Cold Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

12/22/97:

    Chapter 3

Fox seemed to wander into the Medical Bay rather than coming
there with a purpose. Rubbing the back of... her... neck,
she looked about as normal as she could. The clothing she
had picked out was pretty loose, hanging around her body
more than off it. Her hair was brushed, but was just flat,
not even pulled back. In all she looked rather bland, but I
couldn't actually knock it. I doubted anyone would be able
to adapt fast to such a sudden change.

She gave me a sidelong glance, her tail moving slowly behind
her. "You look worried, Rachel."

I shook my head. "No, not that. It's just strange to see you
like this." I could tell from her reaction that wasn't
exactly what I needed to say. I tried for a quick recovery.
"What I mean is, you're you, and it shows. It's strange to
see your mannerisms coming from Oriana."

Twisting her ears slightly, she nodded. "I can agree with
that." She shook her head slightly, rubbing her fingers
between her eyes. "Things are more than slightly different
in this body."

I walked over to stand next to her. "Holding up well?"

"Pretty much... sleeping, though, was an interesting
experience."

"Oh?" Was all the response I could muster.

She nodded. "I slept, for a full night. Actual sleep, not a
magical one like before. It feels strange."

The ship's doctor walked into the room about then, his
steady pace easily cutting through the ground to where we
stood. He looked between the two of us, then over to where
the real Oriana lay in her drug induced slumber.

Jadith came in after him, rubbing her eyes slightly and
yawning. She seemed to be unusual for an elf in that she
didn't wake up very easily in the mornings. In my experience
elves could usually go from a deep sleep to wide awake in a
matter of seconds.

She walked over to us, yawning again. "Morning, you two,"
she blinked, looking at Fox. "Sins, you look horrible."

Fox rolled her eyes. "Not sure how to look good like this."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The doctor asked,
removing the IV drip from Oria's arm that had been keeping
her sedated.

Fox nodded. "Yes, this will be the best time for it."

The doctor nodded, walking into a side room then coming back
with a small bottle of a clear liquid. "I doubt this will
wake him up. We used it on both of you with no results."

She chewed her lip slightly. "I'm awake, she should have
followed right after. This should wake her up."

The doctor nodded, connecting a clean needle to a syringe,
then filling it from the bottle. Working the plunger he
forced any air out of the syringe, then walked to where
Fox's body lay.

In a quick set of moves, the doctor cleaned a section on the
upper arm and inserted the needle, letting whatever drug it
contained  flow into Oria's system.

"He should be awake soon, if at all." the doctor explained,
disposing of the needle and putting the rest of the syringe
in the medical cleaning system.

Fox nodded to him, then waved her paw gently. "I would like
to have her see people she knows until she understands
what's happened, so could you please wait outside. We will
call you if we need you."

He opened his mouth to say something, then his eyes
connected with Fox's. He just shut his mouth and walked out
of the bay.

Licking her lips, Fox pulled a chair next to the bed and,
careful of her tail, sat down. Jadith sat on the other side
of the bed, using the chair that had already been waiting
for her.

"What do we tell him?" Jadith asked, looking down at the
slowly waking form.

Taking a deep breath, Fox looked at me, then at Jadith. "We
tell her the truth about anything she asks. It should only
take a few seconds before she realizes that something has
changed. I don't know how she'll react... she may panic...
or take it as well as I did, or better."

"We'll know soon enough," Jadith said, "he's starting to
wake up."

Fox looked perfectly calm, staring down at her own body. Her
tail, though, was twisting wildly through the air. "Yes, he
is." The words seem to take an effort from her, draining a
lot of energy that she really didn't seem to have.

Oriana moaned softly as he (that sounded even stranger than
calling Fox 'she') started to fully awaken.

"Oriana," Jadith whispered, resting her hand in his. "You're
going to be all right."

His eyes looked over her body, flickering with a deliberate
stare that truly was of Oriana. They locked eyes for a few
seconds, then finally broke again as he turned to look up at
the ceiling.

Jadith almost instantly had a glass of water in her hands,
holding it out to him. He propped himself up on one elbow
and took it, drinking it quickly, spilling some as he missed
his mouth.

Coughing, he looked back at her. "What happened?" he asked,
the pacing and tone of his speech off enough to be slightly
disturbing.

He noticed it as well, reaching up for his throat, then
stopping in mid-reach. Quickly sitting up he looked at me,
squinting. "I can barely see." he stated, starting to shake.

Fox very slowly reached over and picked up his glasses,
opening them and placing them on Oriana's face.

He slowly stopped squinting, his eyes focusing on me, then
turned to look at Jadith. Finally he looked to his other
side, first moving his eyes then slowly moving his head to
match.

He and Fox locked eyes, looking at each other for a few
seconds before Oriana spoke. "Fox?"

She nodded.

He closed his eyes, his body trembling under the sheets.

"Grasion switched us," she explained.

He didn't responded.

She nodded, "I know... it's strange."

He nodded, pulling his legs up under the sheets till they
were against his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees.
"I'm scared."

Fox took one of his hands. "I know, so am I. Ken's trying to
find a way to undo it, though."

He laughed, a soft laugh, out of place with his current
form. "How? How can Ken do anything? This is the final
punishment, the destruction of the soul. The first death for
those who have committed the greatest of sins." he started
to shake even more.

Chewing on her lip, she seemed to take it in stride. "This
is not a punishment from Thryn. There was so much weight of
death on that man's soul that what you did was a release for
the universe, something that outweighs any sin from what you
did."

He was trying to cry, Fox's body going through the motions,
but no tears coming. "Why then?" he whispered.

"It keeps me from using the fold to go back after him."

He shook his head. "No... please, no... that can't be it. I
deserve this."

"Oria," Fox hissed. He suddenly snapped his head around to
look at her.

"If it's your punishment, why did we switch and not just you
change?" she asked, I could tell she was holding her voice
in check, but her ears were almost flat.

He paused, his lips trying to form words. "I... I want the
Book." he finally said, starting to stutter just slightly.

Bending down, Fox opened one of the drawers under the bed,
and sat back up with a book in her paws. It was two inches
thick, and bound in leather. She gently handed it to Oriana,
"I though you might want it."

He nodded, opening the cover and running her fingers down
the first page. He looked back up, moving over all of us.
"Can I be alone?"

"No," Jadith replied. "This is not a walk-away attack on
your body. You need someone to watch you until I'm sure you
won't do anything stupid."

Fox nodded. "She did the same thing to me last night. Don't
worry, she won't be a bother."

He nodded, looking back down at the book in her lap. Finally
the look on his face changed, so small of a change I
couldn't tell in what way it had, just that it was a
different expression.

"Fine then, but you two," he looked to me then to Fox. "Come
back later?" he asked, suddenly timid.

Fox broke into a smile. "Of course," she said as she stood
up.

Oriana smiled back and started to read through the book. Fox
walked past me and motioned for me to follow her out of the
room. I did, and we exited the bay, using a different door
than the doctor had used.

Once out in the hallway, with the door closed, Fox seemed to
fold over, sinking backwards against the wall, and sliding
down it a foot.

"Fox?"

She looked up at me. "If Ken can't find a way to undo this,
I don't think either of us will really last."

"Fox!"

She brushed some hair from in front of her eyes, pushing it
over her head. "I mean it. Oria fears this as a great
punishment, and frankly I'm not handling this as well as I
first thought. If Ken says he can't put us back I'm not sure
how well either of us can get back on with each other's
lives."

I walked over to her. "Would some work help take your mind
off of this?"

She gave a sharp laugh. "Anything! Why, you have a
government you need overthrown?"

"No, there's a meeting in an hour. Really a progress report
on how all our different plans on getting back to the base
are panning out. We're also going to have a presentation on
Grasion."

She perked her ears up, standing a bit straighter. "On
Grasion? Who in the world did you find to do that?"

I smiled. "You."

She stopped, did that slow double blink that was his normal
reaction to being startled. "Where's it at then?"

"The Council Chambers, you had better prepare."

Fox just rolled her eyes and muttered something under her
breath about memos.

-----

This story is (c) 1998 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.