Mirror Cycle

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 11

I lay on the couch in the living room, my good shoulder on
the cushions, and my injured one in the air, the ice pack
perched precariously on my injury. The condensation had
started to drip down my fur and onto my neck, but I didn't
want to bother to wipe it off my fur.

Rhea lay in front of the couch, her head resting under my
dangling paw, my fingers just brushing the top of her head.
Every time I touched her, I felt a little chill, and would
once more feel the strangeness of being alone in my mind.

It was a good strangeness. I enjoyed being alone for the
first time in a year, even if there was a touch of sadness
now that Rhea and I were separated. She and I shared
something of the same bond Oria and I shared, that of having
joined souls.

With short, brushing strokes, I petted her between her ears.
She would twitch them in response, a low purr filling the
room. It was a shared voice between she and I, mine higher
pitched than hers. It was a joyous sound.

It was broken by the sound of a familiar voice. "Fox, I need
to speak to you."

I opened one eye, looking up to Ravindar as he towered above
me. His white fur looked slightly ruffled, his ears bent to
the side, and a severely annoyed look graced his muzzle.

"Is there a problem?" I asked him, holding down the ice pack
with my good paw as I sat up.

"Not a problem," he answered with a slight snap of his ears
and tail. "More of an inconvenience for me. Come with me; I
need to speak with you in the kitchen." Then with that said,
he walked away from us, his tail tip flicking in irritation
as he moved.

'Do I really want to know what pissed him off?' Rhea asked
tilting her head back as she looked up at me. 'Or should I
just run away as fast as I can?'

I chuckled, swiping at her ears with my tail as I stood up.
"Find out first, then run away. That way you know what to
avoid when he catches up with you."

She gave me a mental laugh before resting her chin on her
paws, closing her eyes, a contented look quickly falling
over her face as she fell into a light slumber.

Stepping over her, I walked into the kitchen. I found
Ravindar standing at the table, paws down on it, fingers
spread out. His tail was moving even faster than before, if
that was possible. Oria was sitting on the far side of the
table from him with an annoyed look on her face. Adric was
propped in her arms, sleeping after his just finished meal.

"Is there going to be a problem here?" I asked, taking a
seat for myself. The tension between the two of them had
waxed and waned since his arrival, but this was the most
palpable it had ever been.

Ravindar shook his head, standing straight up. "I need to
quickly explain some things to you," he said, turning back
to focus on me. "Which I have found your other bodyguard has
neglected to mention to you before." With that he shot Oria
a dark look.

"Can the attitude," I snapped, "or I'll personally tie you
down until you do. This is not the time, nor the place for
it. Understood?"

For a second he looked stunned, every motion in his body
stopping for just a moment. A strong reaction for what I
thought was a simple ultimatum. It was obviously more to
him, but I wasn't in the mood right now to go deeper into
it.

"I believe you have been made aware that there are normally
just three Crystal Masters at any given time. From which you
may have gathered that my being assigned to you made room
for a fourth Master to protect my former charge."

I nodded slowly, adjusting the ice pack on my damaged
shoulder. "That I know already."

He gave me a sharp look. "To the point, Crystal Masters are
very rarely reassigned, and only under the worst of times.
It is not an assignment for life, but it is as close as it
can come. As long as your survival is in the Guild's best
interests, I shall stay assigned to you."

"How long does an assignment normally last?"

He gave me a wary smile. "This is the fourth time in the
Guild's history that there has been a person important
enough to rank a fourth Master. It is also the fourth time a
Master has been reassigned."

I relaxed back into the chair, letting my tail tip brush
against the ground. "I see."

He nodded his head, then turned back to glare at Oria. "The
Elders have decided that a greater break with tradition is
now needed. You are important to the Guild, and therefore so
is Oriana." I blinked, I was almost sure that was the first
time he had called her by her name. "So for the first time
in the Guild's thousand-years history, there will be a fifth
Crystal Master."

"What," Oria snapped, "none for the kids?"

He said nothing, swinging his head back around to look at
me. "So I have been told to select a Copper Master, to raise
to the level of Crystal Master. I have done this, her name
is Santhara. She is a master of many arts, and will provide
a good defense for your wife."

I looked at Oria. "Would you be willing to accept this?" I
asked her.

She snorted, glaring back at the tiger. "I am still a member
of the Guild. If the Elders decree that I need a bodyguard,
so be it. I have no say in the matter." Oh, she was bitter.

"That's the first time I've heard you admit you were even in
the Guild," Ravindar snapped back, uncharacteristically
showing his stronger emotions.

Oria let out a deep, rolling growl, starting to rise from
her chair. She stopped only inches from her seat, looking
surprised as she fell back down.

'That is enough!' Rhea said, her voice strong in my mind, as
she keep her forepaw placed tightly over the end of Oria's
tail. 'You have our son in your arms, and I will not have
you hurting him because of some silly fit! Do you understand
me?'

For her part, Oria looked quite stunned, her eyes wide as
she looked back over her shoulder. "She just didn't say what
I think she did... did she?"

Ravindar had a surprised, bemused look on his face. He
obviously hadn't been privy to Rhea's comments.

I nodded my head to her.

'Well?' Rhea said impatiently as Oria let out a yelp.

"I understand," she said with a shake of her head, "and you
didn't have to use your claws."

'Call it incentive,' she said with a smug look on her face
as she let go of Oria's tail. Turning in a tight circle, she
padded her way out of the kitchen. 'By the way,' she said,
looking back over her shoulder look at us. 'Ken is here.'
She flashed us all a smile before leaving the room.

Oria looked up to me, very surprised. "Do I want to ask how
she was able to do that?"

I smiled, setting the ice pack on the table as I stood up.
"Don't bother, it will be better that way. Why don't you go
put Adric to bed? I'll meet Ken in the living room, and you
can join us."

The stunned look was still covering her face as she rose to
her feet, holding Adric tighter to herself in the process.
Shaking her head slowly, she walked away, towards the
bedroom, her tail flashing slowly behind her.

I then turned my attention to Ravindar. The look on his face
turned to worry as he saw the anger in my eyes. "Listen," I
said, a slight hiss creeping into my voice. "You seem to
have a problem with Oria wanting out of the Guild. That's
just fine with me, but you had better keep it under wraps
from now on." I started walking closer to him, and he
actually took a hesitant step back.

"I do not need to deal with this right now. This is *your*
problem, but do not go try to goad Oria into a fight.
Especially when she is holding one of my children in her
arms." By now I was standing inches from him, looking up at
his face, ears back and teeth showing; the only place my
anger was not showing was in my voice. "Because if any of my
family get's hurt because of your damn problems, you're
going to see exactly, how evil, I can be."

He stared down at me, silent, the look on his face a mix of
dread and fear. Neither which looked proper there, but at
the moment seemed correct. His ears were held to the side
and his tail was down on the floor. By Thryn, he was
actually afraid of me!

Spinning on the ball of my foot, I stalked out of the room,
tail waving behind me in agitation. Once I was outside of
the kitchen, I paused to take in a couple of deep breaths
before I went into the living room to meet Ken.

Passing the threshold, I found Ken settled down on the edge
of the couch, his large tail lying beside him, my pendant in
his fore claw, which he was looking at with some attention.

I settled down next to my dragon friend. "Thanks for
coming," I said, placing my paw on his shoulder.

He turned his head, a smile spreading over his face. "You're
welcome, my friend."

"I talked to Elena yesterday," I said, making conversation.
"Sie mentioned something quite interesting. About why my
blood tasted 'dead' to hir."

He nodded, half his attention returning to the pendent. I
wondered what had gotten into him about the thing. "Sie told
me sie had encountered the taste again. In something sie
said had no shape."

He snapped his head around so fast that I wondered how he
managed not to break his neck. His eyes widened in surprise.
"Had no shape?" He asked, speaking fast once more. "Did she
elaborate on that point?"

"No, in fact those were hir very words... 'had no shape'.
Sie wouldn't tell me any more," I answered, shaking my head
slightly.

He nodded his head, jumping from the couch to his feet.
"It's interesting, and presents a certain amount of leads,
but nothing hard and fast." He let out a little sigh which
seemed forced. "I'll look into it, see what I can find."

"Good!" I answered with a clap of my paws as I joined him on
my feet. "That's very good. It's a minor mystery I wish to
have solved some day. Now, are we ready with the pendant?"

He looked at me for a second, like he hadn't understood what
I had said. Then with a short moment of realization, he
looked down to where the item in question rested in his
claw.

"Yes, of course," he said, taking the length of chain that
was holding it, and raising it up in his paws. We shall have
to do this quickly, so close your eyes."

I nodded my head, closed my eyes, and pulled my ears down to
the side, keeping them out of the way of the necklace part
of the pendant. I felt Ken as he moved closer to me, his
breath puffing lightly on my face. A moment later I felt the
necklace fall over my head, as the pendent landed on my
chest with a thump.

Ken chuckled. "Your male form looks quite peculiar in a
bra," he said, suppressing laughter.

I smiled at him as I opened my eyes. The blurryness of my
vision proved that I was once more, my normal, human male
self. With a quick move I undid the bra and pulled it off,
dropping it to the floor. wincing in the process from the
pain in my shoulder.

"Maker!" Ken hissed, his attention drawn right to my injury.
I looked as well, surprised to find a dark yellow and purple
bruise covering the skin.

I made a slight hissing sound when I saw it. "I thought that
wouldn't carry over?" I asked in slight wonder.

He shook his head, rubbing the top of his muzzle with one
hand. "The original spells weren't suppose to, but I've been
working with them so much that side effects are bound to
happen."

I grimaced at the mention of side effects. There were
already enough of those to satisfy me for a lifetime.
"Should I remove it?" I asked, taking the pendent in my
hand.

He shook his head. "No, not at all! Nothing I changed here
would have caused it. It more than likely dates back from
when I adjusted the spell for your morphic form."

I dropped it back onto my chest. "That's good. If you don't
mind, I'm going to get some proper clothing on, and put
something on this bruise now that it's on the skin."

He smiled, and waved his foreclaw out in front of himself,
"Be my guest."

With a smile, I turned and left the room. Oria was waiting
for me at the door, and followed along with me as I went to
the bedroom.

"Ken's right, your human form does look silly in a bra," she
said with a slight touch of mirth in her voice.

I stuck my tongue out at her as we walked along the hallway.
"You didn't think that last week."

She gave my arm a playful slap, a laugh escaping from her
lips.

"Think you can handle having your own bodyguard?" I asked,
changing the subject. "I know you have problems with
Ravindar, but how would you work with one of your own?"

She shook head , her eyes focusing down for a moment. "It
depends on how this Santhara acts towards me. If she's like
Ravindar, there will be friction."

I gave her a grim nod. "I understand," I told her, opening
the bedroom door, and motioning for her to enter before me.
She walked in, her tail swishing slowly behind her. Walking
right behind her, I grabbed it, pulling it up, and nuzzling
her tail tuft with my cheek.

She started to purr, slowing her pace down, and twitching
her tail tuft in my face. I keep holding it, purring myself
as she walked to the bed, leading me along like I was on a
leash.

"You're cute when you do that." she commented once I had
finally let her tail free.

I laughed, quickly stripping out of the rest of my clothing,
and grabbing my glasses. "Thanks!" I said once the process
was done, and I was on the way to the bathroom.

"That really is a nasty bruise," she commented as she walked
along behind me.

"Yes it is," I muttered, pulling out some topical cream, and
started working it into my skin, wincing hard as I did so.
The pressure of my fingers was enough to send shooting pains
down my arm and throughout my shoulder.

Oria watched with slight interest, her eyes more on the
reflection of my face in the mirror. "Perhaps we should ask
Jadith to heal it," she commented, placing her paw on my
good shoulder.

I chuckled, looking back at her though the mirror. "That's a
fantastic idea. It hadn't even occurred to me."

"She saved your live twice, and you forget she's a healer?"
she said in mock shock. "Is that any way to repay her?"

I chuckled again, while I continued to rub my shoulder. The
pain slowly ebbed away as I did so. I knew that with an
injury this bad, the cream wouldn't relieve all the pain,
just the worst of it.

She smiled, which changed into a slightly thoughtful look.
"How are you feeling? I imagine that an encounter with an
evil version of yourself can't help but shake one up a bit."

"Try a lot," I said, turning back around to face her. "A
whole lot to be honest. I haven't quite dealt with it yet.
Other than perhaps wondering why he's turned into what he
did. I mean, when were we diverged into different people?"

"It's not easy to think evil thoughts about yourself is it?"
she asked, a sight hint of concern showing in her eyes.

I snorted, turning back to walk in to the bedroom. "It's
actually quite easy to think of myself as evil," I
explained. "In fact, many times I have felt that things
would have been easier for me if I was evil."

"What!" she said with some measure of shock as she walked
right behind me. "You've thought about being like this
bastard?"

I nodded as I started to pull on some proper clothing. "Not
like him, but many times in my life I've thought of remaking
myself into such a being."

"When?" she asked, her ears drooping slightly in shock.

I smiled. "Many times in my life. More so after I had
discovered my powers, back in school, almost every time I
was hurt." I sighed as I fastened my pants. "The last time I
really gave it thought was when I found that Becky had been
killed. Right then and there I was more than willing to
embrace that dark side." I let out a forced laugh. "That was
the last time though."

"Perhaps that's where the two of you split?" she suggested,
her face registering more shock than just the moment before.
This was a side of myself that I had never even hinted at
before.

"More than likely," I admitted, walking over to her, looking
into her eyes. "I wonder if he knows that she is still alive
some where?"

She shook her head, but provided no comment.

I bent forward, kissing her nose. "Those things are over
now," I explained to her. "Such a course of action would now
destroy things I don't wish to see destroyed. Like our
family."

She nodded, a touch of relief showing in her eyes.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to become evil," I said to her
with a wide smile. Then everything went to black.

   To Be Continued...

-----

This story is copyright 2000 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy
reprints limited to one per 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.