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Kissy Faces

Chapter 21

Zeinara saw stars when the red vixen indignantly slapped her. As her cheek burned from the blow, she could hear the red vixen scrambling to her feet and demanding that Yeneneshe keep her distance. Yeneneshe dryly responded that she had no intention of kissing anyone.

Then it started to rain. It rained so heavily, they could not see to return to the burrow had they wanted to. With the rain came ice to chill their fur. Fall was reaching its cold shadow through the forest, hissing its breath across the land. Before long, it was raining too hard to even consider braving the darkness, and the red vixen admitted that she didn't want to be alone.

Yeneneshe summoned light to her staff and led the way to a small cave. They gathered inside and huddled against the wall, watching as the gray slants of icy water zipped down, listening to the distant roar of thunder.

The cave was roughly the size of a closet, and Zeinara found herself in her own private hell of ecstasy to be squeezed between the two lovely females. They were both wearing dresses either torn or short enough to reveal their shapely thighs; they were both so wet that their clothing clung to their nipples; and their manes hung heavy around their shoulders.

They sat in silence for a time, until the red vixen announced that her name was Kayya, and she had been running away after having woken up in confusion and fear in a place she did not recognize. She thought she would find Ettoras out in the forest and referred to him as her husband. They had been leaving S'pru together when the fire came. She was very worried as to where he was and tears started to her eyes when she spoke of him. She seemed to believe he was dead.

Zeinara couldn't move after Kayya's explanation. "Ah . . ." she said wearily. "You're married to my brother. Typical."

Kayya blinked, and as her round eyes searched Zeinara's face, Zeinara knew that she was seeing the similarities. Her ears slowly pricked forward. "I'm a fool. I can't believe I didn't notice before but . . . you look just like him." She stared in amazement.

"Who are you two babbling about?" Yeneneshe demanded sullenly. She sat with her knees drawn up, hugging them and glaring at the rain. Her white mane was draped around her face and she looked cold. Zeinara took her cloak off and wrapped it around Yeneneshe's shoulders. Yeneneshe blinked in surprise and averted her dark eyes, and when Zeinara looked at Kayya again, she was surprised to see the bitter glint in her eyes.

Kayya looked away. "We're talking about my husband. He fell from the bridge with us. You didn't find him?"

"Apparently not," Yeneneshe muttered derisively.

Kayya glared at her, but her eyes went to Zeinara and they softened. "You must've been coming to S'pru to see your brother. I'm sorry things didn't work out."

"No, actually," Zeinara said with a weak laugh. "I came to see my mother . . . who isn't my mother. So . . . I'm sorry things didn't work out as well." She thought of Azrian falling, on fire, and screaming, and said under her breath, "Really sorry."

"I wouldn't say that," Kayya muttered.

Zeinara glanced quickly at Kayya and was surprised to hear the almost pleased tone in her voice. But Kayya refused to meet her eye.

Yeneneshe's lip curled in disgust. "I thought you were married," she said reprovingly. "And yet you make googly eyes at the dog bitch. Tch."

Kayya's throat tightened. "I did not make googly eyes at her!" she cried, as Zeinara watched in amusement. "And anyway, what do you care? You don't even know Ettoras!"

Yeneneshe blushed and did not answer. She stared instead at the puddle of water at her feet. As they watched, an image took shape in the water. Zeinara went still: it was Ettoras. He was in a bathing basin, and young male dogs were surrounding him, scrubbing him clean, giggling . . . reaching under the water to fondle him. He was blushing and protesting, but they were merciless. He was as much a plaything to them as to their masters.

Yeneneshe quickly stamped her foot in the puddle and the image dissolved in so many ripples. In the silence that followed, she didn't look at anyone.

Zeinara awkwardly cleared her throat. "So you . . . like my brother?" From the corner of her eye, she could see Kayya watching Yeneneshe angrily.

"You spy on him!" Kayya accused. "Did you spy on us on our wedding night!"

Yeneneshe's ears flattened, but she otherwise did not move. She kept her face turned away, and the sweep of her white mane hid her expression.

"She could help us find him," Zeinara said soothingly to Kayya. "I've been having dreams about him, and I think he's in trouble."

Yeneneshe raised her head quickly, and she was suddenly breathless and afraid. She swallowed hard. "What do you mean?"

"What do you care!" Kayya demanded again before Zeinara could answer. "If I find out you had _anything_to do with what happened on the bridge of light --!"

Zeinara's brows shot up to see Kayya suddenly beside herself with rage. But Yeneneshe sat very still, watching Kayya with resentful dark eyes.

"I will make sure you never--!" Kayya growled.

"Kayya!" Zeinara cried. She laughed and said in disbelief, "Take it easy, love."

"Why are you defending her?" Kayya demanded incredulously. "She could have sent the fire for all we know!" She glared at Yeneneshe. "A bit convenient that you found us, isn't it? Perhaps you meant all along to capture Ettoras and Zeinara! Or maybe even kill them!"

Yeneneshe rolled her eyes. "To what end, you fool?"

"What god do you serve?" Kayya demanded darkly. "Ayni?"

Yeneneshe slowly lifted her eyes and glared at Kayya. "I serve no god, tinonki."

Zeinara stiffened and Kayya gasped angrily. In the language of the foxes, tinonki was the word for a "dirty whore" - a word Mogethis had often used when mocking the ladies at court behind their backs.

Kayya's breasts heaved, and without warning, she lunged at Yeneneshe.

"Hey!" Zeinara shouted. She immediately put her arms out to stop Kayya, and as she restrained the swinging red vixen, Yeneneshe watched them both and didn't blink an eye.

"Will you calm down? Bloody hell!" Zeinara snarled. But if she was honest with herself, she was thoroughly enjoying being slapped by Kayya's big, soft breasts. Kayya seemed to notice her enjoyment as well, and suddenly embarrassed, she twisted free of Zeinara and sat against the wall again, glaring at them both.

The three of them sat in silence a long time.

Kayya hugged her big breasts and glared at the rain.

Yeneneshe hugged her knees and glared at the rain.

Zeinara folded her arms and crossed one long leg over the other, wondering what her father was doing. Wondering what Nkwe and Mogethis were doing.

"When the rain clears," Yeneneshe said after a while, "the two of you will leave for Conwil. The road is near."

Zeinara made a face. "I can't take Kayya with me to Conwil without drawing attention. Dogs will be trying to take her pelt left and right."

Kayya cringed. "They will?" she whispered in horror.

Yeneneshe snorted. "You really aren't from this world, are you, tinonki?"

Kayya's face darkened. "Call me that again," she warned.

Yeneneshe smiled to herself but was silent.

"If you really cared about my brother," Zeinara said to Yeneneshe, "you'd help us find him. He's in trouble. He'll be lucky if those foxhounds don't take his pelt once they're through with him."

Kayya gasped.

Yeneneshe snorted derisively again. "And even if we figured out exactly where he was," she said irritably, almost sadly, "what would we do then? He is far away. Too far even for magic to reach. I have thought it through. Believe me." Her last words were bitter and she stared at her feet.

"Well, you haven't thought hard enough," Zeinara insisted. "Aren't there portals or some rubbish? We could find a shrine."

"And do what?" Yeneneshe challenged. "We don't know where he is!"

"My guess is Maldoene," Zeinara said with a shrug. "Not that I'm eager to go running off to rescue him, but it is my fault we were cast down . . ."

Kayya stared at Zeinara. "It was you!" she cried incredulously. "You made the Second Light mortal!"

Yeneneshe quickly raised her eyes and glared at Zeinara.

". . . yes," Zeinara said unhappily to her boots.

Kayya shook her head and slowly frowned. "How could you do that?"

Zeinara swallowed hard. She could feel the eyes of the others and didn't lift her gaze. "I wanted to see her face. I needed to see her face. To know she wasn't my mother. I had to see her to believe it." Her expression hardened bitterly and she didn't look at either of them. In the silence that followed, she could see Kayya from the corner of her eye. The red vixen was watching her sympathetically.

Kayya suddenly got to her feet. "Well, the two of you can sit here moping, or we can get up and do something! Ettoras needs us!"

Zeinara and Yeneneshe looked up at Kayya, but neither of them moved.

Zeinara thought Yeneneshe looked too frightened to move. She hugged her knees like a little cub and stared at Kayya with wide eyes. "I c-can't leave behind Asres and Gallus!"

"Why not?" Zeinara demanded and got to her feet as well. "Should we take you home for a permission slip? As if they'd just let you tramp off to rescue some bloke you'd been sighing over in a mud puddle. You're an adult. Time to be one."

Yeneneshe scowled. "I thought you wanted to meet Asres," she pointed out darkly. "He is your uncle, after all."

Kayya glanced at Zeinara, surprised.

"Yeah, well," Zeinara muttered, "my brother's the one in danger. Not him." She jerked her head at the muddy forest, its leaves and foliage dark with rainwater. "You going to help us find a portal to Maldoene or what?"

Yeneneshe got to her feet and took up her staff, regarding them both from behind the wet tendrils of her white mane. She was still wearing Zeinara's cloak and clutched it tight to her throat. "I can take you to someone who can bring you to Maldoene," she said, "but for a price."

Zeinara and Kayya glanced at each other. Zeinara thought Kayya looked very grim.

"Bring us to Maldoene," Zeinara corrected.

Fear passed through Yeneneshe's dark eyes again. "I c-couldn't . . ."

Zeinara made an irritable noise. "Look, we need your help, alright? So that means you're coming with us to Maldoene! Kayya doesn't know this world! And I've never been outside of Wychowl."

Yeneneshe snorted. "And you think I'm a worldly traveler?"

"Yes!" Zeinara said at once, almost accusatorily. "I know your accent."

Yeneneshe cast her eyes down, embarrassed.

"You aren't even from Curith, you're from Poston!" Zeinara accused.

Yeneneshe's throat tightened and her entire body seemed to stiffen. Looking at the white vixen's unhappy face, Zeinara remembered her curiosity about Mogethis.

"And you said you couldn't go back to Varimore," Zeinara added, "which means you've been there before. You've traveled plenty, I'd say. And with your help, at least we won't get lost on the way to Conwil. Think of it this way: Mogethis would want you to help me." Zeinara slowly smiled, her blue eyes silently mocking.

"How do you know Mogethis!" Yeneneshe demanded bitterly.

"After you've taken us to your friend in Conwil," Zeinara said at once.

Yeneneshe's lips tightened, but she didn't protest.

"Is that _price_enough for you?" Kayya mocked.

Yeneneshe glared at Kayya. "It is all I was going to ask for." She looked at Zeinara. "I will take you to a portal in Conwil. You will tell me where Mogethis is." She paused and her lip trembled with what looked like anger. For some reason, Zeinara got the feeling Yeneneshe was not happy with Mogethis. If they met again, it wasn't going to be a pleasant reunion.

"Swear it to me, dog," Yeneneshe coldly demanded.

"Her name is Zeinara," Kayya corrected.

Yeneneshe ignored Kayya, her dark eyes fixed intently on Zeinara. "Swear it to me."

Zeinara swallowed, hating herself as she answered, "I swear."

Yeneneshe measured Zeinara a long time with her menacing gaze, then as if she had accepted the arrangement, she sat against the wall again, setting her staff in the mud.

"Uh . . . what are you doing?" Zeinara asked.

"We're leaving now!" Kayya cried.

"Tch," Yeneneshe muttered. "Do the two of you perhaps share one brain between you?" She waved at the forest. "It is still raining, you idiots. Sit down and make kissy faces some more. But do so quietly. Don't worry . . . I will not tell Ettoras when we see him." She smiled to herself.

Zeinara and Kayya glanced guiltily at each other . . . and sat down.