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Dan threw himself out of bed in a frantic bid to escape the huge spiders that he'd just watched crawl out of the mutilated corpses of his best friends. Half-blind with panic, his fingers scrabbled across the wall, frantically searching for the bathroom door.

The door! Where was the fucking door? In yet another cruel trick, his subconscious mind had removed the only exit from this horrible nightmare. He tried to extend his claws to scratch through the wall panel, but his paws had become ineffective, almost delicate little sapiens hands which were useless for fighting.

Something behind him rustled the sheets and Dan whirled, choking back the quavering moan of terror that would have betrayed his position in the dark room.

"Babe? You all right?"

The voice was familiar to him. It was kind and concerned, and it was safe. Hearing it brought calm to the storm, and Dan's mind began to clear. He had no claws because he was not varius, and the bathroom door was not where he expected it to be because this was not their bedroom. All was as it should be, he realized, the sudden relief stealing his bones.

It was just another dream. There were no spiders, there was no death, just a perfect vacation that he'd do anything to avoid ruining for his mate. "Yeah," he croaked out, clamping down on his side of their bond. "I've got to pee and I can't find the bathroom." The excuse sounded weak even to his ears, but he didn't want Bo to know he'd had another bad dream.

Bo didn't move. He knew Dan had just awoken from another nightmare, from one of HIS nightmares. He wanted to apologize, to beg Dan's forgiveness, to throw himself at the man's feet and grovel in shame for the havoc his subconscious was wreaking, but to do so would only make Dan feel more guilty so Bo played along with the deception. "The bathroom's on this side." He could think of nothing he could do for Dan, so he slowly laid back down, his head pushed into the expensive feather down pillow by the crushing weight of his guilt.

Dan closed the door behind him and ran water in the sink, washing the sweat from his face with richly-scented milled soap and fresh-smelling towels. He contemplated taking a shower to remove the cold sweat from his body, but ended up just running the damp hand towel over his skin and drying his hair with the blow-dryer hanging on the wall. When he felt human again, he turned off the light and went back into the bedroom. He sat on the side of the mattress but did not immediately climb back in bed.

Bo's almost whispered voice seemed loud in the otherwise silent room. "Will you come back to bed?"

"Yeah, Boo," he said, quietly. "In a minute." Right now he wanted to be anywhere but in that bed, but Dan knew that his mate needed him there. He needed to show Bo that he would never stop loving him even if the dreams never stopped. And he needed to pretend that he didn't realize how thoroughly Bo was beating himself over the head for something that was out of his control.

Dan rarely had more than one nightmare a night. It was entertaining to think that perhaps the gods had grown bored with torturing him and had busied themselves pulling the wings off of someone else's flies, but his brain had probably just run out of whatever biochemical substance was responsible for such morbidly vivid imagery.

The sheets rustled quietly and a warm, black-furred handpaw came out to find his on the bed. Softly, tenderly, the thick pads rubbed over his more delicate sapiens skin, reminding Dan how much Bo loved him, and of how much he loved Bo in return. It took a little while, but once Dan's heart rate slowed to normal he returned to his usual spot in the bed, his back nestled into the curve of Bo's belly, the battle-varius' thick arms pulled protectively around him. He was safe here, he reminded himself - safe from anything the world could throw at him - protected by the most capable killing machine the world had ever known.

But even Bo couldn't protect him from Bo.

Once his mate was once again snoring contentedly, Dan loosed himself from his grip and rolled out of the king-sized bed, careful not to jostle his partner awake. Glancing back, Dan smiled in the darkness. Although he was still asleep, Bo slowly stretched out, unconsciously searching for Dan's warmth. Dan took one of the pillows he'd been using and put it in the varius' arms, watching with great affection as the man drew it close and nuzzled it contentedly before sinking back beneath the warm, sleepy waters.

The clock on the information center read 0208 which, when adjusted for his accustomed time zone, was a little after oh-five-hundred, late enough that Dan thought he should just stay awake. The room felt stuffy to him and his legs were impatient, so he pulled on the first clothing that came to hand and, after tapping out a quick note on the room's bulletin board, left their cabin to explore the ship.

The corridors were essentially unoccupied at this early hour, allowing Dan free rein to walk wherever he wished and to think without distraction. He should have known that being back in space would trigger the nightmares, but hope had won out over his common sense.

As he passed by the ship's chapel, he noticed that, like all of the other doors leading into rooms built against the ship's hull, this one had no windows. This one though, at least, made an effort to disguise that fact with an internally illuminated piece of stained glass inset in its surface. His curiosity piqued, Dan put a hand on the door. He expected that it would be locked, but to his surprise, it opened at his touch.

Lights automatically illuminated the space, bright enough that he could see his way but not so brilliantly that it overwhelmed the natural intensity of the stars shining through the huge half dome. Dan stood at the epicenter of the room, bathed in the distant light of a million far-away suns. It struck him that for his entire life he'd been under the light of his own sun, and now he was mere hours away from seeing something he'd always dreamed of: he would see by the light of an alien star!

Dan felt a sense of wonder flow through him like he hadn't felt since his childhood. He stretched out his arms to the cosmos and felt as if he might be only millimeters away from touching the face of God. Staring out into the inky blackness of space, he lowered his mental shields and reached out with his mind. The velvety blackness of an empty mental void contained a single jewel. A hot spark burned against the blackness, and although it was small he still recognized it instantly as Bo, asleep in their cabin. He reached out and touched the restless pinprick of light and watched as it settled, content to sense someone it loved. He withdrew gently, pulling his awareness back into his own body.

Dan put his book on the countertop of the small serving station at the back of the chapel and examined the dispenser for something that might help calm his nerves. He was amused to see that it had buttons for several different wines; white, red, and "Sacramental." He stopped searching when a button marked, "Tea, Green, Hot" came into view.

Taking the steaming cup from the machine and stirring some sugar into it, he sat on the other side of the bar as he looked at his book. He'd come into this room hoping to find a quiet place to read, to distract him from the disgustingly morbid dreams Bo's subconscious had pushed into his mind. Unfortunately, his book wasn't sufficiently interesting to do the trick. Shutting it off, he allowed his gaze to wander the room.

When his eyes settled on the podium at the front of the room, another, better activity suggested itself. His brain needed tranquility far more than it needed distraction, and a half-hour of seated meditation seemed like the perfect way to achieve that. Dan had first learned to meditate in college, but hadn't learned how to do it correctly until a dozen years later. His practice had been sporadic until bonding with Bo, at which point it had become an essential part of his daily routine. Sharing thoughts with your bondmate was a grand and glorious thing, until it wasn't anymore. Once you were ready to regain your sense of self, meditation helped to re-establish the barriers which the bond was so effective at stripping away.

The chapel was a nearly perfect place for Dan to practice. The plush carpeting absorbed most of the noises that were constant reminders that you had sealed yourself inside a large metal tube and were hurtling through the vacuum of space at a hundred thousand miles per hour, only millimeters away from certain death. The arc-shaped expanse of clear plastiglass mimicked a clear night sky, and provided him something eminently peaceful to look at while contemplating his own mortality.

Dan pulled an upholstered cushion off a couch at the back of the room and sat on it cross-legged, facing the window. Normally he had little trouble achieving the mental state which allowed his mind to calm itself, but today that peace eluded him. His nightmare had been exceptionally vivid, and as much as Dan coveted the tranquility that meditation would bring, it would not come.

He was close to giving up when a voice from behind him startled his eyes open. "I can help you with that, if you want."

"Hello, Victus," Dan said, quietly. "You're up early."

"You are as well," the Kenzine replied. "I heard a commotion in your room and was concerned that something had happened."

"It's kind of you to worry," Dan sad, carefully. "But it's okay. There's nothing wrong." He had to wonder why a Kenzine Protector, the samurai of the modern world, would care in the slightest whether he lived or died.

Victus nodded his head, but lingered for a moment as if sensing Dan's unease. "My concern is not entirely altruistic," he admitted. "If you had been hurt, whatever attacked you might attack the Negin as well."

Dan thought that explanation sounded more plausible. "It's nothing dangerous," he said, "just a nightmare, and I couldn't go back to sleep."

Again, Victus nodded. "You have them often?" he asked, after a moment.

"Yes," Dan said, simply. It made Bo uncomfortable to let anyone else know about his - their - night terrors, but their friend Sam had seemed to trust the Kenzine, so Dan thought that they might, too. "A friend back on Earth has suggested that you might be willing to help," he said, hopefully.

Victus's eyes narrowed slightly. The Kenzine maintained a very low profile. So low, in fact, that many people either regarded them as mythical creatures no more real than unicorns or elevated them to almost godlike status. He doubted that this man in front of him had realistic expectations of him. Still, he was here, Dan was here, and he could see little reason not to try. "If I can help you I will," he said, "but I will not guarantee you success."

Dan didn't trust his voice to maintain the tranquility of the moment, so he simply edged backwards on the platform, making room for Victus in front of the curved observation window which looked out over a blanket of stars.

Victus respected Dan's desire for silence, and the only sounds he made as he assumed the lotus position across from the man were the shushing noises of fur against cloth. Once he was seated comfortably, he broke the silence using a voice so unobtrusive that it almost seemed as if he hadn't spoken at all. "Palms out. Close your eyes. Breathe, and set free the tension you are holding." Although Dan could never remember any of his meditation instructors using those exact words, they carried an oddly familiar ring.

Dan complied, shaking the tension out of his wrists and arms before resting hands on knees. After centering himself, he slowly turned his palms upwards to demonstrate to the wolf that he had listened and was ready.

The Kenzine's voice was smooth like river water flowing over rounded rocks. "I think you probably know what you are doing where meditation is concerned, so I am going to let you do your own thing for five minutes, or so. I will keep time, so your concentration can be on opening your mind." Vic put a paw over his comm and made a suggestion. "It may help you to keep your eyes open, and let the vastness of space be your object of meditation." When he sensed that Dan was ready, the touch of a button sent the dulcet tone of a temple bell ringing out through the air.

The duality of the bell intrigued Dan. The sound of a ringing temple bell had no business resounding through a wedding chapel millions of miles away from the nearest Buddhist monastery, but at the same time it seemed curiously correct to hear it while staring out at the eternal vastness of space. As the tone died out, Dan's active thoughts faded with it, and by the time its vibrations had left the air his mind was adrift in the emptiness - and fullness - of the space surrounding the ship.

A second ringing of the bell brought Dan back to awareness, and he opened his eyes to the same field of stars he'd been contemplating moments earlier. He didn't remember closing his eyes, and he didn't think that he'd fallen asleep either. It had been...different. "Look at me, Dan," Victus requested, in that same almost-not-there tone. Turning to face the Kenzine, who didn't appear to have moved, Dan felt refreshed and open.

"I need to touch your face for this," Victus warned. "Are you comfortable with that?"

Dan smiled gently at the suggestion and leaned forward slightly in answer. Almost every varius touch he'd ever received had been peaceful and kind, and he welcomed the contact.

Victus reached out to him with one paw, placing his pads on nerve centers located behind Dan's cheek and forehead which would allow him to form a rudimentary healing bond with the man. Reaching out similarly with his mind, Victus created a surprisingly tidy bridge between sapiens and varius. Usually there was far, far more building to do to establish a bond with humans. Usually he had to wire the whole house for electricity, but with this particular human he just had to plug in to what was already there. He did not let his surprise interrupt his tranquility - he merely noticed its presence and then gently let it go.

Dan felt the first tentative brushes of Victus' mind against his, like a feather brushing along the surface of water. It was cool and refreshing like mint, sharp like Wisconsin cheddar cheese, and as light yet sophisticated as the finest chocolate mousse. He realized that he was still looking into the varius' eyes, and that, ever so softly, they were glowing.

Victus chuckled. "You think about food a lot, don't you?"

The comment made Dan grin. but no words were required. He trusted this man, and felt as though he'd known him all his life.

The lupine varius continued with quiet, soothing words. "I'm going to go under the surface now, to take a little look around. You shouldn't feel anything at all, but let me know if it ever becomes uncomfortable and I'll stop."

Victus didn't physically move, but inside his head Dan could feel the difference. Dan felt the other man darting from place to place in his mind like a minnow dropped into a large pond. Under other circumstances this might have been upsetting, but with Victus Dan felt nothing but confidence and trust. He chuckled softly, "That tickles."

Victus looked surprised, a small grin tugging at a corner of his muzzle. "I've never heard that one before." He flitted from packaged memory to packaged memory, looking at each of them without unwrapping any. Dan's mind was so easy to navigate, so clearly mapped, that he was an absolute delight to scan. Everything was as it should be, all was in order and tidy, even the bad things. Even Master Dagan didn't have this sense of -

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!

The words were a sledgehammer assault that Victus was in no way prepared for. He withdrew his paw from Dan's face, breaking their link, but not before he caught a final aggressive blast in his face.

GET OUT!

NOW!!

Reeling from the attack, Victus stood as quickly as he was able, stumbling off the platform in an effort to get some space between himself and this sapiens. The severity of the mental blows had activated animal instincts that he hadn't known lived inside him, and his rational mind fought to keep his id from finding a safe corner somewhere and curling up in it.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Victus recovered some measure of rationality from the maelstrom of fear and aggression with which he'd been assaulted. When he opened them again he heard a soft groan, and turned to see Dan where he'd been left on the platform, holding his head in his hands.

The instinctive side of Vic wanted nothing more to do with this human. Like a burned child who now avoided a flame, his primitive mind wanted to stay as far away from him as possible to avoid the Big Nasty that had threatened him so effectively. But Vic's rational mind saw in front of him a suffering man, and no amount of protest by his primitive side could let that continue. "Dan," he reached out a hand to touch Dan's shoulder, halfway convinced the man would flinch and pull back, but he did not. "Are you alright?"

Dan breathed out a damp-sounding sigh, and raised eyes to meet his that were wet with regret. "I'm sorry, Vic. I've really fucked up, and I need to go."

"I need to get back as well," Victus said. "Lucas is completely capable of guarding the negin in my absence, but I have been gone too long."

The two men were working their way back to the cabins when Dan took another mental punch.

*Mine!*

The thought shot through his mind with nearly nauseating force, causing the sapiens man to flinch at the raw aggression contained in that single word. Dan hadn't even laid eyes on his mate, and he knew from that single thought that Bo was coming towards them, and he was furious.

*No!* he thought back, desperate to keep Bo from making a mistake of this magnitude, but the battle varius was so intent on his attack that he wasn't listening.

"Hey, where did you go?" Of all the voices which Victus might expect to hear on the pool deck, Lucas's was not one of them.

"What are you doing here?" Victus asked, annoyed. "You are supposed to be guarding the negin."

"He doesn't need one right now," Lucas replied, shortly. "Hooker's gone and he's out like a light. Two locked doors between him and the world, and there's no way in without a thumbprint. Again," he said, almost sounding testy, "Where did you go?" For the first time, he seemed to notice Dan walking with them. "Hey," he greeted, casually, then saw the look on the man's face. "What's going on?" he asked, shifting his focus, "You okay?"

Dan didn't hear him. "Oh, shit." Dan heard his mate before he saw him. Bo could move almost silently when he wanted to, but right now that was not his intention. "You'd better get out of here, Vic," he warned, but neither of the varii moved.

Bo's oversized feet pounded across the swimming deck, making lounge chairs rattle and little plastic drink menus bounce on the small tables. In this mood, Bo Taylor was a gun brought to a knife fight, an instrument of destruction, and he was here to cause mayhem to the interloper who was trying to get between him and the man he loved.

Lucas assumed a defensive stance the instant Bo rounded the corner, ready to defend himself and his partner, and possibly Dan, from whatever attack might be coming. When Bo was only a few meters away Lucas coiled his muscles to strike, but was derailed by a single, calm word from Victus. "Sit." The power behind that one word made defiance impossible, and Lucas found himself crouching in place, ready to strike but otherwise unable to move.

Victus took a single step forward to meet the attack, and stood as still as if he'd been carved from stone. Lucas expected him to unsheath his sword or to assume a fighting stance, but he did nothing of the sort. To his astonishment, the posture Victus adopted was one of honorable submission, with back erect and arms held loosely at his sides, hands relaxed, head bowed to look at the ground three feet in front of his toes.

Bo, slowed his attack run but did not stop. Skidding to a halt no more than a half meter from Victus, he shoved his jaw out and bellowed an ear-shattering roar, his sharp, bared teeth mere centimeters from Vic's unprotected face.

Victus, to his credit, did not move. Patiently weathering the storm of Bo's hatred and aggression, he did not move a muscle. Someone who had no idea what was happening might be forgiven for assuming that he'd been scared into submission, or that Victus was too stubbornly brave to be swayed. Neither was true. Victus held his ground, comfortable in his decision to hand his fate over to the rampaging varius who could easily rip his head off his shoulders if he chose to do so.

When Bo saw that the Kenzine was not going to defend himself he pushed harder, roaring with all his might and flexing a highly-developed arm on either side of Victus' head. His throat was scraped raw by the assault, but still the other man did not move.

God damn it, Bo wanted to scare him into defending himself! He wanted this interloper to try and fight back so he could rip him to shreds and feed him to the recycler! If he ran, Bo could hunt him down. If he defended, Bo could let loose and fight. But against this unexpected submission, Bo was utterly helpless. He could not touch a man who would not fight. In the end, Bo settled for yelling. "What the fuck are you doing with my mate?" drops of spittle flying from his bared fangs.

Dan tried to say something, to come to Victus' defense, but he found himself as unable to speak as Lucas.

"I apologize for my intrusion." Victus kept his eyes averted and his voice subdued, but absolutely clear. "I should have asked Dan if he was bonded, but since he was sapiens I did not consider that possibility. That was a grave error on my part, and I have learned from my mistake."

Bo huffed a few breaths, taking in what the man had said. It was consistent and Bo thought it sounded like the truth, but truthful or not this man was guilty of trespass. "What are your intentions?" he spat, angrily.

"I only wish to help," the varius said, formally. "I will tell you everything I'm doing, but I would like very much to look up. My neck is beginning to cramp."

Bo neither gave his assent nor denied it. "Continue."

As befitted an alpha, Victus took the lack of denial as assent and raised his head, but as a mark of respect he did not meet Bo's gaze, electing instead to focus on a spot near the huge man's throat. He spoke quietly, respecting Bo's privacy even though every one of the few people on deck at this hour were staring at them. "Your mate is in pain, and I offered to help. I am confident that he would have warned me had he been aware of the danger, but neither of us realized what we were doing when we started the process.

"By the time we understood what was going on, it was too late and the damage was done." He thought better of his words and corrected himself before his errantly cast seeds could grow into more poisonous weeds. "By damage, I mean damage to my relationship with you. Dan is unharmed, and nothing he and I will do in the future will damage him."

Bo pondered what he'd been told, but remained silent.

It is time, Victus thought. He looked up into Bo's astonishingly lucid eyes. "I am Victus Entrades, of the Kenzine Protector's Guild." He first gave a slight bow, the sign of respect in his community, then extended a hand to Bo as a parallel gesture of peace. Given his reaction, he would never, ever have made the mistake of assuming that Dan's mate would offer friendship so quickly, but for now he would settle for peace between them.

After glaring at the other man for a moment, Bo reached out his own hand and took the paw he'd been offered. "Bo Taylor," he said in return, suppressing any of the biting comments he wanted to make. He wanted to tell this guy to take a flying fuck out the nearest disposal chute, but he knew that this would hardly have been his most well-considered response. Their friends had told them that a Kenzine might be their best bet to solve the puzzle of Dan's nightmares, a sentiment which had been seconded by Sam, the gorilla-morph that had been like a father to Bo for most of his life.

The fact that they'd run into this man just a few weeks after Sam had told them he was sending one to assist them suddenly seemed damned coincidental to Dan. "Did Sam send you?" he asked, feeling Bo's instinctive distrust resonate inside him.

"No," Victus replied, sincerely. "We are in the employ of Negin Rudex Mal, and as far as I know he has no idea who you are."

He turned and spoke directly to Bo. "I want to try to help your mate. The final decision will be his, but it will be much easier for all of us if you agree."

Bo knew that the offer was an extreme act of generosity, and even if he didn't like the mental intimacy Victus' help would demand from his mate he could not, in good conscience, turn him down. "I would like that as well," he grumbled. "Go ahead."

Kenzine were masters of human psychology, and even though Victus was hardly the most socially adept of men he knew that now would be an excellent time to turn and walk away. But something was telling him to stay for a moment longer. "Bo," he said, catching the other man's gaze. He stared into the fathomless brown for a few seconds before he said, "Those weren't just words. I really am sorry."

Most of the remaining heat drained from Bo's eyes. "I know." Suddenly, perhaps irrationally, Bo's hand reached itself out to the Protector. "I apologize as well."

Victus clasped Bo's forearm in a centurion grip, and Bo returned the grip with steady, even pressure. "Can we start over?" Vic asked, "The first time, I think you blew spit in my hair."

Against his will, the sudden release of tension made Bo laugh. "Yeah, right. Sorry about that." Reaching up with a huge hand, Bo scratched behind his right ear. "I guess I got a bit carried away."

"I think Dan is fortunate to have someone like you in his life, " Vic offered, then pointed to where partner was still sitting. "I'd like you to meet my partner, Lucas"

"May I get up now, dear?" Lucas said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Bo's eyebrows disappeared into his unruly shock of head fur. Not just a Kenzine, but a Kenzine who was partnered to another male? A male who looked, Bo noticed, like he was about to explode out of his skin at any moment? Wow. He reached a paw down to the burly male, who looked like a fortunate mix of the best parts of both shepherd and a rottweiler. "Hey, dude."

Lucas grabbed Bo's paw in a grip that telegraphed his intention. Bo braced himself, then pulled the other varius back into the standing position where he belonged. "Thanks, man."

"No problem," Bo replied.

Lucas held onto the paw for a moment and gave it a slightly harder squeeze. The battle varius returned the pressure without animosity, and a second later he let go. "Good grip!"

"Thanks." He noticed the beleaguered but tolerant glare Lucas was favoring Victus with, and leaned closer so nobody else would hear. "Don't worry about it. I get that sort of stuff from Dan all the time."

The smile Lucas favored him was unencumbered by propriety or social pressure. "No shit?"

"No shit." Bo replied, casually. He was surprised to find himself smiling at the other man. When Lucas smiled back, Bo's expression turned shy. He glanced over to his husband.

?you okay?

*never better*

Bo turned back to Lucas. Milspeak seemed appropriate, so he asked, "Duty for?"

"Opentime." the other replied, confirming Bo's suspicion that the man was ex-military.

Bo looked back at Dan, imploringly. The sapiens man waved him away. "Go."

Dan was safe, his day was open, and his new acquaintance's tail was wagging. "Let's go find something fun to do!"

The two disappeared off the upper deck, and Dan realized that he was still sitting where he'd plopped his rump at Victus' command, what seemed like an eternity ago. "What just happened?" he asked, getting to his feet.

"I think they found a friend," Vic replied, happily.

"Thank God," Dan sounded relieved. "Bo's been after me to do every single stinkin' activity on this ship and all I want to do is relax. Maybe they can wear each other out."

Victus chuckled. "I hope they have a good time. Lucas says the negin is sleeping off last night's bender, and if he holds true to form it will be about two hours before he stumbles out of bed."

"I guess it's probably not going to be a mystery when he wakes up," Dan observed, wryly. "He seems to spend most of his time screaming his head off."

Victus winced. "You can hear that in your cabin?"

"Yeah," Dan said, shaking his head sadly. "He doesn't seem to be the nicest man in the universe, does he?"

"It's not so bad," Vic offered. ""He'll be a lot more manageable in a few days. He's got an evening scheduled with a pair of "registered companions" the night after the big fight, and that should take some of the vinegar out of him for a while."

Dan was stunned. "The big fight?"

Victus nodded.

"Are you talking about the slave fight?"

Vic nodded again.

"The one on the moon?"

When Victus calmly nodded a third time, Dan felt his face redden in anger. "You seem like a nice guy, Vic. I don't know how you can defend a man who engages in that sort of filth." Dan didn't care whether the Kenzine could help him or not. He bent to pick up his towel. "See you around."

A single word from the varius made him hesitate. "Wait." Dan wouldn't have paid any attention, but there was honest pain in the voice that made him hesitate.

Turning, Dan didn't see the outrage and anger he might have expected. Instead, what he saw on Victus' face was something akin to remorse. "A Kenzine's contract is assigned by the council," he explained. "I didn't have any say in the matter. Well," he amended, "I could have said no, but that would have meant resigning my commission. And I don't think anyone had any idea what sort of man Mal was, so..." he trailed off with a shrug. "Here I am, protecting a man I try not to hate, who does things that I despise."

"I hope the money's good, at least,"

Victus chuckled ruefully as he sat down on a deck chair next to where Dan stood. "I honestly have no idea. The Negin has to pay for my room and board, and everything else gets sent back to the abbey. I don't see a penny of it."

"Really?" Dan said, sounding as if he weren't entirely convinced. "Huh."

"I don't have to like what he does," Vic said, "I just have to keep him alive."

Dan blanched as a thought occurred to him. "The collar around Lucas' neck. Is it...uh...?"

Vic sensed Dan's discomfort and accurately guessed the cause. "Yes. He's not the one who's fighting, though. The Negin has a man he has been training for that, one who actually enjoys the violence."

"He likes it?" Dan looked confused. "I didn't think anyone actually volunteered for that sort of thing."

Victus moved to the edge of the swimming pool and sat on one of the padded lounge chairs, arranging himself so that his tail could follow the contours of his legs, courteously out of the way of fellow passengers who weren't even awake yet. "Some men appreciate violence and pain in ways that boggle the mind," he said, with non-judgmental calm.

"That's good, I guess," Dan said hesitantly, following Victus to the edge of the pool. He guessed that after being raised by sapiens Victus might prefer a bit of personal room, so he left an unoccupied deck chair between them. "You partnered with a sl-" He stopped himself, remembering what he'd learned about varius propriety. "I apologize," he said formally. "I have no right to ask about that." Dan sighed in frustration. Speaking with someone like Victus caused his brain to itch. On one hand, Dan's brain tried to put him in not the overly-formal category of a newly acquainted varius, but on another, more instinctive level, he felt as if he could talk with him just like any other person. But he was also a Kenzine, and they were universally revered, so he should be formal, but...but...but...

Smiling gently, Victus reached a hand up and put it on Dan's shoulder. "I suspect that you and I have a lot in common, Dan." He squeezed his shoulder and let it go. "I was raised among sapiens, so I don't have a really good rapport with my own people."

"Yes," he continued, after a moment, "I fell in love with a slave. It was probably not the easiest path, but it was the right one."

"You don't choose who you love," Dan said, sympathetically. "Sometimes it just happens, right?"

"Exactly," Victus agreed." So now it's your turn. How did you two meet?"

Dan shrugged, feeling unable to compete with the romantic interest generated by falling in love with a slave. "We met at work." He glanced over at Vic. "Pretty mundane, huh?"

"Not if you're the one falling in love, it's not," Vic said, with a wink. "It doesn't matter where love comes from, it's where you take it that matters."

"God, that sounds corny," Dan said, with a groan.

"It's something my dad says," Victus said, ruefully.

Dan smiled. "Between us, we could probably make a good business writing a line of sappy greeting cards."

For a moment they sat quietly, letting the waters between them warm. When Dan turned and looked at him, the look on the Kenzine's face was inscrutable. "Have you experienced any bigotry or repression as a result of your bonding?" Victus asked, seemingly out of the blue.

"Why do you ask?" Dan wondered, knocked off-center by the question. He slowly shook his head, and responded before Victus had a chance to answer him. "I hadn't really thought about it until you said something, but I don't think anybody's really had that sort of reaction." Thinking about his parents, he amended, "My dad wasn't too thrilled about him at first, but he's getting used to it."

"They know?" Victus asked.

"They know we're together, but we haven't told them about the whole bonding thing."

"Mmmm..." Victus hummed. "Better to keep them in the dark, huh?"

Dan shrugged and absentmindedly picked at a fraying corner of the deck chair webbing. "It's the varius way."

Vick grinned. "You say that so naturally." He smiled softly at Dan. "That's what I'm talking about. You and Bo, you're...when you're together, you're seamless, like a single entity." When Victus saw Dan blushing, he pulled back his rhetoric. "I guess I'm saying that nobody meddles with the two of you because it's painfully obvious that there is really only one of you, and nobody's about to meddle with that." He pointed to the door that Bo had passed through.

"And that's my point," he continued, "I have the feeling that even though you two are quite dissimilar, neither of you dominates. I'm very much looking forward to that sense of one-ness myself," he admitted. "If it ever happens."

"But you're together," Dan said, confused. "You're not..." he waved his hands around in uncomfortable circles.

"No," Victus smiled regretfully. "The bond happens when it wants, and it has yet to form. We both want it," he clarified, "but always there is something that interferes." He sighed, allowing his façade to fall just enough for Dan to detect his frustration. "Lucas and I are like a pulsar - two stars trapped in each other's gravitational field. We throw off a massive amount of energy, yet we remain separate."

Again, Dan was surprised that Victus was sharing something like this with him. "You're quite uncommon yourself, Vic," he offered, feeling a little more comfortable reaching out to scratch the fur on Vic's exposed shoulder. "I hope you get what you want."

Finally Victus turned to Dan. "I'm assuming that since our mates went running off hand-in-hand with their tails wagging, that might count as permission to continue where we left off." He looked at Dan seriously. "Would you care to try again?"

Dan felt a little bit tired, but was far from exhausted. If anything, he might have felt a little stronger after his short connection with the Kenzine. "Yeah, I guess so," Dan shifted uncomfortably. "But let me ask, first."

*interrogative*

?you okay with me having Victus take a look around?

*excited*

hey they have a dart board

sure baby

this dude is a blast

*tolerant*

have fun

be back at the room by noon for lunch

"Okay, so tomorrow, then?" Vic asked, unaware that Dan and Bo were speaking.

"No, it's okay with Bo." Dan confirmed. "I just asked."

Victus turned in confusion. He scanned the deck for Bo but didn't see him anywhere. He suddenly wondered if Dan was pulling his leg. He had heard of sapiens/varius bonds, but everything he'd read in the Kenzine archives had described them as being weak at best. He suddenly felt unbalanced. "But you just..." He stopped and gathered his wits. "Wait. I understand how he could feel my presence in your mental space, but," he quickly glanced around them, then lowered his voice for privacy, "you two can actually converse at a distance?"

"Yeah," Dan said, nodding his head. "It's wild. Maybe that's part of my problem, I don't know, but we've got great range."

"Stay still for a minute," Vic requested. "Clear your mind." Reaching out, he again put the fingerpads of one hand on the sapiens man's face. Dan looked into Victus' eyes, and a half second later the varius felt himself being drawn towards the human's mind like a paper boat floating down a gentle stream. The pull was not inexorable or harsh, it was merely a suggested direction of travel. He could easily have resisted, but it was the direction he wanted to go anyway so he allowed himself to be pulled in, and soon he found himself flying through the other man's thoughts like an eagle flying through clouds.

"Hello."

Vic almost jumped out of his, or rather, Dan's mind with surprise. "How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" Dan's mind asked, oblivious to the fact that what he was doing was quite impossible.

"Talking to me. You should not be able to do that."

Dan's mental voice sounded abashed. "Should I stop?"

"I see no reason why you should," Victus told him, flying toward a landing pad which had appeared in the distance. "Just because something is impossible does not mean you should not do it." Alighting on the landing pad instantly transported him to what appeared to be the entry foyer of an old farmhouse, and Victus took a moment to look around him. "Curious."

"This is different than you're used to seeing?" Dan's voice came from all around him. It was not booming and intrusive, like some of Victus' instructors had been, but radiated quietly from all corners at once.

"Quite a bit, actually," Vic said, as he slowly wandered through the tidy, old-fashioned structure. "The human mind is a huge storage device, like the long-term storage in your personal computer. When I go into someone's mind," he explained, "mine imposes an arbitrary order to the information it encounters. I usually visualize a foreign consciousness as a series of shoji screens which have events going on behind them. Most of them are..."

He paused, watching in fascination as his perception shifted around him. When the transformation was complete, he was standing in a traditional Japanese home, complete with bamboo floors, paper walls, and shoji screens behind which shadows passed. "Heh," he chuckled, amused that Dan could do this. Of course, it was almost entirely unlike what his mind would have seen, but he was touched that Dan had gone through the trouble. "Thank you."

"Go on?"

"My mind imposes the order I expect to see upon the mind I'm in," Victus continued. "But for some reason, yours isn't working that way. It's really quite remarkable. And your ability to interact with me like this?"

Unexpectedly, an image of Dan faded in next to him as he walked, as ephemeral as ghost. "Hold on," Dan said, evidently concentrating on his mental projection. The image of the Japanese home snapped into ultra-sharp focus for a split second, as if every line had been drawn with a razor blade and colored from a cartoonist's palette before fading back to more realistic hues and shades. When the oddity faded, Dan's projection of himself appeared far more solid. "There, he said, sounding satisfied. "Is that better?"

"It's nothing short of amazing." Victus had never before seen the inside of anyone's mind in this way. "You've had no training?"

Dan's image shrugged. "Nope."

"The human mind was not set up to work this way," the Kenzine continued. "It's quite odd, like seeing a brain pump blood, or an ear smelling a flower."

What was around him was the only mental world that Dan knew so he had no basis for comparison. Having no idea how he should receive this bit of news, he settled for simply saying, "Wow."

"Yeah, wow," Victus said, with a grin. "I'm only sorry that we have less than a week to explore your mind. There's no telling what you can do up here." He walked to a low table and picked up a substantial-looking book that had been bound in heavily-tooled red leather.

"What's that?"

"It's my representation of your short-term memory." Victus flipped through the pages, starting about halfway through and working his way toward the back. "Most of what's happened to you in the past day or so is recorded in here." He stopped when he came to a messy clump of pages which were stuck together as if thick, gummy paste had been poured between them.

"Eew," Dan said. "That doesn't look good."

"It's neither good nor bad," Victus said, absently, "it merely is." He passed over the pages without attempting to unstick them. The rest of the book was so clear that it read like a ledger, fading out at the end just like he'd expected it to, as important memories were stored more permanently elsewhere.

"Were those my nightmares?" Dan asked, hesitantly. "Can you stop them?"

"I could if you were their source," Victus said, closing the book and carefully returning it to its place. He folded his arms loosely in front of him and looked straight at Dan, sad to be the bearer of unwelcome news. "You're not."

As suddenly as he was inside Dan's mind, he was back on the outside looking in. He pulled his handpaw away from Dan's cheek, looked saddened by what he'd seen. "There was the chance that you were synthesizing the nightmares based on Bo's memories, but that isn't happening. I feel certain that whatever is happening is coming from his side, and his subconscious mind is pushing itself into yours."

"Oh," Dan said, uncertainly. "So if it's his issue, he's got to fix it."

"Yes. Or he has to be willing let me in to help." Vic looked doubtful. "Given his previous reaction, that does not seem likely."

Dan wanted to protest, to argue that Bo would do everything he could to rid him of the nightmares, but he knew Vic must be right. Bo's willingness wasn't in question. What was in doubt was his ability. "Can you help me set up shields like he's got?"

Victus shook his head. "We could block them for a while, but you're still going to get a night-time visitor every time he has a bad day or something else in his life triggers them." The look that crossed Dan's face was so sad that Victus wanted to hold him, but that was something best left to his mate. He settled for resting a hand on Dan's shoulder. It was more contact than usual between sapiens, but less than between varii. "If you really want this to be over, it's got to come from him."

Dan nodded his appreciation and let Victus return to his duties, but he was upset. Perhaps irrationally, he had hoped that if he ever met one of the almost-mythical Kenzine priests, their problems would be solved. Learning that this was not the case put a massive damper on his mood. Thankfully, Bo was so occupied exploring his new friendship with Lucas that he wasn't paying much attention to what was going on in Dan's head at that moment.

Every cloud has its silver lining, and Dan thought to himself that this might be the ideal time to carry out the secret scheme he'd been quietly hatching. Since Bo's attention was directed elsewhere, Dan might just stand a chance of surprising him for once.