From: elf@chinook.halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.sex.stories
Subject: Journal Entry 172/0918  [ Pronouncing the Patient Cured ]
Date: 4 Feb 1995 18:21:02 GMT
Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc.
Lines: 749
Message-ID: <3h0gie$sna@news1.halcyon.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: chinook.halcyon.com

Urim 3, 0918

	I sighed as I collapsed onto the bed, an act that served to 
jostle P'nyssa's shoulder as well, making it difficult for her to 
read.  "You know, we've been awful busy recently."

	She gave me a long glance downwards, her solid yellow eyes 
giving me her patented 'you're about to suggest something lunatic' 
look.  Still, she played along, which, I suppose, is why we've been 
together for so long.  We're into each other's thought patterns.  
"Yes, we have."

	"We don't have any kids right now.  What do you say we take a 
vacation?"

	"What kind?"  She closed the book and placed it down on the 
bedstand.  

	"Oh, I don't know.  Someplace where I don't have to think about 
weddings and war, since those have been uppermost in my mind for 
nearly two years now."  I took a big sigh, grabbing one of the 
pillows and placing it on my stomach, like a shield.  "We don't even 
have to go far.  We could take the boat."

	"If it's still seaworthy after Skii got done with it."

	"He's a good sailor," I said, looking up at her.  Her face told 
me she disagreed.  "Anyway, yes, the boat is fine.  He treated it 
very well, and it's in perfect shape to go out and about again.  I 
was thinking... we haven't visited Oenone in a long time."

	"You mean, you haven't visited her," P'nyssa interrupted.  "I've 
never met this woman."

	I reached out a hand to stroke the dark-blue fur that ran along 
the outside of her thigh.  "You know, you have the most beautiful ass 
in the galaxy.  And I can say that after knowing you for over a 
millennium."

	"You can't see it, I'm sitting on it.  So you're in no position 
to judge.  Ken, did you hear what I said?"

	"I heard.  I keep trying to convince her to come out here and 
visit, but she never does.  Once in a while, she'll show up on the 
beach  when I'm walking alone, but that's about it."  My hands crept 
up her body towards her breasts.  She grabbed my wrist in her mitten 
and placed my hand firmly down onto the bed.

	"You can have some later," she teased.  "I'd like you to get 
permission from her first before you decide you want us to come 
along.  But if she wants three visitors, I'm very interested in 
meeting her."

	"Then I'll see what I can do.  I'll put a message in a bottle 
tomorrow."


	People think that the phrase 'message in a bottle' is facetious, 
perhaps even a euphemism for something.  In the case of Oenone it's 
the simple, honest truth.  I wrote a note on yellowed paper, a lovely 
reproduction of a unicorn with wings in the upper right-hand corner.  
I rolled it, placed it in the special green bottle that Oenone and I 
used for these missives, placed a cork on it, and sealed it with wax 
paper.  Then, with a careful throw earned from years of playing toss 
with the children, I dropped it into the Vinyare' ocean and sent it 
on its merry way.

	Oenone has never told me how this bottle knows the way from my 
home to hers, but it does.  I put my message, a simple request to 
visit her home, out to sea, and two days later one of the children, a 
young Vulpin boy, came running down the upstairs hallway with the 
bottle in his hands.  "Ken!  I found this in the lagoon and you said 
if anybody found a winebottle by the beach we were supposed to bring 
to you so I did and here it is and and and..." 

	I laughed and scratched him on the top of the head as I took it 
out of his hands.  "Thank you, Mosha."

	"What's... what's in it?"

	"It's a letter, from a friend."

	"Ring.  I mean, couldn't he have just called you?"

	"She's a little old-fashioned, Mosha.  Now, let me read this.  
Privately."

	He pouted, and I did too; I hate feeling as if I'm stepping on a 
child's curiosity.  I just wanted to read it alone.  Once he had 
left, I pulled the cork out and read the note.  The reply was simple.  
"My home is for you and yours.  You know the way.  Love.  O."


	For Aaden's sake, we took out the little zodiac and drove from 
the beach to the Succubus.  It's not that he hates water, but that 
his fur slows him down, and the kilometer or so to the trimaran once 
proved more than enough for him.  Having the strength he does doesn't 
help him do long-distance stuff, especially not swimming.  It's just 
not his sport.

	We reached the Succubus and while I dropped in the power module 
he loaded the food onto the rear deck and then hauled the zodiac up 
and deflated it.  P'nyssa began pulling out the sail and jib while I 
pulled up the deckplanks and made sure that the water supply was 
adequate.  We had a water purifier that fed more water into the jugs, 
but 120 gallons of reserve was always a good idea.  It also provided 
some ballast, not that she needed any.  "We're clear!" Aaden shouted 
as I climbed out into the wheel well.

	"Good.  The inside is fine.  Skii even aired it out.  Let's get 
this show on the road.  Nyss, you steer.  Aaden, let's haul anchor."

	We went around the cabin and up onto the front prow, finding the 
anchor cable easily.  We hauled up on it until the boat was over its 
sit and pulled; it came loose from the sand and we hand-over-handed 
until it was on the deck.  "Nyss!  Start the engine and head towards 
open water."  I looked up at Aaden.  "Mainsail, first."

	"Right," he nodded.  We unwrapped the protective sleeve and 
pulled the mainsail up until it was full.  "A little to starboard, 
Nyss.  Into the wind until we get this thing secured."  The bright 
sun glared off the whitewashed fiberglass and wood construction, 
blinding me.  I fished my sunglasses out of the pocket of my 
windbreaker while we tied down the end of the sail.  The jib went up 
just as fast.  "Okay, back to port, Nyss."

	The sail rippled; a loud rattle of metal pulleys as the boom 
slid to its limit and shuddered in place.  "We are go!" P'nyssa 
shouted as she killed the engine and pulled the prop boom out of the 
water.  

	Four hours later we were sailing into the range of Shipping 
SDisk P009 again.  This time it was friendly; we slipped into it and 
seconds later the flat, end-of-of-the world horizon of Pandora 
replaced Pendor's crucis horizon.  "Okay, Aaden," I said, indicating 
my lovely coimelin who had taken the till, "bring us around to 300 
and head straight on until nightfall."

	We did indeed sail onwards; the wind was light and by the time 
the island was in sight the sun was well on its way towards the 
horizon.  It didn't help that there was a two-hour difference between 
the SDisks S111 and P009.

	We worked hard to get the boat battened down, then inflated the 
zodiac and headed towards the beach.  "I keep forgetting how heavy 
this thing is," I said as Aaden and I hauled it to the treeline and 
tied it down.  "Hmmm," I said.  "No note."

	"Is that unusual?" Aaden asked.

	"Sometimes she leaves one for me, especially if things are a 
little  funny.  Bringing you two along is definitely a little 
unusual, so I guess I assumed there would be a note."

	"An assumption," Oenone's voice said, "is often the most 
inaccurate form of wish."  I turned in the direction of the voice, 
and she smiled, laughing sweetly.

	It's difficult to describe quite what it is Oenone means to me, 
does to me.  She is unbearably beautiful, a creature of pale skin and 
long streamers of seemingly liquid, golden hair.  Her heart-shaped 
face frames large eyes that seem to change color with her whim, a 
proud nose and full, rich lips, the upper lip a little thinner than 
is proportionate, giving her a 'quick' expression, except when she 
smiles.  Her body is feminine, shapely, and soft.  Right now all she 
wore was a blowing, white tunic that accentuated her gold hair, and 
the wind pressed it to her chest, emphasizing the swell of her large 
breasts.

	But vision alone doesn't drive my love for Oenone.  The common 
experiences we shared as the only man and woman alive on all of 
Pendor, once, a millennium and some ago.  A millennium is not a long 
time, not when the memory is of the woman who made it possible to 
create the land we stood on, the beach we sailed, and the two equally 
wonderful souls behind Aaden, P'nyssa, and me.  To say I owed Oenone 
everything is belittle the importance she once played in my world.

	"He's doing it again," P'nyssa said.

	"It's your turn," Aaden told her.

	"I suppose."  She reached over and placed her mitten under my 
chin, pushing my jaw shut.  I blinked, looked at her with a glance 
that was part frustration, part smile.  She gave a glance 
nightskyward, shook her head, and walked forward.  "Hi.  I'm 
P'nyssa."

	"Oenone."  She bowed deeply, and P'nyssa responded.  "You must 
be Aaden.  Ken has told me so much about both of you."

	"Great," Aaden said, returning the bow.  "I bet he told you all 
the bad parts first."

	"He had nothing but love for the both of you.  I'm very honored 
to meet you."

	"Thank you," P'nyssa replied.  Oenone gave each of them a 
strange glance, then walked around them to reach me, stopping a 
centimeter from my face.  "Hi."

	"Hi."  I placed my hands on her hips, then pulled her closer, 
sliding my arms around her back and holding her close.  "I missed 
you."

	She laughed again, her soft voice reminding me of childhood 
sweets.  "I missed you, too."  Her arms wrapped around me, hugging me 
back, her hands caressing me through the material of my t-shirt.  I 
could feel her breasts between us, the heat of her hips pressed to 
mine.  I felt the rise in my shorts quickly even before we separated.  
"You look wonderful."

	"You know what I think about how you look," I laughed.

	"Come," she said.  "You three must be both tired and hungry.  I 
have prepared dinner for four.  I hope it's for four; it has been a 
long time since I cooked for more than one, and even longer since I 
prepared food for more than that!"  She began walking down the 
pathway cut through the tropical forestry, her bare feet kicking up 
sand slightly as   she walked.  "It's right over here."

	She led us to a clearing at the base of a gently sloping hill, a 
small stream falling down the hill until it disappeared into the 
foundation of her home.  Her home was just perfect.  It had a 
circular construction with a domed roof that was supported on the 
outside with flying columns based on large cubes of granite.  From 
overhead it might have looked something like an observatory, for 
there was a large wedge cut out of it to allow light into the atrium.  
Through the columns and then the main door into the house proper, in 
the daylight the wedge lit a large room with a shallow, four-sided 
pool and plants growing about the edges.  The pool was not 
rectangular, however; befitting the circular construction, it was 
wide at the end where we entered, but tapered to a shorter span at 
the far end.  It felt slightly chilly in here because of the stark, 
white marble construction.

	She led us around the pool and to a room to the right.  "Settle 
yourselves," she said, "and I'll bring food."

	"Bring" was a rather loose term; it floated out, as if by 
gravitics, and settled to the table.  Aaden's bushy eyebrows rose 
some as he watched the procession of food and drink land before him; 
he had never seen an actual exhibition of magic this extensive 
before. P'nyssa had, but rarely, and I'm sure she felt surprised by 
the display.

	Oenone walked out a moment later, bearing a large jug of water 
on her shoulder.  She placed it in the center of the table and took 
her seat.  "I am not a good hostess; it has been too long since I had 
guests.  Please, serve yourselves.  I hope neither of you are 
allergic to fish, but that's the greatest extent of what I have."  
She lifted a large wooden plank that covered over the main serving 
tray.  

	My eyes lit up.  "Fish?"

	"Sushi," Oenone and Aaden corrected me simultaneously.

	"Whatever," I laughed while they eyed each other, smiling.  Then 
Oenone's expression fell.  "Ken informs me that you are Entalie'."

	Aaden nodded.  "I am afraid so.  It is fundamental to my 
nature."

	"Understandable.  Forgive me for being... disappointed."

	"I'm sure Ken will more than entertain you."

	"And who will entertain you?" Oenone asked.

	"I am very self-sufficient," Aaden replied, laughing.  P'nyssa 
and I giggled along, and finally Oenone overcame her blush and smiled 
behind her hand.  "Besides, I don't miss him all that badly when he's 
out catting around.  I do it to him, often enough."

	As we passed around the various trays covered in raw goodies, 
Oenone leaned forward.  "Ken, do you have a communicator with you?"

	"Of course," I said.  "It's in the little black bag there by the 
wall.  It's only for emergencies."

	"I understand that," Oenone said.  "I want to ask one of your 
marvelous machines a question."

	"Well, sure."  I got up and retrieved it from the bag.  A 
palm-sized PADD with gravitics generators for speakers and barely a 
centimeter thick, it was capable of accessing every publicly 
accessible scrap of data on three star systems, although the data 
from Terra and llerkin tended to be a few hours old.  "David, I don't 
believe you've ever met Oenone."

	"No, I haven't.  My profound pleasure."

	"Mine, as well," Oenone said.  "David, tell me, how many 
children currently reside on the surface of Pendor?"

	"At the mark, the population of Pendor will be 11 billion, 
745,343,230."  The pause took a little longer than expected before 
David said "Mark.  Sorry, one took a little longer than anticipated."

	I snorted.

	"David, of those, how many are named 'Oenone'?"

	"1 million, 458,210."

	"Can you see me?"

	"Clearly."

	"Of those numbers, in your judgment, how many look like me?"

	"I would estimate between seventy and seventy five, depending on 
how close you want them to look like you.  Although I must say that 
few would rival you for beauty."

	She shot me a glance.  "You teach your machines to flatter?"

	"I think he just sort of picked it up from them general 
atmosphere," I replied.  "It is that kind of household."

	"So I imagine.  Thank you, David."

	"My pleasure."  She handed the thick card back to me.  "I have 
been thinking about wandering Pendor again."

	P'nyssa gasped softly.  "We would love to have you visit us," 
she said.

	I wasn't quite so surprised; Oenone gets closer to keeping this 
promise every time I visit, and after a millennium I was glad to see 
that she was deciding to hold to it.  To visit us at least, at the 
house.  "Really," I said.  "Of all the households in Pendor, we're 
one of the most over-exposed to the over-exposed, and I think you'd 
be safe there.  We keep the paparazzi out, we should be able to 
provide you with a comfortable place to sleep.  Zeus knows we have a 
few rooms equipped with every comfort a Dolphin could ever dream of."

	"I appreciate that, Ken, I do."  She smiled.  "Change is hard."

	"Listen," I said, "Do you have a friend here who helps you?"  I 
gestured.  "This place becomes more grandiose every time I look at 
it.  Do you have a secret?  Perhaps a Nixie who visits you?"

	Oenone nodded.  "His name is Kronos.  He's nice, in his 
mechanical way.  He is a mechanic, after all."

	"Hmmm.  I wonder if there's a network of Nixies and Magis that's 
out to make sure, secretly, that the hermits of the world are 
well-cared-for.  So far, every hermit I've encountered has admitted 
to having one for a friend."  I smiled, reached out and touched her 
hand.  "I do miss you."

	"I know," she sighed.

	"Healing a goddess takes a long time."

	"It does," she admitted.  "And I'm frightened.  I... When I left 
the world the first time, men were struggling to cross the seas on 
wooden boats.  My life with you was one of sheer magic; it was like 
being a child in the home of Zeus.  You cast about power as if you 
were born to it.  I suppose you were."  She took her hand out from 
underneath mine and picked up a kappa with it, eating the whole 
thing, rice and raw fish, in one bite, and chewing thoughtfully.  
"Now, I propose walking into a world where men no longer struggle 
between islands, because now they casually hop between stars."

	"Not casually."

	"Nonsense," Oenone said.  "You yourself admitted that on Pendor 
that 'family wagon' can travel from Pendor to Terra in under sixteen 
hours, most of that without intervention."

	"Or without a piss break," Aaden said.  "It's not as if there 
are rest areas between here and there."

	"Maybe there should be.  Three of them.  One every four hours," 
I suggested.  "Dave, make a note."

	"Done," the AI replied.

	Oenone continued.  "What I am trying to tell you, Ken, is that I 
am... not sure.  I feel that if I don't get out now, I never shall.  
The world will change faster and faster and I will never get a grip 
on any of it."

	I looked at her carefully.  "As I recall, Reah taught you the 
arts of prophecy, Oenone.  Is that the source of your concern?"

	She shook her head.  "That's an art I haven't used in centuries.  
I  just listen to what you tell me.  And what I hear is two centuries 
of stagnation are coming to an end, just as I get a grip on what the 
changes before that were about.  I need to get out, and I need to get 
out now, if it's ever going to happen."  She sighed, sitting back in 
her chair.  "Eat, please.  We can talk more after dinner."

	As I swallowed a chunk of roe, I smiled.  "I suppose there are 
benefits to serving food that's meant to be room temperature."

	Dinner led to dessert, a rich concoction of ice cream.  When I 
asked her where she got it, she shrugged and said "Kronos."  

	Afterwards, as the table cleared itself, she asked, "Ken, would 
you walk with me?"

	"Surely," I replied.  She led me out of the building and down 
onto the beach sands.  Overhead, the alternating dark and light bands 
of Pendor rippled and shone down, bright as any moon.  And there was 
a moon, as well; Pindam orbited Pandora as ever while it served as 
home to the gene laboratories and biohazard centers that gave birth 
to the thirteen current Pendorian Species.  Fourteen, I suppose, if I 
add in the AI's.  Pindam put out as much light as Terra's moon and 
looked about as big, but it was much less massive than Terra's; it 
had a faster orbit, and was not locked one-face to Pandora, as Luna 
is.  The two of them lit the oceans lapping at the sands of Oenone's 
island well enough to see clearly.

	"I remember," she sighed softly, "that we teleported from 
Alexandria to North Point one afternoon, and you said 'make me a 
haven.'  Then you added the 'please.'"  I laughed.  "And I did.  And 
it worked.  I sometimes think that the greatest tragedy in Greek 
mythology is that we don't have a concise Creation myth.  Nothing so 
beautiful as the simple, 'Let the waters bring forth abundantly the 
moving creature that hath life.'"  She reached out a hand for mine, 
and I took it.  We walked hand-in-hand down the beachside.  "They 
both are so beautiful."

	"Who?"

	"Aaden and P'nyssa, you fool.  They're not innocent, but they're 
not corrupt, either.  They're beautiful inside, and not all of it is 
your doing."

	"I hope not," I said.  "I love them both, but they are their own 
people.  Aaden's self-sufficiency extends to more than just his 
bedroom, and to more than just himself.  But both of them give me 
things I need.  It's hard to explain it.  But I do need both of them 
around me, to make myself feel complete."

	"I am starting feel that too.  I have more friends than just the 
Nixie.  There is a pod of youthful dolphins that sometimes swims near 
to shore.  They change from year to year, and always they're 
different.  They don't know who I am, they think I'm just some lonely 
femDolphin.  They always telling me they don't understand why someone 
as beautiful as I am swims alone."  She stopped, turned, and looked 
at me.  "I'm starting to wonder myself."

	I pulled her a little closer and said, "I wonder the same 
thing."  She hesitated, our eyes not quite meeting.  I understood, 
really; so much had changed between us in the past thousand years.  
When we had first met, I had been in the grips of love, obsession, 
and madness.  Nothing and no-one would stop me from building Pendor, 
and she had gone along with that mad vision.  I had been, as she had 
called me, "a godling."  Then, when the full significance of what I 
had wrought had hit me, when I had become aware of the future enough 
to be disturbed by its implication, we had changed places, and she 
had been the one in control, this time not from passion but from 
maturity.  She had been the one to give me protection, to understand 
what I was undergoing better than anyone.  Now, though, our roles 
were changed again, since this time she was the one uncomfortable 
with her future, and I was the one who had a good vision of what the 
future held.

	But the hesitation ended as our lips met, and I took her lower 
lip between mine and my upper lip between hers, as our mouths opened 
and our teeth knocked softly against each other, as tongues reached 
out and tasted one another, sliding slickly over each other.  Her 
hands held my waist, her grip tightening as we kissed.

	Her kiss grew soft suddenly, as if she were distracted, and then 
she pressed me down onto the sand.  Except I didn't land on sand; 
instead, I fell onto a blanket that had magically appeared behind me.  
"Very nice," I laughed as we tumbled onto the rough cloth of thick, 
woven fibers.

	She gestured out over the water.  "There are few better places 
for me to make love, Kennet, then here, on the beach.  There are no 
other nymphs and godlings to challenge and check me here, and my 
mastery is absolute."

	"Over water, yes.  Over people, no."

	She nodded, leaning against me, her head against my chest.  
"That is what I fear the most, being somewhere with no control over 
what happens next."

	"Life is like that," I said, caressing her down her side, 
reaching down to her beautiful buttocks and closing my fingers, 
feeling the softness of her there.  "Kissing changes everything.  I 
was so... worried, when we came out to the beach, because of the way 
you and I have always been, and I was afraid for how much we had 
changed.  Then we kissed and everything was okay, because no matter 
what changes between us, Oenone, we will never 'master' one another 
in bed."

	"Or on a blanket on the beach," she replied.  Her fingers 
grabbed the trail of my shirt and she began lifting it, pulling it 
over my head.   She kissed my stomach, her nose against the small 
patch of hair that started a few cents above my navel.  "Oenone, 
you're tickling me!"

	She didn't say a word, but instead her fingers reached up and 
began caressing the sides of my stomach, tickling me earnestly.  
"Hey!  No fair!"  I grabbed her and tickled her back, and 
fortunately, unlike my two coimelin, she was ticklish.  The laughter 
I got out of her was satisfyingly loud, almost screeching in places.  
Although she never did quite manage to wash out the sound of the 
waves crashing against the shore.  

	We gave up by mutual agreement; neither of us was in much of a 
mood to wrestle.  In the process her tunic had become a little 
disheveled.  I reached for her belt and untied it, opening her robes 
as if I were unwrapping a present.  As each cent of skin was exposed, 
I caressed her with my left hand, touching her lovely, pale skin and 
feeling the warmth of her body.  Passing the end of the toga around 
her head, it came free and I tossed it onto the sand next to my 
shirt.  "All that's left is your shorts."

	"True," I replied, grinning.  "But you'll have to take them off 
if you want them off."

	Naked, she knelt on the blanket and leaned over, her ass high in 
the air and just out of my reach.  I could not take my eyes off it 
until she had my pants all the way open and was pulling them down.  I 
pushed up with my hands just enough to help, and she soon tossed the 
shorts aside with the rest of our clothing.

	We fell upon one another in the moonlight, mouths hungrily 
tasting bodies.  The spray from the ocean had collected on our skins 
and it blended with the sweat of a hot night to make both of us sexy 
collections of salt and wet.  I licked the offering from her flesh, 
tasting the organic origin of all life in that blend.  As my tongue 
quested over her belly and sought the soft, padded mound, covered in 
a light smattering of public hair that had collected more than one 
kind of  moisture like dew, her own mouth was seeking towards my own, 
denser pubic hair and her lips caressed the root of my cock.

	She parted her legs further as we wriggled, side-by-side, and I 
came to face her sex, her pink lips swelling slightly between her 
fuller outer lips.  The smell was heavenly; I absorbed it as I 
stared, felt it winding its way around my cerebral cortex, making 
itself at home.  I inhaled deeply, partially in worship of her 
beautiful cunt but also slightly gasping at the feel of her mouth 
closing about my cock, sucking  down on it until she had all of it in 
her mouth.  I pressed my tongue forward, tasting the flesh and heat 
of her cunt.

	She was wet, her own juices sweet and as salty, like the night 
air.  I buried my mouth between her lips, sucking at her cunt and 
clitoris.  She moaned gently, and her teeth seemed to rub against the 
base of my shaft as she did so.  I reached around and gripped her 
buttocks, pulling her over until she was on top, her cunt bearing 
down on my mouth, dripping her juices onto my tongue.  Her own mouth 
stroked like a reliable piston over my cock, sucking strongly.  We 
stayed locked like that, pleasuring each other.  It couldn't last 
forever; someone had to come first.

	From the sensations, it was going to be me.  I could feel the 
tightening bands of lust wrapping themselves about my cock and groin, 
announcing their intentions to my lust-blinded mind.  She kept 
sliding, up and down, up and down, the wetness of her mouth dripping 
down the sides of my cock and collecting in my pubic hair.  I tried 
to concentrate on what I was doing but finally I gave up, dropping my 
head to the blanket to moan as I came, shooting a stream of come into 
her mouth.

	I took three deep breaths to recover, then reached around her 
thighs again to pull her down and give her what she had given me.  I 
attacked her clitoris like a fireman after a fire, pressing on into 
those final moments.  She was gasping hard, and when she came it was 
a quiet thing, her body shaking and a soft moan breaking her lips the 
only  signs. 

	She rose off me.  "Aw," I pouted.

	"I just want to rest," she said, reaching up with one hand to 
rub her jaw.  "That takes a lot of work, and it's not something I get 
much practice in."

	"If you want me to come around more often, I can, you know."

	"No," she smiled, "That's okay.  I just need to get out."

	"Promise?" I asked.

	"Soon," she promised.  I pulled her close and we arranged 
ourselves, watching the moon climb in the night sky overhead.  "So 
desolate," she sighed, pointing up at it.  "So important to all of 
us."

	"I could have put it anyplace, you know," I said.  "The lab 
didn't have to be on Pindam."

	"No," she agreed, "But Pindam had to be on Pindam.  Without it, 
you wouldn't have the fluctuating tides that give us life, and 
without those tides and the constant, sensitive cycling of Pendor's 
and Pandora's biospheres, we wouldn't have life here at all."

	I nodded as I caressed her breasts.  "Without you, Oenone, we 
wouldn't have life here at all either."

	"You would have found a way, Ken."  She nuzzled my neck, her 
hand around my cock, stroking it unconsciously.  "You didn't need me.  
You would have found a way without me if you couldn't get me."

	"Probably," I agreed.  "But I'm glad I didn't have to."

	"Me too," she sighed.  I bent to kiss the nipple on her breast, 
caressing the other with my hand.  The small pink nub hardened under 
my tongue's touch, wrinkling and poking upwards.  The encouragement 
of her rising excitation inspired my own cock, because I began to 
feel her hand stroking it more clearly.  I tried to ignore it, 
licking at the soft swell of her breast, licking more of our exertion 
from her skin, but my cock just wouldn't be ignored.

	I pressed forward with my mouth, pressing her down until she was 
on her back, her knees bent and legs spread.  Her arms reached up and 
wrapped around my neck as I slid between her thighs, pressing my cock 
against the tangle of pubic hair that surrounded her opening.  "Yes," 
she sighed.  "Do it."

	I watched as my cock disappeared into the wet swamp of her cunt, 
felt her lips grasp my cock as it tunneled its way into her body, 
stopping when my groin pressed against hers, her legs parted as wide 
as lewdly possible to allow me into her depths.  I inhaled deeply, 
then let out a deep breath through my nostrils, looking down at her 
face.  "Good?"

	"Yes," she nodded.  I began to make love to her slowly, feeling 
her body's heat underneath my own.  I could look down and in the 
mixed light of moon and ring watched my cock withdraw from her 
reddened labia, each single strand of moist pubic hair valiantly 
failing to keep my cock from leaving, then sliding inwards to slicken 
my path even more as I penetrated her fully, nestling my cock up 
within the full depth of her cunt.

	She wrapped her legs around me, encouraging a harder thrusting 
with every stroke.  I pushed against her harder, watching with every 
thrust as her hair waved and responded to my strength.  I leaned 
down, trying to distract myself from my second orgasm.

	I played with her hair as we made love, looking down her and 
smiling.  My hips continued their up-and-down fucking of her 
beautiful body, her legs pulling me in and then letting me go.  I 
held myself up on one hand while I trailed the other down her face, 
trying to distract myself from the climax that was already coming.  
She laughed and licked at my finger; I reacted by pulling it away, 
losing the delicate balance I had and needing both arms to keep from 
collapsing atop her.  But she didn't want me away; she pulled me 
close to her, until I was pressing down on her, pressing my body 
against hers, pressing my chest against hers, kissing her mouth 
madly, wetly, as I began an almost frantic final rise to climax, 
moaning into her mouth as I came inside her.

	We stayed like that, locked together, my cock within her cunt, 
our mouths pressed together, as we rolled to the side and she dropped 
me onto the blanket.  "Yes," she gasped.  "Yes."

	I kissed her mouth again, and she responded, hungry as before.  
This time just for kisses.  We made love with our lips for a long 
time as my cock shrank and slid out of her, our combined fluids 
flowing down onto our thighs.  Her arms held me close while my hands 
explored her body.  "You're so beautiful."

	"As are you, my lord," she gasped.  The phrasing bothered me a 
little, but I decided not to question it.  It wasn't important to me; 
a moment of passion, perhaps, a term of endearment. 

	The ocean continued to spray us gently, and in the dark I felt a 
little chilled.  Without the motion and distraction of our wild 
lovemaking, I was starting to realize just how much body heat I had 
lost.  "Oenone?"

	"You're cold, I know."  She pulled me close.  "Right now, Ken, I 
don't want to let you go.  Even though I know that a few minutes from 
now we'll be in my bed again, I can't imagine letting you go."  She 
sighed, then loosened her arms.  "Leave the blanket.  It will care 
for itself."

	I nodded and stood up.  She did too; now naked, her body was 
more visible than ever, more desirable than before.  I pulled her to 
my side and said "Let's make our way back."  She nodded, and we 
returned to her home, and to bed.


	"It was wonderful to finally meet you," P'nyssa was saying to 
her as Aaden inflated the boat again.  Something in the way she said 
it made my eyes rise, as if there was desire in her voice.  "I hope 
we can meet again, soon."

	"I would like that too," Oenone replied.  "And you," she 
continued, addressing me, "I will see you again soon."

	"I promise," I said, taking her hand and kissing it.  "Good bye, 
Oenone.  Until again."

	She nodded.  "Until then."  She waved.  "Goodbye, Aaden.  A 
pleasure talking to you!  I would like to see your garden!"

	"You will if you come visit us!" he replied as we boarded the 
boat.  A chorus of "goodbye!" arose from all three of us as the 
little inflatable took us back to the Succubus.  

	After raising anchor and heading back to sea, P'nyssa handed 
Aaden the till, which gave me an ample opportunity to pull her aside.  
"Nyss?   Where do you and Oenone disappear to this morning?"

	"Just into her library.  We wanted to talk about something."

	"Like what?"

	"Oh, you know."  She grinned.  "Girl talk."  The idea of P'nyssa 
identifying anything she did as "just girl talk" was about as 
stunning as Aaden announcing he was going to "find a nice girl and 
settle down." Impossible, if not simply outright absurd.  She must 
have seen the disbelief in my face; she leaned over and said "It was 
personal.  If you ever need to know about it, we'll tell you.  Okay?"

	I nodded.  "I was just surprised."

	"So was I," she admitted.  "But we have something in common... 
loving you... and she just wanted to talk about it.  Okay?"

	"Okay."  I leaned over and kissed her cheek.  "I trust your 
judgment."

	"That's good.  Sometimes I'm not so sure."  She wrapped her 
tentacles around my back and kissed my neck.

	"With wind like this," Aaden shouted over the cabin, "We should 
be at the SDisk by five!"

	"Excellent!" I shouted back.  "Best possible speed, Mr. 
Satpulov!  We have a life to attend to!"

	"Aye, aye, love!"  

--
"Pronouncing the Patient Cured"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al. 
are copyright (c) 1989-1994 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.  Distribute freely 
via electronic media.  This copyright permits individual users to 
make single hardcopies for their own use.  The Journal Entries may 
not be sold or otherwise distributed for profit.
 
http://www.halcyon.com/elf/journals/0918_172.html
mailto:elf@halcyon.com
--
elf@halcyon.com          Another victim of involuntary performance art. 
Public key available     http://www.halcyon.com/elf/elf_sternberg.html