From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.furry
Subject: Journal Entry 152 / 0918  [ Reunion, Part 7 ]
Date: 16 May 1996 13:54:10 GMT
Organization: Pendor, UnLtd.
Lines: 489
Message-ID: <4nfc22$f6t@news1.halcyon.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: coho.halcyon.com

Erwer, Cerim 5, 0918

    "It's a long walk, son.  About six hours or so, especially on 
this sand.  And it's not going to be too comfortable without 
shoes."

    "I'll manage," Nickolai assured Kedar as he strapped on the 
huge canteen Kedar had offered for fresh water.  "It's not so far 
that I can't handle it."

    "You take care.  When you get to it you can't miss it.  It's a 
big white rock with veins of silver criss-crossing it."  Nickolai 
nodded, waved, and began walking along the beach, leaving Kedar's 
home behind him.  As he walked, birds flew overhead.  A random 
cloud reminded him that another storm was likely if he was to be 
caught outside before nightfall, but that was fifteen hours away 
and he could surely make the SDisk before then.

    The day was beautiful.  The wind against his face reminded him 
of how alive he felt today, how strong.  He missed Furry, he 
realized.  He was surprised at how much her voice he wanted most to 
feel again.  Her whispers in his ears, her laugh so full of joy.  
As he looked up he could barely perceive the flying shadows that 
swung by, the days and nights swiftly flying over Pendor's surface.  
This is my home now, Nickolai thought to himself.

    No, that wasn't true.  Furry was his home now.  Pendor was just 
the place they occupied until they decided to go somewhere else.  
He carefully judged his pace, occasionally sipping water or taking 
a bite from a hunk of bread.

    Time passed.  The ocean slowly receded away from him, and he 
realized that the tide must be going out with the shadows.  He 
walked along the water's edge, because the sand there was both 
cooled and packed by the water's motion; it made for easier steps 
then the loose, flesh-frying sand that covered the rest of the 
beach.  It made sense, too, that the tide went down in the day.  As 
the shadowrecs passed overhead their mass must have created 
gravitic effects on the ring underneath them.  He wondered again at 
the enormous stresses that operated on the Ring.

    As he walked around a bend in the sand, he saw a large, 
cone-shaped  rock jutting out of the sand just as Kedar has said.  
It glinted in the distance, and he paced himself still to approach 
it.  The veins of silver that fell over the rock like a fine 
fishnet glinted against the white stone.  He placed his hand on the 
rock.  "I want to go home," was all he said.  A SDisk manifested 
itself in the sand, a simple yellow disk of color.  He stepped into 
it and the beach vanished.

    To be replaced with Shardik Castle.  He looked around; the 
lights were banked low, indicating nighttime operations.  Nobody 
moved about.  "Dave?"

    "Nickolai?" the voice returned, somewhat amused.  "Welcome 
back!"

    "What time is it?"

    "About three after dark.  Your coimelin is currently in Ken's 
house; they're playing some ancient game."

    Nickolai nodded and began walking through the Castle.  As he 
did so, he found it difficult to keep his fingers off the walls.  
Home came to mind as he walked down the length of the hall.  Not 
this place, exactly, but the feel of it, the sense that he belonged 
here.  He wondered if that wasn't one of the psychological aspects 
of living on the Ring; the sphere of Terra encouraged one to look 
up and outwards, towards the stars, but the biggest things one 
could see in the sky of Pendor was Pendor itself, arcing towards 
the sun and enclosing the viewer.

    But he knew that he wanted to go elsewhere, see the stars.  
Actually, over the past two years he had come to appreciate what 
fascinated Furry so about archeology and the digging of old 
constructs.  He didn't know if he had the patience for some of the 
jobs he had read described, but he was willing to give a try.  For 
her.

    He reached Shardik's home.  "Dave, let me in?"

    The door slid open.  The first voice he heard was Ken's.  "Who 
the Hell is... Nickolai!"

    Nickolai looked in to see Ken, P'nyssa, Aaden, Furry, and Molly 
sitting around a board with hands (or in P'nyssa's case, mittens) 
full of cards.  Furry turned, her eyes wide.  "K... Kolya?"  She 
leapt to her feet and ran, slamming into him so hard he was tossed 
against the far wall, her arms around him, her face buried against 
his chest.  "You're back!  Oh, it's so good that you're back!  I'm 
so happy to see you!  I was so worried!"

    Nickolai smiled and pulled her close, hugging her.  "I missed 
you too."

    "Missed me?  MISSED ME?  Do you know how long you've been 
gone?"

    "About three days?"

    "More like eight!" she said.

    "I've been gone for eight days?"  Nickolai looked up, 
surprised.

    "Yep," Ken said, smiling and clasping him on the shoulder.  "In 
fact, while you were gone you missed an Interstellar War over you."

    "I what?"  Nickolai stared up at Ken, then across the room at 
everyone else, then down at Furry.  She was staring up at him, 
smiling with tears in her eyes.

    "The opening of the Hall was regarded as an act of war," Aaden 
said 
lightly.

    "But we managed to talk them out of economic suicide, 
especially when we pointed out to the Samans all the new 
technological edges they would need to come up with for the new 
species of Terran humans.  They weren't happy, but at least they 
can keep the old financial empire they're used to."

    Nickolai nodded.  Ken gestured with one hand.  "Come in, come 
in.  You came at a good time.  I was losing."

    Furry laughed.  "And I was winning.  A good time for you to 
show up."  She hugged him close.  "It's good to see you."

    "What were you worried about?  You knew I was coming back," he 
said, kissing her hard.  "I missed you a lot.  I did a lot of 
thinking."

    "Of course I was worried.  I... I was afraid you might not come 
back.  Sometimes people don't."

    "Now, now," Ken said.  "You don't know that, Furry."

    "But the legends say..."

    "They're only legends.  There is no conclusive evidence that 
anyone entering the Hall has not come out the other side."

    "I know," Furry smiled.  "But you can't really ignore the 
stories of Hall Guides who say they've never been able to find some 
of their charges afterwards."

    "Rumors.  Maybe they don't want to be found.  Nothing in the 
rules says you can't change your name and tell your former life to 
get lost, and that includes your Hall Guide."  Nickolai thought Ken 
sounded positively indignant.  

    Furry looked up at Nickolai.  "Anyway, I'm just glad you're 
home.  I'm glad you're here.  I've been lonely without you."

    Nickolai caressed the top of her head, then held her close.  
"And I 
thought about you all the time."

    "You look a little sunburnt, Nickolai," P'nyssa said.  "What 
happened to you?"

    "Yeah, come in and tell us about your trip."

    Nickolai finally extricated himself from Furry long enough to 
walk into the Shardik house and sit down in an overstuffed chair.  
"I went to  the Hall, like you directed, and a guide met me there.  
A woman named Greta."

    "Wait," Ken said.  "Greta Rumbel?  Kinda short Tindal with long 
hair that falls in front of her face?  Big tits?"

    "She said she was a lesbia..." 

    "That's her," Ken said, smiling.  "You had good company, Kolya.  
So, what happened?"

    "We reached the Hall before nightfall.  It was a pretty good 
walk, but it didn't take as long as I'd been told to expect.  
People were telling me it would take two or three days."

    "The Hall can be tricky," Ken said.  "Would you like something 
to drink?"

    "Something cold!" Nickolai said.

    "Milk?  Juice?"  Ken returned with a huge mug of reddish 
liquid.  "Go ahead.  That's a centaur beer mug, but it's just apple 
juice."

    Nickolai nodded and drank down some, gasping.  "Thank you."

    P'nyssa returned from outside.  Nickolai hadn't seen her leave, 
but she returned with a plastic tube in her mitten.  "This is for 
your nose and face, Nickolai.  Looks like you got burned pretty 
bad."

    He nodded.  "Thanks.  Anyway, she led me into the Hall, and we 
went swimming at a water hole she said looked familiar.  Anyway, 
when I came up for air the hole had changed and she was gone.  I 
met an old man named Hal, who said he was there to keep me occupied 
for a while, then he disappeared.  When I chased after him, I ran 
out onto a beach.  There I met a Ssphynx, who let me stay the night 
before giving me a canteen of water and a loaf of bread and telling 
me to start walking."

    "The Ssphynx... he lived alone?"

    Nickolai nodded.  "His name was Kedar, and he said he'd been 
living  there for about eight hundred years."

    "Alone?" Ken asked, surprised.

    Nickolai nodded.  Ken shook his head.  "Damn Hermit Ssphynxes."

    "Ken..."  P'nyssa sounded reproachful.

    "Sorry," he said.  

    "He said that he was part of the first generation of Ssphynxes, 
that something was 'wrong' with them."

    "Yeah, there's something wrong with them.  The 
pre-incorporation shock programming they got had a serious flaw in 
it, one that led the first generation of Ssphynxes into strong 
paranoia of other species and me as an individual."  Ken shook his 
head.  "Someday I hope to help them all.  But, one by one, we're 
reaching them."

    "He said he had a friend called Nixie.  What's that?"

    "Nixies are construction and maintenance AIs that exist in 
submersible housings.  Sort of like Magis, but for underwater."

    Nickolai nodded.  Ken walked over to him.  "You look exhausted 
and burnt, you don't smell so good, and Furry here looks like she's 
just itching to get you alone.  So why don't you to go to bed?"

    "I think I'd like that," Nickolai nodded.

    "I would, too," Furry added, grinning.

    "Get you to bed, then, both of you!"  Ken laughed and made a 
sweeping gesture with his hands, 'brushing' them out of the room.  
Nickolai stood up slowly, the day's fatigue washing over him.  
"Furry, if all he's had to eat all day is a loaf of bread, get some 
meat into him before he actually passes out, would you?"

    "I will," she said, holding Nickolai by the hand.  "Come on, 
Kolya."

    "I'm coming, I'm coming," he said, feeling oddly dizzy.  He was 
tired, and Ken was right, he was hungry too.  "I need food..."

    "We'll get you some," Furry said as the door closed behind him.  
She propelled him down the hallway and into their own bedroom.  
"Now then, let's get you out of these clothes... uh, where are your 
shoes?"

    "I don't know.  I walked barefoot today."

    "You're lucky you didn't kill yourself," Furry noticed as he 
stripped off his shirt.  He groaned in pain as the burn across the 
back of his neck made itself known to him. 

    "I didn't even realize the sun was getting to me."

    "A human," Furry said, "walking in the sun for nearly all day 
and you didn't realize your skin was going to burn?"  She shook her 
head, smiling.  "What am I going to do with you?  You can't be an 
archeologist  and not expect to spend your days outdoors digging in 
the dirt."

    She applied some of the ointment P'nyssa had given him onto his 
nose and cheeks, then around to his back where the burn had 
penetrated his shirt, then again to his feet.  "Feel better?"

    "A little."  He smiled up at her.  "I don't feel any different 
otherwise.  Maybe a little hungry."

    "Food," she nodded, snapping her fingers.  "That's the other 
thing you need."  She rummaged in the kitchen, tossing him an apple 
and a hunk of cheese.  Nickolai watched as she opened a glass jar 
and poured what appeared to be stew or thick soup into a bowl and 
then placed it in a heater.  "Be ready in a minute."

    Nickolai bit into the apple.  He felt his sunburn acutely now 
as he did, the skin on the surface of his nose wrinkling painfully.  
"Ow."

    "Careful."  They sat and ate together, staring at each other.  
Or, Nickolai thought, simply stealing glances at one another.  
"Where's Garth?"

    "He and Kiza and Skii are probably halfway up Ember's Peak 
right now."

    "Doing what?"

    "Climbing it."

    Nickolai stopped eating.  "Garth doesn't know how to climb 
mountains!"

    "He does now.  Or else he's learning very, very fast."  Furry 
giggled.  "Don't worry.  They've got a grav harness on him.  He 
won't kill himself, just make an idiot of himself if he lets go."

    Nickolai stared at her, surprised, then nodded.  "I hope 
they're okay."

    "It's the middle of summer.  They'll be fine.  It's not even 
raining out."  She pointed at his bowl.  "Now eat, before I'm 
forced to feed you."

    Nickolai ate as directed, smiling at her as occasional drips 
and drabs of the stuff tried to run down his chin.  "You're a 
barbarian," she said.

    "Yah, but you love me anyway."  He leaned over and kissed her 
cheek.

    She kissed his back, then slid onto his chair next to him and 
held him close.  "I really missed you.  I was really worried."  She 
tilted her head to one side, as if examining him from a different 
angle.  "Are you too tired and burned to..."

    He wrapped his free arm around her.  "Never."  His hands 
caressed her body through her clothing.  "I'll never be too tired 
around you."

    "Your eyes look like they're about to collapse."

    "Let them.  The rest of me will know what to do."  He put the 
nearly empty bowl aside and picked her up, carrying her down to the 
bedroom.  He landed awkwardly in the bed, almost dropping her.  
"Ooof!"

    "Careful," she laughed.  "It's quite a landing."

    "I know, I know."  He smiled shyly, then leaned over and kissed 
her muzzle.  She close her eyes, and he felt her hands caressing 
his chest as they reunited.  Nickolai felt warm; this wasn't the 
heated rush of lust he had always known before.  After a dozen 
tries, he thought he should know how to make love to Jofuran 
Shigokai. 

    She apparently felt the same, because although the kiss between 
them went on, neither really moved to progress any further, any 
faster.   Nickolai leaned over slightly and pushed her down to the 
bed, coming to rest beside her, his hand caressing her stomach and 
small breasts slowly.  "I love you."

    "I love you too," she sighed softly, smiling at him.  His hands 
stroked slowly at her shirt undoing the buttons one by one.  She 
tugged at his, and they both stopped, giggled at one another, and 
decided to go at it a different way, each undoing themselves.  
Neither said a word during the entire process.  Nickolai pulled off 
his shirt and tossed it aside, then struggled with his pants.  As 
he pulled them off, he reached down and rubbed his feet.  "Ow!"

    "Let me," Furry said.  "Just lie back and let me take care of 
you."

    Nickolai leaned back against the headboard, taking care to 
protect the sensitive back of his neck as Furry scurried to the 
foot of the bed and took one of his feet in her hands.  "The top is 
roasted, the bottom sore," she sighed.  "This'll be tough."  She 
began rubbing carefully, caressing the bottom of his foot with both 
hands, holding it by the sides.  Her thumbs pressed deep into the 
flesh, the pain shooting up Nickolai's calf and making him groan in 
pain.  "Too much?"

    "It's okay.  It feels good, too."

    She nodded and continued rubbing, working her thumbs into the 
balls of his feet before sliding down to his heel, plucking at his 
toes and stretching out the tendon at the back of the foot.  Then 
she switched feet.  Nickolai squirmed and sighed as she stretched 
and rubbed it as much as she had the first.  Then she slowly 
crawled up his body until her face was even with his.  "Feel 
better?"

    "Much," he sighed.  "Thank you."

    "It's your turn," she smiled.  Nickolai, confused by what she 
meant, shook his head.  "Well," she smiled, "I guess I'll have to 
do something to get you started."  She kissed his neck, then his 
chest.

    Now Nickolai understood.  He reached down and began scratching 
her back and ruffling her fur.  "Uh-uh," she said.  "You weren't 
fast enough.  Now I'm going to take care of myself."  She slid down 
the bed in slow, crawling steps, kissing his stomach before coming 
to a stop directly before his erect cock.  "Pretty.  Just like I 
left it."  She kissed the head.  He gasped.  She giggled.  
"Anxious, aren't we?"

    He nodded. 

    "Good," she said, engulfing the entire shaft in her mouth.

    "Furry..." he moaned, stroking the top of her head with his 
hands.  "Oh, my god..."

    She giggled and began bobbing her head up and down quickly, 
stroking his cock.  Her teeth rubbed against his skin sometimes, 
sending sharp little shocks up his spine.  Her fur against the skin 
of his legs tickled slightly, and on every stroke her lips would 
nudge against the head of his shaft and make him tremble just a 
little more.

    "Hard enough," she said, letting it go.  She straddled his 
hips, facing him.  "I figured you were too tired and I'd have to do 
all the work myself."  She reached down and grabbed his cock, 
aiming it up at her cunny, then dropped onto it, taking it inside 
her almost without preamble.

    He gasped as her wetness surrounded him.  She was slick inside, 
making him slip into her like there was nothing there, but once her 
lips touched the root of his shaft he could feel every little 
detail of the insides of her cunny.  Against the head of his cock, 
he knew he was touching her cervix, and along the length he could 
feel the muscles of her body rippling.  She was smiling down at 
him, her whiskers twitching. He reached up to caress her small 
breasts, and she leaned over to make his reach more convenient.  

    Instead, he pulled her down on top of him.  "Whoops!"  He 
laughed.  She giggled as they rolled over.  "I'm not that tired!"

    "But you acted like it earlier," she said.  "Not that I object 
to you taking matters into your own hands."  

    "Good!" he said, propping himself up by his arms and slowly 
stroking into her cunt with his hips.  He looked down into her 
eyes, examining her face.  Her ears trembled, and she deliberately 
wiggled her whiskers at him when he smiled.  Between their bodies 
he could see his cock disappearing and reappearing between her 
legs, plunging into her sweetness and sliding back out covered in 
her juices.  Her grey fur was matted down from where they had lain 
together, poking in whorls in every possible direction. 

    He closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling her lips grab him, 
pulling him in and urging him on.  He felt the need to come growing 
within him.  The need washed over him, and he knew that his climax 
was imminent.  "I'm close," he said.

    "So am I," she replied as she pulled her legs up, her feet 
resting against his butt.  "Please..."

    "I..."  He shuddered as he slowed down, feeling a preorgasmic 
tremor flow from his cock.

    "Ohhhh...."  Furry moaned, arching her back.  "Nickolai!"

    "Yes!" he shouted as he came inside her, thrusting deep within 
her one last time, giving a solid push as he came.  "Oh, yes!"

    "Kolya," Furry gasped.  "Oh, Kolya, I love you."  Her hands 
caressed his face, and he kissed her palms as he felt them touch 
him.  His eyes were still closed with his climax.

    "I love you too, Furry."

    "Welcome home," she said, smiling.  Tears flowed from the 
corners of her eyes and stained her fur a darker shade of grey.  

    "It is home," he agreed, lying down beside her and hugging her 
close.  "And I'm glad to be here."

    "How's your burn?"

    "After that, I barely know it's there."  He smiled, and she 
nodded.
     "Come on," she said.  "Let's get some sleep."

    "Sounds good to me."

--
"Journal Entry 152 / 0918  [ Reunion, Part 7 ]"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales
are copyright (C) 1989-1995 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.  Redistribution of
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--
Elf Sternberg            FUCK THE CDA!       (Cohen vs. California, 1971)
elf@halcyon.com          Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati.
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