "If Kerrik were here, I would have him take me, but sssince he iss uselesss now you will have to do."

Jarol gaped his beak, but no words came to mind. Clacking his beak shut again, he simply uttered another guttural grunt, and strode forward to do as the hen had commanded of him. It was just as well that he should enjoy himself for an eve, at least, before this increasingly unstable hen got them both killed.

And Quetzyl sighed happily as she felt the drake press up against her, filling her. Her talons gouged into the rock as she braced herself, and her eyes closed to slits - but she kept them open just enough to watch Kira and Rhaelyn. There was just... something about them.

She would kill them later, but for now she would just watch. And enjoy.