A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 15

For whatever reason, he felt that his request had caused the last push to be sent to her. When he'd found a small pool that wasn't in constant motion, he'd called her over to show her the other way that she could now look. She'd known that something had changed anyway when her wings had disappeared for a few moments. But when she'd seen herself as the young woman that she'd have been anyway if this had gone correctly for her as a girl, she'd burst into tears of happiness and wept for a long time.

"I'm even blonde again! "she'd grinned then, holding out her long hair to him, before looking down to examine her lighter pubic hair in this form. "I can't see well enough with the light like this. What color are my eyes now? They're not black anymore."

"Green," he'd smiled, and she'd begun to weep all over again.

He was happy himself, loving to look at her anytime, from any angle. She captivated him and had stolen his heart so suddenly that he hadn't really even had a chance to see it coming. When they wanted to be, the two of them were more tender that he'd have ever believed that it was possible for two people to be.

But when that wildness of hers came to her, he felt the commonality between their two kinds, and he became what lay under the many layers of civilization that his mother's people had covered everything with. All of it was stripped away then, and he turned into what they all sought to pretend to deny.

He became just like her.

He looked down and saw one of the marks of her passion, a bite mark that she'd left. It hadn't broken the skin, though he didn't know why. But it had left a mark, all the same.

He didn't know what he should be feeling while he watched that sweet ass of hers as it swiveled away from him. She wasn't even aware that she was doing it and he knew it, feeling her thoughts. But he could see the signs left behind from their passion.

He was looking at the bite marks that he'd left on her himself.

He knew that she felt them, just as he felt the ones that she'd left behind on his body. He also felt a little of the pride that she had within herself to wear them.

It was a demon thing. The pride which a couple felt to wear the marks of the passion of their kind.

It was something which his mother's kind now did rarely. He'd hardly ever seen anyone with one.

Faith stopped and turned around. She smiled at him and shrugged before she began again. Her wings unfolded themselves and she held them a little away from her body. She didn't know it, but he could see how they hurt her just by looking at her face. It was time to step it up a little.

"Try facing into the wind, "he said, pointing to the slope where the hot blast of desert air came from the hardpan of the plain below. Faith turned and though she didn't have any real reason to trust the things on her back which had just appeared the night before, she gave in to a sudden impulse and she folded her them a little to run right off the mountainside, spreading her wings wide just before the slope dropped away from her feet.

Faith was flying.

Well, she was gliding, at any rate, and she saw the limitations of that only a few seconds later. If she even had any skin left on her face after plowing a furrow in the ground with her nose, she knew that she'd have a long walk back up. This flying business seemed to be a bundle of things which came at nearly the same time, she guessed.

She didn't know what to do for a moment and hung there frozen in the air. But she knew that it wouldn't do, so she relied on the same instinct and intuition that she'd always found within herself. She began to beat those wings against the hot air. It got her some lift but it wasn't going to be enough to do more that stave off the inevitable crash for a little while longer while adding more distance to the hike back. She changed the angle a little and found herself gaining height easily, and Faith cried out in joy.

Without even a thought, she suddenly just knew how to turn as she climbed, and felt her tail move in the wind behind her, but now she discovered another problem. She was riding the wind now and not going against it. Now she had to settle into more of a glide, but that would increase her speed, and the mountain was becoming larger to her at an alarming rate.

She could see her male there below her and she felt herself grin even more for the thought of the two words. She wheeled above him and headed back toward the desert. She had no idea what he's been shouting at her.

Dahlgren leapt off the mountain and chased her. He caught up to her in a few moments and he stayed beside her very carefully, not wanting a collision.

"Dahlgren, you handsome thing," she yelled over, "I love you to death, but I'm already tired. How do I get down?"

"Make one pass with me as I land," he called over, "but go around one more time, and think about slowing yourself when you come in. I'll try to catch you."

She nodded, not really knowing how it would work, and they glided toward a small, grassy spot not far from the pool. He pointed at it and she slowed as she watched his exaggerated landing. She knew that he'd done it that way for her benefit, and she wheeled around to try.

Her landing was awful, but it wasn't too bad, as far as a slightly controlled crash went. She came in too fast, and beat the air with her tired wings, finding that she didn't have much left for strength. She was a little too high right at the end of it.

"Oh, Shhhhiit!" she exclaimed as the last of her strength slipped away and she blasted right into Dahlgren who'd stood trying to see where he ought to be to try to catch her. They tumbled over once and she found herself on top of him laughing in spite of the way that she hurt.

"Dahlgren," she gasped as her chest heaved while she looked at him from where she lay on his chest, "I am gonna fuck your little brain, ... right outta your gorgeous head, ... for this. Thank you so, ... much."

He looked at her with a huge grin, panting a little himself, "You're all talk," he said.

"Come here!" she growled, launching herself at him.

He held her off with his hands and an innocent expression. "What about me rubbing your tired muscles first?"

"Fuck that," she snarled in his face as she rubbed her mound against him, "This is important!"

She sat on him holding his head while she kissed him with everything that she had.

--------------------------

Selena walked through the Arboretum. The birds and the other creatures, the plants, everything was there as though it was all doing its best to catch and hold her gaze today, but it wasn't working. While Ny'Zeille taught Nahl'een, it had been made abundantly clear to Selena that her presence was not desired by the demon. Selena thought over any of their interactions since the strange coolness to her had begun, and she couldn't think of a thing, nothing which might give her a clue as to what she might have done.

She rounded a corner in her wanderings and found Arrax smiling to her as he stood on his two long legs. Selena was a but shocked and taken aback to see him this way and it was suddenly very clear what Ny'Zeille had meant about seeing him like this. He was like a whole new entity to her like this, though it was more than plain to her that this was Arrax.

"You seem to have something on your mind which distracts you," he nodded, "I passed by on my way here from over there and waved as I saw you. You looked right through me and continued on."

His words surprised her. Selena was fairly certain that a hellhound on two legs who stood over seven feet tall and was as attractive to her as this would have caught her eye. Her gaze ran over him even though she tried not to look. His fur was a little long and so sleek and shiny, but as much as there was on him, it couldn't hide that body, no way, she thought.

She forced her eyes to behave and looked at his face. Since she'd come here, Selena had learned that there had been many comparisons made between the way that these creatures appeared and the canids on this old world. She could see how it was possible to think that way. But she'd also learned that there was one type of Xer who looked a little like something else, the creature that had been the root of all of the sorts of dogs which had walked beside man for millienia, and she saw that whatever name there was for this type, It must also apply as an adjective to Arrax.

He was more the beautiful and powerful wolf than any who might have ever lived.

He was tall and heavily muscled, but there was intelligence gleaming in those eyes which looked down at her in a friendly way. He appeared relaxed and open. It seemed to run counter to her impression of him as she'd seen him before, as a large four-footed beast -- who could converse with anyone. Then again, she realized, he was alone now and not with Ny'Zeille.

"Well I must have been really distracted to have missed you," she smiled, "and it is my business to notice things, so that ought to tell us both something. I'm very confused and I'd even say a little upset, to tell you the truth. Ny'Zeille has been somewhat cold to me, almost bordering on rude a couple of times. I've been trying to remember, and for the life of me, I cannot imagine anything that I might have done to cause her to feel slighted." Arrax noted it as Selena's shoulders slumped a little, "I know that I sure feel slighted, the more I think about it."

Arrax looked a little pained for a second as he sought of something to say. "I can understand, I think. I am beginning to see a side of her that I have not really ever seen before. I know that she has her reasons, but that cannot be used to gloss over everything and expect others to understand."

"What reasons?" Selena asked, "If I knew of one, I might be able to understand."

"She is upset over her son, Dahlgren," Arrax said, "though perhaps that is a bad way to say it. She is upset over his actions. They are not what she would have wanted for him and she feels mortified at what he has done. She seems to take it as something that he has done to her -- which is most certainly not the case, I am sure."

"I do not understand," Selena said, "What has he done?"

Arrax looked uncomfortable for just a moment as he realized that Selena didn't know. He wondered if he ought to say anything at all, but he knew that it was too late and he decided to mention it at this point. Selena looked more than a little baffled and he found that he felt a little sorry for her, as he knew that the demon could be very single-minded at times.

"It is not my place to tell of it, but I know that if I do not, then you will likely get no answers at all," he said. "Dahlgren was sent to hunt demons. This much you knew, I am sure. But he found someone there and they seem to have ... well, they have paired and become a couple."

Selena gaped a little before she was able to get her expression in hand, but she nodded to Arrax, since he'd paused and seemed to be waiting for some reason, "Go on please, Arrax."

"I suppose that Ny'Zeille might have had cause to feel a little surprised, obviously. Knowing her as I do, I can say that she might even have been a little upset at the news, for it would show her that she'd been left out of the 'selection process' altogether, "he smiled. "All that I see is that a grown male made his choice, as we all tend to do. A little fast, I would say from where I stand, but I cannot see from here, can I?"

They began to walk together as they talked and Arrax went on. "So I would have expected to hear her complaints no matter who he chose, but there is the other thing and it causes her to pace ceaselessly and talk to herself over it -- when she is not talking me into the ground over it. To her, what he has done has undone all that she has done in her efforts to restore her family's name. It is absurd. Her name is quite famous on Mer, her family well-known for many things. Yet all that she can see is that this one act of his has ruined everything. There may be some truth to it, but not as much as she ascribes, for all of Mer does not watch her endlessly as she seems to want to believe.

Dahlgren has mated a Red Demon, Selena. This is what keeps Ny'Zeille furious."

Selena looked down and Arrax thought to curse himself for not seeing that she might have had feelings for Dahlgren, and he said as much in his apology to her, but she surprised him.

"I might have entertained thoughts such as this once, "Selena said with a shrug, "But I am not a young girl given to heaving great sighs, Arrax. I am a little too practical for that. No, I am upset at something here, but not that so much. She was going to teach me more about what sort of abilities that I might have, now that I know more about myself. But I see that she has lost interest in this, and now I know why. So I guess that I'll never know. That is what bothers me most of all."

Arrax was silent for a time as they walked, but then he turned and smiled, "All is not lost, perhaps, Selena. If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that what one thinks that they know is often incorrect -- as you have recently learned. Further, some of what is correct may be seen clearly by one who knows what to seek."

Selena looked over and he wanted to laugh at her expression.

"Well, I can see that you earn whatever pay that you work for as an ambassador of Xer," she laughed, "You have told me nothing with a lot of words."

He laughed, "Then I miss a chance to increase my earnings. I am no ambassador for Xer, though I suppose that I may try at times to offer a certain demon some wisdom before she acts too rashly as an ambassador of Mer. The Mer have outposts and we provide the security staffing. I am a commander for this purpose, and I was once a fighter.

But I am a little more as well, though it is not a profession," he smiled, "Truly, I do not know how I came to the ability -- some years as the lover of a high demon of Mer, perhaps. Sometimes I almost believe that I have been a little corrupted by it, I do not know.

But however it came to me, I can say that I have a few abilities that my kind do not ever possess. I can tell you that all of this explanation and testing that she gave to you was little more than a ploy to keep you here for a time, long enough for her to show you in the gentlest way that you are not what you thought yourself to be."

Selena stared and would have spoken, but Arrax put his arm around her shoulder and moved her along the path in the garden as they walked. "Do not speak now," he said, "and please try to bear my touch on your body, for now I wish to know for myself."

After a moment, he stopped and stared a little himself. "Stand still now and listen, Selena. I can see better than even the one who gave me this, though I never tell her that I have this at all. What you seek to know about yourself will come to you regardless at some point, so learn a little patience and you will be well-served by it."

His voice dropped to a low rumble as he moved his head close. For the life of her, Selena didn't know what he was talking about, but she knew that it was important or Arrax would not do this or tell her. She knew that about him at least.

She also knew that she really wanted to kiss him. The feeling in her was distracting and very unsettling. She did her best to fight it down. She'd have plenty of time alone in her room to examine what she felt now. She concentrated on what he was trying to tell her.

"Listen," he said, "Listen to what you hear, and listen harder for what is not said around you. Listen to your heart most of all, and before you do all of that listening, listen to me now."

He brought his lips very near to her ear and he spoke softly, "I do not know what the Mer call this ability, but I have it more than Ny'Zeille. I can sense and I have the sight to see with it. What I see -- what I now KNOW about Selena Meadesbreath is that if you stood here in this place as you truly are inside, then I would have to bow to you."

She looked at him and he nodded, "It is truth. It is also truth that if Ny'Zeille Runei saw you as I can -- as I do here, now, ... "

"Arrax, " Selena smiled, "you are playing with me now."

He shook his head and he held her so that she had no choice but to listen -- he was holding one of her shoulders in his large hand in an almost painfully tight grip to force her to listen.

"No," he said, "If she knew what I know, she would have no choice but to kill you or kneel, and that is something that a high Merren demon can never do, not one like her, and not to one such as you who comes from another world. She could not accept it, but she would have to act in case you were the one."

"What one?" the thief asked in a whisper.

"Selena," Arrax whispered, I can see you as you are to others. As I touch you, I can see more. I see your true shape, and I see that you wear the horned crown. In the order of the Mer, there are high demons and there are low ones in their society. But that is only what they developed, just as where I am from, there are levels in the society. But the Xer know what the Merren have tried to deny.

There are demons and there are demons, Selena. It has been so long since there had been one with the crown. That one can hold power all alone on Mer, needing no one else. That one is more of a demon to them than the Merren are to humans on this world."

She felt his soft and gentle kiss against the side of her head, "Keep this for yourself," he said, "it is for no other to know and I will never tell the ambassador or anyone else for your own good. What you are will come to you in its own time. If I can, I will seek to help if I may, but it may not always be possible."

"Why?" Selena asked, "I see that you are serious, but I do not understand much of it. I think that I can tell that you like me, even from before. Now you tell me this. Why would you care about this?"

"I have reasons, "he smiled, "Some of them you would not understand, not knowing how things are elsewhere. But I can say that the Merren leaders have had a good run for far too long. If a crowned one were to appear before them to sweep them aside, it would cause what I see as a much-needed change. It would upset their precious balance. While they learn their new lessons, they would not require so much help from the Xer. That would have a disastrous effect on the Xer economy, and that would hasten the change that is so badly needed on Xer. My world is as badly-ruled as theirs."

He leaned back a little and smiled, "But those are all things which are large and less important to me than a smaller and much more beautiful one named Selena. I want you to live long enough for you to come into what is for you. Now that I know you better, Selena, I can say that it is a true want in me now for I wish to see that for myself. I see how you are in your nature before all of this. I can barely imagine it, a crowned one who is not cruel, who has a living heart, that is what I wish to see. In all of my learning, I have never found that it has ever happened before. The Merren fear the emergence of a crowned one for a reason. Every other one has been more cruel and callous than they are and whenever it happens, it changes the order of their world."

"What do you mean by a 'crowned one'?" Selena asked.

"I am a Xer," he shrugged, "It has been my business to fight and direct others in the wars. Now, it is my business to direct how our outposts are managed and run. But those things are what I do for my pay. For myself, I am a student of antiquity, no matter where I might find it. Put me in a place, Selena, and I begin to seek out its ancient secrets. I cannot help this.

Xer have no horns, but I have spent much of a lifetime near to demons. How many horns do demons wear on their heads? I know that you have only seen some close up lately, but tell me your thoughts."