FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Sequel to Displaced

Dissolution

"It's a cliff," Steve observed. "A really, really tall one."

"I bet if I dropped a rock, it would take a long time to reach the bottom," Fess said softly, peering over the edge. Steve was very close to grabbing her to pull her back from the precipice.

"I really have no idea where in the world we are," Jalli murmured, looking around. "I mean, it's a big world and I spent most of the time at my home."

Steve looked in either direction. "Jalli, how are you doing on the geis?"

"Plenty of time, I think."

"Scout some, but no further than you can fly to get back in time if it hits," Steve said. "Check North first. See if you can find a safe way down."

Jalli dipped a wing and spread her wings, then took off as Fess scooted back from the edge.

"I guess we'll wait patiently," Fess said, finding a tree to sit and lean against.

Steve sighed and nodded, moving to sit beside her. "Keep an eye out for Jalli too," he cautioned, watching the little dragon-like Faradai wing off into the distance rapidly.

Four hours of walking brought to a halt by this cliff. Mind you, this wasn't a normal everyday walk for Steve. Some time in the past he'd been torn from his own home by a race that his companions called "Combiners" and that they'd only earlier that morning found out were called Massai. Slime creatures that lacked rigid bodies of their own.

The purpose behind the Massai facility was still a mystery to folks. Creatures from all over the galaxy had been stolen from their homes and something had been done to them that put many of their physiological functions at the mercy of their captors. A Massai with a simple device had nearly full control over any of the specimens they had captured and death was but a small command away.

Steve was possibly the only human specimen, as none of the females had seen another. Tough to say, since another race, the Skyia, had spent the good part of the early morning decimating the entire location in an effort to eradicate the Massai. They had not known of the civilian slaves and prisoners the Massai had though, and the population of unfortunates had been demolished from thousands to a mere handful of survivors.

Jalli was a Faradai. Steve would pretty much call her a fuzzy dragon. She was panther-sized in body, though her neck and tail each were just as long as her body, and her wings spread much more than that. The Faradai carried something Steve could only really call magic that they called Warmth. He couldn't even think that idea without giving it a very deep level of reverence.

Fess, on the other hand, stood just about as tall as the human's midriff. Take a big-eared desert fox and put it on two paws, then make it substantially bigger than a normal fox. Give it a language and a planetary civilization. Then call the people Talis. That was her people. She was cute.

The poor man knew nothing of his past. His whole time in captivity had been spent with a parasite firmly attached to his cranium, siphoning away any memories beyond a few seconds prior. He really didn't even know if his name was Steve. It was just something that he knew was a name from his world, so he used it. It was as good as any.

He sat against the tree beside Fess and she leaned against his side needfully. The three of them were the only ones on this journey. Two hours ago, they had been six. A Nara'kya - a very cat-like alien race - named Berris had been shuttled off to her home by the Skyia. The Faradai were natives of this planet, but the cat, the fox, and the human were not space-faring at all and nobody really knew where their home planets were at first.

The Skyia had managed to locate the cat's home world and a few minutes later had come back to say that they could take Steve home as well since they found records of his capture in the Massai's systems. But unlike the feline who had been quick to run for home, Steve decided to stay.

Then the other two. Two more Faradai, one tiger-sized and one twice the height of a draft horse. They were...

He choked and held back tears. The largest one, Rashani, found the poor, mangled human in the rubble after the attack. She'd healed him with her Warmth and took him out of the chaos. He recalled fondly the first moment he realized that she was a sentient and intelligent creature, not just a beast that somebody else was commanding. They'd worked to try to start learning each others' language and she was so protective of him.

Then she'd headed back to the facility and found Trenn, the medium Faradai, and the Skyia, and Jalli and Fess. The Skyia were kind enough to provide translation... something... some kind of injection. He didn't understand a lick of how it worked, but it made it possible for him to understand their languages and them to understand his.

At that time, they expected that the six of them would stick together and try to find the nearest Faradai village. Three dragons and three other displaced abductees who had no idea where their homes were. But then a Massai who survived the attack found them first.

The two largest Faradai had been its immediate victims. Had the Skyia not responded swiftly, all of them would have met their end. He'd just been starting to know Rashani better, then she was no more.

"Are you okay?" Fess asked worriedly, gazing up at him and patting his belly.

"Y... yes," he said. "I'm just remembering Trenn and Rashani."

"Is she doing okay? Do you even know?"

"I..." he started to answer that he didn't, but he felt a wash of reassurance from within himself and sucked in a breath. He smiled. "She's doing fine," he whispered.

Both of the Faradai had been sent on. A ritual by their remaining companion that destroyed their bodies and left their essences free. Souls? Jalli said it was their Warmth itself, so maybe like a soul. Trenn's spirit departed quickly. They would seek out the one that meant the most to them in the world and join them, so no Faradai would ever truly die unless the body they were in was not sent on. But Rashani had hesitated, then shocked everybody there by choosing Steve, an alien human, as her carrier.

It was so little time since that happened he was still not at all used to the idea. He remembered Rashani's huge body and her strength and warmness. He remembered the care she had for him and how she protected him. To think that all of everything she was in spirit was inside him now was still overwhelming, but she was making her presence more and more known as they went, comforting him and reassuring him from within.

"Is it weird having her inside you?" Fess asked after a moment.

"It... It is... but I like it. I don't know why her death hit me so strongly. I'd only known her a few hours. But now I know she's still here and it means so much to me." He closed his eyes and internalized as best he could, thinking silent adoration for the huge dragoness. He was rewarded with a wash of her emotions in return.

"I'm glad she's still here," Fess said. "Having six of us become three was not fun, but I guess we're still really four."

Steve opened his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Rowwwwwl!"

Both of them jumped at the sound and Steve felt almost scolded by it. The horse-sized black feline padded around the tree trunk and straight up to him. He was unsure why he was being scolded until the massive cat stuck his nose against the ground near the human's thigh and pulled a twig out from under the man that had been uncomfortable against his bare skin.

The relief was immediate for Steve and the cat relaxed now as well. Steve was so stressed out that he'd not realized he was sitting on something so painful, but the cat reminded him that he had to pay attention.

The big cat was Sy. Steve gave him this name before he knew that the Faradai called him a Psycat. Herbivorous and empathic, the cat was subjected to the physical feelings of living things around it. If they felt good, the cat was happy. If they felt bad or were in pain, the cat experienced the same. If their pain was too much for the cat to tolerate, the feline had no qualms about ending their life to end the pain.

Steve befriended the huge cat in a decidedly non-standard way and the cat was a boon to the area as well as to the human, since he kept other hunters well away from things that would hurt him should they be hunted. That meant that Steve was safe from things that would find him tasty. However Sy was also pushy and even now he was nuzzling and licking the human.

Steve shook his head and tried to send discouraging thoughts to the cat. He had important things on his mind right now and didn't want to be distracted when Jalli was away.

When he'd first met the cat, he'd made friends by rubbing the furred cheek and such pleasantries. The cat decided that returning nice things to make the human happy was a good way to get his own happies by proxy, so a proper grooming had been undertaken. No spot left untouched had the unintended side effect of finding more personal spots. One thing led to another and after the human had finally decided to give the cat the extra happy those licks entailed, the cat found his own libido and cajoled the man into taking a load of cat cream as well.

Though Steve had no idea whether that was something he was into before he was kidnapped by aliens, it hadn't been bad honestly. Despite being caught in the act by Rashani at the time, he had no regrets then. Now he only had the minor regret that he had a feline following who was occasionally trying to get more of that at inopportune times.

Not that he had much he could complain about. The cat could potentially save his life or that of either of his companions in the future. That was the other problem with whatever the Massai had done to them. All of the prisoners were used as breeding stock. Genetics were not kind to the offspring. Despite the genomes and even occasionally the genetic encoding of the various galactic races being horrendously dissimilar, the Massai had managed to force conception in most cases. After all, a failed child or an overly-useless prisoner was just a tasty meal to the things. But a handful of viable children were all they were after and they could improve the process as they went.

The problem the Massai encountered though was that stolen and often unintelligent creatures were not keen on mounting each other for mating at a whim. So part of the biological control was a trigger that would cause increasing distress and death within an hour should mating not be undertaken. While males could sate the need by unloading inside any willing (or otherwise) living body, or even having a male take them, females needed a male inside them to be sure of saving themselves.

There was a random trigger as well. Regardless of whether the Massai were abusing their libido at any given time, the life-threatening need might arise regardless, just to remind them that they were the playthings of their captors and to discourage any thoughts of escape. A prisoner who could get out but couldn't mate within an hour of the need hitting them was dead.

Perhaps in the future they would better determine what pushed them into the need. For now, they just had to make sure they were available to each other should the "geis" (as they called it) demand their performance.

So if, for some reason, Sy was the only option, they knew at least that it would be quite easy to encourage the feline to save their lives. Maybe someday they would find a way out of this very inconvenient control, but the Faradai with their healing abilities and the Skyia with their high tech both had no idea how the effect was being exerted, so it was not something he was holding his breath over.

He was aware of a blinking in the corner of his vision and when he focused on it, it became more present in the form of a readout. Even the cat jumped in response to Steve's surprise. All this stress had caused him to utterly forget the missing vertebrae that had been replaced with some sort of high tech environmental control for himself.

That was the other thing. Steve was pretty sure that he normally wore clothing back on his world, but as a slave and specimen, no such luxury was afforded to him. The Skyia had some rule about not giving technology to unknown creatures who were not part of the Galactic Civilization, so obvious things like protective or useful clothing were right out. But the well-hidden device that had been the source of much pain for a few moments when they removed a part of his body to insert it was something they felt they could get away with.

Over the past few hours of travel, it had been integrating directly with his nervous system and the rest of his body and now it was quite happy to make the first bit of its abilities known. Data presented to his vision. He understood that eventually the things that it could do would just be at his will's reach and presented directly to him as pure knowledge, but for now it didn't know how to make him just know things, so presenting the information to his visual cortex was the solution.

Odd that the injection made him just know the languages he heard within a few minutes of being administered, but this much bigger device couldn't do that. At the same time, it was more made to protect him from things like hot, cold, rain, thorns, and so on. Not extremes, so claws and lava were right out of the question, but normal weather and ground surfaces would stop bothering him now that he knew how to activate it more fully.

Sy did manage to catch the human's disapproval of the current line of nuzzles and chuffed in frustration before heading to flop on his side nearby. At least he didn't get too extremely pushy otherwise they might make no progress forward at all.

"Thank you for staying," Fess murmured.

"Are you doing okay?" Steve asked worriedly. "You've thanked me so often it sounds like you're worried I'll change my mind."

"I... I'm just..." She shook her head. "You're right, I'm worried a little. You staying means a lot to me. They don't even know where my world is, but they know where yours is. You stayed anyway, just for us. That's a big thing. You're lost, on another planet, with people who look nothing like you, and no idea what is going on. You could've gotten home like Berris did, but you stayed."

Steve considered her words for a moment, then asked, "If they found your planet, would you stay?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "That's why I'm even more thankful for you staying."

Steve slipped an arm behind her and pulled her onto his lap, snuggling her. "We've been through a lot. I don't even remember it, but that doesn't make it less bad. You remember all of it and you're still going on instead of just giving up. I couldn't abandon you."

She twisted around to put her side against his chest and leaned her head on him. "Thank you," she said, so quietly that he almost couldn't hear her. Then after a moment of silence, she looked up at him. "If they found my planet, I'd stay anyway."

He leaned his head down and kissed the bridge of her nose. "You don't have to. I lost my memory. I have nothing to go back to pulling at me, and everything here to stay for, like you. You still remember your home and you have all the things you know to go back for."

She licked his nose in return. "Maybe when I know we're all safe and this need is gone, I'd consider going back. But not before then. Anyway, it's not like they stole people out of the middle of huge crowds," she told him, her ears laying back as her gaze dropped.

He reached up to brush the edge of her ear, making it perk back up as she gave a shiver. "We'll be fine," he assured her. "We'll stick together and stay safe and make it to a place where Jalli's people are. We'll figure out what's going on and we'll make a new life for ourselves."

"We have a problem!" Jalli called from the other direction than she'd headed out. She pulled in for a landing, panting from exertion from flying as hard and fast as she did to return.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked first, worried that the problem involved the little dragoness. Fess got off his lap at his urging and they both went over to check with Jalli.

"I'm fine." She perked at the concern, but then her wings drooped. "I recognize where we are. So it's kind of good news. I saw a landmark over there that is only about a day's flight to the nearest village and five to a nice big city. The bad news is that we're on the table cliffs. Day and a half flight around the whole thing and sheer cliffs the whole way around."

Fess's ears went to the sides. "So how do we get down?"

Jalli laid her ears back. "I have no idea. I can carry you, but Steve is far too big for me to fly with him. I could brake glide a short distance with him, but the cliff is way too tall. My wings would give out."

"I hate to have to destroy the progress we've made and go all the way back to the facility to get help from the Skyia," Steve said.

Fess fluffed up and her ears went flat back against her skull. "There might be more combiners there. And there's sharp ground all over it. And Sy got hurt there. I don't want to go back!" That and all she knew of this planet before this morning was the horror of that place.

"I don't want to go back either, but unless we can figure out another way down, it might be our only choice," Steve said.

"NO!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide enough for their whites to show. The thought of returning was getting to her badly. "It's a horrible place and we need to stay away. Even one combiner could kill us all, or recapture us." She was starting to shake at the idea, dropping to her haunches and hugging herself.

Steve didn't miss this at all and realized that going back was out of the question as long as Fess was so traumatized. He dropped to his knees beside her and gathered her against himself soothingly. "Hush, it's okay. We won't go back. We're together, we'll figure out a way down."

"I don't want to go back there," she said, breaking down crying and pushing her face against his chest to hide.

"We won't go back," he reassured her again, stroking her back to comfort her.

"Really?" she asked with a sniffle.

"Really. We'll be fine. We'll find an answer."

She threw her arms around him and hugged him. "I'm sorry... I just... I know the Skyia might be able to help, but I can't bear the thought of going back to that place. I want to be strong, but that's just too much for me."

Steve sat back onto the ground and pulled her onto his lap again as Jalli padded up slowly, her wings drooped a little. He looked at the little dragoness. "You said you recognized the landmark. Maybe if we go there, other Faradai will show up and we can get their attention."

Her wings drooped more. "Just a short ways that way, the flat top starts to become hilly and then craggy and jagged mountains. You can only go behind them or to the base of the cliff. You wouldn't be able to walk it at all. But..." She fell silent.

"Okay, what if we just try to spot others from here? From what I heard, you can detect ships in orbit. Seeing another of your people should be easy enough, right?"

Her ears laid back again as she spoke. "That's the other part. I recognize the landmark, but it's not a good one. A day's flight has it well over the horizon and we generally avoid it." She glanced back the way they'd come from. "This area is considered bad and cold. I don't know why, but maybe because of the combiners. We're avoided it for about five thousand years. Since before I was born even."

Steve let out a low whistle. "Could the combiners have been here that long? I mean, the facility stuff I saw was pretty well built out, so I guess they could have. Or maybe they came here because you avoid it." He shook his head and sighed. "It's gonna take a lot more thinking then."

Something was niggling at him and he squirmed a little. Was it the geis? No... He'd helped Fess just recently. He didn't know how long Jalli had, but she looked fine and he trusted her to tell him the instant she got a twinge. Not the new readout that had shrunk to a point of light again. Nor the translator thingy.

"Jalli..." he said slowly. "What is the 'hard as a rock' game?"

She gazed at him curiously. "It's a school game we play when we're young, learning how to use our shielding properly for personal safety. Why? And how did you even know about it?"

Steve furrowed his brow. "I... I think it's Rashani. I mean, I have an incredible urge to just leap off the edge and I'll be fine when I reach the bottom."

"No! You'd be splattered all over the place!" Fess exclaimed, grabbing him and clinging close.

"It's... Why...?" Jalli stared at him. ""Why do you even think that would be safe?"

"I really think it's Rashani. She'll protect me."

"Do you trust her?" Jalli asked curiously.

Steve smiled a little. "I do. It's honestly a scary prospect, but I trust her."

Fess balled up closer against him on his lap. "I don't like it. If it doesn't work, you'll be killed for sure, and then we'd be forced to go back to that place." She gave a little flick of her ear and said more quietly, "And I'd miss you," but Steve missed it.

"I don't want you to have to go back," Steve assured her. "I definitely don't want to die," he said, shivering and hugging her again. "If we have any other choice, we should use it. But without another choice, going back is the only one besides trusting Rashani."

"When a Faradai goes to their chosen one, they do enhance that one's Warmth," Jalli admitted. "If Rashani thinks she can protect you when you hit the bottom, then I would encourage trusting her, even though you're not a Faradai."

The man felt a moment of offense at that statement and realized it was not his own, but rather Rashani's. She would protect him! "Maybe if I try something like belly flopping off a low rock first? Something not too bad if it doesn't work, but it can prove that it will?" He felt approval from Rashani.

Fess stared at him for a moment, then looked at Jalli. "You can heal him from a small thing if it doesn't work?"

Jalli dipped a wing briefly, but Fess didn't catch the motion, so Jalli added, "Yes."

Sy simply didn't care, not understanding this whole conversation as he sat nearby, grooming himself meticulously.

Fess uncurled and climbed off his lap. "Okay. I'm sure Jalli doesn't want to go back there either, so I guess testing is okay." She started searching for a less-hard place on the ground nearby, not wanting him to be too hurt if it didn't work.

"How about here?" Steve asked, pointing out a loamy area several feet below an overhanging rock. A lot of poking at the ground with her foot later, Fess approved, though she still fretted about the idea.

Steve climbed onto the overhanging rock and looked at the short drop. He could easily just jump off it safely, but this was to assure folks that Rashani could protect him, so he had to intentionally do something that would normally hurt. He glanced at Jalli, who had glowing eyes as she monitored him with her warmth, then took a deep breath, steeling himself for a belly flop. Trying to at least. He just wasn't successfully wrapping his mind around the idea.

Then he got a wash of affection and reassurance from Rashani. She was not fully sure about being in him either, but she was sure she could protect him.

Closing his eyes was the only way he could get this one to work. His heart was beating way too fast and this was just even a short drop. Was he scared of heights? Maybe. The seconds ticked by in the darkness behind his eyelids as he took an inch step closer to the edge, his toes curling against the rock. He could do this. Really. He could.

There was no way he could have heard Sy padding up behind him. The cat was quite silent and very curious about why his friend was standing there so oddly and being stressed. The sudden feeling of the feline's tongue against the bare skin of his back released all the pent up focus in one sudden, unexpected yelp of surprise and a leap forward.

He felt a flash of heat across his whole body and was barely aware of the *whomp* as he landed on the ground on his back from doing nearly a whole flip off the rock. He squeaked and froze, his eyes blinking open as he tried to figure out what just happened.

Sy was hovering over him worriedly and Fess had her hand over her mouth, shaking with mirth as the cat mrowled and fretted, sniffing and licking gently.

"You made the cutest noise!" Fess finally exclaimed, laughing out loud. "You're okay though, right?" She was at his side as well, looking him over.

"He's fine," Jalli exclaimed cheerily. "Rashani really did protect him. I... I honestly didn't expect that." She padded over and extended her wing over him briefly. "I think it will work then."

Sy sniffed at the wing curiously, then chuffed at Steve as the man had a sinking realization. "We don't have any way to get Sy down though, do we?"

"Rashani can only protect you and I can't even carry you, definitely not Sy," Jalli said in sad agreement.

"I really hope he doesn't try to follow me. He'd get really badly hurt. You saw he even tried to follow me into the facility, even though they were stunning him he kept dragging himself on."

Jalli's wings drooped a little. "I saw that. I think he just didn't know what the facility was about, but I'm sure he knows a fall off a cliff is dangerous."

The subject of their discussion was satisfied that his friend was not completely nuts and already knew he was not hurt, since if the man had been hurt the cat would feel it. Since Steve hadn't gotten up, Sy decided it must be resting time, so he flopped beside Steve and laid his chin on a paw.

"I think it will work. I definitely felt her do something," Steve said, pushing himself to a sitting position. "I'm not hurt at all and I'm pretty sure I would be otherwise." His mind was lingering on that flash of heat. It left him all tingly in a good way and that tingle was just now fading. It felt really good somehow. Even Sy was all purry because of the physically-good feeling he had from it.

"As long as we don't have to go back to that horrid place," Fess said with a shudder. She was more keen on him potentially risking his life by leaping off a massive cliff and trusting the spirit of a dragon to save him at the bottom than on going back to the place they had been held at.

"May have to wait a little though," Jalli said. "I think the geis is starting to get to me."

"Think?" Fess asked, her ears laying to the side. "It's pretty obvious for me, I thought it would be obvious for you too."

"Well, really more like I have a feeling it's going to start getting to me very soon, and..." She sighed and set her ears back briefly. "No. I'll be honest. I trust Rashani, but I've never heard of anything like what happened. I'm afraid he might not make it completely safely. If he gets badly hurt, I'll have to heal him and I'll be exhausted for some time maybe. If it hits then, I might not wake up to take care of it. If he dies, even worse, since it's still a good flight back to the facility to get help and I really don't know how those armored people would react to me flying in demanding to be mounted."

"Oooh. So you want to pre-feed it," Fess said, her ears setting back upright. "That makes sense."

"Pre-feed?" Steve asked.

"You are a male, you probably didn't have to worry about it as much since they had many more females than males," Fess said. "The males were performing pretty often."

"Well, I also had a brain sucky thingy on my head so I don't remember anything at all," he reminded her somewhat awkwardly.

"Oh! I forgot!" she exclaimed, fidgeting. "Okay, um, so the geis forces us to mate or we die, like you know. It's like it's hungry and eventually just wants to feed. If we mate before it demands us to, it still sates it and resets the time before it demands. The demands are still kind of random. Sometimes it'll be a week, sometimes only a few days. But if it was going to demand in an hour or so, feeding it now will give her a few days of safety at least."

Jalli padded near Steve and turned her back on him, lifting her tail up and to the side as she buried her face against the ground between her forepaws. "Just do it," she said, her voice muffled. "We need the wiggle room just in case."

Steve opened his mouth in surprise, then closed it and looked at the shaking little dragoness. Her wings were nearly touching the ground and he'd learned to read the Faradai body language some at least. He scooted beside her. "Jalli... Did you have somebody before you were captured? A mate or something?"

"No, nobody but friends," she said, her wings hitting the ground now. "Just feed the geis," she said shortly, obviously dreading the action.

"We have some wiggle room right now," Steve said, stroking her back comfortingly. "I stayed because I care about you two. We're forced to do this by whatever it is, but I don't want it to be something that you dread and hate me for. I don't want to be just a bitter medicine."

Her head shot up and she glared at him. "You're a male! AND you had a mind thief! You have no idea what it's like to be tied down with your tail wrenched up for whatever male of the day they decide to put in you. You have no idea what it's like to be with young for a few days or weeks or even months before they... they do... SOMETHING... and then nothing again." She shuddered and laid her ears back flat. "Horrible things..."

Steve hunched a little. "The geis probably has me too. I don't want it to kill any of us. I don't want to force you to like this situation. I just hope I can help it be less traumatic for you." Jalli turned her gaze away and winced.

He reached out to touch her shoulder and she flinched. "You never had a good experience with a male before you were captured, did you?" he asked softly.

Her reaction was stronger than he expected. She curled up away from him, shaking softly. He stroked the edge of her wing gently as he waited for her to calm down and finally heard her murmur, "No. A few males I liked, but I never got very close to any before. I thought I'd find the perfect one and it would be the best thing ever. Then... then they got me and it was nothing but a nightmare."

"We have time right now. You're not being forced by the geis. You don't have to be hopped on by an uncaring male whatever or die," Steve said softly. "I'm not a Faradai, but I really do care. I won't pretend I can be the best thing ever, but I want to be better than what happened before." He felt a wash of affectionate approval from Rashani at his words.

"Can it be good?" Jalli asked miserably, lifting her head to look at him. But there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"It normally is," Steve assured the little dragoness comfortingly. "While we have the time, let me show you. Let's see if it can be something you enjoy instead of something you dread. If it doesn't work out, or if we lack time, it can just be 'do it' in the future. But I'd really like to try to help you be happy." He gave something a bit of thought and smiled, nodding to her slowly when he remembered what he'd been told.

His nod had the intended effect since it was so deliberate and he'd not nodded to Faradai before. Her ears flipped up to perk and she relaxed a little, uncurling. To Faradai, nodding was flirting or propositioning for a rowdy romp. The body language was instinctual to them and to be flirted with caught her attention. Then she looked unsure.

"Sorry," she said, averting her gaze and fidgeting. "For a moment there I thought you were nodding to me, like a Faradai does. It must mean something else to you."

"Well, yes, it means something else where I come from," he admitted, "but I was nodding like a Faradai does because Rashani told me what it meant. Did you notice I don't nod when I say yes or other positive things? That's what it means for me. I saved it for your meaning."

Her head shot up and she looked at him wonderingly, her ears perked attentively. "You're not even a Faradai though, but... you're...?" She turned her gaze down again. "Why would something like you find me attractive or flirt with me though? You're just forcing yourself, aren't you?"

"You're beautiful," he said. "Your fur is very soft and you have strong wings and everything. I don't remember anything about my world at all and I had an inkling of a feeling that this is not something I'd normally think about if I were at home, but I'm not at home. I'm here, nowhere close to my own planet, with you two. You're both people and you're good people. Rashani... I don't know why, but she's in me and I don't have any problem with it. I feel her there and I get some of the feelings she sends me."

He took a deep breath. "I feel protective about you and I do want you to be happy, but..." He looked down, his face turning red. "Even beyond that, I think that if this were a normal situation and I was here visiting and we were all happy, I would flirt with you anyway, even if it didn't lead to anything." He glanced at Fess. "Both of you," he added with a grin.

Jalli considered this for a few moments, then peeked up at him, her eyes glowing. "You feel right about this," she said. "I... went through a lot at that place. I know it might not work out as well as I want it to, but thank you," she murmured with a wing dip of acknowledgement, then with perked ears and a bit of a curl to her lip, she nodded back at him.

"I really don't know what Faradai normally do," he admitted sheepishly. "But I'll try my best."

"It's okay," she said. "I've peeked and learned and seen some." She was a little embarrassed to admit that, but she was definitely hopeful. "You know this might not work, right?"

"If it might help, it's worth a try," he said, reaching out to stroke her shoulder. He got a mental feeling from Rashani and acted on it, rubbing at the base of Jalli's neck and crook of her shoulder and was rewarded by a quiet rumble.

"Oh, that... that feels good..." Jalli admitted. She relaxed, enjoying the rubs for some time before lifting her head and looking at him. "I want to explore your body. You're not like a Faradai. I've seen males and snuggled and even turned one down, but I rarely got to even see the males they forced to mate with me."

"Here's a nice, soft place over here," Fess called from nearby where she'd found a mossy nook near a tree. Both of them jumped. They'd almost forgotten she was there.

Steve looked guilty for a moment having forgotten about Fess, but he laughed to shake it off and climbed to his feet. "Come on, let's get more comfortable."

Fess stood aside, watching and interested in the outcome of this event as well, but she realized that she'd startled them so stayed quiet. Sy was off making himself busy by munching one tiny leaf off a bushy branch at a time.

He tested the soft spot with his foot, then sat and leaned back against the rounded section of the tree trunk, leaving himself open to the curious Faradai. "Come, then. See what I am."

She was shy now as she padded up to him, looking him over and nodding a few times despite herself because of her anticipation. "You don't have any fur," she said. "There were some other..." She winced. "There were other slaves without fur, but they had scales or lived in water." She lifted a forepaw to touch his arm lightly. "But you have a little bit of fur."

Her gaze lifted to his wonderingly. "Why do you have so little fur?"

"I don't really know. I think... yeah, this is how my people usually are. Some have more than others though."

"The bottom of your feet are so soft too. Some thicker skin, but not really well made for walking on. And your male parts hang out in front. I saw I think one other male that had a similar thing, but I only saw him once in passing." She ran her paw up his arm and gave his shoulder a squeeze, her eyes glowing for a few seconds.

"You're so soft and fragile-seeming," she said. "Everything must try to hunt you and eat you on your world."

"Not much does usually," he said. At least he knew the facts still. "We have weapons and armor and we cooperate to kill things that are a threat. I remember we had things to cover our feet, so we could walk on many things safely."

His hand touched her shoulder and he pressed, feeling the strong musculature. She was smaller than Rashani, but she felt just as strong beneath her hide as he remembered Rashani being. "You feel so strong," he said with a smile. "Rashani got hurt when she was saving me. I thought I was helping her by cleaning the wound and taking the shrapnel out. I had no idea you could heal yourselves."

A blush found his cheeks. "I thought she was just an animal at first and there was a person. Then she proved she wasn't and I was really startled. But I also thought she was male until I got the translators and she told me otherwise."

Then he pursed his lips. "Though... I really didn't get to know her too long. I wonder why I was so important to her," he said, touching his chest softly. He felt a reassuring affection from Rashani which reinforced the fact she meant it - being in him - but didn't answer the question of why at all.

"I can only speculate," Jalli said. "Everyone is their own person and she chose you." Her wings drooped for just a second at the thought of Rashani and Trenn being gone, but she re-perked and looked him over more, running her paw down his tummy. "Oh, it's so soft!" she said with a chuff, pressing on it some.

He tensed his muscles, but she was still able to push the surface in easily. Curiously he reached and touched her belly. It was soft at first but she tensed and he was greeted by what felt like a layer of fur and leather over steel. It drew an impressed whistle from his lips.

"We don't get into fights much, but we're still pretty well armored I guess," Jalli said as she ran her paw down his hip and onto his thigh. A squeeze to his leg and he tensed it before she squeezed again. "Not as soft. Seems to be kind of strong, but not like my muscles."

She moved closer to him. "Can you lift me up?" she asked curiously, pressing her side against him as he sat there.

He slipped his arms under her body and hefted as she carefully tried lifting her legs to put her weight on him. It was interesting. She was the size of a panther or so, but also with a longer tail and neck and wings. She felt like she should be at least a little too heavy for him to hold, but he managed to support her weight without effort.

"You can!" She was very pleased by this. "I know I can carry you. You're light even though I'm small. Faradai are strong." She gave a happy squirm in his grip and set her feet back down, lifting herself off his arms.

The closeness and purpose of this, combined with the approval and encouragement from Rashani from within had him half-excited despite himself. That was Jalli's next bit of attention as well.

"It gets bigger," she murmured. "Must be tough having it hanging outside though, especially since you can't heal. What if it gets hurt?"

"I try not to have it get hurt," he answered, wincing at the thought of some of the things that could happen. The device in his neck was supposed to protect him against that though.

"Does it feel like a normal male feels it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you like it when it gets touched or rubbed or when you're mating, right?"

"Ahh. Yes, yes I do. Though my mindset definitely affects things." He glanced at Fess. "When I was trying to save Fess, I was really afraid I might be too late and it made it a lot harder to feel good."

"That's a good thing," Jalli murmured, sitting beside him and rubbing the crook of his neck with an intense look in her eyes.

"Why?" he asked curiously.

"Animals and people who don't care aren't affected by what they think," she said. "They want to jump in and pop and they're happy with whatever rubs them the right way. If your thoughts and concerns are strong enough to overpower rubbing you the right way, then you really care."

Her eyes were glowing softly now and she looked at her paw on the crook of his neck. "What do you like?" She tilted her head. "I mean, like what touches or things other than rubbing there make you happy?"

"I like..." He paused and wilted a little. "I really don't know. I don't remember. I think maybe my neck and some places like my front are more sensitive."

"Oh?" She moved her touch up to the side of his neck instead of his shoulder and it turned out he was right about the neck thing. Sy started to purr happily and she glanced over at the feline, making the connection that he was paying close attention to the human, so she could possibly use his responses as a guide.

Her ears perked and wiggled as she rubbed his neck. "We don't like our necks touched much unless it's somebody we trust absolutely. That takes a really long time and is still more of a show of dominance than of affection. I mean, some people are into stuff like that, but..." She shuddered unhappily again.

"You probably wouldn't be," he murmured, his eyes half-lidded from the caresses. "After the time you had, you don't want to feel less powerful."

This got an instant perk from her. "Yes," she murmured. It was interesting. That one word especially, he could easily see that she was speaking her own language, but when he heard her say rruh, that happy, rolling sound they used for 'yes', the translators automatically made it into "Yes" in his mind.

"You really like rubbing my neck," he guessed. "It gives you a feeling of control back. Something you've lacked for so long and something you really need." He was really enjoying the neck rub too. She was listening to Sy's purring as well as watching Steve's motions to see how he was reacting, so she was doing it well.

Surprise crossed her face. "I...?" Then she relaxed again and started nodding slowly. "Rrrrrrrrruh," she admitted, the looooong-rolled purr causing the translation nanites to not catch it, though he understood the meaning very well. "We like our hips and thighs and shoulders though. Those are places a male can get a firm, comfortable grip when we mate, without being threatening like on our neck," she said languidly.

He sucked in a happy breath as she drew the tip of her claw very gently across his sensitive skin. This was turning him on very effectively and her reactions to his response and the glee he sensed in her made it even that much stronger. Something else occurred to him related to the captivity, but rather than ask about it and break the mood, he nuzzled against her side as he rubbed at the top of her shoulder where he guessed a good grip would be from behind.

"I've seen Faradai rest on their sides. Are you comfortable lying on your back too? Doesn't hurt your wings?"

"We have very strong wings," she murmured. She was nodding almost constantly now to him as she took great delight in playing with his neck and moving ever closer to his throat with her touch. "Why such a question about my back?" she asked softly.

He scooted aside enough to make a good space for her in the warm spot he'd made. "Lay back, I think this may be something you will appreciate and like. If you don't like it, I'll stop immediately."

As she looked at the space curiously and moved toward it, he watched her hips and legs and rubbed in the space in front of her leg. He tried to think of it as: If he was behind her and trying to get a good grip with forepaws, where would his touch land? He was very close at his first guess, based on her rumble, and he got braver with a warm thought of encouragement from the big dragoness inside him, digging his touch gently into the deeper space between her leg and hip.

This got a quick sound of delight from the little Faradai, though he was also aware of a tiny twinge of trigger, since when she was upright, this space could be gripped by any male that had to make use of her. He softened his touch, going for the teasing more than the gripping. Not as much of a happy for her overall at the moment, but not triggering bad memories and still good enough in her mind to completely and utterly distract her from her intended movement.

Taking another guess - or a hint from Rashani - he used his other hand to rub Jalli's lower back, just above the base of her tail. The response was immediate, her thick tail twitching to the side and upward as she tilted her hips.

It was the first time he'd seen an excited female Faradai. What was previously a flat, fur-covered surface was now relaxed in this 'safe' environment and slightly puffed, exposing anatomy that was normally well-protected by strong musculature that kept everything closed up. She was quite wet, the moisture glistening in the light of the day and matting her fur. If he hadn't already been quite aroused himself, this would have sealed the ticket for him.

He sucked in a deep, happy breath and took every action slowly and measuredly, enticing her with the rubs for just a minute longer before stopping and resting his hand on her flank. She finally registered the fact that he'd stopped and a small whine came from her as she looked back at him, to which he nodded. "Lay on your back, okay?" Rashani wasn't sure what he was up to, but she didn't send any warning against this.

Jalli leaned against him affectionately and then twisted in place, unsure, but willing to listen as she rolled over her wing and onto her back. She spread her wings just enough to not lie on them and got comfortable, looking at him curiously. He could tell she was a little trepedatious. This was not something she'd encountered before at all. But that was what he was counting on. He wanted this to be good and also completely new to her so no bad experiences from before could poison it.

She watched him intently as he carefully moved to straddle her thick tail and then forward between her legs. Then her curiosity gave way to better understanding as he rubbed the same place on her thighs as before. This time it didn't associate in her mind with a rough male who-knew-what getting a grip to abuse her, so she enjoyed it without the fettering of the prior slave abuse.

The difference as he rubbed was powerful enough for even her to notice it and she was smart enough to make the connection. "It's not tied down tail up, or even close to it," she murmured huskily. "It's getting my happy places without making me remember bad things. You... you thought of this?"

"Rrrrrrruh," he said, emulating her throaty, positive word as best he could. This made her nearly melt. "I want you to enjoy," he said softly. "With a person who cares, this should be special." He leaned forward to get closer, resting his hands on her shoulders. Even though his weight held her down a little, it was still so very different than the abuse and it definitely tickled at her happy thoughts, making her squirm beneath him.

"It's... it's..." she said dreamily, then something caught her attention. He could see her working it around in her mind before he glanced down to see how well he was aimed. It was just a bit of adjustment to find what he hoped was the right spot and his tip touched her wet flesh just before her paw landed gently on the side of his neck.

There was no certainty whether it was the very brave action of touching his neck or the sudden contact between them below that made her freeze, but he paused and looked back up at her, smiling and nodding and tilting his head to the side for her touch. She was so unsure, he really wanted her to be comfortable. "I... I hope I'm not missing," he murmured finally when she was staying frozen.

His words broke her reverie and she drew a clawtip gently along his neck and then down along his throat, ever so tender and careful. She stared in amazement as she did. Then she cupped the side of his neck again needfully as she glanced down at their near joining below.

She gave a squirm and wriggle and he found that he'd been just a little off aim as her motion directed his tip into a place that felt much more right. Her glowing, golden eyes flicked back up and her gaze darted between his eyes and her paw cupped against his neck while her other paw drifted slowly down his side and snuck back to cup his rump.

He was very much worried for her history, so he was letting her guide things as he cooperated. Her paw was warm against his neck and she was very intent on it, her other fingers kneading his rump as she licked the side of her muzzle. A little whine escaped her lips again as she stared at his neck, then up to his face, and back.

"You're okay. You're safe. You're in control. You're with a friend," he said softly, reassuring her. Then he revised it. "You're with a lover."

Her gaze intensified and her eyes went half-lidded. She seemed so unsure as she craned her head up to him, inching slowly. He felt her breath, heavy and warm against his skin as she tilted her head to the side and nuzzled his chin. Then she nuzzled his throat ever so timidly and froze again.

The soft fur of her snout and the warmth of her breath felt wonderful. One hand came from her shoulder to her cheek and at first she flinched at its approach, but it touched her cheek gently and he tilted his head back, enjoying the nuzzle she gave him, and then the braver grace of a lick from her soft tongue.

When the hand did not push her away and he instead exposed his throat to her even more, she relaxed and very quickly began to rumble in astounded delight. Warm air washed over his skin as she breathed, "Oh, Warmth..." Then her lips parted and she very gently took his throat into her jaws just before the paw on his bottom pulled on him needfully.

The warmth and softness he encountered was exquisite. The grip on his body didn't let him fight against slipping into her and he had no reason to fight anyway. Each inch was a swing between him pushing delightedly into this special place and her pulling him demandingly against her. Even her hand on his neck moved to the back as her jaws parted further to take more of his throat between them. Her teeth - though wicked and sharp - were carefully held back by her lips as a lustful whine drifted from her to breeze across his skin.

Her eyes were glowing brightly enough for him to see the reflection of their light even though he could not see them directly and the wash of delightfully hot tingles was coursing through his body. Her wings quickly extended and wrapped one after the other around him, pulling him tight against her body and pinning him in her grip. This brought a flash of caution from Rashani, but she relaxed after a few seconds.

He could not pull away to thrust with the grip of her jaws against his throat and especially the grip of her wings around his body, but her hips moved just enough beneath him to grind his flesh within her depths. The intensity of the hot tingles was increasing, but despite the heat, it felt so very right and so very perfect.

Then her wings and paws tensed, her teeth threatening his skin for the first time in this encounter as she tumbled into a much-needed release.

He was anything but worried about her teeth though. The heat, the experience, all so far beyond anything that he'd ever encounter in his distant human world. The flow of her warmth through him and the clenching of her body around his shaft as she held him ever so tightly set him off, loosing his seed into her depths as sparks flashed in his vision.

Rashani was nothing but absolutely ecstatic within him as well. The strength of her approval and admiration only added to the sensation flooding through him as he shared this moment with the little Faradai.

It felt like forever before they slowly drifted down from their high. Steve felt Jalli's tongue drift along the sensitive skin of his throat before she suddenly gasped in surprise and drew her head back, releasing his throat from her jaws.

There was a small sting as the tip of a sharp tooth pulled out of his skin, but then the instant tingle and satisfying feeling as Warmth flowed through him both from Jalli and Rashani, healing the small wound.

"Are you okay?" Jalli asked with a whimper, shocked that she'd bitten him enough to draw blood.

"I'm fine... oh... wow... I'm fine," he murmured reassuringly, relaxing against her as the grip of her wings loosened slowly.

"But I bit your..."

"And you healed it, and I'm fine," he interrupted her. "That was... that was amazing. If that wasn't as amazing for you, I'll be really sad."

"You're okay... oh...kay..." She sucked in a deep breath, then tensed and her wings shifted their weight on him. It took him a moment to notice her ears laid back and her eyes squinched shut and realize that she was doing the Faradai equivalent of crying.

"Jalli? Jalli are you okay? Oh no... Jalli?" What had he done?

Her eyes blinked open and the glow was slowly fading. She gazed at him and her ears instantly perked forward. "Not 'no'," she murmured. "Yes. So very yes. I'm - I'm better than I ever have been before," she replied dazedly. "So very much better."

She tilted her head and looked at him, her eyes glowing once more, and he felt the tingle of warmth across him again. It felt so good! It was focusing on his throat, but he could feel it across his whole self. He savored the sensation until she got a flash of confusion across her face and her eyes stopped glowing, the sensation ending.

She took a deep breath and her ears perked more. "I... um... Thank you," she said, looking down shyly. She looked at his throat more closely. "I was worried that I bit you much more too hard than I did," she admitted.

There was a wash of agreement and some other sensation from Rashani, then a feeling of tired. He thought about it long and hard before he was able to figure it out. "I think... I think Rashani is telling me you did, and she healed it, and now she's kind of tired. She got worried for a moment when you wrapped your wings around me."

"I wrapped my...? OH!" She froze in surprise. "Wow... I didn't realize..." she murmured quietly, looking astounded as she started to relax her wings.

"What? Why the worry?"

"A wing wrap is a hunting move. We have very strong wings and we can pin our prey with them to keep them from struggling as we dispatch them and to make sure nothing else tries to take them away from us afterward. It's... it's very rare in mating. Sometimes a male will wing-wrap... and it can end very poorly. If he's not interrupted from his hunter daze, he could even bite through her spine." She was shaken at the thought.

His mind worked quickly. "Wing wraps are never anything but hunting?"

"Well, also to protect something. Keep it close and safe. But in mating it's always when a hunter daze has been triggered in the male."

"You're not a male," he pointed out. "And you didn't bite through my throat. I think you only held a little hard because you were enjoying it all so much." He reached up with a hand to catch the wing that was slipping slowly away. "I think you were trying to keep me close and safe."

"I was?" she asked, wide-eyed. "I - I guess I was. I've never heard of a female wing-wrapping when mating. But I don't think any males mate face to face either." She glanced to the side. "Well, maybe some kinky ones. But..."

It seemed impossible for her eyes to get any wider, but they did. "Your throat! You let me bite your throat!"

"Well, I didn't expect you to bite it so hard, but it felt good when you were stroking it and when you were just holding it."

"But... but..." She shook her head to clear it. "You're on top of me, so you're doing the effort, but you still let me be dominant. Completely dominant. I - it felt good. I didn't think I had that in me."

"You've not been in charge at all before, so I wanted to make sure you felt safe and in control. This isn't the bad place. You are a person and you have rights and feelings and I want you to be happy."

"It made me very happy," she admitted. "I hope I don't get addicted to it. I don't think I've ever heard of a male Faradai allowing such a thing. Warmth, this is so odd, but I like it." She was thoughtful for a little bit. "I think I won't bite your throat again. I don't want to stress Rashani out. If she's tired, you can't jump down until she's rested and able to protect you." There was agreement from within.

Fess coughed from a short ways away. "You two looked so happy," she said softly. "But the big kitty fell over." She glanced at Sy who was flat on his side with a raging boner and quite out of it, purring and making little mews as he slowly caught his breath. "And I saw some blood on Jalli's muzzle. Are you two okay?"

Steve smiled. "We're fine. She bit me a little hard by accident but she can heal me and so can Rashani inside me." He glanced at the cliff edge. "But it tired out Rashani enough that we can't go down there until she's rested some. I think Sy'll be fine too. He can feel physical feelings around himself so he's probably kind of overwhelmed after that... wow. Honestly I'm almost overwhelmed too."

"That's okay," Fess said brightly. "I'm kinda hungry anyway. It's weird, it can't have been too long, but it feels like we've been out forever."

Jalli glanced around at the shadows from the sun that was still behind the trees. "It's been about six hours since sunrise," she agreed. "We probably should eat. I just... I dunno if I want to let him go. But I know I have to."

"Six? The sun's not even that high yet!"

Steve was not paying as much attention to what was being said as much as the way the nanites were translating time in his head. He knew that the time unit Jalli was using was definitely not six and definitely not hours, but the things made him know that was what she meant anyway. But still, the sun was only about a quarter of the way into the sky. After six hours, he'd expect it to be just passing high noon from morning. He said as much.

"No, that takes twelve hours," Jalli explained.

"Yes, noon is 12."

"I mean from sunrise. Then sunset is after 25 hours. Then darknight is 37, and next sunrise is 50. This is warmtime though so there is more light than dark."

"It's... wait, what?" The whole time frame was not precise, so everything was translating kind of fuzzily. But overall, it came across as a day and night here being 50 hours with 25 of his hours of each. But it was summer so there were 22 hours of night and 28 of day. Some more quick discussion determined that Fess' world was about 26 hours a day.

"Mrrr....mrowl?" Sy asked, lifting his head as he finally started to recover better from his happy-induced haze.

"See? He's fine," Steve said happily as the big cat climbed to his feet, hips hunched a little as he was still only happy from the local area and not his own fun. "You okay, Sy?" he called to the cat, giving a wriggle in the grip of Jalli's wings to try to see him better. The wriggle enticed a little happy gasp from Jalli since she was still holding him quite nice and inside and he couldn't help but suck in a pleased breath himself.

The psycat chirped and chuffed, prancing toward them.

"Unless there's some actual path down, I don't think we'll be able to get him down at all," Steve said sadly, going back to that. "Even if he stays up here like a good kitty, I'll miss him."

"He'll probably miss us too," Fess said, walking back by the cat's flank and peering up at his still-exposed member. "He must have really enjoyed what you two just did. He's still excited."

"Yeah. When I first met him, he was nice and everything. He started grooming me and found out that some places to lick make me feel a lot nicer than other places. So I kinda let him do that," he admitted. "Then I just thought he was getting all snuggly and wanted to cuddle, but it turned out he was horny from me having fun and wanted to mount me. Sideways, but still."

"Oh, poor kitty! All this fun around him that he can feel and none of his own."

Steve blushed. "Well, actually I let him. I figured it wouldn't hurt anything since he'd stop if he hurt me, because he could feel it too. After he was so nice to me, I didn't see any reason to not be nice back."

Jalli chuffed beneath him, her laugh. "I know the males in the dorms sometimes had to do that to stay safe from the geis. Never heard of anybody befriending a psycat that way before."

Steve made a face. "Rashani is agreeing with you."

"If we lost you, Sy might be the only way to keep us alive too," Fess pointed out. "I don't think the Skyia would send somebody with us for so far." Her ears flicked around, looking like little signaling flags as she thought. "We should do two things. We should definitely find a way to get Sy down if he wants to come with us. Especially since he can help any of us if we need help with the geis."

"I think I agree with you," Jalli said. "It might be difficult though. I know psycats don't tie themselves to a territory and take relocation well, so he'll be fine being away from home. But getting him down the cliff is another issue."

Sy was sniffing about between Steve's legs and very interested in the scent, his mouth open as he sniffed and tasted at the air. Then soon enough he was happy to groom the area, distracting Steve quite thoroughly.

"And second," Fess exclaimed, "I think Steve should help him be happy again. He's been such a good kitty, staying with us, and he just did a great job putting up with getting horny from you two. He deserves happy stuff too." She had a gleeful look on her face as she watched the cat licking the still-dragon-held human and making him squirm. "I bet if you just lift your rear a little and I give him a rub or two, he'd get the idea."

"I..." Steve blinked a few times. "Well," he mused, "he did behave so well, and he's a good friend. He does deserve happiness also." He glanced at Jalli. "Not sure if you want to be stuck under me for it like Fess is suggesting."

Jalli stared at him, then her ears flicked back several times, "Oh, no, I'm fine. I like holding you," she said, obviously curious.

"You'd really do it?" Fess exclaimed, then she drew her head back. "I mean, yay! We don't have all of us that we originally had, and Sy is one of our group now, and he obviously really likes you. He always comes back to you when we're walking." She was obviously surprised about his willingness and maybe thought it was a hoax, but was also very curious as well, perhaps with a touch of ulterior motive.

Steve gave some wriggles under the attentive licks from the cat and patted Jalli. "You're holding me so close against you that I can't really lift my hips."

"So...? Oh!" She pulled her hind legs up to his sides and pushed her own hips up against him strongly, forcing his hips up and back as she kept his back straight. Sy was able to get his licks between the human's cheeks now and prred more strongly with each lick, since the man actually did enjoy the sensation.

Fess was watching in awe as this progressed, but she got her wits about her and gave Sy's leg a pat. "Look, Sy! He says you mounted him before and now you get to mount him again. You know you'll like it." She watched the cat enjoying the sensation he was getting from licking the man for a few more licks, then ended up walking beneath the massive cat and reaching up high to tickle his cock, trying to remind him that it was there and wanted fun.

Sy jumped at the touch and thrust his hips forward, making Fess eep and dodge out from under him. He looked back at his own haunches as if suddenly realizing that he had bits too and feeling confused about that. But then Fess reached up from beside him and gave him another tickle now that she had his attention and the idea of his own part got through to him.

The feline gave a questioning mrowl and looked around, then back down at the wing-wrapped human whose rump was exposed to him. He finally started to put the concepts together, remembering that it was nice when he'd held this little creature before. So he tried to ask if he could do it again.

Steve got a nuzzle and a lick and now it was a different lick. It was a "Hey, you wanna?" lick as the cat padded and kneaded at the ground with hind feet.

Instinct solidly told the cat that a negative response would involve removing the "offer" or, if the lickee was highly offended, a swat from a paw. But the offer was still there and the psionics told him the lickee was quite pleased with the request.

The first time, Sy had just cuddled the human while on their sides and found that humping against him felt good, so did it more. That had ended up with Steve finding the right angle to let the kitty in and that just made it feel better, so it went to its natural conclusion just after Rashani returned and caught them in the act.

This time, instead of "It feels good and I'm not sure what it is, but I'll do it," the cat's "Mount this! Oh, and also it feels good too," instincts were being triggered. Though the human legs were spread to the sides as opposed to just being under him and holding his rear up like a female cat would, Sy was happy to ignore what he didn't know wasn't 'normal' for his kind in the interest of feeling good and doing the right thing.

Right now the right thing was to take this offer and mount it properly and happily. Soon enough he decided that his licked requests were sufficiently accepted and quickly came to the conclusion that he was too far back and too far up.

Jalli craned her neck to watch curiously as the cat stepped over the two of them, crouching and bringing his haunches down. He licked encouragingly at the bare neck there, wanting to continue to assure his soon to be partner that good things were coming as he worked to get himself into position, legs bending to get to the right level.

The little vixen was distracted enough that she kept her hand on the kitty from his side all the way, watching in awe as the situation approached. Soon the feline's legs were obstructing her reach and view, so she scrambled behind him to try to see better while Jalli shifted her head to the side to see past the affectionate licks that were gracing Steve's neck and shoulders.

When he'd been holding the human snuggled against his front, everything was in the right place. But now the spot was substantially lower than a feline of his species would be, so he was not being quite as effective as he should be, not low enough.

"Aww, he's missing," Fess said. "Jalli, see if you can let his hips up a little higher." The dragoness was able to push her body up more, curling herself and pressing his rear higher, which got the cat into contact with his back.

Sy chuffed at the contact and grred a little at the lack of success so far, whining and wondering why this wasn't working right. But Fess got enough nerve up to correct the problem, grabbing the cat's flesh and shifting it down to catch between the human's cheeks rather than sliding up his back.

The change in sensation worked to get the feline mind to adjust and he quickly dropped lower, putting a good bit of body weight directly against the dragoness's wings before adjusting again, just staying pressed close. Another click of understanding and he started moving back to get to a better angle, his slick drips making everything quite wet and slippery already. He was more happy about this, but still not fully right.

Fess finally came to the rescue again, watching as the cat's tip was slowly getting to a better angle but still only barely catching against the deeper hole on each push before sliding down further. So she waited for Sy to pull back up for another try before she put two fingers just below the hole so the cock could not slide past.

Sy gave a delighted chuff as his tip first lodged against the fingers and then - with no other option - finally slid into its proper and rightful place. The angle was still high, but now that it was in, the cat could tell and swiftly lowered his haunches more to fix that, pushing little by little until finally he was satisfied with the arrangement.

He lifted his head with a pleased grin on his face as he stopped with the small, short pushes and his belly tightened to steadily drive inch by inch into the warm depths. The look on the cat's face was almost comic, but one couldn't deny that he wasn't enjoying it, especially with his extra, insistent pushes once he was hilted.

"Wow... It all went in!" Fess murmured in awe.

"He's not -that- big," Steve said, panting softly as the cat was still trying to see if he could get deeper despite his sheath being a stopping point.

"He's as big as you, just a little thinner," Fess retorted. "So he's big to me." The grump in that statement was short-lived though as she watched the show from behind the cat.

"I'm pretty sure some of my people do this with each other, so he should fit. And I fit in you," Steve pointed out.

"True," Fess said, squirming. "Is he just gonna keep trying to push...?" she started to ask, but her unfinished question was answered when Sy finally decided that he was, indeed, at full depth and things should progress properly now.

Instinct put the feline's paws in a tight grip on the side of the man's hips, though the paws were still on the ground and Sy was really holding with his wrists. Then the concept of "It felt good going in the first time, and then trying to keep it going in didn't work too well, so start from the beginning and do it again" brought all but an inch of the feline's flesh out of its place before "do it again" was on the agenda. The great success of this as Sy ducked his head to press his face against Steve's neck was an excellent reason to repeat it, many times.

Steve was surprisingly pleased with this. He'd been satisfied to let the cat do this before, but he'd kind of felt he owed it to him that time. This time he still kind of felt like it was owed, but being the second time he was less worried about anything else and much more able to just enjoy it. Plus he was still being held by Jalli and actually still inside her, so he was very much enjoying this.

"This is... wow..." Fess said in awe.

"I can't really see," Jalli complained, squirming. "Feels nice though."

Steve was just enjoying and not bothering to say anything.

Sy was the one who was enjoying it quite the most though. His actions got faster, keeping Fess mesmerized by the view, and his happy sounds were more frequent. But being a pretty regular cat - other than being really big and psionic - his fun burned hot and it was a very short time before he lifted his head with a snarl on his face and drove himself as deep as he could to unload in the delightfully-nice human.

"Oh!" Fess exclaimed. "He's twitching! Is he...?"

"Mmmm... Yes he is," Steve answered, able to feel the results of the feline fun and enjoying them himself.

Sy gave a shudder and a wiggle of his haunches, then panted hard as he pulled himself out, still giving off some spurts.

"It's very slippery-looking," Fess said as Sy backed off the human and chuffed happily, pacing around in circles.

"It is that too," Steve agreed, giving a squirm against Jalli as she carefully released him from her wings. When she'd unfolded him, he climbed cautiously off her and gave a stretch while she stayed on her back and stretched as well, then rolled onto her feet.

"Why is he pacing and making that noise so much?" Fess asked, watching Sy.

"No idea," Steve admitted, watching the cat curiously.

Jalli looked at Sy for a moment, then chuffed in laughter. "Guess the first time you let him have fun, he didn't associate it," she said. "He's um... you could say he's in mating mode. He announcing his success and offering to anyone else who wants kittens. Not that you'll have kittens. Nor would we. But yeah, he's all up and happy and being male and ready to prove his goodness."

"Wait... So he wants more?" Fess asked curiously.

Jalli dipped a wing. "Yep. He's proven he's able with one mate, so he'll do it as often as he's offered or until he runs out of energy and falls asleep. That could be a lot of times though, based on his kind in the wild."

Fess watched him chuffing and posing and prancing proudly, her ears doing signaling maneuvers again. "Maybe... Maybe we should offer too then, so he knows he can do us. That way if we end up without Steve, we can encourage him more easily."

Jalli drew her head back and her ears flicked backward several times. "I..." She took a deep, slow breath. "I'd rather not. He'd have to take me from behind and I'm afraid that'll give me flashbacks." She looked down. "I mean, if I have to do it to save my life, I will suffer flashbacks rather than dying, but I don't want to unless I have to."

Fess wilted a little, then gave her hips a wiggle. "Well, if it's just you and him, maybe he might not understand, but if I'm there too, maybe if he knows he can do it with me, then he'll get all prancy like this and definitely take you if you offer. So..." She fidgeted. "So I'll have him do me so he knows me so I can help if we have him and don't have Steve."

Jalli looked at her. "Oh? Okay, if you want... to...?"

Steve watched this discussion and squinted at Fess. "Are you okay? You don't need to do this if you don't want to. I'm not going to leave you without being really strongly forced to." He refrained from pointing out that she was acting kind of weird.

"I'm okay!" Fess snapped, making him jump. "I want to do this! It's important to help make sure we stay safe!" Her exclamation also caught Sy's attention and he paused briefly in his pacing, chuffing curiously to ask what just happened.

The little vixen walked sultrily up to the big cat, unaware that her bipedal body language meant nothing to him. "Yes, big boy, I want you to do that to me too."

"You need to present to him," Jalli pointed out. "He's a good kitty, but he's still just an animal and doesn't understand other things."

"Present to him?" Fess asked, her ears laying askance.

"Get on all fours and lift your tail, then move it to the side. Keep your rear pointed at him. Maybe look back at him. Maybe make some noises he likes. I don't know. But definitely the tail up from behind."

"Oh, I..." Fess said, her ears flicking again, then she laid them back in determination. "Yes, of course."

She took a deep breath and gave another wriggle of her hips before dropping to all fours and spinning her rear toward the big cat. She had to actively think about her tail to keep it from whipping side to side and hold it out of the way instead. "Syyyyy? Sy, look! Another nice person to mate with!"

Though her words meant nothing to the cat, her position did mean something to him and she quickly had his attention. He chuffed and prrrowled at her, padding around her and rubbing against her, which nearly knocked her over. Then he got around behind her and started the licking, asking and seeing if she was willing. When she kept her position and didn't deny him, he took his opportunity and stepped over her, getting himself into place.

Fess was watching him closely this whole time, while Steve was paying attention to her ears. They said a lot about what she was thinking and he could tell she was nervous and her mind was working furiously. He was a little worried, but he wasn't going to say anything that might upset her at this moment.

As the cat licked the back of her neck and brought his hips down, her gaze shot over to Steve and her ears flicked back. She opened her mouth with almost a look of panic on her face and he primed himself to jump in and interrupt, but she steeled herself and swallowed, then said really fast, "Watch him and help him aim and make sure nothing goes wrong!"

Steve blinked and opened his mouth, but once again decided not to say anything. He was worried about the way she was acting, but when he questioned her before it obviously upset her. So he moved around behind them, dodging a feline tail that swept past his head before he dropped to his knees. He was ready to do whatever he could to help if she asked for it, but for now he'd help in the ways she asked.

When she was standing on all fours, she was a bit too high for the cat, and Steve was quick to help her adjust, her legs making it easy for her to be at any height. "Tilt your hips up," he murmured and she did so after a moment as Sy tried to find his spot. She was not a second too soon as the cat's probing cock had been aiming for just under her tail before she did. Steve had no choice but that, but he wasn't sure she'd want it.

With the proper tilt of her hips, the cat found the right spot though. She was very wet. Whether it be from watching them or from anticipating doing this, Steve didn't know right now. That wet was a godsend though. Steve knew she was tight for him and the cat was just a touch narrower and half an inch shorter than he. Were it not for that fact and the presence of Jalli to do healing if needed, Steve would be worried because of her smaller body.

Sy snarled and with this mate having a good bit of fur, he nipped at the fur and caught her scruff, making her suck her breath in as he held her and prodded forward with his tip. He chuffed approvingly around his mouthful of scruff when he found his mark properly and slid his tip in.

Steve had to admit that the sight of the massive cat's cock sliding in inch by inch was surprisingly mesmerising. Now he knew why Fess had been so intrigued watching it in him. The fact that the cat was so big even though his shaft was only about the size of the human's added to this. He wondered off-hand whether somebody would find it equally enthralling to watch him slip into the little vixen or whether the massive, black-furred body was necessary for the full effect.

Then he jumped as Fess let out a small whine when Sy was almost hilted. "Doing okay?" he asked softly.

"I'm fine!" she snapped, more harshly than she intended. It even made Sy draw his head back and pause. Her ears went to the side, embarrassed. "I'm fine," she said more evenly, then made a little bit of a face and pushed herself back onto the last inch of the cat before he could think to continue letting her breath out in a woosh. "It's all in?"

Steve nodded, his eyes wide as he looked at the cat's balls and sheath pressed tight against the little vixen's body. "All in."

Sy had already figured out with Steve that just trying to push more in than he had didn't work, so he resumed his grip on Fess's scruff and quickly went to decidedly-deep thrusting, chuffing and growling happily.

Steve was trying to pay close attention to Fess to make sure she was okay, but watching the cat slide in and out was just a lot to see. Was that what it looked like with him? No wonder Fess was so speechless. Might also be why she was so wet.

She was panting softly as the cat was getting going, though it was difficult to tell if she was enjoying it or working through it. But sooner than later, the wild feline was quite satisfied and Steve was greeted with a view from behind the cat as he drove himself in for the last deep thrust before his balls pulled up and his haunches jerked vigorously while he unloaded in her.

Just like with Steve, Sy chuffed several times and withdrew, satisfied even though he was still twitching and spurting a little. He looked even prouder than the first time, vocalizing more happily and prancing around in delight, offering his services still since his offer seemed to be successful.

Steve swallowed as Fess let out her breath in a woosh and her ears wilted. She let out a sad whine.

"Are you okay, Fess?" Jalli asked from just behind Steve. She'd been interested in seeing what was going on back there too.

"I'M...!" Fess started to snap, but then she cut herself off and lowered her head. "I think Sy will do it as many times as I offer, but... I mean, he's a cat... So lots of... except..." She was mumbling and talking to herself.

"Fess?" Steve asked softly.

She jumped, as if she'd forgotten they were there, then looked back past her shoulder at Steve. Ducking her head even more, her big ears nearly flat against her skull, she whined softly. "Steve...? Will you ma... ... .... .... ......" Her voice faded off at the end.

"Fess, I can't hear as well as you," he pointed out gently.

She hung her head, but Jalli nudged his side and said, "She asked if you will make her happy like you made me happy." Fess lifted her head again and nodded emphatically, looking almost desperate.

Steve opened his mouth, about to protest that he was just a human and when he was spent, he definitely had to rest before he could go again, but before he said a word he was aware that this was not the case for him here. He could try to say that watching Sy mount her had overcome the need to rest, but honestly he'd not even needed a break after Jalli. Sy's efforts had just kept him up and ready.

He looked at her wet rear and her meek and worried expression and relaxed with a smile. He didn't know what was going on, but he would help as best he could. "I'll try," he said, making her perk, though she looked almost too worried to be hopeful. "Come here, lay..."

"NO!" she barked, interrupting him. Then she flinched again. "I don't want to move," she said, "Just... just make me happy this way...?"

He was taken aback at her vehemence, but he nodded and moved up behind her. "It's okay, you don't have to." He began to stroke her back soothingly, then with his other hand he tried rubbing above the base of her tail. It'd worked for Jalli, maybe it would help her.

Fess squirmed and seemed to enjoy the petting, but then finally looked back over her shoulder. "Why aren't you mounting me?" she asked plaintively.

"This is for you. I want you to be happy," he told her. "You're not going to die if I don't go fast enough. Do you not like the touches?"

"I... I like them," she admitted with a quiet whine in her voice, relaxing a little finally.

"Then relax and enjoy. If I do something you don't like, tell me and I won't do it again. If I do something you do like, make happy noises and I'll do it more." He reached forward and rubbed her shoulder soothingly, then after a moment's thought, he ran the tips of his fingers along the edge of one of her big ears.

"I'm... I'm okay... Happy noi...?" She started to say. The first bit was not very convincing, but when his fingers caressed her ear, her uncertain inquiry melted away into a delighted little moan.

"There, like that," he said with a smile. Having found a good spot, he began to experiment with her ears, watching her body language to see what she liked best. Light touches, especially along the edges. They definitely made her melt.

Soon she was squirming and making all the cute little sounds, but after a little more she leaned back against him, getting her wetness and even Sy's leaking all over him. "Please, do this too," she murmured.

He sucked in a breath. He could do that, but after that show, he wasn't sure he could hold out much better than the cat. He glanced over at Sy who was still prancing around and chuffing and calling happily, proudly showing off that he was ready to go again. Jalli was intently watching what became of Fess and him though, her eyes glowing softly while she said nothing.

"Please..." Fess said, grinding back against him and making him suck in a breath. But she also let out a pleased squeak as he pulled down a little and that gave him his inspiration.

He sucked in a breath, thinking about... well... anything to distract himself. The vixen was very tight, he knew that already and this time he wasn't stressing about performing lest she succumb to the geis. He leaned over her and gently urged her rear down low enough for him to hover over her fully. He knew she was strong and she'd let him know if he put too much weight on her back.

With the better angle, he found his mark and pushed just an inch in, eliciting a needful whine from her and pausing to once again think of something else. Then he slid his hand along her belly, downward between her legs, and curled his fingers up. Her body was so small that his first attempt found his fingertips hitting his own shaft, so he drew them back, following himself cautiously, until he found her body where he was sliding into her. Should be... right about... there.

Fess let out a sudden, surprised squeak. This was followed immediately by the long moan that it segued into as his fingertip played along her clit. He'd planned to go slowly to preserve his own stamina, but with this electric sensation she was subjected to, she was not going to have any of this. She leaned back against him hard, hilting him swiftly enough to make her cry out in delight and to make him nearly bite his tongue to keep from popping immediately.

He felt a wash of Warmth from Rashani as he lost his balance more and dropped down onto Fess's back. His edge backed away in response. Ah... Healing. It was not just taking care of damage to the body, but also correcting unwanted situations. Oh goodness, this all felt so good. Though he was nearly instantly buried balls-deep in such a delightfully tight and hot place, he couldn't help but relish the feel of the Warmth coursing through him as well.

His fingers curled in response and had a wonderful effect on Fess as they ground against her nub. She was perfectly fine with having him stay deep inside as he rubbed with his fingers. To her this felt wonderful and with him in her to fill her and for her to squeeze on, she was happy to let him continue this.

With Rashani helping him keep his cool, he started to focus on making sure his little friend enjoyed this the best he could get her to. She was still unconcerned about his weight, so he went back to the tried and true that he'd found first, laying gently on her back as he teased the edges of her ears with his other hand. Soon he had her moaning and squirming against him and he figured that if he could keep this up, he'd give her her wish.

"That looks really interesting," Jalli murmured by his ear as he felt a warm puff of air or two from behind him. "Something you should know though... If a mate who already..."

While she was saying this, he suddenly felt a warm form climbing over him and soft fur against his back. His fingers paused and in lieu of their motion, Fess pushed back and ground against him, distracting him quite well. Then Sy, who had two very nice bits of practice so far, managed to find his angle and aim first go and in two seconds Steve went from focusing on making Fess happy to having two inches of feline in him again.

"...already smells like him presents again, he'll take it as an offer and not try to get permission with licks and nuzzles before mounting," Jalli advised him belatedly, though he was very distracted by the cat through all of this.

With Fess pushing him off-balance backward, he wasn't very stable for the cat, a fact which Sy solved by wrapping a forepaw around beneath Fess's waist and trapping Steve's wrist against her body as he lifted both of them into a tight hold against his belly. The little vixen made a little moan of surprise as she wasn't sure what was going on, then a yelp of delight escaped her lips as Sy proved that he definitely learned from past experiences and knew that pushing in over and over was the best way to do this, so started by promptly pushing his sheath back along his cock with his depth into the human's body.

Steve was just in it for the ride now. The cat was on his third go and despite not needing any break between them, his speed at finishing suffered from prior ones. Not going to be nearly as quick to pop this time.

Not that Fess minded at all, since the cat was making good use of his massive paw to hold the two of them for a proper pounding. This had the finger curling against her clit in reaction to the cat's pushes as well as rocking the human out of her depths by a few inches before the powerful feline haunches drove forward again and hilted the cat in Steve before continuing to push him to the hilt into her.

Steve was barely able to hold onto his own as Fess was becoming tighter around him, even with Rashani helping as best she could. Thankfully he didn't have long to need to.

Fess threw her head back, a delighted howl escaping her muzzle as she tumbled over the brink. Her whole body shuddered and the human flesh within her depths did not escape unsqueezed. But that didn't keep the cat from pushing him in anyway, the slick juices making the joining slide perfectly as Rashani was satisfied and stopped holding back the man's peak.

Steve was almost sad to have the tingle of Warmth go away, but too distracted by the sudden rush of sensation that drove him instantly over the edge. With his own body tensing, even the last build up was enough of a squeeze for the feline to find his finish. The cat's last push sent both cocks into spasms and splashes, a tight grip of a clawed paw keeping everybody deeply joined as they did.

Sy was less quick to hop off this time. The feeling was extra-special since he'd gotten to feel Fess and Steve as well, and he was quite happy to enjoy this new sensation and stay deep in the human, since each throb and spurt he gave got a similar response from Steve and made Fess squeak in delight. But the three finally started to drift down from the sensation and Sy chuffed and groomed at Steve's neck affectionately. He didn't know why this time was SOOOO much better than the other two, but he liked it.

It took a short time before Sy was willing to let them go and slip out of the human, then Steve was able to slide out of Fess, almost too sensitive from it all. Fess immediately spun on him and grabbed him tightly, hugging him and burying her face against his chest as she sobbed.

"Fess?! Are you...?" he started to demand worriedly, but she cut him off with a sudden kiss, literally knocking him over backward in her exuberance. She finally let him breathe, straddling his tummy and looking down at him, her cheeks still wet but smiling now. Then she took a deep breath and her ears wilted a little.

"That didn't happen like I thought it would," she admitted.

"What are yo...?" Steve started, but she put a clawed finger over his lips to silence him.

"After - after all that I've been through, I thought your offer to help Jalli enjoy it was just a joke. But she really enjoyed it. I could see it in her face and hear it in her voice. It made me so jealous." She looked at Sy who was now apparently satisfied with his mating work and happily cleaning himself.

"Then when you mentioned you'd let him mount you before, I thought it was a joke too. When I'm upset, like jealous makes me upset, I get snarky and..." She considered, her ears wilting. "And I get kind of dumb."

A deep breath filled her lungs. "So I just suggested you let him do it again as a joke. As a jab. I didn't think you actually would. Worse, it looked reeeeally nice from where I saw. So then I was both grumpy and horny." She looked at Jalli. "So I suggested we do it, just to try to get back at Jalli for making me grumpy and you for making me horny. But Jalli didn't."

Her ears laid to the side. "I don't blame her. It was kind of malicious of me to even suggest it, knowing how she's been abused like that too. But I suggested it, so I couldn't back out." Now he gaze passed over the cat. "He's... He's a nice kitty. Really nice. I know that he can help save us if we need him to. But doing that like that kind of triggered me to the things they'd forced me to do."

Each finger was counted on as she spoke. "So now I was jealous and grumpy and horny -and- anxious -AND- unsatisfied. I had to give in and beg for your help and I thought that you'd just laugh at me or fail me because I was too stressed to enjoy it."

She put her arms back around him and smiled at him. "Then you did it. You really did it." Her gaze dropped. "I haven't enjoyed sex since years ago back at home. Then all this mess here and... I thought that would be the rest of my life until they ate me." She shuddered at the thought.

He kissed the tip of her nose. "Why didn't you want to move? I mean, if being mounted from behind is probably a trigger?"

"It was all I could do to keep myself from breaking down," she said. Then her ears wilted again. "Also... some part of me wanted to make it as difficult as possible for you. A little part of me hates myself for everything that's happened and demands that I can't ever be happy again. It wanted you to fail so I could get on with being grumpy and dejected and get back to putting on a happy face and faking it."

She buried her face against his chest again. "Thank you for proving that part wrong," she said, her voice muffled almost beyond intelligibility.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked softly. "Feeling better now?"

She nodded and mumbled something into his chest that he couldn't understand at all.

"I can't hear as well as you," he reminded her with a gentle chuckle.

She lifted her head and smiled at him. "I have hope now." Her ears went to the side. "It makes me sad to admit I didn't really before. I knew that Jalli could get home to her people and get somebody to love her and care for her even after that mess. But I thought that if I was stuck here, I'd be pretty much doomed."

She took another deep breath and looked at him sadly. "When you had to save me from the geis and... and you almost couldn't... I thought, maybe there was something wrong with me. Maybe I sickened you, or maybe I was something horrible. I was pretty sure it had to feel good for you, but you just wouldn't cum in me, even to save my life. Only when Berris helped. I almost died. If Berris hadn't been there, I probably would have." She shook her head. "I didn't feel I could trust you after that. But I was willing to stay with you and see maybe if you could perform when it wasn't an emergency.

"I hadn't actually seen you do anything on your own, after all. So I worried for both of us, really." She took a deep breath. "But then when you did that for Jalli, I thought even more that something must be wrong with me. So at first, it was just all spite and worry with a show of happy."

She hugged him warmly. "Thank you for putting my anxiety to rest."

"You're welcome," he said, stroking her back. "I'm so sorry I couldn't perform when you were suffering. Part of it really is a mental thing for me. A huge part of it."

"Now I understand it was because of your worry, not because you didn't like me," she said. Then she took a happy breath and just sat quietly with him for a moment before looking at Jalli. "So... did it look as neat for you as it did for me?"

Jalli drew back her head in surprise, then recovered and chuffed almost uncontrollably in laughter. "Yes, I can definitely see why it made you feel like that. If I wasn't satisfied right now, I'd probably be pining for something pleasant too. I agree, we really should try to find a way to bring Sy with us. I bet we could even sate the geis just watching him pounce Steve a few times."

Fess laughed. "Not really, but it does feel like it, doesn't it?"

Steve looked at the lounging feline. "I bet the Skyia could get him down from here."

"I'm NOT going back there to ask them," Fess said, not giving any chance for discussion, and Jalli set her ears back, agreeing with the little vixen.

"Not like we can just summon them here either," Jalli said.

"I think maybe we could. Not from too far away, but from here, sure. And it might only work once. I mean, they really want to clean up the mess from the battle and leave, so we're really just in their way. Especially since they've illegally put tech in me and I even declined to go home."

"How?"

"Flash your horns at them. A lot. And in a steady pattern. I'm pretty sure they'll want to find out what that is."

Jalli looked surprised. "True, they use low light, so they have a way to detect it. Even when their sky ships go over, I can see the low light they shine around a lot."

"Yup. So shine the same... same color?... at them if you can. That should get them to investigate."

"Right now?"

"Well, if you think we're ready to try to get down without me having to jump and without losing Sy." He stretched, then made a face. "Got a bit too far away from the soft ground though. My knees hurt."

"Healing you first, then flashing my horns at them," Jalli decreed. He revelled in the feeling of the Warmth tingling through him again as it helped his knees, once again missing the confusion on Jalli's face as she did, but then she turned her attention to the sky. There was no indication of anything from her at all for a few seconds, then she jumped up. "You're right! They're coming this way."

It was less than a minute later before a squadron of five ships first did a flyover, then swung around and flew over much more slowly. Steve waved furiously at them, trying to indicate they needed help. But the ships just flew past the second time and headed back the way they'd come from.

Steve wilted. "Maybe we're too much trouble. I'm pretty sure they were close enough to see us."

Jalli's wings drooped as she looked at Sy. "I don't want to leave him behind though," she said sadly.

"Unless you can find a safe way for him to get down, we probably don't have much choice. I don't even want to jump off with him watching. I swear he'd try to follow the same way and Rashani can't save him too."

Jalli perked suddenly and looked off into the distance. "They're coming back. But one more of them."

This time, instead of the near-silence of the fighters, there was a louder sound of a heavy ship closing in on them. The fighters flew over and began to swarm in a protective formation as the heavy ship first hovered just off the edge of the cliff, evaluating the situation, then finally ended up just moving closer to the cliff and opening the door adjacent to the edge. Two fully-armored foxes jumped out and watched around with their weapons ready while a less-armored one - similar to the one that had come to try to retrieve Steve - made the short jump to the edge of the cliff and walked over cautiously.

"Everything okay? We didn't know you had any way to signal with radar. Did you decide to go home now?" The soldier looked hopeful, since taking the human home would tie up that loose end.

Steve shook his head. "We're just in desperate need of help getting down off this cliff. It's a whole plateau and her people never come close to here, so we really have no other way down."

The fox squinted. "Next you're going to try to ask us to take you all the way to her city, and you know we can't do that."

All three of them shook their heads and Jalli piped up, "I can fly her down, but I can't carry him well enough, and the cat is even much bigger. We just want help getting to the bottom safely."

The Skyia looked at them discerningly, then turned. "Let me see if I can." Back into the ship and it was a long number of minutes waiting. Then the soldier jumped back out. "Okay, come aboard."

"Thank you!" Jalli said excitedly, hopping on board. Fess looked at the small space between the edge of the cliff and the ship, shuddered, and jumped across it. Then Steve followed.

Sy suddenly realized something was happening and climbed to his feet in surprise. The ships and the other people were not a cause for concern for him, but the fact that his people were suddenly over there was. He meowled worriedly and ran to the edge of the cliff, almost as if he were afraid to step across the foot divide between the cliff and the ship.

"Come on, Sy," Steve said, trying to comfort the cat.

Sy meowled again, then puffed up before gingerly prodding the ship with a forepaw. He puffed up even fluffier, but then jumped aboard and arched his back at the entire situation. Even though this was a transport ship, the big cat's back almost touched the ceiling when he was fretting like this.

"It's okay," Steve said, walking over and comforting the cat, but Sy looked around and very gingerly scooted along the side wall into the ship, his attention on one very nervous-looking soldier. The armored soldier fidgeted as Sy sidled up to them very cautiously, then Sy sat down, still utterly frazzled, and yowled piteously.

Jalli padded over to the soldier, her eyes glowing slightly, then her ears laid back briefly. "You can't survive on stims alone!" she scolded. The others looked at the one she was addressing in surprise as her eyes went brighter, then the soldier suddenly relaxed and nearly slumped. The other caught that one as Jalli harumphed. "Get him food and REST. He hasn't eaten or slept in five days and he's been trying to keep himself dosed on stims."

"Is this true?" the other soldier demanded of the slumping one.

"I... Yes," he admitted in defeat. "I've been too stressed."

His friend shook his head. "It's your first deployment. You know we're here to help each other. You've got to let us know if you have trouble."

The moment the soldier had slumped, Sy immediately calmed down and defluffed, standing up and padding around the ship to sniff at things curiously. The diplomatic fox looked at all this happening, then chuckled. "Maybe I should keep you around to check my people over first. I can't, but it would be nice." A quick command on a panel and the door slid closed after the two outside came in.

"Relax, this should be a fast trip."

Jalli was looking around, then she squinted and her ears laid back before she bared her teeth. "We're going very high up and away from the plateau! Where are you taking us?" she growled, her eyes starting to glow brightly.

The diplomat took a step back. "I was overridden. My people say your people have a space port, even though you aren't a galactic faring race. There are a lot of other races there, including your people. So we've been approved to take you there." Some hand wringing. "If you want us to just take you to the bottom of the cliff, I'd rather do that than have you attack us and have to kill you."

She considered, then relaxed. "You are going that way. Mind you if we had to attack you, we wouldn't be the ones dying," she said matter of factly. Steve was very exceptionally aware via Rashani of Jalli shielding herself with her Warmth, just in case.

"I'd rather not explore either potential," the fox said, nervous. The rest of the flight was in silence with Jalli paying very close attention to everything and Fess clinging to Steve's side.

The only event of any note was when another soldier walked in only halfway in her armor and Sy perked, then padded over and sniffed at her before deciding that she absolutely had to be completely and utterly cheek marked. So he rubbed his cheek against her very insistently, finally knocking her onto a bench as she braved the barrage of kitty cheek.

The feeling of motion was changing and Jalli was less-concerned now, though still shielded. Then the motion stopped and the fox went to open the door, revealing a quick trip to a nearby walkway for the massive spaceport.

Sy was happy to jump out of the weird can, posing as he looked around at the new area. Steve stepped down the two feet to get off the ship, then helped Fess down as Jalli jumped to the landing surface.

The dragoness looked around and actually looked pleased. "Thank you," she said to the Skyia. "It's hard to trust anybody after what we went through, and your attack did kill nearly all of my friends." Her wings drooped. "Stay Warm on your journeys and good luck against the combiners... the Massai."

"I understand. This is very odd even for our situation," the Skyia admitted. Then wilted. "I admit, I welcome your well wishes greatly. The war is not looking good." But no more was said despite a pained look before the door was closed and the ship lifted back into the air to depart.

Steve couldn't help but feel a sadness. "That did not bode well. I really worry for them."

Jalli dipped a wing in agreement. "I agree. The Massai are a cruel people. I can't imagine a whole war against them." She looked at the massive structure and the nearby entry into it. "Well, I really didn't expect to make it anywhere this fast, but we can get to nearly any town from here. The old travel holes still work, even if some of them are only one way out."

Steve smiled and squeezed Fess against his hip briefly. "Well, let's go see, then. I have hope for everything now too."

Jalli turned and led the way in. None of them could imagine that the Skyia were doomed to lose their war in the near future, becoming the first of the Massai's slave races. The Massai were originally loosely organized and everything else was just food to them. But a coup by the Thinkers amongst them about 250 years ago had made them much more dangerous. The facility they'd just escaped from was one of many cells working to manipulate other races and creatures.

Now that the Massai were not just out to kill and eat everything, the war against them was falling in their favor. Protection against sonic weapons had rendered the Skyia's most powerful arsenal ineffective, and as older Massai died and their offspring were more resilient, the Skyia were barely holding their own anymore. But their sad story is for another time, since Steve is the one we are interested in right now.

* * *

Steve fretted. He hadn't seen Fess or Jalli, or even Sy for two days now. Jalli'd assured him that her people were to be trusted and that they were fine after pre-feeding the geis. He figured they'd have at least another day before it could possibly be a problem. That and the fact that the "days" they spoke of for the geis were local planetary days helped. But this whole thing was worrying him.

He had his own room, and he wasn't a prisoner, per se, but he was "strongly discouraged" from going anywhere and the Faradai really wanted him around for everything they were doing to try to help them all.

The main thing he looked forward to though were the Warmth sessions. He wasn't sure what to make of it all, but the dragons were both very interested in the fact that Rashani had chosen him as well as being confused about something. Queries about their confusion always were met with vague answers that only furthered the idea that they were confused enough to not know either. But at frequent, irregular intervals, one or more of them would come in to scan him and often try to heal him, searching for answers.

The tingle and heat was so delightful. He looked forward to it and had a little bit of a sad any time they came and just wanted to talk. But he talked honestly and helped as best he could, knowing that another healing attempt would come eventually.

It turned out that others of the Faradai also had translators. While some villages were lower in tech by choice, the majority of the dragons in the city by the spaceport were relatively well to do technology-wise. So everything from their warmth to medical scanners were brought to bear in an attempt to discern what was causing this "geis" effect, and communication was easy as long as the dragon also had translators, otherwise he could understand them, but they couldn't understand him.

He was making them happier though. Occasionally a wise, MASSIVE Faradai from far away would visit and had no translators. But he'd been paying close attention to their language. Though his accent was horrendous as he tried to replicate their musically-rumbly-delightful words with his inferior human voice, they were impressed that he tried and succeeded as well as he did.

All the Faradai were tremendously kind. They listened to his story and he felt genuine empathy from them. They were a caring race as a whole. As he'd learned, they lived a long time, if not normally even forever, so they were very patient and understanding.

But still... Nothing but not much. He sighed and looked at the time as he laid in the big bowl bed. It was dark outside and he didn't think there would be another visitor for a few hours, so he might as well sleep instead of fretting. He'd see his friends soon. He hoped. He wasn't sure what would happen if the geis hit any of them and they weren't allowed to get together.

It was strange that he felt as he did, but he had odd doubts that he'd be happy saving his own life with somebody other than his companions. He also worried that they'd be traumatized more if it wasn't him. Or at least Sy.

There was also something... something in the distance that seemed to pull him. It started as a nearly-unnoticeable tingle, but now it was a distinct direction, even though it was not a defined distance.

But sleep was important now. Though the days were long, even the local creatures mostly slept at least two times during the day cycle. But the Faradai followed a shift clock, so to speak, and he was worked with frequently, leaving mere hours for naps between sessions. He closed his eyes and tried to relax and clear his mind of the worry. Rashani sent comforting thoughts to try to help as well.

The fact that he felt... watched... so much didn't help anything either. He didn't think it was Faradai. Mainly because Rashani didn't think so either. But he still couldn't shake the feeling no matter how much he tried to calm down. Sometimes it was less, but sometimes, like now, it felt like it was looming over him. He flung his arm wildly to try to flail at the sensation and as always there was nothing but the vague tingle of abusing his poor arm and then the pain of a pulled muscle. He winced for a moment before Rashani jumped on it and the soothing, tingling heat of her Warmth healed him. She sent comforting thoughts to him again, trying to help him relax.

He appreciated her more. She was his stability for the moment with no sign of the others. He loved the fact that she could heal him and in the past two days he was getting more and more fretty and needed a quick heal a few times.

He felt the love in return that she sent to him. He finally had to admit that was what she was sending. He didn't understand it. She'd known him for less than a day before she'd met her untimely demise. He couldn't comprehend how she could love him. But any time he had such thoughts, he got a feeling from her that what was, was, and she loved him.

With that thought comforting him, he finally started to drift off to sleep.

* * *

Jorric looked at his scanner. The strange creature had a bad habit of swinging wildly at him when he was too close, so he always had to get little segments of scans at a time. When it was asleep, he could do all the scans he wanted. Didn't make any of them make any sense to him, but the Maji said they were important, so he did what he could to get them.

He sighed. He'd get home soon enough, he was sure of that. For now, he was happy helping the Maji. It was interesting to see another planet than home. Normally only those crazy spacers that saw anywhere else. But Trenadi weren't made for space. Anybody could see that. Just even a while in space cost them at least half their wingspan. He couldn't imagine landing on a planet and being unable to fly.

How did they dance? How could they handle it? They might say they were happy flying around in their tin cans, so much higher than his people were meant to, but he knew better. They were just crazy savages.

He looked at his navigation system and spread his wings, taking flight right out through the solid structure of the building. Being phased, nothing bugged him unless he wanted it to. He'd spent a lot of time phased out and he was feeling the heat of it, but it was not a level that worried him. He was good at controlling his Fire. Maybe that was why he was lucky enough to be helping a Maji. Maybe he'd get trained more.

The wind flowing across his skin was wonderful. Off-planet meant he could shed his clothing. He wasn't representing his house at all here, so he didn't have to worry about making any kind of good impression. The fine scales that covered his whole body were enough for him if local custom didn't demand more, and he was invisible to this world, so it didn't matter anyway.

He found it very interesting that the big things here looked so much like his people in some ways. Faradai, they were called. But while his people all stood around the same height and on two legs, and their fine scales gave their skin a leathery feel, the Faradai walked around on four and from what he could garner, they never stopped growing bigger their whole lives.

Moreso, they lived until they were killed. Trenadi were long lived. Steve's world would say they lived about 300 years, give or take a few decades. But when he grew older and his scales dulled, and his Fire burned him painfully, he would walk into the Desert of the Fallen and never return. He would give in to his Fire, let it consume him, and become one with the Heat. But that was a long time from now. He was only 73 of Steve's years old.

Jorric weaved as he flew, swooping about on the currents and eddies. At home he was still not important enough to be watched all the time, but he still rarely got any opportunity to be this free. There were no rules to this dance. Nobody judging his actions, no need for precision movements. But he would still not allow himself to become lax. So he ran through several dance moves, set into his mind as naturally as walking. The air currents here near the spaceport were a refreshing challenge, forcing him to pay close attention to stay on the Path.

His exercise done, he was satisfied and flew more directly to meet his contact.

The red-furred Maji was watching him approach. Maybe one day he would learn how the Maji could detect a phased Trenadi, but it seemed unlikely. He relaxed his phasing just before he landed, feeling the heat fade as he let his Fire rest, and stretched languidly. He very much enjoyed the extra flights he was getting here.

"Welcome back, Jorric," the Maji said, showing respect for the Trenadi by taking the fifteen seconds needed to say those simple words in Jorric's own language. He changed to Extended Trade Language afterward though to communicate more effectively. "You have the scans?"

Jorric nodded and passed the scanner over.

"Anything else interesting?"

"He seems to possibly sense me," Jorric admitted finally to both himself and the Maji.

The winged fox looked intrigued. "Why do you feel this?"

"He reacts in different ways depending on how close I am to him. When I am very close, he often lashes out in my direction with an arm, but he does not do this when I am further. He has a sense where I am related to him, looking my way more often than chance, often as if trying to catch my presence there by looking faster."

"Strange. Have you tried to determine whether the Faradai exhibit this behavior?"

"I have not yet," Jorric admitted, ashamed that he didn't think of that himself before.

"I am glad you are able to. It will help solve the mystery," the Maji said with a smile. It was quite a quandary. He knew Maji could sense him unquestionably, but nothing else should be able to. Yet this odd soft-skinned Steve thing could, just a little. If the Faradai could as well, then it simply meant he was gaining the ability from the Faradai that was supposedly somehow inside him.

The winged fox looked across the space from the hill he was on to the run down city just showing on the horizon. "You can return when you feel ready so you don't tire yourself out by phasing too much."

"I'm fine," Jorric answered respectfully. "I want to solve this sooner."

"Keep track of how hot you are running, then, and how tired you are. We have only limited information on Faradai, but I don't think anybody likes being spied on."

"If I need to, I can just rest at the spaceport itself. They have a number of visitors regularly."

"Your choice. Keep yourself safe." The Maji scratched at one of his ears, then nodded. "I have much to review," he said, dismissing Jorric to his own devices.

"I will get a room at the spaceport for now. That will allow me to observe more easily without having to come all the way here to relax my phasing, and also to observe while visible," Jorric advised as he spread his wings. Then he phased out, becoming invisible and insubstantial, and took off.

* * *

Nightfire watched as Jorric departed. He wasn't showing it, but something about this situation was worrying him more than it seemed it should. Hands that were not his own reached around him and smoothed down his fur as it started to bristle.

"Are you doing okay?"

"You should stay out of sight until he is across the horizon," he chided her gently, since he did appreciate the comfort despite his worry. Two or more Maji in one place in public tended to cause people to become uncomfortable and since he was working with Jorric, he didn't want the Trenadi to have any cause for concern.

"He's far enough away," she replied, gazing after the Trenadi. "I stayed away while you were waiting for him, since you didn't know when he would arrive. Now I'm keeping you from getting too ruffled."

He flicked an ear and looked over his shoulder at her with a wry smile. "Doesn't smoothing my fur just hide the evidence of my stress rather than lifting it?"

"Maaaaaybe," she replied slyly, releasing him from one of her arms and doing a little spin to get around in front of him, her strong, black-feathered wings held just far enough apart to expose her back to him as she pressed herself back against him. "I was thinking that other things could help you relax more," she purred, pressing her rump into his groin.

"I have... scan data to look over..." he protested weakly, slipping his arms around her beneath her wings and pulling her close.

"You have lots of time to look it over, too," she pointed out. "Then you spend the rest of the time fretting. It's not going anywhere." She took the scanner from his hand and pulled away just enough to bend at the waist and set it down, no accident in pressing her bottom against him even more.

He smiled. They did this dance often. Him being grumpy before she melted away his worries and resistance. She was possibly nearly as old as he, yet she still acted like a youngling so often. But it was all a measured effort. She was very wise and knew just what was needed and when. That didn't make it fake. It just meant she would be serious when necessary and playful when that was even better.

The Maji were an elder race. Many individual Maji had even seen many of the oldest space-faring races take their first forays into slipspace. It was even very likely that the Maji were the oldest surviving race, but that was an uncertainty. The Faradai might be a contender for that as well, since the oldest of them did not remember their age so often.

Many thousands of years ago - maybe hundreds of thousands for all any of them knew - the Maji realized the importance of being able to forget smaller things and let some history fade. Anybody who held on to everything would pick up so much emotional cargo that they could be easily incapacitated by its weight. Many things were deemed unimportant and left to be lost as knowledge.

Sapphire was his oldest mate as well, both in her age as well as in how long they'd been together, and she still had surprises for him. He was happy that he was able to bring new surprises to her still as well. He loved all the mates he had ever had, but she held a special place in his heart. Together they accomplished so much and shared so many things.

"Is Grumpy Fire too old to have fun since he's an ancient one?" she asked with a playful chirp, giving a grind against his sheath and breaking him out of his thoughtfulness. It was effective, stealing his attention from the current worries and getting his thoughts much more solidly on her wiles.

Selective forgetting meant that Maji eventually stopped bothering to remember how old they were based on whatever measure of time they chose, and also others didn't bother to track them. When none of them knew how old a given one was, that Maji was just an ancient. Old enough that numbers just didn't really matter, with only vague hints to their age in the form of memories of discernibly-timed events.

"Ancient just means more experience," he replied with a playful growl, sliding his hands to catch her hips and find his mark as he started to slip from his sheath.

The scan could wait...

* * *

Jorric shook his head as he fretted about ordering a room from the automatic lodging system. He couldn't find any mention of trade or payment at all, no matter how much he dug into the computer.

"Are you okay?"

He spun on the voice and found a tiger-sized Faradai checking in on him, a sash across its chest identifying it as spaceport security. Did they notice that he didn't come in on a ship? He didn't see any customs checking people in. They just landed as directed and wandered freely in the spaceport.

"I'm new to this world and I couldn't find the cost of the lodging," he admitted.

"We provide lodging to visitors for no cost," the Faradai said, dipping its wing.

"But, why?"

"We're not a common destination and we don't get a large amount of traffic. Some people visit out of curiosity, some for research, and some to meet others. Energy is plentiful and we have everything we need to be happy and defend ourselves if needed. Getting things in trade for providing shelter wouldn't help us at all, so we don't bother."

He was looking the dragon over, completely uncertain whether it was male or female. He'dn't seen any outward indications on their bodies. "That's good to know," he said thankfully, finalizing his room order. He'd been tempted to get one of the larger rooms and be able to fly, but the system asked that room size match body size and he could always fly outside, so he'd gone with a smaller one.

"You're free to stay as long as you like," the dragon told him. "We have some long term residents from off world. The main dining is free also, since it fabricates food directly, and you can also get food or various other forms of sustenance in your lodging as well. Some people do ask trade in return for their items or services, and they make it clear up front. If they do not, please inform us. We do not accept trapping people into trade. Otherwise most of the spaceport is shut down. It's easy to find the populated places that are running and easy to discern what is done at each. If you go out into the city, please let somebody from security know. If you leave the city completely, definitely let us know, as there are things on the world that can pose a danger and it's best we have an idea when you intend to return in case of problems."

"Also good to know," Jorric said.

The Faradai dipped a wing. "If you have any questions, feel free to find any of us in the spaceport. You look like you're ready to be on your way, so I'll leave you be."

"I very much appreciate the information," Jorric said honestly. "I'll take a look around once I've had some rest. Thank you."

The Faradai dipped a wing again and turned, departing, leaving Jorric to walk up the ramps and past the featureless walls to find his room, a twenty foot cube of space that he could design any way he liked using physiholos. He interacted just long enough with the system to make a place to rest and sighed gratefully as he would have a proper sleep for the first time since this trip started.

* * *

Steve opened his eyes and blinked the sleep out of them slowly. He hadn't been resting for long. Something felt odd though. That pull he'd felt. It was stronger now, yet not distinct. A glimmer in the distance, brighter than other times, but also a spark closer by in another direction.

He closed his eyes, trying to ignore it and get back to sleep, but it nagged at him too much to sleep. Finally he climbed out of the bowl bed and stretched. He looked at the open doorway with the Faradai sitting contemplatively outside it. He was "strongly discouraged" from leaving, but not prohibited, right? This pull was powerful enough to make him want to test that.

The horse-sized dragon looked over at him as he walked to the door. "Everything okay?" he asked. He was learning to discern individuals and also to identify gender, though the difference in their bodies was extremely subtle. Males had a very small amount of bulge at their groin, but he'd noticed that their front horns had a slightly different curve to them, exposing more surface to above than to the front.

"I'm fretting over things," he admitted. "I feel like there's some place I need to go and I don't know what it is. I just really want to get there and it's keeping me from sleeping." He was honest with the Faradai. They were so kind, he saw no deception, so he didn't intend to deceive them.

"Is it the geis starting to get to you?" he asked, standing up worriedly.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's not. The girls describe that as a very distinct need to -do-, while I'm getting a need to -go- someplace." He had to admit that he'd not felt the pull of the geis before, so he really didn't know what it was like.

There was a soothing tingle as the Faradai scanned him with his Warmth. Mmmm... Even just getting scanned was starting to feel good.

The dragon looked down the hall. "You seem to be okay. Let's see if we can find what's calling to you."

That easy? Huh. He walked down the hall with the dragon close beside and was directed to how to get out of this building as well. The sky was dark outside, but there were some lights that still worked and allowed him to see. The dragons called it high colors that he saw with.

"That way," he said, pointing toward the most massive, fully intact structure in the city.

"That's the spaceport. We should take a hole to get there safely. The city between here and there is mostly collapsed and unless you can fly it's a hazard." He led the way to the side.

This used to be a massive, high-tech city. Buildings that once climbed thousands of feet skyward were in various states of collapse or topple. What once likely housed tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of people now was called home by only a few thousand Faradai who lived mostly in the massive park outside the city limits.

"We have a few dozen to a few hundred visitors at the spaceport at any given time and several dozen people who stay on a longer basis," his companion said as they walked into a cul de sac that was ringed with massive portal generators. Most of them were either shut down or non-operational and many were quite broken, but four were still working just fine, each creating a hole in reality that provided instant transport to places within a few tens of miles.

The Faradai walked through one of these that had scrolling signs in lots of dialects visible on the other side and Steve followed, amazed at the device. He turned to look back when he was through and noted that the portal on this side was one of two dozen that were operating, so he set in his mind which one it was and what the view was through it, despite the fact that the courtyards on the other sides of them looked very similar.

"People come here to trade with you?" Steve asked curiously.

"Not really. We have everything we need and we don't make things they want. Some come out of curiosity. Some come to meet others. Some have wanted to take things from our planet, but we won't let them. Some come to research and learn. Mostly it's just folks on long trips who want to take a quick break on an out of the way, friendly planet."

"What about the people who stay longer?"

"Some of them trade things, but for the most part they seem to just like it here," he answered. "We have our part of the planet, so as long as they don't misbehave, we don't have a reason to chase them off."

"Only some of them trade things? How do the rest make a living?"

"Make a living? What do you mean?"

"Well, how do they get money to get food and stuff?"

The Faradai just looked at him, utterly confused. "You said a word that didn't translate at all," he said, then tried to mouth the odd word, "Money."

Steve thought about this, and a few seconds later stopped walking when the realization hit him. "These are translators for every language and concept out there, but there is no idea for that? How do people get the things they want?"

"They make them, or they get somebody else to make the things for them."

"But what do they give the person who makes it?"

"Sometimes they give them the materials if they are hard to get. If they can't find a good way to get the materials, usually they don't need the things, or they do a series of trades to get them."

"Don't need them? But what if they really, really want them?"

"Everything that you just want is something you don't need," the dragon said matter of factly. "If you fret over trying to get it, it doesn't help you, so why worry?"

Steve started walking again. Weird. Must be a Faradai thing, not wanting all the best stuff. It was not easy for a human to comprehend that this was the norm for every member race of the Local Galactic Civilization. To be otherwise either made you as many enemies as the Massai had or stunted your ability to make it to slipspace. That tech capability required cooperation on the highest level.

"That way, toward that big building there," Steve said, changing his direction. Then he looked up and around. "We're in an even bigger building?"

"Yes, this is the spaceport. It stayed intact and all the buildings in it are structurally sound, we just don't use most of them."

This was true. Almost all the inner buildings Steve saw were dark and silent, though he could see two from where he was that were comfortably lit and had signs of activity.

"This is the lodge," his friend told him as they approached the larger building.

Steve walked along the front of it and the direction of his tingly feeling made it clear that whatever it was was inside this building and up a bit. So he headed in, ignoring the room ordering console, and took ramps up. The Faradai padded along with him, silent but supportive.

It took a third try at a ramp to find the hallway that led closest to whatever was attracting him. He placed his hand against the solid, featureless wall, but the Faradai jumped when he did.

"That's a room. Touching it probably paged the person inside. They might be asleep though."

Steve yanked his hand back, mortified. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." He fidgeted and leaned from foot to foot. He didn't want to ditch out and run if he had paged somebody inside, but he didn't want to bother anybody either.

After enough time of no response, he relaxed and stepped back. "Nobody answered. I... I don't know what's tugging at me, but I don't want to bother anybody. I think I'll be okay."

The dragon smiled and dipped a wing. "You can always come back here if you feel the need. I'm around in case something bad starts to happen so I can help you."

Steve turned and headed back toward the portals. "I might do that." The pull was still there, and stronger than ever with his proximity, but the solid wall was a blockade that he considered sufficient to let him say his curiosity was sated for the time being. He'd be able to sleep.

* * *

Berris could not be happier to be home. Her people definitely didn't have any fancy cross-the-galaxy-in-days things like she'd just traveled on, but they did have a few populated planets. Light-based communication meant that each planet was its own, as news took years to travel from one to the other.

The Skyia dropped her off discretely, out of sight of anybody watching. Thankfully they'd found her planet and not one of the others, and they'd been able to help her locate her home. The geis had pulled on her once during the trip and a male fox had been fretty, but done his duty to help save her life. The knot was intriguing. Were it not for the twinges of horror she still felt from her ordeal and the demand the geis placed on her, she'd probably be very interested in convincing a Skyia or two to stick around. It would be easy for her, as it would be for all her people.

The Skyia left her with a little device and they said they'd come to help her if they found out what was causing the geis and how to cure it. She didn't hold her breath on that, but she tried to keep some hope. This was a newer planet of theirs and the native people still outnumbered the Nara'kya substantially, so she'd have her choice of help to sate the geis. Everything loved to hear a Nara'kya purr and since mating would get a purr from them, they'd always happily do it.

She would also see her local doctors and officials when she'd had some rest. If the Skyia could not find a cure, perhaps her people knew their own bodies well enough to help.

She'd been gone for years, but the population was such that her old home was still intact and unoccupied. Friends and family were ecstatic to see her, her four cubs nearly crying despite almost being adult themselves. Everybody was shocked by her vanishing. It was such a safe town. She made excuses for the moment with her friends and sidestepped questions, finally bowing out and escaping to her bedroom to get some much-needed rest. She'd put a whisper in some ears of people she knew were happy to lay with her, making sure she had a male to call on when she needed it.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she gingerly patted her belly. There was no doubt about it now. She was carrying. Her ears laid back and she winced. Whatever those slime things had done to her had broken the very essence of her people. The creatures she'd birthed for them or that they'd aborted from her were only sometimes proper Nara'kya cubs. Worse, the Combiners - those damned Massai things - were always upset when she had a good Nara'kya cub.

She'd seen her children taken and later aborted by those horrors. It would haunt her sleep for decades to come. Family was everything to her people. You could love anybody. You could mate with anybody. The Great Ones always rewarded a Nara'kya and their mate with a healthy Nara'kya cub, no matter what their mate was as a species or race. It had always been and it always would and should be.

But the Massai... They did something to her. Not only did they kill her family, but the last three cubs were not proper kittens. Had they severed her from the Great Ones? Had they hidden her? Would she ever recover and be found in their graces again?

She loved the small one she carried, though she feared it would be an abomination once more. Tears flowing down her cheeks, she curled up and cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Jorric watched as the human walked away from the entrance of the room. He'd been awakened by the soft chime when the strange creature touched the wall and the wall went transparent from his point of view so he could see what was outside.

That was unnerving. Why was he here? Jorric was just trying to get some much-needed rest. It haunted him a little as he relaxed and closed his eyes. He was beginning to get a feeling of why the Maji were so interested in this odd, soft-skinned creature. That was at least four things now that defied explanation.

He took a deep breath and set the event in his mind. He would definitely mention it to Nightfire.

* * *

Berris perked as the doctor walked back in, but wilted as she realized how upset he looked. She steeled herself for the news.

"Berris, I - I have some good news," he said. She knew that he also had bad news by the set of his ears. She said nothing and listened, watching him intently.

He turned his data pad to show her and pointed to a little blue and red spot on it. "Even with just one scan, we found what causes this 'geis', as you called it. You have a parasite in your brain, interacting with your nervous system. We've never seen such a thing before. Were it not for this, honestly your story would be much more difficult to believe."

He took a breath. "It connects primarily to certain nerve bundles. One connection to a segment mapped to cause a mating desire. One segment to the area that links to your heart. Watching the neural activity when you were being affected allowed us to start homing in on it. We finally determined that it integrates your DNA into itself and its surface markers to evade your immune system, but it still carries its own DNA as well, which allowed us to decipher where it was.

"Sequencing the thing was interesting. It's obviously a modified organism. Numerous block chains are truncated and a lot of its normal life functions are disabled. We're still deciphering a lot of the sequencing, but the most important thing is that it is sterile. It can no longer reproduce or spread." He pointed to the red segment.

"Based on its code, it normally wants to connect to drive lust in two places, so it can make you lust, or really really lust. We don't have everything determined yet, but that is likely associated with its life cycle somehow. Instead, it's been forced to connect to nerves that affect your heart. So when it thinks it's pushing for more need to mate, it's really killing you instead."

She put her hand up to her head. She had... a thing?... in there? "Can we stop it?" she asked worriedly.

"We're sequencing to take care of it. It will lose its own DNA completely as a result and stop doing its own functions. Then your DNA in it will redefine it fully and since it's not a proper part of your body, it will be cleaned up and gone. Within a few hours, you'll be fine."

"Would that work to cure it for other races?" she asked, worried about her friends.

"No. Other races don't have the DNA specifics we do. They'd have to find a different way to get rid of it."

She was torn. She could tell them what it was, but she couldn't offer a fix. What good was it to know what afflicted you if you couldn't cure it? It would be living with that knowledge and no way to solve it.

"I also have some bad news," he continued with a deep sigh.

She stiffened, her fur standing on end a little. She knew this was coming.

"You are carrying a cub. It's surprisingly healthy after what you've been through. But..."

"But it's not a Nara'kya," she finished for him, knowing it deep inside.

His gaze shot up. "You knew."

"The Combiners... the Massai... they did horrible things to me. They destroyed dozens of my cubs and then stole the blessings of the Great Ones from me." Tears streamed down her cheeks and she choked on her words.

"Speak to the priests also," the doctor said gently. "They want to know. They want to help. We all want to help. You don't deserve such a horror. As news spreads, you know we will all stand behind you and help you recover if it's in any way possible."

She curled up and sobbed. The idea of telling her friends about the parasite was gone from her mind. She had her own life to live and her own turmoil to deal with now.

Nara'kya had a quick gestation. Just over two months later, her cub was born. A little scaled male. She knew of the father. A beast of sharp claws and fierce teeth. When the Massai tied her down and forced her tail up for him, she feared for her life, yet almost prayed at that moment that he would kill her and end her nightmare. She never could have imagined that his seed spraying deep inside her, driven by the parasite in his brain, would be the start of the nightmare of the rest of her life.

She loved her baby dearly. It was part of her being. As a Nara'kya, this love was built into her very essence. But he was a mindless creature. He could not love in return and he had no sense of family or friend. She was devastated for months after he had to be killed to save her life after he tore apart one of her other children. She bore the scars as a reminder forever more and no amount of consoling made her whole again.

The story spread like the flash of a supernova. Her people were a strong race. United across the stars even though traveling between them was such a challenge. They knew there were other creatures out there and now they knew the Massai existed.

The Massai would fade from their memory for quite some time. A story told to cubs to keep them in line. A terrible creature to incite fear at horror entertainment venues. But deep in the back of the Nara'kya mindset, the Massai were the darkest of the devils, stealing the light of their gods.

Though the heat of their rage dimmed over the centuries, the cats would never forget.

* * *

"This whole thing worries me," Nightfire told his mate as he went over the data he was collating.

"It's an unknown race. We don't even know where they come from." She rubbed his shoulders, trying to help him calm down. She'd not seen him this riled up before.

"True. But the way he reacts to Inner Fire... It's so odd. A Faradai's spark is in him. He can probably sense Trenadi even when they're phased. Jorric even explained that he showed up at his door when he was lodging at the spaceport. It was like he knew Jorric was there somehow." He gave a ruffle of his feathered wings.

"Nothing shows him to have his own Inner Fire at all either. So it's not a like-like affinity." He shuddered. "Yet there's something about it that gives me a chill. Something that feels horribly wrong."

His words tarnished her mood. "Your chills... I don't like them..." she said softly.

"I don't either," he admitted. "We just don't know what's going on, so I can't even really speculate."

Her playfulness was gone, quenched by his worry. "Then let's find answers together," she said, licking his cheek and looking at the data.

* * *

Jorric was almost desperate to have a Faradai sense him when he was phased. He was taking wild risks and even walking straight through huge ones. But not a glance, not a shiver from them. None of the behavior that indicated even a passing hint of being able to detect him.

Yet this Steve creature was showing more signs of being able to sense him every day. Even when Steve was asleep, getting too close would wake him up. It was getting much more difficult to perform scans and Jorric was pretty sure his ability to monitor the strange creature directly in secret was swiftly coming to an end.

He would continue though. He'd make his presence known in a neutral place and perhaps see if he could befriend this Steve thing. Learn about him from his own words and still take information back to the Maji. Even phased out without him, his scanner would work just fine.

He was still sleeping in the lodge, but he was back to needing to stay phased. While phased, the human was still sensing him, but not actively seeking him out like he did that one night. It was tiring, but necessary for now.

* * *

Even though they all cared about each other deeply, the demands of the geis strained their relationship. Steve and his friends were reunited after about a week when Jalli became needful. Fess felt the demands a few days later.

They all wanted what was best for each other, but when what should be a good thing was poisoned by a threat against their life. It was all they could do to not break down. They'd escaped. The nightmare should be over. They should be safe and able to enjoy spending time with each other because they wanted to, not because they were forced to.

Worse, when they were originally brought back together and housed in a new place, they quickly discovered that something in the environment was triggering the needs in all three of them simultaneously twice or three times a day. The Faradai spread out and searched everything, trying to make some connection to something that was happening, but no headway was to be found. Finally they had to try different places to live. Though the trigger was reduced in frequency, it was not completely gone until they returned to the original, uncomfortable medical building they'd started in. That was a week of stress and they hadn't recovered from the strain at all, despite it being nearly two of this planet's months later.

After the week of chaos, Steve wasn't feeling the local pull steadily anymore, but he was more aware of the distant glimmer. It was far out of his reach for the time being though. The local ping on his desires was teasing. For a few seconds at a time, he'd feel drawn in a direction, then it would fade. Never solid enough to focus on.

It saddened him so greatly to see his friends so sullen. On the plateau they'd finally started to break out of the nightmare. The sex had been wonderful and loving for just that one moment in time. Now it was an interruption and a pain and even he was beginning to dread the sad call of, "Steve... the geis is here again."

He struck angrily at the wall, splitting his knuckles and yelping as the girls jumped. Rashani was supportive as always. Never questioning, always loving, as her Warmth flowed through him and took away the injury. It was worth the pain to get the hot tingle of the Warmth.

Almost. Almost worth it.

"Stop doing that," Fess said meekly. "It's gotta hurt. You leave blood on the wall every time you do it." She looked down. "And it's scary."

Steve looked at his hand. "I'm sorry, Fess. I'm just so angry at the geis. This curse on us all. It's tearing us apart. We're not free of them until it's gone too and I don't want any of us to still be slaves to anything."

"It's bad, but that's not a reason to hurt yourself more over it," she answered softly, walking over and taking his hand, then rubbing her cheek against it soothingly.

Sy had given up on being grumpy at him each time he hurt himself anymore. The poor cat suffered through it silently and gave him the cold shoulder for a while afterward. Even the happy feelings they had were becoming less-satisfying to him and it was obvious he was losing his will to be happy. He didn't even groom himself properly and some places of his fur were not the sleek, shiny black that they should be.

Steve shook his head. "I'm not going to wait around anymore. We need to find a solution!" He steeled himself, about to punch the wall again, when he was suddenly and thankfully distracted by that tug and pull from very nearby, and it was not going away now.

* * *

Jorric couldn't handle it. He'd been watching from stealth for all this time and watching how all three of them suffered from the demands put on them. He wasn't sure what to think about the human, but he didn't like seeing any of them hurting this way. The human was getting so upset that he was often doing damage to himself.

He'd consulted with the Maji and they'd sifted through the scans both there and off-world. It was insidious and well-hidden. A parasite native to an animal species on a non-sentient planet. They crunched the data to determine exactly what had happened and to find a solution.

Today was the day. His phased presence was far too obvious to Steve, so he would take his findings to the Faradai and the three and he would cure them. He also hoped that it would ingratiate the human to him and ease the introduction of his presence as a friend.

He released his phasing out of sight of anyone in a place that he could normally get to unobserved and walked into the building with the data pad.

A group of Faradai that were intent on the discussion they were having about the three poor slaves looked up, their words fading away as they took in the sight of the Trenadi. He was wearing his fine clothing now, at least to meet with them. Silky draped fancery that was more prone to get in the way than anything. But it looked exquisite despite how much more complicated it made the dance.

"I was advised by a friend that you have some victims here. The Maji decided to help and have determined what is wrong with them, so I brought the cure for it," he said. Trenadi were excellent at sounding official and important.

"Maji involved?" the largest Faradai said. "We haven't even heard from them in... in a very long time. Centuries at least. Are they still well?"

"They are," he assured them. He held up the data pad. "The victims have a parasite in their brains. Each one absorbs the DNA of its host so it can evade detection by pretending to be a normal part of their body. Even your Warmth won't find anything amiss unless you specifically look for the thing that is both them and not them."

Then he held up the injector. "This links to the parasites' DNA. It paralyzes the infection and keeps it from acting and will also make it much easier for you to find. Then your healing can remove it."

The Faradai looked at each other, then one of the mid-sized ones excused itself. It returned a few moments later. "It's true. Looking for what you describe, I can sense it easily. It linked itself to parts that control their hearts and other vital organs, so if it activates that link, it kills quickly."

All of the Faradai were instantly interested and stood to see this odd new friend to the patients.

* * *

Steve was not sure what was happening when he felt an unexplained and unannounced wash of Warmth scanning him. He let out a sigh when it stopped. It felt good.

That draw was right there though. It had his full attention and it was getting closer. He could track it through the wall, though he had no idea what it was or why he wanted it.

Several Faradai came through the doorway first, but when the creature he was drawn to passed the edge of the wall, his heart caught for a moment. He wasn't sure what he'd expected. Not the bipedal dragon-like creature he saw though.

While the Faradai had thick, lush fur and walked on all four paws, this person had fine scales, making his skin look leathery like the belly of an iguana. Dewclaws graced his shanks and massive wings folded against his back. Steve was pretty sure they looked big enough to allow him to fly.

Fine, light cloth in astounding colors draped across his body, obviously very much for decoration, but also out of the way of movement. Long horns curved off his head, graceful in their arch, and his eyes were intense.

It was all Steve could do to keep from leaping over and grabbing this creature, since he really couldn't make any proper sense of the attraction the Trenadi bore for him and that seemed to his mind like the most logical solution.

"We have great news!" the biggest Faradai announced. "Our friend here has help from the Maji and they found what is causing the geis. They sent a cure." He nodded to the bipedal dragon, who walked up to Jalli.

"You're ready?" Jorric asked the Faradai, and he got a wing dip of agreement. He pressed the injector against her neck as close to her skull as he could.

Jalli squeaked in surprise. She was monitoring herself and the drug that was just put into her made the parasite obvious to her Warmth. "Ew, ew, ew!" she exclaimed and her eyes flashed even before the other Faradai took action. She jerked her head back in response to her own vehemence, then the glow faded.

"That was it? It's gone! I won't have the geis anymore?"

"You won't," Jorric agreed with a smile. "You're free of it." He walked over to Fess and pressed the object against her neck.

Jalli was once again much faster to jump on the need to destroy the evil that was plaguing them than the other dragons and Fess exclaimed in surprise at the tingle of healing. The little vixen touched her head wonderingly as Jorric walked over to Steve.

Steve had to mentally hold himself back from reaching for the Trenadi, shaking as the hand came so close. There was only the contact of the injector and a feeling of a tiny bit of pressure. Then he was delightfully distracted as Jalli's Warmth pounced on the disabled parasite and evicted it with great prejudice from his head. The enthusiastic use of her Warmth was substantial overkill, but he was tingly and hot and loved it.

"We're free!" Jalli exclaimed and Fess ran over to hug her, then dragged the distracted human to the little Faradai to hug everybody all at once before she started crying in joy. "We're finally free," she said softly.

Steve still had enough wits about himself to recognize the importance of this moment. So much weight lifted from them. He hugged his friends close. "No need to mate or die. We can give our love because we want to, not because we have to."

Even Sy picked up on the joy they felt and pranced over to prrowl and nuzzle and lick at them. He didn't understand or even know what just happened, but he knew his pack was not stressed now and much happier, and that made him happy.

Steve became aware of that desire and pull and realized the Trenadi was right behind him.

"You are Steve, right?"

"I - Yes? I think so. That's the name I chose here. I don't remember anything at all about my past." His brow furrowed. "And I'm -still- not going to leave them until I know they'll be okay." He fidgeted. "Or don't want me anymore," he said sullenly.

Fess took his hand. "We've been through so much together. I... I still want you. You were the only one who made me happy in this whole mess." She took a deep breath. "After the geis, sex is the last thing on my mind right now. I want to not feel a need for that. I need to feel a want." She grabbed him and clung to him.

"I want to stay with you two also," Jalli said. "Steve is special to me and he's so far away from home. He can probably never go back really. I feel like he's mine now." She looked at Fess. "Ours." Sy meowed. "Yes, yours too."

* * *

Jorric was keenly aware of how intent the human's gaze was on him. He wanted to get more information, but this was a bad time to pull him away from his friends.

"Steve, I'm going to want to talk to you soon. I'll be back." He turned and left quickly, glancing over his shoulder before he stepped out through the door and out of sight. He phased out, walking to the exit and taking flight instantly to report to the Maji.

As he flew, he considered what he'd felt. It was a gaze and a pressure almost. When he phased out, the attention was gone. But before he phased he could feel it through the wall. At least its absence when he phased meant he could escape if he needed to.

Escape? Why did that thought come to mind? It was... he put his finger on it. That attention from the human. It triggered his prey reflexes. The human's attention was full of something that could only be described as hunger.

* * *

"Hunger?" Nightfire asked, evaluating the statement.

"Yes. That's all I could call it."

"You don't have to go back," the Maji told the Trenadi. "If you don't feel completely safe around him. I don't want to cause you discomfort or harm."

"I'll be careful," Jorric promised. "I don't like being afraid. We need to know what is happening." He looked off into the distance where the spaceport was. "I'm going to give them until tonight to get resituated, then approach him again. I'll keep a datapad recording and monitoring everything all the way."

Nightfire considered. "Sapphire," he called.

The Trenadi was very startled when the second Maji walked from the cave. This changed it from normal Maji involvement into Serious Business to have two of them.

"Sapphire, I'm going to go with Jorric and get a small group of the Faradai who know the situation the best. I feel bad to do so, but I want to include the little one that Steve has been with. It won't be a long trip. I am going to take them to the Trenadi to pass knowledge and data there and think on what could possibly be going on. Should be a few days at most. The Trenadi have the best understanding of Inner Fire aside from our people. That is obviously what this creature is responding to."

He turned his attention to Jorric. "Go rest. If you return to the spaceport, stay phased out, but I'd prefer that you find a comfortable and safe place further from it than here and rest without phasing." His eyes flickered brighter than their normal soft glow. "There is a Faradai village a short bit away. See if they will provide a place to rest until the night when Steve will normally be asleep. Then we will go there together. I will gather the Faradai and take them. You go to your lodge room and set up your monitoring, then invite Steve over."

His eyes flickered again. "Be safe, don't get hurt. If you have to, I'd rather you hurt him than let him hurt you. Even if you need to kill him."

Jorric swallowed. Such a statement from a Maji was - once more - Serious Business.

"It's more important to get the information safely to somebody who can act on it. Once Steve heads back to his friend, bring the data to Sapphire." Nightfire gestured in the direction of the Faradai town. "Go now. Save up your strength to be ready for whatever happens."

The dragon nodded and spread his wings, taking off and swiftly growing smaller in the distance.

Nightfire looked at his mate. The chills he got told him this was something bigger than them, but he didn't want to tell her that and worry her. They would be careful. They could find out what was happening, get the information they needed, and get away without anybody getting hurt. If things came to the worst, Steve would be hurt or killed. That would be sad for the two friends, but it shouldn't need to come to that.

* * *

She looked at her mate. "I can feel the tension in you from here," she murmured.

"I don't want anybody to be hurt," Nightfire said softly. "They've been through so much together."

"You have a wonderful heart. You haven't become a cynic over the centuries like so many of our people." She walked up to him and slid her arms behind him, under his wings. "That's why I love you. That's why we're so right together for all this time."

She continued pressing forward, pushing him gently backward as her words sifted through the obvious haze in his mind. She spoke the truth. They'd been mates for far longer than a Maji pairing normally lasted. Maji would take mates for a time, but the heart of an effectively immortal race was not to be tied down. Congenial partings of ways were important. Having a malicious ex for millennia was a bad idea.

To have a mate was to have an opportunity to grow, and a person they shared their heart with for a time. Whether that be growing by knowledge, or by love, or by offspring - which was, in and of itself, an uncommon occurrence for his people - each mate was there for the two to become more than they were before.

When a Maji chose a mate of another species, there was a limit to their time together, defined by the life span of their lover. When two Maji like they were together, the time was limited by when one of them would no longer grow. These two surpassed the norm by a grand amount and were that much stronger for it.

"You know I will always be here for you," she purred to him, his wings bumping the smooth bark of a tree and being forced apart so she could press his back against the trunk. "This is more stress than you deserve to have. We have to see the mission through, but we don't need to give you muscle knots while we do."

Her hand moved around to his front and between their bodies, sliding down his belly to fondle his sheath. She smiled at the deep breath he drew and at the way he sank further back against the tree while she coaxed his flesh from its hiding place.

"Just one knot that you should have, and that I want," she murmured, nibbling his ear and lifting her leg to his side as she stretched up on the other to put herself above him. Her hand hooked beneath her lifted leg and even as he was slipping from his sheath, she guided him into her warmth.

She savored the moan that was drawn from his lips and moved her hand down her own front now as she pulled herself closer to him. The slip of his flesh from his sheath and into her was so delightfully warm, and soon his hips gave a twitch, pushing him up until his sheath met her lips. Her hand behind him caught his bottom.

"Mmm... Stay still... stay right here..." she said as she felt his soft knot starting to press in.

With his full length inside, she found her own nub with her fingers. The electric tingle her touch sent through her made her grace his flesh with a squeeze and the heat to bear down on was wonderful.

"Stay. Completely. Still," she whispered as a challenge to him. Then she started to grind herself over his shaft as she rubbed with a fingertip.

The warm day soon bore the gasps of the powerful lovers. Her motions were not long thrusts, just a steady grind, but with his heat in her, it was just right for both of them. Her fingertip on her own clit kept her squeezing him hard and as his knot filled, the pressure was wonderful for both of them.

Her face pressed into the crook of his neck and soon had to let her finger fall away from her body. She was too close to the edge. It was a slow grind, her tight, muscular form surrounding him as her feline tail swiped rapidly from side to side and her wings mantled around him.

She could finally feel his vulpine knot full within her and his body was shaking as he took the challenge to hold completely still. With his knot trapped deep within, the muscles of her leg tensed, pushing against the ground just enough to lift her away and tug behind the trapped bulb.

She won as he sucked air quickly through his teeth and his hips jerked up, driving every last bit of him into her depths just before the delightful buck of his flesh that she knew and loved. She clung to him with her arms as the stretch and fullness drove her to her peak. As the first hot spray of his juices splashed into her, her velvety passage clenched and squeezed in rhythm, their moment shared together and brought to culmination.

"We are so very right for each other," she purred when they were starting to catch their breath. "I love you so much."

"I love you," he agreed. "I look forward to exploring through to the end with you."

She loved to hear this from him. It was a hint at what might be. It was so rare for Maji to pair off for this long as it was, but there were whispers amongst their dear friends that the two of them might be eternity mates. Always growing, always loving, always there for each other until the end of time. There were only four such pairs at all, and if she was to be half of the fifth pair, she wanted it to be with him.

Forever.

* * *

"I'll just be gone for a day or two," Jalli assured them.

"We just got fixed though!" Fess whined. "What if you don't come back? I don't want you to leave us!" She glared up at the tall, feather-winged fox. He had a distinct aura of power about him that was inescapable, even beyond the inner, flickering glow of his eyes. "You better bring her back the MOMENT you can! Steve! Tell him!"

Steve was open-mouthed and only barely holding himself back from an urge to leap on the fox. He had no idea what he'd do if he did, but... The pull he got when he saw the dragon was nothing compared to this. When Fess batted his arm insistently, he barely pulled his attention away from the Maji. "Wha-what?"

"Tell him to bring her back soon or else!" Fess insisted.

Steve swallowed, still in a daze. "Y-yes... bring her back... soon."

The fox was studying him intently, but he couldn't shake the feeling at all, even though this Maji did not look amused.

"We have the blindfolds," the Faradai said as she walked back in, distributing the four that she was not putting on her own face to her companions, including Jalli.

"Make sure that you do not remove them under any circumstances until I give you the all clear," Nightfire advised them as they tied the cloth tightly over their eyes. "Keep your eyes completely closed, shield yourself from -every- color of light, high and low both. It's critical to your safety."

The four others crowded around the winged fox and promptly turned into Faradai-shaped mirrors, reflecting everything away from themselves.

"I'll be fine," Jalli assured Fess once more, then she licked Steve's cheek, making him jump and lose his concentration once more. He'd been getting a nearly tunnel-vision focus on the Maji. She stepped close to the others and also turned into a mirror. Then suddenly the fox's eyes flashed brightly as he glanced piercingly at Steve, and they were gone.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Fess wailed, making Steve cringe as he came back to his senses finally.

"Maji can travel through slip space without any ship to help them," the remaining Faradai said. "Really fast, too. From what I understand, the trip they are taking would normally be a few days' worth of slip travel in a ship, but they'll arrive in a few minutes." Even he sounded impressed and awed, so Steve figured this was serious business.

"It'll be okay, Fess. They'll be back soon. I figure if something so powerful that it can do what normally takes a ship and do it much better wants your help, it must be a big deal," Steve said, gathering the little vixen into his arms as her whiskers quivered.

"They better," she said sullenly, her ears flicking back.

Steve was only halfway paying attention though. That distant pull to the glimmer that he'd felt. He now recognized it as the Maji now that he'd been closer. It felt very much like the pull to the dragon person. But he still felt the same glimmer as of the Maji off in the distance, so there must be another one maybe.

But more importantly, now that the blinding pull of the Maji was gone, he also felt the bright spark of the dragon person, and once again from the region of the space port.

"...Sy will be happier too and... Steve? Steve, are you okay?" Fess shook him gently.

"What? Oh, yes, Sy has been sullen. But he's grooming himself again and looks a lot better. I'm so glad we got cured."

She looked at him measuredly. "You must be really tired," she finally decided. "Let's go to bed and snuggle. I really need to just be held right now."

"Yeah, hold..." Steve said distractedly.

"Excuse me," the Faradai who walked in said. "Steve? The Trenadi that was here earlier would like to see you briefly right now."

Steve perked instantly. Going to that spark? Yes! Definitely!

"Now I lose you too?!" Fess cried.

"I'll only be gone for a half hour at most," he assured her, getting up and following the Faradai, too enthralled by the idea of meeting him to even pay attention to Fess's protests as he left.

"This way, right?" he asked as he exited the portal into the spaceport.

"Yes," the Faradai said, trotting again as the human took off running.

That glow. That heat. That delicious heat. It was close. The same big building. The lodge. That was it. He had to find out why he was drawn so strongly to it.

"Ah, you obviously know the way!" the Faradai called to him as he ran up the ramp. "I'll wait for you just outside the room."

Steve slapped the wall, then impatiently slapped it again. He lifted his hand to whack it harder when it suddenly melted away and was face to face with the Trenadi. The dragon looked startled and took a step back as Steve barged in.

"What... what are you?" Steve asked, staring.

"I'm a Trenadi. We're still trying to figure out what you are. I was hoping to ask you some..."

"You have something about you... something that pulls on me," Steve said, interrupting. He reached out timidly toward Jorric.

The dragon frowned. "...questions. Questions and answers first, Steve, please, focus."

Then Steve's reach made contact with the dragon's hand. It was ecstasy! It was the most amazing thing ever for the human and as the feeling surged for what seemed like an eternity, he hoped it would never stop.

* * *

Jorric screamed in agony as his own Fire burned through him at the touch and yanked his hand away. He barely got his Heat under control as he stumbled back from the dazed man, eyes wide with horror. Straining through the pain, he managed to phase out and snag the data pad from nearby, taking it out of phase with him. He spread his wings and flew as hard as he could, desperate for relief from the flames and only slowly finding comfort in the cold, night air.

He was gasping for breath as he landed and dropped his phasing. "Sapphire! SAPPHIRE!"

"Jorric! You're running really hot, are you okay?"

He shoved the data pad into her hands. "Get this information to Nightfire, now! I have to go warn the Faradai," he gasped, then took flight again, phasing out immediately despite the pain it caused.

He couldn't stand it, pulling against the air as hard as he could, trying to quench his flames. He barely got over the ridge before he lost control of his Inner Fire. In an immense flash of heat, his existence was wiped, leaving a smoldering hole in the treetops.

* * *

The Faradai who had escorted Steve to the lodge turned as the wall vanished. Ahh, the meeting was over. Except... Wait... No, the room's back wall was pushing outward, ejecting the contents into the hallway. This only happened if the room's owner left the range of the lodge. Effectively an eviction, or assumption that the person forgot the items. The possessions would be collected by an automated system and stored for some time.

He watched as spare clothing was carefully ejected from the room space, then a clunk as a different, odd object fell out too. It smelled very strange. The dragon leaned down to peer at it. It looked like a metal vertebrae, possibly like an implant from somebody's neck. It smelled like flesh and was still dripping a little bit of spinal fluid.

How strange.

* * *

"It's okay, Sy. Everybody will be back soon," Fess said, brushing the big cat as he grew more and more frantic, yowling louder and louder.

She sighed and gazed across the room, a small smile on her face. "We're free. We're finally completely free. Jalli will be back in just a few days, and Steve will be back even much sooner. We can heal, and we can love again."

She put her hand on her chest. "For the first time in so long, I'm finally happ..."

* * *

::Nightfire, get a receiver, you need to see this! Quick, oh heat, this is bad. Jorric is dead!::

Sapphire's voice came through the slip comm hole and startled her mate as he was trying to explain the situation to the Trenadi. The final words caused gasps from all around.

"Dead?!" one Trenadi demanded. "What happened?"

An aid was rushing up with a data pad and quickly picked up on the transmission coming through the slip comm hole. A video stream started playing once it was quickly fully received.

"That's Steve!" Jalli exclaimed, craning her neck to see as everybody crowded around.

From a vantage point on a desk, the video captured the scene and words as Steve ran in and started reaching for Jorric. The agonized scream when he made contact put all ears back in worry, and then Jorric vanished.

"He phased," one of the Trenadi commented.

Steve was just coming out of his daze and his body was dissolving into a deep, black smoke when the data pad that was recording the video was jostled and the frame pulled away. Then only a glimpse of the roiling thing that had just been Steve a moment before as Jorric flew desperately through the ceiling.

"He has to have the data pad, how is he dead?!" the Trenadi demanded.

::He passed the pad off to me and flew off, then immolated. Complete loss of control of his inner fire. I could feel the heat even from...:: Sapphire started to say, then her words faded.

Nightfire had a feeling of dread. "Sapphire?!"

::Steve? Is that you? Are you in there somewhere?! Stop! Stop or I'll be forced...::

Whatever she was talking to obviously wasn't listening as she interrupted herself with the distinct sound of her Inner Fire beam going off.

Nightfire winced. That would definitely utterly destroy the human, or whatever remained of him after what they just saw. He felt a pang of sadness and looked down at Fess, whose face was a mask of horror at what was unfolding.

Then he heard something he didn't expect. Her beam fired again, then a third time, and the distinct crackle of Sapphire's shielding. But...?

The scream that tore through the air from the other side of the slip-comm hole ripped at him more deeply than he thought anything possibly could. Despite how extremely brief it was before the hole vanished, he felt as if a part of his soul had just been torn out through his chest.

Gasping for breath, he shielded himself and dropped into slip, putting more power into it than he ever had before, running dangerously hot.

He came out of slip mere seconds later, his wings radiating so much heat from his massive burn of Inner Fire that they were glowing. He missed?! He was in deep space! How could he have mis-slipped at such a critical time?! He had to save his beloved ma...!

But even as these thoughts were rolling through his head, his senses were telling him the last thing he ever wanted to know:

He was in the right place.

A sparkle... a glimmer off his shield caught his attention. Numb, in a haze, he reached out and caught the tiny grain between his fingers, holding it tightly. It and thousands of others like it were the only matter in space around him for over three thousand light years. Even the light of the stars that had been traversing this area was gone, plucked out of existence by a destructive force that did not care about the speed limit of light.

Sapphire? His eternity mate?

Gone.

* * *

"What... what's happening?" Jalli asked to the set of Trenadi around her as they spoke furiously fast in their own language, which her translator was not deciphering.

They were gesticulating furiously at numerous data pads and other people had brought in projection holo systems, quickly turning the meeting room into something more akin to a war room as people rushed about.

Jalli was the smallest of the five Faradai and the others were crowding around her protectively to keep her from getting run over by the people rushing about.

She was even more confused by all the little places in thin air spitting out sounds and voices that she couldn't understand a lick of. Then suddenly the vast majority of those voices cut off and the few that remained became panicky in tone. Most of the commotion in the room halted as a sense of dread was slowly creeping over the atmosphere.

"Pathkeepers!"

Jalli perked. The Tranadi who had just run in shouted that word in Extended Trade Language, so she could understand it.

"You have to see this!" He rushed to them with a data pad and they all crowded around it.

Jalli whimpered and strained her ears, trying to hear anything, but the first thing she heard was the release of a dozen Trenadi breaths at once.

"Great Heat... what happened?" one of the important ones murmured.

"That was from their home world," the courier said chokingly.

The last of the disembodied voices were very infrequent now. Questioning, unsure, calling out in turn.

There was a sudden *Zwwwip!* and Nightfire appeared, his wings once again glowing hot and his eyes brighter than Jalli could gaze on before they dimmed. The Maji slumped, but the Trenadi didn't give him a moment before one grabbed him and stuffed the data pad in his hand. He watched it for just a moment, then took two steps away and vanished again.

Jalli watched all this, fearful, and then several Trenadi were ushering the five Faradai out of the court to a comfortable waiting room. The room was big for Trenadi, but the five larger Faradai were somewhat cramped.

Nobody said anything. Nobody dared to.

Then they all swung their heads around at a small cough. Nightfire dragged himself into the room and dropped to his haunches beside Jalli, putting an arm across her neck to support himself as he pulled out a data pad.

"Nightfire? Your fur is singed! Are you okay?" Jalli asked worriedly as the others crowded around to see.

"This was our galaxy," the Maji said softly. "Your world was here." He tapped an area to make it glow. "Mine... here..." Another tap and another glow close to hers. "My mate... my beloved mate..."

He choked for a moment before continuing, "...was on your world, along with tens of millions of your people. My world had billions of my people. Countless souls around them..."

Jalli was aware of her wings hitting the ground. "...Was?" she asked.

He tapped a control on the pad and a huge circle of stars went black, the glowing spots he'd made fading. "This is what is left of our galaxy. The rift is nearly a quarter of the galaxy across, perfectly spherical by astrometric checks."

Jalli stared, then barely managed to squeak out, "All the... people? Fess? Sy? Steve? All the families and friends? All the rest of us Faradai?"

"Steve is the one who did this. He's still out there, somewhere, making us all terrified. Everybody else? Gone. Every bit of matter in the rift. Gone." He clutched at his chest. "Sapphire..."

* * *

Steve didn't seem like an appropriate name for what caused such a catastrophic event. Soon he was known as The World Eater. The Faradai were now a shadow of a race, only five left alive. The Maji were slightly better off, about 14,000 of them out elsewhere in the galaxy when the Rift occurred.

509 Sol (Human Earth) years later, humans made their presence known to the Local Galactic Civilization. Universal Timekeeping was set up based on their hubris. The Sol revolution around its star became the standard year and the creation of the rift was defined as Year Zero.

Humans brought a concept that was unheard of in any other race that achieved slip travel: Greed.

Greed for money. Greed for possessions. Greed for power...

A greed ingrained so deeply into their very being that any one of them exposed to any level of Inner Fire could become another World Eater.

The Maji were a shattered remnant of their once glory.

The Trenadi? Desperately trying to breed Inner Fire out of their own people since a mere year and a half after the first human encounter created the Rift.

The World Eater is still out there. It drifts, then it does something like a slip jump in a random direction. If it catches that glimmer... that pull of inner fire, it goes toward it. Devoid of thought, feeling, or good that anybody can determine, it seeks only to consume.

The Magi quickly set up handlers. They would find the World Eater when it jumped and tease it, taunting it with their own souls and slowly leading it away, staying far from the few known worlds where Inner Fire still burned brightly in the souls of the inhabitants.

The random jumps are calculated out and the utmost care taken to avoid any sparks of Inner Fire that may draw it off course or any accidental consumption of a Maji (which would take out numerous stars and their systems in most places). They estimate that they will have it far enough away from the galaxy to never pose a threat again... within six thousand years.

A thousand years later, Nightfire still carries the tiny grain of glimmer that was once his mate. Jalli still has nightmares , surviving day to day as her small group only recently started working with geneticists to map out a plan for bringing her people back. And Rashani? Well, to find out what became of her, you'd have to ask Steve, and he's not answering since his feast.

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