FSE

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Chapter 11

The way through the forest that Sayuri had scrawled on her make-shift map had been twisted and had actually stopped before the village when she had been too exhausted to continue making it. Nevertheless, she was able to decipher the crude thing after studying for about a half an hour and was leading them through the trees on a more direct route. The journey that had taken an exhausted, dehydrated pup three days to traverse in her wandering way only took the two of them several hours to complete at the mile-eating trot the academy had taught them.

When they finally arrived near the area of the clearing Sayuri made a quick change of direction, forcing Firus to nearly stumble to follow her. When he caught up to her he questioned her about the course correction. "Something catch your eye love?"

She shook her head. "No, I figured that as long as we're doing this, you might as well get the full tour of my past. And on your left, you'll see our first exhibit." She slowed to a stop outside the mouth of a cave that was no larger than they were themselves. She leaned into the entrance and said softly, "Honey, I'm home." She sighed and led him into the depths of the tunnel.

Firus looked around at the time worn edges of the cave. "So this is where you and Ren lived for those years?" He asked with an almost reverent tone.

"Yeah, for several years this was home and heaven. Funny, it sounds like a cliche but it really did seem so much bigger back then." She looked deeper into the cave before looking around them and finally coming up with a discarded torch. She enlivened the oil on it with water from a skin and then lit it with her flint-and-steel. "C'mon, let me give ya the grand tour."

It took about a minute to reach back where the cubs had discovered a natural chimney in the ceiling so they could have a fire. The chamber was round, about twenty-feet across. Firus could see a pile of compost that had probably once been the sibling's bed, in the middle of the natural room was a large scorch mark where they had kindled their fires. And by the bed was an extremely large stain in the stone with a trail leading away from it like something had been dragged. The wall near the pile of what had probably been leaves was sprayed with the same color stain. It looked like rust had started to eat at the rock. He saw Sayuri shiver out of the corner of his eye and put his arm around her shoulder. She dropped the torch and turned into him as he wrapped her the rest of the way in his arms. "It's alright dear one. I've seen enough, let's get out of this tragic place."

They left the torch guttering in the room and exited the cave. Only once did Firus look back, when he did an anger hotter than his namesake started to burn in his heart at the thought of his mate's brother murdered here. He consoled himself that the son-of-a-bitch had been utterly destroyed for it.

When they had left the cave far behind, Sayuri collapsed and sat down on a log with tears streaking down her fur. Firus drew her close and let her cry it all out on his shoulder. When she couldn't cry anymore she just leaned into him and sighed. "I never thought I'd see that place again."

The male stood up and drew her to her feet. "Let's find that clearing and wash the memory of that incident from your mind." She nodded and turned, drawing him behind her at a fast walk.

Twenty minutes later the came across a small meadow filled with grass and a large stone in the middle. The moon was still in the sky and shone on them with a pure light, the stars twinkling brilliantly. The trees rustled their leaves and the grass swayed in a slight breeze that just gave the night a slightly cool feeling. She led him up to the stone before collapsing to her knees in front of it. She kissed her paw and placed it on the stone, saying, "I'm back brother. And I brought our Fire to see you. He wants to meet you Ren. Would you show yourself to us in our dreams like you did to me at the academy?"

When she took her paw from the stone Firus saw that there were three lines scratched into the surface, with little rivulets of rust near the end. He read them and remembered them well, Ren, one of the two 'Moon Flowers' born of Mizuki. Love of Sayuri. He wrapped his arms around Sayuri's neck and kissed the back of her head. "It's all true. I believed you, but it was all just a little like a fairy tale. It all had that air of being unproven about it. I'm sorry I even doubted you that much."

She turned around in his arms and licked his cheek before resting her head on his shoulder. "It's alright. I don't always believe it myself. Come, we need sleep. The wind shifts to seemingly come from no where. My brother heard me, he's coming." She said with a smile and layed down near his grave, pulling her mate down with her. "Dream well Fire." She said almost teasingly.

"You too love. I look forward to meeting Ren." They lay together in the clearing under the stars and fell quickly into a deep sleep.

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At first, he thought he had woken without having dreamed at all. He seemed to be in a sunlit version of the same meadow, he was still cradling his Lily to him in sleep, but he realized something was different. They were being watched. He sat up and looked at the male sitting on the headstone of Ren's grave.

He looked like Sayuri, he had the same general build, the same wolf's muzzle. But Firus could not absorb more detail than that. It was like his eyes refused to see him. He turned to his mate to shake her awake.

He was stopped by a paw on his shoulder. "She will not wake." The gentle voice said to him. "This is our time. As much as I wish to see my sister again, that will have to wait."

Firus turned to the male and was immediately caught into a strong hug. He had never really been close with any male besides Kanto and his father. Even Kanto's father hadn't been too close to him. But the presence of this wolf so close to him felt... right. He wrapped his arms around him and returned the hug. When they pulled back they looked into each other's eyes. Firus was awed by the fact he could see them perfectly, like deep pools of liquid emerald. As if the very essence of the color green could be squeezed from nature and condensed to form them. That was when he knew that Sayuri had been right.

"Brother, brother and mate." The male said to him. "Sayuri has told you of me, at least a little. I am Ren. But as long as you accept what fate has decreed, you may call me whatever you wish."

Firus had never entertained thoughts of a relationship with another male, had even found the idea rather off-putting, but Ren stirred in him a rightness he had only felt with Sayuri. He put his paw on Ren's cheek. "I call you savior for taking care of our lily. I call you brother, for even not accounting for Sayuri being my mate on Condea, our love for her makes us so. And most of all I think I will call you mate, for you inspire feelings I felt before only with your sister." Firus leaned toward him and kissed him, slowly opening his lips to Ren's and allowing his tongue to explore a males muzzle for the first time. Ren shifted his arms to behind Firus' neck and pulled him closer, angling his head to better lock their muzzles. He pushed his tongue out to dance with his new mate's and simply enjoyed the moment.

When they finally broke for air Firus realized something he had failed to notice before. He wasn't wearing any clothes here, and the kiss had surprisingly aroused him. Ren looked between them and noticed the half protruding shaft. He got a mischievous twinkle in his eye and sat them down on the grass near Sayuri's apparently sleeping form. He decided he had better ask rather than push new boundaries. "Firus," He put a paw on the other males thigh. "I can take care of that for you dear one. I would love to take care of it for you."

Firus thought about it for a minute, then decided that he really would prefer time to absorb the fact he loved not only two wolves, but one of them a male. "Sorry brother. I think that might be too much tonight. But eventually." He kissed Ren's cheek. "Eventually."

They talked then for hours. They talked of their pasts. They spoke of Sayuri. They droned on about anything and everything they could think of. For what seemed like hours they talked. Firus noticed just how much time he thought had passed and mentioned it to Ren. "Should I be getting back? It must be nearly dawn and I feel like I've gotten no sleep at all."

Ren smiled. "Actually, you are here only in your mind and spirit. In fact to Sayuri, you're still lying next to her, cradling her in your arms. The truth is that you think you've been here for hours, possibly even till tomorrow, but only an hour has passed on Condea. But you are right about rest. You aren't getting any at all right now."

Firus frowned as he knew that even as short a time as he had spent, he and Sayuri needed rest. He placed a paw on Ren's check again. "Yori, I don't want to leave you. But I need to return to our mate. I need to rest for the journey ahead. I don't know what to expect."

Ren smiled at him and nuzzled into the paw. "Yori. Trust. I like it." He whispered. "Then I will let you sleep. You both need as much rest as you can possibly get." They clasped each other's arm for a second and then pull themselves into a hug. "And watch your back. People are sometimes more than they seem."

Firus never got the chance to ask what he meant as he fell back into the inky darkness of sleep.

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Sayuri woke to Firus shifting against her back and wrapping his arm around her tighter. "Fire?" She asked, testing if he was awake.

He sighed. "Yes my love?"

She turned in his arms, facing her male and looking up at his face. There was only the grey light of pre-dawn, but even in that dim illumination she could tell he was troubled. "Did you meet him?" She asked tentatively.

His eyes got a kind of far off look to them as he smiled a little. "Oh yes I met him." He replied.

She looked at him questioningly. "And?"

He looked down into her eyes. "I've never kissed a male before." He said candidly. "Especially not like this." He leaned forward and kissed her slowly. He let himself forget the confusion and the unease and just love Sayuri. His tongue played with hers, chasing it in her muzzle. She giggled around his muzzle and wrapped her arms around his neck like her brother and pulled him closer.

He broke off the kiss with a small laugh. "You are twins." He said.

She quirked her head to the side. "What does that mean?" She asked.

He put his paws on her wrists. "Ren did exactly this when I kissed him last night."

Her face gained an interesting look. "You kissed him?" She asked almost accusingly.

"Yes. Amazingly, I did." He replied a little nervous.

Her muzzle split into a wide grin. She pulled him as close as she could and put her head on his shoulder. "I'm so glad he was telling the truth about us all. We really will all be happy when we finally join him. I love you Firus." She told him. "And I love you too Ren." She said toward the grave.

"Me too. Me too." Firus said looking toward the grave.

After the sun rose a little more they decided to head back to town. The trip was even shorter without the detour to the cave and only took and hour and a half. When they reached the inn their companions were just rising for the day. They all took the morning meal in the common room, but when they asked the lovers about why they never came back, they just looked at each other, smiled and said "Just visiting a friend." None of the others believed them completely, but they realized they weren't to ask. After midmorning they went up to their rooms, gathered their packs, and set out for the ruins they must find. They did not know what awaited them beneath the dark, festering stones of that place.

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Tazina decided she didn't like arguing with her child. He was very intelligent, and his upbringing had made him very good at finding little details that could let him get away with things. But then again, she hadn't survived thousands of years by not being able to win an argument.

"Momma, I want to go with you." Aodh pleaded.

"And I told you I'm not going to let you. I don't know what's going to happen. All I know for certain is I'm going to do some things you won't like me for." She said in a low voice sitting on the bed.

She had figured out that her target's party was staying at the very same inn as she was and had thought to just sneak into his room and be done with it. But when she scryed for him, she found him deep in the forest and unreachable. Besides, she had thought_, it probably wasn't a very good idea. He's a trained assassin, and I'm better at guile than stealth._ So instead she had determined to leave the inn before they did to be sure she was ready for them. The expedition was traveling lightly, she made sure of that with a little spell. They would even make better time than the whelp.

"Exactly, you don't know what will happen there. I could lose you and never know it." He said.

"I have spells that can let you know if I died." She explained.

"Please don't leave me, I don't trust the owner. I think he might try to force me into pleasuring some of his patrons tonight if I stay." He said with a whine. She almost believed him.

"I can protect you from that even form a distance." She countered.

"But if you die, there's nothing stopping him from making me his slave again. Nothing!" He nearly shouted with tears appearing in his eyes.

Dammit. Great point, little mother fucking bastard, she thought to herself and then let out a small laugh at the appropriateness of her insult. She looked him straight in the eyes, and too late realized her mistake. The tears welling in his sky blue eyes were more than her demon heart could take. "Dammit. Fine. You're right. Nothing would be stopping him, and I wouldn't put it past him. And that's a risk I'm not going to take with you. I suppose you had some kind of quarters?" She asked him.

Aodh immediately brightened as he finally broke her down. "I'll go pack what I need." He declared and started to run from the room.

"Wait," She called out to him. He stopped on the head of a nail in the planking. "Pack everything you own or at least everything he let you use. I don't plan on coming back here after I'm done. In fact I intend to lie low for a while, maybe pop into my home dimension for a small time, check on my fire pit."

"Your hell can't be worse than this one." He quipped and ran out the door, making sure to close it behind him.

She scoffed at the comment. Then she actually thought about it. She realized that his life here had probably inflicted more mental and spiritual pain than she could have in a hundred years. Damn, it. Boy will undermine my self esteem if he keeps this up.

She lay on the bed for a while, then stood up and stretched before shifting back into the blood red rodent form she was using around town. Aodh came back into the room with a small pack that looked like it carried nothing more than a couple sets of clothes. She noticed a small doll's leg sticking out of the flap and slowly withdrew it from the sack. It was a female coyote, sewn with a very careful hand with very intricate detail and realistic proportion and coloring. "What's this?" She asked him.

He looked down at the floor." I saw it in the market one day when I was running errands for the inn keeper," He explained. "One of the stall owners had it sitting on a back shelf when I found it. I thought that she was so beautiful, and even though I knew I would probably never have a mate, if I could I wanted her to be like the coyote. So I came back here, scrounged up what money some of the patrons here had given me, as a tip they said, and went back to the stall. The owner was really nice, she gave it to me even though I was a silver fath short of what she had wanted for it."

"She's beautiful," Tazina said. And she gives me a damn good idea. A sudden idea entered her mind and she traced a sign on the doll with a finger, muttering a few words under her breath. The little coyote seemed to become rigid and hard and then soften again. "Here," she said, handing it back to him. "Now it will never fade, tear, rip, or become damaged in any way unless you want it to."

Aodh took the doll from her slowly, placed it in his pack and then suddenly attacked Tazina, wrapping his arms around her neck. "You aren't a demon," he told her. "You're an angel."

She nearly choked on his words but felt her heart bursting at his intention. She hugged him back before whispering, "My Aodhàn." She pulled him away from her and said, "Come on. We better go. The others will be up soon and I want to leave before them. The ruins of a lost temple await us."