Companions Chapter 33: What Mares Know
#34 of Companions
[Companions Chapter 33]
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WARNING! The following text contains explicit adult subject matter. It is not intended for anyone under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, then you must stop reading now. The author has taken steps to ensure that this story does not appear in any subject-inappropriate or age-inappropriate forum. This version has been posted with the author's permission to Yiffstar.com.
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* _COMPANIONS_
* by Evoquus
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* (c) Copyright 2003, Evoquus, All rights reserved.
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* Feedback is appreciated: [email protected]
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Rating: NC-17 for explicit sex: M/M, F/F, Human-Stallion-Mare, Anal, Oral
[Author's quibble: Part 12 (Chapters 33-37) was originally intended to be included with Part 11 (Chapters 30-31), telling the two tales simultaneously by volleying back and forth between them. Fortunately, I regained my sanity and properly separated them. For those of you following the timeline, Parts 11 and 12 take place at the same time over the same two days, starting the day after Part 10.]
Chapter 33: What Mares Know
Any morning that Daniel Racher woke up with his nose buried in the genitals of another Hipponaur was a good morning. It did not matter if it was raining, snowing, or hailing molten lava rock; it could be nothing but good. This morning was not so much a good morning as it was a great morning, for the sun peeked benignly over the horizon as it had done every day of Daniel's new existence, and this human-turned-Hipponaur learned something new about himself. He learned that the gender of the good morning genitals that nuzzled his nostrils and saluted his salivary glands mattered not in the least. Before this particular sunrise, had vulvae and testicles both been on the breakfast menu at IHOP, Daniel would have ordered only the latter. But now there was proof that if the server had screwed up his order, not only would the man in the equine suit not send the feminine delicacy back to the kitchen, he would smile and thank the minimum-wage-earning nincompoop and make sure to tip at least twenty percent. To Daniel, this was truly a great revelation, because it meant that his chances of waking up on a good morning had just doubled.
On this morning he awoke intimately sampling the posterior perfume of Tantau's surrogate mother, Shianna. This happenstance was to no one's surprise, really, for it was how he had wearily fallen asleep after an exhaustive evening of carnal indulgence. Together, Daniel and Shianna had teamed up against Rovaun, partaking in an orgy of debauchery and abstinence. The two of them had titillated and tormented their blindfolded beau, intimately attacking him with surgical precision, then retreating before he could react and penetrate. Rovaun had remained good-natured throughout the ordeal because it was a new experience for him as well, despite the tremendous sexual frustration it wrought.
Though they had honed their hit-and-run tactics to an art form, Daniel and Shianna had soon discovered that the greatest torment required the least effort, simply by ignoring the hapless stallion altogether. Loud and uninhibited, the two mares had made out passionately just out of Rovaun's reach, leaving him with only his imagination to fill in the blanks, often with generous hyperbole.
For the amorous mares, it was all about teasing Rovaun, at first; then it was all about proving to themselves that the animosity between them, as alluded to by a particularly nefarious campfire saga, was non-existent. But as the heated night wore on, the two had discovered that they needed no other reason or false pretense to make love. They both truly enjoyed each other.
The words, "I love you, Danny," had escaped Shianna's lips more than once, and not merely to prolong the exquisite agony of the blindfolded stallion. She had meant it, and Daniel had understood it as such, never failing to respond in kind. Often he would remind her that it was her honorable duty to remain with him and Rovaun to bring up their kids, and that the two mares had a further obligation to demonstrate to the young ones how very much their mothers loved each other, as well as their father. It always evoked a bubbling giggle from the white mare, warming Daniel's heart to know that it would be so.
And now in the amber glow of morning, Daniel found himself still there, still at the gated entrance to Sex City. Without a second thought, he pushed his equine tongue past those gates, encountering his own virtual semen that had somehow survived the night. His ears detected a happy purr from the gatekeeper. No hounds would be released to chase him off.
His powerful tongue made a formidable penis, and he used it as such, pushing in and out to loosen up the mare. He licked at her inner walls and then concentrated on her inverted clitoris, lingually vibrating over the sensitive organ to wake it up, but to no avail. Evidently it was tuckered out having taken quite a licking the night before. That was fine with him; he adored a challenge.
"If I didn't know better," whispered Shianna with a dash of sarcasm, "I'd say there was a man back there."
"Not quite," he replied as his tongue continued to burrow.
She raised her head and smirked. "I know. But for a mare, you are remarkably man-like."
"Well... yeah?" He wasn't quite sure what her point was.
She sat up and gently pulled away from him, then swiveled around on her knees and nuzzled his face. "I know that you know how to be a man, Danny, but don't you think it's about time that you learned how to be a mare?"
"Uh..." The black Hipponaur stared back at her and then gulped uncomfortably. It had not occurred to him that it was necessary to BE a mare just because his soul inhabited one.
"You aren't afraid, are you?" smiled Shianna with head a-tilt.
Daniel glanced over to Rovaun who was still blindfolded and blissfully dead to the world. He turned back to Shianna and said nothing, for it was the only way he was able to not lie to her. The white mare brought her nose to the black's and managed to make contact with no more pressure than that of a ladybug alighting on dandelion down. Daniel appeared mortified as Shianna barely brushed his nose fuzz with her own. Despite his obvious trembling, her seduction continued confidently, carefully cracking opening the attic trunk of his femininity.
He meekly exhaled an "Oh..." as her dainty muzzle brushed past his cheek to breathe steam into his twitching left ear. He turned to kiss her but she backed away, then eyed him with a simultaneously seductive and reproachful leer. No words were necessary to convey their meaning: Behave yourself and pay attention. Daniel allowed her to continue.
"A mare enjoys a light touch from her lover," she soothed. He could not agree more, but found it impossible to respond coherently, which itself, was the response she was expecting.
"She likes to be desired," she continued, moving down his neck. "To be told as such, and to be reminded often." Pause for a delicate nuzzle and peck. "... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so a mare cannot feel beautiful unless she is told so by someone she respects..." She continued to run her mesmerizing muzzle along his back. "... How very... very... beautiful... she is."
"Shianna," he gasped, "I think you're incredibly beautiful!" But the words tumbled out like a muffler dragging behind a Chevy, not at all with the finesse of Shianna's prose, which was pure poetic narcotic.
"A mare must be kissed, too." She planted one lightly on his lower back, nuzzling the spot and then kissing it again. Daniel thought it quaint, and whickered in appreciation, but was eager for the kissing to progress to more sensitive areas. Shianna did not comply, and instead remained fixated on this one mundane spot. Daniel turned to see what all the fuss was, and then silently shrugged when he saw that there was none. Still, Shianna continued to nuzzle and kiss and make love to this one area of his hide.
"I love you so much," she barely whispered, while tenderly probing him there with her nose.
And then something changed. He felt himself becoming marked by the mare. It was the Hipponaur equivalent of a hickey, but with two notable exceptions: it left no visible blemish, and it would last, quite literally, forever.
The longer she dwelled, the more Daniel loved it and the more he wanted her to remain. The nerves under his skin exulted joyfully with her touch, as if she had somehow altered them to respond only to her attention. A Hipponaur stallion used his essence to physically bond with a mare. Daniel discovered that mares could bond too, an emotional bond-made-physical that was arguably much stronger.
The body that Zhorelle had bequeathed him was no longer entirely his own. Shianna had claimed twenty square inches, and as she continued to brand him, he felt as if she had awakened an unknown invisible sex organ on his lower back. There was nothing really there, and there was nothing particularly special about that spot, but it didn't matter. This mare who knew how to be a mare had created a button that only she could push, and from now until the sun dimmed, no matter what the circumstances, if she chose to nuzzle him there, she would have his unyielding devotion.
She eased up briefly, and Daniel's heart sank. He turned to her with pleading eyes, and she smiled knowingly. "Be there for her," she said, returning to Daniel's new G-spot, a joyous whinny escaping his lips. "Love her and stay with her."
"I will..." he promised.
Shianna moved farther back, but Daniel no longer felt abandoned. He knew now that Shianna would never leave him. How could she? She owned him.
"When it's your first time with her," she whispered, "tell her how excited you are..." She nuzzled the back of his leg, which instinctively nudged out from underneath him. She ran her muzzle delicately over his left hock, then nipped the sensitive skin just above it. Daniel answered with a squirt. "... How long you've admired her beauty..." She licked the love bite tenderly. "... Her radiance that was unsurpassed, perhaps even intimidating..." More butterfly kisses moving slowly up his leg. "... You wondered whether you would be worthy of her affection..." She was inches away now, inching closer. "... Fear of rejection had held you back for centuries, but now you and she were finally together... and it was always meant to be."
Daniel was unsure of what he was hearing. Were these Shianna's secret feelings toward Zhorelle? Never in a million years would he have imagined it, but he didn't care. It was happening now and would happen from now on if he had any say in it. Shianna was incredible. Daniel found himself speculating what his life might have been like had he been born a lesbian.
In short hot puffs she signaled that her mouth hovered over its target. Daniel's tail shot straight up to provide unimpeded access. She held her position, breathing hotly onto his labial lips. Then, with a will entirely of its own, Daniel's clitoris reached painfully out to kiss her. The white mare could have prolonged the torture just as she had done with Rovaun earlier, but that was not the purpose of this lesson. She lightly pressed her lips into Daniel, and showed him what every mare knows.
Daniel whimpered and moaned under her oral ministrations. She was so light, so gentle. Her tongue flitted more like a hummingbird's than an equine's. He quivered under her spell and climaxed several times, but his desire never ceased nor did the lovemaking. Penetration was not necessary - only companionship, emotion, and technique - it was a "gal" thing.
Shianna lapped up his copious emissions. He would have done the same, but for entirely antithetical reasons. For him, the dirtier the sex, the better, and drinking sex pee was high up on that list. For Shianna there was nothing "dirty" that exuded from a mare's loving passion. Her emissions were to be shared, savored, and celebrated, not wasted upon the ground.
"Raise up, my love, just a little," she said, as she backed away from him. He did so, and turned his head to see her rotate around with her own tail raised, and her own dripping clitoris poised.
She backed into him, and Daniel held as still as possible to improve the chances of a successful mating. It was a challenging maneuver that required both of them to relax their buttocks while simultaneously applying a couple hundred pounds of precise pressure for the recessed female organs to meet. As their tails caressed and sized up one another, the mares tweaked their positions until they both knew they were on target. Then Daniel pushed back hard, his clitoris straining to detach from him. He wanted this mating more than anything, but he did not know why.
And then it happened.
And then he learned why.
The moment the two female organs met, a dormant area in Daniel's brain brilliantly burst into flame. His body flowed with adrenaline. His muscular buttocks melted away, sliding off to the sides, enabling him to easily push back harder and deeper. His manic female penis rattled like a snake, probing, attacking, raping, and pounding its sister. Shianna held fast, reveling in the sexual onslaught of Daniel's clitoral clobbering, that, despite its efforts, could do no possible damage to the other clitoris that regularly encountered phalluses a hundred times its size.
The effect on Shianna was not nearly as intense, but nor was it entirely non-existent. She playfully batted back the marauder, which brought pleasurable grunts and snorts from its deranged wielder.
Daniel's head swam in colors and sounds that he had never known. Ideas of love and sex and mating, tenderness and playful brutality, all whirlpooled in his head. Similarly, his clitoris played out this crucible of emotions, alternately battering and then caressing and kissing his opponent, waltzing with her one moment, then slam-dancing the next. But of all the strange conflicting feelings spinning in the emotional maelstrom of Daniel's brain, the most overwhelming and perhaps even more bizarre was that of total contentment. This was what it meant to be a Hipponaur mare. This was what they did. This was why mares existed, and this was why they lived so long - so that they could mate like this forever. The feckless stallions had no clue. They fucked, they came, and they left. The mares had a secret that put them to shame, a secret that every mare knows, and we mares must not reveal that secret, EVER!
"Shianna knows," Daniel thought to himself. "She knows what this feels like. She's feeling it right now. Feeling it with me. Feeling it because of me. And I'm feeling it because of her. She chose me. And I choose her. We don't need no steenkeen stallions."
Daniel's sexual tension meter remained pegged at redline. This would never stop, for there was no reason to stop it, not as long as life pulsed within him and his mate. Shianna, however, had decided that Daniel had had enough, so she ended it by surrendering and playing dead. Daniel continued to pound and pummel his limp mate, which began slowly retreating into it's labial cave. His own organ declared victory, and celebrated with a rousing climax that brought forth a long, loud, bellowing whinny from the black mare. The colors and sounds faded. Muscle tone returned to his mashed backside, driving the mares apart again. The dusty ground beneath them had transformed into a ripe, steaming swamp. It was over, but a new life for Daniel had just begun.
"That was AWESOME!" cheered Rovaun.
Startled, the two mares turned to the grinning stallion, who had destroyed his blindfold in desperation. Shianna looked down and blushed. Daniel could not care less what Rovaun thought, but was terribly concerned that he was there, that he had seen the whole thing. A stallion had witnessed their coupling!
He turned to the mare for guidance, who undoubtedly was feeling the same angst. "Shianna," he said tenderly, "are you okay?"
She looked up and smiled at him. "Of course I am, Danny. How about you?"
"I... don't know what to say..." He looked at her with such longing. "I love you so much."
Instead of blushing at his heartfelt compliment, she scowled at him and looked away, which baffled him to no end.
"Companion..." uttered a distant stallion.
What had he said? What was wrong with saying it? How could Shianna reject him? Maybe she didn't understand.
"Shianna, you are the most..."
"I think your husband is talking to you," she snipped.
Daniel stared at her silently, utterly crushed by her spurning. To humor her wishes, he turned to Rovaun, who simply smiled warmly at him.
"Companion, perhaps we should have a little chat, stallion-to-man."
Daniel looked back to Shianna, as if needing her permission to do so. She did not return his dumbfounded gape. Reluctantly he stepped out as a human, and then stumbled dizzily to his feet.
"Whoa..."
The instantaneous pendulum swing from female to male was thoroughly disorienting, far more so than the dozens of times he had done it before. The virtual man steadied himself for a moment, then glanced at the recalcitrant white mare who still avoided eye contact. The eyes of his stallion, however, burned with a familiar loving warmth that melted Daniel's heart. Feeling his loyalties returning to normal, he wrapped his arms around the handsome equine's neck, and kissed his mate as passionately as ever.
"Good morning, Husband," he nuzzled.
"Good morning, Companion," Rovaun nuzzled back.
"Do you know that every time I regain my sanity and realize that you are the only soul for me, your sexiness instantly doubles forever?"
"I know," he sighed immodestly.
"I love you, Husband," said Daniel into his eyes, "a lot more than I love Shianna." The man smirked at the white mare, who was now willing to face him again, but with a scornfully-raised eyebrow.
"I'm fine, now, honestly," he said to her.
"Cut him some slack, Shianna," said Rovaun. "It was his First Time."
Daniel briefly shot him a worried glance. Did he know? He wasn't supposed to! Although the stallion was his mate, Daniel still had an obligation to his fellow mares. Rovaun's apparent knowledge of female Hipponaur affairs was forbidden.
Shianna sighed with a hint of a snort, but then relented. "Okay." She joined the pair, accepting a nuzzle from Rovaun and a scritching from Daniel.
"I shouldn't have done that," she apologized.
"We should have been more discreet," scolded Daniel in a whisper.
Rovaun chuckled. "Nonsense. I never miss an opportunity to watch a mare-a-thon... and with my two favorite mares! It was superb!" He nuzzled Daniel. "When you have recovered sufficiently, my Dear, I hope you will show me the same courtesy."
Daniel gawked at him. "You know... about mares?"
Both Hipponaurs snickered at his naivete.
"Of course he does, Danny," chuckled Shianna. "Everyone does."
"But... it's supposed to be a secret."
"Some secrets are easier kept than others."
"So, you know, uh, what it's like?" Daniel asked his mate.
"It has been a while," replied Rovaun, "but yes, Companion. I have experienced it with a link. It is quite something, isn't it."
"Whew," said Daniel, relieved that he would not have to keep this impossible secret to himself. "Shianna, I apologize for my emotions running amok. You have my permission to clobber me anytime I fall out of line like that." He turned back to Rovaun and swooned, "I'm married to this wonderful guy forever."
Rovaun neighed happily.
"And don't you forget it," said Shianna.
"Like I said, just clobber me," he smiled, not taking his eyes off his mate. "Husband, it was so intense... so - FEMALE!"
"I know, Companion."
"Being a stallion, I don't think you do. I don't think any link could do justice to what it felt like!" He looked over his shoulder at his vacant body. "I'm almost afraid to go back in there... and yet..." he winked at Shianna, "... part of me can't wait to learn more."
Shianna shook her head. "I don't think so."
"What? Why not??" Not doing it again now seemed unthinkable.
"Because, Danny, although I love you dearly, I'm afraid it is more like the love of a sibling."
"All right!" grinned Rovaun. Shianna sneered at the stallion's sophomoric remark.
"Shianna, I don't regret at all what happened," said Daniel sincerely, "and I agree with you that I need to learn this stuff, since I plan to be here a while."
"Maybe you should find another teacher, then," she said. "For me, you will always be a man. I suppose that's why I never really got into it with you."
It was a severe blow to Daniel's ego to think that he could never please Shianna the way she had pleased him. It wasn't his fault, but he still shouldered the blame.
"Well, don't give up on me, Shianna," he said in earnest. "With my Husband's support, I'll strive to do better."
"Absolutely!" agreed Rovaun, "but no more blindfolds."
Shianna snorted at the clueless males. "It's not just about sex!"
Rovaun and Daniel shrugged at each other. It WAS just about sex. Wasn't it?
The white mare shook her head contemptuously at Daniel. She had opened up to him and shown him a new, deeply personal and intimate side of himself, but after everything he had experienced, he obviously learned nothing at all. And Rovaun stood there with him, just as guilty, just as ignorant, just as male. She growled her disgust at the both of them and stormed off.
The guys watched her disappear in silence, then Daniel turned to his mate. "Husband, do you know what's great about being a male?"
"What is that, Companion?"
"Having testicles."
"A-men."
Under a battered tent relocated inside Parceph's indentation he called a cave, Jeremiah and his stallion made love. Prominently displayed outside was a "Do Not Disturb" sign written in twelve languages including Hipponaur. The chances of anyone reading it were nil. The chances of anyone reading it and heeding it were even niller.
While Jeremiah preferred his privacy, Parceph preferred Jeremiah's privates. The man lovingly stroked his partner's mane while the horse nursed, taking his time, making it last decades.
Jeremiah hissed happily as he inhaled through clenched teeth. "Danny-boy, was right, Lover. This is the afterlife."
The stallion smiled and continued to slowly suck the afterlife out of the man's penis, a penis that was not quite the same as he remembered it from two hundred years ago.
"It is interesting, Companion," remarked Parceph, "how two centuries of constant exposure to my essence has selectively altered you."
Jeremiah was hoping to avoid this conversation.
Parceph continued, "You look the same, sound the same, taste the same, act the same, yet there are two distinct improvements that I find very delightful and even more enigmatic: your cavernous colon and your horse-choking shlong."
"Perhaps you shouldn't look a horse-choking shlong in the mouth."
Parceph whinnied with laughter and then gagged on his Companion.
Jeremiah chuckled, "Yeah I know that didn't come out quite as intended."
The stallion settled down and continued slurping. Jeremiah just smiled warmly and caressed his mate some more. "I don't have any answers for you, Partner. I am just so happy to be here, to be with you again, now and forever. You have no idea."
"Oh, I have an idea, Companion, believe me."
"Well I'll let you in on a personal secret," said the man to his mate. "The other Parceph would have been put to miserable shame by your performance as a one-horse orgy last night."
Parceph smiled allowing horse drool to seek refuge in Jeremiah's pubic hair. "It was nothing."
"Nothing! Ohhh, Lover, I can't imagine what SOMETHING would be like if that was nothing!"
"All right," the stallion confessed, "it was my best effort ever. I just felt terrible about what Danny and I did to you last night, ruining your story like that."
"You didn't ruin it... Okay, you DID ruin it, but you knew I wasn't that pissed off, didn't you?"
"Well, to be honest," he hesitated, "no, I didn't know. Your tale was told so masterfully, I nearly called off the severed head thing, just so you wouldn't know that we rewrote the ending."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't, 'cause your ending was a whole lot better'n mine. And that amazing bit with Danny-boy's head - how long did it take you two to come up with that?"
"We didn't have much to go on. The only thing Danny knew was that sometime during the evening, you planned to fake his death. But then I found your cow skull and knife and deduced your plan. Danny spent a couple of hours perfecting the illusion, but most of it was ad-libbed on the spot, based on elements in your tale."
"You made it up right then?"
"It wasn't that difficult. You offered all of the details yourself in your dreary drama, which I must reiterate, was entirely spellbinding."
The horse paused long enough to kiss his mate with his penis breath before returning to his all-day sucker.
"Well, thanks, Partner. Coming from you, given how stingy you are with the compliments, that means a lot to me."
"So, how long did it take you to come up with the story?"
"Oh, I dunno," shrugged Jeremiah. "I just ad-libbed most of it."
Parceph released him and stuck his nose in the man's face. "Liar." Then he went back to suckling.
"What - you don't think I'm as quick-witted as you?"
"Companion, I know that you are not the dim, drawling hick that you portray in public, but even Shakespeare could not have come up with the details and situations you described without a considerable amount of forethought. I find it difficult to believe that you just made up that convoluted plot with Danny, Danielle, and Garson while picking your nose and roasting marshmallows."
"Well then, I guess that's the difference between me and... Y'ALL." That last emphasis was especially corny.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire," muttered Parceph as he bobbed.
"It ain't the only thing on fire, Stud," sizzled Jeremiah, changing the subject.
From a distance it appeared as if the virtual man and his stallion were engaged in their usual osculatory activities, but closer examination revealed that Daniel was actually brushing his mate's teeth with a virtual toothbrush fashioned on the end of his virtual tongue. It was not so much a serious dental cleaning as it was a mindless, intimate activity that the two companions enjoyed. Despite the initial "mareness" of the morning, Rovaun still had his man, and Daniel still had his stallion. Nothing was wrong. Everything was right.
"This is the happiest day of my life," whickered Rovaun.
"Don't be silly," said Daniel, licking equine enamel.
"I am being entirely truthful. I am the happiest I have ever been since the day I was born."
"Oh, I get it," said Daniel with a smirk. "It's because you got to see me bump rumps with Shianna."
Rovaun smiled at him with his bright dark eyes. "As a great man once said, 'Nope.'"
"So you're telling me that you are happier on this ordinary day than on our wedding day?"
"Yep."
"Okay, I give."
Rovaun nuzzled him. "Today is the happiest of all days, dear Companion, because it is now, and you are with me."
"I see," said the man with half a smile. "You're trying to be romantic."
"And your cynicism cannot even put the tiniest dent in my happiness," he cheered.
"Good. I'm happy for you." Daniel tightened his arms and buried his nose in the stallion's neck. "And I'm happy for me, too... I'm trying not to be so cynical all the time, but it's just who I am, I guess. Thanks for tolerating it."
"No need for apologies, Companion. Your cynicism has saved our butts on more than one occasion."
"Mmm. I'm glad I saved your butt. It's scurrrrrumptious!"
"Heh-heh. You see? The happiest day of my life."
Rovaun initiated more nuzzling, hugging, and kissing, which made a convert of Daniel. This could easily be the happiest he had ever felt, too. The contented man could not think of a single thing that could possibly be wrong about any of it. But the cynic in him managed to come up with something.
"Do you think we'll ever get tired of doing this?"
"Nope," reiterated the stallion.
"How do you know?"
"Because I have dreamt it. I told you. You and I remain together for as long as I can foresee, which is a very long time."
"That's very comforting, Husband, but I thought you no longer took stock in your dreams."
"I can pick and choose, can't I?"
"I suppose, but as I recall, you also dreamed of a future married to Zhorelle."
"And that has come true, too."
"But not the way you thought it would."
"No, thank God."
"Hee-hee-hee, you are so adorable. Come here, happy horsey."
It seemed that the two of them would not be able to get past first base on this happiest of days. No one cared, such was love and life. And as Daniel continued to kiss and slobber over the most wonderful creature he could ever imagine, he found his happiness eroding. He loved being happy, loved the thought of being happy forever, and that made him unhappy, because it was a treasure that had to be fiercely guarded, for Destiny had thieves waiting in the wings.
"Huthban," uttered Daniel, his tongue speaking from inside the horse's mouth.
"Yes, Companion," sighed his dreamy mate.
"I'm afwaid."
"Afraid of what?" moaned Rovaun, unconcerned.
"Afwaid of loothing you."
"Nonsense."
The stallion continued necking without a care in the world, but then felt guilty about ignoring his companion's angst. He let go and allowed Daniel to rest his forehead on his own. How quickly emotions turned.
"Companion," said Rovaun in his most soothing of intonations, "need I remind you of how old I am, and how old you are, your body, that is."
"I know."
"There is no reason to believe it cannot continue. We are safe here. You like it here, do you not?"
"I love it here," he said, more with a tone of despair than delight.
"Then this will be our life," assured the stallion. "We will raise Tantau and Tattoo and thousands of their siblings."
Still looking down on the nostrils of his lover, Daniel smiled at that terrifying thought.
"Can you imagine a more beautiful future, Companion?"
"No," he said, shaking his head and nuzzling his mate at the same time. "Not if every day is like this."
"It will be, Companion."
Daniel looked up into his eyes again. The dark orbs truly reflected the words he spoke, but Daniel would forever have doubts. "What about her?" he said, staring anxiously at his body.
"What about her?"
"She's not the same. I'm not the same."
"You need not be concerned about that. You were disoriented by mare sex, that's all, and you happen to enjoy it. That is a GOOD thing."
"But something's going on in there."
"That is quite possible, Companion. You had an intense and unique experience today. But I have every faith in you. You will be able to deal with it. Probably embrace it."
"That's what worries me, Husband. I'm not sure I WANT to embrace it. I'm afraid..." He returned his gaze to his mate, who saw the fear in his eyes for himself. "... That I won't want to embrace you anymore."
Rovaun believed his mate's phobia to be irrational, but that didn't make it any less real.
"Companion, the only way to address your fear is to face it."
"You always say crap like that!"
"Because you know my crap to be true."
"Can't we just stay like this forever? Me holding onto you with human arms and scritching your mane like this? I know you like it."
"Yes I do, Companion, and you have my solemn promise to always allow you to hug and scritch me any way and any time you want, but..."
"Then I want to keep doing it now."
Annoyed, Rovaun glared at him silently, then switched off his personality and stared straight ahead. Daniel continued to hug and rub the equine statue, but it was apparent that his own empty Hipponaur shell was more animated than the stallion. At first this presented itself as an amusing challenge. Daniel caressed and kissed and nuzzled, but the stallion did not break. There were things the man could do that would surely get a rise out of him, but Daniel did not want to go there. Despite having a stubborn streak that could outmatch Rovaun's any day of the week, he really was not in the mood for this game. If anything, he felt as if he were losing his mate already.
"Okay, okay, you win," he surrendered. "I'll face it. Geez! What's the big deal, anyway."
Rovaun turned to him as he headed back to the mare. Daniel spun around and pointed a finger.
"But only on one condition: You swear to me that you'll NEVER give me the silent treatment again. I HATE that."
The stallion nodded. "I am sure I can come up with more creative ways to motivate you, Companion. I swear to Hipponaur that I shall never again give you the silent treatment if I can at all help it."
That was good enough for Daniel. He turned around, took a deep breath, and then merged with the mare.
Rovaun cocked his head and smiled as the mare locked eyes with him. She shook her mane and swished her tail a couple of times, then stared at him in silence. Finally, with a sigh of boredom, she looked around and peered off into the distance, then said effeminately, "I wonder where Shianna is."
Rovaun whinnied with laughter. "You do not fool me, Companion."
"No?" smiled the mare.
"Not for a second. I am far too sexy."
"Heh-heh, yes, Husband, that will forever be your ace in the hole," said the mare as she sensually strolled around her mate.
"How do you feel, Companion?"
"Frankly," said Daniel, stopping to speak the honest truth. "I still feel very different in here... It feels all right... I'm not sick or anything, and I don't feel like I don't belong here, but I definitely can tell that something has changed. I'm not the same as I was yesterday. In fact, I have never felt like this before, either as a human or a mare."
"Can you describe it?"
"Well," said the mare, sauntering around again, "now that it's just you and me, stallion and mare, the only word that can describe my feelings is: heterosexual."
Rovaun laughed again.
"I'm glad you find that so amusing."
"You will not hear me complain, Companion. When the right mare comes along, I am a closet heterosexual, too."
"No you aren't and neither am I!" insisted Daniel. "For the last decade I have known for a fact that I am a gay man, and my gaydar registers off the scale when it points at you. You are, beyond a shadow's shadow of a doubt, a Yiffy - Gay - Horse!"
"I heartily disagree with you on that point, Companion. The concept of 'gay' has little meaning for me. I am attracted to your soul, regardless of the gender of the body you inhabit. Shianna has an attractive soul, too, as does Parceph. I have sexual feelings for them, as well. If you think about it, you will find that your feelings are not so different from mine. For example, if my soul were to end up inside a toad, would you no longer be sexually attracted to me?"
"A toad? Hmm. Well, maybe I'd lick you. But definitely not a spider."
"Of course not," shuddered Rovaun.
"But you told me you preferred me as a man."
"Yes, because that is your natural form. But I will take you any way I can get. And now you are feeling more feminine than usual. So what? You still have that spark that I love so much. I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your wit. You are the same being you always were. We shall be companions forever. Of that I have no doubt."
In Rovaun's presence, Daniel's fears faded. The extreme femininity he had felt earlier was not nearly as intense now. Having existed for a while as a man had helped dull the effect of whatever it was that Shianna had awakened within him. Daniel felt sexy. Daniel felt feminine. Daniel longed for the comfort and protection of a stud stallion, and a perfect example was staring him right in the face. The mare positioned herself parallel to her beau to rub cheeks. She let out a big happy contented sigh, but then found herself startled by its tone. The effeminate timbre exactly mimicked Shianna's.
Rovaun sighed contentedly, too, but he still sounded like a stud.
Did it matter? Daniel was still madly in love with his husband. So what if he became his wife. That was the natural order of things anyway, and Rovaun didn't love him any less. And he could always become a man whenever he wanted. This wasn't so bad. He was making it bad just by worrying about it. Rovaun was right - if the stallion's soul ended up in a toad, Daniel would love that toad till death, and mourn it every day afterward. Neither gender nor species mattered one whit.
"You are a goddess, Companion," whispered the stud as he nuzzled.
Those beautiful words struck Daniel's heart like an arrow from Cupid. They spoke of love and desire, of yearning and admiration. Yesterday, Daniel would have snorted at their insipidness; today he simply longed to hear more.
"I love you so much..."
"Oh..." the mare squeaked. "Husb..."
Suddenly she backed off, then a man leapt from her body and clung tight with arms and legs to the stallion.
"I love you, Husband," he cried into the powerful neck.
"Are you still having trouble in there, Companion?"
"No," he trembled. "It's just that, when I'm a mare, I can't hold you like this."
Rovaun understood completely, because his mate was right. There was nothing so perfectly bonding, so unfailingly reassuring as a strong human hug.
The man took several deep breaths then let out a cleansing sigh. "It's great to be gay again," he said.
Rovaun snorted playfully. "I thought we had settled that argument."
"No, I think we only established that, in general, Hipponaurs are more attracted to spiritual features than physical ones. Humans, are a different matter."
"Is that so?"
"I like looking at pictures of naked men, and I still do."
"Hmm."
"Especially pictures of naked men on top of, and underneath, other naked men. I have no idea what's in their souls. They could all be satanic baby kitten stompers, for that matter. But if they're hot, I like 'em."
"You have a point, Companion. Perhaps there is a subtle difference between our two species in that regard. If it will make you feel better, I shall concede that you are gay. But consider this: what if you KNEW that the naked men were all satanic baby kitten stompers. How would that affect your desire for them?"
Daniel smiled at his wise stallion. "I think I see your point, too."
"When you see an attractive man, your subconscious assumes his soul to be a good one. That way you can enjoy his image on a purely visceral level. I doubt that you would ever masturbate to a naked image of Hitler, no matter how attractive he may have been without clothes."
"You are so smart," grinned Daniel, "but you still don't know everything. You'll never really know what it's like to be a mare... Oh... my... Goddess!"
Daniel's virtual jaw hit the dirt.
Rovaun recognized that look of enlightenment, even though to the untrained eye, the man's stupid gape could easily be mistaken for a congenital disorder. "You wish to tell me something, Companion?"
"Husband! You experienced it! You know what it's like!"
"If you are referring to when two mares make love, then yes," he said calmly. "And I therefore know why it has affected you so dramatically."
"But don't you get it?" said Daniel, astonished that his mate had not drawn what seemed to be an obvious line connecting two even more obvious dots.
The stallion stared at him and shook his head. "Get what?"
"That feeling! That feeling of wanting to be with a mare - any mare, as long as it has a clitoris instead of a penis."
Rovaun tried to analyze the ancient feelings. It had been centuries since he had experienced them, but without dwelling on the memories since then, the feelings had lost their edge; softened, but not forgotten. He understood what his mate was talking about - raw desire - but he had never thought to draw a conclusion from it.
Many years ago, Rovaun had been instrumental in the rescue of a Hipponaur mare that had been captured by humans. When the two were safely away, the grateful mare had felt an obligation to her honorable savior, though he really wasn't her type.
"I cannot thank you enough," she had said, hoping he would accept a hug as compensation for risking his life.
"Allow me to mount you and we will call it even."
Normally the mare would have capitulated, but the thought of Rovaun covering her had suddenly made her nauseous, so she offered him her only other asset. It was an offer that could not be made lightly, because it could be made only once to any particular stallion, and each time it was dolled out it lost some of its value.
"Hmm-hmm, that hardly seems fair," she said coyly. "I have allowed studs to mount me just for sharing an infested apple they found on the ground. How about something to truly remember me by..."
After linking with the mare, Rovaun had never admitted to anyone that for the next several days he had become exclusively heterosexual. No stallions interested him. Not even a glance in their direction, except to determine their gender. He had even lost interest in seeking his Companion. All he could think about was how beautiful mares were. Every one that caught his eye gave him a hard-on, whether he knew her or not. Most wanted nothing to do with him, but he desired them nevertheless.
Rovaun stared at Daniel. "I... lusted - for mares," he said bewildered, "for a short while, anyway."
Daniel nodded. "They could have been satanic baby kitten stompers."
"And I would have fucked every one of them without blinking."
"Doesn't that go against your fundamental thesis? That Hipponaurs are more attracted to the soul than to the gender?"
"Completely, Companion," he admitted in dismay.
"So, not only were you not gay, but you were entirely STRAIGHT!"
Rovaun nodded.
"And from the mare's perspective?" pointed out Daniel.
"I felt what she felt. She felt exactly the same way - about other mares, and she was not the only one. They all feel that way, which makes Hipponaur mares entirely gay."
Having experienced the mare's desires for himself, Rovaun was convinced that this conclusion had to be true, except that in reality, it was not. Now he did not know what to believe.
"Do Hipponaur mares, in general, form homosexual relationships?" asked Daniel.
"No, Companion. Only about fifty percent, which statistically supports my thesis: it is the soul that is attractive, not the gender."
"Not if you jumped to the wrong conclusion, my dear stud," laughed his mate.
"All right. You know something. Spit it out!"
"Oh, no, no, no. It's far too much fun playing Socrates."
Rovaun snorted, but was glad to see his mate have a good time. "Okay, Mr. Ancient Greek Fart, ask me your questions."
"Do Hipponaurs reproduce asexually?"
"No."
"So they require heterosexual sex to perpetuate the species."
"Yes."
"So nature designed Hipponaurs to be heterosexual."
"Probably."
"Of any given heterosexual species, about what percentage of their population are homosexual?"
"It varies. Ten to twenty-five percent."
"Significantly less than fifty percent."
"Yes."
"So why are there so many lesbian Hipponaurs?"
"I don't know! If anything, fifty percent is too low. If the way I felt after that link is how mares feel every day, then you would think they would ALL be gay!"
"YES! YES! YES, Husband! They should all be gay! Every mare knows how good it feels to be with another mare. They're SUPPOSED to be gay - but they're not!"
"Companion? I still do not..."
"Husband, I'm surprised at you," grinned Daniel. "Think about that feeling - the awakening at the precise moment that the two clits meet. Doesn't it seem just the tiniest bit familiar?"
Rovaun thought about it again, and then he dropped his head, completely ashamed of himself, and entirely in awe of his mate. He looked up at this human who always managed to figure everything out in mere minutes what millennia never revealed to the stallion.
"It is another Primitive."
"Bingo!"
"Varyl planted a Primitive in the mares as well as the stallions," posited Rovaun.
"That's my bet." Daniel hugged and kissed him gleefully without yet comprehending the impact of this revelation.
"In my defense," smiled Rovaun, justifying his deductive failure, "that was a long time ago, and I had nothing to compare the female Primitive with until last month. Furthermore, you must admit that the male and female Primitives are significantly different. There is no bloodlust in the female."
"That's because Varyl gave them a different agenda. The male Primitive was designed to prevent the conception of Anthrauns by killing the human parent. The female Primitive was simply another tactic for population control."
"Hmm," agreed Rovaun. "A mare bonded to a single stallion can still get pregnant."
"So turning her into a lesbian might reduce that chance just a little bit more."
"But not completely. Many mare couples have raised foals."
"And Varyl didn't want to completely eliminate the species, just manage it."
"I wonder why he did not reveal this to us," pondered Rovaun. "He admitted to imbuing the stallions with a Primitive. Why not the mares?"
Daniel shrugged. "Why should he? It would just stir up more bad feelings. And the mare's Primitive doesn't really harm anyone..." Daniel looked at the patient black mare, then returned a worried grimace to his mate.
"What is it, Companion?"
"Husband, I have a Primitive in me!"
"Yes you do, Companion, and so do I. It is quite manageable, I assure you."
"But your Primitive lusts for me. If we're right about the female Primitive, then mine is designed to drive you away!"
Suddenly Rovaun understood the gravity of their situation. Until now, his Companion's encounter with his feminine side had seemed a harmless delve into self-discovery, as with all sentient beings, a journey that is necessary for personal growth. With the caring pride of a father teaching his son to ride a bicycle, the stallion had watched from the sidewalk as Daniel struggled to keep both feet on the pedals of his mareness. But the brakes on this she-beast had been tampered with, and what was now awake within his mate could easily pose a real threat to their future.
The unthinkable evoked a half whimper from the stallion, like that of a sad little puppy. "You... you do not have to let that happen, Companion."
Daniel clung even tighter to his horse. "I'm NEVER letting go," he cried.
Rovaun brought his chin down to pin the man's arm underneath it. "And I shall hold onto you as well."
"Thank you," he whispered, kissing the stallion just below his ear. "I swear that no matter what happens, I will love you forever."
"And I you, Companion."
Daniel and Rovaun held each other close for the better part of an hour. During that time, the world did not end, nor did it even hint at tearing them apart, and each began to feel a little more comfortable that perhaps this wasn't the Armageddon that it had seemed. Rovaun was the first to consider that the worst case scenario might not be all that bad.
"Companion, just for argument's sake, let us say that your Primitive ultimately rules your destiny. What do you suppose would happen to you?"
"Well," he thought, "I guess I'd want to move in with Shianna, if she'd have me."
"Precisely. And she would because she likes you, but more to the point, she likes me, and I would insist that she accommodate you."
"But I wouldn't want to be in a one-sided relationship with her."
"And you wouldn't be. Don't you see? If you embrace your mareness, you will become more feminine, and Shianna will recognize it. She will see you as a mare, not as a man, and the two of you would be able to satisfy each other."
"But where does that leave you?"
"Where do you think?" smirked Rovaun. "In the very front row."
Daniel chuckled for a moment. The stallion was right. No matter what happened, neither he nor Shianna would ever abandon him. They would be a trio forever.
"But each day would not be the happiest for you anymore," Daniel suggested.
"It would be hard to imagine otherwise, but who is to say? And in any case, that is still the very worst that could happen. Already, Shianna does not desire mares. There is every reason to believe that you will not."
Daniel brought his head back. "That's right - she doesn't. And she knows what it feels like, but she still prefers you. Why is that?"
"Well," said Rovaun feigning modesty, "I would think that was obvious, but perhaps you should ask her."
"Let's!"
Releasing his mate, Daniel whirled around and stopped dead in his tracks when he encountered the harmless and foreboding black mare.
"We have been through this, Companion. Nothing has changed. You can do it."
"I know," he said, shaking out his neck, hands, and feet as if preparing to run a fifty-yard dash. Instead of dashing, though, he strolled eloquently to the mare. At the last moment he stopped to brush some unsightly crust from her eyelids.
"I see that Hipponaurs get eye boogers just like the rest of us."
Then the procrastinator decided to appreciate his own beauty for a while.
"Any time now, Companion," said Rovaun losing patience.
Ignoring him, Daniel gazed at the previously flawed face of the mare, now made perfect with eyes wiped clean. "Husband, do you suppose that I am truly perceiving my Hipponaur face as it exists right now? And if so, then how is it that I know what I look like?"
"I can answer the second question much easier than the first, Companion. Zhorelle never missed an opportunity to admire her reflection. She knew every hair on her body, and especially her face."
"Pardon me for saying so, but I think I know why. Husband, I am BEE-YOU-TEE-FULL!"
"Yes, you are, my Dear. Your external beauty is surpassed only by your inner beauty."
"So, my pancreas, kidneys, and gall bladder are just as gorgeous?" joked Daniel.
"If not more so."
"Then you must have felt pretty darn lucky eons ago when the Elders gave you Zhorelle for a bond mate."
"Luck had nothing to do with it. I did not wish to be Zhorelle's bond mate, which was why the Elders selected me."
Suddenly Daniel's feminine side took a hit to the groin. He turned to his mate. "Didn't you think that I... or rather, she was beautiful back then?" The man knew fully well that she probably looked exactly the same now as she did then.
"Companion," chuckled his mate, "All of Hipponaur are in unanimous agreement that Zhorelle's physical beauty ranks among the top one percent of Hipponaur mares. OF COURSE I thought she was beautiful! And that is why I wanted nothing to do with her. I did not want to suffer the wrath of my envious fellow stallions."
"I see... And did you suffer their wrath?"
"I still do."
"I'm sorry that I'm so lovely," grinned Daniel. He turned back to the mare who, for a brief moment, was grinning as well.
"Did you see that?" he gasped.
"See what?"
"My face... Danielle was smiling."
"It was probably gas."
"I don't think so..." Daniel's virtual eyes drilled into his equine orbits searching for life on another world. "Are you in there Danielle?"
The mare offered no further clues.
Mildly disappointed, Daniel sighed, "You're prettier than a 'Danielle,' anyway." He straightened her forelocks, making her look better than perfect. Then he lifted her head and turned it slightly in order to beautify her mane as well. As he brushed her neck with his hands, he kept thinking how amazingly smooth, black and glossy her coat was. And he wasn't the only one thinking lustful thoughts.
Rovaun nickered, and then both of the males saw her smile again. The smile vanished simultaneously with Daniel's perception of it. He turned to Rovaun and understood what caused her fleeting cheer: Her stud was semi-erect. Suddenly it all made sense.
"A mare likes to be told she is beautiful," he said under his breath, "by someone she respects."
Daniel stepped back. "Husband! Tell her how stunning she is, and make her and me believe it."
Agreeable to this simple task, the stallion walked up to her, then nickered and postured in equine language. He nuzzled and snorted softly, bobbing his head to rub against her. Then he raised up, holding high above her, as if to indicate it was now her move. The mare responded by lowering her head in submission. Then she tilted and leered up at him seductively.
"Hello, Danielle," grinned Daniel. The moment she heard that name, she went deaf and dumb.
The man raised his eyebrows to his mate. "Husband, Jerry was right! That bit in his story about giving her an identity."
"But she turns off when you refer to her by name, Companion."
"Because 'Danielle' isn't her name. It sucks! He was right about that, too. I don't like it, so she doesn't like it. She needs something with more pizzazz."
Daniel tenderly rubbed underneath the mare's chin, just as Jeremiah had instructed in his fictional fable. "Hello, Beautiful," he said, staring into her eyes. But the mare knew his words lacked sincerity, for she also knew his agenda. She did not stare back.
"I can't outsmart myself," he sighed.
"Try faith."
"Huh?"
"Instead of outsmarting yourself, Companion. Try believing in yourself."
"Easier said than done, Husband. In the back of my mind, I'll always know that I'm trying to be manipulative."
"Then don't be manipulative." The stallion nuzzled his mare again. "There is no need to manipulate such a creature as this, forever blessed with a face and body that can bring any stallion to his knees."
Rovaun got down onto his knees and nuzzled the insides of her front legs. "I love you, my dearest Companion," he whickered in that world famous silken voice, a voice that Daniel would always believe in.
The mare nuzzled the top of his head. It was a natural response that Daniel had expected, for how could she possibly ignore such a gesture from her mate. He watched and he finally understood. The mare was alive.
"What is your name?" he asked her sincerely. She looked up at him, but did not know the answer.
"I know it isn't Danielle."
She faded briefly but then recovered. Daniel walked up to her and scritched her mane. She remained conscious but was on the edge of retreating.
"You don't know your name, but I bet you'll recognize it when you hear it. It's got to be something unique. Something pretty. Something that does justice to your looks and persona."
The mare peered back at him in agreement.
"'Black Beauty'... no, too cliche. 'Black Gold'... hmmmmmm... no. 'Ebony Equine'... oh gawd, forgive me. Maybe something less overt. 'Night Mare'... nyet. 'Midnight Mistress'... ugh. 'Elvira!'... no, tits aren't big enough. Come on, Husband, help me."
"The only thing I can think of is [horny snort-grunt-pant-whinny]."
"How do you spell that?"
"With an exclamation point."
"Thank you, you're worthless, but something tells me we're close." Daniel put his hands on either side of her face. "You've got a name that is as perfect as you are."
By now Rovaun felt this exercise had become moot. The mare was alert, and she had remained alert, even when her identity for two seconds had been the atrociously forgettable 'Ebony Equine.' But Daniel understood the importance of getting this thing right. Out of respect for her, he continued to search for a name she deserved, a name that was appropriate, and a name she would be happy with.
"You know, don't you," he said to her. "You feel it too. We're close to solving this."
The mare was his reflection, staring back at him with eyes that agreed with him, eyes that were just as determined.
"Something pretty, but not saintly. Something mischievous perhaps, but not evil. Something that adequately depicts this can of worms that Shianna op..."
The man stopped in mid syllable. Rovaun looked up to see a grin broadening both human and mare cheeks alike.
"Uh oh," he said, standing up. "I can't wait to hear it."
Laughing with the enlightenment of a man who stole a bite from the Fruit of Knowledge, Daniel raised his face to the sun overhead, challenging the fireball's brightness with his own dazzlingly smile. "Not a can, Husband," he exulted. "Shianna didn't open a can!"
The bemused stallion didn't quite follow.
"Not a bottle, not a crate, not an egg carton..." burst Daniel. "Shianna didn't open any of those things! Shianna opened... her BOX!"
The man gave the mare a powerful hug and cried, "Happy birthday, Pandora."
Pandora pinned him tightly under her chin and whickered in gratitude.
"Congratulations, Companion!" whinnied Rovaun. "I love it!"
Human and mare hugged and rocked, whimpered and whickered together. Then they let go simultaneously. Daniel smiled at himself from both perspectives. "I'm not afraid of you anymore," he told her.
She nickered at him as if to say, 'Ditto.'
"Hee-hee-hee." He hugged her again and kissed her neck. "You can be as feminine as you like! Heck, maybe Shianna will be more attracted to you while I'm out here. Would you like that?"
The mare raised her head and whinnied. Daniel and Rovaun both laughed along with her.
"She is only agreeing with you because you agree with her," said Rovaun.
"I know, Husband, but suddenly I feel so invigorated. It's like my humanity has just increased a couple of notches. After we find Shianna, we'll have to hunt down Jerry and thank him. Then I'm going to throttle him until he spills his guts about all of the other useful secrets he's been keeping from me."
Rovaun chuckled. He, too, would personally thank Parceph's Companion for this gift. "I believe Jeremiah has already indicated that you might get better results using a carrot instead of a stick in that regard."
"You mean offer him my naked blindfolded virtual self in exchange for information?"
"Bingo."
"Okay, but only if you supervise."
"I would not miss it, Companion."
Daniel gleefully leapt into Pandora, then reared up playfully. "Ahh, it's great to be straight."
"You still find me attractive, Companion? No wandering eyes for a white mare?"
"Out of sight, out of mind, dear Husband." The mare pranced around her mate, then stopped behind him to stick her nose between his hind legs.
"Husband, do you know what's great about being a mare?"
"What is that, Companion?"
She opened her mouth and engulfed the stallion's balls.
"Having testicles!"
"Ha! Ha! Ha! A-MEN!
After savoring his stallion for a minute, the human emerged onto the mare's back and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Pandora, you are without question, the world's most beautiful Hipponaur. Would you mind taking me to Shianna, please?"
The mare whickered and started up in a slow gait. Rovaun came up alongside them and smiled proudly at the man on the mare. Daniel furled his eyebrows at him, informing him that he was being rather rude. Rovaun nodded and then smiled proudly at the mare as well.
"Do you think Pandora can manage a quicker pace, Companion?"
"Why don't you ask her?"
"Pandora," addressed Rovaun, "can you try to keep up with me?"
The mare snorted the equine equivalent of, 'Of course I can!'
"Very well... and by the way, I concur with your rider with respect to your unparalleled beauty."
Rovaun trotted off with his mare following close behind, while her virtual rider admired the bucolic countryside that was his paradise.
[End of _COMPANIONS_ Chapter 33: What Mares Know]
[Next in series: Chapter 34: Jeremiah's Secret]