Opening Ones Heart

by Mr,. David R. Dorrycott

the usual suspects copyright Mr. Simon Barber.

It was three in a cool cloudless the morning and the Russian sable Tatiana was again on guard duty. She had less than four hours sleep, no supper and with no more sleep before tomorrow’s classes. What, she wondered, had she ever done to deserve this? It was accepted by all students that their tutors would do what they wanted, when they wanted. For good reason or no reason at all. She took a deep breath, holding it a few moments before releasing it. Lately this seemed to calm her anger. Turning to Liberty she pointed at her watch. “My turn walk fence” she explained, reaching down to pick up a short stick. It was all the weapon she allowed herself. “I try not be late like you last time” she continued as she limped away, referring to the unexplained extra time that Liberty had taken on her last patrol.

Walk the fence. Starting at the gatehouse on a clockwise direction decided by a coin toss, then break into random patterns. She had to walk the entire fence line. It really wasn’t that long a distance and at least tonight it was clear and cool. Not raining or a cloth ripping wind as it was sometimes. Still she was tired. So tired that she almost missed the loop of halfway covered rope in her path. Stepping aside she spotted a figure in the bushes. Smiling to herself she stepped carefully up to the silent figure, who must have fallen asleep the sable decided. With as little sound as possible she abruptly attacked the figure hiding behind a thorny bush. Only to wake sometime later flat on her back, with the hound Miss Devinski looking down at her.

“Much better than your classmates” the hound observed. “They all three ended up bound at least partially, having missed the rope loop. Still your paw to paw needs much more practice.”

An ache in the back of her skull warned Tatiana not to move too quickly for the moment. She reached back, but felt no injury to the base of her skull. Though it was sore and beginning to swell. “Was not paw to paw you used” she retorted, guessing more than knowing. “More rock to head. Almost maybe you kill me.” She held her forehead, moaning slightly from a sudden bell ringing pain. As she looked back up she noted that beside Miss Devinski was the best made dummy she had ever seen. It even had real fur on it.

“Sand bludgeon” the hound corrected, pulling a fat sock out from behind her. “We have covered these on your first year schooling, correct?” She pointed at the dummy. “I actually shaved myself one summer to make that. Three day fur growth itches horribly.”

“Dah... Yes” Tatiana admitted to the first statement. “It is why Liberty was so long?”

“Liberty stepped into the noose” Miss Devinski answered. “Though she fought very hard, with more skill than I expected, her disadvantage combined with her initial attack at my crow caused her to lose. That rope is connected to a two hundred pound dead weight. Now, are you ready to explain what you did wrong?”

Standing slowly Tatiana brushed herself off. “I saw trap. I did not call or go for help waiting. Thus I died.”

“Truth. Unlike say, Liberty, you have people who would miss you. Don’t you.”

“Dah. Mother Oharu. Millicent. I not make such a mistake again.”

Standing herself, Miss Devinski brushed off a few leaves. “You really will marry Millicent?”

Tatiana looked away into the darkness a long time before answering. Still looking away she finally answered the question. “Dah. I owe this. Birth mother, father. I can think of many punishments harder to carry. Dah, I marry. I make her happy. I pay fully debt I owe birth parents.”

“Though you won’t be happy yourself. You’re a better woman than the girl who arrived here. Now finish your inspection. Speak of this to no one but your own dorm mates. Then only when no others may hear. Goodnight Tatiana, tomorrow we climb the mountain. A very hard route. With full packs.”

“Yes Miss Devinski.” Picking up her lost stick, a weapon that had failed her only due to her mistake, Tatiana walked off down the fence line. Behind her Miss Devinski watched for as long as she could see her student, then picking up the precious dummy she turned back to her own waiting bed. Tomorrow was going to be a difficult day. For all the second years. If they did well they would have the weekend off as an award. If not, there were other ways to build the muscles needed for bare paw climbing.

Later that day and five hundred feet up a forty plus degree slope with a full backpack had Tatiana’s damaged ankle screaming in pain. She looked ahead of her to see her dormmate’s struggling against their own demons. Not far behind them came Miss Devinski, carrying a rather powerful slingshot in her paws. Occasionally she would pause her own climb, to fire stones at the struggling girls. It wasn’t the occasional stinging impact that angered Tatiana, it was the fact that the hound was carrying an equally weighted backpack herself, yet making the same climb with apparently little effort. ‘What am I missing’ Tatiana asked herself. She stopped, looking around herself carefully. A sharp impact that would certainly leave a bruise struck her perfectly in her left buttock. She flinched, but ignored it to look down at her instructor some thirty yards below her.

‘She is walking nearly upright’ the Russian thought. ‘A lean forward enough to balance her pack but not too far. So, she is not quite falling forward.’ A thump on her thick leather belt notified her of another strike. Having experienced this instructors aim before, the young girl had no illusions as to any area on her body being off limits. Turning slightly she exposed only her right side. That belt strike had been a warning. She knew that had the hound wanted, right now Tatiana would be tumbling down five hundred feet of crumbling stone balled up in pain so great she would not feel anything else for hours. If she survived.

Crumbling stone. But even crumbling stone... Placing one booted foot on a darker colored stone Tatiana tested it. Her weight did not cause it to slide as the lighter stone did. Sweeping her area with her eyes she noted many other dark spots. Places where sliding stone had washed over stone that would not slide, exposing a new surface. She had just placed her other boot on another stone when she was struck in the right paw. Fighting not to scream from the pain Tatiana balled her fist, not for the first time thanking her foresight in wearing heavy gloves. Had she not chosen these heavy gloves her paw would now certainly be broken. Using the pain to focus her mind she stepped forward again. In minutes she had closed the gap back to its original distance behind Liberty. When they reached the top, some three hundred feet further up, Tatiana was sitting waiting for her first roommate to struggle over the edge. It was only later, when she could open her paw again that Tatiana discovered she was holding the stone that had struck her.

“Five extra points for discovering the secret” Miss Devinski whispered into the sables left ear, plucking the red stone from Tatiana’s still numb paw. “Five for catching the stone. Have Mrs. Oelabe look at that paw when we get back. And that ankle you still favor. I was aiming above your wrist. You stepped forward suddenly. It will never happen again.”

“Yes Mam” Tatiana agreed just as softly, trying to flex her paw. It didn’t want to move fast, but it did move. Her glove was distended a bit, indicating that her paw was swollen. It was going to make the climb down very difficult. Very, very difficult.

After Miss Devinski walked away Liberty made her way to Tatiana, dropping in an exhausted heap beside her. “How” she asked bluntly.

“Dark areas harder stone” the sable answered. She held up her obviously swollen paw. “Too much in pain to talk when passed. Hoped you see what was doing.”

“Let me see that” the coyote demanded. With Tatiana’s aid she removed the glove, to hiss in anger at the blood that poured out of it. “You have a split pad. It will need stitches I think” Liberty observed. “Not as bad as it could be, still bad.”

“Had been a bullet. Would be crippled now” Tatiana reminded her roommate. “Was accident. Not meant to happen.”

“Had to be an accident” Liberty agreed as she pulled out her own first aid kit. “I’ve enough bruises from that horrid slingshot to know she only hits what she is aiming at. And I know she treasures us all too much to maim us on purpose.”

“Yes” Tatiana hissed as Liberty applied iodine to her wound. “Burns” she admitted. “We maybe her new Amazons I think.”

Liberty laughed, a sharp bark of reaction that drew the other twos attention. “I best finish, then warn the others. Your glove will not fit for some time.”

“Then I buy bigger glove. Thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

Knowing the trick made getting down easier than expected. It was still no bed of roses, unless one remembered the thorns said roses hid under such beautiful petals. No slingshot sent spinning red pebbles after them, it was simply too dangerous. Even so all four reached the bottom with more bumps and bruises than when they started.

“Quick march, water taxis is waiting. They are expensive” Miss Devinski ordered. Tired, battered, bruised an in one case limping the four made their way to the waiting water taxi. As they headed for Eastern Island none of the four could help but glance towards Casino Island. Let those Spanish girls try that climb with full packs they all thought.

“Oh my darling. What has happened to your paw” Millicent gasped when she opened her door to Tatiana’s knock, quickly spotting the bandaged paw.

“Minor” the sable reported as she embraced her loving feline. “One stitch. Heal quickly I think. You are?”

“Fine.” Her next words were a bit of time in coming as she surrendered herself to the stronger Russian’s embrace. “Oh dear Tatiana” she continued finally. “Come in, I will get your favorite drink. Why do you hurt yourself so much. Just for an education from that school? Why.”

Settling carefully in a chair that had not been there her first visit, one designed specifically for a sables body (and thus must have cost Millicent a pretty shell) Tatiana felt her bodies complaints. “I hurt now” she answered. “So I able protect you later. You are armed?”

“Only my dagger” Millicent admitted as she brought in a drink that would have shocked the sables roommates. Cold chocolate milk. “Is it important?”

“Is” Tatiana answered, dropping Millicent’s dagger on the table. “I teach you this weekend how not let that happen again. Dah?” She accepted the drink, relishing in its rich taste.

“You have the full weekend? That is wonderful beyond words. But my love, is that all we will do this weekend?”

“Nyet” the sable admitted, sitting her now empty glass aside. “But I hurt too much for great exercise. May we only cuddle. Until supper?”

Folding herself into the sables grasp Millicent released a sigh of purest pleasure. “Oh yes my love. That will be wonderful” she answered. “I will take you someplace special tonight. My treat.”

Very late that night Tatiana woke. Looking about her she saw nothing. But some sound, some vibration had woken her. It hadn’t been Millicent’s snoring, for at her worst the English feline gave only the tiniest of sounds. Sounds Tatiana had long ago decided were amusing, and sweet. Another half sound, half vibration came. It was from the parlor. Easing Millicent’s arm off her the sable slipped as soundlessly as she could from their shared bed. She had no weapon, yet wait. Millicent’s deadly little dagger lay on the bed table. Moving with more care than her dormmates would have believed the Russian made her way in the near perfect darkness to that weapon, for she well knew Millicent’s apartment by now and had long ago warned the feline not to move furniture around without telling her.

Sliding the daggers scabbard under the bedcovers Tatiana slipped the blade free, the blankets hiding that unmistakable sound of steel sliding across steel, then in nothing but her fur made her way towards the open bedroom door, bending over so as to show the smallest silhouette.

There was a figure in the other room. A thin figure. She waited for its scent to come to her. That he, or she could smell Tatiana and Millicent didn’t bother the sable. Their scent filled the small apartment and was of more than simple housecat and sable. A crack of light from a front window struck the intruder. Mink, male his scent told her. To her knowledge Millicent had spoken of no minks allowed in her apartment before. For a moment she thought of attacking the intruder, until Miss Devinski’s latest lesson came to mind. There was her own injured paw to remember as well and her still very sore ankle. So slipping out of the bedroom she made her way in a low crawl along the wall, eventually putting the tiny dining table between herself and that unknown figure.

Abruptly a small light came on for a moment. Somehow tinted red, it made little illumination and that only for half a second, but enough for Tatiana to spot the heavy automatic in the furs paw. He had moved to Millicent’s other room. A second bedroom that Millicent had turned it into a study. In seconds the intruder realized it wasn’t the bedroom he was looking for. Turning around he took Millicent’s dagger directly in the heart. For long seconds there was no sound, then the automatic spoke.

            Once.

Millicent’s hardwood floor exploded into splinters as Tatiana both dove under the dining table and lifted it at an angle.

Twice.

  A chunk of the tables surface spalled off as it deflected the bullet, sending it through an outside wall.

A final third time.

Again the floor exploded, sending shards of hardwood across the room towards Tatiana.

Millicent’s gasp of shock warned Tatiana that the feline might be a deep sleeper, but that the sound of a firearm could certain wake her. “Down” she ordered. “To floor.” That Millicent obeyed almost instantly warmed the Russian sables heart, but there might be a second intruder. Slipping away from the ruined table Tatiana scuttled across the floor, not raising any part of her body (especially not her tail) higher than she had too. Cries of alarm from the three adjoining quarters and whistles of alarm from outside told her the consulate’s security forces were not quite sound asleep.

It took Tatiana only as much time as she needed to insure that there were no more attackers hiding in the apartment. During her inspection she discovered how the intruder had managed his entry. An open bathroom window. By the time she made it back to Millicent, several someone’s were banging on the front door. “Robe” she ordered. “For myself also.” While Millicent, still in shock, hurried to follow her loves orders Tatiana grabbed the punctured tablecloth, using it to cover her own naked body before answered those demanding knocks.

It was much later, now only two Englishmen remained in Millicent’s tiny apartment. While they sat in chairs taken from Millicent’s study, across from them on the settee sat Millicent and Tatiana. Of the intruders body there was no sign, as the blood soaked rug had been taken away as had Millicent’s dining table. Of the floor a new rug had appeared, this one large enough to cover both holes in the floor. For now.

“Italian. No mistaking that one” the border collie Jacob Dassher announced. He was writing in a notebook, carefully keeping track of everything. No matter how minor. “I have seen him in the Italian Consulate myself. He escorted me to my counterparts office just this week. A clerk they claimed. No clerk ever had those eyes. I wonder why an Italian agent came here to murder two young women.”

“As do I” the deeper rumble of Major Thomas Hawkins agreed. “Have either of you any ideas that may shed some light on this subject?”

“No sir. I honestly have no idea.” Millicent answered. Tatiana’s answer was a simple “Nyet.”

Hawkins stood, the bulldog making an imposing figure in the room. Clasping his paws behind him he walked to the rooms single window. “We are aware that young Millicent has not attended any events in the Italian sector since activating herself” he said to that window. “Tatiana, have you in any way insulted or threatened a third year student by the name of Maria? She would easily have the lines of communication to do something like this.”

“Nyet” the sable answered. “Had I, Maria would kill me herself. I not yet equal to her in several ways. Paw to paw being most important at moment. If though certain American gangster doe is involved..”

“I should think not. This does not make any sense. It is public knowledge that the two of you are to be wed. Killing you in bed together will accomplish nothing. Certainly no scandal. Millicent’s parents are already aware, leaving Tatiana’s adopted mother. I strongly doubt that she is unaware of this coming union. Italy and Soviet Russia are not on speaking terms at present. Millicent’s only external interest may be that German young lady, yet then again Germany and Italy are not quite strong enough partners as to allow such. In any case they would send their own agent. Those two skirt chasers Millicent shot down in flames last week wouldn’t bother, too many fish in a very small pond to bother either of them. After all, even I am aware that they have been shot down in flames before. They are American and Japanese anyway and I doubt that the two, together, could draw such a favor. I must admit that this truly puzzles me.” He turned away from the window, taking a single step that took him out of its direct line of sight before returning to his chair. “Most puzzling. Dassher?”

“Could it be an assault against yourself” the younger hound asked. “After all, you have allowed the buzzing bees to believe that you and this Russian girl are serious lovers. Perhaps even more.”

“Then why kill her.. Oh I see. Killing Tatiana would supposable shatter my heart. It being so soon since my second wifes death. To lose that warm body would be a crippling blow to me. So they might believe. How typical.” Sitting he looked again at Tatiana. “It wouldn’t. Be certain of that. My dear sweet Tatiana, whom I have supposable given my heart too. You repay me by having an affair with this woman? Why, what could she possibly have that I do not? What can this lowly clerk possibly offer you that I cannot many times over?”

In answer Tatiana silently opened Millicent’s robe wide. So deep in shock was the feline that she didn’t notice for over thirty seconds. Then with a cry of distress she pulled her robe closed. “Tatiana. How could you” Millicent gasped in embarrassment.

“He ask what you have he not have” the Russian explained. “Simple. I show him.”

“But...”

“Please” the sable continued softly. “You are mine. I am yours. We share a secret, that Major Hawkins is not lover. Other than kiss, roaming paw nothing ever happen between us. Never will. I am not attracted to any bulldog, though one day he will see my body. To make lie seem real to watching others. Being mine I may show you, but only to select few. Few whom I choose. You may do same with me. Your sweet heart is great conquest for one simple girl like myself. I show him great treasure I own that he never able to afford.”

Under the thin fur of her face Millicent blushed deeply. “We shall talk about this” the feline growled, but there was a hint of pride in that growl.

“We shall” Tatiana agreed. “I will listen. Major?”

“I.. I” Hawkins swallowed. “Well then, that is certainly something I cannot defeat” he admitted. “Millicent, you are very healthy.”

“Thank you Major, I hope that Mr. Dassher’s little camera took my best side.”

Hawkins looked to his companion. “Jacob?”

A tiny camera appeared in the younger hounds paw as a very sheepish grin came to his face. “Sorry old man. Simply couldn’t resist. I simply could not.”

“I see or hear of any prints getting out, your next posting will be a very chilly one” the bulldog warned.

“Quite.” Dassher stood this time. “You have made yourself an even more important target Miss Wei” he said as he too walked to that window. “Ah yes, our men are in position. Very good.” Moving away from the window he stopped in front of Millicent. “Are you” he asked the young feline. “Capable of living a life such as this? Not knowing when, or if someone will slit that pretty throat of yours. Just to hurt someone else? Just to hurt her.”

“I could catch the influenza next season” Millicent answered. “And die. I could die in an aircraft crash, or a motorcar crash or even childbirth. I have promised Tatiana that I will have many children. We will be a family. Mr. Dassher...” she turned her eyes on the bulldog. “Major. There is as much chance of my dying those ways as this. Oh yes, I am currently frightened nearly out of my wits. Still Tatiana saved my life. Not your army. I will take my Tatiana back home to beautiful England if she will allow me. I am in love sirs, this means I accept whatever comes with that love. Though in truth this was more than I had expected when I originally professed my feelings. Publically break up with Tatiana Major, then this problem ceases to be a problem. If you don’t. Remember Major, as I told both of you. My heart and my life are Tatiana’s. My soul though belongs to England. Those things will never change.”

Major Hawkin’s snorted in amusement. “Break up with Tatiana. Say over you. Child, if it were that easy. The point here is we really do not know why they two of you were targeted, or if only Millicent was and Tatiana’s presence was unexpected. Or if I or Dassher or your father was the one meant to be warned. Right now dear girl we are proposing possibilities. Throwing out the net you might say, to see what is brought in. Should I ‘break up’ with my sweet Tatiana now, they would believe that their conjecture is true. She would then become a very important target for my enemies. No dear Millicent. Your wife to be will remain my believed sweet pleasure until this is seen through. Perhaps for years afterwards. I have an important use for her.”

“He wants make me Anastasia” Tatiana explained, her words causing Hawkins to wince.

“Dassher wasn’t supposed to know that yet” the bulldog explained softly. “But yes, there is a great deal of fluidity in White Russia’s government. In truth who rules today may wake up a cold corpse tomorrow. They have no line of succession, each attempting to prove more royal blood within them than the other. Its like a river empire. Until something comes from outside, nothing can change internally. I have been training my supposed lover those nights we are believed to be enjoying each other. If she is needed. Millicent. There is a good possibility you could find yourself on the Russian throne. Being wife to the new ruler.”

“As much we both find unmarked grave” Tatiana warned Hawkins. “As did great Zar and real Anastasia.”

“For Mother Russia?”

Tatiana nodded yes. “Yes Major. Only for Mother Russia. As Millicent would for Mother England I will for Mother Russia. I much hope that deception never be needed. If is, and is successful. I set up English style government only. I pray each night such attempt never be needed.”

“You” Millicent asked. “You pray? To whom?”

“Birth mother. Birth father” the Russian admitted. “Sometime adopted mother. Once you. Millicent, I raised to believe there no Gods. I have seen different. So I choose make own Gods. That as good as any I think.”

Millicent had placed a paw to her mouth in her surprise. Lowering it she faced her two visitors. “Oh. Gentlemen. If there is nothing else?”

“Ten am, my office” Dassher answered. “Both of you. While you are gone all evidence of our visitor will be removed. Major?”

“I agree. Ten am. There are six very good soldiers guarding this building for tonight. Sleep well.” Taking his hat he stood, waited for Dassher to follow his lead. Then they both left to more work than Millicent could imagine.

“Leaving. Leaving us to cleanup their mess as always” Millicent complained. “Well that can be done tomorrow. Let us go to bed my love. I so desperately need you now.”

“You are not afraid?” Tatiana asked.

“I” Millicent answered in a calm voice. “Am frightened much out of many years of life. Yes I am afraid. But you are here to protect me. With my red knight beside me I will fear nothing. Should the throne of Russia one day be your destiny, be well assured that the person your feet rest upon will be myself. I love you, I will do almost anything for you. Besides, your mother has told me that we will have a very long life together.” She stood, swinging her tail in what would have been a very enticing way, had Tatiana truly the interest. “Coming?”

“With you” the sable asked, leaning forward to pick Millicent’s cleaned dagger from a side table. “Always. A moment though.” Standing she walked to the front door, locking it behind their two visitors. Then only after making a careful check of the remaining windows and door did she follow Millicent into the bedroom. In years to come she would find that swinging tail enticing, and wonder why she hadn’t this night. Love she would discover, can grow as a flower. Even in solid granite cliffs. If given only a pawfull of earth to begin with.

About the same time Major Hawkins was standing before Millicent’s window, in the Italian Consulate two figures stood alone in a very secure office. “He did what?” the older asked, speaking his native tongue.

“Entered the wrong apartment” his only slightly younger companion explained. “What they call apartments. Apparently a mix up in his orders. A letter was inverted by the clerk copying his orders.”

“Such a foolish mistake. Send home the one who made it immediately. With a very poor performance report. There was no damaging evidence?”

“Duilio was a very professional man sir. Other than his American made weapon and locally made clothing he took nothing with him. The threat he was to relay was memorized. I do not think he spoke much before death. If any.”

“The English will suspect. But not knowing this was a mistake they cannot possible discover the truth. Very well. Perhaps it will be enough that this occurred. We must have that information. Having a sudden attack of morals or patriotism simply isn’t acceptable. Once you are purchased, you must stay purchased. I will deal with the English myself. They will mention this event quickly. Have a cover story created by sunrise.”

“Yes sir. Is there anything else?”

“Nothing. I must prepare a message to our great leader regarding this failure. I may only hope that he understands. Goodnight.”

Millicent was asleep, finally. Tatiana lay upon the felines soft body, holding her head up with her paws as she watched the English girl sleep. So innocent she thought. Asleep Millicent’s face was one of a child, not a single worry or frown line was hidden under that delicate soft fur. ‘She loves me’ Tatiana reminded herself. ‘Yet, other than as an effective tool. I feel nothing for her. She was to be a way to a prize, discardable. Now I find myself in such a position. She must suspect, for in at least this she is no fool. Yet I can not find within myself the ability to love her more than as a friend, though I have tried so hard.’ Looking within herself the sable saw that even now there was no love within heart for the English housecat. Somehow there must be, or she would begin taking her frustrations out on the one person in this world who did not deserve such. If only there was a way.

Tired, she finally layed her head on Millicent’s right breast. A pillow softer than any she had ever had, the felines body a mattress softer than any she had ever laid upon. In seconds the Russian was asleep, unaware than in her own sleep Millicent had moved her right arm. Supporting that breast so that Tatiana’s head would not slip off in her sleep.

“You are safe my daughter” a well known voice asked.

Opening her eyes Tatiana found herself in that place Mother Oharu had trained her to find. The dream plane her adopted mother called it. “You are here?” she asked, surprised.

“My daughter, my soon to be daughter in law were in danger. Of course I am here” the mouse answered with a gentle laugh. “Are you safe?”

“We are mother. Thank you for watching over us.”

Oharu laughed again. “Your intruder turned towards the wrong room, even though no scent of yourself was there. Why would he turn his back on a known danger, other than he thought he saw movement in that other room.”

Tatiana felt the shock of discovery of her mothers ability. “Thank you mother.”

“It was all I could do for you Tatiana. She is beautiful, is she not?”

Turning around Tatiana saw as though through a window herself and Millicent asleep. “She is mother. Yet I can not feel any love for her.”

“This bothers you. That you have no real desire to be with a woman all your life, though you will accept it. Would it be easier for you, if you could feel love?”

Settling on a stone that was not a stone, yet was, Tatiana examined that question. “Yes” she admitted finally. “That is why I am angry at myself, for not being able to feel love. Millicent does love me. Almost as much as you once loved Molly. Mother, she does not deserve a life without returned love and I would soon begin taking my anger out on her for my own failing. She is a good woman mother. Can you not ask the Gods who gave this weight to me to grant another punishment, even a harsher one? To let Millicent free to find true love.”

“What the Gods grant my daughter. It is not for we mortals to refuse. Millicent is a bittersweet punishment. She gives all she can, throwing herself into the waters that will not accept her. Should you discard her now, or ever in the future she would be dead in less than a week. So is her heart bound to you now. Yes, of this I am certain. She could never accept such a blatant rejection by the one who owns her heart. Yes, you are right. Daughter, there is a way, but it is a Great Change. It can only be done if a place exists already.”

Tatiana looked down at her paws, flexing them. In this place her injured paw was whole, a fact which amused her. “You cannot...”

“Wrong. I am fully accepted daughter” Oharu corrected. “And you are my daughter after all. Both facts change many things. Though I am on retreat, I am your mother. I cannot deny you my aid. You must be aware though, that this will change you. What you are. It will be a great change that will help you begin to love your Millicent as she deserves. Or at least desire you. I must examine your heart first. To be certain. Yet in doing so your outlook will change. It is possible that you yourself may change. Will you accept such a possibility? That you might become something you are not?”

“Is it a great chance mother” the sable asked, still looking at her paws.

“No more than your failing Songmark” the mouse admitted. “Yet it is there. It can happen, if you allow it. I can not turn your heart to love her if it is not within you to love a woman. I can only open a place that, should you desire and it be part of your nature, you may choose to place a seed of love for her. What you do then is completely within your paws. Only a God could so change your heart as to love a woman when it is not your full path.”

Making her decision Tatiana looked up at her adopted mother. “Then please. If it is possible. Give my Millicent that which she so deserves.”

Oharu stood from her place, walking over to her adopted daughter. “You are certain? Once done, I will not undo this. No matter how you beg.”

“I am certain that I will destroy her if you do not. I am certain that she does not deserve such destruction. And mother, I am certain that the Gods would be most angry should I crush my punishment.”

“Then I shall do so. As a mother aids her daughter in need, not as a Priestess aiding one whom petitions. As this is mother to daughter, there will never be any price to pay, for this is my gift to you my daughter.”

Tatiana watched as her mother closed her eyes and began chanting in her native language. It surprised her when Oharu placed her paw on her stomach, even more so when that paw slowly vanished into her dream self. She felt a strange fullness, yet she had learned to trust this mouse as completely as she would have trusted hr own birth mother. Oharu’s paw moved upwards in her daughters dream self, until it held that beating heart within its grasp.

Her mothers chant stopped, though her eyes remained closed. “There is no place within your heart to love any woman. Or man” Oharu informed her daughter. “You have sealed your heart. Though it is within you to love a woman, it is but a small part of your heart. I would have to open your heart, and there are many dangers in doing so. Such a love will deny you forever the ability to love anyone else. Are you certain? You will feel a great emptiness until your Millicent fills it”

“Do so. Please” Tatiana answered. She could feel her mothers paws holding her heart. Something warned her that if she wished, her mother could crush her dream heart. In doing so her real, mortal heart would die. She would die. Yet she felt no fear. Not from this woman, who had changed her life so much already.

Again the mouse chanted. As she did so Tatiana felt as though her heart were changing. Forming into something new. When her mother finally ceased her chant, having removed her paws from her daughters chest, Tatiana suddenly felt a great emptiness. It was as though a great gulf had opened within her heart.

“It is only a little place now” Oharu explained. “A thimble sized place in a great ocean. All I may create. Unnoticeable. Except to you.“

“It can grow?” Tatiana asked.

“If you wish. Yes. Daughter. I do not know how this will change you. This you must discover.”

“Thank you mother. Now I must ask. What payment must I give you for this. There is always payment no matter what you may have said.”

Oharu returned to her stone, sitting before answering. “A gift from a mother to her daughter has no price. Tatiana, I have found that in my heart you are as much my daughter as if you grew within my body. You have changed me as well. There is no price, though I ask you to be careful for a time. You have a small place. A place where the seed of love will settle. If you allow it. Be careful that it does not grow wildly as it blossoms, or you will find yourself in the same situation that I did with Molly.”

“I will be careful my mother.” Tatiana stood, looking back at that window still waiting. “You are right mother, I can see it now. She is very beautiful. Thank you.”

Oharu smiled at her adopted daughter. “It is what mothers are for. To be there when their daughters need them. Now it is time you woke, for I have the sunrise song to sing, and you your love to plant.”

“Mother. One thing please?”

“That is?”

“In my heart. You are no longer my adopted mother. You are my mother, for you have been more a mother to me in just this one thing than my real mother was in all her life.”

“If you wish. Now I truly must go.”

As Tatiana watched Oharu vanished. Turning back to that window she stepped through...

To awake with Millicent’s scent in her nose. It was a delightful scent she suddenly realized. Before it had only been Millicent’s scent. Now. Now there was a difference. It was in some way enticing. Opening her eyes she found that Millicent was still asleep, a sweet little smile upon her face. Looking over to the alarm clock Tatiana also saw that it was almost sunrise. Even as she thought that, a priestess’s voice came through the window. Looking again at Millicent she felt something enter her heart. With a strange smile on her face the sable began slipping under the covers.

That same morning, around nine am, Jacob Dasher was escorted into the office of his Italian counterpart. “Good morning” he said to the imposing bull standing behind his desk.

“And to you a Good Morning Mr. Dassher. You are here why?”

“This morning a middle aged mink was killed while attacking one of our people. On consulate grounds. This does not involve the local authorities therefore. To be blunt, it was the clerk that escorted me to these offices just a few days ago.”

“No diplomacy my English friend? No beating around bushes? Why so blunt today? You never have been before.”

“You have never sent an Assassin onto our grounds before” the collie answered.

Sitting, the bull waved towards a chair he knew Dassher preferred. “He was spy” the bull explained. “He was to watch your Millicent and her Russian lover. To report. He was not to enter your walls. What happened please?”

Sitting carefully Dassher looked around the office. That there were electric ears listening he had no doubt. Recording devices as well. “Simply put, he broke into Millicent’s quarters with gun in paw. Millicent’s wife to be dealt with the problem. Quite professionally I might add. Defense of a loved one. We both know that a woman is most dangerous when defending her children, or the one that she loves.”

“That Songmark. Again they show how dangerous they are” the bull snapped. “Do not look so surprised my English friend. When he sent her here, El Duces niece was a flyaway party girl. Useless. Dangerous in her tastes but ignorable otherwise. Now she is a professional. She is dangerous in all things.”

“You wanted her for yourself?”

“But of course. I still do. Still she ignores my most gentle advances. She is a great figure of a woman. She would bear many many strong children.”

Dassher forced a smile. “Before you drop her for a younger version?”

Shrugging his shoulder the bull winked. “Such is the fate of all woman. Yes?”

“But Songmark made her too dangerous. You simply couldn’t take her now. She’d have to give herself.”

“But of course. But to the problem at paw. We sent our agent to spy upon those two. He has done so many times already. By the doing so we hoped that we would learn how this Songmark changes women. That we can reverse such a change. My friend, strong women are a danger to we males. In this world men rule, women do as they are told. Such the Holy Father himself has ordered. Many times.”

“I see. And your agents actions?”

“Zealous overstepping of his instructions. I myself now apologize. You and your ladies. A letter from our esteemed Consular General will be at your door before noon. With full apology. Such things should not happen. Yet always there is one who thinks himself above all others. I assure you, I will choose another Songmark child to study. After all, Maria is well known. I will have her in time. I assure you of that. I understand three shots were heard. Was anyone injured?”

“Thankfully, the only casualty was your over zealous agent. In that matter we are all blessed.”

“Then there was property damage. Send to me personally the bill. I will pay from my own pocket. He was my responsibility, thus his actions my responsibility. And my debt. Is there anything else?”

Dassher stood then. “No, I think not at the moment. Speaking clearly has taken care of this problem rapidly. Where diplomatic speak would have taken weeks. Thank you for accepting that clear speech was required here.”

“Weeks? Oh my English friend. It would take years and still never be resolved. Again, I apologize for this regrettable incident. I look forward to this weekend. You will send your Millicent to our party? She has become quite popular within a certain social group.”

“It will be her decision, still I will offer the invitation to her should you send one. Good day sir.”

“I look foreword to paying that bill my English friend. Good day.”

As soon as Dassher had left the office another door opened and a groundhog entered. “You have it all?” the bull asked.

“Everything excellency.”

“Good. Have that chair sterilized then returned. Then have my lunch delivered. This was easily taken care of, though at some expense to myself. That niece will eventually hear of this and I much dislike being known. My project will simply have to be delayed. Thinking of this, send a message to that female bull. That I would speak of this to her quickly. Better she knows the truth and why it must be silenced, than find out herself. It would then end up in one of those articles she writes. Go.”

“Yes your excellency.”

A little after ten Dassher had given his full report in front of Millicent and Tatiana. Hawkins leaned back in his chair, causing it to creak ominously. “And your observations Mr. Dassher” he asked.

“That he hates Songmark. No one could act that well. That he is infatuated with Maria? Probably. That this agent went over the bounds of his orders? Not in a pigs eye.”

“And ourselves sir?” Millicent asked.

“I doubt either of you were the target” Dassher answered. “Though in all honesty I can’t think of any other reason he would have entered your apartment.”

“Unless by accident” Hawkins added. “Even if we consider it an accident, there is no clue where he thought he was going. If he was even at the correct building. No Dassher, your going to have to keep hunting your mole. At least we know that he, or she is working for the Italians. That is a little help at least.”

“Is more?” Tatiana asked.

“No. I think this about closes this case. You though young lady are going to have a rough ride with your teachers. We had to report this to them. It’s a matter of. Well it’s a matter we deal with. I think you should take a long walk somewhere private. Millicent’s quarters will not be ready for at least another four hours. Maybe five.”

“Yes sir” Millicent agreed. Taking hold of Tatiana’s left paw, the uninjured one she stood.

“I understand that Luakinikia Park is a nice place for a walk, with someone you love” Hawkins suggested. He watched as the two left his office. “Notice anything different about them Jacob?”

“They were holding paws. Tatiana never simply held Millicent’s paw before.”

“Correct” the bulldog agreed. “There has been a major change in that relationship. One for the better I think.” Pulling a file folder towards him he opened it, spreading four black and white prints out. “Our young courier does have quite an attractive body” he commented.

“She surely does sir” Dassher agreed. “She surely does.”

“You’ve changed” Millicent remarked after the two had been in Luakinikia Park several minutes. “I think I like it.”

“Changed? How” Tatiana asked.

“For one, the way you woke me this morning. For another, we are holding paws and you are not pulling me someplace. Besides that you look at me. You really look at me, not just my face.”

“Last night I discover how important you became to me” the sable admitted. “I think about while you sleep. We live to old age together. Pravda I prefer male in my bed, that pravda. Still in my heart is place for you. I like you in that place.”

“My heart is yours and all you have for me is a place?” Millicent asked. “Why! I should be insulted.”

“Then marriage is over before begin” Tatiana sighed. To Millicent’s ears there was a flavor of true regret in those words.

“No silly. After all this work to catch you. To find a place, any place in your heart. Do you think I’m going to let you go now? Oh no my Russian sweet, you will grow long of tooth, old and grey with me still a millstone about your neck. I promise you that. So what have you to say now?”

Her answer was Tatiana pulling them together, her lips hard upon the felines. Like warm butter Millicent molded her body against the sables. When they finally parted Millicent took a deep breath. “Wow. I can live with that.”

“GEORGE! Did you see that” a woman’s voice screeched from nearby. “Those two cheap TARTS were kissing each other. George, get a policeman. Hurry. They should be locked up and... oh my...”

Millicent had broken away from Tatiana, moving with a stately walk to the bellowing tourist, her long skirt billowing about her in the light wind. Swinging her arm back as far as she could she swung to slap the poodle. Instead her arm stopped in mid swing. Looking to see what had stopped her she found Tatiana holding her arm.

“Nyet” the Russian laughed. “Let fat animal scream. Is not her country, is our country.” Having said that she pulled Millicent into another kiss. This one within only a few feet of the flustered tourist. A kiss. Complete with a great deal of wandering paws on both sides.

A day later, when meeting her dormmates was a different trial for the Russian. “What happened” Liberty asked. Blunt and to the point as always. Quietly Tatiana explained. Every last detail, not missing one bit the bloodthirsty looks her roommates gave her.

“Now am very tired” Tatiana admitted later, having exhausted her tale. “Paw aches. Mrs Oelabe change dressing. Say is healing well. Ankle still bothersome. Tomorrow Monday. Somehow I think we be lucky see bed Wednesday.” So saying she rolled into her hard bed. For the first time she compared Songmark’s version of a bed with the one she had left this morning. There was no comparison, why even the pillow now felt like a rock. ‘Mother warned me’ she remembered as sleep neared. ‘Must be careful, or have problem cannot bear. Mother stronger than I that way.’ Then sleep found her until morning brought another day.