Run Around

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 6

"A question," Little Fox asked as we walked through the
small trail in the forest around the Keep. "You never told
me exactly how come both you and I fell through that portal
so long ago."

I chuckled, "Both you and I are what is know as a Natural.
Someone with a ability to open and control the folds without
any aid."

He blew through his teeth. "How common is that?" He asked.

I shrugged. "There are about two hundred naturals know to be
living at this time. This is out of a population of over
twenty trillion people."

He laughed. "And I got stuck here while you got to see the
universe. Hell talk about a bad deal."

I nodded again. "You did pretty good yourself. You survived
here, that's not easy when you're coming in from outside a
world."

He smiled. "Thanks."

"Listen, if your interested I can teach you how to use the
folds."

He frowned. "No, I can't. I have to stay here right now, I
can run away from who I am anymore. Someday what I did will
catch up with me, I have to stand here and face that." He
smiled softly. "I'm not strong enough to stay here when I
know how to run away."

I sighed. "What did you do anyway?"

He shook his head. "You have your own problems Fox, you have
to deal with them on your own. Mine would be a burden to you
that you should not have to carry."

I crossed my arms behind my back. "I don't know, you might
be right. I have enough pain to carry around myself as it
is."

He nodded slowly. "What should I tell Ryan? I think he would
want to at least see you off."

I shrugged. "I worry that showing the location of the fold
to anyone else would have side effects that I can't predict.
Ryan knows enough that he won't tell anyone, but I'm sure
people will start to wonder on their own."

"Most of the talk is about how Oriana got to be cursed. Ryan
and Jaffee know better then to talk about this." My double
responded.

I smiled. "I don't want anyone knowing where the fold is who
doesn't already, and that's only you. I just worry that if
anyone knows where it is there's the chance that someone
anyone knows where it is there's the chance that someone
will find out how to open it. The bad part about that is
that if your not like we are, the trip trough his deadly."

He frowned. "How did Oriana come through then? Or is she a
Natural as well?"

I chuckled. "Magic of a sort," actually it was a pair of
implants over her ears. They protected her from the
telepathic force the folds put out, the same force that I'm
immune to for the sake that I am telegraphically dead.
Either way the technology that made them, qualified under
Clarke's Law as magic.

Little Fox sighed. "I'm worried Fox, I mean, what is to stop
other people from coming through to the Keep? You and Oriana
been quiet about it, but how many people, if they came here,
would panic? More so after the discover the curses and the
delay in returning."

I nodded. "You can take some comfort in knowing that the way
here isn't know and little document."

He shook his head. "No... no I can't." He pressed a paw
against his chest. "Fox, I don't think it's as hard as you
present to get here. I mean, you can come through easily,
what if someone came through with guns or something? How
would that effect things?"

I thought about it for a few second. "I see... a worth while
concern I agree." I chewed my lip as I paused. "Do you know
someone who can put together a heavy anti-teleport spell?" I
asked. "Either casting it on the area around the fold or
making some kind of talisman to place there?"

He nodded. "Yes, many, but will that stop people from coming
here?"

"Yes, it's almost overkill," I answered. "It will also keep
people on this side from using it as well."

He smiled. "Thank you. It will make me feel safer."

I nodded. "Your welcome."

We walked on for a few more minutes, before Little Fox Spoke
again. "Do you wish that I guide tonight, or do you want to
go alone."

"We can find are own way back."

He nodded. "Well then, what exactly are you taking from my
library anyway?" He finally asked. "You never told me."

I shrugged. "A book, about a thousand pages long with a
title to match."

He chuckled. "Never been touched I would expect."

"It was covered in dust."

"I don't keep some parts of the library as well as I
should." He said with a slight sigh.

I chuckled softly.

Little Fox sighed louder as we turned on the path. "Tell me
Fox, do you think you got the better end of this deal?"

I blinked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, in the long view, do you think you have a better
life then I did after what happened?"

I shrugged. "I really can't say, I don't know what exactly
your life was after your came here. Really though, I think
we're about the same. I've lost so much because of all of
this, even once my life."

He laughed. "Do you know how silly that sounds, 'even once
my life'?"

I nodded. "Yes, it's true though, at least as far as I
care."

"What have you lost then?" He asked.

I blew through my teeth. "Two really good friends, one on
Earth. The other was the first person I ever meet when went
through the folds. I also lost a great friendship when I
found that I had been betrayed, my mind changed and memories
hidden, all for what he thought was right. I've even once
had my whole self image shattered when I found out that I
once killed a man."

He frowned. "That's what was hidden wasn't it?"

I nodded.

He continued to think. "And Ken, the one you said used to be
a friend, he's the one who hid it from you."

I nodded again.

Little Fox sighed, and patted my shoulder. "My friend, I
wish we could meet again someday, but I know that can't come
to pass."

I nodded, and placed my hands in front of my chest, one over
the other. Then holding my thumbs in a triangle I bowed
slightly to him. "I'm glad to have meet you."

He smiled, returning the bow. "As I you."

* * *

"Hi Fox," Oria said, looking up at me as I entered the room.
She was sprawled out on the bed, paws resting on her chest,
her thinking position.

I smiled, sitting down in the small chair. We only had a few
hours to go before we left to go home. She didn't seem to
eager to leave though.

"Have an interesting talk with Little Fox?" She asked.

"Yes," I said with a weary smile. "He's more like me then I
first thought."

She chuckled, sitting up on the bed. "He's observant, that's
for sure."

I nodded. "Though he's has his own problems to deal with. He
told me he didn't want to know how to open the fold. It
would be to easy of a way for him to run."

She twitched her ears. "From what?"

"His past."

She ahhed softly.

"You know," Oria said after a minute, "he told me about an
interesting observation he made."

I smiled. "Oh, what about?"

She stood up and walked over to me. "About me, you, and how
you are Rhea."

I shook my head. "I don't really understand."

She laughed softly. "He made it pretty clear at the time, I
just had to think about it a lot before I could accept it."

I nodded my head. "All right then, what do you have to
accept?"

She smiled. "That your form really is that of a lioness.
Right now your being human is something forced on to it."

I frowned. "That's one way to look at it."

She laughed. "More then you know. You see, it means that no
matter how you look you're always, in some way, a lion."

I blinked, then blinked again. "You mean..."

She nodded. "Yes, exactly. It was all the understanding I
needed to get around my one problem with you." Then she bent
down, wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.

I returned the kiss for maybe a few seconds before breaking
it off. She frowned as she pulled away.

"I need to think about this Oria," I explained. "I mean...
We have been friends for years now, and to have you tell me
that you want me and that you can finally have me." I shook
my head, "I just have to think about it."

She sat back, laughing softly. "Of course, I should have
realized. This is about as much of a shock to you as it was
to me."

I smirk. "Revelations do that."

She stood up, shaking her head. "Listen, I'm going to go and
say my goodbyes to Little Fox and Ryan, maybe drink a bit as
well. I'll be back in a couple hours."

I nodded, "Don't take to long."

She smiled to me, waving one paw as she went out the door.

I sighed, relaxing back into my chair. This was defiantly a
week I would remember. Though this had to be the most mind
blowing topper to it all. I had never conceived of the idea
that Oria just telling me one day that she was willing to,
well to be blunt, have sex.

Hell the idea hadn't crossed my mind in months. Not since we
had been mind swapped. I mean, it just never seemed that
important to me to be with her like that. I also know how
she felt on the matter, and I knew how much she loved me,
but it just never occurred to me to care.

We were closer then that anyway, living together so long it
was hard not to be. We knew more about each other then
anyone else could. The months apart we had the year before
started to prove that. We were always there for each other
when we needed it, no questions asked.

A little bell started ringing in the side of my head. I was
suddenly looking at Oriana in a different light that I had
before. I mean, I've never wanted to do anything that would
hurt her, really, I would have.

To her, being with each other, being closed and physical,
that was to her the truest form of love. A few things
started to click as the ringing in the side of my head grew
louder.

For Oria, the need for such an action yet the personal
inability to do so would have been tantamount to torturer.
It would have hurt her to no end.

Then in a sudden flash of mental light I understood. I
understood at it all felt right... that I loved her. I never
under stood that before, and to have admitted it to her
would have hurt her in ways I couldn't believe.

How long have I been hiding this from myself... and in
truth, did I really care?

A few hours later, once we were back home, I told her this.
I told her what I had now come to understand.

She already knew! That was the insane part, she had know
from the time I had been Rhea. I had told her, told her and
forgotten.

We stood there for a few minutes, in silence, just holding
each other. Then still in silence we left each other and
went to are own rooms. Nothing more happened that night,
nothing more was needed.

Still, one phrase keeping coming into my mind as I drifted
off to sleep. "Nothing's the same anymore."

----

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.
"Metamor Keep" (C) 1998 by 'Copernicus' all rights reserved.