From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.furry
Subject: Journal Entry 163 / 0918  [ Reunion, Part 11 ]
Date: 20 May 1996 13:34:20 GMT
Organization: Pendor, UnLtd.
Lines: 448
Message-ID: <4npscs$s73@news1.halcyon.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: coho.halcyon.com

Aldea, Cerim 16, 0918

    "No!"  Garth came to consciousness with a start, the nightmare 
of drowning fresh in his mind.  He ran his hands over his body, 
checking to make sure it was indeed his body.  He found his chest, 
stomach, groin... all familiar, all the same.  He was still 
himself, still a Katckin.  

    He was lying in a bed, which filled most of the bedroom he 
found himself in.  A desk against the opposite wall was made of 
some dark wood, stained cherry perhaps.  The walls were papered in 
a faded off-white color with small flowers printed in rhythms down 
the walls.  He rose out of bed and looked in the mirror that hung 
over the desk.  "I'm still me."

    Someone had apparently heard his shout, because a knock on his 
door caught his attention.  "Garth?"

    "Hello?" he replied.  The voice sounded familiar.  "Who's 
there?"

    The door opened and a short femMarten looked up at him.  "Are 
you okay?"

    "Kiza!" he said, rolling out of bed onto his feet and crossing 
the room.  He pulled her close, using her as a brace against the 
sudden exhaustion and dizziness he felt.  He finally managed to 
say, "What are you doing here?"

    "Mom and Dad found you!"  She grinned at him.  "Guess the Hall 
works in pretty strange ways sometimes."

    "But... where am I?"

    "You're in my home town of Callinbar.  Mom found you yesterday 
by the river, unconscious.  The doctor thought you might have 
drowned.  We were really scared."  She shook her head.  "But he 
said there was no water in your lungs."

    "I... The Hall tried to drown me."

    "No, I think that was really just your test.  Sometimes the 
tests the Hall gives are a little extreme."

    "A little," Garth agreed.  "I think I need to sit down."

    "You okay?"

    "Just, just a little dizzy."  He rubbed his stomach.  "I think 
I'm hungry."

    "I hope you do more than 'think,' Garth, 'cause Mom makes 
pretty huge meals."

    "What time is it?"

    "Sometime in the late afternoon.  Almost time for supper."  Her 
black eyes smiled at him.  "I'm just glad you came back."

    "Does... does Skii know where I am?"

    "He should.  The AIs were told to inform us when you surfaced 
again.  Nickolai too, but he got away with it by coming out 
somewhere beyond the AInet."

    Garth nodded.  

    A new voice came through the door.  "Kiza?"

    "In here, Mom!"

    Another Marten poked her head around the door.  A little 
thicker in the middle than Kiza, whiskers slightly droopy but the 
same bright eyes.  "Ah, he is awake.  You perhaps would like dinner 
with us, then?  Kiza tells me your name is Garth."

    "Yes, Miss..."

    "Ah, I am Naiza," the Marten said.  "My mate is named How.  And 
you already know my daughter."

    Garth nodded.  "Thank you."

    "It's nothing," Naiza said, looking away.  "We are not used to 
finding handsome young men washed up on the side of our aqueducts."

    "Still, thank you for a place to recover."

    "You are hungry?" Naiza asked.  "Kiza, get your young friend 
some clothes.  I am sure he must feel terrible being naked; humans 
are so much used to dressing."

    "I'm fine, really," Garth replied, embarrassed by the sudden 
attention of two Martens, even if one of them was interested only 
in seeing to his more mundane needs.  He grinned sheepishly as Kiza 
reached into a curiously shaped pack and handed him suitable 
clothing.  He put on a loose pullover and then a kilt held in place 
with velcro.  Kiza found the idea of easy-tear clothing 
entertaining.

    "Come," Naiza said, interrupting Kiza's teasings.  "We have 
food downstairs."  Garth enjoyed the sound of her voice as it 
lifted up and dipped downwards with the progression of her 
sentences, as if her pitch followed a slow sine curve.

    He followed them down stairs that were too small for him; he 
felt like he teetered on the brink of falling down with every step.  
Fortunately, the downstairs was built more to his scale, and the 
door was positively enormous.  Like much of Pendor, it had 
apparently been built to the scale of the largest species that used 
the 'indoors,' Centaurs.  

    Garth found his hunger as she set down a plate of food before 
him.  Meat, potatoes, corn... real food.  The meat stunned him; he 
had almost never seen that much red meat in one place.  He ate with 
gusto while Naiza and Kiza did the same, but they also watched him 
closely.  Another Marten with a deeper voice came into the room 
behind Garth.  "How, he is awake."

    "I see, I see, Naiza," the other Marten said.  "It is good to 
see you moving again, young mel.  We were worried about you."

    "His name is Garth," Naiza said.

    "Hush, Naiza.  Let him speak."

    "I'm glad someone was worried about me.  My last memories were 
of drowning in the Great Hall."

    "Yes," How said.  "Kiza here told us you were walking the great 
Hall."  He examined Garth closely.  "I thought people didn't do 
that any 
more."

    "Most people don't," Garth agreed.

              -               -              -

    "You are still a Katckin," How observed.

    "Yeah, the Hall has changed.  No more changes for people going 
through."

    "Really?" How asked, surprised.  "That's interesting.  I have 
not read news in months.  When did this happen?"

    "About three weeks ago."

    "Hmm.  After the time I stopped reading, too.  Interesting.  I 
wonder if it will affect the political balance between Pendor and 
Terra.  Not that  I care much; there is no reason for us to fear.  
Pendor is strong, and we here in the outback care little for the 
ways of politics.  My daughter here, she wants to be an engineer; 
she lives back in the civilized zones.  Goes to school."

    "Garth?" Kiza asked, blushing slightly under the reminders her 
father tossed in her direction, "Can you ride a horse?"

    "Ride a...?  I've never ridden one before."

    "Then getting you home is going to be interesting.  Horses are 
our most common method of getting around out here.  The SDisk far 
out in the 
FTS grain fields."

    FTS!  Garth realized he was in the midst of one of the largest 
charity organizations in the galaxy.  Feed The Stars had a 
reputation for being as much a political tool as a humanitarian 
effort, but its effect could not be denied; whole colonies existed 
solely off the efforts of FTS.  And Kiza grew up as a farmer for 
FTS?  "I guess I'll have to learn," he said.  "Naiza, How, thank 
you for being so kind."

    "We like having visitors," Naiza said.  "They are so rare."

    "That is because most Pendorians are lazy, Naiza.  They have no 
appreciation of a real day's work."

    "Now, How," Naiza said.  "You know that is not true."

    How didn't reply, and Garth got the feeling he was listening to 
a very old argument.  He finished the dinner and Naiza placed 
another plate in front of him, and within a short while he had 
finished that off too.  "Oh, my fah!  At that rate, I should 
slaughter more sheep," How observed.

    "Sorry," Garth said, abashed.

    "Pfah!" How laughed.  "Eat as much as you need, Garth.  I don't 
slaughter my sheep just so that they may rot and not feed your 
stomach.  Eat!"

    Garth blushed and finished off the second plate.  "No more, 
Naiza, thank you.  Just one more roll."

    "You like my cooking?"

    "Delicious," Garth agreed.

    Kiza touched the back of his hand.  "Kolya is climbing the 
walls.  He loves you, you know.  We've been trying to keep 
ourselves occupied, but we were so worried.  Even Shardik commented 
that you had been gone a long time."

    "Friends in such high places," How muttered.  "She talks to  
Shardik.  Kiza, where do you meet such people?"

    "I don't know, Daddy," she said solemnly.  "I just sort of fell 
in with the right crowd."  She turned back to Garth.  "I missed you 
too."

    "I... I haven't had enough time to miss you, except the first 
day of the walk.  I hope you don't think that's awful."

    "No," Kiza said.  "Not awful at all."  She looked over his 
shoulder.  "Daddy, do you think we can spend the night here and go 
in the morning?"

    "Of course!" How said.  "Why not?  It is good to have you in 
the old farmhouse again, Kiza."

    Kiza started asking questions about the condition of the farm 
and the animals.  Garth found keeping up with her hardgoing; there 
was something to her life here that he, as a Londoner, was just not 
privy to.  It bothered him a little.  And the more he thought about 
it, the more it bothered him.  It had nothing to do with her, 
really; more that her life and his weren't meant to be compatible.  
Even when she was an engineer, she was an earthy female with her 
own, grounded life.

    "Come," How said.  "Kiza, would you like to do a reading?"

    "Yes!" she said.  "Oh, yes!"

    Garth was surprised at what happened next as How, Naiza, and 
Kiza led him into the living room.  "What will you have?" How 
asked.

    Kiza walked to one wall that was thick with books.  "Oof!" she 
grunted softly as she pulled a huge red tome down from the wall and 
opened it until she was nearly at the back.  Garth's surprise grew 
when she began reading from Shakespeare's sonnets.

    Her voice carried across the room, and Garth found himself 
listening first with idle boredom, then with rapt fascination.  Her 
reading touched him; sometimes she seemed to be talking right at 
him, and sometimes she seemed to be wishing for someone not here.

    Time flew as she read, and Garth found himself suppressing 
yawns.  He felt exhausted.  And the last straw came when he awoke 
suddenly to find Kiza shaking him on the shoulder.  "Garth?"

    "Huh?" he said, looking up.

    "You want to go to bed?  You look exhausted."

    Garth nodded slowly.  "Yeah, I think I should go to bed."  She 
led him up the stairs into the room he had awakened in just a short 
time earlier, then turned around and pulled on the rope holding his 
tunic shut.  "You look good," she said.

    "I feel tired," he sighed.  "I don't think I'm up for this."

    "Nonsense," she said.  "Here, pull that thing off."  She 
reached down and tugged at the velcro; his kilt fell to the floor.  
"I knew I was going to like that feature."  She discarded the kilt 
into a corner.  "Now, sit down on the bed."  Garth obeyed.  She 
stood before him and stripped off her jumpsuit, looking at him.  
"Garth?"

    "Hmm?"

    "You're not bothered because I...  I think I'm gay, are you?  I 
don't know what to call it.  I've had one relationship that lasted, 
you know?  It was with Furry, and now she's got someone more 
important to her than I am, and I understand that.  I understood it 
even when our relationship began.  But I still like mels, only just 
as friends and...  I just can't imagine living with you."

    At a loss for words, Garth just stared at her.  He found his 
tongue fast enough to say, "I, um, I don't..."

    "Do you want me to stay?" she said.  "There's another room.  I 
could go there."

    "No," he said.  "I... wanted to tell you that I don't think 
you're what I'm looking for either.  And it has nothing to do with 
your being gay.  You just aren't."  She nodded, her face flat and 
unmoving.  "I still think it was nice that we spent those nights 
together in bed."

    "Yay!" she said, jumping next to him and making the bed creak 
slightly.  She pushed him back onto the bed, and they tumbled 
together onto the sheets.  "Kiza, wha?"

    "Shhh..." she said, her hands reaching between his thighs.  Her 
fingers caressed his ballsac softly, and he squirmed and whimpered 
slightly at the ticklish sensations she created.  "I want to show 
you how much I appreciate your being here."

    "But you... you just said..."

    "Garth," she whispered, kissing his neck.  "When I said I 
thought I was a lesbian, I meant to say that I can only imagine 
myself settling down with a fem, living with one.  But that doesn't 
mean I don't appreciate your company.  I do."

    "Oh... okay..." he said.  Experimentally, a little put-off by 
her confession, he ran his fingers over the fur of her side, 
touching her.  She moaned softly.  "Yes, I like when you touch me 
like that," she said.  "Press a little harder.

    His hands rubbed against her fur, pressing down against the 
flesh.  He could feel her ribs underneath as his hands caressed her 
chest.  She didn't have visible breasts, and he felt a little 
abashed as he touched her flat chest, as if he were caressing 
someone who was either too young, or of the wrong gender.  In any 
event, it felt peculiar to him.  But she seemed to like it.

    Her hands stroked up along the length of his shaft, touching 
the tip and playing with the head of his penis within.  He 
squirmed, giggling more.  "Dammit, Kiza!" he breathed.

    "You're ticklish there?" she asked, surprised.  "Oooh!"  Her 
finger stirred in his foreskin playfully, and he giggled at her 
merciless intrusion.  "Stop!" he demanded.

    "Okay," she said.  "But I can see it got you excited for me to 
do that."  Her fingers stroked his erection, not half out of its 
sheath, and it surged more fully to life.  Her hands pulled and 
tugged on his sheath, pulling it up over the head of his penis, 
then letting it go.  He moaned softly; she was starting to pull so 
hard it almost felt like it hurt.

    He returned the favor, reaching down between her thighs and 
finding a pair of tiny ridges, the lips of her vulva.  They were so 
small he had  first wondered if she would be able to take his cock.  
He knew now that she could.

    He rose up on one arm, pushing her down to the bed on her back, 
then slid down the length of the bed until he lay with his head 
between her legs.  He wanted to lick her but he also wanted to look 
at her cunt, to see the soft pink of it.

    His arms rested on her thighs as his hands gently pried her 
lips apart.  From this angle she looked impossibly small, but he 
had seen his cock go in there before.  He lowered his head to her 
vulva and ran his most unfeline tongue along the length.  Kiza 
moaned softly as he made small circles around her clitoris.  Her 
breathing became short as he licked her, tasting her juices.  Her 
hands gripped the bedsheets as if she were fighting something.  He 
wondered if her tension came because he was male, or because she 
was already close to climax.  Unable to tell and with no clear word 
from her, he continued licking her tiny cunt, his tongue brushing 
against the top of the hood and tugging it up, exposing but not 
quite touching the clitoris underneath.  She groaned softly as he 
licked at her.  "Against my clit."

    He lowered his tongue against her clitoris and immediately she 
went into a frenzy.  "Oh, yes!  Garth, ohhhhh yes.  Harder.  
HARDER!"  Garth pressed down with his muzzle, licking until his jaw 
ached.  It began to burn harder, and just when he thought he had no 
more strength to give, her body tensed irrevocably and she came, 
moaning, her legs thrashing.

    She smiled up at him.  "Your turn," she said.

    "My turn for what?"

    "Your turn to come," she replied.  "Fuck me, Garth."

    Garth rose to his knees and unsurely positioned himself between 
hers.  She reached up with both arms, a big smile on her face.  "Go 
ahead," she said.  "I don't bite."

    "I don't know that," he smiled.

    "I haven't yet," she said.  He slid forwards, his cock nudging 
up against her vulva.  He pushed downwards, and suddenly slid into 
her. 

    He gasped.  She was tight, so tight he could barely move.  He 
felt her body shiver under him as he slid deep into her.  Her hands 
pulled him down until his chest touched hers.  She licked his 
cheeks softly as he buried his cock deep within her, fucking her 
softly.

    "Harder," she whispered.  His hips complained as he slid into 
her deeper.  He pushed himself up on his arms and began making love 
to her with more intent, stroking harder.  He looked down; he could 
see her tiny lips gripping his cock as he buried himself completely 
into her cunt and his sheath was pulled back to the root of his 
cock.  "Like that?"

    "Yessss..." she hissed.  "Like that."  He began to push harder 
and faster, speeding up as his cock slid in and out of her.  Her 
cunt was incredibly slick as well as tight, and only that slickness 
kept him from being held to a standstill within her.  His body felt 
tight and he began panting as his cock insisted he was about to 
explode.  He felt it coming, felt so close, and...

    He came!  He felt himself coming within her, could feel the 
walls of her cunt holding his cock as his semen spurt into her 
cunt.  "Yes!" he growled, pushing against her.  Then it was over.

    He blinked, smiling down at her.  "Hi," he said.

    "Hi," she replied back.  She reached up and pulled him down 
again, and again they tumbled on the bed, rolling.  In the course 
of things, he slipped out of her.  "That was nice."

    "Just nice?" he asked.

    "Just nice," she agreed.  The she registered the look on his 
face.  "I hope you're not upset with me because I'm glad you were 
nice to me."

    He shook his head.  "No, it's just a little weird.  Usually 
people treat sex as if it means something."

    "It does mean something!  It means you like me, and I like you, 
and I was nice to you, and you were nice to me.  Does it have to 
mean more than that?"

    Garth smiled, embarrassed again.  "I guess not."

    "See?  Now, are you tired?"

    "I'm exhausted, Kiza.  I was exhausted even before we started."

    "Then lets get some sleep.  Turn over, close your eyes, that's 
it.  You'll be asleep in no time."

    Garth did turn over onto his side, and she was right.  His 
memory of the day stopped there.

--
"Journal Entry 163 / 0918  [ Reunion, Part 11 ]"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales
are copyright (C) 1989-1995 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.  Redistribution of
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Any redistribution must include this copyright notice intact.
--
Elf Sternberg            FUCK THE CDA!       (Cohen vs. California, 1971)
elf@halcyon.com          Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati.
Public key available     http://www.halcyon.com/elf/index.html