Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:50:24 -0600
From: J Wolfstone <argouru@gmail.com>
Subject: Hirsune, Pt. 3

(see the beginning of part 1 for the pronunciation guide)

Hirsune
Pt.3 - Trial and Error

by argouru
aka jxwolfstone


Ardenus reached town square, panting heavily from exertion, and saw the
boy's bike abandoned on the steps of city hall. *Little punk didn't waste
any time at all, did he?* He thought angrily as he lumbered up the steps,
clutching a stitch in his side behind his right milk bladder, and made his
way towards the mayor's office. As he ran through the building, he heard
people muttering and saw them staring at him - some in worry, others in
accusation.

Before he could reach the door, it burst open, the head of the town
council, and therefore the leader of the community, stood before him,
looking grave. "Ardenus? Well, if you're here, and in this condition," he
added, taking in the exhausted state of his fellow elder, "I can only
assume that what my son has told me is true. What have you done Ardenus?
Explain yourself!"

"Pareus, please- let me *gasp* explain!..." Ardenus forced out between
pants from fatigue.

"Alright, come in," the mayor sighed, stepping aside and gesturing for the
farmer to enter. As Ardenus past him, the mayor caught the smell of drying
semen. He frowned, as this only provided confirmation to part of his son's
tale.

As the farmer entered, he saw Evarni standing in the corner, glaring at him
defiantly. A surge of anger filled him. Despite being a lover and not a
fighter, he wanted to punch the little brat, and the defiant expression on
the boy's face only heightened that feeling. He throttled the impulse
down. Getting violent now would only make things worse that they already
were.

Pareus entered, then looked at the boy. "Out!" he said.

"But Dad! I-"

"Enough! I know exactly why you were sneaking around out there. Stealing
food from others again! Go home! Now! You're grounded! And if you're not in
your room when I come home, it'll be even worse for you!"

Shocked, the boy left quickly, closing the door behind himself. Pareus
threw himself down into his chair. "I swear, I don't know where I went
wrong with him. I try to raise him right, but that boy is so damned
determined to have everything his way without the slightest concern for how
it affects others..." He trailed off in disgust. "All right, explain
yourself. Ev said he saw a strange human mating with you at your house. So,
what's the story?" he finished, his face a neutral mask, betraying nothing.

Ardenus sighed as he finished recovering his breath, and began to tell his
fellow elder the events of the last few days...



"So you see, I couldn't just let him die like that," he said to the mayor
some time later. "He's just a hurt and lonely boy, no matter how old he is
on the outside. I... I don't think he's ever had anyone who was really
supportive of him. It's as if I'm the first person he could ever open up
to... The first person who ever gave a damn about him. He has no one out
there who wants him, and nowhere to go. I want to take him in. If I don't,
he won't last a month. He'll try it again, and next time, there most likely
won't be anyone there to stop him... I couldn't live with that, not after
having given him some sense of hope only to have it dashed so
suddenly. It'd destroy him."

"And very likely all of us as well. Humans can be very vengeful." Pareus
sighed, putting his head in his hands. "If it were up to me, I'd say that
we could take longer to figure this out, but that damned boy of mine made
-that- option impossible. All the way in here he was shouting about your
human guest. I'm sure word has already gotten out. I saw several people
leave the building just after he came in shouting. By now, the rest of the
council will be finding out... I'll have to call an emergency meeting, and
I'll need you to stay here for now. You've violated our laws, no matter how
good your intentions, Ardenus. Where's the human now?"

Ardenus looked up in shock, first that Pareus was basically arresting him,
then feeling fear for Kyle's safety. "Wait! What're you going to do with
him?"

"He'll have to be brought before the council. Arden, this will go easier
for you if you cooperate with us." He saw Ardenus' determined face. "Look,
I promise nothing will happen to the human without you there. That's the
best I can offer you right now."

"He's at the farm," Ardenus said numbly, feeling defeated...



Kavarin heard shouting from the house as he approached, and dropped his
fishing gear and catch, running to see what was wrong. He reached the house
just as the town guards came out the front door, hauling a
terrified-looking Kyle between them, a furious Davin following them as he
shouted protests.

"You can't just haul him off like this," Davin was shouting. "He's still a
person and he has rights! Are you forgetting my father is part of the town
council?!?"

One of the large, burly guards turned to him. "Our orders come from the
mayor himself! If you have a complaint, take it up with him!" They all but
dragged the human into a city vehicle in the driveway.

"Then I'm coming too!" Davin said, following them.

"Davin, what's going on?" Kavarin asked, running forward.

"That stupid brat Evarni snuck onto the farm, saw Dad with Kyle and took
off. Dad went into town to try to explain, but I haven't seen him since,
and now these thugs are arresting Kyle!"

"Shit! What do we do?"

"I'm going with Kyle. Follow us in the truck."

Kav hurried inside for the keys, and came out to find the car already
speeding away down the road. Cursing, he ran for the truck...



Markano stepped out the front door of his friend's house, giving Narendus a
kiss of gratitude. "Thanks, I really needed that. It's been so stressful at
home that I really needed to let out some steam."

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" his friend asked with concern.

"No... I don't really want to talk about it yet," he replied untruthfully,
his eyes sweeping the peaceful main street of the small town. "Thanks
anyways-" he began, but was startled when one of the city's two official
cars tore down the street quickly, passing them. "What the-?" He began
before honking from behind caught his attention. He turned to see Kav
speeding towards him in the family truck, coming to screeching halt near
him.

"Mark! Get in!"

"What's going on?"

"They found out about Kyle and came for him. Dad came into town to explain
but I haven't heard from him since!"

"Dammit!" the eldest sibling swore, dashing for the passenger side door...



It was nighttime later that day, and the leaders and involved parties were
gathered in the town meeting hall, which also served as the courtroom for
settling disputes. However, it had never been used for such a serious
situation. The council, town guards, Kyle, Ardenus and his three sons were
the only ones present. The rest of the community was being assured that the
situation was under control, and the council would soon reach a decision on
what to do. All Hirsune were worried. This was the most serious situation
they had ever experienced, and some folks were nervous, while others
thought it would be better to simply get rid of the human to ensure their
safety. Everyone was awaiting nervously for the council's decision...



Six mature Hirsune sat at all but one of seven chairs placed in a row
behind a long table set sideways at the back end of the room. The empty
chair would normally have been filled by Ardenus himself. He was standing
before them instead, this time, being the offending party. The farmer's
three sons sat nervously in chairs in the front row facing the table. In
the middle of the room, four large-muscled guards stood, two surrounding
the scared and pale human, two on either side of Ardenus. The grey haired
Hirsune sitting in the center seat behind the table cleared his throat.

"So, you're the human who's stirred up so much trouble for us," Pareus
said, looking upon the pale-looking human, and rubbing his grey beard
thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Kyle replied nervously. "Sorry about that," he finished sheepishly,
feeling the need to apologize.

"You're sorry?!?" an angry-looking redheaded Hirsune on the left said. "Do
you think this is a joke?!?" he shouted furiously, slamming his fist down
upon the councilmens' table, sending a plastic cup flying off to the
ground, where it bounced around, scattering water across the wooden floor.

"No, I-" the human began, almost stammering.

"Enough!" the redhead interrupted impatiently. "We all know what humans are
capable of! I say we execute him and be done with it!"

"NO!" Ardenus shouted.

"Surely, not!" protested a bald headed Hirsune with a blonde beard and body
hair on the right.

"QUIET, EVERYONE!" Pareus shouted overtop of them both, slamming his gavel
on the table to bring order. "We will consider the matter -properly- before
we come to a decision! And as we are a Democratic council," he added,
glaring at the hostile redhead, "we will vote on the matter. Now we've all
heard Ardenus' explanation: The human, feeling alone and suffering, tried
to end his own life, but Ardenus saved him and nursed him back to
health. However, before he could explain the situation to us, his fellow
council members, the human was discovered and news spread before it could
be contained. Ardenus. Do you have anything else to add?"

"Yes. I've seen what the human is like when he lets his guard down. I've
seen what kind of person he truly is, and I trust him. I know that he won't
betray us to other humans. He has no family, no one who cares for him. He's
alone in the world, and-"

"All the easier, then!" the redhead cried, standing up and moving quickly
around the table to grab the human by the shoulder. "No one will miss
him. We'll kill him and then there won't be any need to worry about-"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SON!!!" Ardenus shouted furiously, his voice ringing
off the walls; a look of ferocity marring his handsome features.

The entire room fell silent, everyone staring at the farmer with stunned
expressions, who stood there numb with shock at what he'd just said. He
then realized that he meant it.

"You heard me!" he said dangerously, glaring at the redheaded Hirsune, who
had frozen in place, his eyes wide and mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"Let him go, Volnaro," the mayor said, regaining his voice.

Reluctantly, the redhead released the human's arm and stepped away.

Behind him, Ardenus could feel the eyes of his three Hirsune sons boring
into him. But how could he explain how he felt? The human only wanted to be
loved and accepted. During the time Ardenus had nursed the human back to
health, he'd bonded with him, Father to Son, and the human had shown signs
of accepting him as a father figure. He was beginning to see Kyle as a son
just as much as his three naturally hatched boys.

The three sons stared at their father with shock at first, but then each
thought hard about the matter, coming to their own conclusion silently.

*I can see why,* Kav thought to himself. *Dad feels responsible for him,
and you'd have to be blind not to see that he really loves Kyle now as much
as us.* He smiled slightly to himself.

*I hope Dad knows what he's doing,* Davin thought to himself. *I can see
why, though. Kyle seems rather nice. I wouldn't mind having him as a
brother.*

*Dad...* Mark thought, shocked more than his brothers at their father's
behavior. *What does he see in this human that I don't?* Markano had always
trusted his father's judgment in the past, despite his protests to the
contrary. He had to admit, though, that Kyle seemed rather nice, once he'd
gotten to know him. *Even if he -is- way too bald,* the eldest child
thought with a misplaced spark of amusement. *But still...* he thought,
sobering, *He's a human. Dad can't be serious...*

"You can't be serious!" Volnaro said in shock. "He's a HUMAN! You know what
they do to our kind! Even if you did do what I think you're planning on
doing... It's absurd!"

"Despite Volnaro's objections," said the bald elder. "He does raise a good
point, Arden. What, exactly, are your intentions with him? Do you plan to
Gift this human?"

"Gift him?" Ardenus said, looking at Kyle. "I... Honestly hadn't thought
about that... I don't know... It's a possibility, I suppose... Only if he
consents to it, though..."

"Well," Pareus said, sounding grave, "Regardless of your feelings, you
violated our highest law and may well have brought danger down upon us
all. As an elder and member of this council, you should know better than
that. Therefore, we have little choice in the matter..."

"Wait!" Kyle said, pulling forward in protest.

"Kyle, don't!" Ardenus said, trying to keep attention away from the human
in an attempt to protect him.

"You have something to say, Human?" Pareus replied. "I suppose it's fair,
seeing as how this is all because of you... Speak."

"Please don't hurt him," Kyle begged them. "It's my fault all of this
happened. I didn't mean to hurt anyone! Well... Not anyone else, that
is... I only wanted to stop hurting... To stop being alone. I didn't know
there was a town here! I was just looking for a place to die. Look, I don't
care who or what you are. So what if a town full of hairy hermaphrodites
want to fuck each other silly! What's the harm in that?"

"Well said," the bald elder muttered to himself, smiling slightly. Pareus
heard the comment, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

"You can keep your secrets," the human continued. "I don't care. I came
here to die... And if that's what it takes...  Then I'll surrender myself
to your judgment-"

"Nooo!" Ardenus moaned, straining against the guards holding him in
protest.

"-But on one condition!"

"Go on," the mayor said, leaning forward in interest.

"Please spare Ardenus. It's my fault this happened. He was only acting out
of kindness. He shouldn't be punished for showing compassion, should he?"

"Even if this means your death?" the mayor asked slowly.

"I came here to die anyways, so what's the difference? If it'll make you
feel safer and spare Ardenus in the process, then go ahead."

"No," Ardenus pleaded. "You can't kill him. Please! This isn't our way! We
value life, not destroy it! That goes against everything we believe!"

Behind him, his three Hirsune sons joined in with their own pleas and
protests. The individual words indistinguishable as they echoed off the
walls.

"No, you don't get it!" Kyle interrupted them. "It's OK. I wasn't afraid to
die then, and I'm not now." He turned to Ardenus. "You gave me what I never
thought I'd have: love and acceptance. Even if it was only for a little
while, it's more than I ever hoped for." He had to stop then, as tears
filled his eyes and emotion choked his throat. He hung his head. "At least
this way," he continued with effort, "I can die happy."

A chair scrapping brought everyone's attention to the council table, where
the bald elder stood quickly. "No, I cannot abide this!"

"Welvayan?" Pareus asked, looking to the elder who served as head priest of
the community.

"Ardenus is right," the priest said. "We are lovers, not killers! I will
not abide the killing of this human, not for any reason! Ardenus has spoken
for his defense, and the human has offered his own heartfelt vow to honor
our secrets. I know we haven't voted yet, but I say that Ardenus be granted
mercy on grounds of compassion, and the human spared."

"I agree," said another, black haired elder thoughtfully, as he sat next to
the priest.

"As do I," said the elder to the far left.

"I abstain from any punishment for now," said another gray-haired elder at
the far right. "But I do feel that there should be a probationary period
for the human to judge the sincerity of his words, and the possibility of
Gifting addressed fully."

Pareus turned to the remaining silent elder. "Falmaru?"

"I will state now," said the remaining elder scratching his graying brown
hair, "That I am uncertain as to the sincerity of the human... But as I'm
outvoted, there's little left to consider. I'll abide by the vote of the
majority."

"Volnaro?" Pareus asked, turning to the fiery-tempered redhead.

"I still vote for execution of the human, and that Ardenus be stripped of
all rights and privileges!... But as this is a -Democracy-, my vote doesn't
matter now, does it?" He finished, looking at those who voted favorably
with open disgust.

"Very well," the mayor answered, shooting the redhead a dirty look. "I also
vote for clemency-"

The three Hirsune youths cheered loudly.

"HOWEVER!..."  The head of the council added, shouting over the noise,
bringing instant silence from the boys, who suddenly looked fearful.

"The human is now your responsibility, Ardenus, and you will be held
accountable for his behavior. He is to remain under your care while his
trustworthiness is evaluated. Of course, if you should choose to truly make
him your own, then the issue will, naturally, become mute. Also," he added,
leaning forward gravely, "I must impress upon you the seriousness of your
actions. Therefore, your voting rights within this council are hereby
suspended for the course of one year. You may continue to sit on the
council, but you will have little say, and your vote will only be
considered in case of a deadlock." He turned to the rest of the
elders. "Does my ruling agree with you all?"

Murmurs of accent came from all but Volnaro, who stood rigid and silent.

"Volnaro?" Pareus pressed.

"Fine!" the redhead snarled, and stormed out of the hall.

"Meeting concluded!" the mayor stated in annoyance, banging his gavel and
glaring angrily at the departing figure's back.

The boys cheered as they rushed forward, the guards releasing Kyle and
Ardenus.

"I'm sorry," Kyle said quietly to the father. "It's because of me you
basically got demoted like that."

"What?" Ardenus asked in shock, looking at the boy in surprise. "It's only
a year, Kyle. That's basically just a slap on the wrist. It's actually the
best I could've hoped for, really." He looked at them all and smiled in
relief. "Come on, let's go home."

As they walked out of the meeting hall, Markano gently pulled the human
back. "Did you really mean that?" he asked in shock. "You really would've
sacrificed yourself to save Dad?"

"Yeah," the human replied quietly. "I meant every word of it." He slowly
walked away towards the exit.

Mark stood motionless, feeling a new respect, for the human as he watched
Kyle move away slowly, as well as a growing guilt at himself, ... And yet,
there was also sadness mixed in with it... For he had seen that along with
the sincerity, there had been a haunted sadness and guilt in the human's
eyes as he spoke...



Kyle rode in silence within the cab of the truck. With Ardenus driving
while wrapping a protective arm around the human's shoulders, and Kavarin
sitting on his right while the last two Hirsune of the family rode in the
bed of the truck, Kyle felt as though he was surrounded by matched furry
bookends, what with the almost identical appearances of the people on
either side of him.

The human sat there numbly, trying to process what all had just happened.

He'd never been more afraid in his life when the two burly town guards had
hauled him away. That Davin had gone with him had been a small comfort, but
the human knew that there wasn't anything his host could truly do to help
him.

But why had he been afraid? No one wanted him, his so called family and
friends had proven that.

He was out one night for dinner at a restaurant with his parents, older
brother and younger sister. The subject eventually wound around to asking
Kyle why he still had not found a woman to settle down with. He'd had a
rough day at work, and being badgered yet again about his endless status as
a bachelor, that he'd finally told them the truth. He'd come out as a gay
man to them.

He hadn't expected them to react warmly, but the way they had reacted had
been even more painful than he'd thought. "I knew from t he start it was a
mistake to keep you," his mother had said in a nasty tone, looking as
though she had just bitten into something with too much pepper in it. His
sister sat there looking as though she would rather be anywhere else, and
refused to look at Kyle the rest of the night. His father and brother were
worse, however, looking at him with such disgust and hatred that he was
afraid they would leap from their chairs and attack him if they weren't out
in public.

They had refused to even allow him into the car to go home to his parent's
house where he had been staying the night. He'd had to take a taxi there,
and arrived to find his possessions dumped into the garbage. They refused
to answer the door or the phone. His family had disowned him.

The next day at work, he was so distraught that he dropped a case of
expensive whiskey at his job at a liquor store. He offered to pay for them,
which the manager accepted graciously with a sympathetic smile, then asked
him why he seemed so put out that day. Tired of hiding who he was, he
explained. His boss developed a closed expression, and walked stiffly into
his office. Half an hour later, Kyle had been called in and told that the
whiskey was too valuable a loss to simply ignore, and that he was fired.

He arrived home and met with his friends, a married couple named Bob and
Alice, who lived two doors down. When he explained why he had lost his
family and job, they had grown cold. "You should've told us you were a fag
to begin with," Bob had said, as Alice looked at him uncomfortably. He was
asked politely to leave, which he did, and the last people left in his life
were gone from it.

He had tried to find another job, but after three months of searching
without success and no income to pay rent, his landlord had evicted
him. He'd had no one left to turn to, and was hurting so much from the
betrayal of everyone he had known, that he not longer felt as though he
could trust anyone.

Realizing how alone he was, he'd made up his mind. If this was the best
life had to offer: pain, loneliness and eventual homelessness, then it was
a life he didn't want. He'd longed to travel across America one day
anyways, so he decided to make that his last action in life. He'd not
worried about paperwork, or valuables; he'd placed into his car only what
he had truly loved in life, making the car into a funeral barge. Then he
picked a random direction, and drove. Anytime he reached an intersection,
he'd picked a direction at random, traveling vaguely east. It didn't matter
where he ended up as long as he could travel some before he died.

He knew he wouldn't get all the way to the east coast. The car was old, and
his money low when he began the trip, so he'd promised himself that he'd go
as far as he could. Then, once the car had gotten him as far as it could,
that spot would be where he would die. He had a pistol and a few bullets,
and had planned to shot himself.

When he'd reached the river, however, he had decided that the river would
be a good enough way to die, seeing as it was so cold. Jumping into it had
taken every ounce of willpower he'd had. All he had wanted was an escape,
the pain to finally end.

But the river hadn't claimed him as he'd wanted it to. Ardenus had saved
him instead. Kyle had been shocked at first, when he'd first awoken, and
had then been horrified to find that he was bawling like a toddler before a
complete stranger.

But then something strange had happened. Not only had the stranger not
looked down on him with scorn for displaying unseemly emotion, but had
shared in that pain. For the first time in his life, Kyle was with someone
who had genuinely cared about how Kyle felt, and even expressed anger that
others had made the human to suffer. Ardenus had not rejected him for being
different, but felt pity for him for being cast out by everyone the human
had ever trusted.

He had been shocked to find out that a completely different species of
people existed in the world, and while these people were vastly different
in so many ways, they had shown the human more respect and kindness than
he'd ever had from even a single human.

Then, everything had fallen apart, and he had been drug away as a
prisoner. He felt a deep sense of guilt that he had gotten them into
trouble. When the court, or whatever they were, had went to pronounce their
verdict, he'd felt the need to act. Others didn't deserve to pay for his
own mistakes, especially those who had treated him better than anyone else
ever had before in his life. He owed them.

The part of him that still wanted to die didn't mind this. He'd hated
wanting to commit suicide, and while he knew he was doomed either way, at
least he could repay them for their kindness by taking all of the blame
onto himself. It wasn't nobility or heroism he had felt, but a deep sense
of obligation. He had done this to them, so he wanted to make things right
by his hosts.

But when the angry redhead moved forward and grabbed him, his fear overrode
his feelings of obligation for a moment, until Ardenus had defended him,
calling the human his son. Kyle still didn't know what to think of
that. Here was someone he'd barely met, looking ready to kill to defend
him.

Kyle was still in shock when he heard the court go to pass sentence, and
had jolted out of himself. He did the only thing he felt he had left to do,
he could thank Ardenus for his kindness by doing the only thing he had left
to him to do, offer to take all of the blame, so that the person who had
shown him kindness and defended him wouldn't have to share the blame for
the human's mistakes.

But something odd had happened. They were given mercy instead. Kyle's
willingness to take all of the blame had touched the elders, who had chosen
to show mercy. Now Kyle was on his way back to the farm, not knowing what
the future held, or even how to feel.

He was jarred from his reflection as they pulled into the dirt driveway of
the farmhouse, and he got his first good look at the place.

The farmhouse was a large rectangular home of indeterminate style. Made of
pine wood logs that were lacquered, the house had a golden wood color with
dark brown trim and a large, walk on porch that wrapped halfway around the
house with golden wood banisters. The upper floor of the house looked
slightly different, as though someone had tried to copy the building style
of the main floor, but had altered it slightly. The grey tiled roof was
slanted down towards the front from the peek, with squarish window boxes
jutting forward from it in three places.

As they got out of the truck, and walked towards the house in the evening
light, Kyle walked as if in a dream, not certain what to think or feel...



Ardenus was in his own bed tonight, but with company, for he had asked Kyle
to share his bed with him. Not for sex... At least not tonight, but for
shared comfort. "Thank you," he said quietly, hugging the human close to
him. "You have no idea how much it means to me... What you said... What you
were willing to do for my sake..."

"I meant it," Kyle said softly into the Hirsune's hairy chest. "You gave me
more that I ever had any right to expect. I never thanked you for that,
Ardenus."

The Hirsune used a hand to gently turn the boy's head up to face
him. "... Call me Dad... Please?" he asked, his voice thick with emotion.

Kyle stared up at him, his face unreadable.

"I meant it, you know," Ardenus said, "What I said back there in that
room. You're mine, if you want to be. To me, you're now as much my son as
any of my hatchlings. I'd be honored," he added, his voice growing thicker,
"if you'd join us and become part of our family. Even if you are a human
rather than Hirsune, you're one of us as far as I'm concerned."

Kyle thought about it for several minutes, Ardenus waiting in silent
anticipation and hopefulness. "I want that too... Dad," he said quietly.

Ardenus felt his heart swell with happiness and love, and he kissed the
boy, no, his Son, passionately, but gently until they fell asleep in each
others arms...