     Copyright 1990 by Bill Grobe / Anime Pro Productions.  All rights
     reserved.  Skiltaire Copyright 1982 Mark Merlino

     The use, reproduction and redistribution of this work in any medium
     or by any means, including electronic media or means, except in
     current unaltered form is STICTLY PROHIBITED without the express
     written consent of the Author and of Anime Pro Productions. Any
     other use or presentation of this work and the material presented
     shall be treated as COPYRIGHT INFRINGMENT and shall be answered by
     the author within the fullest extent of the Law and International
     Copyright Conventions.


Belching Dragon: Ryokyo Lyons
Internet: rstone@mirror.umd.edu
FURRYMUCK--138.74.0.10 8888   "Roci_Stone"
B. Grobe 215 E. Orangethorpe Ave. #183,
Fullerton, CA, 92633, USA
(714) 871-2544 (Voice/data)

         
                          C  O  N  C  O  R  D  A  T

 
                             CHAPTER ONE: CRISIS
 

    Night had touched their hilltop home, but to alert Skiltaire
ears, not all was peaceful.  Shyia walked from her post in the Great Hall
toward her wing of Ogawa Castle.  The main door was open, and in the
larger room next to hers Shyia could see a light shining from beneath
the bamboo door.  She walked casually toward the second shoji, thinking
it odd that Bill-San would be up so late.  Shyia smiled, thinking the
withdrawn Human had finally gathered the courage to ask help with the
problem he had buried within him for so long.  Shyia tried to appear
nonchalant as she walked up to the door, standing close enough to cast a
shadow against it.

    The arboreal Skiltaire felt a familliar mind on the other side of the
door...  But then Shyia stopped, for she felt another, stronger wave of
thought touch her mind.  Bill was in the midst of his deepest sorrow!
She had known her lifemate's teacher and friend a long while, but had
never felt so strong or so dark a feeling from the intense Human.
Sensing a note of surprise and urgency, she slid back her door.

    "Good Eve to..."  Her usual greeting was cut off by the sight of
Bill-San sprawled out on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably!
 
    Gently, Shyia walked over to the convulsing body, spread herself
across Bill's back, and gave him a soft hug as her head dropped close to
his ear.
 
    "Whatever shadow hath touched thee, my Dear Bill...  Speak it now
that I might give aid to thee.."
 
    "I--Can't..." Bill answered, his voice choked off by tears and fear.
 
    "Bill-San..." Shyia began.
 
    "Bill-San is DEAD...  And I wish that I could be too!"  The Human's
words came edged with fear and self loathing so profound that even Shyia
found them momentarily daunting.  She sensed that these were the first
drops in a torrent of bitter water that had welled in the Human's soul.
She realized it best to let the flow continue rather than try to swim
upstream.
 
    "Why?" asked Shyia simply.
 
    "I'm no good to anyone...  Nothing I thought I could do matters
anymore...  Hell, I can't even be furry!"
 
    Shyia knew better than anyfurry what her Human brother had come
through to be made a member of their Pride, and what his soul felt once
freed of his limited body.  Bill's statements of surrender and
abandonment frightened Shyia nearly as much as they did the Human who
made them.
 
    "Do not loose thyself, my poor Pridemate...  Wherein have ye gone to
discover within thyself such pain?" Shyia asked, probing gently.
 
    Bill rolled over onto his side, to look at the beautiful female
Skiltaire through swollen eyes, red with hours of anguish.
 
    "If I'm not who or what I thought I was...  Oh Shyia...  Please tell
me who in the hell I am...  Please..."
 
    Bill's startling supplications struck at Shyia's heart and stimulated
her mind.  For over a year, she had thought she felt a change in
Bill-San, but always too subtle and personal a thing for her to mention.
Outwardly, since their return from Kurusha, Bill had seemed reborn in the
energy that he had shared with everyfurry at her lifemating with Ryokyo.
Bill-San's health and well being had been restored, and the Human seemed
to have become as animated and full of life as any of his Pridemates.
 
    "Is it we then who have done ye harm, Bill-San?" Shyia asked.
 
    Amid his sorrow and self pity, a look of terror crossed Bill's face.
 
    "NO...  No...  Never...!" Bill answered quickly in a state of near
panic.  The Human reached out trying to cradle Shyia in his arms.  She
went more than willingly, almost throwing herself around his neck,
hugging him firmly to try to squeeze the pain out of him.  She reached
out and ran a sympathetic paw across his forehead before Bill went on.
 
    "You've set me free...  all of you...  I love you all so much...  and
I'm so scared..."
 
    "Whatever fear seeks you, we can fight together...  Be ye naught
afraid..."
 
    "Even if it's myself I fear?" Bill asked quietly.
 
    Bill could see the glint of light in Shyia's gem-like sapphire eyes.
Deep within herself, she found a moment of understanding.
 
    "I lost myself, found all of you, and now I've lost myself again!"
Bill said fearfully.  "I'm not sure I know who I am anymore.  Does that
mean I loose all of you too?"

    Shyia could tell from the rising fear in Bill's voice that the Human
had come to deadly grips with what had terrified him so deeply.

    "Is it so that ye have lost yourself, or have thee found thyself and
seek to run away once again?" Shyia asked incisively.
 
    The cool logic of the question had the desired effect.  More than
anything, Shyia sensed that Bill-San needed an anchor, a rock to grab in
the middle of the river of fear that threatened to sweep him away.  She
saw the look on Bill's face change.  Only then did Shyia dare a tentative
smile.  "I--I guess...  Oh...  I just don't know anymore..." Bill said,
trying for the first time to cope with all that he felt.
 
    *But soft, my Brother...* Shyia sent softly.  Bill sat up on his
elbows and let Shyia sit lightly on his chest, where she had slept so
often.  The gift of Psionics had been one of so many gifts that Bill had
received at the Lifemating of his first two Pridemates.  Now, if he
wished, the Human could touch any of his Pridemates with the same
surpassing ease as the Skiltaire lady knew and loved so well.  In this
moment of crisis, this gift would prove its value beyond price.
 
    "Wilt thou share thine mind with me, my Brother?" Shyia asked the
formal question aloud as a courtesy.  Before she reached her last spoken
word, Bill's response echoed weakly in her active mind.
 
    *I am yours, my sweet Silvered Lady.*  Bill's send was on a tight,
narrow beam that drew nearly all the energy from his tired, worried mind.
Shyia felt his energy wane, and moved to accommodate him.  She padded
gently up his chest, her weight and his fatigue combining to lay him flat
on the floor again.  Shyia reached out and put her dainty cocoa-hued paws
to Bill's temples.  The bridge between them was built of a single
thought, shared and multiplied as their communication deepened.  Their
minds became extensions of one another.  Shyia's vastly superior
telepathic power gave her control over the flowing confusion of images
that poured across the thought link at her from Bill's sub-conscious
mind.

    The arboreal Skiltaire felt her entire body warm as she tapped the
reservoir of emotional energy that came with the images of Bill's life
with his furry Pridemates.  Yet, as time repealed itself within the
motion of his thoughts and memories, Shyia could feel something entirely
different.  Beyond the pool from which Bill had learned to draw his life
energy, She felt a cold, clammy feeling sweep over her.  Shyia had seen
combat many times.  She knew this sensation.  And then, in a moment, an
icy, cool moment, she understood what threatened to consume her Human
soulmate.
 
    Shyia had felt many thoughts and emotions, from tens and thousands of
other beings, alien and familliar.  There was a universality to the
stark, grey-black feeling.  It felt like its cousin, death, but was worse
because this feeling could and would torture it's victim all through
life.
 
    For a moment, Shyia had difficulty accepting what she thought she
felt.  With all of the Pride so much a part of him, it was difficult to
imagine Bill-San as being lonely--but the miserable, empty coldness that
crept over him had no other name.  And now, it threatened to impose a
living death sentence upon him.
 
    Shyia steeled herself against its bite as some part of Bill's
feelings fought to keep her away from his pain.  Bill and Shyia
consciously combined to push their merged thoughts beyond the onyx
darkness that had eaten its cancerous way into his being.  Bill was
afraid, but Shyia used her strength to sustain both as they plunged
deeper into the darkness.  For the Skiltaire knew better than most that
the seeds of darkness lay somewhere deep inside itself.  If Bill-San were
ever to know light again, they had to breach the blackness.

    Her gentle but uncompromising probe of Bill's thoughts touched
another cold, almost metallic presence as she groped with him through the
darkness.  Shyia paused, linking again with Bill so that they could pass
through whatever barrier lay ahead.  Shyia felt Bill's thought energy
rally, swirling up from the dark mists like a beam of sunlight through a
dusty attic window.  Shyia helped her Human friend focus all their energy
against the obstacle that lay ahead, cloaked in the dark of loneliness.
Within the light of feelings, Shyia could now see the obstruction she
could feel just as well.
 
    The thought beam from their combined being touched the wall gently,
almost benignly.  There was no sound, but in the mirror of their thoughts
Shyia and Bill could see a small piece of the seemingly boundless, dark
grey wall dissolve into the swirling cold mist that surrounded it.  All
of their combined will had struck the wall like a laser beam, and broken
from it a piece only as large as a sugar cube!
 
    Suddenly, Bill's mind felt Shyia waver, her thought impulses flagging
dangerously!  Feeling the amplitude of her modulation wane, it was Bill
who found himself fighting to extract both himself and the Skiltaire he
loved from his own darkness!  For the human, it was as if he had plunged
his hand into electrically charged ice water!  It tore at him like a
thousand knives, each cutting deeper than the one before it.  They sought
not to rend his flesh, but to dismember his mind and tear apart their
combining!

    He focused all of his remaining energy into one mighty heave against
the adhesive blackness.  Together in the space and time, the Human felt
his body convulse, wrenching and tearing every fibre of him as surely as
he felt his puny bones snap!!
 
    After a moment of unequalled suffering, Bill forced his eyes open, to
see Shyia sprawled out on top of him, her fur and his skin both soaked
with clammy human sweat!  Bill tried to suck air into his lungs to fight
the pain, but his chest and ribs racked him with pain that made pleurisy
seem pleasant.  The Human gasped, drawing in small breaths to conquer the
agony.  Bill looked up at Shyia's limp, exhausted form and was filled
with momentary panic until her eyes fluttered open weakly.  His hands
found strength to wrap around her gently as she lay on top of him,
totally spent.
 
    They lay dead still for twenty minutes, neither having the power to
send to the other.  But there was no disguising what Shyia had attempted
to do, and Bill knew it.  As he lay with her in the midst of a silent
cry, he realized for the first time in his life that maybe...  just
maybe...  someone cared...
 
    Bill felt Shyia's active and energetic mind spark again, begin
to rally. Two hours passed before Bill felt a familliar probe touch his
thoughts.  His own leapt out to grab it, using all of his restored energy
to guide Shyia's thoughts to him.
 
    "Thank You, My Sweet Shyia..." Bill praised her gently aloud, his
exhausted mind too weak to send his thoughts to her.
 
    *I did nothing, My poor lonely one.  I sought to break through thine
pain and did nearly end us both.  I have done you hurt, and I am sorry.
I grieve with thee, my poor Bill-San.* Shyia sent her thoughts on a beam
of energy that was strong and deep.
 
    "I love you, Shyia-Kun..." Bill said, his words coming on a whisper.
 
    *I have naught the power to aid ye, my Bill-San.  For this barrier is
of your own craftsmanship and only ye may topple it.* Shyia sent, her
thoughts full of regret and sorrow.
 
    "Have I no resource?  Can no one help me?"
 
    *As such as ye have built these walls, so must the means to breach
them be within you, even as we all are within you, my Dearest Bill-San.*
Shyia thought at him softly, her soft sapphire eyes filling with tears.
 
    "Where must I go?  What...  How?" Bill's questions turned from fear
to panic as something inside him felt himself being left alone again.
 
    "Ye must seek within thyself.  Therein shall ye find all that ye
shall need." Shyia said aloud.  "Rest now, as I and the Pride rest with
ye.  We are ever near to thee and will abandon ye not.  Rest now, and
bring the light of thyself to bear against the darkness.  I can say
naught more."  Shyia spread her exhausted body across Bill, hugging
herself close to her Human soulmate as both allowed sleep to take them
away from fear and regret.


                           CHAPTER TWO: ENVOY
 
    Bill awoke from a fitful and seemingly dreamless sleep with a
throbbing headache.  He still wore the same coveralls, damp and icky from
cold sweat.  Shyia was gone, but he felt no special concern.  The mere
thinking of her name filled the Human with a warm, effervescent feeling--
the same one he always got when he thought of his Pridemates.  It was a
pleasure next to the whining, pinched off sensation his body hit him with
a moment later.  He figured his cut rate body had double crossed him
again during the night.  Using his newly discovered psionic gifts usually
left him feeling good.  So good, he thought to himself, he could almost
pass for being furry.
 
    Ah, what the heck...  He'd get a shot of neuro-stabilizer from Sandi
right after breakfast, he thought to himself.  He rolled over on the
thick tapestry that covered the floor, forcing his body to move.

    /Breakfast.../ he thought.  /Now there's an idea...  If I don't
hurry, I'm going to be--/
 
    Bill's rambling train of thought came to a screeching halt,
de-railing itself into a thousand pieces!  His optic nerves seemed to
throttle his brain, grabbing it by the visual cortex and strangling his
momentary disbelief with a wonderful sight!
 
    The form laying atop the futon next to him was a cool steel grey with
a brilliant orange-red stripe.  The slumbering Skiltaire was, Bill noted
somewhat strangely, very male and seemed to be the picture of fluid grace
as he flipped easily onto his back, exposing himself and his snow white
undercoat to Bill's eyes!  His body was on the lean side, shorter than
Shyia, but with heavier muscles layered beneath a thicker, somewhat more
unruly coat.
 
    Looking down at the meter long mustelid, stretched out now in open
and vulnerable contentment, the digits of his jet black paws curling with
satisfaction, Bill felt his mouth go sandy dry.
 
    "W-wow!" said Bill in a shout of delight crushed into a soft whisper
by a sudden impulse not to disturb whoever this was.  After all, common
courtesy, even to strangers, was a well-learned Kurushani custom.
 
    Thinking the name of his adopted race switched on the analytical side
of Bill's mind, as it always did.  He turned off a strange burst from his
hormones and gently put this new stranger under his microscope.
 
    /Kurushani?/  Had to be...  Even asleep, Bill could feel his mind.
There was no mistake.
 
    /Male?  That's obvious.../ Bill thought to himself.
 
    /Now,/ Bill thought to himself, /comes the sticky part...  Savage?/
he wondered.
 
    The build was right, slightly stocky, yet strong and...  Bill was
slightly ashamed to think the word of a sleeping stranger, but nubile was
the word that Shyia had used herself in their first cultural survey, and
it fit well...
 
    Bill found himself thinking like a doctor and sounding to himself
like a medical examiner.
 
    His body was well-developed, heavy, thick, symmetrical musculature
throughout...  All outward signs testified the young Skiltaire as being a
member of the slightly more than wild branch of the Kurushani family's
racial tree.  Bill hesitated to try sending to him, remembering the
unpleasant and nearly fatal jolt that an uninvited probe of a Savage
Kurushani had gotten him the first and only time he was rude enough to
try it.
 
    There was one other never-fail test.  Savages ate a cruder form of
protein as a result of their wilderness diet.  It had the positive effect
of layering in faster and stronger muscles than their civilized brothers,
but they paid for the extra strength in the price of the smooth sleekness
of coat and manner that the "Civilized" Kurushani had taken as a
hallmark.  One slight touch of the stiffer guard hairs on his thick fur
would be enough to tell...
 
    Bill reached out gently, risking the considerable voltage that might
reward his curiosity.  Touching the underfur would not do.  The
difference in texture was obvious to the eye but not enough to prove it.
He reached a finger toward the two-tone boundary in the male's coat.
Touching no more than a fingertip to the slightly ruffed guardfur was all
Bill needed.  His visitor's fur felt more like a wolverine's than Shyia's
sabline coat.  His fingers risked pressing a bit harder, and the
thickened, stiffer bristles of the Skiltaire's coat resisted his touch,
just as nature intended!
 
    /YES!!/ Bill thought to himself on a sudden spear of excitement.
This handsome fellow was savage, through and through, and it showed!!
 
    "Bill-San..." an even, strong, and slightly accented voice said
softly.  "If you want to play, use the strength in those hands, neh?"
 
    Bill looked up suddenly to find himself under the riveting gaze of a
pair of hazel eyes flecked with green.  Bill pulled back his hand as if
he'd taken a full charge, though not one ampere of current had been
passed between them.
 
    "What's wrong?  Go ahead!  I will not break!" The Skiltaire
objected, a slightly hurt look in his bright eyes.
 
    "But...  Sir..." Bill began, trying not to loose it all at once.
"You're a perfect stranger..." Bill replied, sounding like a proper
British prude, and not liking it at all.  He looked at the Skiltaire with
unabashed wonder in his eyes as his mind told him that he was both awake
and aware of what he never dreamed he would see!!
 
    "Nofurry is perfect, and the stranger the better!" He shot back with
a fast wink.  Even Bill managed to crack an easy smile.
 
    The look on Bill's face asked three and four questions all at once.
The Skiltaire's smile broadened.
 
    "I arrived late last night, and took the first warm, dark place I
could find...  Sorry to violate your territory." Their was a bright,
self-confidant tone in his voice that Bill had heard somewhere before.
Something in the Human's guts also told him to trust what he felt and
heard.
 
    "Warm, dark places..." Bill began to say.
 
    "The best kind..." The male Skiltaire finished almost second natured.
He noticed the man giving him an odd look.  "If you do not want to frisk
me...  I want a shower and brushing...  Have you a towel?  I have my
brush..."
 
    Before he let it fall to the futon, the mustelid visitor reached into
his belt pouch and pulled out a tortice-shell brush with stiff black
bristles.  He let it fall on top of his pouch.  His unexpected guest
locked his paws behind his handsome head, giving his body a sharp and
brawny flex before walking nonchalantly into the bathroom.  Bill gave a
low, two toned wolf whistle.
 
    The Skiltaire trotted around the edge of the door frame, wearing
nothing but his natural coat.  "Speak!" The Skiltaire retorted in perfict
Astreli Kurushani.
 
    "How are you named?" Bill asked, phrasing the question in nearly
flawless native Kurushani of his own.
 
    "Shyia tells me to ask you..." was the intimately phrased familiar
response, also sent in Kurushani to Bill's mind as well as his ears.  The
words were phrased with the ultimatly intimate form of "you" that the
Kurushani normally reserved for mated lovers or friends who had chosen to
have their spirits bonded.  It was an awful affront for a stanger to
presume such a thing, and the Kurushani Human let his surprise and
momentary anger show in both posture and native words.
 
    "Ki malushita??" Bill responded aloud, his tone challenging the
brassy strangers use of the most intimate form of address in their common
language.  For a long moment, they stood locked in each others eyes, on
the sudden edge of a fight neither one wanted.  The Skiltaire bowed
shortly, never taking his eyes from the Man.  As his head lowered, he
spoke.
 
    "Ki kiritamasta, neh?" asked the visitor respectfully asking
permission to place their relationship on another footing.  His head came
up, proud and defiant, asking what manners required, but never showing
regret or weakness to his potential foe.

    Bill smiled.  Whoever he was, this one had a soul of iron with a
brass coating, as the Kurushani Proverb said.  Deep inside himself, Bill
seemed to remember suddenly, so did the Human within him.
 
    "Fine...  One SOB to another...  Ki takashata!" Bill answered, mixing
English and familliar Kurushani with a symbolically deeper bow than his
planetmate, a sign of trust and friendship.
 
    "You wish to join me?  Perhaps between conditioner and towel, You
will remember my name." He took the loop of towel from around his thick
neck and tossed it at Bill in playful invitation.
 
    The ball of towel bounced lightly off of Bill's crotch before he
plucked it out of the air and sent it sailing back to his new friend in
the same motion.  The Human's toss was slightly high, and the towel
nearly sailed over the Skiltaire's head.  Bill watched the fluid motion
with envy as the mustelid gathered and leapt into the air with ease to
snatch the ball of cloth!
 
    The male's invitation came as something of a shock.  Years of
training in his Japanese homeland had stripped him of any notion of false
modesty.  Yet as Bill stood across the room looking at his strange guest,
there was something slightly wild and magnetic that urged Bill to accept.
Instantly, Bill felt the icy coldness of the wall again, and fear snuffed
out the man's wish to accept.
 
    "No...  That's alright..." said Bill, switching back to Kanda
Japanese.  Something else inside him said the Skiltaire would understand
without problems.
 
    The Male Skiltaire's reaction look was one of wide open and true
disappointment!  "Very well..." he answered sadly, trudging off toward
the bathroom like a six year old told to wash before bed.
 
    Bill watched in the mirror on his dresser as the sleek savage walked
away, his lean yet hard body rippling gently as he moved.  Bill looked
away from the sight, shaking his head gently.  Some part of him scolded
himself for being some type of perverse peeping tom.

    As the screen to the wash room slid closed, Bill diverted his
attention to his morning prayers and the Tai Chi that had become
automatic.  His forms were still sharp and serene, despite the vast power
of the energy that flowed into a tranquil river within his being as he
moved.  He undressed now, more fully focused and more at peace with
himself after the terrors of the night before...
 
    Yet, the night seemed to have yielded something much different than
the cold ocean of fear.  Bill's thoughts turned back to his strange and
somehow familliar friend who bathed beneath the misting water jets of the
jacuzzi-type bath.  His shared being with his Pridemates had never
diminished his almost child-like fascination with his Mates in fur.  Yet,
when he first saw the splendid Skiltaire lying above the covers next to
him, Bill could not ignore the fact that he had felt something most
extraordinary.
 
    Shyia and Ryokyo had slept with him before, and in relaxed positions
of such open and innocent intimacy that it might have caused a normal to
have a coronary.  But for some reason, the sight of...
 
    /Roci.../
 
    Bill thought and rethought the first word and name that had flowed
along the river of his mind...
 
    /Roci...  Roci Stone.../  Bill almost dismissed it as a joke in bad
taste, but when he reconsidered the words that seemed to rise from
somewhere deep inside him, Bill felt that warm, familliar feeling once
again.  It fit somehow, for the Savage Skiltaire had begun to exhibit
signs of the well sculpted from that marked the Savages devotion to
things physical rather than mental.  Bill knew better than anyone that
this choice didn't condemn the wilder Kurushani to being slow-witted or
dull.  Quite the opposite was often true.  There were those who chose to
renounce the opening of their distant and sacred Homeworld to strangers.
Bill knew that this had been a great leap forward in technological and
social structures, but along with "civilization" had come its curses as
well.  While the vast majority of the populace had maintained their pure
Bushido Philosophy while choosing to become a wider part of the other
spacefareing worlds, a small cadre of dedicated Kurushani separated
themselves from the march of history.
 
    Their isolation extended to all things and newer ways.  Their
ferocious adherence to their unique way of life had few parallels in
history.  They became a powerhouse unto themselves, convincing others
from time to time to renounce the "corruption" of their poor deceived
brothers, and return to the Way of the wild and pure life, unspoiled by
advanced technology.
 
    Their wishes had been granted splendidly, creating an absolutely
fearless, driven portion of their populace, renowned for their physical
and psionic skills and their perfection of a rugged, simple, and proud
self-reliance.  Dependant upon no one but themselves, and owing
allegiance to none save the Chosen Khan of Kurusha.  Ryokyo's half Savage
parentage had melded incomparable strength into his sword of the Soul,
leaving Bill a superlative example of what Savage heritage could mean to
the fortunate few Kurushani who shared it.

    Bill's mind worked to co-mingle the many beautifully fluid and
graceful moves of the Skiltaire with the incredible, sometimes raw power
that a Savage could command.  The result made even the adopted Kurushani
Human shudder slightly.  As he sat on the futon, waiting his turn in his
now shared bathroom, he recalled a story from the Kurushani legendaria
that told of hundreds of Savages banding together to attack ten and
twenty times their number during the dark war of invasion.  While most of
their number would fall to superior weaponry, the constant and ruthless
Savage attacks would shatter the enemie's morale again and again,
rendering them hapless fodder for the others who would follow their
relentless charges.
 
    The hiss of the water sounded inviting.  Bill decided that he was
being... overcautious.  He scooped up another towel from the drawer and
took a step toward the bathroom.  As he opened the door, the spray that
hit his face was bracing and cold, just the way he liked it!  One of the
Human's simplest adjustments to life among the Kurushani was their
customary love of bathing in the icy cold streams that flowed from their
mountaintops.  The Human had surprised his adopted people by being not
only the first one in, but the one without fur who could stay the longest
in the chill currents, splashing and playing as if he had been born
there!
 
    Bill padded over to the shower enclosure and tapped gently on the
fibreglass door.  Through it he could make out the moving shape under the
water spray.  A voice rose over the misters.
 
    "I wondered when you would overcome your inhibitions...  Come, I need
someone to wash my back." Bill smiled.  He'd often done the same for
others in Kukura.  He braced for the splash, and stepped inside.
 
    Roci stood to one side, applying dabs of conditioning gel from a tube
to his thick chest fur.  He looked over at Bill and smiled.  "You are
lucky.  This mixture is more complicated than soap."

    Bill had watched Shyia use a similar concoction.  Once worked into
the coat and the skin beneath it, unique cleaners worked to clean and
soften even the Savage's rougher coat.  Roci reached up and grabbed a
mid-height shower head, directing a blast of icy water at the seemingly
unprepared Human!
 
    Instead, Bill cupped his hands quickly in front of him, forming a
scoop that shot the stream of water back at it's sender!  The surprised
look on Roci's muzzle curled Bill into a tight, laughing ball on the
shower stall floor.  With a playful chirp, Roci made a lunging dive at
the Human.  Beyond simple play, the movement disclosed the lightning
quickness and fluid strength that came with a Savage's passion for
wrestling!  Bill was enjoying the sight so much that he barely resisted
as Roci looped around his neck, sliding below and behind the human to
lock his arms at the elbows in a stern but gentle grip!  Bill might have
been able to break free, testing his arm and shoulder strength against
his mock attacker.  But all thoughts of escape fled his mind quickly as
Roci pressed his sleek but strong body close to his willing captive.
 
    "Now for a real cleaning!" Roci whispered gently as he pressed his
short but handsome muzzle close to Bill's ear.  That same muzzle slid
slightly lower a moment later and Roci tested his strong jaws and teeth
on Bill's stacked neck and shoulder muscles!
 
    Still holding tight behind the Human, Roci smiled as he heard Bill's
breath catch and hold, then a long, soft exhale.  The male Skiltaire felt
the Human's body relax, and Roci laid him down gently on the tile floor,
beneath a trio of jets that splashed bracing water all over him and his
Human friend.  Without a word, he stepped boldly over Bill's head and
face to stand on his chest.  The Skiltaire reached over to pick up the
bar soap from the ledge.  He paused a moment, looking over the length of
Bill's slippery body with a practiced eye before wetting the soap lightly
with a spray of cool water.
 
    "This will be a bigger job than I thought..." said Roci with a sly
smile, as he soaped his forelimbs back to the shoulders.  He waited a
moment, turning to study Bill's eyes.  In them he found a soft mixture of
wonder and the gentle light of trust.  With a broader smile, he turned
back to his slippery task at paw, and dove to it gently, as if it was his
life's calling.  With his first touches, Roci felt Bill entire body
become completely relaxed and fluid.  Even his heavily knotted leg
muscles gave up their struggle against gravity under Roci's gentle
paws...
 
    "Chirp...!" Bill said in soft native praise and thanks as his body
and mind followed a natural impulse to surrender to light sleep in spite
of the cold water...
 

                    CHAPTER THREE: BREAKFAST MEETING

    Bill awoke warm, dry, and totally relaxed!  Beneath the multiple
layers of cotton sheets and down comforter on the futon, Bill could feel
another wider area of warmth pressed close to his waist.  Bill lifted the
edge of the covers gently to look.  He was in his customary state of
undress.  He felt open, secure and comfortable.  Instinct was the first
to allay his suspicions.
 
    Roci lay sprawled out next to him, his large, somewhat sqareish head
laying on Bill's stomach!  The Skiltaire's incredibly sensitive paws
wrapped themselves gently around his waist.  The smooth, innocent intent
of his touch filled Bill with a pleasure that the Human had not felt in a
long time.
 
    /Far too long./ he thought to himself as he looked down sweetly at
the Skiltaire next to him.  Far beyond any sexual experience, Roci's gift
of openness reached inside the Human and, for a moment, Bill felt that
same warmth fill some small, far away part of himself.  It seemed to
radiate outward, relaxing him the same way Roci's massage had relaxed his
tension.  He laid down again, slowly, quietly and gently, not wanting to
disturb Roci for all the stars!  Before he slid back into the best sleep
of his weary life, Bill dropped a hand gently to Roci's head and neck.
As he let his strong fingers work gently through his rough coat and into
the thick layers of muscle, Roci stirred, ever so gently.
 
    "Chirp...!" the Skiltaire intoned softly, sending as much as saying
it, and snuggling even closer to Bill beneath the covers!  Bill lay back
on his pillow dizzy and happy until sleep gently closed his eyes again.
 
    Bill awoke slowly some time later.  Like most Kurushani, Bill no
longer needed a watch, but relied on the light, shadow and his instincts
to tell him it was a few minutes past noon.  His first impulse was to
leap out of bed and race downstairs to his waiting duties.  But all
thoughts of that fled as he swept back the covers and looked for a moment
at the contented ball of Skiltaire that lay snuggled close beside him!
There was just something about Roci...  Some indescribably soft, gentle
feeling that touched profoundly as he looked at him.  The Human hand
moved forward gently, but the impulse to stroke Roci gently sublimed into
a better idea as the Human spied the Skiltaire's brush laying bristles up
on the small bedside table.  Bill looked from the brush to Roci slowly, a
slight smile spreading across the human face!
 
    Bill's first reach for the brush was across his body, just out of
fingertip reach.  He swore to himself none too gently and dropped back
into bed next to the Skiltaire.  Then, he thought of something.  Again he
reached across his body to let his fingers linger in the air above the
night-table.  But this time, he thought, things would be different.  It
came to him somehow, much easier than expected.  No spikes, no body
draining surges, nothing so cornball.  Just a slow, steady, fluid feeling
that came up from somewhere inside him.  He looked at Roci's brush and
let the flowing sensation extend his fingers.  The brush twitched, as if
someone had brought a magnet near a compass needle.  /No,/ Bill thought
to himself, /I want the brush./  It moved again, grudgingly, and suddenly
Bill could feel the mass of the brush in his hand, even though his eyes
told him it was still on the table.  The brush lifted a bit and floated
across the three inch gap, and dropped lightly into the Human's palm!
 
    Bill allowed himself a brief and somewhat Savage smile of
accomplishment.  The decision to undergo the Will activation had been the
key to opening the door to himself and his Kurushani nature.  Using his
Activated Will was rare enough these days.  Considering Sandi's gift had
almost killed him while it gave him birth, this use didn't seem at all
that unique.  But as he slid the brush onto his cupped palm and looked at
Roci, he decided it was worth it after all!
 
    He peeled back the blanket and top sheet.  Roci was deep asleep, and
the change of air made him stretch a bit, his paws opening wider, his
tightly wound body becoming more relaxed.  The Human took the flexible
brush and began using it to best advantage to groom Roci's stripe as he
slept.  His touch was light, barely enough to disturb his rough guardfur.
 
    "Chirp!" Roci piped up contentedly.  He rolled over on all fours, his
head still down on his paws.  "Harder, and a bit to the right..." Roci
whispered with a sleepy smile.  Bill complied, pressing the thick, black
bristles deeper into his friend's fur.  On his fingers, Bill felt the
change in Roci's coat as the brush stokes deepened.  The conditioner had
done it's work, cleaning and separating the layers of fur, adding luster
to the thick coat.  The brush served to untangle and add air to the mass
of fur, forming and contouring it to Roci's well cut-up form.  Roci
needed no prompting to move freely beneath the bristles, and as Bill
brushed, it became an exercise in fluid motion and smooth action.  Roci
moved with a corkscrew style which exposed each of his fur groups to
Bill's steady, even strokes.  When his top coat was done, Roci looped
over, exposing his thick snow white underfur to the bristles.  Bill
paused, an uncertain look on his face.  Roci's eyes were gleaming.
 
    "Anything wrong?" Bill asked.  "I never did Shyia's undercoat."
 
    "I am not Shyia, Bill-San."

    "She's beautiful and you're..." Bill let his statement drop, unsure
which word he felt ought to be the one to say.
 
    "Go ahead...  I trust you, Bill-San..." Roci whispered softly.
 
    "Just Bill, Roci...  Just Bill..." he answered.  Bill took his
non-brush hand and slid it into the Savages chest fur, working his
fingers open and closed slowly, enjoying the depth and smoothness of fur
that now nearly hid his large hand.
 
    "Handsome..." Bill finished his complement with one word, but from
it's tone, Roci could tell that Bill meant something beyond that.
 
    Roci smiled.  "Arigato, Bill-San!"  The Skiltaire's unique black paws
showed their unusual strength as Roci took hold of Bill's wrist, and
guided it slowly down his lean, well-defined body.  "Go ahead, Bill,
enjoy...  I said I trust you, and I will not break..."
 
    Bill moved his free hand, allowing the flexi-brush to drop to the bed.
 
    Bill's massaging hands worked their way down his chest to Roci's
ribs.  The human was surprised to hear the male Savage laugh slightly!
Bill made a quick mental note, hoping it would be for later use.  Roci
was ticklish!  Among their people, it was a loss of face.  It told Bill
gently how far Roci had lowered his inhibitions, even those that were
supposed to go to the core of what he was!
 
    Roci made a brief show of resistance, but it lasted only a moment
before Roci was twisting and turning smoothly under Bill's stroking
hands!  For Bill, it began as play, became an anatomy lesson, and
dissolved into a free for all romp, with the Human and Skiltaire rolling
on the bed in a good-natured but challenging test of dexterity, stamina,
and controlled strength!  Bill had wrestled Shyia often in the training
dojo.  The female Skiltaire had a strength-to-weight ratio nearly as good
as Ryokyo's.  It had taken Shyia less then ten seconds to plaster Bill to
the mat as if he'd taken root there.  He knew the strength that Skiltaire
could tap if needed.  He locked up with Roci expecting to feel as if he'd
been hit by a grav-tank.  His new friend didn't weigh as much, but what
he lacked in body mass he redoubled in agility and strength.  Roci could
have blasted him across the room with a streak of natural lighting, but
he had no reason or need to use his potential.  Roci slipped behind him,
locking his paws around his Human victim's waist.  Fifty kilos of gently
aggressive mustelid changed Bill's center of gravity, and he toppled
gently to the bed.  Roci took hold of Bill's arm, pinning it behind his
back and forcing the human to flip forward onto his front if he wanted to
keep his arm.  Roci's technique was so polished that his opponent's
chance to counter came and went in heartbeat.  Roci rode up Bill's back,
pressed hard against him as he fell over.  Roci spun around quickly,
pinning Bill's reversed wrist between his shoulder blades, while his
strong hind legs clamped around his head and neck.
 
    Taking advantage of superior position, Roci applied just a bit of
pressure, using his body strength against Bill's shoulder and elbow.
Rather than feeling pain, Bill began howling with laughter!  His pinned
hand flopped weakly as a sign of submission to Roci's advanced skill.
Roci gave up his body lock, slipping down to nibble gently on Bill's
fingers before releasing his laughing foe.
 
    "God, I expected a battleship... and I got a PT boat... Fast, light,
and stronger than he looks...!" Bill gasped between panted breaths from a
heaving chest.
 
    Roci blushed.  "Shyia taught me from the time I could walk.  I love
to wrestle."
 
    Bill was now convinced that his friend was a kindred spirit.  "Never
been so...  close...  to a male of the species...  Are you about
average?"
 
    "What do you think?"
 
    "Never happen..." Bill answered spontaneously.  "You're a champ..."
 
    "You are getting the right idea, Bill..." Roci said easily.  As the
Skiltaire flopped back onto the bed, Bill held back from his voice the
thought of how attractive he thought the Skiltaire was.  As he rolled
over, Bill caught sight of his friend's hindquarters.  He didn't mean to
look, but Roci was so wonderfully erect that Bill couldn't help but
notice.
 
    As Roci put on his belt and collar, He heard Bill's voice almost
whisper...
 
    "Roci..." he said breathlessly, "You excite me...  so much..."
 
    "CHIRP!!" Roci said, turning around quickly.  "So it is true!"
 
    Roci paused, looking oddly at Bill.  He stood up on his hind feet,
stretching out to full length, before settling into a pose that sent a
ripple through his body.  His physique responded beautifully, and a
slight shift in his stance gave Bill full view of the wild Male
Skiltaire!
 
    Roci watched Bill's eyes.  His pupils widened as his gaze shifted
focus.  He heard Bill's breathing change at the same time.  Roci locked
his paws behind his head, and let a snap flex show off his chest, ribs
and the base of his tail...
 
    Bill couldn't hold it back anymore.  He growled softly.  To another
Savage, the tone of the throaty chest-deep sound was, in that context, a
cherished complement!  Roci held the pose long enough for Bill to see all
he wanted, then his lean body relaxed.  Roci trotted over to Bill, who
dropped to the bed, forming an instant lap for Roci the same way he'd
done so often for Shyia.  He snuggled down easily into Bill's lap,
falling backward into his arms, into the cradle position that left his
underside open the Human touch.  He also reached up and put his forepaws
gently on Bill's cheekbones, a sign of his absolute trust in the Man.
Roci looked up at his Human friend through misty hazel eyes.
 
    "What's wrong, Roci-San?" Bill asked.  "If I...  made you...
uncomfortable...  I'm sorry.  I was only thinking about myself..."
 
    Roci wrapped his paws around Bill's neck and gave him a soft but
utterly compelling hug.
 
    "You could never make me uncomfortable, Bill-San...  No more so than
you make yourself." Roci whispered gently as his hug deepened.  "Is this
what's been hurting you so much?" Roci asked gently, proving that Shyia
wasn't the only one with a keen insight when it was needed.
 
    "But..." Bill began...  "Oh...  it's...  There's more..." Bill said,
still struggling to dam up what some part of him said he wasn't supposed
to feel...
 
    "It is all right..." Roci spoke gently, his soft words taking the
edge from the hard pain that ran so deeply through the Human and into
himself as well.  "This one of the reasons I have come...  I am here to
stay...  If you wish it."
 
    Bill wrapped his arms around Roci and broke down in tears!!
 
    "It is no shame...  Let it out...  My poor Bill-San...  Why did you
hold it in so long?" Roci asked, lapping gently at Bill's cheeks as his
tears fell.  "Can I help you, Bill...?"
 
    "Oh...  You already have..." said Bill gently, sitting up and trying
to look cool again.  Roci knew better and so did Bill.
 
    "Perhaps you would walk with me?" Roci asked.  "I would see the land
that you dwell upon." he said.  "And I am HUNGRY!!  Remember, We have the
metabolism of a Skiltaire!" Roci said lightly.
 
    Bill smiled broadly.  Roci didn't know that the estate was planted
with many native Kurushani fruit trees, and hybrids of a few of the
indigenous nuts and grain stalks that formed the core of a Savage diet.
Roci would get breakfast, all right.
 
    Once outside, the pair forgot the well-manicured paths around the
grounds.  Roci seemed almost the perfect picture of a wild thing as he
loped easily ahead by a stride or two, but always waiting for Bill to
catch up with him.  Bill ambled toward a familliar grove of trees.  He
watched Roci closely as the light breeze carried the scent windward from
the edge of the woods.  Roci stopped dead in his tracks and looked ahead,
his eyes shining.
 
    "Wild Dates!!" Roci said excited and zipped ahead, leaving Bill
laughing at his friend's childlike surprise!  Roci seemed to have come at
the right time in more ways than one, for the prized fruit's season was
only a few short weeks in late summer.  After the torrid weeks just past,
the semi-tropical tree had yielded a huge crop, which hung in heavy brown
bunches from the frond bearing trees.  They looked none too appetizing,
unless you had the wisdom to peel back the leathery brown skin and expose
the pod that lay underneath.  Standing yards distant, Bill felt his mouth
water, remembering the maple sweet taste of the dates!  Suddenly, he
wanted a handful as eagerly as his friend.  He raced after Roci,
following the thin trail through the tall grass that led into the grove.
 
    Beyond the grass, the ground changed.  The twenty-meter trees had a
shallow root system, fitting their semiarid habitat.  They were planted
in shallow sand pits, drawing water from the air via evaporation from the
broad area of their leaves.  Bill came to the edge of the first miniature
oasis, he saw a sight that to an animator's eyes was the purest form of
art, nearly as sweet in its way as the fruit at the top of the tree.
Roci's flying leap came in a single motion, without pause in his stride.
It was as if some unseen giant had picked up the wiry mustelid and sailed
him over his head toward the top of the tree!
 
    In reality, Bill knew that Roci's leap had come from legs stronger
pound for pound than a frog's, developed almost from the moment the
newborn Skiltaire could walk.  Tradition dictated a nearly relentless
physical development program that gifted the Savages with a zest for life
and the strength to go out and wrestle the best away from it!
 
    He walked forward slowly, feeling woefully inadequate but smiling as
he watched the nonchalant manner in Roci's climb.  The tree was nearly a
big around as a barrel, but the grip of Roci's limbs was stronger in
scale than his Human hands!  Bill also knew that the leap and climb was
another form of his friend's easy exhibitionism.  Roci's activated Will
could let him sit casually at the base of the tree and knock down
individual dates if he wanted to, including entire fifteen pound bunches
of the fruit.  But the Savage way was the physical way, so the leap and
climb came as much out of pure pleasure as ingrained habit.
 
    The Human stood back at the base of the tree, shading his eyes with
his hands as he watched Roci work the tree for it's sweet prize.  Bill
had used many a silvery moonlit night to climb the trees in the cool air
and chop out the hanging bundles of fruit.  The first time on Kurusha,
he'd taken a pocketknife.  The next time, he'd preferred a carbide saw
blade!  The stalks for each bunch were as thick as Bill's wrists, and
tougher than the husk on the fruit.  Bill watched almost jealously as
Roci snapped the stems with an easy bite.  It was a graphic reminder of
what the mustelid race could do, and equal reason never to tempt their
wrath.

    Rather than let his prize fall to the soft sand below, Roci held it
by the shortened stem while beginning a fluid backward climb down the
tree.  Less that a quarter minute later, Roci met Bill at the base of the
tree with a bunch of fruit nearly twice his size.
 
    "These will be very sweet..." he said, picking one of the
brownish-cast fruits from near the bottom of the bunch.  Roci turned it
over easily in his paws, running his claw along the natural seam in the
husk.  The tough outer cover fell to the ground.  He held the soft heart
of the fruit out to Bill.
 
    The Human took the slightly sticky seed with a bow.  Bill was about
to take a bite when he stopped short and offered the date back to Roci.
He reached up, extending his body and took the fruit from Bill's fingers
with a gentle nibble!  Bill reached down a bit, running his fingers under
Roci's chin as the Skiltaire ate with visible relish.
 
    Roci stopped chewing and looked at Bill oddly.  "You..." he began
slowly, expectorating the pit "...are all sticky!" he said with an
unusual tone in his voice.  Roci reached down and took Bill's fingers
gently in an iron grip!  Using his lower center of gravity, Roci flipped
Bill judo style to the soft grass at the edge of the sand!  the man's
practiced tuck and roll prevented injury, but did nothing to reduce the
shock value of the surprise attack!
 
    Roci moved with his victim as he sailed through the air to land
softly.  The Savage used the instant that it took Bill to react to hop
gently onto the man's chest!  Roci reached down and took hold of Bill's
sticky fingers, looking at them for a long moment...
 
    Something primal filled Bill's mind with the picture of Roci biting
through the date stalks...  He almost wanted to pull his hand away.  With
a short growl, the wild male brought the fingers and hand close to his
muzzle--and began licking them with tongue stokes so gentle, they
tickled!  Bill gave in to gentle, deep laughter as Roci cleaned and
groomed his large hand, alternately licking between the fingers and
nibbling on them gently over their entire length!  By the time that Roci
pressed Bill's clean hand back to his chest, the Human was turning bright
cherry red, both with laughter and a touch of embarrassment over what
he'd let his mind think for a split second before!
 
    "That is better!" Roci said.  "I do not like sticky." he added,
switching to Kurushani.
 
    "OH REALLY!" The Human interjected, grabbing Roci around the rib cage
and rolling over in a smooth motion that pinned the startled Skiltaire to
the lush grass!  Bill looked down at Roci with eyes that flashed gentle
fire.
 
    "Churp!!" said the Skiltaire, betraying the slightest hint of
vulnerability, and showing his trust in Bill's gentleness, all in one
sound.
 
    "You don't like sticky...  But I like YOU..." Bill said in soft
English.  He held Roci's forelegs pinned against his body.  It would have
been no test at all for the Savage to escape...  If he wanted to...
 
    Bill lowered his head slightly, using it to raise Roci's chin as he
moved upward.  His underfur did show signs of the dark, sticky juice that
came from the fruit...
 
    Roci could scarcely believe what he felt the next moment as the
Human's tongue swept gently through his coat!  Slow, serene strokes that
groomed the thick white throat fur, leaving it clean and dry!
 
    "CHURP!!" Roci trilled softly, sliding his forepaws out of the
Human's grip and wrapping them gently around Bill's neck as his mustelid
body tingled gently all over.  Roci squirmed a bit until his hind legs
were free as well, trying his best to wrap them gently around the man's
waist, as Bill continued to nibble on him, working down his chest from
his neck...
 
    After a minute or two, the thickness of the fur forced the Human to
come up for another breath.  He looked over Roci's broad, fluffy chest
and saw his head rolling limply from side to side in the soft grass as he
trilled softly with pleasure!
 
    "CHURP?" The Human inquired, trying his best to emulate his friend's
natural expression.  Bill rolled to one side, leaving Roci laying on his
side next to him in the green grass.  "Still hungry?" Bill asked in
Kurushani.
 
    Roci rolled over slowly, his head still hazy, and made a grab for the
bunch of dates.  He rolled back again, leaving the bunch of fruit between
himself and his Human friend.  They looked at each other through the gaps
in the bunch of dates, each knowing full well that it might well take
hours to finish all of the sticky fruit!
 
    They trotted out of the oasis together as the sun signaled late
afternoon.  Bill was worried.
 
    "Maybe we'd better head back...  The others will worry..." Bill said.
 
    "No they won't..." Roci replied casually.  "Shyia took everyone into
another part of the House.  They will await us there." He added.  "We can
join them after..."
 
    "After what?" Bill asked with a sudden sharpness to his voice.
 
    "After we become together, Bill-San..." Roci responded in the same
tone.  "Shyia said we needed the time alone..."
 
    Bill's face mingled hurt with confusion.  Roci softened both his
posture and tone of voice.
 
    "You give every bit of yourself to your Pridemates..." Roci stopped
at Bill's feet, stretching upward, his posture asking to be picked up.
Bill did, without a second thought.  "Can you spare no part of yourself
to share with You?" Roci asked seriously.  "Will you try something with
me, Bill-San?" Roci asked as he settled comfortably in Bill's arms.
 
    Bill just nodded, unsure what to say.
 
    "Imagine Yourself...  Furry..."
 
    "ME????" Bill asked, amazed.
 
    "What do you fear, Mister Animator?  Can you not do it?" Roci half
taunted.
 
    "I can..." Bill's sharp rebuke broke in mid sentence.
 
    Roci could tell from the distant expression on the Human's face that
he had tried.  The sharp spear of pain he felt from the Man at almost the
same instant told the Skiltaire that his friend had also failed!
 
    "Aw C'mon...  It's silly..." Bill covered up quickly.  "You all know
how furry I am when you're around me." he said, submerging his latest and
most painful failure.
 
    "It is not the same thing, is it?" Roci asked gently.
 
    Roci locked his hazel eyes with the Man.  He would brook no more
lying, or his task would be impossible!  "IS IT...?" Roci pushed hard and
fast, just like Shyia had said he would have to do.
 
    Bill stopped, and put Roci down.  The man walked ahead a few paces,
pretending not to hear the painful question.
 
    Roci Stone was never one to give up easily.  Especially not now, with
so much at stake.
 
    "HALT!!" He thundered in commanding Kurushani.  The tone of voice
alone was enough to petrify the Man where he stood.  "You will answer
me!" he ordered.
 
    Bill paused for a moment, began to turn and respond, but after a
moment shook his head and walked away.  Bill's pace quickened with each
step, becoming a full stride as he ran, fleeing from his hurt with every
step he took, and condemning himself with his silence.
 
    "You are still building the wall, Damn you!" Roci shouted, bursting
into tears of anger and frustration as he raced after Bill, who was now
at a dead run away from himself.
 
    By the time Roci caught up with his human friend, his Savage anger
was in full flow.  There was only one way to get Bill to listen.  So mote
it be...!
 
    Roci cut in sharply, darting between Bill's feet.  The charge carried
only a fraction of an ampere, but at enough voltage to knock down an ox.
It sent Bill sprawling nearly twenty meters away into the neatly
manicured grass!  Roci looked on in horror and hurt as Bill rolled over,
convulsed and then lay still.
 
    Roci raced along the ground faster than he'd ever run before.  Before
Bill could draw two shallow breaths, Roci was at his side.  He took Bill
gently by the front of his coveralls and patted him gently on the cheek,
until his eyes fluttered open.
 
    The first sight the Human saw was a prismatic view of Roci's
tear-stained but smiling muzzle.
 
    "No..." Bill said distantly, reaching up and clapping a hand over
Roci's shoulder.  "It isn't the same...  Remind me never to piss you
off..." Bill added as his eyes focused again.
 
    Roci smiled, a bit embarrassed.  "That is the first time I have ever
done that in anger.  Forgive me, Bill..." he asked quietly.  Roci kept
his shoulder wedged under the human's hand until Bill got to his knees.
His body still shook slightly.  As he regained his footing, Bill noticed
that white smoke curled around the bottom of his coverall legs, near his
shoes.  Bill patted them out casually.
 
    "Will you come with me, Roci-San?  I need to talk...  with you..."
Bill asked as he scooped Roci up again gently, and walked up the path
toward the teahouse...
 

                         CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLAVE
 
    After about one hundred meters, the white pebbled path divided in two
at an ancient plum tree.  Bill put Roci down, and the pair exchanged deep
bows.  Bill allowed his guest to precede him up the path past the pond.
Bill paused at the waterfall and let the sound of the water cascading off
the moss-covered stones clear his soul of the turbulence in his mind.
Roci leapt easily over the segmented stones and waited for his host.
Roci could hear the soft Buddhist invocation that hummed like the
trickling stream.  Bill's bow and hand clap signaled the start of a
ceremony more ancient than their adopted Homeworld, yet having equal
weight in both cultures.
 
    The Human fell into casual step with the Skiltaire, leading him to a
small culvert in the rock where water from the falls kept a small stone
basin filled with cool water.  Roci stopped and the pair exchanged bows
once more.  Roci raised his forelegs, and Bill took a small scoop and
slowly trickled water over Roci's jet black paws.  Bill uncovered an
earthenware bowl with elaborate slowness, taking out a clean piece of
white cotton cloth.  He snapped it out sharply, showing both sides to
Roci and receiving a nod before he folded it into a loose triangle.  He
offered it to his guest with a face down bow, before using it to dry off
Roci's paws.
 
    His paws clean and dry, guest and host reversed roles, and Roci
displyed remarkably fluid grace as the Savage washed the Human's large
hands in the time honored manner.
 
    Body and spirits clean, the pair turned and walked across the
segmented stone walkway that led into the teahouse.  Bill ushered Roci
inside with a bow, and then paused to remove his shoes before entering
himself.  The interior of the ceremonial room was purposely austere.  The
tatami and surrounding walls were all a soft white or natural bamboo
color.  Against the far wall, there was a simple teak wood frame bearing
a hand brushed kanji that signified tranquility.  The only furniture was
a small table for two guests and a teapot.  A pair of white silk cushions
waited on opposite sides of the table.  Bill bowed Roci to the table and
let his honored guest choose his seat.  Roci returned the bow, and chose
the right side, away from the door, somehow knowing Bill's preference for
the left.  Once Roci was both seated and comfortable, Bill fired up the
brazier.  He opened a special compartment beneath it, selecting three of
the well aged pieces of sugi to build and light the tea fire.  Using slow
movements with the yard long matches, the wood seemed to spark by itself,
giving the dancing flames animation all their own.  Soon, the small room
was filled with a pleasant warmth against the slightly cooler sunset.
The Human bowed to the fire, turned and bowed to Roci, and then rose
slowly to bring out the teapot.  Bill opened a small compartment below
the wall kanji, and lovingly took out his special teapot.  He made a head
bow to the ancient meaning that the pot held.  He held it slightly above
his head, then he knelt at his seat and put the teapot on the small
table.
 
    Slow, rhythmic movements were the key as the Man removed the lid,
turning it slowly in his hand, so his guest could admire the
craftsmanship of more than four centuries past.  Roci paid homage to the
teapot, the craftsman, and his host by bowing low with his eyes cast
down.  When he rose again, Bill bowed his gratitude, and rose again to
bring water, his guest having accepted the invitation to try the pot.
 
    The water for the ceremony was as important as the vessel.  There was
a small trough of bamboo built into the wall of the small house, built-in
near the small firepit.  It opened with the lifting of a small stone cap,
and allowed a silver stream of water to fill the antique tea container.
Roci was permitted to watch the progression of ceremonial movements, and
as Bill placed the teapot on the brazier with a slow, gentle, but
sweeping movement, Roci thanked him with a bow.  But the Human's role as
host wasn't yet half done.  Making the tea was only half of the ancient
rite's purpose.  The other, equally important aspect was the attention to
the appointments that the invited guest would use, and to his comfort and
peace of mind.
 
    Bill turned and reached slowly into the compartment again.  He
brought out a tray and a set of cups.  He set them gracefully on the
table between his guest and himself.  Roci's eyes sparkled.  Bill reached
down and brought up another white cotton triangle.  This one he folded in
half lengthwise, and with a practiced, methodical slowness, he turned
each cup in his hand, wiping the inside of the cup free of any offending
dust which might have violated the air tight compartment or his guest's
sensibilities.  He plucked up the other cup, refolding the cloth to a
clean surface, even though the cloth showed no trace at all of anything
save it's own pristine whiteness.
 
    This cup he turned slowly in his fingers, allowing his guest to see
and admire the artistry worked into the four hundred year old cups that
were brother and sister to the teapot.  Each cup was small and slightly
round, in a green earth tone, with relief calligraphy on both sides.  One
Kanji meant peace, the second was friendship.  Both of the cups were
alike, and Bill held them out to Roci.  He indicated his choice with a
simple gesture, and Bill bowed again before setting the cup on the table
in fron his guest.
 
    Now came the tea.  An herb as ancient as the ceremony, but as unique
in its way as the non-Earthlings that performed it.  Bill turned again to
the cabinet, bringing out a large brown block with a texture more like
tobacco than tea.  Coarse-ground and heavily aromatic, it's peppery scent
filled the still air within the teahouse.  Bill used a small bamboo stick
to break off the corner of the block and carry it across the table to
Roci's chosen cup.  Pausing for a ceremonial bow of approval from the
Skiltaire before popping the tea into the cup and tapping the stick on
the side of the cup, to be sure his guest received the full measure of
the herb.  The Human then repeated the action, being sure to give himself
slightly less than his guest.
 
    Once both had their portion of tea, Bill pardoned himself with a bow
and turned to the brazier to bring the heated water to the table.  He set
the venerated pot down on it's ordained place on the old tray.  Both
guest and host bowed to the gift of the water, each sharing the unspoken
hope that the tea ceremony would bring peace and understanding between
them that would flow, like the water, from one soul to the other.  Bill
picked up the teapot and, with a motion as fluid as the liquid that
poured from it, cascaded the water into Roci's cup.  But the Savage
Skiltaire knew better than to drink before his host performed the final
act of hospitality.
 
    Bill took a whisk from the compartment cut into the table.  It was
done with a flourish, so as to show the brush, like mixing tool, to be
suitable to the honored occasion, and fit for the use of both guest and
host.  Roci bowed again to the brush as Bill set it gently into Roci's
cup.  The Human took the cup in his left hand, rotating it slowly to the
left with his fingers, as the right-handed brush turned slowly the
opposite way.  The counter-mixing motion signified the meeting and mixing
of yin and yang into one whole being.  The stirring was done in full view
of the guest, so that the meaning of the thought and symbolic action
could be seen, felt, and understood.  As Roci bowed his thanks, Bill
could see the wild male's eyes mist with tears.  Bill offered the teacup
to Roci with an eyes-down bow of supplication.  With quivering paws, Roci
accepted it, setting it gently on the table between them.  Then, the
Skiltaire took the cup, lifting it slightly and giving the cup a third of
a turn each of the three times Roci picked it up.
 
    As Bill watched the handsome male accept his symbolic gift and all of
the meaning behind it, his throat closed with a lump.  Roci picked up the
turned teacup, and drank a full, slow draught from the ancient stoneware
cup.  The length and depth of his taste of tea went far beyond his
obligation as a guest.  Roci knew the legend that said the longer and
deeper the drink was, so much deeper would the relationship be.  Bill
watched in disbelief and wonder as Roci sipped the cup dry, bending far
back to bring the last drop of the bark tea to his muzzle.

    As Roci set the cup back on the tray gently, no trace of tea remained
at all.
 
    Bill's Zen discipline fled from him.  Some small voice told him that
there was no shame in what the Human dared to feel.  He could trust what
he felt about Roci and himself in turn, for in the same instant, Bill
acknowledged that they were one and the same.  Bill looked at Roci and
saw him looking back across the table.  Roci bowed with a smile and made
a fluid leap, to be scooped up and embraced in Bill's arms a moment
later.  They looked at each other, and themselves, and for the first time
they knew had to be done.
 
    In an instant, they were there.  But as Bill stood again in the
awful, cold shadow cast by something he could not see, but was there
nonetheless.  As the Man the sought out the prison that he had built, he
realized that there was...  someone else beside him this time.  There was
a small, bright flame that seemed to burn somewhere within him that held
back the clammy fingers of fear that imprisoned his mind.  The icy,
swirling mist hovered near, but they could not touch him!  Bill was still
trying to figure out why, when another feeling altogether made him turn
from the misty scene.  Bill and Roci took a single step forward together.
In the light of the same fire that held back the mist, both could see the
wall...
 
    They stood still for a moment, one within the other, and looked
solemnly at the stark barrier made of hurt, pain, and loneliness.  The
sight made Roci sick.  Not with pity, as Bill had been given all these
years as an antidote, but with a wild Savage rage, so profound it shook
his soul to the very root of Bill's being.
 
    Both found themselves charging as one toward the immovable,
impenetrable darkness that chained them.  Within their shared ears, each
could hear the others roar of Savage rage.  They met it together, roaring
for themselves and everyone beyond the wall that Bill had ever loved.
Human hands and paws became one powerful entity as they tore at the cold,
grey stones.  They seemed to melt with curious ease, passing away into
the mist as they were touched with something beyond feeling.  Bit by bit,
a single block at a time, the wall that had cost them all so much melted
and ran away from them, just as the icy mists seemed to recede from both
of them.

    So profound was their rage that they barely felt the pain within them
change as slowly as part of the wall before them collapsed.  The
rebellion against their own chains became a labor of resolution in the
same instant.  For as some stones past away while others remained, both
could sense there were others on the other side of the wall...  Others
that they knew...

    After a single moment, the wall stood before both of them, breached
by them as surely as it had been built by them.  From beyond its limits,
they could feel a familiar calling...
 
    There was no sound, no great, crashing moment of sound and noise,
only a shared moment of quiet peace and knowing where they must walk next
together.  Bill felt Roci in his arms again as both walked through the
breach in their wall!
 
    The space beyond it was somehow familliar and somehow alien.  They
felt no fear...  only strangeness...
 
    "Irashaii, itoshii Bill-San...!" A familliar voice said.  The sound
of it knifing through the somehow benign darkness of this new place.
 
    "Ryokyo...!"
 
    "And have ye no greeting for the rest of us, Bill-Sama?" another more
musical voice asked from out of the still darkness.
 
    /Shyia!/
 
    As both Bill and Roci shared the thought of her name, the darkness
was split by the soft blue light of a sphere of tamed electrical energy
held between her paws.  Gently, she willed it to expand, and its light
was cast over a circle of familliar faces.  Without any prompting, the
group moved, opening a place in their circle for two, who had become one,
who had become many.
 
    *Come...  Claim thy place, as it has 'ere been open to thee, Our
cherished Roci.  Come, claim thy place amongst us as one, and we welcome
ye...* Shyia and his Pridemates sent to him as one.
 
    "What about the wall...?" Bill asked.
 
    *Those stones which remain, we must break down together, Roci-San...
It will take time...* Shyia sent softly.
 
    Roci stepped forward into the circle, bringing with him all that was
himself and the Human.  As Roci was seated in his place in the group, he
felt Bill answer in Roci's voice.
 
    "We have all the time that our hearts can hold, My dearest
Pridemates."
 
    And then, the Human turned, to feel Roci within and outside of
himself.  His heart overflowed and the darkness seemed to take on the
glow of sunrise as he whispered "Welcome Home, Roci-San, welcome home."
 
