The Day After

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

06/21/98:

Morning, morning after a long night of restless sleep. I was
stiff, my neck was sour and my mind was a bit fuzzy on
everything. I was still amazed on how much things how now
changed on such a basic level.

I was in love with Oriana... just the words sounded strange
to my mind. Somehow though it also felt exactly right. I
felt like a massive weight had been lifted from my
shoulders, one I felt that I had been carrying for over a
year now.

'Funny,' I thought to myself as I dressed in some clean
clothing. 'It took a curse to get the pair of us thinking
right'. The irony of it all was almost enough to make me
laugh.

Slipping out of my bedroom I wondered down into the kitchen.
The room was empty, Oriana must still have been sleeping.
Filling up a tea kettle I set it on the stove to boil and
started to make some breakfast.

While the water boiled I pulled one of the Rithen tea leaves
from the cupboard, breaking of a small part from the palm
sized leave I ripped it into small strips and dropped it
into my cup.

Returning the rest of the leaf to where it belong I filled
the cup with the now boiling water, stirring the mix a bit
as it darkened as I sat down at the table.

"You're up early." Oriana commented from one of the doors
into the room.

I looked up and smiled. "Didn't sleep well."

She nodded, taking the seat accost the table from me.
"So..." she started, just leaving it hanging in the air.

"So... what do we do now?" I responded.

She frowned, shaking her head slightly. "I don't know, this
is a new experience for me."

I slowly stirred my tea, looking down into the cup, the
rising heat fogging my glasses a bit. "Agreed. I've only
felt like this about Becky, and then I didn't understand it
till after it was too late."

She nodded slowly, brushing some of her hair out of her
eyes. "Any ideas?"

I chuckled. "How about we just sort of go along with it, see
where it ends up."

She smiled. "We've been doing that for two years now, and
this is where we've stopped. Maybe we should do something
more then just hang on."

With a sip of my tea I nodded to her. "Maybe, but I don't
know where to start at."

Oria started to say something, but shook her head.
"Honestly, I don't know either... I thought I did, but now
I'm not so sure."

I nodded again. "Well... anyplace other then talking about
it would be a good start."

She smiled, leaning forward then. "How about this then. I
love you."

I smiled back. "I love you too," I responded, sipping the
tea.

Slipping back into her chair I think she just about melted,
a smile ripping over her lips and a slight purr growing in
her throat. "You don't know how long I've waited for you to
say that to me."

I shook my head. "I never knew I could say it. It think it's
more of a shock to me then it is to you."

She nodded this time, reaching over and taking my tea from
my hands. She took a quick gulp and finished what was left
in the glass.

I smiled, taking the glass back from her paws. "How much
does this change? Between us and those around us?"

She paused for a few seconds, thinking it over. "I'm not
ready to worry about that for right now. Can it wait till
later?"

I nodded. "Sure, not to later though. We need to work these
things out sooner or later."

"Where in the world have you two been!" Ken exclaimed from
one of the other doors in the room. Oriana and I twisted
around to look at the large half-dragon. He was standing in
the doorway, arms crossed, his wings fanned out, and tapping
one of his claw fingers against his chest. He was smiling as
well, betraying how happy he was to see us from his fax
anger.

I chuckled. "We took a little side trip that went long."

He rolled his eyes, stepping into the room and grinning. "I
guessed that, but you had me worried there. We had all those
plans for when you became Rhea, and when you didn't show I
got worried."

I shrugged. "It went pretty good. Rhea only protested a bit,
but did quite down after the first day."

He nodded slightly. "So, how was the experience?"

I shrugged. "Interesting really... very foreign as well."

He nodded once more. "Naomi is in her room, asleep. She was
worried as well, but was always sure you would come back."

I smiled, picking my glass up and walking over to the sink.
"I'm glad to see she has faith in her adopted father."

"Sora is back also," Ken said while my back was still
turned. "She came in two days ago. Apparently she and Jadith
had a rough adventure and she wanted to sleep for three
days."

I chuckled as I washed out my glass. Sora and Jadith were
both friends I had picked up on my adventures. Sora was a
six limbed bat morph, a smart lady, and sadly was forced to
run from her world when she had been put into slavery. At
this point I had some basic plans at how to try and free
here. Plans which I should be able to start pulling off in a
months time.

Jadith was an elven healer, and a natural, not to mention
the sixth daughter to the King of her lands. Currently
Jadith was in training to become a Huntress, and then
further along into a new organization that was only just
starting to be re-made. Sense she and Sora were both
friends, Sora had gone along for the ride.

"So, what happened on this little adventure?" Ken asked as I
turned back around. I just rolled my eyes as Oria started to
explain.

Ken's eyes seemed to glaze over as Oria gave him a three
minute run down of the trip. She skipped the part about the
evil me, and stopped before mention what we had found out
about each other.

"I would like to go there some time," Ken commented after
she was done.

I shook my head. "You can't. The fold was bleeding off some
of the local magic to stay open. I told Little Fox to leave
a anti-teleport spell at the fold. He didn't want anyone
coming through."

He nodded softly.

"That would cause the fold to fall in on itself wouldn't
it?" Oriana asked.

"Yes, then there is another ten days of the fold being shut
down." I smiled, "most people would give up then, others may
speed a few months on it."

He chuckled. "I see..."

"So," I asked, "Anything interesting happen while we were
away?"

He shook his head. "Not much to speak off, Rachel stopped
over looking for you. She said she wanted to take you up on
your offer to stay here."

I nodded softly. Rachel was the now former Council head, her
term having expired almost three months ago. She was now
planning on attending one of the universities here on Prid.
She was a vixen morph, about my height and quite cute even
though she was almost forty. She also had a small fetish for
skin... so we had the occasion tryst.

I wondered how my now being with Oriana would effect that.
Or for that matter how would it effect her working at her
House back on her world.

"Anything else?" I asked as I pulled myself from my
thoughts.

He nodded. "Just this," He said pulling something from the
every present satchel that was hung over his shoulder. It
was a folded piece of paper, and he gave it to Oriana.

She opened it quickly and frowned, folding it back up and
setting it on the table.

"Bad news?" Ken asked, tilting his head.

Oria paused for a few seconds, her ears flatting back
slightly. "No... not really. Someone just wants to talk to
me."

Oh hell, it must have been from the Guild.

Ken nodded slightly. "Should I leave you two alone, you
seemed to be deep in conversation when I butted in."

I chuckled. "Yes, if you could."

He smiled and stood up. "All right then, I'll send Newt in
when she wakes up." He said as he stepped out the door.

I leaned back slightly. "Now, where were we before he showed
up?"

She smiled softly. "How about this, I don't have much of a
problem with you being with Rachel at times if you don't
mind me staying a whore?"

I shrugged. "I never minded before."

She leaned forward. "We were never involved before." She
said with a smile.

I nodded. "We're almost involved, but still, you have a good
point. I really don't mind, at least not for right now."

She nodded, sitting back a bit. "For now then." She looked
back down at the note on the table. "Do you want to know
what this is?" She asked.

"A message from the Guild?" I guessed.

She nodded, "Yes... there reminding me I'm behind on my
contracts."

I sighed, sitting back in my chair. Last years, due to a
series of blunders by one total ass, Oriana had ended up an
apprentice in the local Assassins Guild. Part of the
requirements was that she was to take five contracts in
three years. So far she had only been able to make her self
take one. And only because the man had released the Plague
on the third world it destroyed, as an experiment.

"Well, I have to go in to ask about the Evil you," she said
with a sigh. "I guess I can talk to someone about this then
as well. At least look through the open contracts."

I shook my head a bit, tapping my fingers slightly. "I think
I may have a better idea."

She perked up her ears. "Oh really? And what would this be?"

"Frankly, I'm tired of seeing what your involvement with the
Guild is doing to you." I responded, folding my hands in
front of my face. "I think I may have a way to get you out
of it, or at least help it."

She flexed her ears slightly as she blew some air out her
nose. "Famous last words. What's the plan?"

I shook my head again. "No, I know you won't go for it if I
tell you what I'm going to do. But there is something you
need to do to make this work."

She leaned forward. "What would that be?"

I smiled. "Get an meting with the Guild Elders."

She slammed back into her chair. "Fox! Do you have any idea
what your asking me to do! It's only by the greatest of luck
that I meet them once!"

"It wasn't luck," I answered, "it was Burke. And they owe
you it after what you did. Tell them it's important."

She frowned but still nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

I nodded. "Also, I'll be coming to this meting, and Marn
needs to be there too." Marn was the ass that got her into
the Guild in the first place.

She shook her head. "Marn maybe, though I have no idea why
he would need to be there. You would be out of the
question."

I smiled wide. "Just pass it on, tell them it important and
we all need to be there."

She sighed, standing up. "What in the world are you
planning?"

I shook my head. "Believe me, you don't want to know."

-----

This story is (c) 1998 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.