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Let's Get Married

Chapter 32

After her meeting with Ti'uu, Aina's tribe seemed to prosper and thrive all the more. They asked her if they now had permission to begin digging burrows, and Aina kept the sorrow from her face as Ti'uu's words came back to her. The spirit had warned her that her tribe was going to die, and yet somehow, she was going to live. If they were truly going to die, she was not going to allow them to spend their last days in labor. She lied, telling them instead that Great Ti'uu Bird had commanded them to rejoice in their survival, to cast off their mourning and live. With music and dance they celebrated and each night held a feast in honor of the great Ti'uu spirit.

A traveling merchant passed Homyn Willow Wood on the road, and Eldon and Chauncey traded with him for ale and a few instruments. They returned to share their purchases with the tribe, and the rejoicing was only redoubled for it.

Chauncey danced around the fire with a young vixen Aina knew as Neeki. Neeki's paws and feet were black, as was her incredibly long mane and the tip of her thick tail. She had been given in marriage to a male who had arrived from another tribe during a gathering. The male took one look at Neeki and fell in love with her. She had only been his wife for a day when the dogs razed the forest. According to Nhlahla, Neeki's husband died defending her. As was custom, she cut her long black mane in mourning and refused to join the dancing for the first three nights. Chauncey seemed to take especial pity on her. Tonight he finally convinced her to dance, and as she giggled and spun in his arms, he startled them both when he suddenly kissed her.

Aina watched from a distance, smiling to herself as several heads turned to appraise that sudden kiss. Chauncey apologetically backed away, but with sudden passion, Neeki grabbed his jacket and yanked him close in a kiss. The surrounding foxes laughed and cheered as Chauncey surrendered, sinking with Neeki to the grass as their heads twisted.

Big Sampson sat on a log near yet another fire, allowing little girls to braid his mane with saintly patience. The foxes whispered and laughed to see the big beast tamed by tiny red cubs, who leapt about him giggling and yanking his tail. They explored his jacket, tapped their little fingers on his breastplate, looked inside his ears, and climbed his back, and he endured it all with a patience that amazed Aina, gently prying the children off his tail when he wanted to stand, allowing them to crowd his lap or examine his fangs.

Sampson, however, was not the only one who had been accosted by curious children. The fox cubs were fascinated by Evelyn's white fur and mane. They took her out to the river one morning, and when she returned, Aina laughed to see they had painted her with the clay there. A circle had been drawn around Evelyn's left eye, and tiny paw prints scattered across her neck, ears, and shoulders. They had ripped the sleeves off her riding coat and had even taken her boots. When Aina laughingly asked after the boots, Evelyn grinned and explained that they had all waded barefoot into the shallows. The children stole her boots to prank her, but when they decided to give them back, they couldn't find them.

Aina was surprised by just how much of her language Evelyn knew. The duchess could pick out enough familiar words to interpret entire sentences and her pronunciation - while not perfect - was quite excellent. Whenever the elderly foxes tried to insult her for being a dog, she was always quick to flip the insult back in their faces with the revelation that she understood them perfectly. Shocked that a "dog bitch" could understand them at all, the elders would hobble away, completely flabbergasted.

Aina could only assume that old Fassil had taught Evelyn their language. She explained to Aina during her travels that she had known Fassil her entire life. The elderly fox had been serving her family for centuries and had cared for her and Gentle Eyes when they were children. Hearing this, Aina could only suspect that Fassil was the reason Evelyn had come to adore foxes and their culture. The sly on fox had sown seeds of tolerance among the powerful dog lords, probably in the hope of seeing some change for the better. Or maybe . . . maybe he sincerely loved Evelyn as his own. The latter seemed more likely.

At the moment, Evelyn was sitting beside Aina around one of the many fires, still painted with clay and clapping her paws as she watched the dancing. She elbowed Aina every now and then, pointing to something funny she wanted her to see.

Lenard sat beside Evelyn, looking nervous as he chewed his lip behind his mustache. Aina knew he was scared stiff of asking Eldon to dance. But he wanted to ask. Desperately. He tapped his boot to the beat, shaking his head in polite decline each time a young fox maiden asked him to dance.

Easygoing Eldon sat across the fire from them, playing a flute as the merriment roared around them. Every now and then, his smiling eyes would glance over at Lenard, and having been caught in the act of staring, Lenard would hastily drop his eyes away.

"Oh! Just go ask him already!" Aina burst irritably.

Lenard almost leapt out of his fur. "I - I'm sure I don't know what you mean," he said, clearing his throat. His mouth fell open and he sputtered when Aina leapt from her seat, and yanking him to his feet, she dragged him over to Eldon.

Eldon stopped playing and got to his feet when Lenard finally faced him. The captain fidgeted nervously, but Eldon was smiling.

"Would you like to dance, Captain?" Eldon bowed graciously.

"I . . . that is . . ." Lenard heaved a long sigh. "God, yes."

Eldon laughed. He put his arm around Lenard, and the captain smiled as he was whisked around the fire. Aina went back to her seat and watched them a moment. She could feel Evelyn's smiling eyes on her.

"What is it, mi shile?" Aina said. She grabbed a nearby bottle of ale and drank.

"That was sweet," Evelyn said happily. "Poor Lenard is so shy. Just why he wants a right bastard_like Eldon is beyond me," she said, scrunching up her nose. "But still . . . _look at them. How happy they are."

Aina looked. Indeed, Lenard and Eldon did seem very happy. Lenard's nerves had melted away, and now he was at his ease, laughing as Eldon cracked one of his infamous jokes.

"Would _mi sihle_like to dance?" Aina said, smiling sideways at her lover.

Evelyn sighed. "I have attended so many balls and soirees where dances were all about milking gossip and stepping on some other girl's skirts. The dancing was never honest, and it was never done for the sake of just . . . dancing."

Aina nodded darkly and took another drink. That was about what she had expected from dogs and their petty politics.

"I once danced with a fellow," Evelyn went on, "who spent the entire dance trying to box me into a corner about his marriage proposal. He was a prince of some kingdom out in the desert, and I was damned if I was going to live way the hell out there with my mane frizzing up in the heat."

Aina laughed.

"I spent the entire dance being demure and fluttering my lashes. He took it as playing hard to get. Finally fed up, I told him I was dying of consumption. He couldn't get away from me fast enough. He was so frightened of catching something that he blamed the king for not warning him of the epidemic spreading in our country. It started a short-lived war with the crown. But at least I got out of the marriage."

Aina grinned. "You are enormously terrible." She smoothed Evelyn's lip with her thumb, then suddenly kissed her, tongue and all.

Evelyn shrugged, a little flustered from the kiss. "It took all the fun out of the dance." She took the ale from Aina and drank deeply. "It always did. Every. Single. Time. But foxes . . ." She smiled. "They dance for the joy of it. It is . . ." She shook her head, watching with bright eyes as the foxes spun about in the moonlight. "Absolutely brilliant."

Aina cleared her throat and rose from her seat. Evelyn's lashes fluttered when she bowed and offered her paw. "Would the lady do me. . . . how you say? Do Aina the honor of a dance?"

Evelyn jerked her chin and tossed her curly mane as she slipped her little paw in Aina's. She cocked an imperious brow. "I would gladly do you more than that, my lady."

Aina smiled and pulled Evelyn to her feet. She placed her paw uncertainly on the small of her back, imitating the strange manner in which Eldon and Lenard were dancing. She wanted to do it the way dogs did, so that Evelyn would feel something familiar, something like home. But Evelyn shook her head and took Aina's paws and insisted that they dance the way the foxes did: with reckless joy and wild abandon.

"Faster!" Evelyn cried breathlessly as they spun.

Aina grinned, wishing they never had to stop.

Paw in paw, they hopped around the fire, manes flying, grins wide, eyes bright with girlish laughter as their breasts trembled with every spin. Aina's heart was thudding to the music, roaring in her ears, and when she caught Evelyn's slender waist close in her arms, she could feel her lover's heart beating as one with hers. She looked into Evelyn's happy blue eyes, and the smell of her, the heat of her, the warmth of her was suddenly all consuming. Evelyn's heartbeat became the rhythm of the dance, guiding Aina's feet as she spun her lover to the end of her arm. She watched Evelyn's mane tossing, her breasts bouncing, and the bright joy on her face made her heart soar.

Because she was the reason for that joy.

As the music came to a thunderous end, the foxes burst into applause and cheered to the stars. Aina sat hard on a log near the fire, and Evelyn sat with her, falling in her lap. Breathless and mussed, the taller female put her slender arm around Aina and kissed her tenderly. Aina could feel the gratitude in that kiss . . . and the gentle, imploring love. She smoothed her small paw along the line of Evelyn's jaw and kissed her back, slipping her wet tongue against hers. Their lips slowly tasted, their heads twisted, and Aina closed her eyes, loving the soft white curls as she pushed her fingers through them, loving the feel of Evelyn's breasts heaving against her own.

"Ewwww!" cried a voice.

Aina and Evelyn looked around to see the little boy Evelyn had given her sandwich only days before. His name was Zalelew, he was nine, and he thought girls were icky. Especially when they were kissing each other. He hopped from foot to foot, tail waving, as he pointed an accusatory finger and cried again, "Ewww!"

Evelyn smiled, her arm still around Aina as she regarded the boy in amusement. "What's so ucky this time, Zalelew?"

Zalelew shook his head, face twisted in disgust. "Duh! You were kissing! Why would you kiss each other? You'll get cooties."

Aina laughed. "Maybe I _want_cooties."

Zalelew's eyes grew round. "You're crazy! Girls are crazy!"

Aina and Evelyn laughed.

Zalelew regarded them with thoughtful gray eyes. His mane was long and red like his fur, and unlike most foxes, he had no "socks." His bare feet were red, as were his paws, and he wore a deerskin skirt that was torn and singed. Aina knew his mother was in the process of making him a new one. She wondered sadly if he would live to receive it.

"Are you . . .?" Zalelew's curious eyes darted over them. "Are you gonna get married?"

Aina saw Evelyn blush scarlet. "Why would you ask that?" Aina scolded the boy, her arm tight around Evelyn, as if to shield her from embarrassment.

Zalelew shrugged. "Because when two adults kiss, it means they're gonna get married. And then they _always_have cubs. Will you have cubs? Will you name them after me?" His face brightened. "Will do you what my dad does to my mom? He puts his face between her legs and she screams --"

"Zalelew!" shouted the boy's horrified mother, who was not far away with his equally horrified father.

Zalelew's ears flattened and he ran to his parents, who immediately scolded him.

Aina glanced at Evelyn, who looked as if she wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. She laughed. "Why so embarrassed, mi sihle?" She nuzzled her nose in Evelyn's neck. "I love to make you scream . . . nothing to be ashamed of."

Evelyn looked at her sadly. "We'll never have cubs, you and I. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could?"

Aina closed her eyes, hiding her face in Evelyn's mane. "Yes. Amazing . . ." she said unhappily.

Evelyn frowned. "Don't you want children? I've always wanted to be a mother . . ." She gazed off and shook her head. "More than anything."

Aina looked at her sympathetically and kissed her cheek, hoping to kiss the sadness away. "Maybe one day you will be," she said soothingly and swallowed hard, trying not to think of the child Ti'uu had fathered on her.

Evelyn's happy blue eyes crinkled up in a smile. "Careful what you say! I might just adopt one the adorable little cubs bouncing around here. And then what would you do?"

"Refugee north?"

Evelyn laughed. Her long lashes blinked and she smoothed her paw over Aina's. "Lily . . . I found some paintings in the ruins. I want you to see them."

Aina's eyes hooded. After her meeting with Ti'uu, she wasn't certain she wanted to see any paintings. The spirit bird had only confirmed her worst nightmares: that her ancestors were monsters who deserved what the dogs had done to them. Still, Ti'uu had also told her that some of her ancestors were honorable.

Aina glanced at Evelyn, who waited, happy and flushed. Like everyone else, Evelyn was laboring under the delusion that Ti'uu was going to protect them and that everything would be alright forever and always. If only it were that easy.

Evelyn took Aina's paw. "Please, darling?"

"Alright, mi sihle." Aina smiled. "But only because you used sad puppy eyes."

Evelyn laughed.

They rose and left the fire, and Aina allowed her lover to lead her away through the ruins, through the silent statues and broken pillars, until the music and laughter was a distant roar. They came to a dark stair, and with a wave of her paw, Aina conjured a ball of blue light to guide their way.

As they descended the stair, Evelyn confessed that she had been coming there each night since Aina spoke to the Ti'uu bird.

Aina made a scolding nose. "Tch. I told you not to disturb the ruins. They are sacred."

"I'm sorry," Evelyn said and flattened her ears. "But I find it all . . . fascinating. That your gods actually exist and actually protect your tribes! We worship a King Shepherd we call the Holy Father and Creator of the world. It's believed he was once mortal, that he ordained dog rule over the land, and that . . . King Bastian is descended from him." She swallowed unhappily, and Aina saw her paw pass absently over her womb.

Aina turned her eyes away. "Do you go to a place like E'cru when you die?"

They met the bottom of the stair and turned down a dark passage. Aina could hear water dripping in the distance. In truth, she hated such ruins. They were always pitch dark and filled with spiders. She touched her paw to an empty sconce as they went, and her blue light lit the hall in a shimmering bubble. The walls and floor were glossy from the rain. Evelyn's bare feet splashed softly as they walked, Aina's boots thumped.

"Ee . . . crew?" Evelyn tried curiously. "Is it like Heaven?"

"What's Heaven?"

"They say that dogs go to Heaven when they die." Evelyn laughed. "Actually, they say that all_dogs go to Heaven, for the Holy Father is ever _merciful."

"But you don't believe that," said Aina, noting the derisive tone in Evelyn's voice.

Evelyn scowled. "Well, it sort of cheapens life, doesn't it? To say that what you do here doesn't matter? That you're forgiven just like that? That means I could stab seventy children in the eye and still go to Heaven."

"No one goes to E'cru," Aina said, and Evelyn frowned sadly. "E'cru is the place of spirits. Only mortals who receive favor can go there after death. This life is the only life."

"That's sad," Evelyn whispered and took Aina's paw.

Aina glanced sideways at her and smiled. "No. It is what gives this life meaning. However short, however long, you live it the best you can. You learn to rejoice in the little things, rejoice harder in the bigger things. Because it can all end." She looked away, thinking of her tribe. "Just like that."

They fell silent as they passed through the corridor. Evelyn's paw was warm as it held to Aina's. Aina felt the foxhound's tail twine around her own and smiled at the little comfort.

"Here it is," Evelyn breathed.

They halted, and Evelyn turned to a large mural on the wall. With a soft breath, Aina made the light hovering over her paw swell. As light spread along the wall to reveal the mural, she gasped at what she saw.

The mural depicted two tribes of foxes struggling in great battle. One tribe was white, the other red. A third tribe was gray and lay in piles of corpses across a bloody battlefield. Fallen palaces and towers stood jagged in the background, as did columns of smoke and spears dangling with bloody fox corpses. Fire danced across the red sky, and in the distance, an army of dogs approached, gleaming in silver armor, swords held ready. Aina's heart stopped when she noticed the blue bird that soared above the heads of the dogs, as if guiding them to battle.

"I know," Evelyn whispered into the silence. "I saw the bird and realized . . . it must be true. At least some of it."

Aina didn't answer. Evelyn didn't know at all. She didn't fully understand what she was looking at. But the mural . . . it sent a chill through Aina. It was Ti'uu. It was Ti'uu all along! Or at least one of his spirit "kin." The spirits decided the foxes were unworthy and sent the dogs to "eradicate" them. And for hundreds of years, foxes lived in fear of the hunt. Foxes lived in fear of becoming pelts. Foxes lost loved ones, children, wives, and husbands to the dogs and their bloodlust.

Aina suddenly turned away. She felt betrayed by her own god. But she was certain that, somewhere, Ti'uu did not care.

"It looks like Ti'uu is flying toward the foxes, to rescue them from . . . us," Evelyn said apologetically behind her. "But he didn't get there in time."

Aina closed her eyes, glad that Evelyn didn't know enough to interpret the true meaning of that mural. A long time ago, some angry fox painted it, an attempt to preserve the truth, even in this submerged and forgotten place. No doubt foxes had continued to misinterpret what was there, even as Evelyn was misinterpreting it now.

"Why show me this?" Aina muttered. She swallowed when Evelyn touched her shoulder.

"I believe in your Ti'uu bird. We were wrong to hurt your kind and our religion is just as. I believe that Ti'uu is real. And not only real but a good force in this world. I want to . . . convert."

Aina turned to her. "What?"

"I want to convert to your culture," Evelyn said, blue eyes wide and earnest. "Then you could stay with your tribe and care for them. Ti'uu willed it, didn't he? You could . . . marry me," she said and blushed as she drew near. "And I could become . . ."

Aina shook her head and pinched the curl near Evelyn's cheek. "Oh, mi sihle," she whispered. "You could never become one of us."

Evelyn's face darkened. "Why not? Dogs merging into your society is the perfect beginning! Others could learn from us, and true peace could begin --!" Evelyn folded her arms unhappily. "Stop laughing at me."

"You are cute when you care," Aina said, amused. "But you can not heal a thousand-year wound by having a few dogs shack up with some foxes." She turned and made her way back toward the stairs.

Evelyn followed, mane bouncing with the stamp of her bare feet. "If that is so, then we are truly lost!"

_No, we're not,_Aina thought and passed a discreet paw over her womb. She stopped at the stair and turned to face Evelyn. "Alright," she said.

Evelyn's brows went up in surprise. "Alright?"

Aina smiled. "Let's get married."