Shadows or Fate
by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Lightning flared through rain veiled skies, illuminating the ancient city with blue-white tongues of withering sky-fire. Far below, where mortals scurried in fear, a single figure worked its way though back alleys. Slipping through narrow ways in the dark the tightly cloaked figure stumbled through shadows, darker fur showing as the night winds pulled away its cloak occasionally. It’s destination a short tower near the Eastern wall. Originally a distant outpost centuries ago it was now enveloped by the city, no longer a post for alert guardsmen, it now housed others. Others as alert as those long passed warriors, but who’s goals would be at odds to those same warriors. Very much at odds.

Enough glimpses of the figures form eventually informed the viewer it was female, though which species would have been difficult to determine. She had arrived alone. Just a little after midnight, a poor maid with a very large problem. She knew her options of course, accept having her child raised by its fathers sister-in-law, which would mean its near instant death, or take a long walk off a very short pier in the nearby harbor. Approaching one of the cities few sorceress’s was her and her child’s only hope to survive. A thin one at that of course. Others had come here, to this otters tower. They had their sons, paid a little gold, then returned knowing (or believing, no one was certain) their child would be taken to another city. There to be fostered off, or more likely sold into slavery. Only the castle staff knew of these things of course. These very illegal things. Only the servants would need to know such things.

Knocking at the buildings door she waited nervously, water puddling around her bare feet as her soaked cloak drained. When the door opened she hastily held out her small bag of copper, silver and thin gold pieces. All the money she’d saved through her young life, all her friends could afford to give her. She waited in fear as a huge grey furred dire wolf poured out the contents into his paw, nodded, then stepped aside. Like the lightning above her, she slipped between his huge form and the doorframe. Vanishing inside as though she had always been nothing but shadow. Never could she suspect that she would not leave that building alive.

Or dead.

Five months later...

“It is time My Lady” the tall wolfs announced. An old butler who’s once dark fur now was heavily streaked with white.

Nodding her acceptance, Lady Meg stood, closing her paw written tome as she did so. “Everything is ready?”

“All is as you requested great one. I have told her nothing. This rabbit suspects nothing of what you will do.”

“Very good, you may leave.” Lady Meg walked behind her butler a few steps until he turned one way, she another. Stopping before an iron bound door the elderly otter carefully checked her single slip of clothing, hunting any iron bit she may have forgotten. A stray thought came to her, her butler knew what she would do yet had restrained his natural curiosity. They both were aware that what would happen this night was not for a mans eyes. Not if he desired to retain his manhood, and she refused to waste such a loyal man as her wolf.

A scream of pain reached her as she opened the heavy door. “Patience young one” Meg whispered. “Soon it will be over, you will be on your way and I shall have a daughter for my own. All as I promised.” She lit a candle near the door with a waiting taper, ignoring her laboring visitors pleading look. Quietly she preformed rituals so old none could even guess when they were first enacted. By the time she returned to the door a specific number of paw made candles were burning, each flame a different colour. Dropping her slip she kneeled between the laboring woman’s legs.

“Push” she ordered... “Push for your soul.”

As she waited the child’s birth, as the mother strained to release her royal blooded child, darkness began to flow about the chamber. Shadows seemed to pool, to meld into some great form. It grew behind the otter, absorbing her shadow as well. Darker pools, much like eyes formed, apparently watching the proceedings. Straining to give life to her child the maid was oblivious to anything but her own pain. Lady Meg however was aware of He who had come. Had come to witness His child’s birth. No half breed would this one be, not directly of his loins for He had none. But a Chimera. Part her mother, part her father... Part something not seen on this world in no one knew how long. Certainly not since the coming of fur.

Lady Meg accepted the child as it slipped from its mothers womb, biting off the cord with her own teeth before she gathered it to her as she turned away from the nearly unconscious maid. “Now” she whispered, ducking aside quickly. Shadows moved, darkening the bed. Again the maid screamed, a scream that was abruptly muffled as if a door had closed between them.

Or the rabbit had been swallowed alive.

When darkness receded, when shadows again were what they seemed, Lady Meg turned back to one small shadow that still seemed to move. Where the maid had lain was nothing, no stain, no hair, not even dust. “Yes, all as promised” she answered, the question asked not by voice, but by mind. “I will teach her, raise her as you have instructed. She will think herself free, until your need. Our bargain will be kept. All has been paid as you demanded. Have I yet earned my prize, or do you require further service?”

In answer Lady Meg’s body shimmered, a greenish-yellow glow enveloped her, hiding her from any sight wither mortal or immortal. When it passed she was no longer a old woman. Young again, vibrant, full of life. Full of the maids youth. “Accepted” she whispered. “With my greatest thanks.” Still naked she left the dark chamber behind her, its door to be sealed. Never to open again during her life.

Or any other creatures, should they desire to retain their sanity.

Immortality required constant service to those who could grant it. Be they Dark or Light. Centuries ago Lady Meg had chosen the Dark. In her eyes she had made the correct choice. After all, almost all those of her family who had chosen the Light were dead now. For unlike the Dark, which was direct in its need, the Light was fickle. One could never depend upon it for anything but pain.

Nineteen years later...

“Left paw Rini, always with the left paw and high” Lady Meg ordered.

Part cat, part rabbit and part something else the exotic grey furred girl looked up from her studies, carefully setting her silver cup down a moment. “Pand says Lord Walton wants me” she declared, picking up the cup again, this time with her left paw. “Marriage. A joining of Houses. I understand he has a weak heart. It would take little...”

“True, to both accounts. He’s also as stupid as a mule, butt ugly, beats women and has already left everything he owns to the One Path. A little higher Rini. You can forget marriage, your father swore he would kill you, and probably I also, if you marry any man not of His choice.”

“My father is dead, this winter” she slowly poured colored sand on a sheet of snow white parchment, watching it as it fell. “Lord Walton believes this will tell the future.”

“Only to a fool. It dispels the Church’s guardians. And that wasn’t the father I meant.”

“Oh...” Rini sat her bowl down, then carefully began creating a symbol in the freshly poured sand. This she did with her right paw. “I don’t like Him. He wants me for something but you wont tell me. Nor will He.”

“You don’t like him? He likes you. And His secrets I never ask, nor should you. It is sure way to miss the next sunrise. I very much like sunrises Rini.”

“Of course He likes me. I think though in the way I prefer a man not to like me. I’m a tool, one He will use this way or that, or abuse should the thought occur to Him” Rini answered, sitting back from her work. “Lady Millien’s daughter is interesting though.”

“Then take her. Your father cares not about women. They cannot give you children.”

Rini giggled. “As long as I retain my soul for His feasting. I may share with a woman, not a man. It makes no sense to me. Then who does understand Them and Their Dark Science.” She touched the sand gently, said one word. Watching silently as it shimmered, becoming a liquid. “I have taken her foster-mother. She tastes sweet. May I keep her?”

Lady Meg sighed. “If your asking that, it’s time you went out on your own. Your long old enough. I’ll arrange a teaching position for you in another city, later. When the Royal purge begins. For now a few coins a month. Other than that...” She leaned forward, studying Rini’s work, watching carefully as streamers of condensation billowed away from the colder than cold liquid that had once been hard red sand. “I’ve nothing else to teach you. Excellent work on this, however I think that you will never be a woman of great power. It appears to be beyond your limited abilities. Your interest in the forbidden Science weakens you. Even with his touch.”

“So..” Rini continued, ignoring her foster-mothers words. “If I want Patricia I must leave. If I do not leave I cannot have her. Yet... Her interest in my gifts won’t last, once she decides to have children. He won’t tell me how to manage that.”

“It can’t be done” Lady Meg admitted. “I asked a long time ago. Long before your mothers grandmother was born. That power the Gods gave to men. Women were given the gift to create. Men only to destroy. They have the White, we the Dark. It is our gifts and we may not touch each others gift. Only Science was allowed to each, few touch that filth now.” She leaned back, looking again at her foster-daughter. No spell had been needed to grant Rini beauty. Certainly nothing He had done could grant beauty. That was of the Light. Yet her birth mother had been impossible attractive, her father, though ancient had in his youth turned even the otters eye. Unlike her daughter Lady Meg was free to share her bed with any man. And had.

Yet that mixing between rabbit maid and puma King had born forth a woman who, though young still, would already turn any fur’s eye. No matter what their life choice. “Never force” she warned. “Let her come to you. Let her think it is her own heart that calls her to you. In that way you’ll have power over her until long after she dies, if she comes to you willingly. If... when she decides to leave, you let her go freely, she will always be yours. Remember that. Remember it always.”

Rini brushed sand off her paws. “Love is sand. An open palm may hold sand forever. It will run freely from a closed fist. I remember your teachings well foster-mother. Though I don’t have the desire for power or gold you have, I do have my own drives”. She stood swiftly, taking one last look around her foster mothers library. “I should pack, shouldn’t I?”

Quickly she walked off, afraid to let Lady Meg know just how pleased she was at this chance to leave. Patricia.. Or Lady Millery, was an excuse. A pawn in her escape. Once Rini had discovered what wonders lay outside her foster-mothers door she had lost all interest in anything the woman could teach her. True, it had lead to beatings, starvation... worse... She remembered the Butlers visits and shivered. Rini retained her virginity only because to touch her that way would be the dire-wolfs last mortal act. So he achieved his pleasure in a way certain not to allow his companion anything but pain. Moving more quickly she packed.

Four Years Later, near to the day....

A thin yet attractive skunk stood nervously in Rini’s doorway, a small, brightly painted case clasped tightly in her paws. She wore a wedding gown under her travel cloak while behind her a waiting carriage could be seen. Rini herself sat quietly among rich cushions, watching her visitor while the woman stood at her door. “I shall never return” Lady Millery warned her. “Allow me to leave. Please... I must... I... You know I cannot return.”

Rini looked away a moment, setting her book aside. “Ah, my sweet Pity” she whispered as her gaze returned to the skunks form. “I never wanted to own you, though I admit we both know I could, easily. Sweet Pity you have been a companion I may not replace ever. You’ve warmed my heart, my bed and helped me choose my path. And... Your life is your own Sweet Pity. I shan’t hold you. We know that Lord Talon awaits you.”

Lady Millery hesitated, letting the door close behind her. Rini never called her Pity unless she felt it was important. “You... You won’t stop me?”

Rini shook her head, letting her day-robe fall open as she leaned back on her cushions. With eyes half closed she regarded her companion of the last four years. “If this body isn’t enough to stop you, I’d be a fool to use force. Leave Pity, leave me now and we will always love each other. If I stop you... You’ll learn to hate me even though you won’t be able to live without me.”

Licking her lips Lady Millery hesitated, her eyes locked on Rini’s grey form. Without thinking she let her case fall to the thrush covered floor. “I... I...” She swallowed. “If only you would come with me. Please. Lord Talon has agreed. He will accept you as my companion. We’ll hide you from the Purge. My Soul on it.”

Rini laughed softly, leaning back further, stretching her plumper form as seductively as she knew how. “My gardens are always open to you Pity. Now, tomorrow, fifty years from now. Should we both still be alive then. I cannot grant you the children you want. Not even through the forbidden Science we have both studied. No woman could, no matter how great her love. That requires a man, its why nature created them. Go. Have your family and I will try to find another. I could never forget you Pity. I’ll find none I can love like you I think.” She snuggled down deeper into her cushions, half her form now hidden. “In any case I must leave as well. A cart arrives for me, though much after your carriage departs. Your soul or not, this place is no longer safe for me. With my blood family hunting down all those my father sired to others, none within these city walls will escape. Death is not something I plan to embrace this soon. Certainly not by having my head removed from my shoulders, to be encased in Amber for all time.”

Nodding in acceptance Lady Millery touched the doors latch again, forgetting her case. Slowly she turned back. “One last time” she whispered hopelessly, her eyes locked on Rini’s form. A form that, upon very close inspection of certain delicate areas, was covered not by soft grey fur, but by scales so minute as to almost be unnoticeable. As she approached, her gown slipping away from night dark shoulders Rini smiled. Not in pleasure, but in knowing what her foster mother had taught her had worked well. Not that it would ever be useful to her this time. It had been the practice she needed, still this new Lady Miller could never refuse her anything.

Not even on her wedding day.

Twenty or so years later;

Many things had changed since Lady Patricia Miller had walked out of Rini’s life. Away from her foster-mothers subtle influences the Cabot had changed, had ceased her constant hunts, her dreams of power. Time had given her new outlooks to life, and a pain of loss so great as to never wish such on another. Happy now with the life of a simple Scholar, her days spent teaching others, she could almost forget her ‘father.’ If He would just quit coming to her dreams that was. She had quickly dismissed the thin skunk of her youth. Other than an occasional dream her life was quiet. It had been years since her last companion. “I guess as you age, you mellow” she had once been heard to say. Her life had become pleasant, a rote of day to day events that almost never changed. That, in itself, was about to end.

She was packing her books when she heard the commotion. Looking up Rini was in time to see a Cadet hurry in, pulling her classroom door closed. Only a shake of his head warned her to keep where she was. To keep silent. Something was up, something very unusual, something very dangerous. Then lately many odd things had happened. War was rumored. From her position she could see the signs. Men she'd taught years ago coming by for refresher courses. Today's class had been a prime example. She wasn't scheduled to teach, yet a messenger had come early in the morning to fetch her. A quite delightful addition to her meager income she remembered, feeling the silver weighing her belt pouch. Her whole day had been spent with mid-ranking officers. Officers asking questions that, should she repeat them in public, would earn her head a place on the wall. Only her reputation, her previous silence’s, allowed them to be so open. Lord King Darius was planning war. Bloody dark war.

When the archers fired she could hear them through her window. Running to it she pushed her head through. Though she strained every way she could, her view wouldn't allow her to see the courtyard. Still a copper-acid smell of blood told her what had to have happened. A group had died, had they been the children she'd seen earlier? No. Not even Old King Hannibal, King Darius’s mad grandfather, had gone that far. Though he’d murdered his own sons in a fit of madness fueled rage. Somehow Darius believed it was further than even his madness had been able to reach. There was no way Rini was going to let him know it was her magic that had saved those children’s lives.

But who had died? Why? That she might never know the answer vexed her. To be so close to a Castle's daily activities, to know what had to go on, yet forever be denied the use of her abilities, lest she give herself away. Jerking back in frustration she settled her hair and the long dress she wore, taking extra time to brush away tell-tale dust marks on her arm-sleeves. She'd just reached for her pack when the door opened again. A young messenger slipped in, his face pasty white as he leaned against the heavy door. Gently he closed it with his own weight. Moving quietly he stood next to the shaking cadet.

 "I take it we need new cooks?" she asked, trying for information.

"No Scholar" her visitor gasped. "King Darius was angry. His new bride was maltreated. He..." Suddenly remembering who he was speaking to the boy clamped shut tighter than a drums head. "I am to escort you to the side gate Scholar Rini."

"Not home? Always the gate, never my door?" she asked, lifting her heavy pack. "You embarrass me."

"Embarrass you" he repeated. "Scholar, you're the one who has nay-sayed all offers. A word and thirty heavily armed men would happily march with you. Why?"

"Must be my earthly ways" she answered, giving a slightly plump hip a bit of extra twist. Many years of experimentation had gone into the shadows that hid her true form. Hid unnatural youth and beauty that would have unwanted attention upon her instantly. "Or more likely they just need a softer pillow. Come on, lets get this bag of jelly I call a body out of here before you start charging me rent again."

"Again?" the pup asked as he pulled open the door. "I've never.. Oh, a joke. My apologies Scholar. This is not a time for jokes. Will you be at the wedding?"

She followed him out, knowing that the cadet would seal her classroom, after a careful inspection for forgotten papers. Considering his obvious desire not to be seen, that search would take much longer than normal. Absently she turned the correct way, having so many times walked here. "I have no invitation. I much dislike crowds anyway. Being pressed like so much goose flesh, unnamed paws touching me. No, I'll remain home where I belong."

"But I saw the invitation myself" he gasped. "You were never given it?"

Rini stopped. Invitation? Her mind screamed in fear. That meant she'd been too good at her job. Someone had spoken for her, asked, or given a favor. That meant she was known by too many too high. That might mean... She felt faint, actually staggering against a near wall. "Perhaps I had best go home" she whispered. "I suddenly do not feel well." It was much to late to run again. Much to late. She made the rest of the trip in silence, begging off an offered coach claiming she just needed fresh air. As if in a warren this large any air could be called fresh. Her trip home was made both in silence and fear. She hardly noticed the later afternoon clouds building. Only when her face dampened did she realize a fine mist was falling.

Rini stopped at her door, looking about her as was her habit, one paw brushing through long black hair, pushing it away from her face. Rain dampened her hair, hair that was beginning to show grey here and there. She never admitted that with a few simple words she could return it to its glory, and her body. No one suspected that beneath her carefully crafted shadows was a body of a very young woman. That Rini’s body, unlike her foster mothers, had ceased aging sometime after her majority. It had been one of His gifts. Once she had wondered why, now she simply accepted the fact.

Shaking her head to clear fatigue she reached for the bolt on her homes front door. It slid open with a rasping sound, sticking slightly on its leather guide just before it reaching full open position. 'Need to get that fixed' she thought to herself for the, how many times now? Like most Scholars Rini's funds were always tight. Often she barely managed life's month to month costs. Even her clothing, though of good material and current cut, were beginning to show their age. Certainly she could earn more easily, that though would raise her stature in the community. She would be noticed by more people. For a bastard Royal, even one three hundred or more miles from home, that was suicide. For a bastard Royal with demon blood in her it would be the slow roast in this Kingdom, a Kingdom ruled by the One Church. Rini knew that the only reason she'd lived over forty years was because of her low profile and her self imposed exile.

Her door opened, a sharp complaint from the lower hinge reminding her to oil it again. That sharp sound also informed her neighbors she was home. Not long from now a few would be by for questions, reading studies, letters that needed writing. Sleep wouldn't come until late watch. At least tomorrow should be free, unless another summons arrived. Like herself her visitors often barely made ends meet, though under their current King even that was difficult. Privately Rini had often wondered if she might be a better ruler than that pig, though the thought of doing so frightened her. With her main income from teaching the military cadets how to read, write and understand maps, any attempted coup would be a mistake.

As she entered her home she noticed something odd. A scroll on her desk that had not been there when she'd left that morning. Closing and latching her door she walked the few steps to her table, picking up her strange visitor. Plain, unadorned it was sealed by a blob of ivory colored wax. It's paper was perhaps middle class, certainly not from a Lord of some kind, though the seal was one she'd seen many times before. She shrugged out of her backpack. Letting it fall with a heavy sounding thud on her home's worn limestone floor. Packed with nothing but books it weighed nearly forty pounds. She ignored it, hurriedly cracking the scrolls seal with one thumbclaw she read as she unrolled.

"Lady" she read. Lady, a title that should apply to her, but no one other than this writer had ever used it.

"I write for two reasons. My first is to inform you your loves grave has been located. I have moved her body to a true graveyard, a stone has been placed with her name. Again I wish to convey my most sincere sorrows at her death, and the style of it."

She paused, tears trickled down her face at the remembrance of that missive so many years ago. Sandra had gone out hunting adventure. Captured by members of an rare reptile raiding party, the vixen had been slowly tortured to death. All in a vain attempt to discover nothing more than the limits of her pain. Unable to break the russet furred warriors spirit, they'd left her smoking body on the side of a road, to be discovered by other members of Sandra’s party hours later. She'd died badly, her body buried near a marsh so she'd been told, her secrets untold. Sandra's friends had tracked down those killers, avenged her death. Yet even now there were times of pain. Sandra had been Rini’s one true love. Brushing aside her tears she read on.

"Second, I am afraid that your King has decided to replace his now dead son with another. To this end he has taken a bride. She is from your country. A warrior, a virgin. Perhaps you may find a way to assist her efforts to remain such. In the least to escape this madman. I wish you most well.

                                                                                                       Elf."

She sat the scroll aside. Elf, an unknown who sent her odd messages, occasionally small sums of money, had never asked her to do anything. Now on the same scroll he, she, It? tells her not only that a great favor has been done for her, but that one is needed in return. Who was Elf? Why bother with a socially powerless bastard Scholar in the first place? She rolled up the scroll, shoving it in with others of its like, within her secret hiding place along with her forbidden work in Science. Deep under a stack of local, and very dull history texts. Who was this unwilling bride and why should anyone care what a woman did, or did not want. Not to forget, Rini realized, if her shadow spells failed it would take no thought to realize who her father had to be.

A rap at her door broke into her thought. Her first visitor had arrived before she could eat. She rubbed tired eyes. It could be anything from a question about names to a letter for a friend. Standing, the cabit walked to her door, opening it to the soft patter of early rain. Expecting a neighbor she was stunned to find a Kings Messenger standing in the late evening’s soft rain. He looked at her, seeming to match her now bloodless face with some image in his mind. With great flourish the over dressed fox handed her a envelope. "You are invited to the Kings Marriage on the morrow. Will you attend?" he asked.

Rini nearly fainted, actually staggering against the doorway. "I..." she gasped, then plucked at her damp dress. "My best" she admitted meekly. She hunted a way out, any way out. "I would insult King Darius and his wife to be by my very presence. I’ve nothing better than this, over patched rags at best. I am but a commoner sir. A nothing. Less than the mud under your boots."

Her visitor actually smiled. "Scholar Rini, if you had clothing worthy of Court, would you attend?"

"I would be.. Honored" she admitted, realizing someone had set a trap she could not escape on her own.

"Then accept this gift. It is only a castoff, still it is worthy of Court. A coach will attend you before first light." He reached behind him, accepting a tightly woven cloth bag from an unseen other that he handed to Rini. Stunned, all she could do was accept. Then he was gone, leaving her in her door holding a bag made of cloth better than anything she'd ever owned, and a Royal Invitation to the Kings marriage.

Shutting her door she sat her bag down on her table, carefully opening the invitation. There would be people from her home Kingdom there. If they saw her, if they realized... Word would get back. Yet she was truly trapped. Suddenly setting the card down unread she fumbled with opening her waiting bag. Midnight greeted her. Darkness beyond darkness with stars of ebony glittering within. It was silk, not the best but still silk. Holding up the dress she gasped, it alone was worth more than all she had earned through her short life. It was worth more than her life. As she turned it a tiny paper fell from the midnight skirts. Carefully holding the cloth high she picked up its fallen paper.

‘I will be watching. Elf.' was written on one side, the other blank. "So Elf is within the castle" she whispered. “But this dress...." She couldn't help it. Rini was many things, but she was a woman first. As such, not trying on the dress was beyond her. It's unfamiliar fastenings and cut caused her long effort before she finally completed readying herself. It was tight, in exactly the right places. Loose where it had to be, yet obviously it had been cut for a slightly thinner woman. On Rini it might as well have been painted on. Though she had no mirror she knew what she must look like. Midnight black would enhance her smoke grey fur, her dark blue eyes would appear as stars shrouded by long hair. Though there were no shoes, her day slippers would be good enough as even when she lifted a leg straight out only her toes showed. Should she drop her shadow spell none... No, not until she met her half sister the Cabot decided.

Yet where it covered her legs it exposed her chest. A thinner woman meant one less endowed. Though Rini herself was small, whomever had first owned this had to have been near flat chested. Or pre-pubescent. One wrong move and she was afraid her breasts would fly free, though no amount of twisting caused such a mishap. Stunned she remembered her love chain, the one Sandra had bought for her. She couldn't remove it, not without ripping its rings from her flesh. There was only one thing to do. Hope no one was interested enough in her to notice its thin silver links should they show.

Of course the dress would go back. No one gifted a Scholar such a treasure. Loan yes, gift never. Carefully she reached behind her, releasing the two small hooks that held everything together. When she did the dress nearly leapt off her. She would have to find a way to insure those hooks didn't ‘slip' as they were known to do with young mischievous Cadets around. No one knew of her private adornment. No one alive except the old gopher who’d created it. In the least such would cause... She giggled, thinking of what expressions such would bring. It was a woman’s gift to a woman, much as the wedding necklace was a mans gift to his wife. Sara too had worn such, though what had happened to it Rini didn’t want to know. Still it was the King's wedding, not even a Duke would be foolish enough to pull such a prank there. Not in Court. Not with the King's famous temper.

Morning found her freshly brushed clean, dressed and waiting. As promised a coach arrived, within were three others she knew from the castle. All Scholars, all dressed in finery none could hope to afford. Mutually embarrassed the four remained quiet throughout their ride. Of the four only Rini really know how to act in Court. Knowing, once there she slipped away as quickly as she could to wander the Castles public areas before she found herself teaching again. Wandering also allowed her to hide from the Castle's guests, meaning those visitors from her homeland. Slipping behind columns, walking down near empty corridors, she kept to herself as much as she could.

Two hours since her arrival at the Castle, nearly sunrise when Rini finally made her way to the one place she'd heard so much about. She had found her way to the Eastern observation room. It's large curved windows looked out over the city, a city bathed in the early morning reds and golds of a just rising sun. She stepped close to one window, reaching out to touch the transparent material sealing it. It was hard, yet somehow did not feel like glass. As she watched a sunbeam touched the window, its watery morning light transformed instantly as it sparkled away in thousands of colors. She gasped in delight and pleasure at the event.

"That effect is caused by impregnated flecks of pure silver and gold" a voice informed her. Turning she saw a young officer of the guard. The handsome young fox was accompanied by an even younger brown furred maid who stood silently beside him. "You are Scholar Rini?" he asked.

"Yes" she admitted, making certain to not make eye contact.

"Then our search is over. That material is an ablative crystal, impervious to even high velocity projectiles. It won't stand up forever, just long enough for a target to cease becoming one."

"And the silver? The gold?" she asked.

"Protection from Sorcerer blasts I'm afraid. One striking that pane will be shattered, as that sunbeam is. Unable to do any damage until its heat turned enough metal molten to melt through. It will of course, after several minutes. You have further questions?"

Startled she realized she'd been meeting the man eye to eye, "My pardon Honored warrior" she nearly whispered, quickly breaking eye contact.

"For what? Looking at me? In cartography class I remember you doing more than that. Calling me a 'one dimensional mind attempting to grasp four dimensional concepts.' I was not insulted then. Why should I be now?" He continued before she could answer. "And Scholar Rini, had you dressed anything like you are now I would certainly have done more than listen. My God woman, why hide such beauty?"

"A classroom is one place sir, this is another. Lessors must not take upon themselves airs they cannot hope to understand. As to your other question..." She walked quickly to the waiting maid, placing both paws on the woman's cheeks she kissed her. No chaste kiss this but a soul searing stoke long cold furnaces with hot plasma toe curling kiss backed by a silently cast lust spell. She held it several long seconds, enjoying the feel, the taste of another woman for the first time in many years. Finally breaking away from the now red faced woman Rini returned to the window. "That, Lieutenant, is why. I will humiliate no man by advertising what he can never have."

Her answer was laughter. "God Scholar, everyone had heard the rumors, but seeing is another thing. It diminishes your beauty by nothing. My fathers sister is the same, your not a shock at all and I would still like to share a meal with you some day. Very well, before I send you on your way, have you any further questions?"

"Only one. Why are you looking for me?"

"It was thought that since you and the Queen to be are from the same country... She has no knowledge of this Castle, our city, little of day to day social life. You were invited specifically to brief her, answer her questions. To be her companion as long as she needs you."

"Oh" Rini gasped, fear turning her knees to jelly. She sat on the window seat, fighting to control her breathing. "The other Scholars?"

"Window dressing, cover as you will. If you will follow this maid, she will see that you meet with our Queen to be. Regrettably I must hurry off. I must attend other duties I am afraid." He bowed slightly, then turned and left the two alone.

"Please?" the maid asked, stepping away a little as Rini turned to her. Her pale cheeks were still aflame. Socially well below even the Scholar she had not been able to resist the assault. Even now conflicting emotions boiled within her as Rini’s lust spell worked its way through her body. Still she could tactfully remain out of range now that she was aware of the danger. Tonight though...

Rini nodded, somehow finding strength to follow. As she walked questions and their answers ran through her mind.

<Would this unknown woman realize what she was? >

<Of course you little nit her mind answered. It’s time to stop hiding.>

<Will she be angry?>

<Your very existence will be an insult to her. Your age making you senior endangers her position. Her very marriage.>

<What should I do?>

<Offer no resistance when she kills you of course. Pray to your Goddess and hope He does not interfere.>

Rini shivered. Forty years of fear, flight and hiding was coming to an end. For all her efforts fate had apparently decided she die here, today, dressed in clothing worth more than all she had ever had. ‘I will not use my powers against my own kind, no matter what He does to me’ she decided as they walked. Sweat dampened her back as she was led past a series of guards, past several heavy doors and finally into a room larger than her whole home.

"Please wait here. I go now to inform our new Queen of your presence. She will enter through that door" the younger mouse pointed towards a door near an outer wall. "Be warned she has a temper, please try not to invoke it." Curtseying the maid left, unaware how much more fear she had just placed in Rini's breast.

Looking around the chamber Rini full well knew her face would tell all. Her shadow hidden features were that of all the old King's daughters, her hair, her eyes. There could be no mistaking her linage. Gathering her courage she dropped her shadows. For the first time since arriving in this city she readied herself, no more would she hide.