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The Seduction of Seleste

from the world of the mating season

The Mirror of Pavati

Chapter 24

When Keme awoke, he was alone. He glanced groggily around the room. It was darker than before. In fact, it was so dark he could barely see his paw should he hold it before his face. Night had fallen. He could still hear the bears talking outside, but no children laughing and running. A cool breeze swept into the room and pushed his mane across his eyes. Keme yawned and went back to sleep, wondering where Honiahaka could be. Perhaps the chief had gone to take a leak.

Keme awoke again when a heavy weight shifted the bed. It was day. Sunlight swept into the room, buttery and bright. He closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. It was Honiahaka, of course. The sun chief was moving very quietly, as if for fear he might wake Keme. He smelled faintly of bodily fluids. Honiahaka had been off having sex? Keme scowled and didn't know why he was so angry. He could tell the chief had attempted to wash the smell off, but it was fairly obvious he had been wet with his own cum only minutes before. Keme gritted his teeth and told himself that Honiahaka had been jerking himself off. Maybe he felt as pent up and frustrated as Keme and had simply needed some relief. But masturbating usually didn't take all night . . .

Keme waited until Honiahaka was breathing deeply in his sleep, then he carefully rose from the bed. Shafts of sunlight poured in, and he walked through them as he moved to Honiahaka's side of the bed. He stood over Honiahaka a long moment and just studied him. The sun chief's fur was limp with sweat, as was his mane. And was that a bite on his neck? Keme glowered. God, don't let Honiahaka have fucked that old bear! He turned away and had to wonder why he cared.

His face twisted with silent anger, Keme went to the window and looked out. He heard the baaing before he saw them: sheep were being herded through the streets of the village. Their wooly bodies looked like dirty pillows in the bright streams of morning light. A fat female bear with ruddy brown fur guided them to the edge of the village, two male cubs bouncing in her wake. Other bears emerged from their beehive homes: males with spears, elders with pipes, young females with baskets.

It reminded Keme of one of his first mornings in the sun village. It was some morning after Yuri had healed him. He had stood for hours at the window, just watching the sun wolves in fascination. Yuri had been worried, but he remembered hearing Enya whisper to her wife, "Just let him be. He's never been in a village before. That's all it is."

Keme watched as the bears went about their lives. They laughed, they scolded, some bears set up stalls in the center of the village and began bellowing offers for their wares. Chubby cubs hid under some of the stalls and were swept off by an indignant male brandishing a broom - at least Keme _thought _it was a male until it started bellowing about how grateful it was it had never birthed any cubs. Other bears in the market laughed. They hugged each other in greeting. They bickered over prices. They chattered endlessly. This could have been any wolf settlement.

If Askuwheteau's story was true, the wolves were responsible for reducing the bears from this to the mindless beasts that roamed the world outside Phanyah. The Matwau were not hated without reason.

Keme felt his stomach growl. He glanced back at the bed to see if his loud belly had woken Honiahaka, but the sun chief hadn't stirred. Suddenly starving, Keme passed through the curtain and up the hall. He was surprised to find Askuwheteau seated in the front room. The smell of oatmeal perfumed the air. Glancing around, Keme finally spotted a large bowl of it on a low table near the old bear. Askuwheteau had a small bowl on a tray before him. He was seated on a pillow before the fire. The fire roared low, its glow consumed by the daylight that poured through the round windows.

Askuwheteau looked up from his bowl and grinned at Keme. He was seated with his legs crossed - which must've been a feat for one as chubby as he. "Good morning, young wolfbeast!" cried the old bear happily. "Come - eat!"

Keme hesitated but moved into the room. "I thought you'd be asleep," he said. _After all the sex you probably had with Honiahaka . . . _He settled on a pillow near the fire and gratefully took the bowl of oatmeal the old bear passed to him.

"Me -- asleep?" Askuwheteau snorted. "Nonsense. I haven't missed the dawn since I was born. It is how I became known as He Who Watches."

Keme tasted the oatmeal and grinned. It was better than anything he'd ever eaten at the sun village! Even Aliona's cooking, he thought with a guilty wince. He wondered what his grandmother was doing now. Upon first meeting her, he had wished desperately that he had grown up knowing her: she seemed so sweet and caring and dignified a female. And she smelled so good. That might have been one of the nicest things about her. Keme could sense that she had once been as stern as Kel, but only with her children. He imagined that - like the typical grandmother - she had been strict with her children but had spoiled her grandpups rotten. It was obvious in the way she doted on Enya, who was her granddaughter.

When Aliona first met Keme, she squeezed his paw, then broke down crying and hugged him tight. She told him how she had watched her son in pain for years as he mourned a child he'd never even held. Anything that caused Kilyan pain naturally hurt her twofold.

"Did you sleep well, Keme?" Askuwheteau asked cheerfully.

Keme looked at the old bear and wanted to punch the grin off his face. How dare you sleep with Honiahaka!

Keme was startled when the old bear chuckled, and he remembered that Askuwheteau seemed able to read minds.

"You are coming to care for Honiahaka," Askuwheteau said matter-o-factly. "It is only natural you would be concerned about him. Don't be angry, Keme. You hold a dear place in his heart."

Keme blinked. "I didn't - I'm not ang - what do you mean by_ _that?"

Askuwheteau chuckled. "You will understand in time. Until then, you should continue to allow your friendship to grow. There is no beacon like a friend in the midst of such darkness." He then returned his attention to his oatmeal.

When it didn't look as if Askuwheteau was going to elaborate, Keme demanded, "But tell me what you meant by that! The place in his heart thing."

The old bear smiled sadly. "Honiahaka is enduring a silent struggle the likes of which you can not comprehend. Or perhaps you do comprehend it, and that is why you are so well suited to comfort him."

"Yes," Keme admitted quietly. "I lost someone too."

"And now both of you fear you have lost even more." Askuwheteau peered hard at Keme with his inscrutable eyes. "You think of them night and day, worry that they are dead, ache for one in particular. She is the sun, warming your heart with the rays of her smile. Hers is the tender touch you yearn for. Hers is the kind and caring heart that once beat beside your own."

Keme swallowed thickly. Askuwheteau was speaking of Seleste.

"Honi thinks you can see the future," he said, looking at the old bear in earnest. "Please - do you know if I'll ever see her again?"

"You can see for yourself."

Keme blinked. "I can?"

Askuwheteau smiled and set aside his bowl. He rose with a groan and looked down his short snout at Keme. "Come." With that, he moved past a curtain that barred yet another hall.

Keme followed only to find that this new curtain did not bar a hall but a room. Here, more shelves were carved into the walls, more cushy chairs slouched about, and low tables with trinkets gleamed in the light of a small fire. But in the very center of the room stood a pedestal with a stone basin. Askuwheteau approached the basin and Keme followed.

"This," Askuwheteau said, staring at the basin, "is a window to the future."

Keme looked at the basin too. Water winked within it and reflected the firelight like glass.

"The water comes from Lake Pavati," Askuwheteau said quietly, "and so the basin is named in its honor. It is the Mirror of Pavati, and it will show those who dare to look what choices they will inevitably make.

"Only one who possesses magical knowledge may successfully see into the future. Three moons ago, I looked into the water's mirror, and I saw you and Honiahaka being captured and brought here. Of course, it would take me quite some time to save you because I would be busy presiding over a sick cub for several hours. I could have chosen to save you from Matoskah and his friends, but that would have meant the life of the cub."

Keme shifted guiltily. "Who is Matoskah, anyway?" He scowled just thinking of the white bear and his red tattoos. "He acted so superior toward you, like he was too good to show respect or kneel or anything."

Askuwheteau smiled sadly. "Matoskah is my most prominent student and will take my place one day in Phanyah. Should he prove worthy, he will become healer and advisor to Phanyah - should he prove worthy."

Keme laughed. "You don't think he will?"

Askuwheteau smiled the same sad smile. "I know he won't. But he will take the position regardless of his worth."

Keme glanced at the basin and realized Askuwheteau had probably seen this outcome in the water. He got the sour feeling that when Matoskah did come into his position, it would not mean anything good for Askuwheteau. Keme glowered. That fat white bastard.

"So . . ." Keme scratched his ears. "How does this work exactly? And why should the mirror work for me? You said I'd be able to see for myself, but I know nothing about magic."

Askuwheteau smiled fondly. "You are Honovi, Keme. Magic is in your very blood."

Keme glowered at the water. "So you know."

"Yes. All of Phanyah knows. It is the reason they used the poison to tame you. It took your strength for several hours and allowed them to do what they did."

"But why?!" Keme burst. "Why do_ _that to me? And what about Honi? He's not Honovi. Why rape him?" He felt the rage bubbling as he thought of his sore anus, the bites, that fat pink cock pounding in his ass.

"There is an old story that the Honovi passed their power on through their semen. It was why they possessed penises. But then, those are just stories. As for Honiahaka . . . they raped him because . . ." Askuwheteau placed an apologetic claw on Keme's shoulder, "Some bears are just bad, young one."

Keme looked at Askuwheteau's sad smile and instantly felt guilty for treating him like one of the bears who had raped him. He wanted to apologize but couldn't find the words. Askuwheteau seemed to know he was sorry anyway. The old bear dropped his claw from Keme's shoulder and turned back to the basin.

"You must touch the water and ask to be shown," said the old bear. "It is as simple as that."

Keme hesitated. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know anymore. What if the water showed him that Seleste was dead? He just stood there, frightened and uncertain. But no. He had to know! He took a deep breath and tapped the surface of the water with his finger. "Show me," he whispered. "Will I ever see her again?"

Keme stared with an earnest frown into the water. The liquid swirled, moving faster and faster. And then - it suddenly stopped. The water fell as still as if it had never been disturbed, and images began to flash across the surface. Keme's mouth fell open: he was seeing himself a few years from now. Feathers were woven in his mane and a small female pup was giggling on his knee. Her fur was pale brown and her mane long and flowing. But her eyes, they were green and sparkled at Keme as he bounced her.

"One, two," Keme saw himself singing in the mirror, "and threeeeee!" His mirror counterpart suddenly lifted the child high over his head. The little girl squealed and waved her arms, crying, "Higher, Daddy! Higheeeeer!" "Alright, Tala," said Keme's mirror image, "higher!!!" and without hesitating, he tossed the girl and caught her. She clung to him, her legs kicking with her giggles. Keme's mirror image kissed her happily on the cheek. Then the vision faded.

Keme backed away from the mirror, stunned.

"What did you see?" Askuwheteau asked curiously. "If I might ask."

Keme blinked at him. "What . . . you couldn't see that?"

Askuwheteau shook his head. "A beast's visions are their own."

Keme swallowed thickly. "I saw . . ." His eyes softened and he laughed. "I saw my daughter. I think she belonged to me and Seleste. But I didn't see Seleste," he added miserably. "That didn't tell me anything. For all I know, I'll find Seleste dead with my pup somewhere, and I'll raise the kid alone." He stared at his feet and his heart ached just thinking of it. It was entirely possible.

Keme didn't want to think of it anymore. He shook his head and turned away. He felt the old bear's soothing claw on his shoulder again.

"Perhaps you are not meant to know," Askuwheteau said. "The tears of Pavati, they can be selective in what visions they will grant."

Keme blinked miserably and nodded.

"Come. You must finish your breakfast and return to your room. I will have many students and audiences today. It is safer if you are not around them."

Keme nodded again. They went back to the sitting room, where they sat once more and continued to eat. Keme kept thinking of Seleste and the little pup in the vision. He was going to be a father. The thought terrified and amazed him. He wondered if Seleste was pregnant even now.

"So I have to keep hidden the entire time I'm here?" Keme wondered.

Askuwheteau nodded grimly. "Not every bear in Phanyah wants to rape you, young wolfbeast. But they will hate you just the same. I am sure many would take offense at your presence. Many more will not want you listening while they ask for advice on personal matters."

"Are you the only one that sympathizes with us then?"

Askuwheteau smiled at his bowl. "I used to be as angry as my fellow bears. I hated the wolfbeasts perhaps more than all."

Keme blinked at him in surprise. "But - but you saved us! And you've been very welcoming - even when I really didn't deserve it . . ." Keme looked off guiltily and heard the old bear chuckle at him.

"The tears of Pavati showed me the error of my ways, Keme. I realized what hatred I had inherited from my ancestors. Watching you and Honiahaka in the water's mirror, I understood that wolves were hardly any different from us - barring the few physical exceptions," Askuwheteau added and patted his belly proudly.

Keme grinned as he realized the bears sported their big bellies on purpose. He thought of all the females he had seen and it hit him that having a big belly was supposed to make one more attractive in Phanyah: female bears swayed about with their big bellies thrust proudly forward. Some even wore flowered belts around them to draw the eye.

When he had finished his oatmeal, Keme thanked Askuwheteau and returned to the room he shared with Honiahaka. The sun chief was still sleeping. Keme laughed to himself: Honiahaka was hugging his pillow, his mouth was open and a line of drool had escaped the corner of it. Disgusted, Keme slapped Honiahaka in the face with a pillow. He was resting back on his own pillows when Honiahaka cried out indignantly and sat up.

"Hey!" the sun chief cried. He pushed his mane back out of his face and glowered at Keme. "What was that for?!"

"Being gross."

"And where have you been?"

Keme snorted and put his arms behind his head. "I could ask you the same thing."

Honiahaka said nothing, though his cheeks colored up slightly. He rested back against his pillows and stared at the opposite wall. Keme looked away when he wiped his drool with a cloth from the bedside table.

"I left to eat this morning," Honiahaka said at last. "Is that a crime?"

"Liiiiiiiarrrrrr," Keme sang playfully.

Honiahaka scowled. "What do you care anyway?"

Keme said nothing. Honiahaka was right: why _did _he care?

"Master Asku is taking audiences now, I take it?" Honiahaka said at length.

"Yeah."

"Then we must stay hidden here until sundown."

"Stay in here? With you? For how many hours? Oh god. We've got to get out of Phanyah. And a sap."

Honiahaka rolled his eyes. "You're right about us getting out of here - however insulting you are about it!"

It was Keme's turn to cry out indignantly when Honiahaka slapped him upside the head with a pillow. The pillow came again, and with lightning quick reflexes, Keme caught it against his chest. Honiahaka tried to pull away, but Keme held on, trapping his paw in his arms.

"Ugh!" Honiahaka cried irritably. "With all the brothers I grew up with, you'd think I'd be used to this sort of thing by now."

"If I let go, you've got to stop slapping me with pillows."

"Fine."

Keme just stared at Honiahaka.

"I swear!" Honiahaka burst.

Keme let ago. Honiahaka started to turn away - then slapped Keme in the face with the pillow.

"You bastard!" laughed Keme.

They began whacking each other with the pillows, their laughter echoing through the room. As Keme beat Honiahaka around the head, he remembered how sad he'd been as pup. He'd always wanted another pup to play with and there had even been times when he had hoped Aiyana would somehow become pregnant and give him a playmate.

Honiahaka lowered his face to the bed and covered his head with both paws. His ass was in the air, and the sight of those tight cheeks so vulnerable and exposed made something in Keme stir.

"I give up! I give up!" Honiahaka laughingly wailed.

Keme triumphantly dropped his pillow - and cried out when he was met with a barrage of slaps. The pillows banged him in the mouth, in the eyes, a relentless wall of cloth and flying feathers. Ugh! He had let Honiahaka psyche out him twice!

"That's it!" Keme shouted, and with a roar, he tackled Honiahaka around the waist. They tumbled to the bed together, their breathless bodies hot, their muscles flexing as they twisted against each other. A cascade of pillows and blankets covered them. Keme shook a blanket off his face with a toss of his mane. He was on top of Honiahaka, hip to hip. The bigger male was laughing breathlessly under him. One of Honiahaka's big arms was around Keme's shoulder, and smiling fondly at Keme, the sun chief stroked his mane. Keme closed his eyes at this gentle touching. He could feel the brush of Honiahaka's soft cock against his own and was barely able to stop himself getting hard. He cleared his throat and scrambled off.

Blissfully unaware of Keme's arousal, Honiahaka pushed the pillows and blankets off himself and sat up, still grinning. "That was almost like being with my brothers again. Taigi . . ." Honiahaka paused to catch his breath. "He was my favorite brother. Probably because he was closest to my age. A lot of them were at least ten summers older. But Taigi . . ." Honiahaka grinned as he thought of his brother. "He played with me all the time like this." Honiahaka drew up his knees and rested his elbows on them. He laughed. "Even when we were much older!"

Sitting now on the edge of the bed and frantically resisting a hard-on, Keme wished Honiahaka would turn around - or at least close his legs.

"I haven't seen Taigi in years. I haven't seen any of them. Some were failed protecting the village. Others went on to live in different places. Taigi fell in love with a moon wolf merchant. Left for the moon village with her. He still writes . . ." Honiahaka shook his head. "But it's not the same. I guess now with Mother's passing . . . they'll be coming home to pay their respects." Honiahaka's eyes flickered with sadness, but he cleared his throat and grinned at Keme. "Want another round?" he said and hurled a pillow at Keme's head.

Keme's face darkened and he swatted the pillow away. Could Honiahaka really be that oblivious? Surely he'd felt something when they were rubbing dicks just now? He looked at Honiahaka, who was watching Keme in confusion. Heh. Maybe he should be glad Honiahaka was clueless.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Keme," Honiahaka said at last. "I forgot you grew up without siblings or . . . or even friends. I'm sorry." His pale eyes looked at Keme with pity.

Keme was relieved. Good. Let him think that's what was bothering him. Better that than Honiahaka discover the truth.

Without answering, Keme fluffed up his pillows and sat back in bed again. Honiahaka did likewise.

"It must've been so lonely," the chief said, watching Keme sympathetically.

Keme shrugged. "I had Aiyana, even if it wasn't exactly the same. . . ." He dragged a pillow close and stared gloomily at it as he squeezed it in his paws.

Honiahaka suddenly grinned. "Had we been pups together, I would have pounded you every night before bed."

"Helloooo? Super strength?"

Honiahaka laughed. "Oh, right. I forgot. I've gotten so comfortable around you, I don't even think of it anymore. Guess you would've pounded me every night."

Keme's eyes traced lustily over Honiahaka's hard thighs and the quiet organ that rested so still against them. I wanna pound you now, he thought and was glad to see Honiahaka hadn't noticed his staring. The chief was gazing thoughtfully at the opposite wall.

"Honi?" Keme said nervously.

Hearing the apprehension in Keme's voice, Honiahaka looked quickly at him, his pale eyes dancing with curiosity. "What is it, Keme?"

"When did you . . .?" Keme cleared his throat as if he was getting up his nerve. "When did first realize you liked . . .?"

Honiahaka tilted his head down. "Males," he finished for Keme. He looked very amused.

Keme squeezed his eyes shut. "Don't laugh at me!"

"I'm sorry . . ." Honiahaka put on a serious expression but the laughter was still twinkling in his pale eyes.

"I've been thinking a lot about the court advisor and my grandparents," Keme said. "So I wanted to know how such a thing could come about . . . I mean, all of them being married . . ."

Honiahaka stared at Keme, his lips threatening to blossom into a smile. It was clear he didn't buy the lie one bit: Keme was asking the question because he was having sexual feelings for males. But he tactfully pretended that he didn't realize this when he answered.

"Well," said Honiahaka, "to answer your question . . . it wasn't something I realized. Males who only like females don't _realize _it one day. It's just something they've always known. For me, it was the same. Now as for Kel . . ." Honiahaka blinked thoughtfully at the window. "I'm sure your grandfather did realize it. I grew up in a world where same sex love is accepted. Kel didn't. I'm sure his feelings for other males were something he ignored because he was conditioned to from a young age. Then one day he '_realized' _that he liked males, even though it was something he had always known deep down." He looked at Keme and smiled. "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes," said Keme, blinking in surprise. "It does."

Honiahaka laughed. "You didn't think my answer would help?"

Keme shrugged. "I just . . . didn't think the answer would be something so simple." Keme stared thoughtfully at the wall. Because he was raised by Aiyana - a female - he had never known these feelings existed inside of him. Now he was out in the world among other males, and it was becoming more and more apparent. He silently wondered if he would have "discovered" his feelings toward females had Aiyana been a male.

"Sexuality isn't so cut and dry," Honiahaka said thoughtfully, almost as if he was thinking aloud. "And no wolf is one hundred percent anything."