Chapter 29: Marching on the Jungle
#29 of The Mating Season 5
Chapter 29: Marching on the Jungle
The storm clouds cleared and the moon and stars came winking overhead. Wynn awoke with a light heart after her dreams of Sylas the day before. After confessing his love for her, that he had always loved her and always would, Sylas held Wynn the day through and whispered to her the wonders of the fox kingdom. Light, misty rains came in Miras Eii, raising steam among the great flowers and vines, splashing dew upon the rosy fruits and conjuring from the birds the sweetest songs of thanksgiving. The fish leapt in the streams and the ponds were deep and mysterious and the cave floors were covered in lush moss and flower beds. The earth was warm long into the night after day had gone, and the rustling of the tall grass was like the sound of reed pipes. Sylas told Wynn these things in a hushed voice as she cuddled against him, loving the sound of his voice and the boyish wonder, the joy that was in it.
When Wynn awoke that night in her father's camp, her heart was soaring. She had always known that Sylas loved her, but to have him actually act upon it - to have him hold her and kiss her and speak in that doting voice - had somehow confirmed it to alarming heights. For the first time in her life, she was afraid of love. Because for the first time in her life, she had given in to it. Completely, she had surrendered. She had never belonged to Inden to way she now belonged to Sylas. It was wonderful and terrible all at once. And . . . she was glad.
The group rolled up their sleeping furs and set out, and no one seemed to notice the gleeful change in Wynn - no one except Inden, who watched Wynn out of the corner of his eye with a barely concealed misery. He was well aware, after all, that Sylas could love Wynn in ways that he could not. He had known it for years, and it was the very reason that he hated Sylas so. Sylas had everything to offer Wynn, and what did Inden have? Just his promises. Promise after promise that one day they would be married and one day he would make love to her and one day, one day, one day. But those promises, apparently, had not been enough. For Wynn there had always been an urgency in the now. Wynn always wanted it now or she wouldn't be satisfied.
But however much Inden resented Sylas, he was happy for Wynn if she was happy with another. He was glad that Wynn seemed to have finally found what she was looking for. But at the same time, Inden worried a great deal that Wynn was walking out of his life so completely. He could bear the fact that she loved Sylas. It was being without Wynn that was killing Inden everyday. Watching her back as she walked ahead of him, he realized she was the best friend he'd ever had. And . . . he didn't know what he'd do without her.
They moved steadily along the shore, walking toward the distant jungle and following the raw scent of its steamy leaves and vines. Kilyan could see already the great cliffs that towered beyond the jungle, could spy the looming statues of scowling wolf heads that had frowned upon his journey of so many years ago as he passed beneath with Keeno slumped over his back.
It was a windy night, and the sea sprayed a chill through fur and mane as they marched in a line. The sky itself seemed to frown upon their path, a silent warning that nothing but trouble was ahead.
The closer they drew to that wild and mysterious place, the harder Kilyan's heart beat in his chest. For the first time in years, he would see Avi again. And what would he say to her? What would he do? Ohana had practically told him to come back with Avi or not to come back at all, and he remembered Lea's tears with a pang of misery. Kilyan knew Ohana was right, after all: there was a hole in their family, and because of Avi. Avi did not belong in the jungle, no matter what she said about loyalty to her shemales and doing her duty and tradition. Avi belonged where her heart belonged: at home with Kilyan and Lea and Ohana, at home where she should have watched Wynn grow from a mischievous little girl to a beautiful young female, at home where she was missed and loved.
But what was Kilyan going to do? Throw Avi against her will over his shoulder and march off? Shemales were strong - very strong. If Avi didn't want to go, there would be little Kilyan could do to force her. Her shemales would very likely cut off his dick before they let their queen be taken, and then there was the matter of Elora, their young princess and heir.
Kilyan smiled to himself as he thought of his second daughter. Surely, Avi had birthed a little shemale, a child with both sets of sexual organs, with Avi's silver fur and mane and the same black ears. Elora would be six now, and she would come bursting from the circle of village huts to tackle her father to the ground - her father, who Avi had told her so many stories about. She would come pelting out, squealing, "DADDY!" and Kilyan would laugh as he was taken down by his tiny daughter's shemale strength, and they would hug, and he would tell Elora how beautiful she was and how much he had missed her without even knowing her and how as soon as he talked to Mommy, they were both coming home with him.
Yeah. Kilyan dreamed like that all the way to the jungle. But when they reached the jungle, it was a different story.