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Honoring his promise, Jak left the Wolf brothers' weapons behind at the edge of Blackrock territory, and he and Airy continued north through Winter pack lands. No longer near the important trail to the obsidian deposits beyond the pass, the extreme northwest boundary of Winter pack territory was a wild country where few Wolves travelled. Though it was not a place of complete safety, Jak was relieved that they were no longer being hunted. Off the well-travelled paths, the principal danger now was encountering random Winter pack hunting parties and the uncertain welcome they might receive. Jak knew that non-Blackrock pack Wolves had no mandate to kill him on sight, but he worried about his ability to protect Airy. None of the Wolf packs liked the Rabbits, and some packs hunted them without pity and killed them for no other reason than hate. The proclivities of the local pack leader often determined the level of persecution the pack practiced. Star was Winter pack's leader, and though he and Jak were acquainted, they had been neither friends nor enemies, so Jak was uncertain how he might react to a Rabbit in his lands. Star had never voiced any malicious anti-Rabbit rhetoric to Jak, but there were few Rabbit colonies this close to Cat country. Star simply had no history of dealing with Airy's kind. Jak refused, though, to let this worry him. An encounter with Winter pack was an improbable concern since the pack was unlikely to travel so far up the mountains this time of year. There was little here besides steep terrain and limited food. Large game was only just now beginning to return to these recently snow covered elevations.

The thought of food, a growing distaste for berries and nuts, and a great hollow feeling in his gut led Jak to call a halt once they were a few hours march within Winter pack's territory. It was a singularly beautiful location in a broad, rocky valley with several large lakes connected by streams that gurgled noisily over the rocky terrain at the beginning of their long downward journey to the far eastern sea. A mile up the valley, hanging like a dirty, giant blue-white tongue was a mighty glacier. Descending from the permanently snow covered heights of the Earth Spine, it's terminus was a cliff several hundred feet high from which boulders melted out of the ice and fell crashing to the valley floor sending the echoes of their demise rolling down the valley towards Jak and Airy. They were at just the right elevation today that the cottony white clouds from the lowlands that drifted up through their resting spot could go no higher and dissolved in front of them like one's breath on a cold day.

The petite white clouds reminded Jak of Airy's small tail. That and the other physical differences between their kinds, like her size, her ears and snout, manifested themselves in his consciousness, and he realized that over that past few days he had himself been forgetting she was a Rabbit. His old ways of thinking of her as another kind was yielding to something else. Could it really be so easy for him to abandon as irrelevant their divergent physical traits, and instead see her as another person? Did she share this feeling and think of him as one of her own? Would her munificence be emulated by the others of her pack? Was there any hope that he would be accepted into Rabbit society as a member of Rikifur? His own kind had had already rejected him.

True, the old laws demanded that they did it, but surely Rikifur had laws, too. He doubted those laws would favor Wolves. Jak knew in his heart that Airy had not misled him about his chances, but she is young and is a princess who is used to getting her way. She does not understand the power of laws and tradition and the way they can bend the mind towards mindless bigotry. A short while ago, he had been blind to his own intolerance, and inwardly winced at the recollection of his own intent to kill Airy when they had first met.

Now, it was so clear to him that this former enemy was a prized companion. It was an improbable chain of events that broke the chains that had bound him to tradition and brought him to this fortunate new beginning. Was the loss of his eye necessary for him to see the world differently? Did he have to lose his pack to discover that there were other social structures to which he could belong? Was sacrifice and privation what it took to demolish old habits and old ways of thinking? The price he had paid for this newfound knowledge was high. What else might I have to surrender on this journey of self-discovery?, he wondered. What was the purpose of hating others just because they were different? Could two people be more different than Airy and himself? Yet they were friends, companions and fellow warriors. And yetyou are a hypocrite, Jak, he scolded himself, smug with your thoughts of tolerance when you deny her what you would have given another Wolf in the same circumstances. Yet some traditions are hard to break ...

Airy's tired voice broke his melancholy brooding. "I'm hungry, Jak. Is there any different food around here? All I see are pine trees and berries. I never thought I'd say this, but if I eat any more nuts and berries, I will choke on them."

Glad to have his own despondent thoughts dispelled, he cheerfully exclaimed, "Exactly what I was thinking." Well, not exactly.

Since fish were not on the list of forbidden foods Airy had made him swear not to eat, Jak wove a pair of crude nets from rushes and sticks. They managed after much splashing in the shallows to catch two large trout in the smaller of the valley's lakes. He built a fire as smokeless as he could, and roasted the fish even though he was hungry enough to eat it raw, worried what Airy might think of him if he did. He was surprised when upon handing Airy her fish, she tore savagely into it, devouring it with huge gulping mouthfuls, leaving only the head and the tail to toss in the fire.

When Jak tilted his head to stare at her in surprise with his good eye, she simply said "No fur," and asked for more.

While Jak was trying to catch more fish, Airy cleaned herself up as best she could in the ice-cold, glacier fed lake. She could not bear to do more than wash her hair, hands and face. Even that small amount of immersion sent her running back to the fire to warm up. When Jak returned with two more trout, she was warming her hands over the fire, and water was dripping from her wet, spiky hair. To Jak, she looked a disheveled mess, bloody, bruised, filthy, and hungry, yet unexpectedly attractive. No. That could not be the right feeling he was looking for. Striking? Lovely? All the adjectives in his head hinted at a physical attraction that he could not dispel. Jak was unsure what his true feelings were towards her. Was she a fellow warrior, his pack leader, a friend or something else? He had shown her obedience, so she was definitely his Captain, but was she more than that? I have made obeisance to her and pledged myself to her to become part of her pack. I am subordinate. I must remain loyal and let her lead, he told himself. _ _She definitely was not a Wolf female. He had to avoid thinking of her that way. _ _Jak recognized that he had to tread carefully as he explored and possibly expanded this odd new relationship.

Airy looked up to see Jak staring at her with that comical crooked gaze of his. As he regarded her, he was absently cleaning two more of the delicious trout. Airy's mouth began to water at the sight, but wondered which sight, the fish or Jak? She found herself studying Jak's body the way she had the Rikifur bucks who had been repairing the Barrier. He was as tall as the tallest bucks in Rikifur, but he was more muscular and stood with the poise of one used to authority. Even though he was dirty with tangled mats in his fur and the prominent red scars across his face that were only partly hidden by his eye patch, these flaws only seemed to make him more sexy. No, she told herself. She could not be carnally attracted to him. He was not of her kind, and anyway, he was too old. What had he said about his age? He said he had ruled for twenty-five years. Depending on how old he was when he became leader he could be anywhere from forty to sixty years old. However, except for the abundance of gray-silver fur taking over much of his once black coat, he looked as hale as any Rabbit buck in his youth. He was also wise and experienced. There was much he could teach her, and not just about leadership but perhaps about love. Don't go there, she thought. She was a princess. She had her vow of chastity to honor. Besides, he wasn't a Rabbit. Did that matter?, she wondered. How could she be lovesick over a scruffy, old Wolf she just met? It was ridiculous. She tried to convince herself that she was just tired and emotionally distraught from her ordeal, but a part of her was not listening to reason.

After gutting and deboning the second set of fish, Jak impaled them on his sharpened cooking sticks and handed one to Airy as he sat next to her on the log in front of their fire. His long shaggy tail swished slowly behind him and every so often brushed against her. The contact, though fleeting was strangely exciting to Airy. She wondered if he was doing it consciously to torment her. His good eye was away from her, so she could not read his face. She could only see his eye patch and scars. With him blind to her scrutiny, she found herself staring at him openly. How had she come from hating him on sight, to this point where she dearly wanted to lean against him feeling the beating of his heart, and relive the previous nights when she had shared his blanket? She had slept very soundly against his warmth, but whenever she had woken up during the night, the closeness and furry comfort of his body was pleasing in a way she had not known with anyone before. It was as she had imagined it would be when she was married to her king. Before tonight, she had slept with him out of need, but tonight he seemed different somehow. He was more than just a source of warmth. He was a friend. Maybe he was something more.

"Your fish is going to burn if you don't turn it," he said oblivious to her staring. Disrupting her ruminating thoughts, her stomach took control and her attention became focused on eating again. While she ate the fish, more slowly this time, she shifted over until her hips touched Jak's and she put her right paw on his thigh.

"Thank you, Jak. For the food, and for saving my life once more."

Again, Jak was slightly flustered by the close physical contact. Were the hugs and touches she gave him just a natural part of her culture, or was there more to it? When a Wolf female made physical contact with a male, it was usually a prelude to mating. Thoughts of Moon rubbing her snout under his chin and along his neck surfaced unwillingly. Uncertain what to do, and not wanting to offend her, he stayed put.

"You're welcome, Airy."

After the second pair of fish was nothing but bones in the fire, Jak went to wash his hands and face in the lake. He retuned chewing on something. He sat next to Airy again, but this time on her left, so he could look at her. He stared at her for a moment, and then moved in very close, sniffing her hair and down her back. Wondering if he was about to kiss her, Airy was secretly thrilled, though she was prepared to slap him if he tried, yet uncertain if she would.

She was torn between telling him to get his wolf snout away from her or to snuggle up closer to him, when he stunned her by announcing, "You stink." Momentarily stupefied by the rude remark, she offered no resistance when he put his nose almost in her mouth and said, "And your breath stinks, too." Then he smiled at her confusion and blew in her face. Expecting the odor of fish, she was surprised that his breath smelled clean and crisp like a winter morning. He handed her some extra leaves of the type he was chewing. "Chew these." She did. If cold was a flavor, this was it. The biting taste nearly froze her mouth. Her tongue and cheeks began to tingle pleasantly.

"What is it?"

"An herb called melethtra. Moon, my favorite mate, was the herb lore mistress for our pack. When we would walk together, she would show me many valuable plants and gave me their names and uses."

"You said favorite mate. Did your other mates die? Did you re-marry?"

"Die? Some did, I suppose. There were too many to remember them all. What does 'marry' mean?" Airy's jaw dropped open and her nose began twitching as she began to understand. Jak didn't need to be an expert on Rabbit expressions to see she was shocked by something. "You are looking at me strangely."

"You had more than one mate at one time?"

"I was pack leader. I had many mates at the same time. I told you before. I had the pick of the fittest females. It is a great honor to bear the pack leader's pups. How many mates have you had?" Airy turned away embarrassed. "My apologies. I forgot also. You told me of your tradition to stay unmated. You are waiting for your first mate so he can be king. Will he be your only mate?"

"Yes. That is our custom."

"For all Rabbits or just for princesses?"

"All Rabbits, generally, though not all follow the rule. It is considered bad to do the mating thing with any other than your husband or wife even before you choose your mate, but it is a hard rule to follow. I know." Jak considered the implications of Airy's chastity and sought to understand the concept of 'husband' and 'wife'. Wolves often had a favorite mate and, within the greater pack, formed a pseudo family with one mate and their pups, Jak certainly had, but they were not monogamous. It seemed Rabbits had only one mate and one family. For Airy to become a queen, she had to follow the Rabbit rules and choose a Rabbit husband. Clearly, he could not be that person. He would be fortunate to be allowed to join Rikifur as a reluctantly admitted misfit. As part of his submission to her, it was his duty to see Airy made queen. This meant he had to keep his princess and captain safe and unmated. He was foolish to think that she could be a replacement for Moon. He vowed to put those thoughts aside, permanently.

He smelled her breath again. "Much better." He was silent for a moment as an impish grin formed on his snout. "Though the rest of you still stinks."

Airy laughed and shoved him playfully. "You stink worse."

"Agreed. To fix that, I have a special surprise for you tomorrow."

"What is it? More herbs?"

"A secret."

"Tell me, you sneaky Wolf."

"The Fox is sneaky and steals secrets. The Wolf is careful and guards his secrets. You will see tomorrow. It will be warm tonight. You don't have to sleep on my smelly blanket."

"I want to," Airy blurted out eagerly.

Jak pretended not to notice her eagerness. "What a strange pair we are. A Wolf who has given up meat and a Rabbit that willingly sleeps in the hides of dead animal's skins. The world is not the same place that it was a moon ago." The fire had died down to a bed of coals. Spreading them out in the fire pit, he poured dirt over the coals and laid the blanket out over the covered pit. "The coals will warm us from below all night. It will be nice to sleep without being cold." With that said, he rolled away from her and curled up to sleep afraid now of how he might react if he was too physically close to her as he had been on the previous nights.

Airy had both feared and hoped Jak would engulf her within his shaggy embrace as he had on the previous nights of their journey. She feared her own reaction but hoped that he would do it anyway. Why is he so cold to me all of a sudden?, she wondered, but when she lay down with her back to his on the warm blanket, her exhaustion overwhelmed her. She couldn't stay awake to dwell on her own question, though it worried her and troubled her in her dreams. Jak folded the blanket over both of them and unlike Airy, lay awake for a short while reflecting again on his own feelings towards Airy and his obligations to her.

By the morning, the clouds had moved up engulfing them in their wet drizzling embrace. It as a cold and damp start to the day, and Airy was not happy. Jak assured Airy that all would be made right by the end of the day, but would reveal no more. They continued their trek northward, but Jak led them generally downslope rather than always keeping to the higher country as they had the previous day. Gradually the clouds thinned and the annoying wet drizzle ceased. While walking through ancient woods dominated by immense fir trees that laid down a soft carpet of needles, Airy tried relentlessly to discover Jak's secret for today, but he would only look at her with his single eye, smile and say, "You will see soon enough." Soon enough seemed to take forever, and Airy was impatient. As they trekked, she teased him, she scolded him, she ordered him as his Captain, she even pulled his tail, but he would not yield the secret. It was not until after they had stopped to forage and eat some lunch and then walked for several more hours, that they entered a thinly wooded basin with a strange odor like the smell of rotten eggs and burnt rock. It was similar, and yet subtly different from, what she had experienced during the volcanic eruption at the pass. The memory momentarily made her afraid.

"What is that smell?" she asked a little fearfully.

"Your surprise."

"What? Are you insane? You kept me in suspense all day for a bad smell?" She hit him hard on his arm. Unflinching, he didn't seem to feel it. Instead, he grinned at her and cocked his head in his usual way, which in her agitated and annoyed state, seemed no longer charming but mocking and idiotic instead.

"Not the smell. Something else."

"You crazy Wolf. I'm not going another step. I'm exhausted, sore, filthy and tired of your games. If you want me to see your secret, you can carry me to it."

"As you command, Captain." To her astonishment and with incredible ease using just one arm, he hefted Airy up and over his shoulder so that she was facing backwards with her small, white tail pointing straight up.

"I was kidding, Jak." But Jak didn't listen or respond. He carried her through the woods, and Airy had to admit that being carried was not such a bad thing right now even if she was upside down. It had been so long since she could really relax, and she felt safe in Jak's care. She had missed his cuddling embrace last night, and this was a reasonable substitute.

The odd smell increased, and intermittently steam could be seen rising from small cracks in the earth. Airy worried that this place was as dangerous as the pass, but knowing that Jak would not take her anywhere perilous eased her tension. When Jak finally stopped, he put her down facing him.

"Turn around, Princess, and see my secret." She did and was dazzled. A clear pool of water in a bowl shaped depression of the rock lay in front of her at her feet, slowly overflowing with warm steaming water that rose from cracks in the bottom of the bowl. Her traumatic experience at the pass and the memories that the sulfurous smell had revived had obscured more pleasant memories of the wonderful warm pools that accompanied the steaming rock.

"A hot bath? Oh, Jak." She hugged him and kissed him soundly on the mouth. "It's perfect. I take back every mean thing that I ever said about you." She started to undress, and then noticed Jak watching her with his mouth open and his tongue hanging out, apparently stunned by her kiss. Suddenly she felt uncomfortable and not for the kiss, but by the prospect of being naked in front of Jak. "Turn around you leering pervert. I'm getting undressed." She half hoped he would not comply and ask to bathe with her, but he dutifully but slowly obeyed.

Jak did feel like a pervert, which was odd because with Wolf females he had been in similar situations that were not sexual in any way. Defensive, though, because of her harsh scolding, he asked, "Why am I a pervert? Wolf females do not wear as much clothing as you. They typically go about bare chested. Communal bathing among males and females is quite common. What is perverted about that?"

"Am I a Wolf, Jak? We had this discussion once already."

"I'm not taking your clothes off. You are."

"We have cultural differences and you may not understand my preferences, but you have to learn the ways of Rikifur since you are a citizen now. Males don't watch females undress either."

In a chastened voice he said, "I am a quick learner. I will not watch you undress." After a brief pause, he asked sullenly, "Am I still a 'leering pervert'?"

"It depends on how you behave."

"I will behave, Captain," he replied deliberately accenting her title. Jak began laying his gear down. "This spot is occasionally frequented by other Wolves to bathe. I have been here before when meeting with Winter pack," he said over his shoulder. "This is one of the lesser used areas, so we should be safe, but I will keep watch while you bathe, then you can keep watch when it is my turn. Does that comply with the Rikifur way?"

"Yes," she replied in an irritated tone as she removed all of her clothes. "Don't take is so hard, Jak. You're learning." Her male shirt was already beginning to rust, as were her arm guards and neck gorget. All her armor would need attention before too long. Washing it would only make it worse, so she set them aside. She would have to find the time to scrub and oil them, but when that would be she had no idea. The rest of her clothes she took into the water with her. After living so long with being cold and dirty, the hot spring was pure ecstasy. The warmth relaxed her tired muscles and joints and seeped into her fur loosening the grime, blood and filth. Her clothes she washed first to get the kryfe blood and her own body stink out. It was satisfying to watch the dirty water flow away over the lip of the pool, continuously replaced by fresh warm water. It was as if all the pain and hurt of last few days went with it.

"Jak, can we have another fire?"

"Yes. The steam will hide the smoke. This place looks and smells like it is burning all the time. No one will notice."

"Good." She startled him by tossing her soggy clothes so they landed on his head and shoulders. "Dry these by the fire please."

"Yes, Captain," Jak said petulantly feeling a bit like a slave.

"Oh, don't be a pout. I said 'please'. I'll dry yours for you when it's your turn. Hey, did any of your mates teach you how to mend clothes?"

"All warriors know how to mend and fix things. We have to be self-sufficient to survive on long hunts and during times of conflict."

"Then mend them, please."

"As you wish, Captain." Jak thought Airy would respond to that, but she had submerged herself to wash her hair and ears and didn't hear him.

Her clothes were drying above the fire when she was done scrubbing all the grime from her body. Stretching out her shapely legs, she inspected the cuts on her thigh. All were healing nicely and would regrow fur again soon enough. Tracing her faint red 'tiger' stripes, she wondered if the stripes that had been interrupted by the Kryfe scratches would grow back with the new fur. There was a time in her life when she had hated these stripes and the name 'Tigress' that came with them. She had wanted to get rid of them, but now she felt they were a precious piece of her lost life in Rikifur that she could not bear to lose.

With only her head above water, she closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was home again in a warm bath surrounded by her chaperones. It was a pleasant sensation that reminded her of the conversations they had enjoyed while they bathed, which were mostly about a few of her naughtier chaperones' mating encounters. Such wicked behavior from does who were charged with ensuring Airy's virginity. Airy was inexperienced in such matters other than what she learned from them. Their stories made her loins wet with excitement, especially when they discussed bucks about whom she had experienced her own erotic fantasies.

Her thoughts travelled further along this track of contemplation to a particularly handsome buck named Mearthos who was the son to her father's chief advisor. Airy and Mearthos were of the same age and had gone on many outings, with her chaperones, of course. He was a suitor, a likely candidate for king, and Airy enjoyed his company and had fantasized about him many times before. To quench her unsated desire, she began to stroke herself between her legs. Remembering where she was, she quickly checked to make sure Jak was not watching her shame. He dutifully had his back to her and was making sure her clothes dried without burning. As she continued her self-pleasuring, Mearthos' image slowly faded from her mind and was replaced with Jak's. Instead of the handsome buck, she saw Jak before her naked, with his Wolf member stiff in the manner in which the other girls had described the Rabbit males to her many times. Did his look the same or was it different?, she wondered. The thought of what type of exotic hardware Jak had made her more excited, and she stroked herself harder inserting her fingers inside her vagina while fingering her clitoris with the other hand. She imagined ordering Jak to lick her there with his long Wolf tongue. Maker, she thought, What would that feel like? How far inside could he go? Feeling the rising onset of her climax, she pictured Jak laying on his back with her astride him. Her paws clutching tight to the fur on the sides of his taut belly while moving slowly up and down on his rigid shaft. Her orgasm manifested so suddenly and powerfully she could not stop herself from screaming. She had to slip completely underwater to muffle the scream and the subsequent gasps and moans resulting from the rolling waves of pleasure inside of her.

Never had she experienced such an intense orgasm before. No fantasies about any Rabbit buck had ever made her scream aloud. When she was done trembling, feelings of guilty shame overwhelmed her. Fantasizing about sex with a Wolf was definitely unbecoming a princess or any Rabbit for that matter. Visions of disapproving priests and her shocked and humiliated family played havoc in her imagination until the stubborn princess within her rose defiant to defend Jak. Why should she care what anyone else thought? Jak, though possibly frightening in appearance, was brave, loyal, caring, gentle and a person, too. So what if his ears were short and his snout and tail long? Did that make him less of a person? Why couldn't he be a citizen of Rikifur? If he obeyed the laws and did his duty, surely everyone would see that he was not that different. He could even become a warrior leader again. He certainly had the skills for it. His handling of the Wolf brothers proved that. Why, he could even be ... king? Had she really thought that? Airy began to masturbate again at the thought of being the first princes ever to take a Wolf for a husband. Impossible, likely, but an exciting and wicked fantasy nonetheless.

Moon, where are you now?, thought Jak as he sat by the fire drying Airy's clothes. I am confused and lonely in way I thought I would never be again. If only Moon were here to lean against him and talk in the soothing way she always did about herb lore and pack gossip. Not that he always listened to every word. It had been sufficient to hear her voice no matter what she said. He sorely missed being lost in her presence where he could forget his cares and worries. If she were here, he could be happy again. If only she were here to press herself against him, running her paws through his fur and licking the side of his muzzle. They could lie together and make love . Aroused by these thoughts, he felt an uncomfortable tightness in his loincloth. He hadn't had an erection since his last night with Moon, and his need for relief was suddenly great. He started to fondle himself, but then remembered Airy was behind him. Rising without turning around, he called out to her over his shoulder, "Airy?" There was no answer. Should he look? No. she would be angry. "Airy?" he tried again.

Airy surfaced trembling from her second powerful orgasm, and heard Jak calling to her. Does he know what I was doing? "What? What is it Jak?" she asked trying to hide the embarrassment in her voice. "I can get out if you want in."

"You don't have to hurry. I just have to go ... _relieve_myself. I'll be back shortly."

Misinterpreting that statement to be related to urinating, she was relieved herself and replied, "Take your time. I don't ever want to leave this bath."

Jak moved far enough away to where he was out of Airy's sight, but could still keep guard. He pulled his cock out from under his kilt. It had already escaped its furry sheath and was fully engorged. Why now?, he wondered. Had it been his thoughts of Moon? He stroked his long red shaft and tried to think of Moon and the things she would do for him, but her face and features kept morphing into Airy's. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate on Moon, Airy's face, breasts and small tail would intrude in Moon's place. I should jump in a cold stream, his conscience demanded, but instead, he surrendered to his lewd imagination. He was mounting Airy from behind while clutching tight to her hips. Airy and he were huffing in short breaths as they experienced the pleasure of the act together. Her small tail gently massaged his stomach. She was so warm, tight and eager, pushing herself back into him each time he thrust. In his imagination, he howled as his knot became swollen inside her so that they were locked in the lovers clutch while he loosed his seed into her soft warm depths. In truth, he was alone and only a shuddering whimper escaped his throat instead. He did spend his seed, but not in Airy. Great gouts of semen erupted from him to puddle on the ground as he let loose a month's pent up abstinence.

Airy's supple body and beautiful face with her delicate snout were so firmly entrenched in his mind, it was a while before his erection faded enough that he could hide his half-sheathed shaft back under his kilt. Guiltily he crept back to the fire castigating himself for being a pervert just as Airy had said. A Wolf mating with a Rabbit had to be wrong. He knew it was wrong. Airy was still in the pool with water up to her neck. He tried not to look, but her breasts floated near the surface and her nipples were just above the water line. Her reddish stripes were a delicate counterpoint to the pure golden opulence of her fur. His cock began to respond again. Why would this make him excited? Wolf females always went about bare chested. Rabbit nipples looked the same as Wolf nipples. Nipples and breasts alone hadn't ever aroused him particularly before. Was it the stripes? He had never seen a striped Wolf. Was it simply because it was Airy?

He turned away to hide the returning swelling. There were herbs to control this reaction. Moon had taught him that along with all her other herb lore. He had never given them another thought. Why would a pack leader need such things? They were for the lesser males who were unmated. Well, he was a lesser male now. He would search for some later. Searching his memory, he recalled what he could of this desire suppressing plant. Ubrick it was called, and its leaves were triangular with a distinctive whitish green color and typically flourished in among stinging nettles, which grew along damp, lightly shaded areas. It was abundant in these lands. He had seen some as already as they had been travelling. He would find some soon and eat the bitter roots. He had to be able to trust himself around Airy. She would not want a 'leering pervert' following her about with his kilt bulging and his tongue hanging out. He was bound by duty to keep her a virgin. Of course, she also wouldn't want him to stink so much in her presence. Evan Jak had to admit that he was days beyond needing a bath.

"My turn," he said to Airy while willing his erection to go away, thinking about the pain of losing his eye, anything to distract himself.

"Are my clothes dry? I need something to wear."

"They are dry. I haven't mended them yet."

"No peeking, then. I'm coming out." With his paw over his one good eye, Jak heard the splashing as she climbed out of the pool. He fought desperately to not think of how she looked right now. She brushed past him touching his tail with her legs as she went behind his back towards the fire. It was a maddening sensation heightened by an odd yet familiar odor of an aroused female. I have got to be imagining that, thought Jak.

Airy was about to tease Jak about how dirty he was and how bad he smelled when she noted a not unpleasant musky odor about him that began to arouse her loins again. Perhaps now that she didn't stink so much, she was able to smell him as he really was. She liked the way he smelled, but it was bringing back the warm, wet sensation between her legs. To make it worse, having less modesty than Airy, Jak didn't think to ask her to look away as he removed his kilt and loin cloth, but he did keep his tail towards her so she couldn't see that his little wolf still wasn't completely sheathed. Airy could only see him from behind, but his long, thick tail fascinated her. She imagined him wrapping it about her as they made love together. She closed her eyes and turned away to calm herself. She didn't want to get aroused again after just getting clean. Jak would smell that for sure. It seemed Wolves could smell many things. Fortunately, Jak entered the pool without saying anything. As she stood by the fire, drying herself and thinking these thoughts, she was caught unaware by Jak's revenge. His soggy clothes landed with a wet plop on her head and shoulders.

"Dry those by the fire please." Jak laughed as she turned around fuming with her hands on her hips and his clothes draped over her head. He pretended to be looking the other way, but could see her twitching nose, and the rest of her, well enough with just one eye. I am definitely going to need to find those herbs tomorrow.

"Very funny, Jak." She quickly covered her breasts and groin with his clothes. "You did that on purpose just to peek. You are a naughty Wolf and are still a pervert."

"My apologies, Captain. I was just mimicking my superior. You were leading by example weren't you? What am I going to see with just one eye anyway?"

"More than you will admit, I'm sure." Airy put her clothes on but not the armor. It was uncomfortable to sleep in, and she felt safe with Jak close by. Working at drying Jak's clothes while he took his turn at the bath, Airy found herself looking forward to sleeping with him again. How had that come about?, she wondered. Inexplicably, Jak was evolving to become the center of her thoughts where he now dwelt in a place once reserved for friends and family. It was a place heretofore that was unimaginable for a Wolf to go. She dearly loved and missed her family and friends. There were few possessions she would not forsake to be with them again, but Jak was becoming one of those rare things. Confused as to what Jak was becoming to her, she couldn't fathom this new relationship. Was it friendship? Was it love? Love seemed preposterous, but what did she know of love? She had never been allowed to experience the intimacy that only lovers shared. Am I confused or is this real? _ With no one knowledgeable to advise her, Airy felt lost. _Am I in love or just suffering from lustful infatuation? How am I to know? Jak will know, but I am afraid to ask him. What if he rejects me? I won't look at him when he gets out, she told herself afraid that she might lose herself to these uncertain desires. When Jak did emerge from the pool, she kept her back to him as he dried himself by the fire and tried her best not to imagine him standing naked behind her.

"I can mend your clothes now," he announced once he was dressed. A bit hesitantly, she turned around wondering if he was trying to prank her again. Though clean and clothed, Jak still looked a fright to Airy. His fur, lengthier than hers generally, grew particularly long and thick from his head down his spine to his tail and was densely matted in many places. Even some of the shorter fur on his arms and legs was matted and clumped.

"First let me do something about your fur. Do you ever comb it?"

Jak inadvertently made a comic display of trying to look at his own back without much success but with the pleasant result of making Airy laugh. "Yes. Well, not by myself. Moon used to groom me. Grooming didn't seem important after I was banished. Why should a dead Wolf care how he looks?"

"Well, you're not a 'dead Wolf' anymore. You are a representative of Rikifur and companion to a princess, so you need to look your best, not like some scruffy animal. Come here and sit in front of me."

Jak complied, but grumbled, "Yes, Captain. You have very short fur. You don't have to worry about matted hair."

"Don't give me that whiney 'Captain' talk. It's true that I don't have as much long fur as you, but what about this on my head?" She produced a steel comb and began to work his fur. "This is what I use."

Jak snatched the comb from her hand and studied it with interest. "We use something similar, but with bone and wood. This steel seems far superior." Airy took it back and continued combing what she could, and Jak and she were content to sit silently as she did. This simple activity put both of them at peace. The sense of calm was especially soothing to Jak because it was a familiar pack ritual intruding in the unfamiliar chaos of his recent life. To Airy it was also a comforting and familiar act she had performed with her chaperones. The activity made them both feel that they were safe among family again.

For the most densely matted portions of his fur, Airy was forced to cut it away. She tried her steel knife at first, but it was not sharp enough, and she kept yanking on Jak's fur, eliciting grunts and many one-eyed glares from him. Exasperated, Jak handed her one of his obsidian knives. She found it to be much sharper than her steel, and she conceded the fact as the mats cut away with ease. Jak was inwardly pleased at this small triumph of his culture.

With all the mats cut out and burned in the fire, she combed him from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. The results were not what she hoped, because now his fur was patchy and uneven, but he looked better than before. To hide the unevenness, she wove many short braids into his long fur and tied them off with bits of leather strips from his kit pretending they were not from the bodies of dead mammals.

Examining her artwork, she exclaimed, "Definitely an improvement. It will take a while before it all grows out, but now I see that you are actually quite a handsome Wolf."

"Thank you."

More sternly, she added, "The braids will help prevent matting, but you will let me brush you every night before bed, so we don't have to go through this again."

"Yes, Captain."

"Stop calling me 'Captain', and wipe that smirk off your face. I'm done giving orders. Will you mend my clothes now, please? I want to look less shabby myself."

"You look quite beautiful in your 'shabby' clothes. And out of them," he added almost as an afterthought, the smirk on his face grown more visible rather than less as Airy had commanded.

She chose to ignore his teasing, but now wondered if there was more to that remark than simple teasing. Did Jak feel something like love for her, too? Was it lust? Would that be so bad?

Jak rummaged through his kit until he found some needles made from animal bones. Airy hoped they were fish or bird bones, and for all she knew they were. Producing some plant material from his kit, he pulled out fibers that he twisted together into a long threadlike substance. Using the thread and bone needles, he deftly sewed the tears in her clothes all the while marveling at their construction.

"We make these from the fibers of plants and the wool of sheep, by weaving them on looms," she answered when he asked how they were made.

"What is a loom?"

"It's a device that we use to weave the threads together to form a tight fabric that we cut and sew together to make our clothes."

"I have much to learn from you it seems. The creations of Rikifur are different from, and in many cases superior to that of the packs. What are your lands and homes like?"

"Jak, it is a wonderful place. You will love it as much as I do when you get there. We have houses made of wood something like yours, but the best ones are made of stones mortared together like the Barrier in the low pass. Have you ever seen the Barrier Jak?", Airy asked with pride mixed with sadness for her lost friends.

Jak found that he did not resent her pride for something that symbolized the suffering his people had endured. His resentment was far less than he would have thought possible a few days ago. Still loving Blackrock pack even if they were not his people anymore, he now felt a curious separation from the pack as if he were suspended between two worlds. He could somehow now observe both objectively and admire each for what they had to offer. "Yes. I have seen the wall. It is a very cunning thing."

"Now imagine an entire town, village, made that way with buildings of stone, some even higher than the Barrier. The royal palace is the most wondrous place of all with domed ceilings painted and tiled in patterns that make your heart race with joy. Instead of dirt and mud paths, we have roads paved with flat stones. Water is diverted from the high streams and rivers and brought in clay pipes to the town so anyone can have as much fresh clean water as they want."

"I very much want to see this new pack, or kingdom as you call it, that I have joined." Thinking how difficult getting to his new home would be, Jak became melancholy, and involuntarily laid his ears back slightly. Airy misinterpreted this to mean that he doubted she could help him become a part of Rikifur.

"You will, Jak. I meant it when I said that I would do everything in my power to integrate you into Rikifur. I'm a princess. They have to listen to me."

"I trust you, Airy. I have bound myself and my honor to you and to Rikifur. It is not you or your people that I doubt, but myself. I am after all simply an old, one-eyed wolf. I have nothing but myself to offer against a terrible journey through hostile lands. Before you put too much faith in me to get you home, you should consider that."

Airy was aghast that Jak could think of himself in this way. To her, he was a bastion of strength and her replacement 'Barrier' against the dangers of the world. She knelt beside him and stroked the fur on his mighty shoulders. To Jak, her touch was like a warm shaft of sunlight on a chilly spring morning. No longer immediately adverse to the contact, he wished that this physical intimacy could go on forever. "You are more than that, Jak. Look how far we have come already. Without you, I would be dead. There is no one else I would rather have right here by my side than you, and that includes all the Rabbit people I have ever known." Jak turned his head away so only his eye patch faced her. "Don't give me your blind eye!", she said grabbing his muzzle and turning his face towards hers. "You may be old and half blind, but you are also the bravest, kindest, most honorable, and resourceful person I have ever met. I have steel and armor and stories of fantastic things back in Rikifur, but you are the one who pulls everything we need from the land that surrounds us. I couldn't do that. Without your knowledge, where would I be? Where would we be? I need you Jak." To prevent herself from following with "I love you, Jak" she kissed him on the side of his snout instead. Embarrassed, she apologized. "I'm sorry. I got carried away again." She got up quickly to leave, thinking that Jak would be made uncomfortable by her brashness. Instead, he grabbed her wrist and held her fast with her palm upward.

"I thank you for your trust and confidence in me, Airy. I need you also." He paused for a few moments as if considering some new thought. The differences do not matter. Making a decision, he continued, "There is something that the Wolf people do when a special bond forms between two warriors. I think such a bond has formed between us." With no further explanation of his intent, he used a claw from his other paw to poke her palm and draw forth a few droplets of blood. Airy was too mesmerized by Jak's strange action to complain or struggle. He then bent his claw inward and bloodied his own paw the same way. Pressing their two bloody paws together and gently but firmly entwining their fingers, he chanted, "Your blood is my blood. My blood is your blood, bound by honor, bound by duty, bound by affection, inseparable except by death." Jak was silent for a moment but did not release her hand. "I should have done that before, but I did not think a non-Wolf could be worthy of the honor. I was wrong." Taking Airy completely by surprise, Jak engulfed her in a hug.

Still flustered by this unusual display from the normally taciturn wolf, Airy did not immediately return the hug as was her usual wont. "Uhm, Jak, we're not married now are we?"

Jak laughed. "No. More like brother and sister."

Relieved, she returned the hug enjoying the feel of his strength and furry warmth. "Not much family resemblance is there, though?"

Jak confessed aloud what he had been thinking, "The differences do not matter. I think we complement each other well." Hugging Jak tighter, Airy felt as if she had just acquired the best friend she could ever hope to have.

Airy was disappointed when Jak informed her they had to move on and could not spend the night by the baths. She had hoped to take another dip in the morning. "It's too dangerous here," he explained. Other wolves use this place. We aren't safe here. We aren't safe anywhere right now, but this place is particularly unsafe. We need to stay up in the highlands. The less time we spend in places of danger, the better our chances of survival." Resigned, she put her armor back on, and with a dejected look back to the inviting pool, Airy followed Jak into the unknowns to the north.

[End of Chapter]