Cold Comfort

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

06/29/97:

I settled down onto the floor and gazed up at the night sky.
The major portion of the galaxy cut a thick swath though the
night sky, even though the brightness of the city around me.

It was strange, I had so gotten used to the distance of the
stars in Prid's sky (Prid was just short of two-hundred
light years from the galaxy it was an actual part of) that
so many was a bit dazzling.

This was my twelve day on Oria's world, I hadn't gone
anywhere else. She was still pretty bad, most of the time
drunk and ill. Once she had even tried to cut her own
wrists, Rose and I was able to stop her in time. The High
Priest has moved in basically full time as well, trying to
help her. It hasn't worked yet.

I just didn't know what to do!

So I tried to step away from it. I was up on top of her
House. It had a large flat roof (it once was a hotel I
think) and many nice places to curl up at. It was summer on
her world, so decently warm. At least warm enough to sit and
watch the stars for a few hours at night.

Once in a while I would catch something interesting, a small
plain would fly overhead, and once I saw one of there ground
to orbit shuttles making a reentry. There technology is at
least fifteen years above Earth's, maybe twenty. They even
knew they were not alone in the universe. Which was a shock
to a race who had never even though of the idea. It ended up
in some reevaluations, and coming up with an actual species
name of 'Leo' (silly, I know) as they never actually had one
before.

Shaking my head, I wrapped my arms around my legs and stared
up at the sky.

"She does really, truly love you Fox." I heard Rose say from
the side of the roof. I didn't bother to turn and look at
her.

I squeezed my arms tighter. "I know she does. I treasure
that, I really do."

"But you don't love her, do you?" She asked, her voice
coming closer.

I felt the familiar pang in my chest. "No, I don't believe I
do."

Rose sat down next to me. "Do you know why she's in love
with you?"

With a shrug, I said, "Because she finds something about me
attractive I guess. I'm not really on expert on the heart."

She shook her head. "Some yes, but more then that, she felt
you not only saved her life be convincing her to join the
House, she also feels that by setting up that bank account
for her, you were trying to help her stay there."

I shrugged again.

"Mostly though, because she needed someone. When you had
found her she had just become an adult, and had started
being a whore, though gods know why. The rest of the family
had pushed her away for that, and she needed someone, she
needed them badly, and here you come. I would say it was an
infatuation with you, except that it has lasted so long."

I nodded slightly.

Rose sighed a bit. "Fox, you are one of the most important
people in her in life right now. She told me so many times
in the past few days, she's also talks about how much she
wants to make love to you, and that she can't."

"Yes, she prefers to stick to lions. In fact, her gift to me
was originally intended to solve that little problem for a
time by changing me into a lion."

"Magic!" she said with a laugh. "Until I came back to see
Oriana I didn't believe it could do more then a few small
tricks. Then she tells me stories about magic she has seen,
and then here you come talking more about it. I guess it's
more powerful then I would like."

I shrugged. "It's interesting, I know a few mages, and even
an Archmages. They can do some amazing things."

She nodded then stood. "I had better go back to her now.
She's sleeping, but I want to be there."

"All right."

The crushing of her bare feet on the roof faded as she
walked to the ladder and down into the third floor of the
House.

Rolling my head back I gazed back up at the drifting stars.
I was able to watch for a few minutes before a new voice
broke into my thoughts.

"She does love you Fox." The new voice said. I sighed. It
was the High Priest this time.

Tilting my head to look at her on the far side of the roof,
I frowned. "That seems to be the common observation for the
night."

She smiled slightly, and paced over a bit to sit accost from
me. "It is also true. She loves you so much she is willing
to die for you if she must."

I frowned. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"She told me that she feared the Guild would make you one of
her targets because of how close you are to her and that if
they did, she would die before doing that."

I felt myself wilt a bit. "Oh..."

"You would not, would you?"

I grimaced. "I... I don't know..."

"Learn then child. Though you might be surprised by the
answers you find."

I shrugged.

"Fox, take her back to this Prid of yours, take her to be
with friends. She can't stay here, she will end up killing
herself. You need to take her, you need to hold her and walk
her though the path of fire she is on. You will both be
burned by the end of the journey, but it is better then to
allow her to perish in the flames at the start of the path."

I ran my hands though my hair, leaning my head back. "You
think that will help her?"

"I think that will help both of you."

I looked back at her. "Both of us?"

She nodded. "Child, I can see that you have your own pain.
It is under the surface, hidden from the outside world, but
it is there. It is evident in how you talk, how you relax
and most of all, how you sleep."

I sighed. "I don't, I never really sleep anymore."

"Are you afraid of your dreams?"

"I don't dream."

She ummed softly. "Why then do you not sleep?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, I really don't know."

Leaning over, she placed her paw on my should. "I would like
to help you, but you need to look into yourself for the
answers you needed. You need to trust yourself, and you need
to stop hiding yourself."

I pulled away a bit.

The High Priest sighed. "Please, just do as I have asked, go
back to Prid with Oriana and help her there." She said,
standing.

"I'll try."

She sighed and walked away from me.

Taking a deep breath I wrapped my arms around my legs, and
rested my chin on my knee, closing my eyes, and trying to
think.

I didn't know if she was right or not, but I suspected she
was. I truly didn't know myself very well. I knew I wasn't
much of a nice person, I was rather much of an ass most of
the time, and I did _not_ trust myself.

"You do know," A new voice said, female, a bit rough, and
one I never hear before, and right in front of me, "that
Oriana loves you?"

I didn't even bother to open my eyes. "Yes, I've been told
that already."

"Well," the voice said, "it does seem to be the conversation
started for the night."

I shrugged. "So? I know it, I've know it for a while. I wish
I knew why people think I don't."

"Because you don't act like it."

I didn't respond.

After a few seconds, the owner of the voice sighed a bit.
"Open your eyes and look at me." The tone of the voice
didn't change one iota, but it still came out as a very
strong order.

I sighed, and looked at my new guest. She was a lioness all
right. Tall, maybe six feet, and very well endowed, and I
mean *well* endowed. The toga type bit of clothing could
barely hold it all in. In fact, it was the same type of toga
clothing that the High Priest wore. I guessed this was
another one of the ten.

That's when a slightly more important detail then her build
registered in my mind. The wings! She had a pair of _huge_
feathered wings, they where partly expanded, and fanned out
behind her about six feet. She gave me a smile and moved her
paws from her hips to cross them over her chest.

I felt myself lean back a bit as I knew who exactly I was
talking to. It was someone from the Temples, yes, but a bit
over ranking the High Priests. I had seen enough images of
who was standing just three feet away from me to know who
she was.

Oriana's lord and god, Thryn.

I groaned. "Great, another god, just what I need to deal
with _now_!" I had run into a few living gods before in my
adventures.

She chuckled softly, her tail moving behind her in short
swishes though the air, her wings folding close to her body.
"I never claimed to be a God, and if anyone asks I will tell
them I'm not. Just that no one asks. Now, would you care to
sit with me?" She asked, waving her paw at a table that had
formed out of the air. I also saw something strange as well,
in the light from the city around us, it looks like the pads
of her paws where made up of some red gems.

With a sigh, I stood and walked over to the table, sitting
down at the chair that was waiting for me. Thryn did the
same on the far side.

"So, usually if some type of demi-god wants to talk to me
it's because I've pissed them off and they want to kill me.
Does the pattern hold here?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't want to kill you." She
frowned, her muzzle starting to form words, then stopping,
finally she settled on something. "I need to talk to you
about Oriana."

I frowned.

"I've been watching her a bit sense she first came to the
Temple. She is the first person from this world to really go
outside of this world and outside of her people. To be
frank, I knew it was coming, I just didn't know I would be
worshiped by the person."

"And?"

She slumped a bit. "I didn't see it right off. When she
allowed herself to worship me, she allowed me to see into
her soul. Oriana looked like just another prostitute. Maybe
a bit more traveled, but still. I did notice a small...
twist is the most accurate turn, in her soul. I though it
was nothing."

"It wasn't I assume." I said, prompting her. It was nice to
see a god admit to being fallible.

"No, Etartic, the High Priest, saw it the first time she
meet you. Your's and Oriana's souls seem to be laid in a
difficult pattern, I do not understand it, but the seem to
cross in some fashion."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't believe in souls myself. I don't
believe I have one. So unless you have something more of
interest to tell me, I think this conversation ends."

Thryn stared at me for a second. "You should believe, but it
doesn't matter. Just know that there is something in both of
your souls that I have only seen in you two. I won't pretend
to understand it, but I do warn you of it."

I nodded, standing. "I'll remember that if I ever get a
chance to look at my soul."

She smiled a bit, and leaned back some in her chair. "Also
Fox, Etartic is right, take her back to Prid."

I nodded again. "I may just do that."

She started to say something, but was cut off when I hear my
name called from accost the roof.

Twisting my head I saw Oria climbing up the ladder from the
third floor, dressed only a robe.

I smiled as I saw her, and ran over, helping her up onto the
roof. "What are you doing out of bed?" I demanded, though I
don't think I sounded angry.

"I wanted to talk to you." She said, speaking slowly. She
looked sober for the first time in a week.

I nodded, still holding her. "Well, I'm right here."

"Rose told me, that you told her that you were missing you
chance to go home to stay here with me."

I frowned, but nodded again.

She signed. "Don't Fox. Go home, please. It's been half of
one of your years sense you last saw it. Don't miss it
because of me, go back please."

"I can't," I said, shaking my head a bit.

"Of course you can Fox!"

I squeezed her paw a bit. "No, I mean I can't. I'm about
seven hours to late."

She whimpered softly, and hugged me tight. "I'm sorry Fox, I
didn't mean for you to lose that."

I stroked my paw down the back of her head. "It's not your
fault Oria, it really isn't. Can we sit down though, I want
to talk to you."

She nodded a bit, and I turned around. Thryn, along with the
tables and the chairs where gone. So I escorted her to one
of the lumps in the roof, and lowered her down onto it. As
she sat, she held her robe closed, something she forgot to
do with she was drunk.

I sat down right accost from her. "I think we should both go
back to Prid." I said, being blunt.

Oria grimaced. "The Priest told me the same thing just a few
minutes ago."

I nodded. "Yes, same here."

"I don't think I can Fox."

I frowned. "I've been told, _twice_, that is what we should
do."

Oriana looked at me for a second, then in an instant her paw
shot out and grabbed my wrist, hard. She pulled it close to
her face and examined the palm of my hand.

I leaned forward a bit. "See anything you like?"

She blinked, then let go of my hand, leaning back slightly.
"Fox... for a second there..." she frowned a bit. "Do you
believe in a sigh of god?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean your god. yes, I guess so
considering I just had a conversation with her."

"You talked... to Thryn?" She asked, sounding a bit amazed.

I nodded. "Not normal I take it."

"No... not at all, only the Priests do, but then, you saw
his paws. Then gems in his paw?"

I nodded, "Yes."

She closed her eyes. "For just a second there, I saw then on
your hands. Clear as my whiskers."

"Ah..." I said, looking down at my hands.

"I guess then I should go back to Prid, at least for a
while."

I smiled, moving over to sit next to her. "Thank you." I
said, hugging her.

She didn't respond.

-----

This story is (c) 1997 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.