It was, so far, a good morning. She'd gotten up on time, she'd woken feeling refreshed, breakfast had been tasty-- and neat!-- she'd had time to make up her bed and get her things together for creche, and she was actually in a fairly lively mood, for once. It was, Kiralraes thought, a very pleasant sort of feeling. It was unlikely to last, of course, but this time, she thought she might try to enjoy it.

Athanora had slept even more deeply than Kiralraes had, perhaps one reason why Kiralraes had, in fact. The little enkeyn didn't entirely understand their bond, but it seemed logical that if one slept well, so did the other. Still, Athanora seemed to have slept a little too well: she was sluggish and sleepy, yawning over her morning tea, and definitely not in much of a mood to be surrounded by enkeyn pups at creche. Not yet, anyway. Not after a long bath, a second cup of tea, and a couple chapters from one of the books she kept in the little hand-held computer thing. Kiralraes didn't quite understand the love of long soaks-- she bathed twice a day, but they were short baths, intended to get her clean and not waterlog her young feathers-- or Athanora's fascination with tea-- it tasted gross, as far as she was concerned-- but she didn't begrudge her bond either thing.

And, since she felt in such a good mood that morning, she thought she'd let Athanora have the rest of the morning to herself to relax, while she walked to creche herself. It wasn't all that far. She knew the way. It would do her good, to have a walk all by herself.

Probably reading the brief flash of independence, rare good cheer, and thoughtful intentions-- Athanora was so good at that, always knowing just what Kiralraes felt without her having to say anything-- Athanora smiled, gave her a kiss on the tip muzzle, and told her to have a good walk. Since Kiralraes knew exactly which route she was going to take-- the one that was the most indoors as possible-- she expected it would be a good walk, so she left with a shy lick to Athanora's retreating fingers, her satchel swung around her neck and over her back, and a little extra energy in her step.

Kiralraes didn't like the outdoors much, for a lot of different reasons that she couldn't really sort out. Some of the reasons had to do with the horrific day she'd lost her parents, and she didn't like to think about those, because it always made her sad and slow when she did. Every now and then, it made her full of such angry energy that she had to race around the apartment, making sure everything was exactly how it was supposed to be, just to get it out. Some of those reasons had to do with the fact that the out-of-doors was so dirty, and Kirarlaes didn't like to feel dirty. It made her skin itch under her fur, made her want to shake and scrub and dunk herself into a bath, or under a fountain, or into a rain shower, and do it immediately.

Mostly, though, there was always something outside that she felt like she had to pick up, keep with her, cradle like some kind of talisman, just to feel normal the rest of the day, and she hated that. Even when she tried to ignore the feeling, walk by the thing-- usually a pebble, but sometimes a leaf or a feather-- and pretend she didn't even see it, didn't want it, the feeling just got worse and worse, and stronger and stronger, until she had to come racing back to collect the thing. It was embarrassing, and she hated it, but she couldn't resist. She hated things she couldn't control or at least understand, and she certainly didn't understand that. 

Thankfully, so far only Athanora had seen her actually run back when the compulsion grew too strong, and Athanora was kind enough not to laugh at her. Others would, though, and she dreaded the first time it happened when someone else could see. If she avoided going outside, maybe she would be able to avoid seeing something that caught her eye, and then the rest of her, too. It seemed logical, at least.

There was one stretch of outdoors she couldn't avoid, though, no matter how much she wanted to. The creche wasn't in the same cliff-tunnel complex as the apartment, being in one of the Sharian-build buildings rather than the Sharian-carved lairs, and there was one field to cross in order to get to the complex the creche was in. Kiralraes stopped at the very edge of it, where the sun beat down on the well-traveled, dirt path through the tall, green grass. The grass was tall enough, in places, to completely hide someone Kiralraes's size. And, maybe, hide the ground when someone Kiralraes's size ran through it.

Today was a good morning. Today, she would run through the grass, and be safe from temptation, because it was a good morning.

So she ran. She ran with her eyes shut, only her mind fixed on the creche building across the field. When she was running, she could do that, she'd found: run in a straight line, towards whatever she'd aimed herself at before she'd shut her eyes. Not when she was walking, but certainly when she was running. When the ground was even, or the distance wasn't very far, or especially both, there was no reason not to run blindly, particularly when there was every reason to run blindly.

It was with her eyes shut, then, that she slammed into something that hadn't been there before, only halfway across the field. Kiralraes went tumbling backwards with a yelp, spilling the few contents of her satchel all over the grass-- and landing on a few. She sat on her rump, fledgling wings spread with surprise, and one forepaw rubbing at her head, which she'd smacked into whatever it was.

Then she opened her eyes to see just what she had run into.

There was nothing of a yelp in the sound she made then. It was more like a shriek, or as much of a shriek as her usually-quiet throat could produce. In terror, Kiralraes scrambled to her paws, turned on her tail, and shot back inside as fast as her little feet could carry her, leaving her things behind. She didn't need them-- she'd much rather get away!

As Kiralraes charged down the hall towards the only safety she knew, Athanora was already opening the door, a metal tube-- called a gun, Athanora had said, the one other time she'd actually brought it out where Kiralraes could see it-- in one hand and a robe tossed around her still-wet body. Her slightly fogged glasses were sliding down her slippery nose. Kiralraes ignored the gun, even though Athanora had called it dangerous, and threw herself at Athanora's chest. Thankfully, her bond caught her, rather than dropping her, and held her close.

"What's wrong? What happened? Are you all right? What's wrong?"

Kiralraes didn't answer, burying her face in Athanora's chest and shivering silently, so the sythyn woman didn't get an answer. She found out the answer to one, herself, by sitting down right there in the doorway and checking Kiralraes over for injuries. Obviously, there weren't any. She hadn't hurt herself, or hadn't been hurt, since she'd run before she could be hurt!

"You're all right," Athanora tried again, making her voice soothing. Her hand was gentle-- damp and gloveless though it was-- when it stroked back her ears. "It's all right, Kira... you're all right."

Someone cleared a throat at the end of the hall. Kiralraes peeked, but otherwise didn't move; Athanora's head actually snapped around to focus wary eyes on the speaker.

He didn't look the same, but Kiralraes knew it was the same person. The same thing! He'd been big and bright and strange, before, but now he looked like a normal human, only with the same gold eyes he'd had before. Just smaller. More to the point, he smelled the same. Kiralraes let out a squeak and tried to burrow further into her bond, ducking head under breasts and shoulders into tummy. Athanora narrowed her eyes, body tensed and one arm protectively held over her bond.

"Ah... pardon me," the stranger began. "I'm afraid I inadvertently startled the little one. She, ah, ran into me...."

"Inadvertently?" Athanora repeated, shadng her voice with very slight disbelief.

"Very inadvertently," the stranger nodded with a small smile. "I had just teleported in, and she ran right into me."

"He looked diff'rent," Kiralraes whispered, thinking of what she'd seen first: all bright, feathery, patterned and starry and pink. Athanora would see it, then, too. She always saw the important things Kiralraes thought. 

"He didn't try to hurt you?" Athanora said softly, back, and she reluctantly shook her head, ears rubbing against the textured cloth of her bathrobe.

"I just wanted to apologize," the man continued gently. "I'm not here to cause trouble, just to meet a new brother, though I'm afraid I'm not sure where to go."

"Brother?" Athanora repeated blankly.

"Or sister. I heard that my father October paid one of the enkeyn women here a somewhat brief visit."

"Somewhat brief--"

"S'in my creche," Kiralraes pointed out, still whispered, and with one eye rolled to watch the stranger. Then Athanora closed her mouth and nodded. Many of children in the small creche were only half-enkeyn, and a number of them weren't bonded. One of them even bore a vague sort of resemblance to the first picture Kiralraes had shown her. Only not pink. Very not pink.

"Well, mister-- uh--"

"Begug."

Athanora gave "Begug" an arch-browed look, to which he replied with a sardonic little smile. Even Kiralraes thought that was a weird name, though she didn't tell anyone so. "Mister Begug. If you let me finish drying off and getting dressed, I have to take Kiralraes down, anyway, and you might as well come along."

Begug nodded, leaning back against the wall across from the doorway and folding his arms across his chest with a very patient aire. "I am in no hurry, as long as I can meet him before he-- or she-- is bonded."

"Oh, they're bonding?" Athanora asked with mild surprise, hefting herself-- and a still-clingy Kiralraes, as well-- to her feet.

"So I hear," Begug answered with another incline of his head.

"Huh...."

Kiralraes found her voice again: "You didn't know? Your-- fee-an-say is going to try to bond one."

It was kind of funny, Kiralraes realized then, to shock people now and then.

Chapter Nine

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