FSE

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"Whose stupid idea was this?" Benny asked as his eyes darted around the room in panic, his breath getting rapid, his palms felt sweaty. He wiped them on his apron as he glanced at Dillon.

The taller polar leaned back and gave a wide grin, "I do believe it was yours." It had been a good year for the bear, he and Martin were very settled and happy, he had managed to work his way through the guilt he felt after his part in the war. On a day like this he was on top of the world as he watched fear set into the mind of his friend, mostly anyway. He knew he could offer a few words of support and encouragement, instead he leaned back and looked into the next room saying, "wow, it is really packed in there." The slight whine coming from the throat of the other bear made Dillon's grin widen.

"Ok, I can do this, just keep it together. There's nothing to fear but fear itself right?" the smaller bear asked glancing nervously through the open door.

"Absolutely, the worst thing that can possibly happen to you is that they all hate you so much that they start crying, and their parents all think you are a monster," replied the larger bear patting Benny on the shoulder with a chuckle.

"You're not helping," observed Benny with a sharp look.

"I know, but if it helps I'm enjoying myself," sniggered Dillon with another pat on his friend's shoulder. "Why else did you think I agreed to come?"

"Well a small part of my mind thought my best friend would want to support me," muttered the smaller bear as he looked at the trolley in front of him. It was one they used in his restaurant to serve certain desserts or cheese selections on, but he had only brought a few items; a bag of special flour, a jug of water and a small bottle of yellow oil.

"Oh, now come on you know me, you can trust me to stick by your side, through thick and thin, to the bitter end. You can trust me to battle the freezing wastelands of Kalroon to fight at your back." Replied the larger bear as he put his paw on his heart. "However, you can also trust me to enjoy every moment of your discomfort when you are asked to speak in front of dozens of kids."

"Thanks, you're my hero," chuckled Benny with a shake of his head. Then a second later a female rabbit popped her head into the room.

"Ok Mr Benny they are ready for you," she said with an encouraging smile, as Benny started to push his trolley into the classroom.

As he passed his friend, Dillon, patted him on the back and muttered, "you'll do fine."

Then he was out of the small office and pushing his trolley to stand at the front of the class. The room was filled with at least thirty kids and sixty eyes watching him intently. He could feel his heart racing as he looked out, "Hello everyone." He said with as much of a smile as he could.

"Hello Mr Benny," chorused the class in response, the loud and quick response making the bear step back a little. He'd never thought that kids could be that scary, yet standing in front of them all he found his mouth going dry. He glanced at the back of the room to see Dillon smiling and nodding at him encouragingly.

"Your teacher asked if I could come here today to teach you something about my world, Polar." his words got louder and stronger as he spoke and his confidence began to grow. "I thought I'd tell you a story that is told to classes just like yours all over Polar. You see Mr Dillon at the back there, he looks a lot like me right? Well except he's way taller, that's because he comes from the far north of Polar, I come from the equatorial region where it is much warmer. My people are much smaller in height, but there are a lot more of us."

Benny took a breath, he had to admit he had enjoyed the look of terror on Dillon's face as the entire class had turned around to stare at the larger bear. "This story is set seven thousand polar years ago, which is about eight and a half thousand Lapine years ago. Now my ancestors, were known as the Equats and Dillon's they were called the N'ase. The two great nations on Polar, and seven thousand years ago we were at war, the war had lasted almost a hundred years. Nobody knows how many had died, but peace... peace wasn't possible."

Benny paused as a chocolate brown bunny put up his little paw the bear nodded at him and he asked, "Why wasn't peace possible?"

"Well you see, the Equats, believed in a deity called Grall, and their beliefs said that anyone who didn't believe in Grall was evil. They believed it was the responsibility of true believers to kill anyone who did not believe. It was not our best moment as a people. Now the N'ase they followed the old gods, the Ice mother Gneis was their chief deity, but there were dozens of others, whose names I don't know. Even today studying the old gods is... frowned upon." Benny said wincing at the lie, he knew that it was far more than frowned upon. However, he wasn't going to go into detail on that with a bunch of eight year olds.

"The war had been going for a long long time, the N'ase had just lost control of a region called the P'tar, an icefield near the ocean of Pletha. An Equat army was on the march, heading to the N'ase city of K'dar. Now, they didn't have any com devices or any means of instant communication back then. So the N'ase didn't know that P'tar had fallen or that an army was on the way.

However, a young N'ase soldier called Kleth had managed to escape the battle and avoided capture. He knew the Equats were on the march and he knew where they were going to strike next. He was a brave soldier, he had fought valiantly to protect his home. Now, after losing everything and everyone he could have succumbed to his grief and surrendered. However, Kleth looked at the remains of his home town and he knew he could not just hide. So he set out for K'dar as fast as he could travel, taking with him the only supplies he had been able to find. A few scraps of meat and a bag of this, " Benny hefted the small bag of flour he had, "this is Shesis flour, it's poisonous while uncooked, however, once thoroughly cooked it makes a good sweet bread.

Kleth rushed as fast as he could towards K'dar, risking being caught by any of the many predators that live on Polar. However, predators were not the biggest risk for the young bear. An Equate hunter was on his trail, a soldier named Please, he was armed with a mighty bow and had a lethal aim. His arrows were all dipped in this, " Benny picked up the yellow liquid. " Made from grinding the root of a Knarl, Knarl oil is deadly, upon contact with water it heats up hundreds of degrees in seconds. All Please needed to do was scratch Kleth with an arrow and he would die, in seconds.

After days of tracking the fleeing N'ase Please finally caught up to him. The fleeing figure was just a few meters away, the hunter fitted and arrow to his bow, but as he pulled the string back the ice under them cracked. A huge sheet of ice hundreds of meters long broke off and began to drift out to sea with both of the soldiers clinging to it.

Both Kleth and please knew they were in trouble, the ice sheet might break up and they were almost certainly going to starve to death. The war between them was forgotten and the two worked together, for weeks they lived on that small scrap of ice, they shared their supplies and even shared a burrow. They saved each other's lives many times as the cold winds and treacherous seas tried to knock them off the ice into the water.

However, after almost a week their supplies ran out, all they had left was the Shesis flour. That was when Kleth came up with an idea he took the flour and mixed it with some ice he melted in his paws, " as he spoke Benny poured the water over the flour and began to stir it with his paws. "He made a dough just like this and laid it out on a small rock. Then he took his paw and he poked a few small dents in the dough. "Benny used his fingers to poke a series of divots in the flat round dough. "Then he took the bottle of Knarl root oil and poured a few drops in each dent." Benny carefully poured a few drops into each dip in the bread. A few seconds later the room filled with the delicious smell of freshly baked bread as the dough rouse and began to turn a golden brown.

"There, they had made a loaf. Kleth offered the first slice to Please. The hunter looked at the soldier and asked him why he should trust his enemy, the bread could still be poisoned from either the Knarl root or the flour. Kleth looked at the bread, at the ice, the sea and finally at Please. He stared for a long time before he said, "I see no enemy but the world around me and the friend helping me fight it." The Kleth took his half of the bread and began to eat. Please saw that the N'ase soldier held him no ill will and was touched, he took the other half of the bread and cut it in two, he gave half to Kleth saying that the bigger bear needed more food."

As he told his story the bear began to cut the loaf of cooked bread into small slices and then he walked around the room placing a small piece on the desk of each student. "A few days later the ice sheet landed and the two made it back to land. They looked at each other and knew that they could no longer be friends. In one last act of friendship Please let Kleth go and the two parted ways never to meet again. The war ended two years later, the Equates won and they conquered the N'ase capital. However, each year Please would bake a loaf of bread using Shesis flour and Knarl root oil, he would tell the story of how he shared two weeks adrift with a N'ase soldier. He would remember the friendship they had forged and honour the fellowship he had felt. Shesis bread baked in this way is called a Friendship loaf and all over Polar they bake it on the anniversary of the fall of K'dar."

Benny spent the next twenty minutes answering a range of questions before the teacher finally saved him from the kids. He and Dillon regrouped in the teacher's small office. The smaller bear smiled, "I think that went well, what did you think?"

"Yeah, it went well, though they tell that story differently where I come from," Dillon replied with a shrug. "Certainly the ending is different."

"I wasn't going to tell a bunch of kids that Please shot his friend in the back," replied the smaller bear with a sigh.

"Well it's not child friendly, but it's factual. Please shot him in the back and because of that betrayal the N'ase were conquered, I'm not sure we should try and pretend it didn't happen," observed the larger bear with a slightly bitter edge.

"I'm not pretending anything, I just always liked the bread trick and didn't want all the kids to think our people are the kind to stab you in the back," Benny replied as he pulled out a small pack and began to pack a bag.

"You mean the people who exiled us both because our lifestyles are against the teachings of Grall?" Snorted Dillon with disgust.

"Yeah, those people," Benny replied with a weak smile, hoping the mild joke would break the growing sense of tension he was getting from his friend. "It was seven thousand years ago and not the proudest moment of my heritage, but if it means so much to you, next time I'll tell the ending the way it happened."

"Thanks, sorry to be so weird about it," muttered the larger bear scratching his head and looking away with slight embarrassment.

"That's ok, you're right anyway, revisionist history never led to anything good." Benny replied giving his friend a squeeze on the shoulder. "Besides, after seven thousand years things are finally starting to change." In the last few years, with a lot of pressure from many other worlds the Polar government had finally made it illegal to kill someone for their sexuality. Equality was a long way off, but the first steps had been taken.

"Yeah, if we're lucky before we die of old age we might be able to go home," snorted the larger bear as he picked up the trolley Benny had used. The two turned and started to leave the school room.

"Actually, it might be sooner than you think," Benny replied a little nervously his voice trembling a little.

"What? Because the government officially ended our exile, we'll still be murdered the second we set foot on the planet," Dillon replied as the two exited the school and started walking. Benny's restaurant was only a mile away and the two huge bears thought nothing of walking that distance.

"Well, we're both officially citizens of Lapros, so if anything happened there would be some serious consequences." Pointed out Benny his voice sounding a little defensive and the two walked on in silence.

"I'm not going to like what you have to tell me am I?" Dillon asked, breaking the silence, as the two reached Benny's restaurant and the smaller bear unlocked the door. The street was empty, it was early afternoon and most of the lapines would be busy at work. The restaurant was dark and quiet, Benny's staff wouldn't arrive for another hour to start the prep for the evenings business. The bear had carved a real niche in the lapine culture, he had made polar cuisine a favourite so much so that a few other restaurants had started to offer some of the more popular polar dishes.

As they entered Benny replied sadly, "no, you're really not." He didn't need to ask how the other bear knew he had something to confess, Dillon and he had been friends for a long time they could read each other with ease.

"Well, what is it?" Demanded the larger bear as they walked into the large empty kitchen.

"Dale and Martin will be here soon, we'll tell both of you at once," Benny replied delaying the inevitable as he began to prepare his kitchen. He lit the wood stove he used to flame cook certain meats and then began to peel vegetables.

Dillon grunted gruffly, feeling frustrated but he sat down on a stool out of the way to wait. He didn't need to wait long the two rabbits arrived less than ten minutes later. Martin gave him a warm smile, followed quickly by a hug and a tender lingering kiss. The brown rabbit broke the kiss with a smile and then turned to look at Benny who was hugging his husband, the black rabbit Dale. "Dale said you two had some sort of big announcement, you two going to follow after Brian and Daniel and look to find a female couple to father some kids?"

Benny chuckled nervously and shook his head, he couldn't bring himself to look at Dillon as he said, "I'm going home for a few weeks."

For the next few seconds the only sound that could be heard was the crackle of the fire on the stove. Then just as Benny opened his mouth to try and explain Dillon exploded, "are you crazy?! They'll kill you! You'll be dead in about an hour!"

"I don't think..."

"No you clearly don't think! You sent a fucking 'screw you I'm gay' message,to the entire planet, when you left!" Dillon was off his stool his paws waving wildly the emphasize his every word. "Hundreds of polar have escaped since then, all because you showed us the way. You think they will forget that? Your own mother stabbed you."

"She's very sorry about that though..." Started Benny, however the large bear's rant was not yet over.

"Sorry! She's sorry, she stabbed you!" Dillon spun around and glared at Dale. "How the hell can you let him go off alone to die on a world that hates him?"

"I'm going with him," replied the black rabbit nervously, he had taken a lot of convincing and he understood how Dillon felt. The rabbit had gone through a very similar rant, but Benny calmness and determination had eventually won him over. At least convinced him that Benny was going and if Benny was going he was going too.

"You're both going to die!" Cried out the large bear covering his face with his paws.

"No, we're not going to die. Look, things have changed, the laws have changed, and Dale is an offworlder from an ally race," Benny replied calmly and took a step forward, placing a calming paw on each of Dillon's shoulders. "It's a bit of a risk, but things have really changed back home. There's been some major changes in the eight years since I left home. The Dragos war has brought our people forward, my Mother's been campaigning for gay rights and she's still alive. She's not alone either. When I sent that message I didn't mean to do anything but say fuck you to the people that murdered my friend, but I started something. Something that was coming for a long time, it was just buried under the ice and my message was the light vibration that started the avalanche. I am going home to show that I am proud of how far our people have come, to show those who accept us that I trust them and those who hate us that I'm not afraid of them."

"You're risking your life for no good reason," whispered the larger bear and then he shrugged.

"No I have a reason and a cause, come on what Polar could say no to a cause?" Replied Benny with a smile as he leaned forward and gave his friend a reassuring hug.

Dillon returned the hug and sighed deeply, "I have seen too many good people die because they had a cause."

"I won't, I promise," the smaller bear whispered softly into his ear.

"I know you won't, after all, I'm coming with you," replied the larger bear pushing back from the hug with a determined look in his eye. He glanced at Martin guiltily, "I have to go, you know; Benny's my friend, my best friend. He fled our home and I followed after him, left everything, my army career, my friends and family. All left behind me to follow my friend, who was brave enough to show those of us hiding that we could escape."

"I wasn't trying to show anyone anything," protested the smaller bear with a blush of embarrassment.

"Yeah well, like that time I caught you masturbating in the barracks shower, you may not have tried to show me but I can't forget what I saw anyway," quipped Dillon as he walked over to his lapine lover. "You understand right?"

The brown rabbit looked back into the bear's eyes, "of course, when do we leave?"

The large bear paused, he hadn't thought of his lover joining him in the trip. He was a soldier, his loved ones stayed at home, while he risked his life, that was the order of his universe. However, looking down into the eyes of his love he knew that to say such a thing would lead to a fight, one he simply would not win. He was enough of a tactician to know when to avoid a fight that couldn't be won. "I dunno, Benny when are you planning this suicide mission?"

"Our shuttle leaves tomorrow morning," Dale replied for Benny.

"Tomorrow morning?" Dillon exclaimed in shock. "Why the hell did you wait until now to tell me?"

"To make sure you didn't try to change our minds," replied Dale on behalf of Benny. The black rabbit knew how his love had felt trying to hide this from his friend. Benny had even spoken of just leaving and not telling his friends. Dale had told him that he would regret that the rest of his life. He owed it to Dillon to look him in the eye and tell him the truth. "There will be space on the transport, I'm sure. It's mostly just cargo anyway, our planets may trade goods and insults, but tourism either way has never really caught on."

"So then tomorrow we head for home?" Dillon asked, a little doubt creeping into his voice. He never thought he would ever go back. He had cut all ties blocked all comms. He hadn't want to hear what his family had to say when they found out their son, brother and cousin was an abomination. Then he realised something, "you're going to see your mother aren't you, in the south?"

"Yes...oh bugger your travel visa," Benny exclaimed and then glanced at the rabbits. "Anyone going to any region on polar needs a travel visa, except if you are going home. Spouses are fine to travel to their partners home, so I didn't need to get one for Dale. If you apply now, it might be ready in time for our arrival."

"Right, I'll get off home book the travel and try and get the visa sorted out," Dillon said dashing out of the kitchen. Just as the doors closed behind the large bear crashed back through them and before anyone could speak he had Martin held in his arms, his lips pressed passionately to the rabbit's. Breaking from the kiss the bear whispered "I love you," into the rabbit's ear before turning and dashing off again.

****

It was after a full shift at the restaurant that Martin finally returned home. He expected to find bedlam, his mate desperately packing. However, instead he found the bear sitting down comfortably on the sofa drinking a glass of wine, with the bottle open and a glass already poured for Martin.

"You got everything packed?" Asked the rabbit as he sat down next to the bear and leaned close for a warm hug and kiss.

"All your warmest clothes and I've ordered some extra stuff to arrive at the Polar spaceport for us when we get there." His large paw reaching out to stroke the cheek of the rabbit he loved deeper than he ever knew he could love anyone.

Martin nuzzled against the huge warm paw, he should have know his ex military lover would have everything fully organised even in such a short space of time. He looked up into the bear's shining eyes and smiled, "you sure you want to go?"

Dillon nodded and sighed, "I am, I have to have Benny's back. He's the nearest thing to family I have left."

"You never talk about your family," observed the rabbit as he lay back in the bear's arms, snuggling against the warm bulk behind him. He never felt as safe or loved as he did when he felt those huge, powerful, white arms surrounding him.

"Not too much to tell, my parents died in an accident when I was in my early teens." whispered the bear as he softly nuzzled the rabbit, he loved cuddling with the slender lapine, there was something so reassuring in just holding someone he knew loved him. "My sister and I were raised by an aunt who died a few years before I ran away. I have some cousins and my sister got married, had a couple of kids..."

"You're an uncle!" Exclaimed the rabbit and then he smiled, "Uncle Dillon, sounds cute."

"Yeah, one nephew, one niece. Cor and Coralina, twins. They'd be about ten by now I guess." Dillon muttered as he thought back to the day he first met the tiny children. He thought back to the Risien valley and the tiny farming town he had grown up in. He remembered taking the two toddlers out into the Risien valley for the first time, with his sister Aurora and her husband Dane. Watching the two stare in wonder as the eternal aurora lit up their world, rainbows of colour, ribbons of gold, saffron and azure blue so deep he felt he could almost go swimming in it. A tear ran down his cheek as he remembered chasing the tots through the snowfields, laughing with them as they ran up little hills of ice and jumped, trying to reach the aurora.

"My sister will have told them I died or something I guess, I blocked all communication with them. I figured that was the best way to keep them safe, if they have no contact with me they couldn't be accused of being gay sympathisers." Sighed the bear as he thought back of his family, he felt a deep pang of homesickness, far stronger than any he had ever felt before. "It will be good, in a way, to go home. To see my world nice again. My people may be pious, but there is beauty there, sights that I would love to share with you. So that you could remember them too."

Martin didn't reply, he didn't need to he just squeezed the bear's paw to reassure him. The rabbit was smart enough to know when to hold his tongue, there was nothing he could say to make the homesickness go away.

After a few minutes Dillon nuzzled down into the rabbit's neckfur kissing softly and smiling, "of course there is beauty here too, right in my arms, the most beautiful male in existence."

Blushing deeply the rabbit squirmed in the bear's arms, only for the urine's paws to grasp him tightly. The rabbit felt something pressing against his lower back and he moaned deeply as his own arousal grew.

"Our shuttle leaves really early tomorrow, seems a pity to just go to bed and waste our last night at home," the bear positively purred into the rabbit's ears as his paws stroked down Martin's stomach and then over his crotch. "Maybe we should find something fun to do instead."

Gasping out loud the rabbit squirmed more, as two powerful paws groped over his ever hardening sheath, "w...what did you have in mind?"

Dillon chuckled as he nibbled softly on the rabbit's brown shoulders, his paws rubbing slowly and tenderly over the rabbit's sheath and balls. He ground his growing erection against the rabbit's pert buttocks,"oh you know exactly what I have in mind."

The rabbit reached out and grabbed a small bottle that they kept, discreetly hidden behind a clock, on his bedside table."I can always read you mind, mostly because I'm thinking the same." Martin replied with a chuckle as he left his tail quiver, the soft fur tickling the bear's cocktip.

The bear groaned deeply and grabbed the bottle he was offered, he paused for a second as he felt the cool slick fluid empty in his paw, he leaned over the rabbit and kissed his cheek," I love you, no matter what world we are on." The bear whispered as a soft slurping sound could be heard as the bear prepared himself.

After years together the rabbit no longer needed a great deal of preparation to be ready for his much larger ursine lover. The bear pushed and he rolled with a chuckle, loving the dominant nature of the larger male and how it showed up more when aroused. Large paws caressed down his back and then firmly gripped and spread his buttocks. Martin moaned softly biting his lower lip as he waited impatiently for what he knew would come after, sure as day followed night. Then he felt it and cried out, a warm thick cocktip pressing to his pucker.

The bear trembled as he looked down at the sprawling body of his mate, he looked so tiny and yet so perfectly right. The lapine laying face down with his ass raised, his teardrop tail quivering, the white fur in stark contrast to the thick black of the bear's cock that nestled snugly between those wonderfully pert furry cheeks. He smiled at the sight and the thought of what he had, he never thought he would end up with someone so wonderful, or a life where he could be himself openly. Of course with a quivering willing mate beneath him he didn't think of that for long. Instead he thrust forward firmly, the two cried out in unison as his thick cock plunged deep into the warm and welcoming depths of the rabbit.

Laying over his mate, the bear's huge frame dwarfed the male beneath him, their bodies writhed together, hips thrusting and grinding. Dillon's paw slipped under his lover questing until his fingers found the fleshy sword hidden beneath his lover. Martin cried out as the bear's fingers wrapped around his throbbing cock, his hips bucked forward into the warm paw and then back wantonly onto the cock inside him. The cock inside him thrust firmly against his prostate as the bear's thrusting got faster and more powerful.

The strength and power of his ursine lover always took Martin's breath away. He pushed back into the thrusting shaft, lusting for more as his cock drooled pre onto the bear's stroking fingers. Their voices were crying out for each other, secret words of love and union as the two lost themselves in each other. The bear's thrusting growing more powerful and desperate by the second, the tight depths of his lover, surrounding his pulsing maleness, were driving him closer and closer to his peak. His hips thundered into the rabbit's, the thump of fur on fur filling the room, his furry balls smacked frmly against the rabbit's taint. Then he heard Martin starting to gasp and pant, little cute breaths, he had heard them thousands of times now and he knew what they meant, his lover was on the very edge.

Dillon let go of the control he kept on himself, letting loose with everything he had, his hips pounding into the rabbit's with desperate need. Each desperate thrust sending waves of pleasure up his cock and through his entire body, his free paw clawed at the headboard, leaving a fresh series of scratch marks on a wooden board covered in deep scratches and several deep bite marks.His other paw flew as quickly as it could, desperately to bring pleasure to the male he loved, wanting to bring him to his peak first. Partly because he knew that would be all he needed to reach his own orgasm, but mostly because he loved the rabbit and wanted him to feel all the pleasure the bear was capable of giving him.

With a loud cry the rabbit's entire body shuddered and his cock throbbed in the bear's paw. Dillon felt the rabbit around his cock squeezing and spasming milking his thick shaft with a wonderful tightness, the was nothing the bear could do to stop himself he was lost to the pleasure that ruled his cock. He thrust with wild, bestial and reckless abandon as he tilted his head back and roared, his cock throbbing and his balls twitching as they drained every last drop deep into the rabbit's ass.

At last with their strength spent the two lovers collapsed panting and groaning as their orgasms faded. The bear rolled onto his side and pulled the rabbit with him holding the lapine tightly to his chest as he whispered, "I love nothing as much as I love you."

---

The next morning was hectic for all concerned, Dillon and Martin had very little sleep. Benny and Dale weren't much better off, and the queues and admin at the spaceport was frustrating. However, after a few hours of queuing and waiting they finally boarded their shuttle. Benny and Dale were sat a few rows back from the other couple, the bear sat by a window and looked out as the planet fell away and they entered a high orbit

"I remember when I first looked out on your world," whispered the bear softly his eyes transfixed. "So much green and blue, it seemed so strange, so alien... I was terrified of going down and yet I had no other options. I remember speaking to some guy and his kid on the shuttle on the way down, he seemed nice, but I was still scared. Scared that I wouldn't fit in, that I wouldn't be able to make a new life here. Then the shuttle docked and there you were," Benny lifted the rabbits paw to his lips and kissed it. "One look at you and I knew everything would be ok, now as I look out, it doesn't seem strange or alien, it is home and I hate to leave her."

Dale reached up and brushed a tear away from his cheek before he rested his head on his love's shoulders and gazed out the window. "To me, it used to be home. Then I met you and home now means wherever you are."

The two sat there in silence and watched as their world fell away and then a ship came into view. It was an hour or two later they were all put into cryosleep. The transport ship jumped and then over a week later they all awoke. Bad news awaited Dillon and Martin, their travel visa application had not yet been processed.

"This is just typical,"snarled Dillon as the group huddled on the transport waiting for the word to join their shuttle. "Keep us apart, minimise the damage we can do."

"Maybe, it doesn't change things though. I am still going down there," Benny replied earnestly and with steadfast resolve edging his voice. " We can meet up as soon as your visa comes through."

"Well we can't stay here, this transport is going to be leaving in a day," observed Martin as he glanced more than a little worried at his lover. "We can go down, just not to the same place as Benny and Dale right?"

"Yeah, we can. Question is where do we stay. I mean, my home isn't exactly the tourist center that Benny's is. There's not much in the way of hotels." The large bear said, scratching his head and then a thought came to him. "We could... pay my sister a visit, she might put us up for a few nights. I mean assuming she doesn't try to kill me and is willing to accept acknowledged gays into her house." The bear paused to think back on his sister and his childhood, his big sister had always been there looking out for him. Until he entered the military and then he had learned to care for himself, he had wanted to keep himself apart from her when he first split away. Now, maybe he could visit just briefly and not risk her or her family. "She won't kill us, she... she's my sister."

"That's good enough for me," Martin said with a smile, the idea of meeting Dillon's family was a little daunting, yet a part of him was desperate to see where the bear, he loved so much, had come from.

Benny and Dillon paused and looked at each other, it was Benny who spoke first, "I kinda assumed when I went back you'd have been with me. Guess it's my fault for not giving you time to get stuff sorted."

"No, you did the right thing, if I'd been given weeks to think about this then I would have probably done nothing but try to talk you out of this," the bear looked out of a small window at a small ball of white ice that hung in the black sky. "I probably would not be here, I never expected to return home."

"Well, lets go for it then. I didn't come all this way to look out a porthole and then go home after all," the smaller bear said with a smile as he turned to leave. "We can at least keep in touch over comms and, if you want to, you can join us once your visa comes through."

There wasn't much to say after that, the two couples took a shuttle down to a spaceport and said their goodbyes. Benny and Dale took a second shuttle to the south and Dillon and Martin took a shuttle to the north. Both couples spent the day travelling from interplanetary, to local shuttles until eventually the two bear's arrived at their respective homes.

Dillon walked through the streets of Risien city, the bear couldn't help but glare at everyone who stared at them. The sight of an offworlder in the city was very rare and everywhere they walked polar eyes followed curiously, yet there was no more than that, just looking. Dillon had half expected to be jumped upon when they landed, yet no attack had been forthcoming. The bear guided his lover through the familiar streets, little seemed to have changed. Ice and snow covered everything, each building was little more than a mound of snow with an entranceway. Dillon explained to his mate that the weather was so harsh the buildings were all built underground, only the top floor breached the surface, but some of the doorways they passed represented buildings that were hundreds of stories deep.

"W...what do you think the temperature is?" Martin asked shivering as his breath frosted on his lips, curls of white mist flowing from his lips.

"Well, it's summer so a balmy minus fifteen, maybe twelve out of the wind," Dillon replied with a chuckle. He knew that in the winter the temperature could plummet to minus one hundred or more with wind chill.

As they walked down the street Martin caught sight of a large polar, walking on all fours with a young child riding on her back. The child was holding on with one paw and hugging a soft toy with the other. The parent had a polite smile on their face but didn't seem to be playing. The two walked right past the couple as Martin watching confused.

"That's how we carry our really young children around," observed Dillon with a smile as he saw the confused rabbit. "Well we couldn't use anything with wheels with all this ice and snow now could we?"

Martin chuckled as realisation dawned on him, "I guess that makes sense, why not just carry them on your shoulders though?"

"Well, this keeps the child lower to the ground, four limbs makes you far less likely to slip and if you do there is not so far for the child to fall." Dillon replied, patting the rabbit on the back. "We've been doing it for thousands of years, we know what we are doing." As he finished talking his stomach continued for him in a series of rumbling growls. Neither of them had eaten since they were woke from cryo sleep. "We should maybe grab a bite to eat at this bakery." He muttered waving at a door in the ice.

"How do you know that this is a bakery and not just a house?" Martin asked as he stared at the door, to him it was just like any one of a hundred doors they had passed already.

"Well, firstly because I can smell it, secondly this is the business district and thirdly it says so right there in the ice at your feet." Replied the bear with a chuckle waving at some symbols carved into the ice the rabbit had walked on without noticing.

As the rabbit stared at them his translator device turned the strange symbols into writing in his native tongue. "Why put the writing on the floor and not on the door?"

"I think we started it because we used to walk on all fours a lot more in the past, then it became tradition," chuckled the bear with a shrug as he opened the door.

Martin followed his lover inside they descended a small spiral staircase and he found himself in an underground ice cave, and bakery. The cave was actually far warmer than the street, the room was lit by light filtering through the ice only. A long counter covered one side of the room and it was laden with trays of different pastries. Some of them he recognised from his work in Benny's restaurant, others were a mystery. A polar stood behind the counter and, like Dillon, he stood several feet taller than the rabbit. He had a friendly expression on his face, clearly he didn't mind selling to offworlders.

The rabbit spotted a small matt and stepped onto it kicking the snow off his boots, like he would do at home to avoid trailing snow throughout the building. He stopped when a paw landed on his shoulder and Dillon whispered slightly harshly, "what are you doing?"

"C... cleaning the snow off my boots... I didn't want to... " the rabbit suddenly realised the floor, much like the walls and ceiling, was made of ice and he was kicking snow onto the only area of carpet.

"Yeah, we don't clean our boots except when going into the deep living rooms, that mat is for those walking on all fours to warm their paws on," observed the bear with a wince and an apologetic shrug to the shopkeeper who gave a smile in reply, as Dillon continued. "All you are doing is leaving a mess for the shopkeeper to clean up. The room is below freezing, the snow will be fine on your boots. Please forgive my friend here, he is from offworld and only arrived today."

Blushing slightly Martin apologise to the shopkeeper who just smiled and welcomed him to the planet, then sold him a whole load of different pastries. The rabbit was keen to try everything and he ended up buying more than even a hungry polar could manage. However, as the two left the shop munching on sweet bread treats the rabbit couldn't help but dwell on the way Dillon had spoken of him to the shopkeeper, calling him his 'friend'. The bear was clearly trying to avoid a scene by pretending their relationship was purely platonic. Martin had expected that to some degree, he hadn't realised how much it would bother him. He had never known what it was like to hide who he was, Dillon had spent most of his adult life hiding who he was. The rabbit wondered how the bear had dealt with the uncomfortable feeling ,he was currently feeling, for so many years.

Dillon led his partner on, both munching on the baked goods they had purchased. Their path led them out of the town and up into the hills. Martin couldn't tell how Dillon knew where the path was, or where they were going. all he could see around him was white frozen landscape in every direction. The bear however never slowed or wavered, he kept on walking, his eyes scanning around him admiring the crystal beauty of his ice world.

Eventually Martin spied a doorway in the frozen landscape and their path was taking them right to it. Dillon paused as he reached it and took a deep breath, he had not even bothered sending his sister a message to warn her he was coming. Things had happened so fast and before he knew it he was right where he never expected to be and suddenly he stopped his paw raised ready to knock.

After almost a minute watching his love frozen in position Martin asked, "everything ok?"

"Yeah... it's just... what if she turns us away?" The bear asked softly, the doubt and concern heavy in his voice.

Martin knew that the bear wasn't worried about finding a place to sleep that night, he was terrified of the only family he had run away from not taking him back. "Then she isn't worth worrying about, if she can't love you for who you are... as I do, so very much." The rabbit reached out a mitten covered paw and placed it on his mate's arm to offer some reassurance.

"I love you too, well here goes," replied the bear as he knocked heavily on the door. The pair stood for a couple of minutes waiting, just as Martin was about to suggest knocking again his ears picked up the sound of a door being unlocked. The door was opened by the largest bear Martin had ever seen, he even towered over Dillon at a near ten foot high. He looked down confused and then turned and shouted, "Aur!"

"Hi Dane," Dillon said with a nervous smile as he looked up at the huge bear. "Sorry to drop by unannounced but..."

He never got to finish his sentence as a female voice screamed "Dillon!" A female polar pushed passed the giant bear and threw herself at Dillon hugging him tightly. Dillon returned the hug after a moment, as he got over the shock.

The giant bear stepped out of the door and put a paw on Martin's shoulder, his deep voice rumbled from several feet above his head, "stillness before the avalanche hits." The rabbit glanced up at the huge bear who winked and then nodded at the embracing siblings. As Martin turned to look the hug was broken and as Dillon opened his mouth to speak his sister caught his in the jaw with a powerful right jab.

The stunned polar stumbled backwards as his enraged sister screamed, "that's for four years and not a single fucking comm message to let me know you are ok." Martin had seen Benny and Dillon rough housing, he knew that polar were extremely physically expressive in arguments, they often cuffed each other with their fists in heated debates. That told him the female bear was extremely pissed off, but she had used a closed fist which meant this was a telling off not an attack.

"I didn't know how you'd take it and ..." the stunned bear began to protest only he didn't get to finish as another blow sent him sprawling on his back, leaving a deep bear shaped imprint in the snow.

"That's for assuming your sister would be a bigot." She snarled at him rubbing her stinging knuckles a little.

Moaning softly the bear rolled onto his knees and replied a little groggily, "I just wanted to protect you and the kids, if everyone found out your brother was gay it would have been bad."

The female bear sighed and nodded her head as she accepted his argument, she stepped forward and offered her paw to her unsteady brother for support, as he took it she jabbed him hard in the jaw again, "that's for thinking I can't protect my own family, including you, you giant ass!"

"Ok, ok, ok, I yield, I'm sorry. I offer you, Dane and the kids my most heartfelt apologies." Dillon shouted, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the snow, the red colour stark against the white. He clambered slowly back to his feet only for another sharp jab to his cheek to put him back on his knees. "What the hell was that for?"

"That's one in the bank for the next time you piss me off," snarled Aurora, her snarl turning into a chuckle as she pulled Dillon back to his feet once more. He flinched as her arms moved, this time though she hugged him tightly. "What happened to your ear?"

"I lost it," Dillon replied as he enjoyed the warm hug, and tried not to think of Prime and what he had lost there. His head spun from all the punches, he had forgotten his sister's temper and her rather formidable right hook.

"You always were absent minded," Chuckled Aur as she broke the hug, her eyes glanced into Dillon's and she saw the pain of loss in his eyes and knew he had lost more than the ear. She pulled him back into her arms and squeezed him tightly whispering,"sorry, it'll be ok, whatever happened, it'll be ok, you're home now."

Relief flooded through the bear's body as he held on tightly and whispered, "I really missed you Aur."

"Missed you too," she whispered back as she squeezed him in her powerful embrace. After a minute she pulled back saying. "Right well, maybe you can introduce me to your..." The silence hung in the air for a moment as everyone looked at Dillon expecting him to fill in the blank.

His head still ringing from the blows and the emotions it took the bear a good five seconds to realise he was being stared at, "partner, he's my partner, Martin."

The female bear turned on a warm smile and before Martin knew what was happening he was engulfed in the warm embrace of a friendly polar, his feet dangling comically above the floor. A second later both the pressure and heat increased as Dane put his mighty arms around both of them. "Welcome to our home brother," Aurora whispered into his ear.

Dillon knew that Martin was probably a little uncomfortable but he was delighted at their greeting. Polar greet friends by a light cuff of the paw on the shoulder, family is hugged, he knew that his sister and brother-in-law had accepted his mate without reserve or question. He hoped that Benny and Dale had received as warm a welcome.

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Thanks for reading I will start work on heat 16 soon as I can to show what happened to Benny and Dale, as well as more of Dillon and his family. I hope you have enjoyed.

If you have enjoyed the heat series and would like to tip this hardworking bear then you can at the link below,