Mirror Cycle

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 13

Ken and I walked almost casually back to the living room. He
was a few paces in front of me, and seemed to be walking
more lightly than he had in a very long time. His wings were
fanned out slightly, and even his tail seemed to be moving
more than usual.

I smiled to myself, happy to see him like this. It was now
so clear just how much what had happened between us had been
weighing on him. Not just mentally, but physically as well.
It felt good to see him that way once more, like an old
friend who had returned from a trip that had lasted far too
long.

While we had been gone, Ravindar had rejoined the group in
the living room, and was waiting for me by the door.
Standing next to him, looking slightly nervous, was a
younger tigress. Her fur was the more traditional orange and
black colors, which made her stand out even more next to
him.

Physically well built, she somehow seemed small next to my
bodyguard. Her frame was defined by the muscles that lay
just below her fur. Relaxed, they gave her a pleasing shape
that seemed to emphasize that she was female. She was
dressed in a pair of long pants that hung loosely around her
legs, and a sports top that covered her chest, leaving most
of her midriff exposed. Her hair was black, and tied back
behind her, so it spilling down her neck to just under her
shoulder blades.

She occasionally glanced down to the small badge on her
chest which bore the symbol of the Guild that both Ravindar
and Oria wore. It was the simple image of a heart, with a
dagger laid over it. The color of her dagger matched the one
that Ravindar had on the side of his belt. It was clear as
crystal.

"You must be Santhara," I commented, offering her my hand.

Instantly she stopped fidgeting and was instantly standing
straight as an arrow, a small smile playing over her muzzle
as she took my hand. "And, of course, you're Fox. I've heard
much about you."

I nodded. She had a very strong grip. I could even feel the
tips of her claws pressing against my skin. That meant she
wasn't of Ravindar's species. I let my own claws slide out
slightly in return as she shook, pressing them gently
against the pads of her palm.

If she was surprised she didn't show it. She just let her
paw drop from my hand.

"I assume you've met Oriana," I asked.

She paused, glancing up at Ravindar, he just twitched his
ears, and turned his head slightly. "I have not," she
answered, focusing her yellow eyes on my wife.

Oria snorted slightly.

Santhara moved from her standing position, walking past me,
and gently stepping around Rhea, who almost seemed to notice
her as her tailed twitched in her sleep. She stopped before
Oria, offering her paw out. "Is it true what they say about
you?" she asked my wife.

Ravindar tensed slightly as soon as the question was in the
air. Oria responded by taking her paw in an obviously hard
handshake. "Yes, I am technically out of the Guild."

She looked surprised at this revelation, stopped her paw in
mid-shake. "What?" she shook her head slightly. "I meant
about Dr. Grafrin... did you really kill him?"

Oria visibly stiffened, the fur on the back of her neck
actually lifted up for a moment. The man had been Oria's
first, and only, Work she had done for the Guild. He had
been the man who released The Plague onto the Third planet
to see how it progressed. He had willing and knowingly
committed Genocide. The Guild had sent Oria to find out if
that was true, and if so, to kill him. She had done both,
far too well for both our tastes.

"Yes," she hissed out slightly, dropping Santhara's paw.
"That was me."

"That was what I studied to become a Copper Master," she
explained. Sitting herself down on the far end of the couch
from Oria, she stayed just on the edge of the cushion, her
tail tip flicking slowly.  "It was a clean kill. You did a
very good job, especially for an Apprentice."

For less than an eye blink, a smile seemed to flash across
my wife's face, before it was forced back into a deep frown.
Her ears held for just a moment longer, there was a hint of
pride there, and she was pissed at feeling it. "I would
rather not talk about it," she whispered, turning her face
away from the tigeress.

Santhara looked slightly surprised, her ears twitching as
she glanced first to Ravindar then to me. I shook my head
gently, as her eyes found mine, mouthing the word 'no' to
her.

She returned her attention to Oriana, lifting her paw
slightly before hesitating. Curling her outstretched fingers
against her palm, she let her paw fall to the side. She
lifted herself from the couch, standing rigidly at
attention. "Ms. Cutter, I present myself to you as a
bodyguard, assigned by the Guild Elders to protect you and
your children from all harm that I am able."

A look of surprise rolled over Oria's face as she turned
around to look back at Santhara. The comment about the
children had been unexpected. Even Ravindar looked slightly
shocked by it.

My wife stood, facing her new bodyguard. "I accept the offer
of protection," she said, her voice emotionless, but I could
see her fighting them behind her eyes. "For both myself and
for the children. Just let me explain a few things to you.
One, as I said before, since I am technically out of the
Guild, it's in your best interest not to ask about it. Two,
you may call me what you wish, but keep it honorable. I
would prefer you to call me Oriana. Lastly, you will respect
Fox's and my privacy when ever he or I ask for it. If you
can not abide by these rules, you are to keep your mouth
shut, and do it anyway. Is that understood?"

She gave a sharp nod of her head in reply. "Perfectly
understood. I belive I shall be able to follow your rules
without causing you problems."

"Good," she responded with a smile, relaxing slightly. "I'll
make sure you know it if you get out of line." She sat back
down on the couch as she spoke, folding her paws in her lap.

I clapped my hands together. "Well, now that's settled,
perhaps I should give you the rest of the introductions," I
said, taking a step forward. "The dragon behind me is Ken;
he's a good friend, and our resident Mage. His main job is
keeping my curse and the other spells on me in something
resembling order."

I heard Ken chuckle as he fanned his wings. "He makes it
sound easy, it's much harder than it looks."

Santhara smiled, quickly walking over to him, and shaking
his hand. He shook it in return, as a smile played over her
muzzle. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she told him.

"You'll meet the kids later, about the time they're ready
for lunch." I commented, crossing my arms behind my back.
"Sora is around here some place; she a kind of bat, and
generally pretty nice. As for the rest of the group, the
lioness asleep on the floor is Rhea, she's my identical twin
sister."

At the mention of her name, Rhea lifted her head, smiling a
bit on both her muzzle and her ears. The newest member of
our group looked at her, then back to me. "That's quite
amazing, as you don't look anything alike, nor are you the
same species, or for that matter the same gender."

Ravindar chuckled, resting a paw on her shoulder. "I can
assure you that it's also true. You'll understand soon
enough," he glanced at me, "We do have to leave some
surprises for later."

I laughed to myself, even Oria snickered. "Oh yes," I said
with great glee. "We must leave some, mustn't we?"

Santhara looked a bit shocked, turning from me to Oria then
to Ravindar. "Now I really don't want to be left alone with
any of you people," she muttered, her own smile crossing
along her lips.

Good-- now that the tension had been broken, things felt a
little bit closer to normal. It wasn't going to be long
before she understood that while we had been joking with her
a bit, we were also very serious. She would see in time.

Switching my attention to other matters, I turned to face
Ravindar. "Has the Guild responded to my request?" I asked
him, changing to a more serious posture and voice.

This brought Oria to attention as well. On the return trip I
had asked Ravindar to have the Guild place guards around
Oria's old House. I didn't want Rose or anyone else getting
hurt because of my mess with Cain.

"I have," he responded, standing up a bit taller. "A team
has been dispatched to your sister's house. If she is
willing, they will blend in, both as clients and employees.
The fold will also be constantly guarded, as will your
sister-in-law herself until such time as this has been
resolved."

A look of relief spread over Oria's face, much of the
tension of the last few hours falling away now that she knew
her family would be protected. "Thank you. I'm glad the
Guild is still willing to help me like this."

He paused, almost debating behind his eyes whether or not to
say something in return. I gave him a slight warning glance,
which he caught. Whatever it was he was thinking of saying
fell back into his mind, no longer on his lips.

"This had gotten me thinking," Oria said, rising to her feet
once more. "If Cain knows where my fold is, could it have
been he who left the curse there for me?"

Ken let out a slight 'hum' sound, "That might be possible...
I would have to get a sample of his own magic to know for
sure," he answered.

"I don't think so," I said, looking between the pair of
them. "When I was in jail, Grasion pretty much confessed
that it was his doing, or at least that it was some thing
that his people would do to get revenge on both of us."

"Oh," she said, sounding slightly dejected, and started to
sit back down. Then with a start, she jumped back up to her
feet. "Wait a second! Grasion? What did he say that prophecy
of his was?"

I frowned, "No, that's not an option."

She walked over to me, looking me deep in the eyes. "Wasn't
it something about you asking for his help against your own
greatest enemy?"

"Something like that," I said with a snort, looking away
from her. "It's bullshit either way."

"You said he mentioned the Neverending to you," she
continued, "That it was part of this prophecy of his.
Perhaps he's right, perhaps he can help you against Cain. If
he is, maybe Grasion can give you some help, some angle you
can't see?"

I looked back into her eyes, looking deeper than she ever
had, and much harder as well. "How can you even suggest
that?" I hissed. "He tried to kill both of us, after his
involvement with the HammerHeads! The man is insane; he may
know of Cain, he may not, but he's bullshiting us. There is
nothing!" I said the last part with quite a bit of force,
and anger.

She frowned, lifting her paws, setting one down on my good
shoulder, the other on my arm. "Can't you even consider it?"

I shook my head.

She nodded, "Then at least just talk to the bastard? If he
knows about Cain, perhaps he could offer some advantage, if
he doesn't, then let him rot."

"Perhaps she is right," Ken suggested, talking a step around
me, "Talking to him could not hurt."

I shot Ken a dirty look. He of all people had the best
understanding of what that bastard had done to me. To have
him suggest such a thing felt like an insult.

Both Santhara and Ravindar looked slightly confused by this
conversation, the lady more so than the gentleman, although
only because he was better at hiding it.

"I can't--" I started, but Oria cut me off.

"Fox, we need every advantage we can get! You need every
advantage you can get. Cain has threatened both you, me, our
family and my family." A slight growl hung under her voice
as she spoke. "You might have to compromise. If you have to
make a deal with one to stop the other, that maybe the only
way."

"I refuse to believe that," I told her, my voice quavering
slightly. "I can't believe that anything I could do would
need that monster's help." I was literally shaking as I said
this, old emotions rising to the surface faster than I could
force them back down.

She frowned, looking deep into my eyes. I held her vision
for a few moments before turning my back to her, trying to
hold myself still. I was inches away from saying something I
didn't want to say, and I was not going to let it find it's
own way past my lips.

I felt her paw return to my shoulder a moment after, her
second resting on the back of my neck. "Fox, what exactly
did he do to you?"

"You don't want to know," I whispered, biting back the
truth.

We stayed like that for only a few moments, but they felt
like hours. I could feel the warmth of my wife's paw pads
against my skin, but I said nothing more. Eventually she
took them from me. "We must be leaving soon, if we're to
meet the ship at the base," she commented in a somewhat
monotone voice.

"I assume you're coming with me," I stated, composing myself
for the moment, turning around to face her again.

She smiled, "Of course, at least for now." There was
something else she wanted to say, but she didn't speak it.
It was just under the skin, I could see it plucking at her
face as she started to say something, but stopped before a
sound was made.

I nodded slowly, talking a few steps towards the hallway. "I
need to get a few things. Once that's done, we can leave." I
remarked, glancing over my shoulder back at Oria, before I
exited the room without further comment.

As I walked down the hallway, I made sure to keep my ears
open. I was fully expecting Oria to follow me out of the
room. In fact I would have been disappointed if she hadn't,
it would be against her nature to just ignore this,
especially after that performance I had just put on.

Slipping into the bedroom, I walked straight to my dresser.
Dropping to one knee, I opened the bottom drawer. Resting
inside was a lock box, holding my guns. Lifting it from the
corner of the drawer, I set it on the top of the dresser.
Glancing into the mirror as I unlocked and opened the case,
I found Oria's reflection standing behind my own.

"I'm not going to tell you," I told her, returning my eyes
to the guns, checking each of the three to insure they were
in working order. Not that I expected anything less; I had
only put them away the day before. Once I was sure they were
safe, I loaded each of them, leaving the chambers empty for
the moment.

"I can see how this is hurting you," she said with a soft
sigh. "You don't like Grasion, and I suspect with good
reason."

I snorted, double checking the coils on the plasma gun,
"You're a little off-base. 'Don't like' is quite an
understatement. The man is a monster, a cold blooded,
emotionless monster."

"Much like you fear yourself becoming?" She suggested, her
voice sounding distant.

To that I gave no response, instead I opened the top drawer,
removing the holsters for the guns, as well as a pouch for
the extra rounds and clips. I quickly loaded the pouch,
including a few caps for my plasma gun and snapped it onto
my belt. I attached the two holsters, moving them into their
familiar position before putting the guns inside.

Oria put her paw on my shoulder. "Please, Fox, what did he
do to you?"

I bit my lip, continuing with my work as I considered giving
her something of a response. Instead I took the ankle
holster sliding the plasma gun inside of it, then bent over,
strapping to into position, finishing by pulling my pant leg
down over it. When I was once more upright, I turned around,
walking past Oria to pick up my jacket from where it had
been left yesterday morning.

She huffed, not appreciating my refusal to answer. She was
worried, and I could understand why. She wanted to know what
had happened, she wanted to be able to comfort me, but I
wasn't going to let her.

"What the hell did he do to you," she asked with an
exasperating sigh, "Rape you?" It was in jest, she was
trying to joke it out of me, a tactic that had worked
before.

I shrugged my jacket on as I opened the bedroom door. "Among
other things," I answered her, as honestly as I could in the
situation.

She gasped, and I instantly felt her paw on my shoulder. My
bad shoulder I might add, but at the moment I don't think
she was thinking about that. "You're not serious?" she said,
her voice shaking. In her career as a prostitute, being
raped was one of her greatest fears, and I had just tapped
into it.

My response was simply a slow nod of my head. "Oriana, what
he did to me is the reason why _I_ sometimes wake up at
night screaming. Maybe someday I'll tell you, when we're
both old and tired, and he is long dead. But not today, and
not for many days to come."

She walked around to stand in front of me, putting her paws
on both of my shoulders, her fingers rubbing my neck.
"How... How can I... do anything, if you won't tell me?" she
said in a quiet voice. The words hard for her to say. "If he
raped you, I... I... I..." she stumbled for the words, her
ears twisting in a kind of panic. "I'm sorry I even
suggested it," she finally finished.

I gave a short shake of my head, lifting one hand to cup her
muzzle. "You have nothing to be sorry about, my love," I
purred to her, "You knew nothing of it, as you were meant
to. He and I are the only ones who know what he did to me.
But yes, he did rape me, in more ways than you can know. Now
is not the time to talk about such things."

With a soft breath, she fell onto my arms, wrapping herself
around me and holding me softly. "Have you ever dealt with
it?" she asked, leaning her muzzle next to my ear.

"No," I answered honestly. "I prefer not to remember what he
did to me. I've been trying to hide it from myself for a
long time now, and have succeeded better than even I could
imagine. Still, it comes back to me, in the darkest hours of
the night."

She nuzzled my neck, letting out a soft purr. "Fox, you
won't tell me, but I think you need to tell someone about
this someday. You need to talk to someone; this is hurting
you so badly, you have to do something about it."

I gave her ear a soft kiss. "What do you suggest?"

Lifting her head, she looked me in the eyes. "Go to my
Temple, talk to the people there. I know you're against it,
but... in many ways this is what they're there for."

I bit my lip for a moment. She was right about that-- this
was what the people at the Temple were trained to do. I had
already suggested Kalie go there for the exact same thing.
Perhaps if she could, so could I. "All right," I whispered,
"Kalie and I will go together."

She looked at me in amazement, her eyes wide for the moment
before she pulled me back into a tight hug. I hugged her in
return, nuzzling her cheek, and holding her as tightly as I
could. Hoping that it wouldn't be the last time.

   To Be Continued...

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This story is copyright 2001 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.