The Delegation.....

"....and here was where I and my wonderful wife, Alicia, were wed," Fred the Manfox says fondly, tail swishing as he lead the black griffin around the front of the building. They walk through the large, ornate doors of the church and into the chapel proper. Several groups of mamimals were waiting in line to talk with a small and rotund humanoid raccoon near the front.

"Excccusssse me," Trilling asks in curiousity, speaking in the human tongue for the sake of politeness. "You ssssaid that yourrrrrr Pack wasssss made up of varrrriousssss groupssss of humansssss, orrrriginally. Groupssssss of humansssss who'sssss rrrreligiousssss beliefsssss ssssshould have caussssed open warrrrfarrre to break out. Isss the fact that the Manimalssss ssssharrrre a mysssstical bond you call: Being of one hearrrrrt, but many mindsssss?"

"Sort of, initially, and definitely now!" Fred laughs, noting Loam waving frantically from the side pews.

"Fred!" he shouts frantically. "It's Alicia! She's been hurt!!"

It's a difficult thing to tell just WHO got to the spot that Loam is standing next to where Alicia groans softly, clutching at various wounds upon her body. Trilling Blackfeather leaps forward and lands with wing swiftly with his ebony wings. Fred the manfox is driven not only by digitigrade feet, but also by fear. Fear for the life of his Leaping Stream!

But I didn't feel anything happen to her! Fred's mind yammered as he grabs for something to stem the flow of blood from his mate and wife.

Something was wrong about all this, but Fred was too much in a frenzy to examine his feelings. He feels his wife's feelings change from happiness (why in God's name is she Happy?! She was bleeding to death in front of Fred!) changes to panic and fear (as if in response to the fear that Fred is feeling)! Fred didn't have time to examine his feelings....and the feelings he detected from his wife. Now was the time for action...else he'd lose his wife and unborn kits!

"GET THE $@^*(* MAGES!!" Fred roars at the aghast looking Packmembers before turning back to lean over the pain racked Alicia. He leans closely toward her ear, and whispers so softly that not even Trilling....standing next to him....can hear what he says.

"Hush, little Leaping Stream," he whispered tenderly. "Tell Swift Foot what happened. Who attacked you and why, so I can go out and kill them!"

Alicia, having barely escaped a roving band of humans, had stumbled from shadow to shadow in this city that she had no idea where it came from, looking for a place to hide and recover! Her small band of were-folk had separated from the larger band of the Pack in disgust when the larger group had gone out and lynched Carradene (re: 2875)...only to end up weeks lost in a jungle that had appeared around them by magic! Then, when they had found a spot to rest for the night to make camp, crazed humans armed with silvered weapons had attacked fiercely, screaming about taking back what was their from the beastmen who'd "stolen" Panaras from them while they'd been out on patrol.....

Battle had been swift, and Alicia had been cut off from the rest of her group....and had been forced to flee or die.

Now, Alicia opened pain glazed eyes and looked upon somebody she'd thought never to see again....after she'd betrayed him to the Pack. His last letter to her had said he'd never wanted to see her again (not that she could find it in her heart to blame him) (re: 1382). She'd gone and turned on him for saving that dragoness. She still didn't understand exactly why he'd done that (re: 1364), but she now realized that the dragoness HAD been trying to aid the pack....and she, Alicia, had betrayed not only Fred....but that reptilian being who'd only been trying to aid her and the Pack!

Now Fred was mysteriously HERE, against all odds, and speaking tenderly to her!

Shame, love, and confusion wrestled for dominance in her pain clouded mind.

She loved Fred, and he'd come back to him....despite her stupidity! But why did he call him by this name: Leaping Stream? And why did he call himself Swift Foot?

"Fred?" she gasped, feeling the room spin about her. "The dragoness? What? How...? Argh!"

She felt herself bearing down as she started to suffer from contractions! She whimpered in fear, for she knew that the injuries she suffered were causing her to go into premature labor!

Trilling Blackfeather recognized the symptoms, and instantly knew what to do! Somehow he had the knowledge of herbs and chemicals, and knew that a pinch of the bitter smelling incense at the alter, combined with the herbs that the old Shaman always carried with him.....

Dark Trilling had been worried about the Manimal's ability to detect emotions in others, and had resorted to a tried and true method that had saved his neck....his human neck....more times than he cared to remember. He'd even been able to fool casual mage spells with this method. It only involved making himself BELIEVE the lie, assuming the role of HERO to such an extent that even HE fooled himself! The man he'd learned it from had called it " DEEP method acting."

Dark Trilling would have blessed the monk/assasin he'd learned that trick from, if he'd thought it would have helped the sorry SOB's blackened soul! Right now, though, he was too much "in character" to do such a thing! After all, the Hero shouldn't know dark things like that!

Of course, while he did this, he actually gave himself wholly over to Light Trilling (unknowingly). Noble Light Trilling's feelings were the only thing that Fred and the other manimals felt. It was Light Trilling, having no real idea where his strange knowledge came from (attributing it to a gift from his gods), that administered the correct dosage that halted the contractions. Too much of this tasteless powder would cause stillbirth (a vile technique that Zular had used on more than one political opponent's wife to devastate them).

Neither Light Trilling nor the rest of the adventurers knew this. All Fred knew was that his wife was safe!

Fred was about to thank the griffin when the mages finally arrived (only a few minutes later) when Alicia - who was a bit out of it from the wounds she still inexplicably had (inexplicable since her manimal nature should have healed it by now) awoke with a scream. It wasn't like she was still a lycanthrope, who needed to fear injuries inflicted by silver, but her injuries were still there....or had been there!

Alicia's head felt like it was going to explode! Suddenly, she knew what each and every person in the room was feeling, and she felt a bond form between them and herself. She felt an even STRONGER bond form between herself and the manfox known as Frederigo D'Honaire.

He is Fred....but not Fred? Alicia asked herself in confusion as she looks up at the startled looking Fred....who keeps looking back at her....and a mirror image of her (who looks VERY confused herself).

Before she faints from the pain, she suddenly realized who Leaping Stream was. Leaping Stream was HER, it also was the name of her mysterious mirror image....and both of them were bonded to Fred/Swift Foot's soul in a bond of love!

Later, Fred listens to accounts from a patrol of his Manimals, who tell of them rescuing a small group of....analogous manimals from a group of feral humans.

"Oh no," Fred moans as he places his furry head in his leather padded hands. "Not only am I in love with another Alicia....it's the Alicia that betrayed Dragon Fred....who's coming by on diplomatic rounds tomorrow!"

1. The Alicia that was born on Terra Prime hugs her husband, and makes reassuring sounds. She too has been hit by all this, but only wants her husband to not be so heart weary.....

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