FSE

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Chapter 23

"The fact that Theo was honest about the party proves that you can trust him, Roan," Kel said, looking at Roan with gentle eyes.

Roan nodded. "That's true . . ."

Kel, Zaldon, and Roan were downstairs, in the sitting room of Ceara's house. Ceara had already worked her magic on Roan: he sat on the couch between Zaldon and Kel, smelling of perfumed oils, his mane woven with brown feathers, and little gold studs in his ears. Around his throat hung a long necklace with a single beautiful green stone - a wedding gift from Kel and Zaldon.

Now Ceara was upstairs with Ohana and Yuri, and the two older females were helping Yuri get ready for the ceremony as they each shared their wisdom and advice. Roan wondered what Yuri looked like. No doubt she was beautiful. He hoped they hadn't pinned her mane up. She was so pretty with it down.

"What was it like when you got married, Zaldon?" Roan wondered. He looked at the great white wolf curiously. "I mean . . . were you scared that you couldn't trust Julyan?"

"Julyan? Cheat on me?" Zaldon chuckled. "I'm a prominent and powerful sorcerer. No doubt the males around town believe I would turn them to ash for even looking. Maybe I would." He chuckled again.

Kel frowned. "What has you so anxious, Roan? Did something happen? I do not believe Theo would cheat on you. Nor do I believe he would leave you. He has loved you a long time. Longer than you might realize."

Roan stared at his lap. Zaldon and Kel believed he was worried about Theo cheating on him, but the truth was, he'd asked them such questions because he had cheated on Theo twice now. Theo had forgiven him about Hukida, but his anger had lingered long after said forgiveness - and he was still pretty bitter about Yuri, Roan knew. Roan was terrified. He was terrified Theo might back out of the wedding.

Kel's words suddenly sank in, and Roan looked at his grandfather quickly. "Longer than I realize? What do you mean?"

Kel smiled. "I watched you and Zane grow up. I watched Theo too. The looks of longing, the eagerness, doing anything he could to be near you . . . And of course, you never noticed his feelings."

"Sounds like someone I know," Zaldon said with a laugh.

"I didn't know if you would return his affections," Kel went on, looking at Roan fondly, "but I hoped. Theo is a fine boy. You couldn't ask for a better mate." He patted Roan's knee.

Roan smiled and dropped his head on Kel's shoulder. Kel put his arm around him. They didn't notice it when Zaldon's black eyes softened. The white wolf watched them with a little smile, as if his heart was warmed by the scene.

"But how do I know I'm ready?" Roan said with anxious green eyes. "This isn't like at home. In the summer village, I'd just claim some female. Here . . . I have more choices. If I mess this marriage up - it's my fault!"

Kel and Zaldon laughed.

"Don't be afraid, Roan." Kel said after a pause. "My son didn't raise you to fear love. Get in there and try. Give it everything you have."

Roan nodded against Kel's shoulder.

"And if everything falls apart," Kel went on softly and rubbed Roan's arm, "know that your family is ready and waiting to support you. Know that love is always out there."

Roan closed his eyes. "Thank you, Grandfather."

Kel kissed his head. "You are welcome, Grandchild."

---

"You don't like the butterfly clip, do you?" Ohana said to Yuri, playfully suspicious.

Yuri was sitting at Ceara's vanity, in Ceara's bedroom, resplendent in a white one-piece gown that fell past her knees in frills. The back was low, and above the place where her tail poked through sat a large white bow tied in the shape of a flower. The front was low as well, and Yuri stared at the blue jewel that lay on her cleavage. Ceara and Ohana had done up her mane in an elegant bun that rolled up like a scroll on the back of her head. Some long blue tresses had been left loose near her eyes, and as a finishing touch, Ohana put the dreaded butterfly clip in Yuri's mane.

Yuri hated the butterfly clip. It had huge ugly pink jewels and looked cheap and tacky. But she looked at Ohana's beaming face in the mirror and didn't want to her hurt her feelings. Ohana was waiting. So Yuri bit her lip and squirmed.

"Oh, Yuri! We know you don't like it - just don't wear it!" laughed Ceara from the other side of the room. Finished with beautifying Yuri, she had kissed her cheek and gone to kneel on a cushion at a low table. On the table were dyes for nail dying, and she set to work opening bottles and filling bowls, selecting brushes of varying sizes and holding them up in the sunlight streaming through the window.

Ceara was Julyan's older sister, a female version of her brother, smiling and kind and with eyes the color of the ocean (after meeting Yaholo and seeing his ocean-colored eyes, Yuri was starting to suspect that Ceara and Julyan had river wolf ancestry - it would certainly explain why Ceara as so skilled with fishing spear and pole). When Zaldon's wives passed away, Ceara became the prominent mother figure in Yuri's life. As Yuri grew older, she wound up staying with Ceara for long periods at a time, and as a result, the two of them had become very close.

Yuri was glad to see that Ohana was laughing too. She sighed with relief and took the butterfly clip out of her mane. Her blue bangs tumbled free, cascading in her eyes.

"Silly girl," Ohana said, shaking her head. She took a smaller, more tasteful clip with pearls on it from the box on the vanity, and sweeping Yuri's long bangs back again, she clipped them to the side. "You can always be honest with me, Yuri. I'm not delicate. I can take it."

Yuri snorted. "I know you're not delicate," she returned, "that's why I'm afraid to be honest!"

Ohana laughed, delighted. "Yuri, Yuri . . ." She squeezed Yuri's shoulders and whispered playfully in her ear, "Only Kilyan has to fear me!"

Yuri giggled.

"We should have dyed your nails first, Yuri," Ceara said from the table. "While you were still naked."

"The dye is white," Ohana said, waving a paw. "So if it gets on the dress, it won't matter."

Ceara frowned at her work. "It will matter to me. I paid for it."

Ohana laughed.

"Come here you two. Let's put the finishing touches on our beautiful Yuri."

Ceara looked up and smiled as Yuri and Ohana came to her. They knelt on the cushions around the low table. Yuri placed her paws on the waiting towels and spread her fingers. She watched as Ceara and Ohana dipped incredibly tiny brushes into the bowls of dye and carefully began applying the color to her nails.

"I can't believe it." Ceara glanced up from her work, her ocean-colored eyes warm with joy. "My little Yuri is gone, and in her place, some pretty stranger!"

Yuri smiled. "Oh, Ceara! I'll always be your little Yuri."

"You're getting married, girl. You're Enya's little Yuri now."

"Nervous?" Ohana wondered. "Butterflies in your tummy?"

Yuri smiled: Ohana was teasing her about the mane clip. "I'll admit I had my worries. Enya can be . . ."

"Like her mother?" Ceara and Ohana said in unison.

Yuri laughed weakly. "Yes. I know I seem calm whenever we argue, but in my head . . . she's driving me crazy." Yuri frowned. "Is that normal?"

Ceara and Ohana looked at each other and laughed.

"Welcome to marriage, Yuri," Ohana said, shaking her head in amusement as she dripped her brush again.

Yuri looked at Ohana and thought she and Ceara had gotten themselves up very prettily for her wedding. Ceara's long mane was pulled in a low tail with a blue flower behind her ear, and around her throat was a choker of turquoise stones. Ohana's mane was woven with flowers and fell long and magnificent as usual to the small of her back. One flower was near her slanted eyes, and the white petals set off the pale gray color of them beautifully.

Given that Ceara was a sun wolf (and a peasant to boot), she was naked. But Ohana's breasts were wrapped in a white silk shawl with gold trim to match the gold studs on her ears. Ceara was also wearing gold studs in her ears - and one in her nose.

Yuri looked at Ceara and wanted to ask her what she should do about Enya, but she knew Ceara had never been married a day in her life. Ceara liked females and was content to live her life single, having casual sex at the baths or with females she met at village festivals. Even in her mid-fifties, Ceara was still living such a life - contently and unapologetically and in complete defiance of the sun tribe's custom to take a mate.

So Yuri looked at Ohana instead. "Ohana . . . what do you do? When you and Roan's dad fight?"

Ohana smiled mischievously. "I usually blame him for being a stupid male," she said with a laugh. She frowned as she applied the dye with a careful stroke to Yuri's pink nail. "But when you're a girl who likes girls, you lose the luxury of blaming the opposite sex for everything." She glanced at Yuri a little anxiously. "Are you and Enya fighting?"

"Kinda of," Yuri admitted heavily. "Enya is convinced I'm going to leave her for a male. She thinks she has to impress me with a strap-on --"

"My strap-on," Ceara interrupted.

"- or I'll leave her," went on Yuri, blushing a little when Ceara's amused eyes twinkled.

"So you liked my strap-on, eh?" Ceara said. "You know Zaldon was going to give that to me? I asked him to put a spell on it that would make it vibrate."

Yuri blushed harder. "I'm sorry, Ceara . . ."

"No, no," said the older female and her eyes twinkled now with mischief. "I'm glad it helped resolve some things for you and Enya."

"But it didn't," Yuri said miserably. "I liked the strap-on, so now Enya is convinced she's not good in bed unless she uses it."

Ohana looked at Yuri intently. "Is she good in bed?"

"Yes," Yuri said, wanting to sink into the floor and disappear as the older females watched her seriously. She hated to talk about sex with them, but if they could help her. . . . Yuri cleared her throat and pressed on. "I liked how things were before. I was happy. I can't seem to convince her of that, though."

Ceara and Ohana glanced at each other.

"Then this is what you do," Ohana said slowly. She set her brush on a waiting towel, and reaching across the table, she closed her paw on Yuri's arm. "On your wedding night, when Enya gets the strap-on, throw it out the window - then have sex without it."

"And not just any sex," Ceara added seriously. "Lick her pussy like you're dying of thirst. Make her squirt, Yuri. And you squirt too. And when it's over . . . she'll never have a doubt again."

Yuri lowered her long lashes. Her face was so hot, she thought she would melt. She had never squirted with Enya. Or with anyone. Whenever she thought she was going to, she always stopped Enya. The feeling was so intense, it frightened her.

Ohana laughed at Yuri's embarrassment. "Buck up, girl! We're saving your marriage!"

"As a matter of fact," went on Ceara, "I have a perfect toy for the two of you. It's a stone enchanted to vibrate. I bought it at the market after Zaldon gave away my leather friend. But I'll gladly give it to you - Ohana? Would you be a dear and go fetch my box from the drawer in the bedside table? You'll know it when you see it."

"Of course," Ohana said quietly and rose from the table.

When Ohana returned, she was carrying a small wooden box, carved with flowers and latched shut. She set it carefully on the table.

Ceara placed her brush on a waiting towel and opened the box, lifting the lid to show Yuri the small stone inside. The stone was flawlessly smooth and pink. It gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the window.

"To make it vibrate and heat up, lick it once. To turn it off, lick it twice," Ceara said quietly. "Press this baby on her clit while you're licking her. She'll gush. And she'll thank you . . . hopefully again and again."

"By making _you_gush," Ohana added. "It wouldn't hurt to touch her nipples with it too. Have you two tried anal play yet?"

Yuri wished her nails weren't wet with dye. She wanted to cover her face. "Thank you, Ceara," she managed at last. "And thank you, Ohana." She squeezed her eyes shut. "But do the two of you have to be so graphic?"

Ceara and Ohana laughed.

"You don't know what graphic is, girl," Ceara said, amused. She closed the box. "I wish your nails would dry already. I want to head over to the balcony, steal some of the booze before the ceremony."

Ohana laughed. "You're shameless!"

Yuri waved her paws and blew on her nails. "What do you mean," she said to Ohana, "she's just like you!"

Laughter filled the room.

After a while of laughing and talking pleasantly around the low table, Ceara announced that she was going to head to the balcony and help Julyan with the last minute decorations. Ohana shamelessly announced that she was going to pee: she didn't want to suddenly have to go in the middle of the ceremony, and she planned on doing a lot of drinking.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me," Ohana said as she went out the door after Ceara. "You stay here and think about your wedding night! And all the juicy things you're gonna do!"

Yuri laughed. Left alone with her wet nails, she glanced out the window. She, Ceara, and Ohana had been here all day. The sun was sinking lower in the sky. It was almost dusk. It was almost time!

Yuri closed her eyes happily, wishing her mother could be there for the ceremony. Yana would have dressed her mane up for her, brushed her fur and smoothed it with perfumed oils. Yana would have been there to do all the things Ceara and Ohana did. But Yana wasn't there. Yuri swallowed hard. Yanatiati . . . the name conjured the sweet scent of her mother's fur, her loving eyes, the warmth of her arms, her sweet singing in the dark hold of the ship . . .

Yana would sing lullabies to Yuri through the walls when she couldn't sleep. Tyne and the slavers always kept Yana and Yuri apart whenever they had captured them, because they knew Yana would never attempt to escape without her daughter.

Tyne. Yuri felt a little triumphant when she thought of Tyne and the moon chief now. Everything they had done to her had not destroyed her. She was happy and healthy and getting married! She would be ever grateful to Kilyan for making this clear to her. She smiled. Kilyan - who was only one of her many fathers.

"Yuri?"

Yuri looked up and her lashes fluttered: Roan was standing in the doorway. She thought he looked very fine and dignified in his wedding attire. His green eyes were dreamy as ever as they took her in. He smiled, coming slowly into the room.

"You look wonderful, Yuri!"

Yuri smiled. "Thank you. And you look very handsome."

Roan laughed and sat on a cushion opposite her across the table. "No, I don't. I've never looked handsome a day in my life. I feel damn pretty, though."

Yuri's eyes crinkled up with laughter. Roan had always been able to make her laugh. After witnessing her pain and grief when they were children, he'd always made it his personal mission to keep a smile on her face.

"So," Roan said, taking a deep breath, "are you ready?"

Yuri frowned. "You look nervous, Roan."

"I should be," Roan said a little miserably. "You were there, Yuri. You saw what happened . . . what I did . . ."

"Hasn't Theo forgiven you?"

"Yeah . . . but he's still so angry."

Forgetting her nails, Yuri rubbed a soothing paw over Roan's. "It'll take time, but he'll move on, Roan. Theo loves you. Don't forget that."

Roan smiled at her gratefully. He glanced down. "Oh! You smudged your nails!"

Yuri scowled and cursed in moon tongue: four of the nails had smeared.

"It's alright," Roan said, taking her paw. He gestured for her to lay her palm on his, then he dipped one of the brushes in a clear bowl of dye remover and carefully wiped the dye away before it could set. Yuri watched in fascination as he then took up another brush and started applying fresh dye.

"You're really good at that," Yuri said in a hushed voice. "You could do it professionally - do the nails of rich nobles and sorceresses and stuff. You'd make a lot of trade beads - maybe even coins."

Roan laughed dryly. "And I'd be privy to all the latest gossip and court intrigue. When a conspiracy arises, who do you think they'll go to for information? Or possibly kill . . ."

Yuri's eyes grew round. "I didn't think of that!"

"Yeah . . . I'd rather stay away from the court. Though you and Zaldon are drawing closer and closer, aren't you? Thanks to Talib." He frowned.

Yuri rolled her eyes. "Not you too!"

"You and Zaldon shouldn't be talking to him," Roan went on, frowning at his work. "I feel bad for Talib's niece and everything, but she has her father to care for her!"

"You just don't like Talib," Yuri said pointedly, "because he's king of the same wolves who tried to stone me and Enya. That's all it is!"

"Maybe," Roan muttered bitterly. "Do you know what it was like to see that happening to you?" He looked up from his work with eyes bright with fear.

Yuri's sable eyes softened. "Roan . . ."

"I never saw so much blood in my life," Roan went on, bowing his head again. He dipped the brush and applied another coat of dye to Yuri's index finger. "I saw Zaldon get hit in the face and blood fly - I saw Grandpa get stabbed! I saw Theo take a blow for me and fall in the dirt! And I saw Enya . . ."

In a pool of her own blood. With blood gushing from her head. With her foot twitching. Yuri swallowed hard and pushed the memories away. "But it's not Talib's fault," she said empathically.

"Sure," Roan returned sarcastically.

Yuri smiled at him. "Are you sure you're not just jealous? I know Zane hates him too. And Enya. The three of you are ridiculous."

Roan bit his lip. "It's not ridiculous. I had feelings for you once, Yuri. Real feelings." He glanced at her earnestly, and seeing the serious fervor in his eyes, Yuri thought his feelings were still there.

"Tyne told me you were a slave," Roan said into the silence.

Yuri's ears pricked forward. She felt the tears coming and willed them down. "Why would you believe anything that snake had to say?"

Roan shook his head. "Why would he lie to me? He looked like someone who had lost everything . . . or perhaps never had anything. What would he gain in lying?"

Yuri swallowed hard. She didn't have a rebuttal. "It's true," she muttered to the table. "But you can't tell Zane - and you especially can't tell Enya!"

"I can understand not telling Zane - but Enya? Yuri, she's your partner. She could support you --"

"I don't need support. I need to move on. All that matters now is the future. I want to live my life and I want to be happy - and I never want to think of the moon village again!"

Roan stared at her sadly a long moment: her throat was tight and her sable eyes shining with unshed tears. He set aside the brush, and taking up one of the small towels folded on the table, he dabbed her tears away before her eye makeup could run.

"Alright," he whispered. "I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Yuri's lashes fluttered and she sniffed miserably. "R-Roan?"

Roan folded the towel and set it aside. "Yeah."

"I love you, my brother."

Roan looked at her quickly. She was smiling through her tears. He smiled and laid his paw on the table. She placed her palm on his again, and he went back to fixing her nails.

"And I love you, Yuri. You know that I won't change." He laughed sadly. "Guess I'm not a great actor after all."

Yuri laughed too, but her face smoothed over with a serious expression. "I think Enya and Theo have . . ." She made a face. "They suspected us, but it's clear they've had sex! I've seen Theo looking at her!"

Roan laughed dryly. "It's because they have had sex."

"What!" Yuri said indignantly. Her pretty sable eyes narrowed. "I knew it! And Theo told you, but Enya never said a word to me!" she cried, sounding hurt.

Roan laughed dryly again. "Theo only told me this morning, Yuri. And we don't have any right to be angry with them: we've slept together. On top of that . . . we kept it a secret. We never told them. They had to figure it out on their own."

Yuri lowered her lashes guilty. That was true.

"So let's not let it ruin the day," Roan went on with a cheerful flourish of his brush.

Yuri laughed girlishly when he tossed the brush and expertly caught it. She watched happily as he continued putting the finishing touches on her nails. He'd done an excellent job - and had even added little black tips. Yuri stared, impressed. Roan was something of an artist.

"Them being attracted to each other could work to our advantage," Yuri said after a while. She gazed off thoughtfully. They had been talking about children for a year now. The original plan was to have Theo sleep with Yuri, who would carry their child. Enya had no desire to carry a child or go through the process of birthing it (as well as losing her trim waist), so the designated mother had always been Yuri. But now . . . Yuri smiled triumphantly.

Roan didn't look up, frowning with concentration as he applied the dye. "What do you mean?"

"We want children, don't we?" Yuri went on, a mischievous glint in her eye. "We want children and they want to have sex, so why not . . .let them?"

Roan looked at up at her and smiled slowly. "My wicked Yuri." He leaned over and kissed her cheek so hard, she giggled. "My wicked, wicked Yuri!"