Shasta's life offer.

Chapter Two. 

Rowain sat down in his seat on the jet as he watched Shasta walk to his seat. It was a joy to see him in better clothes and Dove clothes as well. He looked ten times better then he did before. He smiled at the memory of the events that happened about forty minutes before they reached the airfield.

~~~~Flashback~~~~

Rowain led him out of McDove castle to the tailor to get him some proper clothes worthy of a Flashblade. It was not long after he got the tailor sizing Shasta up for some new shirts and pants in the family color and style too, when the tailor’s daughter who was his assistant came out and nearly dropped the bolt of fabric to the ground when she saw Shasta with his shirt off getting his arms sized out properly. Rowain thought she was going to swoon at Shasta. Shasta didn’t mind the gaze from her as he stood there patiently.

~~~~End Flashback~~~~

“Rowain, what got you smiling?” Shasta asked as he looked at him as he sat down in the chair in front of him and buckled up.

“Just remembering what the girl did in the tailor shop.” Rowain said.

Shasta smiled. “If it was only me there and no one else, I would have told her to turn the sign to close and come into the dressing room and made her so sore she wouldn’t be able to walk straight for a week.”

Rowain roared with laughter. “She probably would not let you leave without letting her know when you return, if you had fucked her senseless, Shasta. Raptrin girls can take a lot and come back for more, especially when they like a certain male. You are going to have all the Raptrin females at Raven’s Court following you about.”

“I guess I’ll be a busy Drake screwing all those females then,” Shasta said, with a smirk on his bill.

“No, you will not. They are my girls and I am protective of them all besides you would be too busy to fuck one of them while you are studying how to be a Mark of the Dove, Shasta.” Rowain said, looking at him harshly.

"Strict yet kind, does that mean when I'm in my Lust you will be there?"

“I probably will and depends on how fast you learn your duties and responsibility as a Mark, Lolita probably will let you have a mate or that I’ll be around.” Rowain stated.

“Hopefully, I’ll have a mate by then. I should really make sure when my time is getting close so you are aware of it, Rowain.” Shasta said.

Rowain nodded as the co-pilot informed them that they would be taking off shortly. "There is an advantage you have over Nosedive, Shasta, he has to stay put on this planet, but when your training is done, you can also travel off world for reasonable spans of time."

“Meaning visit other planets and such things like that?” asked Shasta. Rowain nodded. “So did you go off world before you became a Mark, Rowain?”

"Yeah, spent three years on a Suscan trade ship, it was a lot of fun."

“Anything else during that time?” Shasta asked. “Like women?”

“Oh, there was females, Shasta on the pleasure ports. Many females of all species for your pleasuring desires. I had a few females but the only thing I was grateful for was that all the females were sterilized for the sole purposes of pleasuring males and females if they are of that desire for their own genders.” Rowain stated. “But after I met this one female, I no longer looked to the pleasure ports for sex, I had found the one that I wanted to be with but it wasn’t to be.”

“So tell me about my duties, we might as well start the lessons now,” Shasta asked.

"Well for the first lesson I will ask you a set of scenario questions, to analize your reactions." Rowain took out his notepad as the plane started to take off. "There is a fight between two different ranked people, what would you do to end the conflict and what would you do to find out what started it?"

“I would first break them up and get them into different rooms if it is possible if not walk one of them far away so I can talk with him to find out why they were fighting. Once I get my answers, I would return to the other and ask him the same thing. If it was a minor problem that escalated to a duel, I would medate a meeting to ease the tension between them and if they will not meet up for a meeting, I will escort both to the Black Dove herself and have her tell them both to make peace or both meet their maker.” Shasta replied. He hoped he stated the proper thing to do.

"First part is correct, and part of the second. All our facilities have security cams in all public areas, when breaking them up they remain confined and you take notes of what both have to say. Then you check the security cams, whomever drew their weapons first is disciplined, if the one who drew it second was the one who incited the conflict then both are, though normally the inciters is also the one who draws first."

Shasta nodded as he made a mental note in his head about it. “But what if it was away from the cameras to where you would have to take each others’ words for it?”

“I guess your actions would seem the most proper thing to do, even if it is unorthidox.” Rowain stated.

“Anything else?”

"As a leader and authority figure, if challenged by an outsider, what reaction both resolves the conflict and sets the best example?"

“I would size the outsider up and tell him he is better off backing away from this challenge for once it starts you might not survive the fight. If he doesn’t back off with that warning, the duel will happen and he is injuried seriously and sent off to the outside world with the information that he was allowed to live to give warning to those who think about trying to overthrow a Mark or the Black Dove that they risk their lives in doing so.” Shasta replied, looking at him before glancing out of the window to see the green lands of the Black Dove’s domain become a bleak white landscape of snow and ice.

"Even if they attack, you dodge and give them at least three times to back off, after that you are allowed to kill them, letting them live sometimes brings more trouble then it's worth. The injury would simply be used against you which is bad for public relations since you'd be the one the outsiders would be watching."

“That is true, they wouldn’t be watching the outsider but you yourself to see what you would do towards that outsider.” Shasta stated.

"So it's best to warn three times, that way you've given them plenty of chances to leave you alone, after that killing them is simply self defense."

Shasta nodded. “That sounds very fair to the outsider, if he or she heeds your statement.”

Rowain nodded. "You are a weapon, it's very fair to give them a chance to leave and live. Next question, when a Dove of any rank is killed or badly beaten or sexually assualted by an outsider, what would be the right course of action?"

“The offender is hunted down and DNA is taken to prove that he is the one who raped the Dove, he is informed of his guilt and he placed on a pole and is excuted. The one who beat the Dove, they are hunted down and is punished the same way like the rapist killed with a slice across their neck.” Shasta stated.

"Correct, but you missed a step, you submit the evidence to the outside police before taking the actions of capture or punishment. It is done so that both Doves and the outside authorities know what is going on and to minimize misunderstandings."

“Ah,”

"Now same situation but instead of an outsider it's a Dove, how is the situation handled differently?"

“It wouldn’t be done differently, the police would be informed but the outcome would be the same as before the Dove would be excuted.” Shasta stated. “The Dove cannot risk having a member of their ranks become a criminal and cause further distrust of our people.”

Rowain nodded. "The exception being in the case of killing, since as a Mark it is your job to execute, if you aren't there it's your second in command. Only a Mark and his second hold the right to kill another Dove in their territory."

“Did you ever have to kill a Dove before, Rowain?”

“Yes, he was attacking outside women and raping them, rarely if ever allowed them to see his face. He ended up attacking one of my girls at the Embassy, I ordered a lock down till I was able to catch him but he slipped out and was followed by one of my girls and he knew he couldn’t escape her very easily so he went after her and nearly raped her but I stopped him giving him an injury before I dragged him in front of the students and Embassy staff members and the local police officers, I then, stated why he was being placed on the pole and then I told them that any Dove no matter their rank, if they attack any outsider or Dove, their lives are forfeit and I walked away from hin and shot him three times killing him within a matter of minutes.” Rowain said. “It was the first time I was so pissed off that I almost didn’t care about politics but kill the bastard right there and then.”

"But you didn't because it would be a bad example."

“Exactly! I had my duty to the Doves and to the Outsiders to show what we do to those Doves who break the law even our laws forbide sexual attacks on Outsiders or murdering them either.” Rowain said.

“What about those Doves who attack fellow Doves who happen to be their siblings?” Shasta asked.

"Among the upper ranks, and especially if the parents plan on having more then two  children, it's a survival tactic, since there are the trials which make sure only two children survive, the youngest and the victor. In the trade ranks it's uncalled for."

“So let’s say, if Cain was here with me, and he beat me up, he wouldn’t be punished or would he be punished?” asked Shasta.

"He wouldn't be, but on the same token if you retalitated and killed him . . . you wouldn't be punished either." Rowain smiled bitterly. "That's why I killed all my older siblings, I was the youngers and they took too much pleasure in doing as they wished with me."

“Meaning they forced you into having sex with them?” asked Shasta.

"Sex, being beaten up, to them I was the youngest, their toy since I only lived in case the victor of the trials ever died without an heir.”

“Just like Cain would do with me,” Shasta whispered.

"Why did you never rise against Cain?"

“Oh I would but he would let me get a few punches in before he smack me so hard I would be on my face with my butt up in the air faster then you could tell what happened. He would then get his rocks off by taking me by force after ripping off my pants. And usually he would let his friend take me as well but mainly it was Cain who would fuck me brutally and most of the time to the point I bled like a stuck pig from that region before he let me go clean up.” Shasta stated.

"Physically, I wouldn't have been able to beat mine back then, against my father's wishes, I went into the trials, the weapon I chose was a hand gun."

“And you managed to kill all your brothers,”

"Yeah, though there were a few close calls. But it took me much longer to deal with my father, he's partly where they got their notions from."

“Cain killed our father and raped mom a few times before he killed her with a hot poker up her sex. I think he got off on her screams as the hot poker was being shoved up her warmth as he did her anally.” Shasta said.

"He sounds more twisted then mine, probably was and to be honest Lolita would have killed him if he were still alive, since it would bothered her a great deal."

“Yeah, and I am grateful to Dawn, even if she is a Guardian, if she didn’t sic her family friend’s pets on him and his equally twisted wife, I wouldn’t be awake for most of the time.” Shasta stated.

"Given the chance would you make the attempt to do it yourself?”

“Meaning kill Cain and his bitch? From afar, yes, but up close and personal, no.” Shasta stated.

"To be able to kill them up close and personal Shasta would be a confirmation that you are ready for your duties as a Mark, but also as a living weapon. Cain and his mate are two who you believe you cannot face and win, a living weapon must face such things in order to surpass them."

“If you knew how dangerous they both were, and his bitch was a magic user of the highest caliber, getting up close to her to kill her would be hard, the dogs had to surprise them both to kill her and Cain. I was not in the best shape at that time to even get close to them. I was a full blown druggie and was passed out 99% of the time. The rare moment I was awake, Cain or his bitch would be abusing me sexaully.” Shasta stated.

Rowain unstrapped himself and hugged him. “Maybe after you get a little stronger in the ways of dueling, we could do something about you being able to confront your brother and sister in law,”

“But doesn’t that mean you have to call on Darren or Dawn?” asked Shasta.

“Not really, I would have to search for it as it will help us make you stronger.” Rowain said.

Shasta nodded. "Fine, when you think I'm ready I'll give it a try, but promise you'll be there to save my hide if I can't do it."

“Do you really think I would let you go off on your own, when you do this? No, I’ll be there to watch and to back your tailfeathers up if you can’t,” Rowain said. “Now I just have to search for it, which I will get started on as soon as we get to Raven’s Court.”

"And what am I to do?"

Rowain grinned evilly, "Sorting out the paperwork, it's dreadfully boring and tidious. Unfortunately it's a skill one must master in order to keep a compound running."

“Okay, what will you be doing?” asked Shasta.

"Finding a particular artifact in the storage vault, some of the things in there are pretty dangerous because they are enchanted with Dove magic so they can effect us."

“Ah,” Shasta said, as he noticed that the jet was descending into a space port of somekind. “Are we here?”

Rowain looked out the window and saw the Keltor space port. “Yes, Keltor space port. We might even encounter Lolita’s older sister if we’re lucky. But from what I can tell from the shuttles, she’s not here.”

"She has an older sister?"

Rowain nodded. "And four children, but those are secrets from the common people, they live outside the Dove."

“So I can have an outsider as a wife and the kids wouldn’t be Dove unless they want to come to our side?”

“How do you know that?” Rowain asked. He never recalled telling him that.

“Well, Lolita must have had an outsider as a husband who took the four kids away,” Shasta replied.

Rowain chuckled. “No husband of anykind. If there was, he would be by her side and her children would be marked as Dove. She told me the truth behind her claim of being barren. She had a lover with whom she wanted but was refused to marry because he was a scum as her father said, the drake’s name is Canard Thunderbeak, the son of Lady DuCaine. He bedded her down one night when she ran from her father’s home. Placed his seeds in a vial and took them to the DNA Center and had them implanted into her eggs that they harvested. Four eggs were all she got from the batch that hatched. The rest never really formed. Those children were marked Thunderbeaks and failed weapons. She sent them off to live with Kelsa, her older sister from the moment they were born.”

"So he didn't know about them, does she at least care about them?"

Rowain nodded. "She does care about them a great deal, which is why she did it the way that she did."

“She protected them from becoming the next Black Dove, right?” asked Shasta.

“Yes,” Rowain replied.

"Isn't that against the rules? I mean it's expected of her to have an heir as the Black Dove right?"

"Wasn't her choice, and in truth Shasta it's slowly killing her. A Suscan that is bound in one place will die, some die slower then others."

“Then, we must get her out of there!” Shasta exclaimed.

Rowain shook his head, "The pact of the Black Dove has been made by her already, there is nothing we can do about it except make sure they are not dragged into the Dove. It would only make things worse."

“I’m not talking that, Rowain. I’m talking getting her out into space! She needs to feel the space winds carress her soul. If I understand what Suscans are,” Shasta stated.

"And how do you propose to do that? The only time the Black Dove steps into space is on official business and only in times when a Mark or Shadow can not be sent."

“Her sister is Kelsa, right. And Kelsa is the head of the Suscan side of her family. Aren’t they tied to the mother’s side of business or the father’s? Darren spoke to me about the Suscans but I wasn’t really into listening what he had to say just that I enjoyed having him with me.” Shasta asked.

“For the time being, Kelsa Seabird is the head of the Seabird family. Taren Thunderbeak, Lolita’s sole daughter is the heir to the Seabird legacy. It goes to mother to daughter, never father to daughter. That’s the Ducks’ ways father to son.” Rowain said. Then, he realized what Shasta was getting at. “You mean make it so that Lolita would have to go to space to visit with Kelsa and maybe spend some freedom in space?”

“Yes, and of course a Shadow would be with her like say . . . you or maybe a Mark . . . me?” Shasta replied.

"So how do you plan to excecute this scheme?"

“I’m not sure, I would have to get to know a good deal of information about what other hobbies that a Shadow or a Mark can do on their free time, Rowain. You can’t be all work and no play.” Shasta stated.

‘<i>All work and no play makes me want to kill instead of keeping him alive.</i>’ Natasha said about not being in a new tournament that boasted a huge prize at the end of the tourney because she had to work during that tournament.

“I think I know how! I would have to contact a friend of mine to see if there is any chance it is still taking contestants! That would be something Lolita would be interested in.” Rowain said, excitedly.

“Really?” Shasta asked. He didn’t know he had just gave Rowain the idea to get Lolita off planet for a few weeks.

“Yes, really. Thank you,” Rowain said, giving him a kiss before they disembarked the plane.

Shasta smiled and followed along, Rowain could be very interesting. He had to see how this scheme will work out.

Rowain started to walk out of the port when he stopped and looked at an incoming shuttle. He smiled and headed back in with Shasta following him. “Hang tight, Shasta. I’ll be right back I have to use her space phone.” And he hurried off.

Shasta shrugged his shoulders as he stood there watching other shuttles take off and land, even the one that Rowain had went into. He pulled out his pocket and found a small bag of coins. He wondered if there was enough for a bite of food. He went to the food counter and got a berry shake before returning to his place and watched the shuttles come in and out, waiting for Rowain to return.

"Hey Dive!, give me a hand with these." A female feline yell at him while trying to carry more produce then she should carry.

"I'm sorry, I'm not Nosedive, I'm Shasta."

"So our little runner has a twin, still could you lend me a hand I don't think this food is going to make it back in edible condition unless someone carries some."

“Sure, pile it on.” Shasta said, as he took some of the produce she was trying to carry.

She piled more on to where she had a small load to carry. “Wow, you are strong! And look at me, carrying a small amount.”

“It’s no problem for me, ma’am. It’s easy for me to haul it. Now where do you need to go?” Shasta asked, looking at her.

“Well as soon as my shuttle returns. I saw Rowain the little drunk rush past me while I was getting off saying something about using the space phone. He should have brought my shuttle back or I am going to defeather him and dunk him in some tar!” Snapped the feline.

"You know Rowain?"

"I've worked for the Seabirds a long time, as a cook you get to know people, Rowain spent three years, little Dive was Lady Lola's runner and apparently considered a friend by Lady Alor of the Ti-Markay empire. It's a shame Lady Lola had be be Lolita, she took so much after her mother and a real scrapper to boot."

"I've never seen a feline like you before, you’re not from Puckworld?"

"Nope, but the ship carrying what I wanted was docked here so I can to do some shopping. You said your name was Shasta, are you the older or younger twin to little Dive?"

“Actaully, I am him from a different universe altogether called the Negaverse.” Shasta informed her. If Lolita knew her, then he could trust her with his real info.

"Ahh, so that means Wing has a twin too, so that makes you Dive’s evil twin right?" She said with a playful grin. "I'm Sora by the way, I serve Lola's older sister Kelsa."

“Actaully, the one who has the evil twin is Wing. He was far more evil then you can imagine, he would love to torture you before shoving a hot poker there and screwing you till you died.” Shasta replied, pointing to her female organs and her anus. “I’m the more gentler and the nicer of the Negaverse Flashblades but for granduncle Darren.”

"Well that is to be expected, Wing was overly kind, Dive at least had a dark enough streak to be able to assasinate at a young age."

“Very true from what he has told me of himself,” Shasta stated, as they watched as her shuttle arrived at the landing bay. “He must be back now or that he sent the shuttle back for you.”

“He’s back, there he is.” Sora pointed, Rowain emerging from the door and hurrying down the ramp.

Rowain noticed Sora standing there with Shasta’s arms filled with food supplies. “Did you get him tied up as a pack animal, Sora?”

“No, I mistook him as our little runner Dive. He’s helping me get these to the shuttle.” Sora replied.

“Well, make it fast. I’ll see about getting us an aerocab.” Rowain said, as he walked away before turning around. “Only to the shuttle, Shasta! Not all the way to the ship or you will be off planet for another two months!”

"Ok, though I might take you up on that once I'm done training with Rowain."

Sora smiled. “I will let Kelsa know about your desire. She may want you for couple of months,”

Shasta smiled as he placed the food in the fridge on the shuttle before he stepped off and headed for the front of the space port to see Rowain standing by an aerocab. “Sorry about that. We can go now.”

Rowain nodded. "Sora can be a handful, but you can always trust her cooking."

“And I guess I can probably get lucky in bed with her as well too.” Shasta said.

Rowain roared with laughter. “That would be a sight I would pay money for. You getting her in bed! She is a hard one to get into bed with, Shasta. She would have to be drunk or extremely sleepy to the point she’s not sure what she’s doing.”

"Really? She seems sociable enough,"

"Sora is married and has kittens, believe it or not she's someone who doesn't sleep with anyone but her mate."

“But you said she would be easy to lay with if she was drunk or extremely sleepy?” Shasta said.

“But to get her that way would be nill, she doesn’t drink and when she gets sleepy she goes to her chambers and sleep.” Rowain said. “And if her husband is on board, there is no way, you would be able to poke junior in her, without getting him pissed off.”

"Sounds like a challenge."

"It would be, even one I wouldn't take on."

“I might take it on but I probably won’t, will be too busy pushing the Raptrins girls off of me at school.” Shasta stated.

"Like I said, leave them be, you have studying to do."

“Okay, but if they end up ganging up on me and riping my clothes off to get themselves onto me, it’s their fault.” Shasta replied.

"Fair enough."

They neared the school, Rowain told the driver to stop right here as they’ll walk the rest of the way. They got out and headed down the street towards Raven’s Court. Rowain watched Shasta’s expression as he got closer and closer to the building. “This is the Doves’ embassy – Raven’s Court. My home and your new residence for the next few years.”

"It's huge! I was expecting something more like a small town, not a huge compound like this."

"It's like a small city, but we integrate a lot with the locals so it's more like a fortress and we do stuff outside with outsiders."

“Like what?” Shasta asked.

"Work, socialize, here it's more we do our best to co-exsist with them. Inside Dove territory outsiders are not even considered a factor in day to day life."

Shasta nodded as he pushed open the gates and walked into the Dove grounds with Rowain right behind him. Shasta walked up the door and glanced behind him to see Rowain nod his head as he opened the door and walked into the building. Cleo walked by and saw him walking in.

“Hi Dive, Rowain isn’t here right now, he’s in Dublin.” Cleo stated, looking at him.

Rowain stepped from behind the door and by Shasta’s side. “Cleo, this isn’t Dive. This is Shasta Flashblade. He’s here to train to be a Mark.”

Cleo took a second look and tried to figure out the differences. "Pleasure to meet you Shasta." She turned back to Rowain with an almost nasty look. "I don't care what your excuse is, but that mountain of paperwork needs to get done, if for no other reason then my personal safety in your office!"

Rowain smirked. "Shasta will tackle that beast."

“So how big is it?” Shasta asked, as they headed towards Rowain’s office.

“It’s huge as you will find out,” Rowain said.

"You really hate paperwork don't you."

"You would too, especially if Charlotte curses your office." Rowain said, as he opened his office door to reveal what litterally was a paperwork monster roving about in search of more files to add to itself.

Shasta cracked his knuckles and smirked. “Leave this to me.” And he walked in and closed the door and locked it behind him.

Rowain wanted to watch him with the paperwork, but the door was closed in front of him and then locked basically sealing him out of his own office. He started to shove his hands into his pockets to get his key out so he can unlock his door to get in.

“Don’t even open that door, Rowain! This will be done in a few minutes!” Snapped Shasta coming from within the room.

Rowain raised a brow, he really wanted to see how Shasta dealt with the paperwork monster.

It was only ten minutes later, did the door unlock itself and the door opened to reveal Shasta standing there. “Okay, you can come in now.”

Rowain and Cleo stepped into the room to see the paperwork monster standing by Rowain’s desk as Shasta walked over to it, sat down in Rowain’s chair and looked at it. “Okay, what’s next to be read over and filed.”

The paperwork monster pulled some files out of his body and handed it to him. Shasta took it, looked it over, signed it and placed it in a pile nearby before he held his hand out for another set of files.

"Ok Shasta what did you do to make it co-operate?"

“I just told him the faster you behave the faster the paperwork would be read, signed and filed away or would you rather have me burn you to a crisp. He chose behaving over being burned.” Shasta replied, as he got another stack of papers and started to read over it before he signed it and filed it away.

“I wish I was able to see that. Whenever Charlotte comes here, she always curses his paperwork to become a monster till it is all done. Pisses him off to no degree.” Cleo said, slightly amused by what Shasta had done to the creature but also quite wise too.

"I'm guessing this is why Rowain hates paperwork so much."

Rowain sighed. "It starts out as file gremlins which are harder to catch, then when they get bigger they try to bite you, then they merge into him."

“Have you told Charlotte not to curse your work as it would be easier for you to work on filing them away?” asked Shasta.

"Many times, she does it because she likes taunting me. She always has."

Shasta looked at him. “Why don’t I give her a threat of my own, she will leave the paperwork alone?”

Rowain looked at him. “What threat?” Even though Charlotte’s paperwork monsters were annoying, he didn’t want her to get hurt by anyone.

“Oh the next time she does it, I’ll be shoving a hot poker up her ass while torturing her warmth with an ice cold steel rod.” Shasta said.

"I don't think you could get away with that, she is a Shadow."

“Maybe, but it would probably get a laugh out of her or that she dares me to do it,” Shasta said.

Cleo looked at them. “Charlotte would probably want you to do that to her. She’s a bit more sadistic then Dive is but she would find that kinky.”

Rowain looked at Cleo. “No, she probably would like the ice rod but the poker would not be one of the funs for her.”

Cleo looked at Shasta. “Charlotte would love the ice rod and find it kinky. But who knows she may stop after you do that with her but you can always give her that threat to see what she does.”

Shasta raised a brow, it surprised him just how easily Rowain and Cleo spoke about their higher ups. “So do you think she will stop cursing his paperwork?”

“Maybe,” Cleo replied.

“So where is the videophone or whatever you use here, I’ll give her my threat right now.” Shasta said.

"Uhm, maybe later finish up with the paperwork monster first." Rowain said with some concern.

“Of course, he’ll be done before I go threaten her with that kink, Rowain.” Shasta replied, as he turned back to the monster and asked for another stack of files, which he gave to him.

It was another half hour before the monster was gone and nothing was left of him. Shasta looked at them and asked, “What’s next?”

"I'll show you around and then we start your academic training."

“Okay, lead the way,” Shasta said, looking at Rowain.

Rowain smiled and took Shasta to the different corridors of Raven’s Court, Shasta was amazed by the sheer capacity of the place, but also the fact the unless you had a good memory the place was an absolute maze.

“I hope there isn’t going to be a quiz about where I just went because this place is a maze of corridors.” Shasta said, as they walked past a gaggle of Raptrin girls who eyed Shasta from the head to the butt and one of the girls even pinched his butt as she walked past.

Rowain grinned. "Take everything in, you will be tested on it."

“Even the girl who pinched my ass?” Shasta asked, looking at the girl who was watching him go by.

"Even that." Rowain said with a grin.

Shasta just rolled his eyes as he walked past the girl. “Hold on,” Rowain wondered what he was going to do as he watched as Shasta walked back to the girl and shoved her against the wall and kissed her neck hard before letting her go and returning to Rowain’s side. “She won’t forget me anytime soon.”

“Why is that?”

“I gave her a hicky. She will try to cover it up,” Shasta said, with a smirk.

Rowain shook his head. "You really shouldn't brand the females, you may end up castrated."

Shasta just shrugged. “The boyfriends or their fathers may find themselves with a serious arm wound or maybe even me with my arm around their neck telling them to back off or find themselves with their life ended.”

"You misunderstand, female Raptrins are on average, more vicious then males, the female would be doing the castrating."

Shasta smiled. “Maybe they might not mind being marked after a night in bed with me,”

“You misunderstand them, Shasta. They probably will take you to bed but chop your balls off right after that,” Rowain said.

Shasta frowned, as much as Rowain joked about sex, it was actually rather upsetting thing with the Doves, especially in Raven's Court. "So who can I go to here when I feel horny?"

"Myself, otherwise you can always please yourself with an ousider prositute."

“You are easy, I would want a fiesty female,” Shasta stated, as they walked onto the library where Kara was in the middle of putting books up.

“Shut that door and sit down at one of the tables, get to studying or I’ll rip you a new one!” Yelled Kara, not knowing it was Rowain and Shasta.

“Oh fiesty bitch,” Shasta whispered.

Rowain simply smiled but didn't tell Shasta anything, if Shasta wanted to try anything Kara would be the one to scare him out of it.

“I’m a what?” Kara roared, as she flipped off of the ladder and landed on the ground and in her hand was a short sword. Shasta stepped back in surprise, he hadn't expected her to move that fast. Unfortunately, Kara was quicker and was already behind him with the sword to his throat. “So I am a fiesty bitch? But what about now, little brat?” Kara whispered in his ear.

“I think you are downright sexy when you act hard to get and this just turns me on,” Shasta cooed, as he flipped her not even minding the slight cut on his neck and pinned her to the ground. He gave her a nudge with his bill as he covered her with his own, preventing her from moving any body part.

Rowain gave Shasta a boot in the behind. "Alright you've had your fun, but please leave my mistress be. You have studying to do."

Kara looked at Shasta and then to Rowain. “So when did little Nosedive have a twin brother who was this kinky?”

"Shasta is from the Negaverse, he's tame compared to most on that end of things."

“Oh, well, he does have a good sense of how to knock me down and pin me.” Kara said, as Shasta helped her to stand up. “I figure he will be needing more training to get up to speed with the rest of us.”

“Naturally, Kara. He needs it to get up to speed.” Rowain said, wrapping his arm around her and kissed her before letting her go with a slight slap on her butt. Kara just smiled and returned to what she was doing.

“How could you do that and I couldn’t hicky that female?” Shasta asked.

"Because Kara is mine, that girl wasn't yours. When you are matched you'll get a better understanding of it."

Shasta nodded his head, the art of flirting and enticing females was now different for him. It was going to have to be learned who he could flirt with to bed.

Kara grabbed a large book from one of the shelves and placed it on the table in front of Shasta. The title was '<i>Social Etiquette and Expectations</i>.’ “Read that. That will tell you what to expect now that you are a Dove, Shasta.” Kara stated. “Even Dive had to read that.”

“That will take me a good week to read it!” He exclaimed.

“Then, I guess, you better start now.” Kara said, as she went back to putting books away.

Shasta glared at the book, he really had never been a reader, in fact his reading skill were  pretty minimal and the book looked like it was written in a completely different language then he was use to. It would take him months realistically thinking, but he was not going to admit any of it in front of the female. He looked at her. “Uh . . . Kara right?”

“Yes, that’s my name, Shasta.” Kara said, looking at him from where she was perched.

“I was wondering if I could take this out of here so I can read it in my chambers if that’s okay?” Shasta asked. Once, alone and maybe with Rowain’s help, he could understand the tongue that the book was written in.

"Sure, but if you wreck it I will seriously hurt you."

"I won’t, promise," Shasta said as he picked up the book and looked to Rowain. "By the way where is my room?"

"I'll show you," he said as he grabbed a dictionary in case Shasta needed it.

Once, they got to the sleeping corridors, Shasta spoke, “Rowain, could you help me with this?”

Rowain looked at him. “Help with that? Why?”

“I do not understand the tongue it is written in,” Shasta admitted to him.

"I figured as much, so I brought a dictionary for you.”

Shasta frowned, even the words written in characters he could recognize meant nothing to him. All the time as a druggie now was hindering him, and there was not going to be any quick fix to it. Sure he could walk the walk and talk the talk but when it came to actual academics he only had maybe the first two years of school, nothing more the learning letters and reading basic words. Shasta clenched his fists, he didn't want to be seem as an idiot. "Rowain, I have more of a problem than just that.”

“What do you mean, Shasta?” asked Rowain.

”I can't read or write beyond very basic Puckworldian."

Rowain was smiling and then he realized how far back Shasta really was in schooling. He sat down in the chair hard. “I didn’t . . . know. But how did you manage to write what was needed on the papers?”

“I am not that stupid, Rowain. I do know how to sign my name but not anything else.” Shasta said. “Now this may even block me from attaining Markship.”

Rowain sighed, "I guess it could be worse, your understanding of the written word is probably  low enough that we can use it as a means of simply immersing you into the Dove tongue. You'd have to learn Puckworldian after that. Do you have any mathamatical skills?"

Shasta bit his beak. "Basic, though better then my language skills."

"Science?"

"Just how to make varients of drugs."

"History?"

"Nothing. Same with other things like it."

Rowain nodded. "I'll be back in a couple minutes, I'm going to get some of the elementry text books."

After Rowain left, Shasta felt like he was the worst choice in being a Mark and even though he didn’t want to cry, he did and by the time Rowain got back breathing hard from the running he did in the hallways to get the books and come back as quick as possible, Shasta was in full blown tears.

Rowain put the books down and went to Shasta’s side and took him into his arms, he could only imagine how much it took out of Shasta to admit all that he did.

“I must look like an idiot to you, Rowain. A stupid idiot,” Shasta whispered, snot coming from his nose and tears covering his face.

Rowain brushed his hand against Shasta's cheek as he wiped Shasta’s nose with a tissue. "No, I should have expected this, especially after you had told me about how you evaded your brother for many years."

“All I know is some fighting moves and how to flirt a drake or duck to my bed, nothing more then that,” Shasta replied, softly.

Rowain made him look at him. “Now . . . you will know more. By the time, my friend gets here in two months, I am sure you will know our tongue fully.”

"And how do you think I can do that?"

"You are a blank slate in this regard, and if you are anything like Nosedive you are capable of learning very quickly."

“I guess so,” Shasta stated, as he looked at the books on the desk. “So where do I start?”

Rowain smiled, as he picked up the book that a baby Dove would have first started to learn from and started to read it to him. After a few readings of it, allowed Shasta to read it out loud, correcting him with some of the words.

As soon as Rowain was asleep in bed, Shasta heard the door slid open and glanced up to see Darren standing there. “You ready to go back home now, kiddo?”

“No, I have found my home, Uncle Darren.” Shasta said, as he looked at him and then to the sleeping Raptrin. “This is my place. This place accepts me more than that place did.”

“I’ll let them know you will not be returning. Can I use your place to roost when I’m there?” asked Darren.

“Sure,” Shasta replied. He went to look at him after he turned his gaze from Rowain to find Darren gone. He smiled, Darren was right, this was a place where he could call home.

~~~~~~~

It was the next morning, Rowain shifted in bed as he slowly woke to see Shasta sitting with his back to him doing something. He climbed out of bed and wrapped his arms around Shasta’s waist. “So how long have you been sitting there reading that book?”

“Oh since I woke up. I wanted to reread it.” Shasta replied, placing his hand on his.

"Has it become easier? I can get a few others whenever you want."

“Reading it . . . is becoming easy but I think I still mess up with a few words here and there.” Shasta said.

”Read it to me.” Rowain asked.

Shasta nodded and read the story to him, with Rowain correcting him when he said a wrong word. It took a while but Shasta did manage to read it all and get his pronunciation right on the book. Rowain smiled. "I'm going to get a couple others, they will give you a glimpse at some new words as well as different uses of words."

“Okay, thanks Rowain.” Shasta said, as Rowain grabbed his shirt and pulled it on before leaving the room. Once the door was opened, Shasta heard a female voice speaking and if his memory served him correctly it sounded like Cleo. He stepped to the door and listened in but there was words that he didn’t catch and words that he recognized from the book. It sounded like Cleo was not very happy with having Rowain staying in his room by what she was saying. Shasta closed the door knowing that even there the woman didn’t like him. He sighed and sat back down with the books, he couldn't let them get to him, besides Rowain cared, that was all that mattered.

It was another twenty minutes before Rowain returned, a bit miffed but okay. He placed several more books on the desk. “That’s some of the current newer books that came out this year for kids who have just started to read. They have new words that we put down recently,”

"So what did Cleo have to say, I could tell she was not happy with you and me sleeping together. Guess she's not fond of me."

“Oh, she has no problems with who I sleep with as long as I do my job here at the Embassy.” Rowain stated. “She’ll get used to you. I will have to go into work today. I won’t be back till late this afternoon.”

"You mean she was scolding you about work?"

"Yeah, there are times when I just don't want to, but even Captain Duckie has contacted Cleo to make sure I go into work, and Cleo nags on administration tasks."

“It’s hopeless!” Shasta cried out. “If it isn’t one thing, it is another.”

“Yeah, but I do want to see how you are doing at the end of the day. If you need any help with the words, I’m sure Kara who is in the library will help you with them. I’m off, as soon as I get my uniform on,” Rowain stated, as he headed for his quarters.

"Uniform?" Shasta asked.

"Yes, my job on the outside is as a police officer."

“Oh.” Shasta watched as he headed down the corridor and then slipped into a room. He stood there waiting for him to emerge and when he did. Rowain looked slightly different. His long purple hair was pulled into a tail and tucked under the uniform and the uniform made him look in a way regal.

Shasta whistled. "You can cuff me up anytime when you’re in uniform Rowain, no wonder your captain wants you at work."

Rowain smiled, as he looked at him, holding up his handcuffs. “We’ll see, Shasta.” Before putting them in his back pocket and walked down the corridor and out of the building for the waiting aero police car that was waiting for him.

Shasta turned back to his chambers and walked in picking up the books to read. It was about an hour later that his tummy rumbled. He remembered that he didn’t have any breakfast. He wondered where the kitchen was in this place as he wandered the halls with the book in hand using his nose to scent out any food odors coming from.

It took him some time but he managed to find the mess hall, it was a good thing Rowain had told him to memorize the corridors the day before, otherwise he would have been searching for many hours. The thing was the mess hall was partially filled with students and they all looked at him weird. Kara took notice of his mild shock look on his face and went to his side.

“Come, Shasta, I’ll help you get your food this time. The next time, you’ll have to do it on your own.” Kara said, as she took him to the line and got the chefs there to make a fresh plate of breakfast meal for the new Mark in Raven’s Court.

After they served him his meal, he walked by Kara’s side, he asked. “Why did you say that? I’m just learning now,”

"Because, you have to be able to do things without help. Marks are the ones everyone else looks to for help, advice, and guidence."

“Ah,” Shasta placed his tray down at the table that Kara was sitting at.

She noticed the book. “Learning our tongue, Shasta?”

“Rowain thought it was best since I don’t really know much of any tongues.” Shasta admitted to her.

“A blank slate. I was wondering why you looked at the book with a look of dread on your face,” She replied.

"It's a bad thing isn't it."

Kara shook her head, "It's a good thing, means no preconceptions on how language should be and it makes learning our tongue very much easier for you."

"I guess, but I really wouldn't know since I'm still learning."

“Well, once you learn our language better, you probably would want to sit in on one of the classes and learn a bit from the teachers. They are the best in the region, better then those outsider teachers,” Kara stated.

"So far my best teacher has been the Negaverse streets, I don't think I could compare."

“Well, in time we will see what compares to what,” Kara said.

Shasta nodded and started to eat, he stopped in surprise as the flavor of the food hit him, it was good, but it wasn't like anything he had had in the Negaverse, beer bread, meat that might be edible, and nutrient pills. “What is this?” He asked, as he ate what looked like a sausage.

"I think it's ground boar with spices stuffed in an intestine and broiled. Why?"

“This is delicious! This is better then the rotting meat that I had for breakfast yesterday,” Shasta said, as he cut the sausage up and ate each piece slowly and savoring the taste.

Kara giggled. "I've never seen someone enjoy it so much."

“Well try eating rotting meat for most of your life and the rare time you get fresh, you end up savoring the taste.” Shasta whispered, as he put another into his mouth and ate it.

A young Raptrin boy slowly approached the table. He looked troubled. “Pardon me, sir, miss Kara, ma’am. But I need advice on something.”

"What is the issue?"

“They are,” He turned and pointed towards two Raptrins who looked like they were up to something and yet tried to seem like nothing was wrong. “They want to get some water balloons fill them up and throw them at the headmaster when he returns from his job this afternoon.”

Shasta nodded slowly. “Tell them to come over here, please.” He turned to Kara. “This is going to be a challenge to hold my temper on them.”

Kara wanted to see what the young Mark in training would do with this problem. She would be sure to tell Rowain about how he handled it too.

The two Raptrin males stood by the table, acting like they didn’t do anything wrong. “If you two try to drop water balloons on Headmaster Rowain, you will risk losing all rights that you have right now, which means no leaving your chambers unless it it for classes and any emergencies like the building burning down for a good three months, understand? My punishment might seem tame compared to what Rowain would give you two, a gun shot wound to the shoulder perhaps or maybe deem you both body bags contenders. Do I make myself clear?” Shasta hissed, quietly to them both.

“Yes, sir. May we go?” They both asked.

"You may go," Shasta told them and watched as they left. When they were back at their seats, he turned to look at Kara and asked, “How did I do?”

Kara raised a brow. "Actually it's very similar to what Rowain would do, after scaring the crap out of them."

“I nearly wanted to do that but making them realize that if they did that, they lose all rights to go out and mingle with the other students for a good three months was better and much more wiser,” Shasta stated, as he proceeded to eat his meal.

"Well you seems to have a good head on your shoulder, some Marks are pretty bad tempered."

“Well, I want to be respected and if I don’t show a little even to those boys I will get none in return and they will respect what I say and stick to the right path and not go off it,” Shasta replied. "But I can be harsh when I need to be."

"So how are you finding the kids books? I haven't looked through the newer ones."

“They are good, I was hoping you would be free to help me with some of the words in the books. There are some, I am not sure of.”

"Sure, I would love to help you with that."

"So what is Cleo? She seems to be able to even boss Rowain around?"

"Cleo, she's his second in command, part of her job is making sure Rowain does his, she also makes sure we are all doing ours to lessen his work load."

“She chewed into Rowain this morning as he came from my room.”

“She just loves to keep him on time with his job. If he didn’t need to go to the station house each day, he would stay here,” Kara stated.

Shasta nodded silently as he finished his meal and carried his tray up to the window and thanked the kitchen staff for a wonderful meal before he returned to the table with Kara.

“Come, we’ll talk more in the library.” Kara said, as he got up from the table and allowed her to lead the way to the library.

She allowed him to go into the library first and she noticed how firm his rear was. She quickly shook her head as she went to one of the long tables with a good light on it and sat down in the chair as Shasta took the one next to her. He placed the book down and opened it to where he was having the problem with the words. She recognized the new words, they had been giving a lot of students trouble and did her best to explain them to Shasta.

“Ah, so that’s what they mean.” Shasta said after he got them explained to him by her. He proceeded to read the book softly out loud, just enough to where she could correct him if needed.

"Not bad, you’re getting the hang of it."

"I'd say I'll have the hang of it when I can read that big book you lent me."

Kara smiled. “That book will show you what you would have learned as a Dove, Shasta, if you were born to our people.”

"Exactly, right now I'm playing things by my wits, but I need to be able to do it by the book. My only real guide is how Rowain acts."

“And so far you are doing quite well,” Kara replied, looking at him as he flipped the page to the next page.

“I do my best and hope it is the right response,” Shasta stated.

Kara smiled as she kept him in the library all day learning from her stores of books and her own memories.

It was late evening when Shasta got back to his room, he had found his lesson with Kara extremely helpful. He had liked her body, loved her attitude, but at this point he simply adored her mind. It really was a first, normally he didn't care about how smart a female or male was, but now he probably would loose his temper with Brittany, she was now very much below his desired standard. But to get a female like Kara would mean a lot more studying. Cain’s harsh words still ran though his head, but this time he wouldn't give in. He wasn't a worthless whimp, he was not going to be a clueless and uneducated toy for someone else. If he had any hope of defeating Cain the first step was to prove him wrong.

He picked up another of the books and started to read writing down the words he didn't understand, and kept on doing so for the rest so he could ask Rowain when he got in. It would also help him get the hand of writing the Dove script.

It was an hour later, he heard the chime on his chamber go off. He got up and opened the door to see Rowain standing there swirling his handcuffs on his finger. Shasta smiled. “Kinky Raptrin male.”

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier today, still interested?"

“Of course, but first a little teaching if you can handle it?” asked Shasta.

Rowain smiled. "Sure, just show me what you don't understand."

Shasta pulled out his binder and pulled out the sheets of paper he wrote down upon. Rowain scanned it to see that he was writing in Dove script. “Who taught you how to write in Dove script?”

“No one, I copied it from this book,” Shasta showed him the book that Kara gave to him.

Rowain nodded, as he told Shasta what he wrote down and then looked at him. “Kara told me what you did in the mess hall this morning.”

"Do you approve of it?"

"Yes, right choice in that situation."

“Kara said that you would have given them something similar but after scaring them,” Shasta replied, looking at him.

"She's right, I'd have cornered them with my gun pointing at them, then dished out their punishment without pulling the trigger."

"Isn't that playing a bit dirty?"

"Yes but it makes sure they never do it again."

Shasta thought about it. Being from the Negaverse drawing a gun and not shooting it was a bad thing, you always got shot there, as he rubbed his left arm unintentionally. Rowain noticed the move and raised a brow. “Oh that, I got shot there, for disobeying Cain. And Cain was the one who shot me there too.”

"Normally, I don't draw unless I need to shoot, but sometimes not shooting can be even scarier, because they never know of the next time that they step out of line if the bullet will come flying."

“Cain would shoot me no matter what I did. I would think something was wrong with him if he didn’t shoot me,” Shasta stated.

"Here, they know I don't pull the trigger without a good reason."

“That is a relief to know,” Shasta replied.

“How many times did the bastard shoot you?” Rowain asked.

“Too many to count on both hands,” Shasta said. “I lost count after twenty. The only one who would know how many would be my granduncle Darren as he would stitch me up and tend to me as I was healing.”

Rowain nodded. "I should get Simon to give you a full checkup while we are off world in a couple months. He's not Dove but he's a master healer and one we can trust with anything."

“Okay,” Shasta replied, as he pulled off his shirt and his pants, he reached for his PJ bottom when a hand stopped him and the sound of a click was heard. He looked down at his right wrist to see a handcuff attached to it. He looked up and saw Rowain with a naughty look in his eye. “Kinky,”

Rowain smiled as he nudged Shasta against his bed and handcuffed him to the bed railing and had his way with him all night long.

~~~~~~~~~~

Shasta woke the next morning with the cuff still on his wrist but Rowain must have undone it from the bed before falling asleep. He also noticed the jelly was on the night stand. He smiled Rowain was nothing like Cain or even Brittany. He looked over at the sleeping Raptrin, it felt odd, but it was comforting. In all his life, he had never had someone who really loved and understood him.

Rowain stirred in his sleep. Waking slightly to pull Shasta closer to him before drifting back to sleep once more.

Shasta knew Rowain really should be getting up and showering before work called him and Cleo banging on his door and ringing his chime. Shasta nudged him. “Wake up, sleepy. You need to get up and get ready to go back to work,”

Rowain opened one eye partly. "I don't want to."

"Go willingly, or you'll have Cleo on your tail."

"Doesn't matter she always is."

“Well, if you get up now and get ready before she comes a calling she might not be on your tail this time around?” Shasta said, sitting up in bed and grabbing the key for the handcuff and removing it and placing it on the nightstand. “I’ll warm up the shower.” And climbed out of bed and into the bathroom where Rowain heard the shower turning on.

Rowain rolled onto his back and sighed. In a way he knew Shasta was only wanting to make sure that he was out on time. He threw off the covers and sat fully up on the edge of the bed. He dropped to the ground and did some push ups before he got up and heading for the shower to see Shasta standing there with a wash towel in hand. “You coming in with me?”

“Nah, I have a book to read,” Shasta replied.

Rowain shrugged and went into the shower to clean up. When he got out of the shower, dried off and wrapped the towel around his waist, he entered Shasta’s room to see him starting to flip through the big book that Kara gave to him. “Enjoying the read?”

Shasta nodded. "Don't understand most of the words yet, but I'm trying to piece it all together slowly."

“Well, if you have any trouble with it, ask Kara about it or wait for me to get back.” Rowain said, as he removed his towel and started to get dressed. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Maybe we can go out to dinner on the outside, if they don’t cause me problems,”

"Sure, but what about you and Kara?"

Rowain smiled. "Kara understands, she also has her own mate to please."

“He does not mind that you’re poking her?” Shasta asked.

“Not really, he knows we are incompatible for offsprings or she would have birthed my offsprings already.” Rowain said.

“She looks like she wants to give you one or two.” Shasta stated.

“Yes, she does. Now, hopefully, I will be back before six.” Rowain said, as he put his cuffs in his back pocket and made a last look in the mirror before heading for the door just in time to see Cleo with her fist ready to pound on the door.

"One step ahead of you today,” Rowain said as he walked past her with Cleo standing in surprise.

When Rowain was out of sight Cleo looked to Shasta. "It's rare to get him up and out like that, I guess I may have misjudged you."

“Yes, you did. A good nudge to the shower by getting it ready for him made him get up and plus not coming out of the shower till he came in proded him to come,” Shasta said with a smirk.

“I would never enter his chambers to do that? He’d have his gun on me in an instant.” Cleo stated.

"I guess that is a big dfference between the two of us. Though I wonder why you are so controlling, it's like you always want things to be perfect."

"It's not like that, Rowain is a ticking time bomb. My family had always been the assistants and it's always been a bloody mess to clean up. The Ringdoves of Raven’s Court have never persay been sane. Indugent, and abusive, mentally, sexually, and physically." Cleo shuddered. "Rowain’s father and grandfather broke my parents’ wills, and tried to break me. Even his older brothers were sick. I was actually somewhat happy when he killed them. But it only concentrated his father’s twisted teachings onto him. I want to believe he is different, but the day he killed his father is still burnt into my mind. Without warning he drew his gun, in front of the Black Dove and shot his father in the head. When Rowain started to sleep with you I've been on edge. His father and brothers fancied boys, I'm always worried that one thing at any time will set off the mental instability, so I try to control how Raven’s Court is to try and keep him sane for as long as possible."

“Could it be possible that he’s not insane that and letting himself love a male is keeping it tight within his head?” Shasta said.

Cleo looked at him. “I hope on the life of the Black Dove he is, because if he goes insane, Raven’s Court is going to be hurting big time. His wife will be assigned to kill him.”

“Assigned to kill him?” asked Shasta.

“Yes, she’s a NightHawk, an assassin.”

“Like Nosedive?”

Cleo shook her head. “Dive’s not an assassin. He’s a blade of the Black Dove. NightHawk is of the assassin class.”

“There are different classes of Doves?” asked Shasta.

"Yes, council ranks, which consists of advisory and political ranks. This rank also contains the living weapons. Below that is the assasin, and other professional military class. The lowest is the trade class, merchants and other service people."

“And the Marks?” asked Shasta, as he looked at her.

"Council class," Shasta looked shocked. “Didn’t expect the Marks to be of Council class, didn’t you?”

“No, I figured something far different then that.” Shasta replied.

"Rowain is a Mark, and you are being trained to fufill your role as Mark. I'm also in the same class as an assistant to the Mark, it means we are both living weapons."

“And the blade of the Black Dove if she needs our blades,” Shasta stated.

"That is correct. We serve the Black Dove, and she serves us."

“Because of the price she pays at the end of her life?” asked Shasta.

“Yes, she loses her immortal soul to protect us.” Cleo replied. She glanced at the book he was reading. “So do you need any information clarified for you on social behavior of the Doves?”

"Nah, I think I'm learning fairly quickly, though if you really don't have anything else to do, I don't mind the extra imput."

Cleo’s hard look on her face softened as he was really easy to talk to without getting angry. “Sure, what do you want to know more about.”

"Well it's actually some words that have me boggled, I've wrote them down in hopes of some answers."

Cleo saw the notes he jotted down and explained each one to him. All the while, she never noticed that his knee was touching hers or that his hand was on her knee while they spoke.

“So, Cleo, do you have . . . a mate?” Shasta asked out of the blue.

"No, never will have one."

“So, you do you go to to get your kicks off with?”

“Pardon?”

“Who do you go fuck when you want to get laid?”

“I have closed myself off to the feelings of sex.” Cleo stated calmly.

“You are telling me that you never got horny even to finger yourself off?” Shasta asked amazed that here was a Raptrin female who didn’t have any sex.

"I don't, nor do I seek it."

"What if a male asked you?"

"Of lower rank rejected, of equal or higher, he can do as he wish, I don't care."

“You mean you allow them to have sex with you and you don’t care?” Shasta was shocked that she would let them abuse her body and not care who was stroking her body into a pleasurable state.

"It stopped meaning anything a long time ago,"

“So you basically do not care who touches you down there?”

“Correct.” Cleo said. She looked at the book and then to him. “Any thing else you need imput on?”

Shasta asked more questions of her about the first chapter from the book and got more answers. She told him to read the next chapter and write down any words that he had problems with as she will be back shortly, she needed to check on some of the students and quickly left his room.

Shasta read but was still puzzled by Cleo's attitude, but maybe she was like him, but was never able to escape it. He’ll ask her when she comes back and maybe help her face it as it would help her heal and move forth.

It was about an hour before she returned to the room, she grumbled about how those Raptrins seem to always try to cause problems.

“Which ones?” Shasta asked.

“Couple Raptrins wanted to toss water balloons at Rowain again, this time the teacher caught them talking about it again and sent them to his office. This time I told them to remain there till Rowain returns. I sent him a radio call to return here for lunch to take care of couple water ballooners. He laughed when he heard that,” Cleo said.

"Sounds like he's more amused then anything else."

“Yes, he does. A lot more then he normally would. He said something about you warning them first, I guess they didn’t heed your warning, now it’s his turn to warn them and its going to be a pull of a gun on them.” Cleo replied.

“Yes, Kara told me that’s what he’ll do with them,” Shasta stated.

Cleo nodded, "He's a bid odd that way."

“So, how did you get to be this way . . . about allowing the higher ranks to abuse you sexaully?” Shasta asked, looking at her.

"It's how I grew up, the prior Mark, always did as he pleased with me.”

“In other terms – Rowain’s father?” Shasta asked.

“Yes,”

“Didn’t you fight back?”

“The first several times he forced himself onto me, I did, but that only fueled his hunger for me. Till I went cold and unreactive towards his attacks, he found me not entertaining and tossed me to his eldest son, who raped me and would torture me with tools, till one day he used a hot poker, he seared my womb to the point he inadvertantly made me barren. His father was not very pleased as now I am the last of the assistants to the Marks and his dad had hoped that I would bear an heir to the line of the assistants and another toy for him to brutalize.” Cleo stated with a clenched jaw.

Shasta scowled. "Cain used to do that."

Cleo looked at him. “Cain is . . . your father?”

“No, my older brother. He was twisted just as bad as my dad was. Cain would rape me and any female that he had on his arm at the time. He even raped his own wife weeks before they married and the damn slut married him instead of running away from him. But she got him back by having an affair with his best friend Phillips and he, not my brother was the father of her two boys.” Shasta stated angrilly.

"Sounds like you know the hell, then you know how futile it is to feel."

“But I took the easy way out of being tortured by him, I took drugs to make me fall asleep so he would ignore me. His wife would stroke him awake and use me as a sex toy before getting all hot and bothered and allow Cain to rape her. I think she got off on his brutality of the act with her. He would beat her as he is fucking her.” Shasta stated. “But the mere times that I was awake, he would beat me up shove me face first into the ground or wherever we would be at and rape me. He didn’t care to lube me up, he just ram in and get off at hearing my pain filled screams.”

"At least you had some escape."

"Yes, I could have ended up worse."

“Like how?”

“Dead or seriously fucked up here.” Shasta stated pointing to his head.

"Or you may have become like me, indifferent to it."

“I also had help staying sane, my granduncle Darren. He helped me recover with each attack.”

“You are very lucky, Shasta. You had someone to depend on and to lean on. I didn’t have that safety net,” Cleo said, looking at him. Her eyes showed the want of a safety net during those years and had none.

“Now you do,” Shasta whispered to Cleo, and kissed her cheek gently.

Cleo backed away a bit. "What is your desire?"

“To let you know you are not alone and you can enjoy having sex with feeling of being loved and not used as something.” Shasta stated, as he held her hands in his gently. If she felt at all any fear, she could bolt out of there without him holding her there against her will. If she was to let go of her self loathing of being sexual it would have to be decided on her terms, not his.

She remained still, not making a move to run but not giving any indication of accepting his offer either.

“I will never ever force you into any relations with me, Cleo. To me doing that is shameful and disrespectful of your feelings, even if you don’t have any for sex. If you want to have sex with me, it is by your choice alone, and I will treat you like a first timer and take it slow and easy. But it is your choice. Give me your shoulder and I will be the net you have been searching for for so very long.” Shasta spoke.

Cleo looked at him to see if he was lying about wanting to be the net she was looking for. She saw nothing of the kind in his eyes. “You want to be my net? But what will you get out of it, Shasta?”

“A friend who has gone through the same pain as I did, but instead of going to drugs to escape, you have locked your heart up.” Shasta stated, gently.

"I'll think about it, for now I'm not sure."

“Of course, take your time.” Shasta said, before he turned back to his book and started to read it out loud.

“If you don’t mind, I need to do a few things,” Shasta shook his head. Cleo quickly left the room, once out of his room, she raced to her own room and sat on her bed.

For some really unknown reason, she felt totally at ease around him and the pull he had on her was amazing and yet he never pushed himself onto her or told her to get undressed so he could poke her and he had the desire to mate as his pants had a tent in them. He didn’t follow his desire to put himself within her without having her permission to do so. Was he that type of drake that respected women then considering them mere objects? She shook her head, it was a foolish notion, once she gave consent, even once he’ll do as he pleased whenever, but then again maybe the understanding was what had Rowain attracted to him, though Rowain never would do anything to her, no matter how harsh she was to him. Maybe she should take him up on being her net, who knows maybe he is a good lover. Maybe she should ask Rowain how Shasta is in bed? A gentle lover or a harsh one, but Rowain wouldn’t tolerate a harsh one? Well that wasn't true either, Rowain liked being tortured at times so it really was all a shot in the dark. If nothing else it was something to consider further, and gather more information on Shasta before  giving it a chance.

She went back to the office to make sure that the two boys were still there waiting and fretting like they should be. She knew Rowain would not tolerate what they tried to do this time and would give them the proper scaring. She smirked at the image as she headed back to her desk to get few of the jobs she needed to take care of done.

“Miss Cleo, please, we didn’t mean to harm Rowain, just loosen him up. We’ll behave.” Spoke of the Raptrin males, looking at her.

"Sorry boys, not this time, this time you'll both get what you deserve."

“But . . . Miss Cleo, what is going to be our punishment?” asked the other.

“Oh you remember that kid who decided to rape the outsiders for fun?” Sees the boys nod their heads. “Good, that might happen to you,” She turned her head back to her work, knowing that was not going to happen to them but scare them a little before Rowain yanks his revolver out and points it at their heads would give them a much bigger scare.

The boys looked mighty frightened when she glanced over at them again as she looked at the time piece in the yard and then saw Rowain striding into the yard. She smiled. “Well, boys, Rowain’s here and after I speak with him privately about both of you, the punishment will be handed out.”

The two boys gulped and nodded hoping Rowain would have some mercy. They both watched as he walked into view, looked at them both curiously before stepping into his room with Cleo behind him.

“Both boys wanted to water balloon you when you came home today, Rowain.” Cleo stated.

Rowain raised a brow. "Really?" He looked at the shadows of both boys with calculating gaze.

“What are you planning on doing to them for punishment?” asked Cleo, after closing the door preventing the boys from hearing their discussion of their punishment.

Rowain whispered in her ear and she had to stop herself from laughing, his punishment was to leave them sit and wait for it and never have it come.

“Will you let me be the one to let them go about an hour after you get everything done?” Cleo asked.

“Sure. That will make them wonder if their punishment will come later. So that’s done, what else is on your mind?” Rowain said, looking at her.

“Shasta.” Cleo stated calmly.

"He's not bad for me, honest. I think if you let yourself, you'd like him too. But considering the past, I know you don't like that sort of idea."

“He offered to be my net, Rowain. I don’t . . . .” spoke Cleo.

“You don’t know if you should trust him with it for you fear that he will use you whenever he wants to get off. Shasta’s not that type of drake, he actaully asked me if I wanted him and I did. He is not that rough or abusive, quite . . . gentle.” Rowain said, in a low voice.

"Even so, I shouldn't allow myself to even feels those sorts of emotions. Since your eldest brother there hasn't been a point to it."

“I know how you feel, Cleo, if it wasn’t for Kara, I would barely tolerate my picked out wife, I would have longed for one who I couldn’t have no more,” Rowain stated.

“The outsider Duck Mallory?”

“Yes, Kara is my net as is Shasta and he can be your net too if you want him to be.” Rowain said. “Send the two boys in. I’m going to give them their punishment.”

Cleo stood up and went to the door. “Go on in, boys.”

Ten minutes later, the boys headed for their chambers to wait for Rowain to come and get them for their punishment, they may attend class but he could drop by at any time and gather them for their punishment. In truth they really wished to be done with it, the waiting for it was sheer torture.

Cleo watched as they left, before she headed off to Shasta’s chambers knowing that Rowain was busy with some of the files. She rang his chime.

"Come in," Shasta yelled, as he was still going through whatever books he could get his hands on. He glanced behind him to see Cleo stepping into his chambers. “Hi, I didn’t expect to see you till tomorrow morning to get Rowain up.”

“Are you still offering to be my net, Shasta?” asked Cleo, as she looked at him.

“Yes, why? Are you interested in letting me become your net?” Shasta asked.

“Yes.” Cleo stated calmly.

“Is this of your own choice or someone else’s?” Shasta asked. “I want you to be totally willing to let me be the net you need to lay your head on.”

“It is my own choice, Shasta.” Cleo stated, as she walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “I need to have someone catch me when I fall.”

“And I’ll be there to catch you,” Shasta whispered, as he gently kissed her beak and then kissed her neck gently.

Cleo leaned into his arms and cried for all those years without anyone to run to. She could feel his hand on her hair stroking it gently, all along whispering words of comfort to her. It was a good ten minutes of tears falling before she pulled away looking at him.

His face looked sad for her before he leaned up and with his tongue wiped away her tears that fell. “How do you feel now, Cleo?”

"I think a bit better, I think I really needed to get that off my chest.”

“I think so, those are years worth of tears you just shed.” Cleo nodded. He noticed her eyes had drifted away. “So what do you want to do now, sit and talk or whatever you desire?”

Cleo’s eyes turned back to him quickly. ‘<i>Did he say whatever I desire? Is he giving himself to me or am I hearing things</i>?’

“I’m your net, Cleo. Whatever you need to deal with next is your choice, I will not push you,” Shasta stated.

"For now, just hold me, I don't think I'm ready for anything more, not for a while."

“That’s okay with me, Cleo. I’ll hold you till the end of time,” He whispered to her, as he stood up from his chair and led her to his bed. “I know I don’t have a couch for us to sit on so this will have to do.” He waited till she sat down first before sitting next to her and wrapped his arm around her and just held her.

About an hour into the cuddling session, his chime rang off. Shasta knew it was Rowain. He didn’t want to disturb Cleo from her place as he pushed the button that allowed the door to be unlocked and the person could walk in. He knew Rowain would either look happy or a little jealous at Cleo being hugged by him.

Rowain smiled. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen Cleo this peaceful. I'm glad she finds the same comfort in you that I do."

Shasta smiled. “I’m glad she is allowing me to be her net. She needed someone badly,”

Rowain nodded. "I don't think I could ever be, then hell she had gone through was from my own blood, no matter what I do I doubt she could fully trust me."

“True, she fears your bloodline, but hopefully, with me as her net. She may drop some of the fear that she holds and be the care free woman that is hidden within her.” Shasta stated, calmly.

"That would be a bit odd, things might go to chaos if Cleo doesn't keep everyone under control, then again, when she is ready, there is a healer I want to send her too. He won't be able to fix the damage done to her but might be able to work around it."

“Simon, right?”

“Yes, he might be able to help her have children even if it is by removing her eggs if there are any still viable.” Rowain stated, as he took the chair across from them.

Cleo noticed that he was there. “I better go,”

Rowain looked at her. “No, you can stay with your net as long as you need, Cleo. I’m glad you found the net you have been longing for.”

"But don't you . . . ?"

"Not really, I'm just relieved to see you so relaxed." Cleo smiled softly as she leaned closer to Shasta. He smiled before he spoke up. “I’m going to head for my chambers tonight, Shasta, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, I have the day off.”

Shasta nodded. "Ok, I'll be ready for lessons in the morning, just don't sleep in."

Rowain grinned. "Just sic Cleo on me, she has a lot of experience making sure I'm up on time." Rowain said as he left the room.

“So do you have experience in getting him up?” Shasta asked, glancing down at her.

"Ice, cold water, pulling the sheets from under him, tipping the bed, many different methods.”

“One way of making him wake up is something you wouldn’t do to him but a blow job does nicely,” Shasta said, with a smile.

“I wouldn’t give him one even if he apologized for all the sick acts that his brother and father did to me and my family.” Cleo looked at him.

"Didn't think so, but it's something I'd do. You do know Rowain feels no end of guilt for what was done to you."

"Guilt doesn't fix things."

"It doesn't, but I think he is still trying to fix things, reguardless if it helps or not."

Cleo sighed, as she leaned against him. “I know he tries to fix what happened . . . but . . . .”

“You cannot forgive or forget what his family did to you, right?”

“I cannot forget the joy his brother got when he would force himself in me with me struggling against him or the pain that I felt as the searing hot pain of the poker being slammed up into my warmth. It hurt so bad, the whole school heard my screams.” Cleo stated.

“He tortured you here at school?” asked Shasta.

“Yes, in the middle of the day too. It took several of the teachers to finally get him off of me and the poker removed but the damage was done,” Cleo replied quietly. “It was another month before I was able to walk without pain. The doctor told me that I would never carry my own children ever. The tube that would have brought the egg to my womb to implant because the walls and the tube were seared beyond help.”

"Rowain had been through the same hell it makes it worse when it's family doing it to you. But he's strong, even I couldn't look that kind of hell in the eye and put an end to it, I had needed someone else to do it for me. I know it probably makes no difference to you, but what makes me believe that he is sane and strong was the nerve it took to eliminate his elder brothers and his father. The iron determination to pull the trigger and put an end to the pain and suffering."

Cleo listened to him talk about Rowain. Everything he said was true about Rowain as he was never mean or cruel to her, he was always sympathic towards her and then he would be abused by his older brothers and his father before he took them all out. “Rowain was always very sympathic to me after those attacks. I even think he was by my bedside as I was recovering from his older brother’s attack on me.”

“He was very tender and caring. He wasn’t at all rough or violent with his sex on me, always allowed me to get used to him before he would gently thrust away and spill within.”

"I don't think being use to it would matter with me, I can't feel anything down there, the nerves were burned beyond repair."

Shasta understood what she meant by that. Her womb would never feel the sensation of the male organ entering and stroking it gently. He started to stroke her hair. He felt so sorry for what she had lost, he could only hope that this Simon person would help her to feel something within her womb.

Cleo leaned in closer to him. "It has been my wish to be able to have a child, just so my line doesn't end, it's hard when you are the last one standing."

“Rowain told me about this doctor . . . Simon something or whatever. He said that he could possible figure something out to help you carry a baby. He wants you to see him so your line doesn’t end with you.” Shasta stated.

"I've seen many doctors, I'm not quite sure that this Simon could be of any more help then them."

“Who knows, he might know something that they don’t. Rowain seems to think highly of him,”

"Maybe, but then again Rowain has been known to galavant off world, and some of his aquaintances I'm really not fond of."

“Why is that?”

"Well you have the harlot Natasha, sure she's an ebon dragon but she'll sleep with anyone from what's I've seen. And then there is the Winddancer brothers, they have yet to get it through their heads that the girls here aren't flirting when fully dressed. And let's not forget good old Captain Kelsa, sure she's a Seabird, but exceedly cruel and if someone pisses her off she'll hurt them. It's like she holds no fear of the Doves."

“Maybe she doesn’t have any because she knows they can’t come after her or something like that?” Shasta stated.

"I think she's just using the Seabird connection to keep Lolita from doing anything about it. It's rather annoying."

“Maybe, but I would have to learn about the connections between the Doves and this Seabird faction.”

"Not much to tell, the prior Black Dove’s wife was a Seabird, so Lolita belongs to both the Seabird clan, and the McDoves, as Black Dove she should have severed her Seabird ties but I think Kelsa is forcing her to keep them."

“Or maybe Lolita doesn’t want to break them because it gives her extra political powers in the galaxy politic arena?” Shasta stated. “From the newspaper articles that I have read, that after the Saurians was defeated, food aid came from the Doves to the Puckworldians and peace was brokered by the Lady Black Dove herself by showing that she wanted only peace amongst all of the races on this planet.”

"That's simply politics, she wants to make the rest of Puckworld not seen us as an enemy."

“Or maybe she really want to show that the Doves are not this cruel sect that hates those who were not born in their culture,”

"I find the changes she's been putting in place to be a bad idea, the Doves survived this long because we kept things the same, stable but now there are things beyond our control that could end up destroying us."

"Or make the Dove stronger, she stands to lose and gain, just go with it Cleo, I think she may surprise you one day."

Cleo rolled her eyes as best as she could. “If she is able to make the Dove stronger then I will go see this Simon person and let him make my body whole once more.”

"You really don't believe in her do you?"

"I find it hard to believe in anyone. I'm taking a chance with trusting you."

“Well, put your trust in her because if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here training to be a Mark.” Shasta stated. “She gave me a whole brand new world to live in, instead of rejecting me outright. She gave me a new life,”

"I guess, it is more lax then when Lord Collin ruled, but people do seem to like her, but the old Lords want to keep her under lock and key."

“People do that with things that they cherish too much. They really need to let her go free at times or she’ll break down and go on a murder spree of the Lords.” Shasta said, chuckling at the mental image of Lolita slicing down all the Lords with her weapon of choice.

"It's more from fear, Lolita doesn't keep the Dove doors closed, and they find that she is weakening the Dove, I'd like to know the bigger picture but that is not something I'll ever know. Rowain is probably one of the few who ever will."

“Come,” Shasta got up and headed for the door.

“Where are we going?” asked Cleo, following him out of his room.

“Okay, which room is Rowain?” Shasta asked.

"Third floor, furthest point of the southeast corridor. Just follow me and memorize the route, it's a tricky one since it's one of the best hidden areas of this place."

Shasta nodded as he followed her making a mark every five feet or so before finally getting to Rowain’s bedchambers. Shasta rang his chime and waited about a minute before sliding the door open and yelling into the room. “Rowain get your Raptrin ass up! I have a question for you to answer!”

No answer came other then some light snoring. Cleo sighed. "Wait here I'll get the ice."

Shasta watched as she left, he stepped into the room and pulled off the covers revealing that he did sleep butt naked and on his belly. He reached for Rowain’s gun and placed it further away from his hand and sat down in the chair to wait for Cleo’s return with the bucket of ice. He wanted to see how she gets him up and if her way didn’t work, he’ll do his way.

Cleo came back with a large bucket of ice, place it on the ground and tossed Rowain out of bed, then dumped the bucket of ice on a very dazed Rowain to make a very awake Rowain.

"Honest I set the alarm clock Cleo, it's not my fault it didn't wake me up!" Came Rowain’s first reaction to the shock.

Shasta turned to the alarm clock and checked the alarm. “He set it for 7pm, not 7am. Simple mistake by not checking where the AM and PM was at when he set the time to wake him up.”

Rowain smirked. “See?”

"You really should know better Rowain."

"It's instructions are in Puckworld standard dialect, you know I have a hard time with it."

“True, but you could have asked for my help with it,” Cleo stated.

"You'd set it too early," Rowain pouted, and then started to realize he was still in the buff. He grabbed his blanket and quickly covered his front part up as a red tint showed in his cheek feathers. “Would you please go out so I can get dressed?”

“Sure, it’s not the first time I saw you this way, Rowain.” Cleo stated, as she walked out of the room.

Rowain looked over at Shasta to see him working on the alarm clock. “So what are you doing?”

“Making sure that your clock will wake you at 7am in the morning, since you had problems with it,” Shasta stated, as he glanced over at him before turning back to the clock.

Rowain nodded and searched for his clothes. As Rowain got dressed, Shasta took notice of his own problem, seeing Rowain butt naked like that had made him get hard. He shook his head, he’ll use his hand as soon as he got into the bathroom but he couldn’t wait. “Can I use your bathroom, Rowain?”

“Sure,” Rowain was busy getting his clothes together to notice to erection being hidden by Shasta’s hands.

Shasta rushed into the bathroom and opened his pants as he quickly stroked himself to release. He knew he could have told Rowain he made him horny and to get him to suckle him off but he wasn’t there to get off on Rowain as he washed his hands of the seeds that fell on it.

Cleo came back into the room and smiled. “Hopefully, tomorrow the alarm will wake you up.”

“If I don’t shoot it first, Cleo.” Rowain replied, as Shasta stepped from the bathroom.

Rowain sighed. "So what did you wake me up for?"

"An explanation on the big pictures, to know what's really going on."

“Of what?”

“Between Kelsa and Lolita? What dirt does Kelsa have on Lolita?” Shasta asked.

"No real dirt, she's just Lolita’s older sister."

“Older sister? But shouldn’t she be Black Dove and not Lolita then?” Shasta asked.

"Kelsa was needed as the heir to the Seabird clan, so Lolita was only one known to Collin as his eldest, Kelsa was a secret."

“Keeping her safe and out of her father’s clutches of sorts.”

“Correct.”

"Ok, so what's with the Winddancer brothers?"

"Old friends of mine, Carter adopted my daughter Nami."

“And the harlot Natasha?”

“Oh she just want my body.” Smiled Rowain. “But I’m not interested in her in that way and she’s jealous of who I have in my bed and it’s not her.”

Cleo raised a brow, "So she's just obsessive?"

"Yes, but I still find her a friend."

“She still creeps me out. The next time Carter or Sirius shows up, better warn them both that if they try to flirt with our girls, I will slash off their balls faster then they could run back to their shuttle and get back to their home planet.” Cleo snapped.

"I'll warn them, but it's also a cultural thing, Cleo."

“They better be informed that only naked girls, who are actively trying to get them into bed are flirting, clothed girls are not. Cultural rules, my tailfeathers.” Cleo stated.

Rowain raised a brow. "You should spend sometime with Nami, she's inherited the Rimworld throne. It was part of the political plays in Nami's adoption."

Cleo just rolled her eyes. Shasta was interested. “Well, I want to meet Nami.”

Rowain’s voice went low and stern. “She is not to be touched if she’s naked, if she is clothed, she’s actively flirting with you and is interested in having a night stand with you. Naked, don’t even think about it.”

"Got it, so what's with Lolita opening up the Dove?"

"She's trying to strengthen our political relations as well as trade to improve our quality of life and enforce our presence off world."

“So in a way, she’s making sure that we have good strong political ties to the off world politicals in a way to keep an ear out for any troubles coming to Puckworld?”

“Yes, Shasta.”

“And with the trade to improve our food and clothes that we have?”

“Yes,”

“And why is a few of the Marks not liking this idea for growth?” asked Shasta. “I think it is a good sign of growth of the Doves themselves.”

"They prefer the old ways and still believe in Lord Collin’s values for the Dove."

“And what are his values and Lolita’s?”

"Lolita's value is to update the standard of life for the Dove, but also to make sure that Doves and the rest of the universe find some standard of understanding. Lord Collin wanted to keep the Dove closed off, he thought of outside blood and influences would corrupt the Dove way of life."

“And what do you think, is she, Rowain?”

“No, I believe she is trying to improve our way of life immensely.” Rowain said.

Cleo nodded. "I think so too, especially now that I know what the connection is with Lady Kelsa."

"Why's that?" Shasta asked.

"Because it means she's a McDove off world and push come to shove she still has the instinct to protect the Dove."

“I seriously believe that she will protect the Dove from those who would do her people harm, she has that look of push me and I’ll push you right back even harder and you might not like it in her eyes.” Shasta stated.

“I have seen that look in her father’s eyes only once but that was when I was a young Raptrin, I don’t even know why he had that look. But his daughter has the same look.” Rowain replied. “When she’s mad, just stay back and let her speak her mind.”

Shasta nodded. "She's also seems to have a wild untamed streak, I guess she might get that from her mother."

“Yes, she does. That streak made her a very hard Suscan to tame. Her father, sadly, had to go to extortion means to get her to remain in Dove lands. He knew when he chased her off that one night that if he didn’t get her back and threaten those she cared about, he would spend the rest of his life trying to find her or get Charlotte to become proper Black Dove material as fast as he could.” Rowain said.

“And where did she run off to?”

“To her best friend’s home. His sister Kaladan was there and tried to protect her but I saw her standing off to the side and yanked her away. Kala tried using her magic but I threw out one of my shields which sent her spell back at her knocking her down. I yanked Lolita over my shoulder and hauled her to the car, threw her in and ran as fast as I could to hide behind one of the trees after the car left.” Rowain said. “I almost hated doing that but I had no choice. It was the first place we knew she would go.”

"Do you regret it?"

Rowain nodded. "Yes I do, but then again I doubt it could have been done any other way."

“If you hadn’t found her there or that she convinced you to let her go, what would you have done as it would be a manner of lying to Collins and letting her be who she wants to be?” Asked Shasta.

"I would have tried to work things out to suit the situation."

“Even if it meant taking Lolita back to her father kicking and screaming or realizing that all she wants is her freedom to love who she wants and to be like the wind that blows through her hair?”

“You can see that in her?” Rowain asked. “I heard her talk about how she just wanted to be free to love who she wants and be free of her ties to her dad.”

“I may be new to your world, Rowain, but I am not that stupid.” Shasta stated.

"It's her Suscan blood, there really isn't anything that can be done about it."

“Except for visits off world would work for short periods of time,”

“But that is nearly unheard of being done, Shasta, a Black Dove venturing into space for a vacation,” Laughed Cleo, as she stepped into view of them as they walked towards the stairs leading to the lower levels of the school.

Rowain yawned. "So Cleo does this mean I can spend the rest of the night with Shasta since you woke me up in mid sleep?"

Cleo looked at him. “Well, I was hoping to spend the night with him myself,” Shasta and Rowain both raised an eyebrow at that. Cleo noticed the look. “For comforting purposes only, I get nightmares at night. Surely, I would disturb you both if I came into the room to see you both in the middle of some naughty actions,”

"Well if you ever want to, just knock first and we'll get decent."

Cleo and Shasta both broke out into giggles. Cleo looked at Shasta and then to Rowain. “Surely there is at one night that you have to let him sleep alone, Ro. You can’t have him all the time. He has to sleep on his own.”

"True, we can negotiate later, you woke me up so I get him tonight."

“If you had stayed asleep you might have been awakened by him, Rowain.” Cleo stated, pointing her thumb at Shasta.

Rowain smiled wickedly. “Now that would be a wake up I wouldn’t have minded at all,”

Cleo just laughed at that as they headed down, passing the two boys who were were waiting for Rowain to come give them their punishments. They stood by the wall watching as he walked up to them and then walked past.

“Why hasn’t he given us our punishment yet?” asked one boy.

Rowain stopped and walked back. “What are you standing there for, boys, get to the mess hall or I’ll consider giving you your punishment right now.”

Both of the boys rushed away from him before he handed them their punishment. Rowain returned with a smirk on his beak. “I love torturing them like that.”

"Your evil Rowain."

“Nope, just making them sweat in their shoes some more. They will wonder when I will call them in for punishment, I’ll let them linger in limbo for a bit.” Rowain said, as they walked towards the office. “So what is on the morning list before I get some breakfast, Cleo?”

“A radio call from Lolita came in stating something about the coming arrival of the Winddancers in another couple of days and that they are wishing to come here to visit with you.” Cleo stated. She then, went on about the rest of the list which was all minor stuff.

Rowain sighed. "Always too much to do."

Shasta nodded. “And not enough time to do them in either. I have books to read and stuff to learn about my new world,”

"You want to learn some of the stuff hands on Shasta? It'll get the work done much quicker and then we can both work on your studies."

“Sure, might as well, since it will probably be what I’ll be doing at my assigned place when I fully finished my training here,” Shasta stated, as he looked at them both.

Cleo smiled. “At least you are willing to learn and accept the work, Shasta, Rowain here has to go to it kicking and screaming like a baby.”

"I just really dread the tidiousness, I'm not sure how you've stayed sane with the work load."

"Simple, I get up early and do them, and if they’re simple, I just multitask. Though you are my most difficult daily work Rowain."

Rowain just rolled his eyes as they walked to his office, walked to his desk and scanned the desk. “First thing on order is making sure that this mess of papers is dealt with before anything else.”

Shasta took a seat beside him and started looking at them too, unlike the last time he could read parts of the documents. He picked one of them up and read it out loud.

“Not bad for a novice of our tongue, you missed a few but not too bad,” Cleo stated.

"Well, it's one way to learn isn't it, the reading and writing is a major aspect of being a Mark, especially with paperwork." Shasta said with a smile.

“Indeed and it is the only real trouble that you have beyond some troubling people underneath you, but as soon as people know how far they can push before you slam them to the ground the better they’ll treat you.” Rowain stated, as he took the paper from his hand glanced over it before jotting down his name on the line and placing it on the pile to his right hand.

Shasta read the next letter before handing it to Rowain to sign. Rowain liked this way as Shasta had to speak the words written on the pages and he or Cleo could correct him if he spoke the wrong word. Rowain found it to be quite enjoyable and took notice of the last paper in Shasta’s hands and then the time, it took them only twenty minutes instead of the forty-five minutes it normally would take them.

He smirked. "Well we have some time for a coffee before going over the monthly curriculum for the school and compiling report cards."

“Okay, lets get working on them and then breakfast.” Shasta stated.

Rowain started to kiss his neck. “You’re my breakfast.” He whispered sexily.

Shasta moaned. "Sh...shouldn't... this....wait?"

“Yes, but I don’t want to wait,” Rowain whispered as he nibbled on Shasta’s neck.

“Rowain, enough. Do I have to handcuff you to your chair?” Cleo stated.

"Promise or threat, Cleo?"

“Threat!” Cleo said, holding his cuffs in her hand.

Rowain grinned, "Wonder what you will do once I'm cuffed to the chair?"

“At least one of your hand will be free to sign the papers,” Cleo stated.

Rowain frowned; he was hoping for something more then paper work from Cleo, she could try to be a bit nasty.

Shasta went over to Cleo and whispered in her ear, that this was an opportunity to put Rowain though similar tortures that his family had done to her. Cleo smiled, it would be nice to let him know the torture his family put her through. She nodded in agreement. She stripped him of his shirt and pants, making sure that his penis was visible to her. “Limp, good.” She went out of the room and returned about five minutes later with a small bag in hand. She took notice of Shasta and Rowain continuing to work on the schedules and the report cards. She placed her hand on Shasta’s shoulder and had him back away as she dumped the bag to reveal citrus fruit, these were very sour tasting fruit and when someone had a cut, it burned like hell. She took out a knife and softly cut into Rowain’s arms drawing forth blood. He barely even screamed as she cut into him. She turned to the fruit and cut into it. She smirked as she held the sour fruit over his wounds and squeezed it as the juice fell from it and landed onto the open wounds.

Rowain bit his beak trying to keep from screaming out in pain. But he struggled to wipe the blood and juice away but Shasta was keeping his hand down as another cuff was placed on that hand keeping it down by Cleo. She smiled as she did more sour citrus juice over his open sores to where he was squirming in his chair trying to get away from the juice and the pain.

Finally, Rowain cried out, “It hurts, Cleo! Stop it!”

Cleo smiled as she continued to rub more of it on his wounds and used the knife to cut small cuts into his body sending more pain to him. “I want you to feel the same pain that I felt when your brother did to me.” She whispered into his ear.

"You’re not the only one they tormented Cleo," Rowain growled, Cleo's torment was the last thing he had expected of her.

“How do you know? You were part of their joys,” Cleo growled off. Never knowing that when she was away from them, they turn on Rowain and torture him far worse then she ever got.

"Yeah, when they couldn't torment you, they turned on me, their '<i>expendable</i>' little brother, even my father figured my only use was to entertain my older brothers." Rowain clenched his fists angrily. "Why do you think I killed them Cleo?"

“To be the top Ringdove,” Cleo replied.

“No, to free myself from their tortures. I killed my dad to get rid of his tortures on my person. Cleo, he forced me just like he did you and your parents.” Rowain locking her gaze with his own eyes.

Cleo looked at his eyes as they looked back at her and she could see the hurt in them. “Did they . . . really go after you?”

“Yes, every time they couldn’t fuck or torture you, they would go after me,” Rowain spoke as he looked at her. “They tortured me more then you ever know, Cleo.”

"Then why did you just let me push you?"

"Because I hadn't been strong enough to save you and free myself until it was a matter of kill them or be broken."

Cleo’s eyes started to tear up as she looked at him. “They would have broken you, you were I knew you were the stronger of them mentally but I didn’t know if you were like them or not, Rowain.”

“Get my cuffs off of me, Cleo.” Rowain whispered gently. “Back left pocket is the key for the cuffs.”

Cleo’s hand picked up the pants and found the key, she got the cuffs off of him and waited fearfully for what was to come from Rowain, she didn’t know if he would smack her or what. She stood there scared.

Rowain gently wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his naked, cut up body. “I don’t blame you at all for your distrust of me. I don’t.”

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?”

"I don't think you would have believe me. They hurt you too much."

“They’ve hurt you too,” Cleo stated, as she looked at what she did to him. “By the Black Dove, look what I did to you. I’ll go get a wash cloth and some ointment to get rid of all that stuff that I did to you,” She rushed out of the room, leaving Shasta and Rowain standing there.

“You allowed her to cut you, Ro. You could have broken free from those cuffs,” Shasta whispered.

“I know but I didn’t expect her to torture me with the fruit or the cuts.” Rowain replied, gently touching some of the cuts.

“You allowed her to do that so you could tell her that they tortured you as well?” Shasta whispered.

“Yes, I knew if I told her outright, she wouldn’t believe me. She would think I was lying to her to convince her that I was like her when in fact I was like her. Tortured as soon as she was gone from the room. I even think she probably heard some of it but said nothing.” Rowain stated.

“She would have came back if she did. I don’t think she was that kind of Dove to let you be there alone with them torturing you,” Shasta said, as he licked one of the wounds clean of blood and the taste of that sour fruit made the blood taste even weirder.

Rowain shuddered. "Cleo was scared to get near anyone or speak, even if another was being tortured, it was a matter of survival not to get involved any more then one was. It took a lot of work to clear out those who had been warped and twisted by generations before so that this place could be properly operational. Part of the problems are based with inbreeding, the Dove needs new blood or it will go mad, it's why Lolita has been opening the Dove up to outsiders. I won’t lie to you on this one, the Dove in DuCaine Metro is as messed up as there use to be."

“So that is why she’s opening the Dove up so new blood can be brought into the ranks,” Shasta stated.

“Yes, if we didn’t have new blood coming in soon. The Doves will be a race of insane Raptrins with a lot of power behind them,” Rowain admitted.

“Will she tell the other Marks this or let them complain about it?” Shasta asked.

“She has told them but they want to keep the Dove closed up. The only other Mark who is welcoming this change is Dive,” Rowain said.

The door opened up as Cleo came in with a bucket and towels with a bag of some kind in her mouth. She placed it down near him. “Sorry about taking so long, had to wash my hands three times to get any of the oil off of them. Now sit down, I’m going to wash the wounds.”

Rowain sat down in his chair as Cleo knelt before him and with a small sponge dipped it fully into the water and squeezed it out leaving it lightly damp before she gently stroked his arm washing away the blood and the juice even though it did hurt for it to be sponged wash but at least it was better then getting anymore of the juice into the cuts. “Cleo, I’m forever sorry for what my brothers and father did to your family and to you.”

"It's ok, you were as much a victim as I was, I was . . . just blind to it."

"Either way, the mess of madness is cleaned up here, but to keep it safe you'll have to trust Lolita's judgement calls, otherwise the madness that taunted us both will return."

“And with force,” Shasta stated.

“And how do you know?” asked Cleo. “You never had to deal with something like the maddness of inbreeding,”

“No but I do know how someone’s maddness can warp someone who you thought was good and would never become evil. My brother Cain when he was eight years old, he was so good he wouldn’t hurt anyone but our aunt Lena came to sit with us for several weeks. I was too busy being a four year old kid to know what they were doing in a locked room together. I could hear moans and groans and the bed making noises like mom and dad’s bed would do. I never knew what they were doing in there together till one day I climbed up the ladder and peeked inside his room. There was Aunt Lena humping my brother with a strap-on dick while stroking his till he came in her hand. She pulled out and plunged his dick within her warmth and took him. I quickly left the area, wanting nothing more then to wipe away the images I saw. It was when Cain was nine, instead of Lena doing the forcing of him, he raped her violently and beat the crap out of her as he fucked her. That is how my good brother turned evil.” Shasta stated.

Cleo cringed. "No sense of limits, limit and boundries have to be in place. Even a weapon must be able to draw the line between being a person and being a tool."

“He decided it was my turn to feel his dick and he raped me that night with mom and dad sleeping in the next room over.” Shasta stated, he wasn’t really hearing anything that Cleo was saying, he was just talking to get it off his chest.

Rowain knew the look in his eyes that he was going to talk till he was done, he signaled Cleo to just listen as Shasta talked about the madness of Cain and how he suffered at his hands till the day that Dawn Flashblade brought him his freedom.

Cleo sighed, it was a relief to know she wasn't alone, but also it meant she could trust them, if only a little. They had been able to move on, now it was her turn to make the effort. It was after Shasta finished his personal tale, Cleo wrapped her arms around him and whispered to him. “Thank you for sharing your pain with us. You are not alone anymore, Shasta.”

He smiled. “And neither are you.” As he hugged her back before too long, Cleo felt Rowain’s arms wrap around her waist and that of Shasta’s.

Shasta looked over to the desk and saw the papers start to move and form small creatures. "Umm, I think the paperwork is turning to gremlins."

“Shit!” Rowain stated, as he pulled away from the hugs and started to slap the gremlins down and quickly read over the papers before signing his name on them. It didn’t take them too long to get the rest of the paperwork finished before the big guy showed up.

Shasta sighed in relief. "You know, I hate your cursed paperwork, it's a pain in the tailfeathers to catch those little gremlins."

“You and me both. I hate them and that’s why I hate doing the paperwork because as soon as I get half way in, I am needed to do something else and they appear.” Rowain said, waving his hand at the last of the gremlins vanishing as it was caught in Shasta’s hands. “If Charlotte didn’t curse this room to make sure that I keep working on the paperwork, I wouldn’t have this problem at all!”

“Maybe get her to come down here and lift the curse would help?” Shasta asked.

"It would, but I doubt she would, Charlotte makes a hobby of tormenting Marks."

“Get me a way to talk to her,” Shasta said.

“Why?” Rowain asked.

“Well, I’m going to tell her she’s just forcing you to do longer hours because you get called away in the middle of working to deal with a student and comes back to the office to find a monster in the room. And that’s cutting into your sleep at night and soon you will be a sleepy Mark instead of an alert Mark.” Shasta stated.

Cleo looked at him and then to Rowain. “You have been having a hard time getting up in the mornings since she cursed your office, Rowain.”

"I know, I've also tried to get her to uncurse it, and she has refused to."

“Well, maybe I can get her to uncurse it. Show me your video phone or whatever you guys use to call Dublin City?” Shasta asked.

“Well, we use a radio to call up there. You will need to know the whistle to get Charlotte though.” Rowain said, as he led him to where the radio was at.

“Okay, teach me the whistle?” Shasta asked.

Rowain made the whistle, Shasta tried to memorize the variating tones in it. After about fifteen minutes of working on it, he mastered that whistle. Rowain nodded approvingly as he looked at Shasta as he sat down in front of the radio, he still wondered what Shasta was going to say to Charlotte to get her to uncurse his office.

Shasta pushed down on the send button and sent off the whistle and let the button go after he finished the whistle. It didn’t take too long before another whistle came through. After looking at Rowain and saw his nod, Shasta spoke, “Charlotte, it’s Shasta. Rowain’s not here, he’s in the medical ward.”

“So what happened to him?” Charlotte asked.

“The paperwork monster gave him several massive papercuts when he returned to his office after dealing with a small fight here at the embassy. He’s right now getting his wounds taken care of and getting his blood that he donated a few weeks back placed back in him because I had to fight the monster to get Rowain out of there and to the medical ward.” Shasta said.

“That shouldn’t of caused too much problems for him. How long was he gone for?”

“About five hours. I had to tackle the paperwork monster to get his room back to normal again. Is there any way you would uncurse the room so he can get done in an hour instead of spending close to four hours on the paperwork, he is going to have problems if he doesn’t get a good night sleep at night, Charlotte,” Shasta said.

There was a pause. "You’re trying to pull a woosename on me Shasta, Rowain is not a weakling who'd loose to a paperwork monster, he's taken out two month old ones without a cut. Now please stop lying."

“Okay, how would you like an extremely tired Mark running Raven’s Court then? Even if he is distracted by a student asking questions about his report card or trying to get some help with another student and they come to Rowain to mediate a solution, those pesty gremlins show up and cause more delays in getting the paperwork done on time.” Shasta stated.

"Only if you two can sneak big sis out into space for a couple days."

“That is already being worked on, Charlotte. We will get her off planet within two months from now.” Shasta replied.

“Then, I’ll come down in a few days and reverse the curse on the room,” Charlotte stated. “This conversation is now over if there isn’t anything else you wanted to talk about, Shasta?”

“One thing, how is Dive?” Shasta asked.

"He's doing well, though usually buried in work."

“He needs a small break of his own, distract him for an hour or so, get him thinking about something else like maybe a hot woman sucking his penis,” Shasta said.

Cleo exclaimed, “SHASTA!”

“Seriously, having a hot woman suck your penis is a great way to have a break or maybe a hot Raptrin suck you off would do wonders.” Shasta said, not knowing that Charlotte heard everything.

“By the Black Dove! Shasta did you get Cleo to suck you off!” Charlotte asked.

“No, just Rowain. I’m letting Cleo decide when she wants to touch me sexually,” Shasta said. “Oh by the way, I tend to bend both ways.”

"I'll remember that, now you'd best terminate the signal before I get any ideas."

“Okay, take care of him Charlotte. I am depending on you. Shasta at Raven’s Court out.” And he pulled away from the mike and looked at Rowain. “She is coming to take away the curse.”

"On her terms though."

“Let her think that she has the upper hand, we know the truth, we’re planning to take her away for a while now.” Shasta said.

Rowain nodded. "It's a matter of working out all the politics that go with it."

“Carter and Siris will help us do that.” Shasta looked at him calmly.

“And what would they have to do with getting Lolita off . . . I think I get the picture. You want them to invite her out to their home planet for a private meeting which she would be able to stretch her own wings out a bit and be free for a bit,” Cleo stated.

“Yes, with their help, Lolita will be able to observe some outsiders and see if they are worthy to be included into our bloodlines . . . strengthening them with their DNA.” Shasta said.

"Exactly, and Lady Nami is a Raptrin so of course it's a matter of curiosity."

"True, but what will the overall political impact be?" Cleo asked.

"Not sure, that's why we need Carter and Siris to help."

“They will most likely be able to help figure that one big step out,” Shasta stated.

Rowain nodded. "They may be flirts but when it comes to politics, they know the ropes."

“And if this is to work out, Rowain, they better,” Cleo said. “I’m going to go put the bucket and the sponges back. I’ll be back soon.”

After she left the room, Rowain wrapped his arms around Shasta’s waist and nibbled on his neck. “Care to head for the mess hall for breakfast or my room for some serious breakfast?”

“Mess hall. Breakfast is the biggest meal of the day and we better not miss it.” Shasta said, as he watched as Rowain pulled his shirt on and tucked it into his pants. “As much as I would love to have you in me again, breakfast is important.”

“I know.” Rowain said.

Shasta grinned. "You know, I've never had anyone see right though a lie like that before, especally when not face to face."

Rowain shrugged. "Charlotte though she can be a pain, is exceedingly perceptive, no one has ever gotten away with lying to her."

“Has anyone managed to get a lie past her?” Shasta asked.

“I don’t think so.” Rowain said, as they walked into the mess hall with Shasta leading the way and to the chefs who handed them their breakfast trays. They headed off to a table to continue their talk.

“Think Dive lied to her or at least didn’t tell her something?” Shasta asked, as he nibbled on the fruit.

“I doubt it, Dive has enough common sense not to."

Shasta nodded. “He probably didn’t tell her till just before he springs it on her. Unless she is that smart and figures him out,”

“She's pretty smart.”

“I see.” Shasta replied.

“I hope you don’t lie to the people around me, Shasta. They will find out if you do, even if they are not perceptive like Charlotte. Lies tend to come back at you and not be good.” Rowain said, as he finished off his fruit plate before going to his eggs and sausage omelet.

They talked about what he shouldn’t do as they finished off their meals, some of the students didn’t approach but some did look at Shasta twice before they headed off to their classes.

"What's with the looks? I'm not out of place here am I?"

“No, they have seen Dive here a few times and now that you’re here, it confuses them till they realize that you’re not Dive,” Rowain retorted.

“Oh, so the kid who came up to the table yesterday probably assumed that I was Dive.”

“Most likely.”

“Oh and they probably now know that I am not Dive because Dive wouldn’t be having you in his room all night long,” Shasta stated.

“Dive is not a homophobic drake but he is okay with them as long as they do not try to get him into bed or a relationship with him beyond being a friend.” Rowain replied.

"Guess that is a point where we differ, pleasure is pleasure, emotional relations are on a different level.”

Rowain looked at him. “So where does that leave us?”

"Where do you think it leaves us? With or without pleasure, I find my self very comfortable with you, someone I don’t want to disappoint."

Rowain smiled behind his glass of fruit juice. “I’m glad, Shasta. I’m very comfortable with you as well.”

"Over the past while, Rowain, I know it's still really at a child’s level but I've found that my reading and writing are improving, it's more then I've ever been able to do before."

Rowain nodded. "Because our language is based off a set of characters that merge to combine more complex words, once you know the basics it's not hard to read the words, and as you read you gain better comprehention."

"I'm personally a little surprised that I've been picking it up this quickly,"

"It's because you are immersed into it, there is no where you can go in here without having it effect you."

“That is why I can understand what the students are saying?” Shasta stated.

“Yes, your mind is hearing our tongue and is accepting it and translating it into what you can understand and then after awhile, it isn’t because you have learned how to speak it. Soon, you will be speaking Dove like you were born to our culture instead of not,” Rowain said, as he looked at him.

"I guess this is what you meant by me being a blank slate being a good thing."

"It was, there was nothing you had to go on to find an equivelent to, your book learning in other words is all in our tongue, you will learn quicker because of that, Nosedive learned quick because he grew up hearing it from Lolita and already had a basic understanding back then."

Shasta nodded. “He was lucky, to have had known her from such an early age.”

“Why?”

“Because he probably considers her more then just a girl that he knew but maybe as family,” Shasta said.

"They are close, and you are right, almost to the point of siblings.”

Shasta smiled as he finished off his breakfast and took his tray up to the chefs and thanked them for a good breakfast before returning to the table and for another hour they talked, before Cleo came over to their table lightly tapping her foot. “Time for Rowain to get to work, eh, Cleo?”

"Yep, and you too, since it's his day off you'll be helping since you need to learn the ins and outs."

Shasta rolled his eyes as he took her hand in his. “I thought I would follow you about?”

“Not today, Shasta, maybe another time,” Cleo smiled, patting her hand on his.

“So what are we going to be doing today?” asked Shasta.

"Bills, supply orders, exports, maintance reports, inspections, and if repairs need to be done, issuing servicing contracts."

“Oh, sounds absolutely boring to me,” Shasta replied.

“Not really, it is the paperwork that is boring,” Rowain said. “Besides, I love making sure everything is working smoothly here.”

"Is that an obssesion Rowain?"

"No, survival tactic, you don't want it to all break at once, otherwise you are in big trouble."

“True,” Shasta replied. “Now that you made me think about it, it is wiser to get it fixed now before it is really needed and it breaks.”

“So we better get going and do our inspection rounds,” Rowain said.

"Lead the way.”

Rowain led him down to the sub-basement to where Shasta noticed several large furnances by the far wall. “They are not originally from Puckworld, Shasta, they’re offworld equipment, bought by us from the merchant guilds.”

"So you need to get a mechanic from offworld to service these huge things?"

"Yes and no, common maintaince we can do ourselves, but major servicing yeah it's an offworld contract."

“So do they need a major servicing call or not?” asked Shasta.

"Well the gauges look fine, but it's been a few months, we should have one of the local maintainance people run a through check of it and submit the report."

Shasta nodded in silent agreement as he looked at them. “So what are they run on? I don’t see any wood or coal around here,”

"They’re solar, their power grid is on the roof."

“And I assume after heavy snows, they are cleared off of any snow buildup?”

“Yes, how do you know?”

“My home back on the Negaverse Earth was powered by solar energy, clean, and always available and very cheap.” Shasta replied, as he looked at Rowain.

“The energy we get from them is free even if the equipment isn’t,” Rowain said, as they headed for the roof to inspect the solar panels to see if they’re working properly or not.

Shasta took a bunch of mental notes, there seemed to be a whole bunch of back maintance areas that regular people rarely ever saw. He helped check each panel to see if it was working 100% or lower which meant that one would have to be flagged for repairs. “How is all the ones on your side, Rowain?”

“Great, every single one of them is working at 100%. How’s yours?” Rowain yelled off.

“Peachy, each one is at 100%. We’re good for another week,” Shasta stated, as he headed towards where Rowain was at.

"So what's next?"

"Water heaters and air ducts."

“Okay, this should be interesting to find out,” Shasta said, as he followed Rowain back to the sub basement where on another wall were water heaters giant ones, bigger then he had ever seen before. “Wow, they’re huge!”

“They have to be to deal with a building of this size and this many people.” Rowain stated.

"It's gigantic, enough to supply a small city."

"Each compound, Shasta is a small city unto itself."

"So how many people live in a compound usually?"

"Anywhere up to five thousand."

“Five . . . thousand! How can you make sure that they all leave the building if there is a fire or something like that here?” asked Shasta.

“Oh, you want to tests their speed in getting out. I’ll show you and we can test the air vents at the same time.” Rowain said, as he pulled out the fog generator and turned it on. “We usually use this for tests only.”

Shasta watched as Rowain placed the hose to the vents and filled the vent with fog and then Rowain turned on the outer surveliance cameras, that was pointed in the direction of the air field. It took about ten minutes before they started to see the students, teachers and staff members rushing for the air field all looking scared.

Cleo bopped Rowain on the head. "Now I am stuck telling them it was just a drill."

Rowain grinned. "Yes you do, Shasta and I will run the vent cleaner to clear the fog gunk."

“You better fucking do so!” Cleo snapped off, as she hurried off to inform the students, staff members and the teachers that this was only a drill and that they have performed excellently as always.

Shasta shook his head. "You did that on purpose."

"Yep, and it worked like a charm, Cleo won’t be back for a good twenty minutes."

“And for what naughty reasons is running through your mind?” Shasta asked.

Rowain turned on the vent cleaner, "Not sure, any suggestions?"

“One, bend over.” Shasta whispered, as his hand went to work on his own erection. Rowain smiled as he dropped his pants and bent over placing his hands on the boiler. He felt Shasta slowly slide in and thrust deeply within him. It was no more than five minutes, did they start crying out each other’s names before they came. Shasta pulled out and at the sink washed his dick off and dried it before sheathing it in his pants as Rowain pulled his pants up and they acted perfectly normal when Cleo returned fifteen minutes later.

Cleo looked at them and then sniffed the air, shook her head sadly. “You two are naughty!”

"Point being Cleo? We already cleaned the vents."

“Well, you two could have waited for your rooms, you know.” Cleo said. She didn’t want to tell them that she was getting turned on by the scent in the air.

"We could have, but then we might have been scolded by you."

“Do you two get off on me scolding you two?” Cleo asked, arms crossed in front of her.

"We neither confirm nor deny that allegation, Cleo." Shasta said with a grin.

“I will take that as a yes. And did you know some women get off watching two males screwing each other,” Cleo replied, before she turned on her heels and walked out of the room.

"Think we upset her?"

"No I think she is aroused," Shasta whispered.

Rowain followed her and before she got to the door, placed his hand on it and looked at her. “Are you aroused, by the scent of sex back there, Cleo?”

“And what of it?” Cleo snapped, she didn’t want them to know that she got off on the scent in the room.

“I think you are aroused and you want to go off and finish it privately?”

“And if I do, it is none of your concern, Rowain.” Cleo stated.

“That is true, but wouldn’t you like to get it off with your net?” Rowain said, pointing to Shasta. “Let him make you squirm with pleasure?”

"Not yet, besides it's not like I can feel anything down there, so there wouldn't be a point."

Shasta knew she needed to get this Simon fella to look at her before anything happens like that. “Rowain, when is this Simon fella going to be coming here?”

"He isn't, Cleo needs to go off world to see him."

“Shit!” Shasta snapped. “One question, Cleo, can you feel your breasts getting fondled or did they torture you there too?”

"I can feel them, there are just some minor scars on them."

Shasta smiled at her. “I know it is not the same as in getting off but it does give you pleasure, that is if you are interested in allowing me to help get you off,”

“You’re asking me if I am okay with letting you help me get off?” Cleo asked, shocked.

"Yeah, it's up to you in the long run.”

“It is your choice, Cleo, do you want him to pleasure you or not?” Rowain asked, looking at her. He knew deep down she wants to be loved like the others but the scars and the memories hardened her to the feelings.

“I’ll consider it, but first you have some duties to deal with,” Cleo told them as she slipped out of the room.

Shasta sighed. "She's tough one isn't she?"

"I think it might be she's not quite ready yet."

Shasta nodded. “Hopefully, one day she’ll be ready and I’ll be the one to help her relieve the feelings.”

Rowain nodded. "The reason I can't have Simon come here, is because he'd be in danger of being chained by the Dove."

“But didn’t Lolita state that she marked them down as Thunderbeaks? They have no links to the Dove even if it is by her eggs?” Shasta asked.

"DNA ID scans would ID Simon, even marked Thunderbeak, with Lolita’s health . . . they will spot him for what he really is."

“A son of the Black Dove,” Shasta shook his head sadly. “So he can never step foot on the planet of his birth without fear of being chained to the title of Black Dove,”

Rowain nodded. "He's also probably the only male born of the three boys with any fertility. His two older brothers are sterile."

“He’s the only one who is fertile, but what of the girl is she?” Shasta asked.

"She might be and she might not be, depends if there are any DNA matches for them."

“Is there possiblities of DNA matches out there for her and her brothers?”

“At the moment, we are unsure if there are any DNA matches for Taren or Simon,” Rowain said.

“If there is . . . ?” asked Shasta.

“They are immediately allowed to mate and concieve a child. After the child’s birth and if it survives the first few hours, the family of the female is given a dowery of a huge sum since the female is highly prized as the bringer of new life for their line.” Rowain replied.

"So Taren is more important off world then Simon."

"Yes, she's the heir to the Seabird fleet."

“The fleet that catlike creature Sora said that she works for a Kelsa Seabird? Family member to Simon and Taren or am I mistaken?” asked Shasta.

"Their Aunt. Since Lolita and Charlotte are planet bound, and Kelsa is sterile, the next in line is Taren."

"I get it, so if either finds a match, then it's their job to make sure the family line continues, like here you have to have children so that the McDove line continues. So where does that leave Nami?"

"Nami is too important politically to chain, she's the head of their region in space, the rim worlds are a set of small galaxies that directly answer to her, even Puckworld falls under  her."

“So in a way, she rules or govern over Puckworld?” Shasta asked.

“Yes.” Rowain replied.

"Wow, she just doesn't govern the Dove area."

"Exactly, politically it's a good thing to have her where she is."

Shasta nodded as they headed up to check the rest of the building before moving to the kitchen area and marked down what was needed to bring in from the space port’s market area and checked the health of the stoves and various other equipment within the kitchen itself.

After talking with the chefs and getting a list of items that they needed fresh from the market, Rowain smiled and looked at Shasta. “Ready for a field trip, Shasta?”

"Sure, where we going?"

“To the space port’s market. The food there is much more fresher and there are dried food there too.” Rowain said, as he headed for the front of the building.

“Is that where we get most of the food that we eat at the embassy?” asked Shasta.

“Yes and no. Most of the meat is gathered from Dublin but the fruit and other items are found here at the space port’s market and they know we buy in bulk so do expect to see a lot of credit being handed out.” Rowain said, as he pulled out of his wallet a galactic credit card.

“Is that a credit card? You guys, are that advanced?” asked Shasta, looking at the card and flipped it over to see Rowain’s hand signature on it and plus his photo. “Do they all have photos of the carrier on them?”

“Yes, why don’t yours have your face on it to protect it from being stolen and used?” asked Rowain, taking it back and putting it back in his wallet and walked to the side of the road and climbed into his aerovan that was meant for carrying loads of food or supplies.

“No, but then, the people on Earth were a bit stupid and nieve about things like that.” Shasta stated, as he climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up.

“May I see your ID card, Shasta?” asked Rowain. He wanted to see what he needed to get for Shasta when they got on the station when it came time to go up there.

“Sure,” Shasta stated, as he pulled out the card from his wallet. “Sorry the photo is so bad, I was half drugged at the time they took the photo, never really changed it after I got cleaned up.”

Rowain glanced down at the photo ID to see a drugged out punk looking back at him, he turned to look at Shasta now and was shocked by the distinct differences in the photo and the real Drake. "You definately need a new photo. Not many would believe this one is actually yours."

“True, I look totally different then what I did back then,” Shasta replied.

“Very different. You don’t look like a drugged out punk kid anymore. You look healthier then you did in the photo. So when was this taken?” asked Rowain, handing it back to him.

“I think it was about three months before Dawn killed Cain, somewhere about five or ten years ago. I sort of lost track of time.” Shasta admitted.

Rowain watched as he placed the card back into his wallet, “Well it'll do for getting the Galactic ID.”

“What does yours look like, Rowain?” Shasta asked. Rowain stopped at a light and handed Shasta his, much to Shasta’s surprise Rowain really didn't look much different in the ID. “You look the same in the photo as you do in person. So what is this symbol?”

Rowain glanced over and smiled. “That’s my Ringdove tattoo. It says which branch of the Doves I come from and what rank I am.”

"Oyy, it gives a lot of info doesn't it?"

"Yes, but it also makes sure that no one else can be me except for me."

“But has someone tried?”

"No one really dares."

“Why not?”

“Because one of the shopkeepers is a Dove and when I show her my ID card, she requests to see my brand and I show her it to give her double proof of who I am. An imposter would have a hard time as most Doves once in their lives has seen others’ brands and know where they are usually located at.” Rowain said.

"Makes sense, so are there a lot of Dove merchants?"

"The merchant class is the greatest number amoung the Dove."

“So we will see many of them there?” asked Shasta.

“Yes and some of them Raven’s Court only gets their food from, unless something happens which makes us look to another merchant.” Rowain said, as they neared the space port.

“How many times has that happened?”

“Not many times, but I like to buy from several merchants the food that we need to feed the embassy. We’re here.” Rowain said, as he pulled into the parking lot searching for a parking spot for the van.

“There’s a spot,” Shasta stated, pointing out the lone parking space meant for the handicapped.

“No, that’s for the handicap users. We’ll have to go onto the next parking lot to see if there is any space there.” Rowain said, as they drove past it and onto the next level to find a parking spot and parked.

Shasta bubbled with glee when he saw just how busy the port market was, so much going to almost any where and vice versa. He wanted to go see everything.

Rowain had to place his hand on Shasta’s shoulder to calm the young lad down as he directed him towards the direction of the Dove merchants since even though the public was allowed to enter and purchase, a few Doves who sold their wares there didn’t really like outsiders and would put a notice on their stalls, Doves and Raptrins only. Those people who were wealthy would hire Raptrins to purchase their food from those who didn’t sell to outsiders.

"Why are they like that?"

"Because, some things use Doves use must be particular standards and ardent meant for outsiders, this makes sure they are only available to Doves."

“Ah,” Shasta replied as they walked towards the Dove merchant who stood by her stall with a smile on her beak.

“Rowain, how are you doing, my boy?” asked the Dove female, as she hugged him.

Rowain returned the hug, "Not bad, training a Flashblade for the role of a Mark."

“Ah, so one of them appeared from space or did you wrangle this handsome fella from the past?” She asked, taking a long look at Shasta. “He will fit nicely into the ranks of the Marks. They will love him. Can he fight?”

"He can, and is quite good."

“Oh, good, so what are you two boys doing out here, not looking for little ol’me?” She asked.

“Well, we need some food for the embassy,” Rowain spoke, as he looked at her food that she had up on sale.

“Well, you came to the right place, now what are you looking for?” she asked, as she looked at him.

"Mostly the usual, Cleo made a list this time, as well as a few other things such as nakarine, octorine, hesper root, and kelbas bark."

She took the list but made note of the other four items. "The list is easy enough, but those last four are not something regularly asked for, and if you weren't a Mark I wouldn't sell them to you."

"Don't worry, what I need them for is teaching purposes,"

“Going to teach him the songs, eh?” she asked, looking at him as she went behind her stall, waved them to follow her to where her storage area was at.

"He has to learn them, its part of being a Mark.”

She smiled. “Hope you have a good singing voice, his is one of the best.”

“I can do okay singing, ma’am,” Shasta replied.

"Well I guess you will improve with time."

Shasta nodded. "So what were those last four used for?"

"Individually they have different medicinal effects, and different combinations can either be a deadly poison or an aphrodisiac,"

“Oh wow,” Shasta said, looking at her and then glancing over to Rowain. “So am I to drink the stuff or what?”

"You’ll see when we get back. Consider it a treat."

“Well, you are ‘<i>the</i>’ treat, Rowain,” Shasta whispered to him.

Rowain grinned, "Rituals that our people have that include those four are rather interesting."

“Wow, I hope they are as interesting as you say they are.” Shasta replied, as he watched as the woman started to pile a lot of food onto a push cart that he was shocked by the size of, it was bigger then the normal grocery cart at one of the grocery stores in the Negaverse. “I guess you guys like large things.”

"The compounds contain quite a lot of people, and everyone needs to eat, so a Mark must purchase in bulk to make sure everyone has something to eat."

“And making sure that the favorite dishes are provided as well,” She stated, as she loaded more food onto the cart.

Rowain nodded. "Also there are items that are used for medical purposes and always need to keep in stock."

“Of course,” Shasta said, as he started to help her haul more of the items onto the cart.

Rowain wanted to tug him back but it was useful as he was helping her. “You don’t have any fresh Star Fruit with you this time around?”

“No, I checked my source and the Star Fruit harvest that he had was not much and his amount was too little to even haul. Maybe next time, there will be more. If I had brought it, I would have to charge an arm and a leg to have any fresh Star Fruit, Rowain,” She replied, looking at him.

Rowain nodded. "I'll have to see about getting some shipped in from Sunset orchard, usually it supplies only Dublin, but I may be able to get a shipment in."

She nodded as she continued to load the cart full to the point where the cart could no longer hold anymore, she grabbed another one and started to load it up as well.

Rowain knew he needed to haul Shasta off to get some Dublin style clothing suitable for a Mark as there was shops there that had some real nice clothing. “Shasta, come on. We have another shop to hit before we’re done here. Marsa, we’ll be back shortly.”

“I know, sonny,” Marsa replied, as she kept loading up the second cart. He usually would buy her completely out of her food supplies but it would be a nice payday for her journey to this backwater planet.

Rowain smiled, he and other Marks had picked a few good suppliers and always did the bulk purchasing from them because it made it worth their while to do trade with them and it helped Dublin’s Galactic economy, after all there were many things you could only get from the Doves since it was native to tropical Orithia, which meant only Dublin and the mountains were able to produce it.

“So the Marks have done some good in purchasing from the people here?” asked Shasta.

"We make it worth their while to sell to us, and in some cases supply things that may be hard to get from anywhere else."

“Cool. So where are we going now? To another food merchant?” asked Shasta.

"No, a tailor that deals in Dove fashion, you need clothes instead of wearing hand me downs and what you wore from the Negaverse."

“Oh okay.” Shasta replied. “So they’ll be similar to yours?”

“No, more like what Dive wears after all you are a Flashblade,” Rowain stated.

“A Negaverse Flashblade branch of the Doves, that is, Rowain.” Shasta replied.

Rowain nodded as he lead Shasta to the tailors. He noticed that his favorite tailor shop was there this time around as normally they wouldn’t leave Dublin for the space port here in Keltor. He led Shasta towards the shop as he rang the bell to get the attention of the tailor’s assistant who was putting some bolts on the wall.

The tailor’s assistant turned her head to see who rang the bell to see Rowain standing there. “Ah, master Rowain, a pleasure to see you here. I’ll get the tailor.” She rushed to the back to get the tailor.

Rowain smiled. "When out here, this is the best tailor shop on the station, they also can put thermo shields into the clothings to make them more all weather."

“Cool, what about sheilds?” asked Shasta.

Rowain nodded. "Though it is best you learn combat without them, a living weapon must be better then any shield or weapon in the user, the weapon of choice to a living weapon must move as naturally as an extention of themselves."

“Oh okay,” Shasta stated, as he looked at the various color bolts on the wall.

"Pick what you like."

“Really?” asked Shasta.

Rowain nodded. "The accents, and design, though are already set though."

Shasta walked into the store running his hand over the bolts feeling each one before he stopped at the satin bolts, he liked how it felt but the colors he was not sure what to get.

“You like the feel of it?” Rowain whispered.

Shasta nodded. “But I am unsure of which color to go for. They are all good looking,”

“Traditional Flashblade colors are black silver and blood red, though you are Negaverse Flashblade, white gold and midnight blue might be best since it contrasts traditional Flashblade."

“I like that combo color.” Shasta stated, as he went to the bolt that was white gold and then to the midnight blue, pulled them both out and hoisted it onto his shoulder like it was nothing.

The tailor stepped from the back to see the lad that was with Rowain Ringdove hoist two bolts of fabric onto his shoulder like it was nothing. How strong was this lad?, as he approached the pair signalling his assistant to get the bolts from the lad. “Rowain, nice to see you within my store once again. So what brings you and your friend here?”

"My friend is looking for some Dublin attire suitable to a Flashblade as a Mark."

“Very well, I shall want to see his Flashblade brand to prove that he is a Flashblade,” The tailor stated.

Shasta placed the bolts down and pulled off his shirt and turned his back to the tailor to reveal on his left shoulder blade the white tipped Dove of the Negaverse Flashblades. “That is the crest of the Negaverse clan of the Dove Flashblades, sir.”

The tailor nodded, "So you are a branch family member of the main Flashblade house."

Shasta nodded. "Yeah, we are a bit different from the main line, but just as deadly."

“Ah, a bit more sharper edged then the main line. Drop them all, I need a good measurement or they’ll be ill fit,” He stated, looking at Shasta.

Shasta looked at him curiously. He didn’t know what he meant.

Rowain looked at him. “Shasta strip, he needs to get the proper size for your clothing. He can’t do it with your clothes on. He’ll get the wrong size made for you,”

"Oh, I’ve never been to a tailor before." Shasta said as he took note of the curtained off area and went there before removing his clothes.

The tailor stepped in and got the measurements before leaving the room but had a smile on his face as he walked back to the back room with the two bolts of fabric.

Rowain took a peek into the curtained off room and saw Shasta sitting on the seat, with his clothes in front of him. “Nice ass, Shasta.”

Shasta threw his clothes at him. “Rowain! This is a bit embarressing for me.”

Rowain chuckled, "A bit embarrasing but only have to do it once unless things start being too loose or too tight.”

Shasta started to understand as he nodded. “So when will he be done?”

“Shortly, he’s very fast at what he does and he is really good at it too,” Rowain replied.

"Nice, should I just get dressed or should we wait?"

"Up to you, how long do you want the assistant admiring your ass?”

He glanced over and noticed that the assistant was admiring his bare ass. He didn’t blush or anything as he pulled on his underwear and the rest of his clothes. “There, but I think she didn’t like how I got dressed.”

Rowain shrugged. "Can't blame her for appreciating the view, she probably sees a lot in this job."

“Most likely,” Shasta glanced over at her. She was a lovely thing. He started to lick his bill as he looked at her, and then started to click his bill.

Rowain wondered what he was doing and then he took note of how he was looking at her. He just rolled his eyes, Shasta was flirting with her and the clicks was his way of flirting with the female gender. “Shasta, are you flirting with the help?”

“Oh sorry,” Shasta turned his head away from her, trying to distract himself as he waited for his new clothes to be done.

The assistant went into the back and helped with the tailor getting the clothes for the young Mark ready as quickly as possible since it was looking like he was getting a bit antsy about his new clothes.

About an hour later, she returned with the garments as the two Marks were still talking. “Lord Flashblade, here are your new garments. Please step into the dressing room and try them on.”

Shasta took them and did so, he was very pleased with how well it fit, even in the Negaverse no one could ever hope to have anything that fit right. He was admiring himself in the mirror when a voice called out to him in his admiration.

“Shasta, step outside and show us how you look?” Rowain asked.

"Ok Rowain," he said as he took one final look at himself in the mirror before stepping out to show them to Rowain. “So how do I look?”

“White gold really works for you,” Rowain said after he took an eye full of Shasta’s new garb. He was going to have problems with the girls at Raven’s Court with Shasta, they’ll be wanting to bed him now.

Shasta grinned. "Think the girls or the guys back at Raven’s Court will like it?"

"Try not to get dragged into any courtship before your training is done."

“Like as if they would try, they’ll probably be fighting Cleo for first dibs,” Shasta replied, looking at himself in the mirror.

Rowain chuckled. "That is probably true, she is very fond of you."

“Yes and I her and I haven’t even bedded her down yet either,” Shasta replied. “We best pay for this and go get our food. Marsa is probably done with loading it right now.”

Rowain nodded. "Thankfully she already has the information to charge the compound’s account." Rowain said as he paid the tailor.

Shasta smiled as they stepped from the shop and walked down the aisle back to her shop, all the while Rowain watched as the ladies who shopped there took a double look at Shasta and stared as did the ladies of the shops as they past. He smirked as he walked next to Shasta. “The effect has already hit, Shasta. Glance behind but don’t look like you are.”

Shasta looked to Rowain and with a glance behind saw the women of the market staring at them both. “Maybe they like what they see in both of us?”

“No, its you they’re staring at. Me, I’m just normal looking, you are hot, Shasta.” Rowain replied.

“Really?” He asked.

"Really, but don't let it get to your head."

“I won’t.” Shasta replied, as they walked to Marsa’s shop to see her standing there with three carts full of food. “Looks like we cleaned you out, Marsa.”

“Close, Shasta, close. But I got a nice payday out of it anyways,” Marsa said. “And you now look like a Mark of the Flashblades,”

"Yeah, and happily contrasting the main Flashblades, though Dive and I may look similar we are both very different."

“And now you look it,” she said, as she helped them haul the third cart to their aerovan and helped them load it in. She handed Rowain a white bag which contained what he had ordered from her.

It didn’t take them very long to load it into the van and escort the empty carts back to her shop and return to the van and head back to Rowain’s Court where the students who dealt with the kitchen and the pantry were waiting to help unload the van.

Shasta took note that Rowain did not lift a feather to carry but was directing everyone on what needed to be put away first. He also took note that Rowain had the four other items in a bag in one hand. He knew what was in that bag and wondered what would be happening later on in Rowain’s chambers or his.

Rowain looked over at him once everything was organized. "Get cleaned up, and meet me at my office in an hour, we'll get to the lesson from there."

Shasta nodded as he headed for his chambers to get cleaned up, but the female Raptrin he had kissed on the neck was waiting for him in his chambers. “Uh, how did you get in here?”

“Well, that’s easy. You should have locked your chambers doors when you leave for the day.” She said, as she stood up from his bed and walked to him pinning him against his door and proceeded to kiss him hard as her hand ran under his pants and felt his now growing erection. She pulled back from his bill and smiled. “Oh, you are easy to get hard. I thought I would need to work on you seriously.” And her hands went to work on his pants and she dropped to her knees as she took his erection into her mouth and sucked him till he blew his seeds into her mouth which she drank down.

Shasta moaned in pleasure, he had never expected her to actually come on to him. But she got up onto her feet after dropping her own clothes baring herself to him and started to push him towards his bed, that was when he dashed into the bathroom and closed the door. Though he wanted to bed her down, Rowain will wonder what the fuck was going on with him not showing up as a Negaverse male had a lot of stamina when they were screwing a female and it would be hours before he was satsified with her and with what Rowain said that the females were the ones who started most courtships, he decided the best thing to do was run and hide, and hope that she would take that as a no, when he heard the door open and another voice was heard in the room.

Cleo was not very happy to see a naked girl in Shasta’s room and she at his bathroom door. “What are you doing here?”

“I want to fuck him, I already sucked him dry, he owes me for that kiss mark he gave me!” She snapped.

“He’s off limits!” Cleo snapped.

"Oh, it didn't seem that way back then."

”Shasta has already been scolded for his conduct on that incident."

"So who does he belong to? Has his mate already been picked for him?" The girl challenged.

Cleo pinned her against the wall. "For the time he is here he belongs to Rowain, as for his mate to be, that is undecided."

“Well, I’m going to inform my parents that I want him as my mate if he doesn’t get one soon,” She snapped, as she shoved her away and started to leave the room.

“As if your ranking could match his!” Cleo snapped, watching as she walked off. After she blew out a puff of air. “You can come out now, Shasta.” But the bathroom door didn’t budge open, she opened the door to hear the shower running and seeing Shasta’s shadow in the shower. “She’s gone now, Shasta.”

“Thanks Cleo.” Shasta said, poking his head from around the curtain. “She blew my top off sucking me off like that.”

"You shouldn't have let her get that far, now she's going to try a get a match with you, just because of that kiss incident." Cleo heard the sounds of a head hitting the wall. “Shasta?”

“Grand, Rowain is not going to be fucking happy with this news.” Shasta moaned.

"You outrank her, if she forces herself on you . . . you can deal with her as harshly as nessesary, the only way she can force that match is if she is with your child."

Shasta sighed. "Good thing I'm only fertile a week out of each month."

“Oh?” Cleo didn’t know much about the Negaverse’s male’s fertile stages.

"In the Negaverse, females are alwasys fertile, males are only fertile one week a month, when they go into Lust."

“Here it’s the males who are always fertile but the females have to be in the Lust to get with duckling.” Cleo stated.

“Well, that’s good to know.” Shasta said.

Cleo nodded. “Now finish up with your shower and get dressed,”

Shasta nodded and finished getting ready. He stepped from the room with his hair pulled into a pony tail and his white gold clothing on. He noticed Cleo’s eyes look him over. “Is anything amiss?”

“No, nothing.” She stated.

Shasta knew that she was really breathless as she looked at him but she kept her cool about her, which he liked about her. He did look really hot in his new clothes and she kept her cool and her wits about her. Shasta gave her a quick hug and a quick peck on the cheek. "One thing that I really like about you is that it takes a lot for you to lose your cool, whomever you choose to court you will be very lucky."

Cleo smiled. “They will have to be lucky to have me as a mate, Shasta. The one I pick will have at two people to go through before they even are allowed to get close to me. Angel Ringdove and Rowain, they were the only Ringdove’s that ever treated me with kindness,”

“Who’s Angel?” asked Shasta.

“Angel is Rowain’s cousin and a dear friend of his,” Cleo stated.

"Never met him."

"It's rare that they are ever in the same compound together, Dove customs make it so they can't unless the Black Dove has granted permission."

“Has she ever?” asked Shasta.

“Yes, when Angel was courting Kara. That was the only time she permitted him to even be here. Kara, I am not sure has either accepted him or not. I have not heard if she took him to her bed yet, though he has tried to get her into his quite many times.” Cleo replied.

“So is she waiting for her Lust to come and then invite him to her bed and screw him senseless or is she not wanting to accept him?” asked Shasta.

"Kara is fond of Rowain, but they are not a genetic match."

“Too bad, the offspring would be a special color since their colors are so different. The offsprings ID of his or her parents would be very clear on who is the child’s parents.” Shasta replied.

"Yes, though Rowain's line even though it can be unstable is important, Rowain's mother was a McDove, he's the only one able to carry on the McDove line."

“So in a way, he is the true last son of the McDove line?”

“Yes, without an heir from him, the McDove line ends with him. Then, the next Black Doves would be of the Flashblade line.” Cleo stated.

"Why Flashblade?"

"Because Flashblade was one of the three founding families of the Dove, McDove, the founding Raptrin house, MacDove, founding Saurian house, and Flashblade, founding Avian house, those three families made the pact with Death to protect the people under them from Guardian tampering. When Death named her price, Eliza McDove was first to step forward and accept it, then Tobias Flashblade, and last was Azriel MacDove." Cleo smiled. "Amoung all of us in the council ranks, we were taught that as children, if there is no McDove to lead and accept the price, then it next falls to the Flashblade house."

“So Dive has a hard job on his family, if Rowain doesn’t produce a son,” Shasta stated. “And would that include my family line too?”

"Yours, if Dive’s ends."

“I don’t see his line ending any time soon. He has a mate does he not and she has bore him offsprings?” asked Shasta.

Cleo nodded. “He has a mate, a long lost Dove and twins a son and a daughter.”

"Then there really isn't anything to worry about."

“Nope, you really do not have to worry about anything but your own family line,” Cleo stated.

"Good, so do you know what Rowain is going to be teaching me, he picked up four ingediants other then what was on the shopping list."

"It could be anything . . . though I think it might be a lesson in composure."

“Composure under a drugged influence, I think Rowain will have to do something else, I swore off drugs of all kinds, the only thing that will be going into this mouth is fruit juice, milk and water.” Shasta stated.

"A living weapon must have the resistance to poisons, and toxic substances so that they are able to fight with a clear mind regardless of what the enemy uses. Drugs and alochol are forbidden amoung the top two levels of the Doves unless for a perticular purpose, such as resistance and compsure training, or the rights of the final minutes."

“The rights of final minutes, what’s that?” asked Shasta.

“That’s when the Black Dove or a trusted Mark is called upon to witness the passing of the person into the next life, that is the only time they would drink any fermented juice to toast the life of the one who is ending their time due to serious injury that cannot be healed or that they have a terminal illness that will result in a slow, painful death. Rowain had bore witness to a dear friend of his death . . . Nazan, that really hurt him deeply as he really liked Nazan a good deal. He drunk all of the wine that he had brought with him to toast Nazan’s end. He was drunk, crying on his remains, telling him that all will be okay with the Doves, do not fear for they will live on. It was my first time seeing him totally drunk,” Cleo stated. “That was the only time Rowain had to witness a passing.”

“Assisted suicide?” Shasta asked.

“If that is what they call it from the outsiders then that is what it is,” Cleo replied.

"Then again, it's a choice given, and to be honest, if the only hope of life was to waste away slowly in pain, I'd take the option."

Cleo nodded. "The wine is simply to numb the pain, and Nazan held out till his body was almost no longer able to move. He died on his terms. Lolita, on the other hand had witnesed many, I wonder sometimes how she finds the strength."

“To watch someone die, you have to be very strong emotionally not to break down and beg the person to try to live, but to be able to support them as their time comes to an end.” Shasta replied.

“So you bore witness to many deaths then?” asked Cleo, looking at him as they walked the corridors to Rowain’s office.

“A few that I dealt with myself and a few that I bore witness to.” Shasta stated, as he knocked on the door of Rowain’s office before he walked in.

Rowain came out in his own family dress and gestured for Shasta to follow, Cleo intentionally stayed back, whatever it was for the lesson, and it was something between Marks. Rowain led Shasta to an upper set of chambers. "Every compound has a place like this, though as Doves we have no regards for Guardians, or any being claiming to be a God, we still have a temple of Life and Death. It is the place where the rituals of our people are performed."

“Like the one to end one’s life?” asked Shasta.

"That is one, the rituals of the coming of age, or that of strength, trials of wisdom. There are many, though there is a very important one help to the three founding houses. The  binding of the pact with Death."

Shasta nodded. “So what are you going to be teaching me?”

"It's not so much learn, as it will be to experience. It's the right of passage for a living weapon, where the body is weakened, the mind is clouded, and your going to feel ill to no end. A true living weapon will find absolute clarity, and of their own will dispell it all."

“Okay, sounds like a challenge to me,” Shasta stated.

Rowain smiled, and turned on what looked like a kettle and put the four items in together.

"It's not going to be pleasant Shasta, but it's nessesary."

“Meh,” was Shasta’s reply to what he said, as he looked over Rowain’s shoulder to see what he was doing.

He could smell something that made his guts churn, and it took a lot of do that. Rowain smiled and poured the boiled liquid made from the four items into a large goblet. He waited a couple minutes for it to cool then picked it up and handed it to Shasta. "Make it through this, and you can do as you wish with me for a night, don't make it through and you will be in the medical ward for quite some time."

“And if I pass this test, will it make me a Mark fully?” asked Shasta, as he held the goblet in his hand.

Rowain chuckled. "The worst part of your training will be done, with, but also a lot of things will be clearer to you."

“Oh by the way, the chick I necked the first day I got here, sucked me dry this afternoon and would have gotten me on my bed if I didn’t dash into my bathroom and Cleo come into my room when she did.” Shasta stated, before he started to drink the stuff down. At first, he wanted to throw it back up but he held his mouth shut as he concentrated on keeping it remaining down in his stomach. He started to think of the juice to be liquor and soon, he looked up at Rowain and smiled as the feeling of sickness washed away from his body.

“Shasta?” asked Rowain. He knew the first gulp made him sick and that he nearly threw it back up but Shasta drank the whole goblet down and stood there not doing a thing till his hand came to his bill and held it closed for several minutes before his head raised up and smiled at him.

“That was nothing, I drank far worse then that, Rowain.” Shasta stated.

"Wait for it."

Shasta felt his body go numb as he collapsed to the floor, and yet every nerve was burning, and his head began to throb. Hadn't the lady back on the space port told him it could be used like poison. He tried to steady his breathing, despite his vision going blurry, he had no idea of how to shake it off, the initial sick feeling was nothing compared to the hell he was now in. He took a deep breath, and despite the pain pushed himself up onto his knees while trying to get his head to clear. The pain of it was horrible, but it didn't matter, what mattered was standing up and being able to look Rowain in the eyes before getting even with him for putting him thought it. Shasta was able to lock eyes with Rowain and without Rowain knowing what he was about to do, punched him hard in the guts.

Rowain recovered quickly and took on a defensive stance, daring Shasta to fight him.

“You knew what that was going to do to me, didn’t you?” asked Shasta.

“Of course, I did. I had to go through that too,” Rowain replied.

“So what kind of test was that?” asked Shasta, as he too got in fighting stance.

"The one you are doing now,"

Shasta growled and lunged at Rowain, the Raptrin did it on purpose, and regardless of the agony he was going to inflict the same amount of pain on him.

Rowain ducked and landed no blows on Shasta. He wanted to see if Shasta even in the drugged and painfilled state he was in could he fight with clarity to land a blow on him. If he does, then he has done very well.

Shasta decked Rowain in the jaw and then the stomach as Rowain blocked three more of his punches. Shasta continued on with his punches on Rowain. Rowain noticed that after twenty minutes after he stood up from the collapse, that Shasta’s punches were landing more and more on target then missing anymore and he was getting the tar kicked out of him.

Rowain smiled as he wrapped his arms around Shasta after an hour of getting his butt kicked by Shasta. “That’s enough, Shasta. You passed the test.”

Shasta wiped his face off with the towel noticing that the towel was wet. “The fight was to force me to sweat it out right?”

“Yes, or it would have continued to seize your muscles and we would have to take you to the medical ward to sweat it out of your system.” Rowain said, looking at him, wincing at some of the bruises he knew he was getting on his ribs. “Damn kid, you hit hard.”

"Well you poisoned me!"

"It's a part of the ritual, crude as it may be, a Mark or any Dove leader needs to be able to focus and fight regardless of anything that would hold a regular person back. I had to go though it too, but it's probably the worst of poisons so you should be able to handle anything else anyone tries unless it meant to kill on the spot."

“So you had to do it too?” Shasta asked. Rowain nodded. “So how long did you go before they stopped it, fighting that is?”

"It took me almost the entire thirty minutes to work it out of my system while fighting my father."

“You let me fight longer then the thirty minutes, why?” asked Shasta, as he washed his face to get anymore of the sweat off that may have dried before being wiped away.

“I wanted to be sure that the poison was fully out of your system,” Rowain said. “Plus I wanted to see how you really fought hand to hand and you did really good.”

“Well, when I wasn’t drugged up, I was off with my granduncle Darren learning how to fight. He taught me very well.” Shasta stated.

"I can agree with that, you've got a lot of skill."

“Thanks, he taught me how to fight with fighting skills that he learned from being in Limbo and some of his own that he learned from his time in the Negaverse.” Shasta replied, as he poured more water over his head, drenching his hair and sending water over his face before he started to towel dry his face and squeeze out the excess water from his hair.

Rowain smiled. "Well what I said earlier still stands, I'm your’s to do with as you wish tonight."

Shasta smiled. “Is there a sauna in Raven’s Court? Or do I just have to make one in my shower with the hot water steaming up the room?”

“Yes, there is. It’s located over here. Why do you want to know?” asked Rowain.

“It is another great place to sweat and just sit and let the warm air soak into your sore body.” Shasta replied.

“Sore?” asked Rowain.

“Yes, a little.”

"Then lets go relax, no more lessons for today."

Shasta nodded as Rowain led him to the sauna and got it started as they stepped into the room and allowed the warm air to start to heat up the room. “We’ll stay put here for twenty minutes before heading for my room and the shower to rinse off the sweat and then to the comfort of your chambers for some ‘<i>our</i>’ time,”

Shasta nodded as he leaned his head back against the wood panels with his eyes closed. He felt a hand removing his shirt, he opened his eyes to see Rowain removing his shirt or trying to. “What are you doing?” He asked as his hands took hold of his.

“Trying to get your shirt off of you.” Rowain said. He was already in his boxers.

"Why?"

"Because a sauna works best with very little clothing."

“Ah,” Shasta replied, as he peeled off his shirt and his pants, leaving on his boxers. Leaning forth to hear the popping sounds of his back and sitting upright again. “That feels a bit better. I can feel the heat.”

Rowain nodded. "It feels nice doesn't it? Especially after that little ordeal,"

“Yes, it does, the warm air will sooth what remains of the tensions in my muscles and sweat out the rest of that poison.” Shasta replied.

“You should have already sweated it all out by now, Shasta.” Rowain said. “If there was any left it wouldn’t be much of anything,”

"Still better safe then sorry."

“That is true,” Rowain leaned against the cool panels and closed his eyes to the low light within the chambers. He was nearly asleep when he felt something warm on his member, he opened his eyes and glanced down to see Shasta on his knees slowly licking him and then the occasion dip into his warm mouth before he resumed his licking. He gently pushed up against him as he sucked him before resuming his licks. “I should be doing this to you, Shasta.” He whispered as he moaned in pleasure.

"You'll be returning the favor before the night is through," Shasta said, before taking the member into his mouth again.

Neither of them noticed the figure staring into the room before slipping away and cleaning up the room and leaving fresh towels for them both. The figure slipped out of the ritual room closing the doors behind her. ‘<i>Rowain must really trust him that much to let him suck him off like that. I wish I could have someone like that do me,</i>’ whispered Cleo, realizing what her mind had just said. Could it be possible that she’s getting her attraction for relations with the other gender back? Could it be that she will be desiring to have sex? She shook her head, it was never going to happen for her because of what happened years ago. She hurried to the laundry to throw in the dirty towels and head back to the office to tend to the day’s work since Rowain would be occupied for most of the day and night.

It was not long before the warmth of Shasta’s mouth and the room made Rowain’s member spit his seeds out into the hungry mouth of his lover, who dranked the offering up. Rowain leaned against the wall breathing hard after crying out Shasta’s name as he came.

“Now its time for us to get a shower in and relax in bed,” Shasta whispered in his ear, as his hand tried to stroke Rowain’s limp penis awake once more.

“He’ll need time to awaken, Shasta, but a shower sounds delicious right now,” Rowain whispered.

Shasta grinned devilishly, he was going to have his fill of Rowain till he was satisfied.

They stepped from the sauna to find that the tea pot was gone from the room and the towels and the pillows were stacked in their proper place on the wall and that two towels laid where they once were at. Shasta and Rowain dried themselves off before clothing themselves to head for Shasta’s room, everyone knew when Rowain was in his dress clothing, he had done a ritual of some sort and ignored him and Shasta as they passed. Shasta opened his room and allowed Rowain to enter the room before entering and locking the door before smiling at Rowain. “You are mine tonight, Rowain Ringdove.”

“Do as you wish with me, I am yours to command,” Rowain smiled.

"Lets start by you sucking me dry and we will go from there."

Rowain walked to him and started to kiss him as his hands started to remove his clothing from his body, while stroking his penis awake and fondling his nuts gently as he kissed his way down to the growing erection and teased him just like he did in the sauna. Soon, Shasta was moaning out Rowain’s name as his seeds sped for the exit and shot right into Rowain’s hungry mouth.

Rowain drank it all down and proceeded to kiss Shasta while continuing to fondle and tease him. Shasta moaned as he felt Rowain’s hand caress his nuts as he stroked his penis and then squeeze his butt cheek before returning to his penis for another stroke. Shasta looked at him and whispered, “Shower. Now.”

Rowain reluctantly remove himself from Shasta and proceeded to the shower, hoping Shasta had more in store for the both of them.

Shasta kept on kissing him as Rowain searched out the handle for the shower to make sure it wasn’t too hot or too cold, once he approved of the water temp, they stepped into the shower. There they kissed more as the water ran over their bare bodies, Rowain glanced to his side to see the cloth and the soap that was there, he lathered it up, handed it to Shasta before getting one of his own lathered up and they started to wash each other down. Rowain’s clothed hand was stroking Shasta’s penis clean as Shasta had to hold onto the bar as Rowain got him fully erect with a few soapy strokes of his clothed hand.

"Turn around," Shasta managed to order between moans. Rowain did and as Shasta started to wash his back, Rowain could feel Shasta’s erection probing his rear till it found entry, Rowain gasped and moaned as Shasta plunged himself deep within him and began moving his member rythmic in and out. He picked up the pace and force until Rowain moans were as loud as his yelling of Shasta’s name.

Rowain grabbed hold of the bars as he felt Shasta pump deep within him before finally Shasta’s penis spat its seeds within his ass and Rowain’s penis jerked as he too let loose his own seeds into the soapy water below his feet.

It took them both a few minutes to catch their breaths, and when they did finished cleaning up before heading to the bed. It was going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~

Rowain woke in the morning sore but satisfied and Shasta lay beside him. Rowain watched him as he slept curled up against him. He smiled as he shifted place to get up to answer the call of mother nature. He didn’t want to disturb him but he hoped he was a heavy sleeper as he crawled over him and went into the bathroom to empty his bladder and start thinking about that day’s plans as Shasta had more training to undergo.

He went though a mental check list, what remained was a bunch of the academics, rituals, and other traditions amoung the Doves. He sighed, Shasta was going to have to learn to sing and dance, as well as the rituals he'd need to perform as a Mark, as well as the soul pact ritual since he was a Flashblade. The academics were to help with managing the compound and helping those under him when needed. It was going to be several hard months and he had promised Lolita that he would have him ready to be presented to the council in less then six months. Shasta would have to learn everything in five months and four weeks and then recite them back in less then a week after he learned them all. ‘<i>Could he do it without making a mistake</i>? <i>Could he learn that fast</i>?’ Rowain looked himself in the mirror only to see Shasta standing there behind him.

“What’s the plan for today, Rowain?” asked Shasta, as he stepped to the toliet and did his duty before patting dry his penis.

"You’re with Cleo during the day, she'll walk you through the daily procedures, though you've helped with them before, you should be fine on your own, after I return from work, we’ll spend a couple hours on dance and singing, and finish off with some history."

“Okay, that shouldn’t be too hard. I have read some of the history books of the Doves already now that I know the tongue a bit more then I did before I came here.” Shasta stated.

"The paper work shouldn't be too hard to understand, and hopefully it'll be a slow day."

“A slow day?” Shasta asked as they walked towards the office and Cleo standing by the door.

“Yes, it can either be busy or slow. Hopefully, you will get a slow day. Cleo, he’s in your hands today. I’ll be back this afternoon after work is done,” Rowain said, as he started to head for the stairs.

“Good luck Rowain.” Shasta said, watching him open the doors.

“You too, kid. You’ll need it,” Rowain replied, as he slipped through the doors and hurried down the stairs to the ground floor and headed for his aerocar that was waiting for him.

“Okay, Shasta, its time to get to work on the morning reports.” Cleo stated, as Shasta walked into the office and sat down at Rowain’s seat.

Shasta looked at the files in front of him and spoke, “Okay, what’s first on the list of to do stuff?”

"Deal with the reports, you have a meeting with a student in an hour about behaviour."

“What did the student do?” asked Shasta, as he flipped open the first report and started to read it.

"Challenging the teacher, and disregarding their studies as old fashioned."

“Old fashion my ass! You learn best from the past to prevent what happens in the future,” Shasta snapped.

Cleo nodded. "Though it's rare we change our customs, since what works is best to leave as is."

“He or she will have to know that the customs and the teachings the teachers teach may be tiresome but they are worth remembering as the past will help guide the future.” Shasta replied, closing the folder that he had signed and placed it in the done pile where two other folders were located at.

Cleo nodded, “Do you need anything as in coffee and juice?”

“Some juice will do. I haven’t even had any breakfast this morning.” Shasta stated.

“I’ll get you some juice and a breakfast tray from the kitchen. I’ll be right back,” Cleo replied, as she headed out of the room to get Shasta his breakfast and his juice, so he could continue to work and get the paper work finished before the gremlins started to show up, which so far they were not showing up.

It took her only ten minutes to get the food and get back up to the office to see him flipping through one of the folders, scratching his head. “Got stumped, Shasta?”

“I’m having trouble with this word,” Shasta stated. Cleo placed the tray behind him and looked at the word. She told him what it meant and watched as he smiled before his finger started to run over the lines again. He signed his name to the line and placed the folder with the rest. He turned to the tray and grabbed a bite before returning to the next folder and read it while munching on the breakfast sandwich in his left hand.

Another four minutes passed before there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Shasta called to the person on the other side. The door opened to reveal a young Raptrin walking into the room. “I was expecting you, please sit down. I’ll be with you in a moment,”

He nodded and went to the chair in front of the desk and sat down in it to wait for him to be done. “Where is headmaster Ringdove? I thought I was going to see him?”

"He's at his outside job, he asked me to take care of things while he’s out."

"And who are you?"

"Shasta Flashblade, Mark in training."

"You gonna be replacing headmaster Ringdove?"

Shasta shook his head. "He's training me to take over the DuCaine Metro compound. Name and the reason why you are here."

The young Raptrin nodded. "I’m Oura Quill." The young Raptrin paused. "I don't like how things never change, why can't a person change class? Why do things have to be done the same way they always have been done, even though there is a better way? And why do we have to respect the higharchy when they are part of the problem?"

Shasta sighed. "What class were you born into?"

"Trade class."

"Is there a reason you want to be a higher class?"

"It's always do as you’re told, don't challenge those above you, stay out of the way, you’re not the right class to be allowed to do that."

"What is it you aspire to be?"

"I've got the best grades, better then those of pro and council class, but I'm not allowed to take a lot of the more specilized classes because they are restricted to pro or council class, and I know I'd do well in them but tradition says I can't."

Shasta looked to Cleo. "Is what he says true?"

Cleo nodded. "Oura's the top student, but he's trade class."

Shasta looked back to Oura. "How many siblings do you have?"

"I'm an only child, my parents became ill when I was three and died. I have nothing to loose, and at this point nothing to gain."

Shasta mulled it over in his head, he knew the trade class had the most freedon, they didn't have what was known as the trials, but the kid before him seemed to be in the wrong class, it was no wonder he challenged the system, but that was the dilema, you are born to your class for life. He looked to Cleo again. "Is there someone like you at DuCaine Metro compound?"

"They were removed as well as the prior Mark, right now it's Angel Ringdove keeping order while his assistant is keeping order at his home compound."

Shasta nodded. "So in the long run, I'm going to need a competant assistant?"

"You'd be able to get one from Dublin."

Shasta shook his head, "No, my house is a branch of the main Flashblade, and are different in nature." He looked at Oura. "You sure you want to go beyond what was set out for you?"

Oura nodded. "I'll do whatever it takes."

"Then here is my condition, you and your descendants will be the assistant to me and my descendants, do you accept?"

"I accept."

"Cleo make sure he's enrolled in the advance classes suitable for a Mark’s assistant, I'll talk with Rowain later to finish the formailities of it."

"But Shasta . . . it's not that simple."

"Yes it is, I'm not going to have an already established line be my line’s support, I'd feel better if it was a fledgling line, like mine."

Cleo looked at him and realized that he must have thought it out long before this case ever came up. “You were thinking about this, weren’t you?”

“Yes, when I first saw how you handled Rowain each day. I need someone that is of a new line to be there for my family line. He has high marks in all of his classes and he’s smart too. Give him the chance to prove himself worthy of the title of Mark’s assistant.” Shasta stated.

“Why not start his training now, the classes that he will be enrolled in won’t be till after lunch, I can start him on his teachings now?” Cleo stated, looking at Oura and then to Shasta.

“Do it,” Shasta replied. “And get him proper clothing worthy of his new line after Rowain approves of it.”

“Right,” Cleo said. Turning towards the new young assistant to the Mark. “Come on, Oura. I’ll show you what you have to do, consider this on the job training.”

Oura gave Shasta a happy grin and followed Cleo out of the office. “So miss Cleo, what am I supposed to do now?”

“First things first, the rules of being an assistant to the Mark. It is a very important job you have now undertaken and it is your life forever more. First thing you need to do: each morning, make sure that the Mark is up at a certain hour, I get Rowain up at the crack of dawn which means you need to get up an hour before hand to get yourself ready to awaken the Mark in your case Shasta. His wake up time is the same as Rowain – crack of dawn. Second rule: wait for him to step from his chambers and start telling him what is to be done that day. Got that?” Cleo asked.

“Make sure that the Mark is up by sunrise, got it.” Oura stated, as he wrote it down on a pad in his hand. “Anymore?”

"Yes, make sure they stay on task, but also if they have to be away, you have to be prepared to handle the work as well, an assistant must be as lethal as their Mark, and even more disciplined, you must be able to read, predict your Mark’s thoughts, motives and actions and be able to keep anything from getting out of hand. Most important though is trust, you have to be able to fully trust one another and protect each other."

“Gotcha, protect each other,” Oura jotted that down on his pad. “How lethal can an assistant be?”

“Deadly, but depends on the problem and the situation, Oura.” Cleo stated.

"I've mastered basic combat, I'm looking forward to advance."

"Oura, an assistant is as much of a living weapon as their Mark is."

Oura nodded. “I will be worthy of being Shasta’s assistant, Cleo. I will not disappoint him.”

“I am not doubting you at all. Just alerting you of the hard work that is a head for you, now that you are on the path of becoming an assistant.” Cleo replied, as she looked at him.

“I know, I will take it on as a challenge. Now what is next to learn?” Oura asked.

“The daily reports that must be done,” Cleo stated. She walked over to her desk and pulled out the daily report on the building. “These are the daily report on the building and what needs to be fixed or repaired.”

Oura nodded and started to look them over, he had no idea that Cleo had such a work load. “How many times do you go and double check the findings on the report?”

“When I doubt the findings, Oura and that is not very often.”

“So headmaster Rowain doesn’t make many mistakes on the reports then?” Oura asked.

“No, he doesn’t.” Cleo stated.

"Wow, he must work really hard."

Cleo smirked. "Only because he knows I'll hurt him if he doesn't,"

Oura grinned. "So an assistant has to make sure everything is set right."

“Yes or things can and will go wrong. You are in a way a very important person in the compound second only to the Mark himself,” Cleo stated.

Oura nodded. "So in a sense, we are like the fail safe, when things can go wrong we have to fix it before it does, if the Mark gets to it first then we have to damage control."

“Yes,” Cleo stated. She noticed that he was reading over the report. “Do you want to double check the report or not?”

"No, but there is a leak in the 3rd floor science hall bathroom toilet that isn't in the plumbing report, some friends and I noticed it after flushing."

“Okay, lets go get it fixed before Shasta has to become aware of it.” Cleo stated. She knocked on Shasta’s door and poked her head inside. “Gotta check on something, will be away from my post for about ten minutes.” And then closed the door, she and Oura headed for that area.

It took them a few minutes to get to the third floor science bathroom, they walked in and Cleo looked at Oura to go to the toliet which was the problematic one. But he waved to them all. “All of them are having problems flushing.” Oura nodded. “Okay, lets deal with them.”

Oura replied. "What do we need?"

"Plunger and cocking,"

Oura went to the box they carried into the room and pulled out the plunger and the cocking. “Here it is, Cleo,”

"Alright, you plunge the toilets, I'll fix the leaking cracks in them."

Oura nodded and started to plunge the nearest toliet and found a thick wad of paper from a notebook stuffed in one toliet, with a gloved hand he pulled it out and placed it by the toliet to dry so they may figure out who had plugged that up with it. He went to the others and did the same not all of them had notebook papers in them, some had wads of toliet paper in them that was a bit too big for the drain to pass. The notebook paper wasn’t even really dried before they opened it and looked for a name on the paper itself only to find nothing to state who did it.

Cleo sighed. "Well sometimes we don't get a break, but at least the toilets are working properly."

“Yeah,” Oura said, as he put the plunger back in the box with the cocking. “Now, what else do we do after this? I guess we write it down on the report.”

“That’s exactly what we do, Oura.” Cleo stated, after they put the bathroom repair kit into the storage room for that floor and headed for the stairs.

He smiled and followed Cleo, so far it was proving to be rather self explainatory. They went back to her desk and got the report out, and jotted down what happened in the bathroom, which floor it was on and that it was easily fixed.

"Is it usually things like this, Cleo?"

“Not really, sometimes it deals with the broilers or the panels.” Cleo stated.

"Sounds like you do a lot of repairs."

"It's better then dealing with the politics."

“Yeah.” Oura said, as he turned his head to see a Duck walking towards them. He looked political to them. “Looks like there will be political matters to deal with,”

Cleo looked at him. “Yes, can I help you?”

"I'm here to speak to the head of Raven’s Court."

“State your business with him?” asked Cleo.

"It concerns some vandalizing of your compound, trivial but I thought I'd speak to him about the culprit."

“Alright, if you would wait here, I’ll see if Shasta Flashblade will see you.” Cleo stated, as she knocked on the door, after hearing the enter from within, stepped into the room. “Shasta, there is an officer here to see you about some vandalizing of the compound. He wants to discuss something about it.”

“When did this happen?” asked Shasta.

“About a week ago, we fixed the damage, it was just some minor damage to the windows that’s all.” Cleo replied.

“Send him in,” Shasta stated, as he put the folder onto the finished pile.

“Yes sir,” Cleo said, as she walked out of the room and looked at the officer. “You may go in now, sir, he will see you.”

The officer walked into the room. “Mr. Flashblade, I’m Edwin Covey, Keltor police officer. I know who is responsible for the damage done to your compound,”

“Who is the culprit?” asked Shasta, looking at him.

"My son is, I've tried to tell him to leave the Doves alone because your people have been a great help to Puckworld, but it has yet to sink in."

“Old history dies hard, I assume. He will have to be punished of course.” Shasta stated.

“I know, I have already grounded him to the house, he is supposed to go to school and then straight home after school is over with.” Edwin replied.

“Does he get any allowances?” asked Shasta.

“Not much of one, I have removed it as well as additional punishment for two months.” Edwin stated.

"Then I can't see what other punishment can be done, he's not Dove so our methods are out."

“I heard from the weatherduck that there is a big snow storm heading our way for tomorrow morning, perhaps, my son can be of use as forced to shovel snow off of your path and sidewalk and do it alone?” asked Edwin.

Shasta looked at him calmly. “Yes, that would let the other students keep to their work while the whoosanamer is doing their snow chore.”

“I told my son, he would get punished for what he did and I think that is a fine punishment,” Edwin stated.

Shasta nodded. "I hope he's good at dodging snowballs, the students have a killer aim."

“I’m sure they will be hitting him good many times. I shall bring him out here in the morning ready to do his punishment,” Edwin stated, as he stood up from the chair.

“Thank you for coming forth with the information on the person who did the damage, Mr. Covey.” Shasta spoke, as he stood up from his chair and shook Edwin’s hand before he left the office. “Cleo! In here now!”

Cleo came in casually, "No need to yell Shasta."

“I want you to write this down, before I forget it.” Shasta told her, as she grabbed a pen and paper. He told her what he wanted written down.

Cleo read over it and looked up at him. “You are allowing a whoosanamer to clean off the sidewalk and the path and not the students?”

“Nope, the kid vandalized the school by breaking the windows and doing damage to the compound. The kids here can throw snowballs at him as additional punishment.” Shasta stated. “I think it is only fair to the kids to punish him for the damage that he did to their school and embassy.”

"Alright, though the kid is going to have to be here bright and early, Rowain is strict on when everything gets done."

“I’ll let him know that the kid needs to be here bright and early.” Shasta hurried down the stairs and out the door to catch Mr. Covey and spoke with him about when the kid should get there. Shasta returned to the office. “He will be here bright and early in the morn.”

“I don’t want to be that kid tomorrow morn, with the kids throwing snow balls at him, he’ll get whacked well. They have good arms, all of them.” Oura stated.

"Just remind them that if they injure him or knock him out they have to finish the chore."

“I’ll let them know about that.” Oura replied. He looked at the appointment sheet and ran his finger over it. “We should be getting another visitor shortly.”

Cleo nodded as Shasta headed back into his office to work on the rest of the paper work before they become little gremlins. She turned to Oura and spoke, “When he arrives, tell him to wait here as you will see if he’s available to see him. Once within his office, after he is allowed in, offer him juice, coffee, water or tea. And be polite about it. This is your first test of being a Mark’s assistant. Now, I need to go to the ladies room, I’ll be back.”

Oura nodded as he watched as Cleo headed off to the ladies room as he sat down in her chair looking over the day’s appointments to see that the Keltor mayor was the only one on the appointments that was an outsider and the last of the day. Shasta would be free to check the building or go reading a book in the library or whatever he liked to do.

Oura sighed, Cleo’s position seemed easy, but he knew better, Council rank has to live up to certain expectations, and lived by much stricter rules. If Shasta was ever called away it would be his responsibility to run the compound. He glanced up as he heard the door to the stairs open up. He took notice of a Drake of forty years old wearing council clothes, but they were not of Dove ranks, they were of Keltor ranked council dress. “Yes, can I help you?”

"I'm here on appointment to speak with your . . . urm . . . Mark in residence."

“Your name, sir?” Oura asked, as he looked at the Drake.

"Sam Birdz, mayor of Keltor."

Oura took notice of the name on the appointment sheet and then looked up at him. “Yes, if you would take a seat, I’ll see if he can see you right now.” Oura got up from his chair and headed for Shasta’s office and stepped in.

“Yes, Oura,” Shasta asked, noticing that he came into his office.

“There is a Mr. Sam Birdz here to see you. He’s the mayor of Keltor. Shall I send him in?” Oura asked.

“Yes, please,” Shasta said.

Oura stepped out of the office and spoke, “Mr. Birdz, Mr. Flashblade will see you now.”

“A Flashblade here,” He asked shocked and surprised at the same time.

Oura smiled. "Mr. Shasta Flashblade is a cousin of the Flashblade brothers, but don't worry he'll hear you out."

He seemed relieved as he followed Oura into the office to see Shasta, the cousin to the famous Flashblade brothers. “Mr. Flashblade, an honor to meet you. I’m Sam Birdz, mayor of Keltor.”

"It’s a pleasure, what brings you here today?" Shasta said as he caught a gremlin forming and dealt with it.

“I’m wondering if your people would be able to help us with restoration projects so those people who have had their homes destroyed in the war can have a place to live other then the shelters from the war,” Sam asked.

"And what do you propose to give us in return?"

"Your people helped us before."

"Because we also had something to gain by it, you are asking my people to extend our resources beyond what we already have. If you want our help, you must offer something in exchange?"

Mr. Birdz sighed and pulled out a set of deeds. "It's the only thing the city has to barter with at the moment; these are the land deeds to the buildings or what use to be buildings around Raven’s Court. We are offering them in exchange for your help in the restoration projects for this city."

“Give me a few minutes, I must relay this information to my leader to see if she approves of it,” Shasta stated, calmly.

“Yes, feel free to do so.” Sam replied, as he watched as Shasta stepped from the room.

Oura stepped in. “Would you like to have anything to drink as in fruit juices, coffee, tea or water?”

“Tea is fine, young man.” Sam replied.

Shasta headed to the radio room and thought back to the whistle he had heard Rowain use with Lolita once before. He whistled that same tune hoping that he did it right.

The same whistle responded about two minutes later.

“Rowain this better be good, I was in the middle of a meeting with couple other Marks,” Lolita said.

“Sorry, it’s Shasta, my lady McDove; I have a slight problem that I need to tell you about.” Shasta informed her about the deeds that the mayor was offering to them in help with their restoration of the city. “Should I agree to this? I think it is a good thing for Raven’s Court, but it would put a bit of a strain on our resources,”

"Accept it, it allows us to expand Raven’s Court out a bit and can better utilize the compound facilities while making the surrounding buildings to living quarters, also it'll accommodate more of the trade ranks which will help increase revenue for Raven’s Court and allow for a larger budget. We may also want to have one as a trade square for Suscan merchants and other Dove shops."

“That would be sweet. Thank you, I will tell him immediately. Thank you, my lady, Shasta out.” He closed the radio down and sat there for a moment before heading for his office once more. He opened the door and stepped inside. “The Black Dove has agreed to it and so have I. Now then, where are the papers I need to sign to have the buildings?”

“Right here,” Sam said, as he placed the papers down on the desk and pointed to the line.

Shasta read over it before he wrote his name down on it. “There, we will be getting more people down here in the next few weeks to start demolishing the buildings after we make sure that there are no squatters within the buildings and after the clean up is done, we’ll be able to help with the restoration projects of yours,”

Sam smiled. "Thank you for accepting our proposal."

“Your welcome, it will give us a place to spread out a bit more. The embassy is starting to feel cramped with all the people here. Now we’re able to spread our wings a bit more.” Shasta stated.

“I guess with all the new Doves that came here and liked what they saw here remained.” Sam said.

"Indeed, Keltor is also a main trade city, so it's a good spot for Dove merchants to deal with Suscan merchants."

"I see, so you do have other things to gain by helping this city."

"Yes, but it doesn't involve ducks directly."

“Oh, more or less helps your people out?” Sam asked.

“Yes, but that’s not your problem.” Shasta said, waving his hand. He looked at him carefully before he spoke. “Is there anything else we can do for the city of Keltor or is this all of the business you have with us?”

"It is all," Mr. Birdz said politely.

Shasta stood up from his chair as Mr. Birdz did the same, they shook hands and Shasta led the man to the door, “Oura will show you to the door. And thank you for the deeds.”

Oura nodded and waved his hand towards the staircase doors as Sam followed him off the floor to the main floor where he was escorted to the gate and Oura returned. “Shasta, what did the mayor of Keltor want and what deeds?”

"Our help in restoration projects around Keltor."

“We helped them all we could after the war was over. Isn’t that enough?” asked Oura.

“And in return for our help, he deeded the buildings around Raven’s Court to Raven’s Court.” Shasta added.

“That’s about nineteen to twenty five buildings that are around Raven’s Court, Shasta.” Oura said, shocked.

"Exactly, Lady McDove approved of it because it allows us to expand our territory within the city."

Cleo clapped her hands. “I’m thrilled for that. It means that Raven’s Court property will be able to expand instead of putting more students within each dorm room instead of two and not cramped, but three to a room is too cramped for most of them. This will be good news for the students and for the staffers. Rowain will be thrilled.”

"Use a couple of the buildings as dormitories and some others as residence for staff and other Doves residing here, only core staff would continue to reside in the main compound. The old dormitories and staff residence could be used for class space or other things I guess."

“That sounds good. You would of course need to look the buildings over with our building inspector to see if the buildings are suitable to our people before we move in, Shasta.” Cleo stated.

“That was my thought. Summon him or her here immediately. I want to check them out as soon as possible.” Shasta stated.

Cleo smirked. "I must say, you've got more energy then Rowain does when it comes to things like this." she said as she headed to call on one of their own who worked as a bulding inspector.

“Well, I don’t want to waste time sitting here when we have new buildings to inspect.” Shasta replied, as he entered the office again. “I want to be able to start the process of getting those buildings dealt with as soon as possible,”

Oura realized what he meant by that. He turned to look at Cleo after she got off the radio with their building inspector. “He wants to start getting the buildings prepared for the students and the staffers to move into the buildings. We have the deeds to the buildings and they’re unoccupied now, we can see what is needed to fix them up or tear them down now and start working on it instead of just dragging our feet in the snow to check out the new buildings.”

"I know that Oura, I simply meant, Rowain would avoid it because of there being more paper work and his office is already cursed in that respect."

“Well, Shasta got the paper work all done and this shouldn’t cause him any more work as he got everything done from what I can see,” Oura said.

Cleo looked at him, she knew Rowain would drag his feet about it but Shasta was more on the job then Rowain was, but Rowain didn’t like the paper work because they would turn into gremlins if he dallied with them. “Maybe Shasta is different then I thought on that part.”

“He sure is on top of things, Cleo.” Oura replied.

Cleo nodded as she stepped into Shasta’s office. “The Dove inspector will be here in one hour, sir.”

“Good, the sooner the better.” Shasta said, as he looked at the deeds of the buildings he now possess for the Doves and for Raven’s Court. He looked out the window to look at some of the buildings around the compound. “It will be good to have more space for everyone here.”

"Just remember Shasta, this is your training ground, you’re going to have a lot to do at the DuCaine Metro compound, it's smaller then here and has a lot more issues."

“Like what type of issues, not space issues?” asked Shasta, turning away from the window to look at her.

"Space issues, economic issues, discipline issues. The Marks who use to run DuCaine Metro compound for the past couple generations haven't done anything to fix them. Raven's Court is one of the top compounds, despite past issues. DuCaine Metro is one of the worst, it takes a good Mark to make a good compound again."

“So I got my work cut out for me at that compound then?” asked Shasta.

"You do, and we are hoping you can get it into working order in the next decade or so."

“I hope it can be done in a decade, if not it will probably be done in two.” Shasta stated.

“So you got your work cut out for your new place of residence once you become a full Mark, Shasta.” Cleo said.

“Yes I do and here I thought this was going to be easy.” Shasta replied, before he broke out into giggles. “I guess he wanted me to learn what a good compound looks like before showing me to the compound that I am to run then,”

"Well that is the idea, Rowain is despite his dread of paperwork is a good Mark."

“Yeah and I guess he wants me to be a good one too, since he is training me to be a Mark,” Shasta stated.

“Yes he does and it will show that he is a good teacher for future Marks,”

Shasta nodded. "Guess that's why he left me to deal with the mayor, I've got a sneaking suspicion I'll have a lot of negatoting with the DuCaine Metro mayor for more territory."

Cleo nodded as she looked at him. “It needs more territory or you’ll have more fighting then normal within the compound.”

"Yeah, and the city itself, how is it?"

"DuCaine Metro is also in worse shape then Keltor. it's to be expected with the opening on the Sky Cities and the truth about the old war. I guess you can say the city is in it's first stages of Death, the name DuCaine isn't something of pride any more. Keltor being an ancient city in itself has always survived."

“I guess I have my work cut out for me to keep the compound going strong while the rest of the city is dying or maybe it can be revived somehow,” Shasta started to mumble about different ideas on how to revive a city by various means before he shook his head and made another comment before that too got a shake of the head.

Oura and Cleo looked at each other wondering what he was doing and yet, not wanting to know and yet they did. Oura finally got the nerve to ask. "What are you doing?"

"Just trying to think of what my possible options are."

Oura sighed. "Well a compound's success is realitive to the stability of the city it is in, if the city is in it's first stages of dying, that means the compound is already in it's second to third stage. Commerce is something that is emphacised with those of the trade ranks, and that lack of commerce can kill a city or compound. It may be wise to establish order again in the compound, then do what we can to give life back to the compound and city at the same time."

“Right, which means I need connections to the trade fleet to get commerce to return to the city,” Shasta stated.

Oura shook his head. "Not quite what I meant, commerce comes with stability and growth, a dying city lacks both."

Shasta nodded. "It's going to take a lot, at least I have some time to prepare for it, before becoming a full Mark."

“I can say it will be a challenge to bring that city and the compound to life once more, Shasta. But I think we both are up to it,” Oura said.

“I agree, it will be a good challenge for us both,” Shasta replied. He looked down to see a Raptrin male walking through the gates of the compound. “Looks like the inspector is here.”

“I guess it means time to go inspect the building Raven’s Court now owns,” Oura stated.

“Yes, and it will give me a chance to see how good the buildings are built here,” Shasta replied. “Be sure to bring pen and paper, I want everything that he says written down so I can work out which building is best suited for staff and students,”

Oura nodded, the inspector gave him an odd look, almost disapproving of Oura’s current role.

Cleo took note of the look and stepped up. “He’s my adopted son. Look at him that way again and I’ll slit your throat.”

The inspector gulped and looked at Shasta. “May I see the deeds, Mr. Flashblade?”

Shasta showed him the deeds as he looked at the addresses on each deed, and placed a black dot on the map that he had in his hand that he had placed on the desk. “May I ask what you are doing?”

“I’m marking down which buildings are now ours, so I don’t have to double check the deeds each time we look at a building, Mr. Flashblade.” The inspector stated.

They headed out to each building and walked within them. It took them about an hour to inspect three buildings and it seemed that five buildings closest to Raven’s Court had faired better then the others.

The inspector spoke, “I can see only five buildings being up to standards of Raven’s Court, the other buildings will have to come down and be rebuilt if you want to rebuild some of them, or turn it into a market like you had suggested about bringing in Dove markets and Suscan markets to this area, Mr. Flashblade.”

"That can wait, for now the priority is to get the five fully fixed up and ready to be used as living quarters, it'll give everyone a bit more space and room to breath."

“Understood. I shall get building permits to let you start getting those five fixed up so they can move in as soon as possible.” The inspector stated, as he started to jot something down on the pad of his.

“Good. The sooner the better,” Shasta said, as he looked at the five buildings smiling good at himself. ‘<i>Rowain will be pleased with this.</i>’

The inspector looked at him. “How are you going to split the students?”

“There will be floors that will be given to the girl students and the next floor would be for the boys on and on till the building has half of the students in each building but the staffers will be at the two top floors.” Shasta stated, as he pointed towards the buildings. “Maybe two students per apartment.”

They were so busy talking, they didn’t notice Rowain walking up to them. He stood there listening to them talk about the buildings. He glanced over at the buildings and noticed the buildings that they were talking about was surrounding Raven’s Court. He cleared his throat. “So why are we looking at those buildings for, Shasta?”

“Well, we own those buildings, Rowain. We just did a deal . . . well I did the deal with the mayor of Keltor to help them with the restoration projects of theirs in return he gave us the deeds to twenty five buildings that surround Raven’s Court.” Shasta stated, feeling very proud of himself.

"And Lolita cleared it?"

"Yeah, checked with her first, she seemed very upbeat about it."

"Good, guesss this is even more of a reason to go off world, she's a hard hitter when it comes to commerce, must be her Suscan blood."

“True, so want to see what I have in mind for these five buildings?” asked Shasta, looking at him.

"Sure, let's see how you manage things."

Shasta took him to each building and told him his plans for that building before moving onto the next one till they got to the last one and then Shasta told him his plans for the rest of the buildings to be torn down and rebuilt as they were not in the best shape to remain standing and if they did try to repair it the building would not be strong enough to handle the huge weight of all the goods that the Dove and Suscan merchants would bring to the area.

“That’s good, Shasta. When will the workers arrive here?” Rowain asked.

“They should be here within the week, sir.” Oura stated, as he stepped next to Shasta.

“And you are a student here a trade ranked member, not an assistant.” Rowain said, glaring at him for stepping next to a Mark and speaking to one.

Shasta shot the glare back at him. "If you don't mind Rowain, Oura is my assistant for the time being."

Rowain sighed "We'll talk about this later Shasta." Rowain said as he looked to Cleo for answers, the only thing he got was the look of she'll tell him later. Rowain nodded. "So a weeks time the workers will be here, is there an ETA on how long it'll take to complete the project?"

“I think if the workers worked hard on it, I say about three to nine months total to get it fixed. But that is if there are no problems that slow them down.” Shasta replied.

Cleo and Oura watched as they spoke about the buildings. Oura looked at her and whispered. “Are you going to tell him now about me?”

“No, I’ll wait till night comes. That way he can think about it before rendering his decision on the case. Any ways, you need to hustle, your new class starts in about five minutes,” Cleo stated, swatting him on the backside, sending the youth racing into Raven’s Court.

It was late evening when Cleo managed to corner Rowain in his office alone while Shasta was in his own quarters freshening up. "Rowain, we need to talk."

"Are you going to tell me why you didn't stop Shasta from using Oura as he is?"

"Because Oura is bright and because it gave me a chance to evaluate him so I could reach my own decision."

"And pray tell what would that be?"

"I want to adopt Oura as my son, he's got a lot of potential and since I'm barren he shows most of the key traits my family line values."

Rowain pulled out a file, “His father was a Suscan merchant and a Dove cargo manager."

“He is everything that my family would want in a son, please let me adopt him into my family as my son and give Shasta a fresh line instead one already set up,” Cleo stated.

Rowain sighed. "You know I can't refuse that of you, he'll undergo the DNA infusion and then we'll finalize the paperwork. His eldest then will become your heir then?"

Cleo nodded. "Yes, I've weighed my options, I don't think even if I could raise a child whether I'd be any good. Too many bad memories of my own. To be honest Shasta brought Oura to my attention without knowing it himself, I had always brushed him off as a trade rank kid that didn't know his place. Meanwhile he was what I needed."

“I’m glad and glad for Shasta to have someone to depend on like I can with you. His line and his children will be under good care with your son, Cleo.” Rowain said, taking hold of her hand and holding it gently in his.

“Well, he is a good student and I feel that he will make a great Mark’s assistant for Shasta. He’ll keep him on his schedule. And he’s polite to the outsiders too.” Cleo stated, pulling her hand away from him.

"That and it keeps any direct force from DuCaine Metro tampering with Shasta. We both know it's been pretty corrupt there for a while, far worse then anything within Raven’s Court."

“Shasta can handle it, he’s from the Negaverse and from what he told me about it there, things like that are common place. I think he can whip DuCaine Metro into shape and more, pretty soon, I think we may have a challenger in the Best Compound award in the next few years, Rowain,” Cloe stated, smiling big.

"Doesn't bother me, a well run compound is it's own reward."

“Oh come now, I see how you shine the award every day.” Cleo smacked his arm.

Rowain shook his head. “I better see glowing reports from your son or he’ll be back where he was before you adopted him, Cleo.”

Cleo sighed. "Don't worry, they will glow."

“They better.” Rowain replied, before dismissing her for the night. “I’ll see you in the morning, Cleo.”

“Night, Rowain, sleep tight.” Cleo said before closing his door and heading for her own with a skip to her step thrilled that the weight that she carried since she was told that she was barren was now lifted off her shoulders. The burden now laid on Oura’s shoulders. She decided to go visit Shasta and see if he was interested in showing her how a real Drake made love to a woman.

Shasta opened the door to see Cleo standing there. “Yes, Cleo?”

“May I enter?” she asked.

“Of course, what’s wrong?” he asked, as he closed the door.

“You asked me when you became my net that if the day came that you would show me how a Drake made love to a woman. I’m asking you now, show me . . . show me how a Drake make love to a woman, Shasta?” asked Cleo looking at him.

Shata smiled. "As you wish Cleo, you sure your ready?"

“Yes, I’m sure,” Cleo said, as she kissed him.

“I guess you are,” Shasta replied, as he lifted her up into his arms and carried her to his bed where he slowly removed her clothes and showed her how a good Drake made love to a woman all night long.

~~~~~~~~

The next morning found them both curled up in a mess of sheets when Oura came in to awaken Shasta. His eyes went wide when he saw Cleo there in his arms and turned five shades of red. He swallowed hard and went to give Shasta a nudge without waking Cleo. He had never seen a naked female before.

Shasta didn’t want to wake up but he heard a male voice instead of the female that usually would awaken him and Rowain up. He opened one eye a crack and noticed Oura standing there. “What time is it?” He whispered.

“Time for you to get up sir.” Oura whispered, glancing down at Cleo’s naked form.

“Never saw a woman before?” Shasta asked. Oura shook his head. “Well, if Rowain and Cleo will allow me to do this, I’ll take you to one of the brothels and let you sow your wild oats with some of the ladies there,”

Oura blushed. "Maybe when I'm a bit older, have enough on my plate as it is."

“Okay, so how old are you? You look like you are about 18 years old?” Shasta asked.

"I'm 14, I'm tall for my age."

"You’re old enough, though I guess some of you wait till fifteen now."

“When you were when you sowed your wild oats?” Oura asked.

“I was thirteen years old when I first sowed my wild oats, it is the best time as my seeds were not yet valid for getting the women with child.” Shasta replied.

"Well mine have been valid since I was thirteen, so I perfer safe then sorry."

“That’s why they produced condoms for. Condoms are used when you have sex with females and you are not sure if they are taking anything to prevent pregnancies or a sexual transmitted disease which is not very common here as I was told.” Shasta said, in a low whisper. He went to his desk and pulled out some condoms in their wrappers to show Oura what they looked like. “I’ll show you how to put them on later today when we can be alone to do that.”

"urm ok, so yeah, wake up time, you might want to wake Miss Cleo so she can wake Rowain . . . urm after I leave," Oura said as he headed to the door.

Shasta chuckled as he placed the condoms away, before going over to Cleo and gently shook her. “Cleo, it’s time for you to get up and wake Rowain now.”

Cleo rolled over onto her back. “What time is it?”

"It's about seven in the morning."

Cleo threw off the covers and started to get dressed in a very hurried manner. “Oh I am so late in waking him up. I should have been up two hours ago!”

“I’m sure that Rowain will not mind a late awakening today, Cleo.” Shasta stated.

"He might not, but his outside job will."

Shasta nodded as he grabbed his clothes as well, as he was stuffing his shirt into his pants, the chime rang.. He opened the door to find Rowain standing there. “Hey Cleo, he’s up on his own.”

“What do you . . . oh you’re awake, Rowain.” Cleo stated, as she finished buttoning her shirt.

“And what have you two birds been doing all night?” asked Rowain, his eyebrows raised with wonder.

“Showing her how a good Drake made love to a woman,” Shasta stated, calmly. “She came willingly to me last night and I showed her how a Drake made love to a hot woman like her.”

"I see, I'm glad you two enjoyed yourselves, though I should scold you both for sleeping in."

“Well, Oura woke me a few minutes ago and I got Cleo up a few moments ago,” Shasta replied.

"Well consider yourselves scolded then, I have to get to work, Shasta you should be able to take care of things while I'm out."

“Yup, I’ll take care of things, Rowain.” Shasta stated. Rowain smiled and headed down the corridor for the stairs. Shasta started to follow him with Cleo behind him. “We should head for the mess hall to get some breakfast before starting off the day in the office, I know I got some work to do with the paper work that came in this morning,”

"And it best get done before it turns to gremlins."

Shasta rolled his eyes. “I better head there first. I hate doing this to you but you know what type of breakfast I like. Could you get it and bring it up with your own so I don’t have to stab some gremlins to get the paper work done?”

“Sure,” Cleo headed off to the mess hall to get the chefs to bag two meals for her and Shasta.

About five minutes later, Cleo is walking back to the office to give Shasta his breakfast and eat hers at her desk like she would on a busy day like that morning would be. Oura was already gone from the mess hall as she had taken notice of the council ranked students were not there as the trade ranks were there eating. She knew Oura was most likely in his classes or waiting for Shasta to give him some order or that he was making sure that everything was running smoothly.

She got to the office and Oura wasn't there so he was probably in class, she smiled as Shasta caught a gremlin and dealt with it's contents. “I see they are starting to turn faster then usual. But I brought breakfast.” Holding up the bag.

“Yeah, they’re little buggers but I’m nailing them fast. Wish Charlotte would hurry the fuck up and get down here and reverse it so I can relax a bit while I’m reading the paper work. I have to speed read just to prevent them from forming.” Shasta stated, as he pulled open his bag and grabbed the scrambled egg sandwich that the chefs made for him and started to eat it.

"She'll be here in a couple days, she's been a bit delayed,”

“Grand!” Shasta replied, as another started to form which Shasta used the pen to stab it. “Wait till I am done eating!” He snarled at it.

“So, did you nail many of them like that?” asked Cleo.

“About five of them so far.” Shasta replied, as he looked at the files that he had completed. “There is about seven more to go before I am done with that and then I go about checking the embassy on the routine checks.”

"I'm surprised Rowain is leaving a lot in your hands, guess he figures hands on is best."

“Yeah, he wants me to be able to do this without much help or calls to ask him what should I do when by the time I am marked as a Mark I should know all this by heart.” Shasta replied.

"And it gives him a break at the same time, he can be a real oppertunist. But in the end it does accomplish the same result, and yeah DuCain Metro is horrid, the compound has been corrupted for a couple generations. Their ex-Marks were more twisted then the Ringdoves were here."

“Oy, I guess I really do have my work cut out for me there,” Shasta replied.

“Yes, you do. But Rowain thinks you are up to it,” Cleo stated.

"It's just right now I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to be in over my head, I mean Raven’s Court is well organized and is floushing, it's not like I'm dealing with a cesspool of corruption."

"Well how'd you cope in the Negaverse?"

"I didn't I hid from the worst of it."

“So you hid from the worse that the Negaverse could give?” asked Cleo.

“Yes, drugged into a deep sleep or hidden away from my brother and his gang, my brother’s best friend Canard wasn’t nice either. I saw him beat up his sister a few times and she would run to Wing for protection till Wing married her and she found out that he wasn’t the sweet protective drake he acted around her – he brutally raped her the night of their marriage and beat her up at the same time. She tried to act like it was her fault but after she became pregnant with her first born and she was nearing the time to birth the child, Canard’s very twisted interest hit on her. He raped her violently with his penis and then, with a poker to the point he broke her water bag and stabbed the baby within. Canard was the sole reason why she lost that child.” Shasta stated. “She told Cain that she killed her, he must have not liked that as he raped her that night.”

"Well you won’t be able to hide this time Shasta, a Mark and weapon must face the issues head on, even if it means protraying oneself as the biggest monster."

“I guess I have to go face to face with it,”

“Yes, you do.”

"I honestly don't know if I'll ever be ready."

"If you aren't it'll mean your’s and Oura’s death."

“I guess I will know if I am ready for DuCaine Metro after my trip to confront my brother and deal with him.” Shasta replied.

"It's an old right of passage for Doves of our rank, and we have to deal with our own demons before we can deal with those of others."

“So it is done with all Doves of our ranking?”

“Yes and there is no getting out of it either.”

"What about you?"

"I've faced the last of my demons last night with you, though the worst I've faced a long while ago."

Shasta smiled as he got up from his chair and took her hand in his and kissed her forehead before drifting to her beak and placed his bill next to hers. “I’m glad,”

Cleo smiled and leaned into him. "If I could I'd court you Shasta, but that would only hinder your lines future."

“True but what about mistresses? Can Marks have them?” asked Shasta.

“What do you mean by that, Shasta?” asked Cleo.

“If Marks can have mistresses, I would like to have you as my mistress, if you want to be that to me since I can’t really get you with child.” Shasta asked. “So that way, you can come to me and bed me down when you want without fear.”

“Are you sure, your mate would have to understand that I am of no threat to her?”

“Cleo, my mate would understand that you are a mistress and a good friend of mine and that she will be the one bearing me children not you, even though you probably would like to do that but your body is unable to,” Shasta replied.

“Shasta, Marks are allowed to have up to five mistresses if they are under the white band which you are under because you are the only Negaverse Dove Flashblade there are here on Puckworld,” Cleo said.

"Then it should be fine with you and me, after all it'll give you a chance to check up on Oura."

Cleo smiled. “I can use him as an excuse to come up there, but Rowain would know it was to visit with you,”

"I know, do you honestly think he'd mind?"

"Not really." Cleo looked at the paper work that was on his desk. “As soon as you are done, you have a building to check.”

“Yes, Cleo,” Shasta smiled as he resumed his place at the desk and started to flip through the papers.

Cleo watched him work before heading out of the office for her desk and started to scan the book for any appointments that may need Shasta to be up from the bowels of Raven’s Court to find none.

It was afternoonn when they did the building check, it was mostly checking off areas that needed maintainance. The checks were normal as there wasn’t much to fix or repair as everything was running smoothly.

"You know Cleo, I don't think he ever lets things fall too out of repair."

Cleo shook her head. “He doesn’t, he’s very much on top of the place.”

“So if he didn’t have the outside job, he would be here doing what I’m doing?” asked Shasta.

“Yes, he may hate the paper work but he loves Raven’s Court,” Cleo stated.

"Well it's his home so he should."

"It's also pride, he's born Ringdove and McDove so he keeps his standards much higher then expected."

“A great deal higher then anyone thought, right?”

“Yes.”

"Guess I should try to be around his standard."

“That would be good as that will help you when you get control of DuCaine Metro’s compound.”

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to be a bit of a monster at first."

“Yes, but once you gained total control over the compound and took care of those who are corrupt, you can be what Rowain is a nice headmaster.”

"True, but it's going to take a while."

“Dive must have faith in you, Shasta or he wouldn’t have suggested you to become a Mark.”

Shasta smiled. "Well if he can pull it off, I don't see why I can't. I mean Dive's a softie most of the time."

Cleo laughed. “I’ll show you what he did the first time he took up his sword for us.”

“Oh what did he do?” asked Shasta.

“I saved the newspaper of what he did, though no one outside of the Dove knew that he did it. I’ll show it to you when we get back upstairs, it’s in the archives.” Cleo stated.

Shasta nodded. "I'd love to see it. Also if we have time I'd like to get some combat training in."

Cleo nodded. “That can be arranged. I’m sure that the instructors would love to train you.”

"Going to need a much better combat edge if I'm going to beat the living daylights out of Cain."

Cleo led him back up to the main floor, she took him to the archives and told Kara to show him the article where Dive killed the president who was trying to make everyone the same before she left the room to get the instructors prepared to train him in combat.

“Gotcha, the paper is back here Shasta. That was a grand event that Dive did. I was here to witness his return with Charlotte. She was thrilled for him,” Kara stated, as she went to the back and brought out a paper.

Shasta whistled when he saw the article, he had thought Dive was soft, but obviously Dive was one hell of an assasin. “Man, he’s good. And no one has figured that he did it?”

Kara shook her head. “No one has figured out who did it and that’s good. The vice president was far more understanding and kept everyone the way we have always been.”

"Well yeah, what made the guy Dive offed think he could get away with it?"

“He wanted unity on the planet but that posed a problem for the Doves. We didn’t want to become one with the rest of the planet. We wanted to live in peace and we were going to go into war against the president to preserve our ways. It was by pure chance, Dive came here to Raven’s Court to talk to Rowain about a sword he had and he found out that Dive had the fabled sword of Asp Flashblade, the last of the Dove Flashblades. The sword Dive had was her’s and that he was her chosen heir to the name and title of Dove Flashblade. He learned that we were about to go into war and offered to go speak with him, but we told him that we tried that. He didn’t know how to hold or weild his sword, so Rowain taught him how to and had him duel couple boys, which he killed before going to meet him that night and with the help of Charlotte, a power outage aided him in decapitating him and thus ended what would have been another quick and horrible war.” Kara stated.

"A demon disguised as a saint, I've got a long way to go to be on his level." Shasta said as he stared at the article. It wasn't that he couldn't hold his own with Dive. It was more of the matter of how different he was. The Negaverse was where the worst of everyone was strongest. The carnal beasts. He always had found his reasons within someone else, and always needed someone to be there. He felt alone weak and helpless other wise. What he showed others was a hollow mask so that they wouldn't see what really was. He sighed, there was so much he had to confront before he could ever see himself on Dive’s level. “I have a long road to hoe before I am ever able to say that I am at Dive’s level, Kara.”

"I won't argue with you, afterall you are the best judge of where you stand."

“Yeah, so how did Wing and the others handle the news of Dive being the killer of the president?” asked Shasta.

“They never knew.”

“They don’t know?”

“Dive never told them nor did we inform them about it either as it was not our place to do so, it was Dive’s decision to tell them or not to.” Kara stated.

“So they never assumed he had something to do with it?”

Kara shook her head. “If they did, they kept it away from Wing as he would have flipped out if he knew,”

"He's not capable of thinking Dive could be that dangerous."

“Even though from what I heard from Rowain that he killed a Saurian Prince who was hitting on Lolita when she was Lola?”

"Then I'm not sure why he wasn't told."

“Then, maybe he did know but maybe he didn’t know that Dive would be the one,” Shasta replied.

Kara looked at him. “The only one who would know if he knows is Charlotte as she was there when it was announced on their TV that the president was assassinated, she went to have breakfast with him and the others the morning after he killed him.”

"She's really bold isn't she? Cusses, breakfast with those who might have put two and two together and report who did the assasination."

“But that would mean handing Dive over to the police for excution for what he did,” Kara stated. “I don’t think they wanted to give him up even if they knew.”

“But then the police would have a problem on their hands if they had arrested Dive for murder, the whole planet would be possibly in an uproar and demanded him to be let go as he must have had a good reason to kill him.” Shasta replied.

Kara shrugged her shoulders. “He would have been given diplomatic immunity as we had declared him a Dove making him untouchable to the police or to the laws of normal Puckworld, only the laws of the Doves rule him now.”

"A political nightmare for those on the outside."

“But a boon for our people, because it stopped a possible war that would have caused more pain for the outsiders.” Shasta stated.

“Because the living weapons would have been sent and done much more damage to them then Dragaunus probably did and the living weapons of the Dove are lethal when it comes to fighting.”

Shasta nodded. "I can see not many people arguing with it, the price of one to save thousands."

“Exactly, most outsiders who were in the know of what the former president was planning on doing saw it as a blessing when he was killed as the vice president ended any possible war against the Dove by dropping what the former president was going to do.” Kara stated.

"Smart guy, and it seem other polititions find more to gain from bargaining with us."

“As you have found out with the mayor of Keltor giving you the deeds to the buildings.” Kara replied. She saw his look of shock on his face. “Oh, Cleo told me about it while you were inspecting the buildings yesterday, Shasta. Needless to say she is very thrilled about it.”

Shasta nodded. "I hope to be able to do something like that DuCaine Metro."

“Just take what lessons you learn here and apply it there and I’m sure you will do very well,” Kara said. “Now if are you done reading the article as I think the combat instructor is here to see you, Shasta.”

Shasta looked up and then to the door to see a Raptrin male walking into the room and he wore the uniform of a combat specialist. “I guess you are the teacher of Combat here at the Embassy?”

"I'm Helzane, I can teach you all I can, but it's nothing to actual expirience."

“I am Shasta Flashblade of the Negaverse Flashblades. I know I am not combat ready but I am willing to train till I am ready,” Shasta stated, looking at him.

“Good, now follow me. We don’t have much time to waste chattering here.” Helzane stated, before he turned and started to leave the library.

Shasta thanked Kara and hurried after Helzane. “So what are you going to start me off with?”

Without warning Shasta, Helzane made an attempt at hitting him but Shasta noticed the movement and took action sending Helzane down to the ground with his hand to his throat and his foot mysteriously on his crotch. “Good, you are fast and alert. I nailed Dive with that move. You might be better then he is at getting some of the attacks down.”

Shasta half smirked. "I've had enough people try to hit me that I can read it, just not always counter. Please don't go easy on me."

Helzane smiled. "Then I won't,” He took a battle stance. Shasta did the same but was too slow and was knocked on his tailfeathers. “We will take this to the battle grounds where we can properly fight. Here in the hallway isn’t proper.”

Shasta nodded as Helzane helped him up. “I am a little slow in countering attacks, I can see them but as you can tell I don’t always block them.”

“Well, that will change starting today. You will become stronger in countering attacks and plus giving them back too.” Helzane stated, as they walked into the battle ground where Shasta was amazed by the terrain, it was like a desert and a mountain put together in one locale.

"Wow! How'd you get it like this in here?"

"It's a special area for training, makes it a lot easier."

“The terrain isn’t flat like it is outside, this way, a Dove could learn how to fight on any and all grounds that they may encounter while living on this planet or when they planet hop.” Shasta stated, as he looked around.

Helzane smiled as he allowed the kid to get used to what he saw. “Well, most Doves don’t planet hop too often. It is rare when we leave the planet. The ones who do are the merchant Doves but they always return home to Dublin or to their home terrority when they are done with their space journey.”

Shasta nodded. "So those who are really nomads are the Suscans."

"They can't live in one place for too long, it seems their nature."

“But that is a good thing for the Doves, we always have a home to return to while they are always roaming the galaxies. Have you ever went into outer space?” asked Shasta.

"I have, and I find myself uncomfortable out there. Though the Suscans have their trade empires, space is their home."

Shasta shrugged. "We'd best get started."

Helzane didn’t give Shasta much time to catch his wind or even go into a battle stance as he started off giving him his lesson right then and there. It didn’t take too long before Shasta started to copy move for move on the battle gound. Helzane knew Shasta was not perfect with the moves but he was learning them fast. He smiled as he added more moves to his attacks to see how Shasta would handle it. Shasta got kicked to the ground several times during the three hours of combat training. By the time, Helzane stopped him, both he and Shasta were covered in sweat, blood and dirt. Helzane didn’t have much blood on his feathers but Shasta was bloodied. But it was all good as it made him learn new moves and he started to get better at countering the attacks that came at him.

Shasta pushed himself up. "Man, I've never fought like that before."

"Get use to it, go clean yourself up and be back here tomorrow around the same time as today, and we'll go through another lesson."

“Sure, thanks again, Helzane.” Shasta said, before he walked sorely out of the room.

“You are going to need all the fighting skills you got, kid. DuCaine Metro is not for weaklings, they will eat you alive there,” Helzane whispered.

Shasta walked down the hall towards the office wanting to make sure that there was no gremlins in the office before he took a shower to find Oura sitting there reading papers. “What are you doing?” He asked.

“Working,” Oura replied, placing the last of the files down. “These have been read and all they need is your name on them and they’ll go into effect immediately.”

“What are they for?” Shasta asked, as he walked towards him.

“Fund allotment for the rebuilding project of our new buildings. We’re not taking much from the fund but it is about five thousand.” Oura replied. He sniffed the air. “And you reak of battle. Go shower and then return, they won’t turn now that they have been read.”

Shasta smiled. "I’ll be back in a few," he said as he went off to shower.

Fifteen minutes later, Shasta was back at the office finishing up the files that Oura had just read, when Rowain came back from work. Shasta smiled as he entered the room. “So how was your day, Rowain?”

"Pretty boring, routine patrols, how about you?"

“Oh, paper work, routine checks, reading archive newspaper on the president with whom Dive killed to protect the Doves and the planet from another needless war and did some combat practice with Helzane. Pretty much a boring day.” Shasta said, with a smirk on his bill.

Rowain snickered. "I was wondering how long it would take for you to see that article, and Helzane is a good combat instructor."

“Yeah, we spent about three hours fighting. I am starting to improve my blocking of attacks pretty good but I have to stay constant or I’m in deep doodoo.” Shasta replied. “And Dive, I always thought of him as being a bit on the soft side. Ha, I was sorely mistaken. He’s lethal!”

"Strength alone can not compare to that of someone with a calm level head with speed and agility."

"So what you are saying is that Dive isn't physically strong, but is calm and agile so his target doesn't see it coming."

Rowain nodded. "It's part of the reason why a Flashblade is called a Flashblade, you only see the flash at the moment you die by their blades."

Shasta nodded. “I never knew that about our last name.”

Rowain smiled. “A small history lesson for you there.”

“Yeah, so what is the plan for this evening, Rowain?” asked Shasta.

“Dance lessons and singing lessons or you could have a break since you did have combat lessons today and that’s usually a very tiring for your first day,” Rowain said.

"May as well continue with the lessons, need to get better on my feet."

Rowain took Shasta to the dance room where he showed him how to dance the Mark’s dance. He stepped back and watched as Shasta tried to but failed miseribly before Rowain stepped up and told him to copy his moves till they came naturally. Shasta did so for another hour before Rowain stopped for dinner. Rowain smiled. “After dinner is over, we will go to singing lessons.”

Shasta nodded. "And after that to bed, I hadn't thought dancing to be that much work."

Rowain smiled. "You'll get use to it."

After dinner, they spent an hour and a half on simple songs that were usually taught to children so Shasta could get the hand of rythem and melody. When they were done, Shasta’s throat was a bit sore, his body ached, and all he wanted to do was sleep.

Rowain noticed his look and escorted him to his chambers where Shasta just fell onto his bed and started to snore lightly as he fell asleep almost immediately. Rowain shook his head as he proceeded to remove his clothes and put on his pj bottoms before placing him in his bed and closing up his room before heading for his own room to get some mild reading done before turning off the lights and getting some sleep.

Shasta woke the next morning to Oura nudging him awake. "Come on wake up."

Shasta rolled onto his belly, mumbling. “Come back in an hour, Oura.”

Oura sighed and grabbed the bucket of snow Cleo had handed him and dumped it on Shasta. "Time to get up, you've already overslept by twenty minutes."

Shasta felt the snow go onto his back and then he heard the words ‘<i>overslept by twenty minutes</i>’, he leapt out of bed and started to scramble for his clothes. “Oh shit, he must be pissed off at me for being late!”

Oura grinned. "He's not expecting you for another ten, so you have a few minutes yet."

“But still, I overfuckingslept!” Shasta said, as he pulled on his clothes. “And I probably don’t even have time to get breakfast either!”

Oura pointed to a tray on one of the side tables. "I brought you something quick to eat."

“Oh good, I thought I would have to make a mad dash into the mess hall and freak all the students and teachers out by me racing in and then racing back out again,” Shasta replied, as he started to wolf down the breakfast.

"If you did then you'd really be running late. Try not to over do things today, we both have a lot to learn but too much at one time isn't good."

“Yeah, you could get burned out emotionally and bodily to where you collapse into a deep sleep for hours or even days,” Shasta said, as he continued to wolf down his meal.

“And one thing, slow down. You are not in any race to see who eats faster, Shasta.” Oura replied, looking at him as he stuffed his face with more food.

Shasta slowed down a bit, he had to admit, with training included in learning the ins and outs of regular politics he was gonna to be tired a lot more. “I hope I have the stamina to handle this day. I still want to go back to bed and sleep till one in the afternoon.”

"You are going to have to, Rowain isn't going to let you slack."

“And Cleo isn’t going to let you slack off either, how is your training coming along?” Shasta asked.

“It is going good. After the normal classes are over, I have at least an hour to spend with Cleo working on how to run a compound when the Mark in residence is not there. It is quite interesting and harder then I had thought. But you and Rowain will be here without us for a few hours tomorrow. She’s taking me to Dublin to the DNA Center to get my blood mixed with hers so I can be officially marked down as her son to cement my line with hers and to make sure that no one can counter my claim to the last name of Paloma.” Oura stated.

Shasta nodded. "Blood and DNA means a lot here, but I guess there is a reason for that."

"There is but I've yet to learn the details."

“Maybe while you are with Cleo tomorrow you can ask her about it and let me know,” asked Shasta.

"I will. Now you'd better hurry or you will be late."

“Thanks,” Shasta said, as he hurried out of his chambers and down the hall and down the stairs to the second floor where Rowain’s office was. He knocked on the door just as the door opened to reveal Cleo standing there.

"Sorry if I'm late, kind of overslept," Shasta quickly said apologeticly.

"You are only a couple minutes late, half expected you to sleep in longer."

“Well, I did try to sleep in but a bucket of snow was dumped on me waking me up done by my assistant,” Shasta stated.

"Good, then Oura is catching on."

“Yes, he is wanting to be a very good assistant and to prove himself worthy of the last name of Paloma.”

"He already is, though I'm glad he used the snow, most don't have the guts to."

“Well, he was being very difficult in getting up without it.” Oura stated, walking into the office.

Rowain simply sat back and smirked. "That's what Cleo says about me sometimes."

Shasta chuckled. “Looks like both of our assistants knows us well.”

"Just wait, after a couple centuries, you know more about each other then your mates do."

“True.” Shasta replied.

"Since I'm working night shift, we'll both get the daily stuff done, and then you are training the rest of the day."

“I know, but shouldn’t you get a nap in so you are rested for your night shift?” asked Shasta.

“No, not really. I am really good at staying up at night when I need to.” Rowain said.

“Many cups of coffee I bet,” asked Shasta.

"Not really, over the years I've learned how to keep myself alert and awake for up to three days straight."

“What is your technique?” asked Oura. “I usually use fruit juice to keep me up when I have to study, us kids are not allowed to have coffee.”

“I usually walking the hallways and at midnight go to the kitchen and have a bite to eat to get myself awake and walk some more.” Rowain said.

"In other words you are awake as long as you are on your feet."

“Partly, there was one time where I fell asleep walking around and Cleo found me walking sound asleep but that was early on in my training to handle night shifts.” Rowain said.

"How long did it take you to master it?"

"Years."

“Years! Did I hear you correctly, it was years before you mastered it?” asked Shasta shocked.

"Yeah, years, something you will master over time."

“Wow,” Shasta replied.

“There will be times when you need to stay up here at the compound but that is rare unto itself as we don’t have many times when we have to stay up late at night unless it is paper work.” Rowain said. He turned to look at Cleo. “So when is Charlotte going to finally show up here? I’m starting to really hate her lateness,”

“She’ll be here tomorrow morning at nine am, sir. Oura and I will be gone by the time she arrives.” Cleo stated.

“Ah, going to Dublin Prime to adopt him officially?” Rowain asked.

“Yes, and his final test will be conducted there as well.” Cleo replied.

“What final test?” Oura asked.

“Oh it’s nothing too big. It shouldn’t bother you at all.” Cleo said. ‘<i>I hope, as this is the test to end your training and you to become a Paloma, you must pass it or you will die by my hand, Oura.</i>’

Oura nodded. "Ok, then I won’t worry too much about it, though I was sort of hoped to get a glance at Lady Charlotte, I've heard stories about her."

Shasta raised a brow. "Stories,"

"Yes, how she'd raise hell here whenever Rowain wouldn't let her have her own way,"

Shasta laughed. “By how she sounds she sounds like a spoiled child and Rowain isn’t letting her be that way but a proper lady around here and yet she throws tempers to see if Rowain backs down or not,”

“Oh, she’s not a spoiled child. Just one who likes to cause problems for the stiffer lips,” Rowain replied.

Cleo smirked. "Stiff beaks like you."

Shasta and Oura started to laugh hard. Rowain shot them both a glare. “Shasta, you will be one of us stiff beaks soon, so don’t laugh.”

"I know, but it's still funny."

Cleo smiled at the fun that the two boys were having. “Seriously, the higher ups are stiff because they have a great deal of weight to shoulder on their shoulders that the lower ranked members do not have to deal with but we too, can have fun too.” She and Rowain pulled out water guns that Dive gave to them and started to squirt water onto both Shasta and Oura with remarkable hits to them both.

Both of them looked at each other and nodded before going after their equals and tackling them to the ground yanking the gun from them and started to tickle them till they gave up.

Rowain chuckled after he and Cleo managed to reverse pin the other two down. "We should probably get to work before the gremlins show up."

“Right,” Shasta said, as they got up and started to finish the paper work that was in the in box.

After the paper work was finished, both Rowain and Shasta went to all of the places that they checked the first time around and made sure that everything was still working in good order. They spent most of the day dealing with that or students who were having problems with their teachers or fellow students and dealing with other outside problems like checking out the equipment on the five buildings that was going to be residence halls for the students making sure that it was all in working order before they even allowed the students to even know about the new buildings.

After that Shasta met up with Helzane for combat training, and later for dance, but skipped singing to get some extra sleep since he was already having a hard time staying awake.

Rowain paid him a visit before he headed off to work and left him a note, letting him out of singing lessons that day since he just told him that he was going to head for bed without even giving him a chance to speak. Rowain brushed Shasta’s hair away from his face and gave him a kiss on the forehead. ‘<i>You are improving much better then Dive in the same amount of time, Shasta. Soon, you will be worthy of the title and name Mark of DuCaine Metro.</i>’

~~~~~~~~~~

Shasta woke to a start as a hand moved over his body, a red haired Raptrin female stared down at him. "You and Dive really are almost identical."

“So I have heard but we don’t look it.” Shasta moaned, as he sat up and rubbed his eyes before he took a good look at the female who stood there. “You must be Charlotte?”

"What was your first clue?"

“Your voice, and plus we were expecting you to arrive about three days ago.” Shasta replied, looking at her.

“Meh, I had delays in getting here so as Dive would say sue me,” Charlotte stated.

"What sort of delays?"

"Big sis needed me to swing by DuCaine Metro to give Rowain a full report from Angel on the current state of things, also needed me to sent a message to Lady Kelsa. I can't help those sorts of delays."

Shasta sighed, "So have you removed the curse on the office?"

"I did as soon as I got here; also I have requested a day alone with you."

“Oh grand, probably to bring me up to date on my future residence correct?” asked Shasta.

“Yes, how did you know . . . on other hand, don’t tell me, you and Dive are alike in that department. He and his brother had this way about things,” Charlotte stated. “But along with that, I’m also here to hear how you plan on getting my sister off this planet for a few hours,”

"Well more like a couple days to a couple weeks, Rowain and I figured arranging it so politically she had to be out there."

“So what is your plan and it better be good because I will nix it before you can put it into effect,” Charlotte replied, as she watched him pull on his pants and shirt. ‘<i>Amazing, he has the same muscles that Dive does. I wonder how he tastes too. Nah, he probably wouldn’t want to get involved with me besides Dive might get jealous of me bedding him down as well.</i>’

“Rowain and I figure that the Suscan, Rim and Ti-Markay trade and territory negotiation would require the Black Dove there as a neutral party."

Charlotte thought about it for several minutes before she looked up at him. “I think that will probably work out very well, I like it. So who thought it up you or Rowain?”

“It was actually both of us, we blended both of our ideas together and with a call to a Carter Winddancer to see what was going on out in space made us aware of the trade and territory negotiations that was going on that was going no where. He thought it was a wonderful idea in bringing the Black Dove out there to oversee it to make it more peaceful,” Shasta said. He noticed the look on her face. “Is something not right with my clothes, Miss Charlotte?”

“No, you look good in it. But the idea is very good, something that I wouldn’t have thought of,” Charlotte replied. "Apparently, the last time she was the neutral party, no one wanted to cause a fuss since she was in a bad mood about her father, anything about our father puts her in a bad mood, big sis and father never got along, he used black mail to make her be his successor." Charlotte paused. "It's not like he didn't have a good reason, if fact big sis is enough of a wild card the Aliza's prophecy might come true. She's also what the Dove needed in a leader; father was scared of letting the outside in, but also knew that if something didn't change then the Dove would be in serious trouble. Big sis was able to bring the needed change, but also for the first time in thousands of years we have all the Dove lines and even branch lines, we are at our strongest for the first time in millennia. Father in the end was right but big sis suffers for it."

“I heard of the Aliza’s prophecy but I don’t get it. Can you explain it to me?” asked Shasta.

"It's basically, Death sends the Black Dove’s souls to oblivion, until a McDove slays her, now she makes sure she personally offs all McDove’s, Flashblades, and MacDoves and binds them in her realm so that they can't harm her and of course the Black Dove is sent to oblivion. It just seems Death has a hard time anticipating big sis, so there is a good chance she might best Death."

“I hope she does,” Shasta replied.

“Me too,” Charlotte said.

"So how's DuCaine Metro?"

"Really bad, Angel has to step lightly since he doesn't play by what they think are the rules. Angel has never dealt with a corrupt compound before. There are drugs and alcohol in use there, and a sex trade, not good at all."

Shasta shook his head sadly. “That’s not good at all. I guess I got my work cut out for me when I get there. I think the first thing I am going to probably have to do is break them of their drinks and then the drugs and then deal with the sex trade.”

"Moral is low, the compound is in disrepair, and ours in DuCaine Metro is shady at best, you better believe you have your work cut out for you."

Shasta nodded. “This is going to be like going back to the Negaverse with all its evil.”

"Yeah, but at least you've got a better chance at cleaning it up. So what type of females do you like?"

“Oh various kinds, but mainly those who are not whores, underage or would cheat on me with another drake, why are you asking?” asked Shasta, looking at her.

"Simply curious, my lover is Dive though, my life and body is really at the disposal of, the three houses, McDove, MacDoves, and Flashblade. Be it delivering messages or being a means of pleasure. I live because my sister lets me, but even though she says she values me, I know I'm just seen as a plaything. I'm barren, and the youngest, pretty worthless really."

“Worthless? If my counterpart has you as his mistress, then he sees in you something that the others do not and worthy of his attention. Dive wouldn’t use someone for their sex; he’s not that type of drake.” Shasta said, making her look up at him.

"I know, that's why I care for him, though it doesn’t change what I am. I can smell your lust, use me as you will, but don't pity me."

Shasta mentally cringed, it was only starting, but he hadn't realized it could be sensed so soon. Cleo was gone to Dublin and Rowain was busy and he knew if he left the room he'd have Raptrin females’ pursuing him. “How can you tell that I am in my Lust?”

Charlotte smiled, as she opened his pants and looked at his member. "Simple, it smells like the lust pheromones emitted by a male pilgrim, since females are fertile most of the time, the males have Lust periods where they are more fertile then normal." Charlotte said as she brushed her hand against his member which stood to attention.

Shasta gasped in surprise as how fast he was reacting to her touch. “Does Rowain . . . know I’m in Lust?”

Charlotte shook her head. “I could go tell him that you are not coming from your room as your Lust has hit or just wait till after you had your fill with me before heading off to tell him,”

“No, you better go before I do anything.” Shasta rushed for his bathroom and slammed the door shut.

She smiled as she walked out of the door and went to Rowain’s office. “Shasta’s in his Lust. So don’t expect him out of his room anytime soon.”

"And you haven't done anything about it?"

"He won’t let me; he ran into his bathroom and hid, I originally wasn't going to do anything, but when I smelled it I knew he was going to need release, Cleo is away, and considering big sister’s health, might be a couple days. And you have the compound to run."

"Shasta's lust is a bit of a problem then."

"I don't want to force him, but if my scent is on him while he's in his Lust the other females will stay clear since they don't want my wrath. Of course Cleo knows better, but lower ranks don’t."

“Then, do what you must with him.” Rowain said.

Charlotte nodded as she returned to Shasta’s room noticing that the females were gathered around his door trying to figure a way to get inside. ‘<i>Did he try to go out of his room?</i>’ She made the girls move away from the door before she opened it and slipped inside, locking it securely. She knocked on the bathroom door. “Shasta, it’s me, Charlotte. You okay?”

She heard several male grunts within the bathroom as she opened the door and there was Shasta on the toilet seat vigorously pumping his member to release. He flung his head back as his seeds flew out of his member onto his bare belly and hand. She removed her clothes while casting her spell on her womb, even though she really didn’t have to; she was going to help him with his release. He didn’t see or hear her till she pushed his hand away and took his member within her mouth and started to suckle him off.

Shasta moaned and gasped as Charlotte sucked his member and played with his balls till he emptied himself within her beak, she swallowed and smiled, "Take me till you are satisfied, my scent on you will keep them away. Dive won’t mind and Rowain thinks it best."

“You won’t mind being battered by me? I am rough and quite hard when I’m on my lust, Charlotte?” Shasta stated.

“Have your way with me, I’ve handled much worse.” Charlotte stated, looking at him as she took note of the status of his member to find that even after his second release it was still erect and fully hard. “You stay hard even after a release?”

“When I’m on my Lust, it doesn’t go limp till it is all over.” Shasta informed her.

"Then I'm yours till it's over, don't hold back," Charlotte said as she pushed him onto his bed and mounted him. Shasta smiled as she worked his member. From outside the room the females slowly drifted away as it became clear that Shasta was already claimed by the noise of two people having sex within the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Oura looked around in amazement as the walked though Dublin Prime. “Wow, I have heard of how beautiful it is but I have never stepped foot into the city itself.”

“You mean your parents never brought you here?” Cleo asked.

Oura shook his head. “No, I lived all my life in Keltor.”

“Pity, this city is the oldest on Puckworld, predates even that bastard Drake DuCaine by a whole lot of centuries.” Cleo stated.

“So is it true that his wife the Lady DuCaine could have been a Dove or someone like a Surfer?” Oura asked.

“The Lady DuCaine . . . it is unknown but she is someone of great power and mystery,” Cleo replied. “I believe we have a picture drawn of her in the archives, so while we are waiting to see the Black Dove, I’m sure I can show you the picture.”

Oura smiled. "That would be neat. Though I bet there are many interesting places here."

“Yes, you and Shasta will have plenty of time to see them when you both come up here when he is given the title of Mark and where he will be residing which everyone knows already – DuCaine Metro.” Cleo stated, as she checked the street addresses before heading into the heart of the city towards the heart, she looked at the castle to see the McDove flag flying, then she turned from the heart of the city towards another street and walked about six blocks away before she stopped at a building and looked at Oura. “Ready?”

“As I ever will be, Cleo.” Oura stated.

They entered  the facility, Oura was still too in awe of his surrounding to notice the red haired Raptrin at first, but when he did he had two impressions, one was that she was a female of great power, the other was that she was sad and ill. She moved towards him, but one of her knees seemed to give and Oura rushed over to catch her before she hit the ground. “Lean on me, ma’am.” He looked at the doctor who was rushing over. “A private room, please and hurry.”

The doctor nodded and led them to a private room. “Shall I get your doctor, Lolita?” the doctor asked.

"Please, it shouldn't be acting up like this."

Oura mentally jumped, it hadn’t occured to him that the Raptrin woman was the Black Dove, it didn't matter to him either at this point, what mattered was getting her comfortable till her doctor arrived. He helped her onto the medical bed being gentle with her knee that had gave out on her. “Shall I get you something to drink while you wait, Lolita?”

“No, I’m fine.” Lolita said, as she looked at him. “You are Oura?”

“Yes, I am, Lolita.” He bowed his head to her. “It is an honor to meet you.”

“So you are wanting to change ranks to be of council rank to be assistant to Shasta Flashblade, correct?” asked Lolita.

“Yes, ma’am, I am an orphan and my uncle doesn’t want a thing to do with me and I am smart and I get A’s in all of my classes.” Oura stated, never once looking away from her.

“You are not frightened of me?” Lolita asked.

“No, why should I? You give up so much for us to live without their hindrances in our lives.” Oura replied.

Lolita smiled, "I think you'd be a fine council rank."

“You think so?” asked Cleo, noticing how she was looking at him.

"I do, he's kind, and has no real fear of me which I appreciate."

Cleo looked very relieved as she placed her hand on his shoulder. “My son, you have passed your final and last test. You are now a Paloma.”

Oura looked at Cleo shocked. “I am?”

“Yes, this meeting of Lolita was your final test to become a council rank and a Paloma, if you failed, I would be using this dagger and slay you immediately.” Cleo said, holding up a hidden dagger from behind her back.

“So it depended on how I reacted to the Black Dove was the test you told me that I would be having when we got here?” Oura asked.

“Correct and you passed it with flying colors,” Lolita said.

The doctor of the DNA center stepped into the room with another doctor by his side. “Lolita, your doctor is here.”

Lolita nodded. "Cleo, Oura you are dismissed." She said as the doctor approached her.

Oura looked to Cleo as they went into the main DNA center are for the blood transfusion. “I guess we better get with the transfusion then?”

Cleo nodded and signalled to the doctor that all has been ok'd.

The doctor took Oura into one room and set him up to the blood transfer system, before Cleo was set up to it and their blood drawn. When they got enough of both of their bloods, the blood of each one was placed within the others’ veins cementing the adoption.

“Take it slow, Oura. The transfer has been done.” The doctor said, as he helped Oura to a sitting position. “Now, rest before you stand up and move about. Your mother is in the chair behind you,”

Oura nodded as he relaxed in the chair. ‘<i>Mother</i>.’ “Cleo, do you mind if I call you mom now?” asked Oura, looking behind him.

"I don't mind, at this point we are parent and child."

“I really didn’t have much of one. I barely remember what my real mom even looked like. You know she got sick soon after I was born and dad didn’t fare much better either from what I heard.” Oura stated.

“True, your mom got very sick, even our doctors didn’t know why. We even called in one of the best doctors in our galaxy to come to aid her, but when he came he told us the bad news, your mother would not last the year. Your father lasted for three years after that mainly tending to you before ending his own life with Rowain by his side. He was in severe joint pain to the point he could barely walk without pain. Your genes are without the problems of your father’s, so you do not have to worry about that. We had you checked as soon as possible to find you without the defective genes that was within your father. Thankfully, they did not get passed to you,” Cleo stated.

Oura smiled. "Good, I'd be worried if it was."

Cleo nodded. "Yes, so do you want to get a bite to eat, the transfusion has left me fairly thirsty and hungry."

“Yes, I am hungry and thirsty too,” Oura stated. “But let us wait till we are able to move about without being wobbly. I don’t want to fall down around here.”

Cleo smiled. "True, it would be uncomfortable."

They waited for about ten minutes before they got up and stepped from the room. They both took notice that door that held Lolita was still closed and they could hear voices within the room. Cleo motioned for Oura to come and they both left the DNA Center and looked up and down the street. Cleo knew of a restaurant that Rowain had made mention of several times, she headed for it. It was a chinese food restaurant. They stepped into the restaurant and got a table for two. They were checking out the menu when they heard the lady who sat them speak out. “Welcome my Lord Flashblade, this way please.”

They turned expecting it to see Shasta but it was a blond haired drake with darker clothes on. Cleo smiled. “That is Lord Nosedive Flashblade, one of the members of the famous strike force which sent Dragaunus off this planet and them with him.”

“Is that Shasta’s twin or a close relative?” Oura asked.

"Shasta and Nosedive from what I understand are the same person, different dimentional planes. Though Nosedive definately comes across much differently. This restauraunt was his bright idea, seems he liked food from Earth. Made it interesting for the trade ranks."

“I assume he took some members of the trade ranks to Earth so they could learn how to make all these foods on the menu and brought them back here and they opened this place up?” asked Oura.

"He did, and it's been good for Dublin Prime, like Lolita he brings change, but in the way of options for commerce, the trade ranks have been proserpering because of it."

“That’s good and good for us,” Oura said, glancing over at Dive. “He looks so much like Shasta. I wonder how good he is about waking up in the morning? Is he easy or hard like Shasta?”

“If Shasta is hard to get up, I would bet he too, is the same,” Cleo replied.

"That much alike?"

"And yet different, Shasta is rougher around the edges and thinks a bit differently."

“How so?” asked Oura.

“You would expect both drakes to be mean, I mean look at Dive, he still makes jokes when people are too serious, Shasta just has to smile to make others smile, Shasta is a drake I feel very comfortable with as well as Dive. Of all the time I have dealt with Dive, Dive made me feel good, he never pressured me to do anything, he would just give me a big smile.” Cleo stated.

"But you find yourself much closer to Shasta?"

Cleo nodded. "Yeah, when it comes to Shasta he's easier for me and Rowain to relate to, similar issues growing up. Dive can relate closer to Lolita, they were childhood friends."

“So they knew of each other growing up? Why didn’t he come into the ranks then or was there something else keeping the Flashblades away from the Doves?” asked Oura.

"Lord Collin wanted the Flashblades to return of their own free will."

“I would think that he would want to keep them as soon as he found them.” Oura said.

“But the political ramafications of doing that would be high and would cast us in an unfavorable light. It was Lolita who found Dive first and then later at school in Keltor found Wildwing and Nosedive, she stayed close to them after meeting them and being treated better then the other kids did, she knew that they were the real thing as in their blood the link to protect the Doves was there and even though they didn’t know that Lolita was a Dove, they protected her.” Cleo stated, as she looked at the menu once more as their waitress arrived to take their order. “I’ll have the bowl of egg drop soup and chicken fried rice, with a side of sweet and sour sauce.”

"The same,” Oura said to the waitress. He look back to Cleo. "So Lolita was sure one would right?”

“Yes, long before she became aware that there was more then one Flashblade, Dive had saved Lolita from some kids who were chasing her. They attacked him for defending her from them. That was when we found out that there was Flashblades still alive on the planet.” Cleo stated. “But Lord Collin wanted to keep Dive, Lolita begged him to let him return to them on his own, which he did years later.”

“After Lord Collin’s passing, he would have been so proud to see a Flashblade return to our ranks,” Oura said.

"He would be, though sometimes how things came about I wish they could have been a bit different."

“How so?”

"Choices made, means our Black Dove won't live as long as she could have. Our Lady Lolita has too strong of Suscan blood in her."

“Couldn’t she have a blood transfer to strengthen her blood or would that just weaken her even more?” asked Oura.

"It would just weaken her more, Rowain and Shasta are doing what they can to prolong what health she has."

“That is a downer. I heard Shasta talk about taking her into space again where she can feel the freedom of space once again and be a normal person again for a while,” whispered Oura.

“Yes, that is what they are planning on doing under the guise of a peace treaty,” Cleo stated.

“Good, hopefully, that will keep her around longer,” Oura said.

The waitress arrived with their meals and soon left to get more hot tea for them to drink.

Oura oggled his meal with curiosity and dug in. He took notice of how Cleo was eating hers and tried the rice with a little of the sweet and sour sauce added to it at the same time as the soup. It proved to be quite tasty. “This is good, do you think DuCaine Metro would have anything like this there?”

"Not at the moment, DuCaine Metro is a bit run down."

“But after we get it back up and running again, there will be,” Oura smiled.

“And what makes you think that will happen,” asked a male voice from his left side. They turned to see Dive standing there. “From what I hear DuCaine Metro is in need a ton of work to get it back on its feet.”

"Because you wouldn't have had Shasta as a canidate if you didn't think he could."

Dive sighed and took a seat at the table. "DuCaine Metro is as messed up as the Negaverse, it seemed a good idea to have Shasta handle it, because at least he'd be able to keep it from getting worse. Lolita wants to avoid a blood bath so that's why she doesn't want someone who is trained in Dublin to handle it."

“Because they would make it into a blood bath,” Oura replied.

"Exactly, I hope Shasta can end the troubles there, but if he fails, it won't be pretty.”

“The compound and the city will fall.” Oura said.

“Yes, so that is why I am putting my trust in placing Shasta as the Mark for DuCaine Metro.” Dive stated.

“And I am putting mine in both you and Shasta, son.” Cleo said, looking at Oura.

“So you adopted a son, Cleo?” asked Dive.

“Yes, I did. He has the brains and the skills that would make my parents proud to have him in our line. We just got it official about thirty five minutes before we came in here.” Cleo replied.

"So you were in the pro ranks before, kiddo?"

Oura shook his head. "Was born trade rank."

Dive smiled. "No wonder Lolita seems to like you, you are a lot like her, I mean when we were kids, Lolita was always a merchant to the core."

Oura smiled. “I never felt at ease being in the trade ranks, I was acing every test they gave me on the trade ranks and I wanted more in my life then being a trade ranked Dove. I challenged the teachers at every step till Shasta asked me to become an assistant to him,”

Dive made a nod of apprecation. "In recent years there has been a grey area between trade ranks and pro ranks, though never such thing when it comes to council rank. Blood, DNA might seems trivial thing to the other two but its part of the bargain made so long ago. Though the ultimate sacrifice is made by the Black Dove, the initial range is protection was limited, so the Dove nobles at the time created a blood pact with the three who made the bargain of immunity to guardian powers. Blood magic was used, and the pact remains written in the DNA from generation to generation. The pact made the range of protection limitless in range, and even for Dove born outside the Dove. The protection lasts up to three nonDove generations."

Oura looked at Dive in surprise, he knew council ranks had almost absolute authority over the other two ranks, and were expected to shoulder political responsibilities, but he had never thought that they were also part of made all Doves safe. Oura smiled. "I have no regrets of binding myself to that sort of responsibility."

“That is good, Oura. Because it is now part of your life, you are bound to the same responsibility as I but different since you will never be a Shadow or the Black Dove,” Dive replied.

Oura nodded, he had no regrets, his parents were gone and his relatives hadn't liked him, his freedom had been a lonely prison, at least chained he had company.

“So what did your relatives say about you being adopted by Cleo?” asked Dive.

“They probably wouldn’t care at all as they told me that I was worthless and would toss me scraps of food, till I was thrown to Raven’s Court to live and there I stayed.” Oura said.

"Then the next time your path crosses with them, pay them no mind, afterall you owe them nothing."

“And I am no longer family to them as I am a Paloma now.” Oura said.

Dive gave him a goofy grin. "And any all the tyrany that goes with it." he said in a teasing tone. "Cleo is an absolute tyrant when things aren’t done."

“I know she told me ways of waking Shasta up from dumping him out of his bed to dumping snow onto him. I must say the snow on his body woke him up fast.” Oura said.

“Oh, that is something that I do not like to get when I am down there and want to sleep in, I get a bucket full of snow dumped on me by Cleo.” Dive replied.

“Don’t you have an assistant to awaken you?” asked Oura.

"Not really, between me and Charlotte the work gets done. For a long time there has only been one Shadow, so with two even if one of us sleeps in on occasion, the work load is not as bad as with a Mark, though the works is far more messy."

Oura nodded as the teacher for the council rank had touched on the fact that the Mark’s life is messy as well as filled with paperwork, the Shadows was the same too. “So do you have family beyond your wife and children?”

“Yes, an older brother. He has a wife and two children, Dawn and Jonas. Dawn happens to be a Guardian. The Guardian of Peace and Harmony.” Dive replied. “But cause there is not many Flashblades in the Doves, we’re under a white band rule so I can have several mistresses to produce more Flashblades. Charlotte is my main mistress but I do have couple others that I have taken. They have yet to bear me children but I’m hopeful to hit them on their Lust and have them with duckling.”

"I'm guessing the same thing will be with Shasta?"

Nosedive nodded. "I hate to say it, but because of his Negaverse quirks, he'll be more likely to gain more children then me."

“Probably because of the fact that he has the Lust, instead of the females in the Negaverse.” Oura said.

"How do you know that?" asked Cleo.

"He told me about it and he told me that it is very possible that his Lust will be starting shortly. He said it could be a day away or two." Oura said.

"So when did he tell you this?" Cleo asked.

"Last night before I left the office for my own room." Oura stated.

"Did Charlotte get there anytime around then?"

"Yes, she arrived just before we left."

Dive sighed with relief. "Good, as much as I don't like sharing her, in this case it's going to be Shasta’s greatest protection."

“Because the girls who smell his scent will be smashing down his door to . . . <i>fuck</i> him silly. But with Charlotte’s scent on him, they’ll leave him alone knowing that he’s Charlotte’s plaything.” Oura whispered quietly.

“Also that Shasta will be driven to screw any female he sees roughly, too.” Dive said. “From what Darren told me about his Lust, women will be drawn to him like butter to hot corn on the cob and they will not stop till they are filled with his seeds and more.”

"But he's only fertile during those times."

Dive nodded. "It means his matches, will have to have a Lust happens during his."

“So they would be able to concieve, if they’re lucky that is.” Oura said.

“Yeah,” Dive nodded, as the waitress brought over the bowl of egg drop soup and moved his stuff from his table to theirs.

"You know, until I had met Shasta, I had been scared of the top council ranks."

Oura immediately started to blush big time. Dive took notice of Oura’s reddening cheeks. “So what happened did you walk in on your room mate screwing a female?”

“No, I just saw my mom butt naked with Shasta the other morning.” Oura said, cheeks red as they could go.

Cleo looked at him not at all shocked. “You were there?”

“Yes, to awaken him. I went to Rowain’s quarters first in case Shasta was there first and awakened Rowain and he told me that I would find Shasta in his room, so I went there and found you . . . um . . . bare feathered with Shasta’s arm wrapped around your waist and you sleeping soundly.” Oura replied, as he looked down at his bowl of soup.

Cleo just snickered. "Embrassing as it is, you still had to wake Shasta up."

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect to see you butt naked in bed with him showing off your . . . .” Oura blushed even harder then before.

Dive chuckled. “You never saw a female naked before?”

“No, she was my first one I laid eyes on,” Oura said.

“Then, Shasta should have taken you off to a brothel and allowed you to really enjoy a woman,” Dive replied.

“Uh, Dive, sir, I’m only 14 years old. I’m not even old enough to mate yet.” Oura stated.

Dive sighed. "You need to experience it or you will be overwhelmed at DuCaine Metro."

“And you will be if you go in with a virgin eyes and body.” Cleo stated. “You need to tell Shasta you need to go to the brothel or Dive could take you to the one here and let you sow your oats here as he would say.”

“I don’t even know how to sheath my member in that . . . that condom thing he spoke about,” Oura said.

Dive chuckled softly. “He showed you a condom?”

“Yes, but I’m too young,” Oura replied.

“Good thing I have a supply of it in my room in McDove Castle, come with me, I’m going to teach you how to sheath it and then take you to the brothel in Keltor.”

Cleo nodded. “I recommend going with Dive, Oura. He won’t lead you wrong. Shasta would be wrong for this for the time being.”

Oura nodded, "Ok, if you think it's best."

“I do.” Cleo replied.

“I guess, I better spoil my eyes on some females then,” Oura said.

Cleo looked to Dive. "I'll leave Oura in your hands for now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Shasta laid on the bed with Charlotte snuggled up to him, he had never encountered a female with enough stamina to actually tucker him out. He was amazed by her and in a way he knew why Dive liked her so much too. She was everything that he would want in a female and more. “You spoil me, Charlotte.”

"Not really, just keeping you safe."

“From the girls who wanted to come into my room?” Shasta asked. “I heard them trying to pick my lock.”

“Yes, with you in your Lust. They probably would bare your offsprings if they had gotten in here and allowed you to take them,” Charlotte replied. “My scent on you will prevent them from coming onto you.”

“They fear you then?” Shasta asked. Charlotte nodded. “So the Raptrin females are fertile all the time or just once a month like the ducks?”

"We are fertile for twenty days out of thirty, our day of blood happens, and then we are not fertile for nine days afterwards.”

“Okay, since you are barren or don’t have a genetic match, you are safe for me to mate with,”

“Yes, even though I didn’t want to take any chances that you might be . . . I spelled my womb closed to your seeds.”

"But wouldn't it be good for you to end up with child, even by accident?"

“Oh that would be a blessing, but in my case, the male who got me with child would soon become my mate for life. We Doves don’t have one night stands that ends in pregnancy, as soon as I become with child, that drake is my mate,”

“Then, you are stuck with someone you might not have wanted as a mate,”

"Exactly, or vice versa."

"But would you really mind me as a mate if you did get knocked up?"

“I probably would but you never know. I like Dive more.”

“Why is that?”

“He treats me as an equal and someone special when we are together even if it isn’t for a coupling session.”

“So you would want him as your mate if it was possible for him to get you with child?” Shasta asked, looking at her as he laid on his belly.

"I would." Charlotte said with a smile.

“I wish you luck on that, Charlotte, I think you may need it.” Shasta replied. “With the spell on your womb, his seeds won’t be able to connect with your eggs. If you really want to see if it works, drop the spell and bed him down.”

"I already do, it's with others I use the spell."

"Then what would the harm be in dropping it with me? Even if I was the one, a Flashblade is a Flashblade, and I'm sure Dive would claim as his own, if he really loves you that much."

Charlotte laid there thinking about it. It was a good idea. It would prove if Shasta is viable to their females if she took a child from him, but then it would mean Sassy would have to know about her being Dive’s mistress and she wasn’t ready to let Sassy know about their relationship as of yet. "I don't think Sassy would take it all that well?"

"Who's Sassy?"

“Sassy is Dive’s first mate and mother to his children Selena and Kester.” Charlotte replied.

"So you don't want to seem like you are taking Dive away from her?"

Charlotte shook her head. “She’s a nice girl, she loves him a lot but she can be a little jealous of other women looking at him.”

"But Dive is expected to have a lot of children to make sure his line doesn't die out."

“True, but I need to let you know something about me. My DNA is for the time being stable, but as I grow older, it will start to weaken and get really bad, I don’t want him to bear witness to my pain and suffering,” Charlotte said.

“I think he already is aware of that, and I don't think he cares."

“You think so?”

“Yes, we Flashblades are more aware then others. He probably knows as soon as he was around you.”

"I still have to think about it."

“When you see him again, ask him if he knows about your problem,” Shasta replied, as he nuzzled her neck with his bill, the same move that Dive did with her after their first session, years ago.

She closed her eyes and sighed as she felt his bill on her neck. “Shasta, I don’t want to pass down my weak DNA to a child even if it is Dive’s baby. I couldn’t do that do his line, as much as I care for him. I will not put my weakness in his line.”

“I understand, Charlotte.” Shasta said, as he pulled her close to him and held her. “Cry if you need to, let your emotions go around me, I will never tell anyone that the big bad McDove Shadow cried.”

Charlotte chuckled as she leaned against him and after a minute of her laughing she started to softly cry as she did so, she felt his arms tighten around her as the covers were pulled up around her.

Shasta held her close to him as she let go of her emotions as much as Charlotte wanted to give Dive a baby, it was her own weak DNA that held her back as Dive needed strength in his line not the weak DNA of a McDove.

"Rowain mentioned a doctor named Simon, maybe he could help."

“I have seen him and asked about helping strengthen my DNA but as he said my DNA would collapse if he did anything to try to strengthen it.” Charlotte replied.

"Bummer, was he really that good?"

"He's one of the best, unstable DNA is one of his specialties."

“So even if he did work on yours, it would fall onto itself?”

“Yes and I would suffer a painful end till I end my own suffering myself,” Charlotte replied.

“So he is unable to help you or your sister then?”

"He makes sister’s medication to try and keep her's stable, but the best medicine for her is, to be off world for a bit, her health declines because her Suscan DNA is so strong."

“And the longer she’s off world the better.” Shasta said.

“Yes, hopefully, you will be able to keep her off world for a month to help her.” Charlotte replied, looking up at him. “I am counting on you to help her get back to her old fighting self again. I hate seeing her walk with so much pain.”

"How much will it help?"

"Well, it'll take about ten years off the degeneration if she's out for a month, the longer she's out there, the healthier she will get."

"Couldn't Dive take over the political bits or you while she's off world recovering?"

“We both can handle it while she’s gone, it would give Dive some on the job training in case he does get the nod for being the Black Dove if something happens to me that is,” Charlotte replied. "If we can make it longer, then she will be able to recover more."

“I never had been in space before, maybe I can con her into a sightseeing tour of the galaxies?” Shasta said.

“I think she will believe your con as deep inside of her heart, she longs to be free in space. I remember her telling me that she felt at peace being so close to her former lover Canard on Earth and how good it was to destroy Darren’s teleporter so he couldn’t take her right back to the Doves.” Charlotte stated.

"She probably came back in good health?"

"Yes she did, it's not good for her to be planet bound. She not even allowed to travel around Puckworld which would still help a little."

Shasta shook his head, “Such a shame. But why isn’t she allowed to travel? Because the council wants her in McDove castle all the time or is it the doctors there that is prohibiting her to travel?”

"A bit of both, I don't think anyone wants to admit the the Black Dove is Suscan by nature."

“Because then they have to admit that they are basically killing her prohibiting her from traveling off planet or at least to other parts of the planet.”

"Yeah, it's a bummer."

“Maybe when you return to Dublin City, you could talk to her about my desire to visit other planets while we’re in space after the treaty is dealt with?” Shasta asked. “It would give her a reason to stay away from this planet for a while longer and if the captain of the ship we’re on is agreeable with our needs of taking a tour of space, we can be out there for a good three to five months. Plenty of time to get her health to the point she can walk without pain for a while.”

"Yeah, she always uses Kelsa's ship for going out.”

“Well, then, we can use her ship to journey around the galaxies,”

Charlotte couldn’t help but to smile at him. His joyful exturbances made her hopeful that something could help her sister before it’s too late and her end up being the new Black Dove. "I want sis to live longer then me or Dive."

“I’m sure this trip will extend her life, Charlotte. Don’t you worry.”

“I hope so, Shasta,” Charlotte said, as she looked at him.

"I don't think anyone ever wants to be Black Dove."

“No, not when they learn what the Black Dove gives up to protect everyone in the ranks of the Doves, Shasta. But most everyone learns that when they are very young in school as they teach the kids what their leader the Black Dove gives up to keep us all protected.” Charlotte stated, as she ran her fingers over his chest and then to his belly, where his member started to make his presence known to them both. “Oh, looks like he’s awake and hungry for some attention,”

Shasta chuckled and then moaned as Charlotte started to work on his erection.

~~~~~~~

Cleo watched as Oura and Nosedive walked out of the restaurant together and headed towards the brothal for Oura’s first time with some women of the night. “It will help him more then he knows.”

Oura followed Nosedive to what looked like a club for men and women as they walked in, he realized that this was a brothel. He immediately hid his eyes from the bare boobed women behind the bar and on the pole as he followed Dive.

“Well, Dive, we didn’t expect to see you back here so soon. So who’s the boy, your son?” asked the bare boobed Raptrin standing before them.

“No, this is Oura Paloma, Cleo Paloma’s son.” Nosedive stated. “And this is his first time being near a nude woman.”

“Oh, having him come here to sow his wild oats?” she asked.

“Yes, before he is tempted by his new location DuCaine Metro’s sex trade.” Dive replied. “And yes, Oura, you will be tempted there by the ladies of the night there, from what Angel told me by radio the last time I spoke with him that the first time he arrived there, he had to kill five ladies of the night for trying to gang up on him.”

“Sounds like they are horny women up there,” Oura said, he didn’t want to be raped by ladies of the night and yet he didn’t want to have sex yet but he knew he needed this to happen. Oura sighed. "Ok, but I don't know how far I could go, it's all new to me."

“The girls will help you with that. They can teach anyone how to screw very well.” The woman said, as she whistled over her shoulder. Couple partially naked Raptrin girls about nineteen years old came to her side. “Now, girls take Oura to one of the back rooms and show him how to make love to a woman. This is his first time, so teach him good.”

“Yes, ma’am.” They both said, as they took Oura’s hands and started to lead him off to one of the back rooms to teach him a few things about girls and how to get off with them with his member.

Dive looked to the lady, “I'll be back in a few hours to pick Oura up."

The lady noddded as she headed to the back rooms to see one of the doors closed, she opened it a crack and saw Oura on his back as the two girls were tagteaming his now growing erection. She closed the door and smiled knowing that he will get a good lesson from them both, before she strode back to the bar and ordered herself a glass of fruit juice.

About three hours later, Oura emerged with both girls, a bit dazed but with a satisfied smile.

"Enjoyed yourself?" The lady asked.

“Uh, oh yes, very. I didn’t know that is how you had sex,” Oura stated, as the girls dipped their hands into his pants. “Uh ladies, that’s enough. He’s worn out still.”

The two girls giggled more and he felt their hands start to stroke him erect again.

“Ladies, your time with him is done. Off to the showers and get clean for your next male, inside and out ladies.” She said, looking at them both. They nodded and kissed Oura before heading off to the showers. “I always have my girls clean when they encounter another male. They don’t like smelly ladies. Now what can I get you to drink, Oura, fruit juice or water?”

“Fruit juice please,” Oura stated. “When will Dive return?”

"Shortly, we weren't sure how long you'd be."

“Well, after they taught me how to satisfy a woman, I didn’t want to spend anymore time here. I know what I know now and that the whores in DuCaine Metro will have no hold over me.” Oura replied, as she handed him a glass of fruit juice to drink.

"True, but even then you should explore it a little."

“Meaning see what DuCaine Metro has to offer or the ladies of the night?” asked Oura.

"What DuCaine Metro has to offer, but also to explore your own sexuality.”

“Do you think I should go there? Or should I wait till Shasta is a Mark,” Oura said.

"Wait till Shasta is Mark of course, you don't want to go into that without backup, and some good allies."

Oura nodded, as he sipped his juice. “I’ll wait,”

The lady nodded. "But don't wait on finding allies, you will need many if you want a hope of cleaning that city up."

“But where will we find them?” asked Oura.

“There are some in the police force that are not corrupted and there are students in DuCaine Metro who are still good and honorable. There are plenty around you there, you just have to look for them,” She stated.

"I guess, it's just I'm not quite sure how well I'm going to do. For Shasta."

"Don't worry about that, and just concentrate on the task before you."

Oura nodded. “So we should seek those in the compound to see who is honorable and not corrupted yet and in the police force?”

“Yes,” the lady replied. "And anyone else you think may be of help."

“Maybe some of the citizens if they are able to help. But from there, I am at a loss.” Oura said.

“You will find enough support there to start a small war to cleanse the corrupted ones out of the city.”

“A small war?”

“Yes, a small one that will be needed to return the city to what it once was a good city, instead of a corrupted one. There are gangs there that may be able to help you,”

“Like who?”

“The Brotherhood of the Blade, they have hide outs there that they still use on occasions. Go to it and seek out their leader if he is still there, if not go to Keltor and find the base there, usually they remain in the same base in each city and sometimes not. The Black Dove has the locations of the Blade’s bases. Ask her for them.” The lady smiled, as she patted his hand. “Dive, he’s all yours again.”

Oura turned to see Dive walking towards him. “Hi Dive,”

“Well, you look better.” Dive smiled as he walked up to him.

“Dive, before you bring me back to mom, could you take me to Lolita? I need to ask her something,” Oura asked.

"If she's feeling a bit better, otherwise it may have to wait."

“Of course,” Oura replied.

Dive smiled. “So what do you want to ask her about?"

"The Brotherhood of the Blade, and their leader."

"The Blade's ok, and Duke's a good guy, I'm sure she'll pass you the info, if not I'm sure Rowain knows."

"So is the leader in Keltor or DuCaine Metro?"

"Actually he's on Earth. there a temp right now."

“But would the temp leader help the Dove?”

"I'm not sure, never dealt with them."

“But what about mentioning the previous leader Duke L’Orange to them? Will they help us after hearing his name?”

“That is unknown. They might and they might not but they may help clean up the streets for a small price though,” Dive informed him.

"But . . . "

"It's not unfair, the Blade is not at the Dove’s disposal, but it's an organization we can barter with to get things done."

“They can help us clean the city up from the bottom up, then?” asked Oura.

"They most likely can, after all they managed the underworld.”

Oura nodded in agreement. “That is what I understand from my history lessons of the Blade. Never thought about bartering with them to get help from them to clean up a city before.”

“Believe it or not they are very good for a city, even the underworld has to have order."

“They have order . . . laws?” asked Oura.

“Yes, Duke, the leader of the Blade spoke at length about them to me when we spoke last,” said Dive.

"I guess there is a lot I'm going to have to learn as I go."

“The council rank history teacher at Raven’s Court will give you plenty of history about the Blade and our involvement with them. All of the time we have dealt with them has been for the good of both parties,” Dive said.

"So we don't go out of our way to hinder them in other words?"

"Exactly, the only time we stop them is if they steal from us."

“Ah,” Oura nodded as he walked with Dive. He took note of Dive’s examination of him. He wondered if Dive was one of those strange ducks who liked their own gender.

Dive took notice of how he was looking at him. “Cleo told me to get you attired properly as a Paloma and a Mark’s assistant to be. I’m taking you to a tailor shop.”

“Oh, but couldn’t mom do it with me?” asked Oura.

“She’s currently busy radioing Rowain to check on Raven’s Court.” Dive replied. “And I volunteered for it.”

"You just don't want mom to be strict with you next time you are at Raven’s Court." Oura half teased.

Dive grinned and nodded. "No one likes getting a bucket of snow on them as a wake up call."

“Has she done that to you?” asked Oura.

“Yes, and I did not like that one bit. Whenever I am there, I get up about ten minutes before she comes in there with a bucket of snow to dump on me.” Dive replied.

“Do you think she will do it to me?” asked Oura.

“No, I don’t think so because you will have to get up on your own because you have your own Mark to awaken.” Dive said, as he looked up at the sign and then opened the door and entered the tailor shop.

“Greetings, Lord Flashblade, it is an honor to attend to your clothing needs this fine day. What are you looking for today?” asked the tailor as he bowed to him.

"Not for me, we have a young Paloma from Raven’s Court, and in dire need of some new threads."

The tailor walked over to Oura and with a quick movement, pulled out his measure tape and started to measure Oura up. “So when did you get in town, young Paloma?”

“Uh, just recently, I’ve been in Keltor for most of my life.” Oura replied.

“Okay, you will need the proper clothes for a Mark’s assistant since you are in the rank to become a Mark’s assistant. So who are you going to be the assistant to or have they not assigned you him or her yet?” asked the tailor, as he went to the bolts of fabric and pulled out the bolts that he needed.

“I have been assigned already to Lord Shasta Flashblade,” Oura asked.

"I see, very prestigious, I've never had a Flashblade’s assistant before."

“Well, there is good reason for it, his assigned locale is not very friendly and he will need all the help he can get,” Oura replied.

“Ah DuCaine Metro, that place will need all the help he can get. That place, my own people will not venture into, too dangerous even for us Doves.” The tailor stated.

Oura glanced over at Dive and saw him nod to what the tailor stated. Dive spoke, “It is true, kid. DuCaine Metro is dangerous.”

Oura nodded, even a Shadow found it dangerous, he'd have to be extra careful.

“But the city has gone downhill since the death of the Mark there, from what I hear Angel Ringdove is residing at and his assistant is tending to his compound while he is trying to tend to DuCaine Metro,” the tailor stated.

"Yeah, and Angel hasn't been getting much sleep there, it's bad when a Mark fears for his own life."

“I guess Shasta and I have our work cut out for us both,” Oura said, as the tailor went to the back with the measurements and the bolts of fabric.

“But if you get your allies as I told you about, they will help you and Shasta to retake the city from the corrupted members of the police force and the city council,” Dive said.

“Will Shasta be able to get the city under his control before he leaves for space or not at all, which means I’ll have to do the hunting for those people who will help us retake the city,” asked Oura.

"While Shasta is out in space, getting allies planet side is good, and Shasta will have a good deal of work getting off world allies."

“Like the Suscans and the Saurians?” asked Oura.

“Yes, the Saurians will come to help Shasta as they will see him as a fresh face and one who might understand them then the citizens of DuCaine Metro or maybe they will be more understanding of what the Saurians went though considering what Drake did to their ancestors here on Puckworld,” Dive replied.

Oura nodded. "Makes sense,"

“And do not forget the Ebon Dragons of the Ti-Markay empire, they will help us as well,” said Dive.

“They will?” asked Oura.

“Yes, for they know it will mean another place to go to visit other then Keltor and Dublin City,” Dive replied.

"I guess so, and Shasta as a Mark is in a better position to get those allies then me."

“Yes, you would be best for those that are in the city itself.” Dive said.

"Man, I know higher powers aren't at work, but it like some big plan is falling into place."

Dive smirked. "Guardians can't mess with us, nor can patrons, or outside magic users. This is Darren's doing, he has no magic, and serves the Guardian of Fate under his own terms. He can be a great ally or your worst enemy, since what makes him dangerous is he can access a situation and make sure the right people are there at the right time without the use of magic." Dive sighed. "Lets’ hope Shasta doesn't get that knack, on the other hand it would be helpful in nasty situations."

“Like what?”

“Most Flashblades males, not sure about the girls in the Flashblade line might have the sixth sense or what I call the inner weapon. I can tell what someone is about to do by using it. Very useful when you are going to pay a visit with a Dove who had broke a law and has to either return to the fold or be killed and most are killed as they don’t want to return to the fold or sometimes they see me with my weapon out and that scares them into returning to the fold,” Dive said.

"So this Darren is also a Flashblade but sided with the Guardians?"

"It's not that he really sided, Fate raised him, he serves Fate because as a mortal he wouldn't survive otherwise. Push comes to shove, family looks out for family; and no matter where we stand in the scheme of things, and it’s an absolute."

“So if you are in trouble, not that it would happen would he come to help or not?” asked Oura.

Dive shook his head. “No, he won’t come. But he will watch and report anything to Fate who would jot what mess I’m into this time around.”

"Why won't he help?” Oura asked in confusion.

“Because he doesn’t have to, both Shasta and Wing will sense the trouble if I'm in too deep,"

“And come running to your aid wherever they may be at?”

“Yup,” Dive said. He turned to see the tailor standing there with clothing draped over his arm. “All done,”

“Yes, with the first set of clothes, I have three more in the middle of being finished. Just want to see if the young man would like a final fitting on these to make sure that they are suitable to him.” The tailor said.

Oura nodded as he walked with the tailor to the dressing room where he pulled on the new clothes and stepped out in them. Both Dive and the tailor smiled as the tailor proceeded to make sure that everything fit him properly. “I look like I am from a rich family, Nosedive.”

Dive smiled. “Well, you are. The Paloma’s are a fairly rich family as their line is long, you will get used to the feel of the clothes you now will be wearing.”

"I know, but it's still odd, I mean even Cleo doesn’t get this fancy."

"Cleo also has to chase Rowain to make sure a job is done, but you'll need to look your best when it comes to public relations."

“And part of my job is public relations, right?” Oura asked. Dive nodded. “Okay.” Oura replied, as he looked himself in the mirror. He looked well; he wasn’t sure maybe handsome or cute. He just hoped that he didn’t attract the females’ attentions as he wasn’t ready to get a mate not yet that is. There was so much for him to do that would be hindered by the courtship of a female. He looked up and out the shop window and nearly bolted when he saw another member of the Quill clan.

Dive took note of his actions and looked out of the store to see a Dove walk down the street. He turned back to Oura and walked back to him. “Explain?”

“That was my uncle from the Quill clan. He never did like me and would abuse me when I was younger till I was tossed to the Raven’ Court embassy . . . well I wasn’t tossed there, I was abandoned there at age three. Rowain . . . he sort of raised me till I was able to go to class about two years later at age five.” Oura replied.

“So that’s why you are a smarty pants,” Dive asked.

Oura nodded. “I learned a lot from him,”

"And what else happened with the Quill clan? Your reaction says there is more."

"Well, uncle has always just been mean to me, if he could have his way I have no doubt his punishments would have gone as far as killing me."

“Does he have offspring?” asked Dive, fingering one of his daggers that he kept on his person at all times.

"He has a daughter, though she's apparently as frail as mom was."

“So what did Lolita say about your DNA?”

“As in if my firstborn is allowed to become either a Paloma or a Quill?” Dive nodded. Oura replied. “Nothing, I think she is letting me decide on it,”

"Quill is a merchant family; control over the family goes to the eldest. Do you recall if your mother was older or younger then your uncle?"

“My mom was the elder sibling when she died, my uncle from what he told me and if I recall it correctly, he poisoned my father to keep him from taking control of their fleet for me when I got older. We have several land transports and make a pretty good amount of money but I was a threat to his greedy nature and I want nothing to do with him so that is why I got adopted by Cleo even though she doesn’t know the backside of why I did.” Oura stated.

"Then do as you wish with him, you are a Paloma, you out rank him, if he raises a hand against you, deal out punishment as you see fit."

“You mean even though he is my uncle . . . wait former uncle, I can kill him if I want to?” asked Oura.

“Yes, only if he tries to assault you, Oura.” Dive replied.

“Dive, may I borrow one of your daggers? I want to pay him a visit and yes, these new threads I wear may end up bloodied.” Oura said, looking at him and then to the tailor.

“Very well,” Dive flipped out one of his daggers and handed it to him. “So what are you going to do?”

“Yell at him to get his attention. He’ll find me here wearing this, that will piss him off to no degree, as he liked to see me with worthless looking rags as he calls them,” Oura said, as he walked out of the shop hiding the dagger behind his back. He strode down the street till he saw where his uncle was at and yelled. “Uncle!”

The Quill head turned to look in Oura's direction, and then started to look to see if any other high rank Doves were in the area, at first he could have sworn it was that brat Oura's voice, but the boy was obviously from one of the noble houses.

“For shame, Uncle, not to even recognize me in these clothes,” Oura spoke, as he walked towards him.

"What are you doing dressed as a noble? And why aren't you at Raven’s Court? Or is it you are trying to impress me or something?"

“Impress you! That is Saurian poodoo, uncle. You are not even that important to me to impress anymore. Besides my eldest will inherit the Quill fleet like it or not, my eldest will become the head of the Quill house, not any of your offsprings.” Oura stated. He had told Cleo that he would make sure that his uncle if he ever saw him again would know that his time as head of the Quill house will end when his eldest comes of age.

"And what makes you think you can force that? And why is it you don't try to stake your claim?"

"Because I have more important duties to tend to, but for my birth mother’s sake I can't let your line take over the Quill fleet, so my eldest will take it over,"

"And so you will leave your second child to rot, in the eldest’s shadow."

"No, my second will succeed my adopted mother at Raven's Court and my third will be my successor."

"You make it sound like your adopted parent is someone important," his uncle mocked.

"My adopted mother is Cleo Paloma, uncle.”

“You lie!” His uncle raised his hand up and his face went from angry to shock all within a matter of seconds as he found himself face to face with a dagger in his nephew’s hand.

"I'm not lying, but if you raise your hand against me ever again I will kill you."

“As if that threat will stop me from punishing you for lying about being a Paloma,” He quickly slapped Oura’s face, only to feel a sharp pain across his face.

“Consider that a warning, the next one may not be so nice, uncle.” Oura replied, as he sliced him across the face leaving him with a nice scar to remind him each day of what Oura had said to him.

His uncle stood there glaring at him before turning and running away from him with the occasional look back to see if he was being followed by him and slammed into a baker with a tray of hot pastries right from the oven.

Oura smiled as he heard his uncle’s pain filled scream as he walked back to the tailor shop and handed the still bloody dagger to Dive. “Thank you for the loan of the dagger, Dive, my uncle will now worry for the rest of his life till I come back to claim the Quill house for my youngest.”

Dive raised a brow. "You've got a good deal of responsibility then."

"Yeah, but I feel I can handle it, facing uncle has shown me I've got what it takes to keep moving forward."

"So he was your greatest obstacle Oura?"

"Yes, it's not that I feared or had valued my own life, but I had promised myself that one day I'd stand up to uncle."

“And you did.” Dive said. As he looked at the bloody tip of the dagger before he cleaned it. “So what did you do to him?”

“I gave him a somewhat of a deep scratch across his face to remind him that he is not the real head of the Quill house but I am,” Oura stated.

Dive nodded. "Though since your adoption, you can not stand head of two households, but one of your children will head Quill."

“That is my intentions, Dive. My youngest child will head Quill when he or she comes of age,” Oura said.

"You know the older two will look down on it, an eldest is a better idea, for they will have the understanding that they have to protect the younger two."

“Well, my eldest will be a Paloma to take over for Cleo, my second will be my successor and my third will be the head of the Quill house. I’ve already got it dealt with, Dive.” Oura said.

"Very well, as long as you know what you are doing."

“I do, Dive, my three children will have their place picked out before they are even born.” Oura replied.

Dive nodded. “My children’s places have been picked the moment I joined the ranks of the Doves. My eldest son Kester will become my heir a Shadow for the next Black Dove or the Black Dove himself, if she or Charlotte passes on before dropping an offspring.”

"Let's hope they do."

“Yeah, till the day a McDove slays Death, the Black Doves in the future will die by her hands and by no other,” Dive said.

"Well we can always hope Death can be defeated in the generations to come."

Dive nodded as he turned to the tailor who had returned from the back room carrying a big clothing bag. “That is all his new clothes?”

“Yes, it is, Lord Flashblade. Shall I put it on the Paloma tab or the Flashblade’s?” The tailor asked.

“The Paloma’s, after all, he is a Paloma.” Dive said.

"Very well, is that everything?"

Dive turned to look at Oura. “Any proper winter jackets back in Keltor?”

“No sir, the jacket I have is not that warm for the bitter cold.” Oura replied.

“Please don’t call me sir, Dive will be fine,” Dive said.

“Sorry, Dive.” Oura stated.

Dive looked at the tailor. “Winter jackets for life in Keltor.”

The tailor took them both to the jackets that he had already premade weeks in advance. “These are the warmest fabrics in all of Dublin. They will handle the freezing temps in Keltor just fine.”

"Thank you, I'll take two just in case one gets wrecked."

“Very well, just pick out the proper size and color you want and I’ll add it to your tab, Lord Paloma.” The tailor stated.

Oura turned to the line of jackets looking at each color but then he looked over at Dive. “Dive, what is the house color of my family?”

“I’m not even really sure of their color.” Dive honestly stated.

Oura picked a couple he liked, "These two look kind of cool."

Dive looked at them. “They’re good but they are Ringdove colors. You are not a Ringdove but a Paloma. Look for your tattoo for your colors.”

“Uh, should have noticed the tattoo on the shoulder.” Oura said, as he started to look at the tattoos on the sleeves to find his family’s tattoo on the jacket. He picked up two of them and handed one to Dive and tried one on to his delight it fit him perfectly and it felt very warm to him. “I’ll take both of these.” As he took it off and placed it back on the hanger as he looked at the tailor.

“I’ll place them both on the tab, my lord,” The tailor said, as he jotted down on the paper the two jackets.

Dive looked at Oura. “So what do you want to do next?”

“I probably will need my family’s weapons of choice,” Oura stated.

“Very well, this way to the weapons master,” Dive said, leading him towards the smith shop where the weapons master did his work.

Oura looked in awe at all the weapons in the shop. He had to think hard on the types of weapons Cleo used. He spotted a set of curved hand blades and smiled, they were very similar to Cleo’s but slightly different.

“Those would be perfect for you, young Lord Paloma. Those are the weapons of the Paloma clan. They rarely if ever use anything else. Very handy in a fight, especially hand to hand combat.” The weapon master spoke, as he approached him.

Oura nodded. "They will be perfect."

“Have they trained you to weild them yet, young Lord?” the weapon master asked.

“No, not yet, I have been training with other weapons,” Oura said.

“Well, then, you best ask your dam to teach you how to weild that.” He stated.

“Why my mother and not my father?” Oura asked.

“Because the one who is an expert at using it is most often is the dam of the family, she can be vicious with that and she knows how to use it,” The weapon master replied.

Oura nodded. "I'll remember that."

The weapons master picked up the pair and carried them to the counter where he boxed them in their protective carrying case. “Now, young Lord, will that be all or shall you take up another weapon?”

"Yes, some throwing knives, Lord Shasta Flashblade uses those as his weapons of choice."

“Ah, I was informed of his need for throwing knives, I created a dozen for the Lord just recently. Let me go gather them right up and present them to you. You are his assistant, are ye not?” asked the weapons master.

“Yes, I am.” Oura replied.

“Ah, good.” He darted into the back and came out carrying a little bit bigger box then his own which held his two blades. “Here they are, with his Dove brand on each handle,” He opened the box up and brought out one of the knives to show the tell tale brand of the Negaverse Flashblade line.

“He’ll love them.” Oura said, after he looked at them. “Thank you,”

The weapons master placed them back into the case and closed it. “Is there anything else?”

“No, this will do.” Oura replied.

"Very well, place it on the Paloma account?"

"Yes please."

"Very well, it has been a pleasure doing business with you."

Oura smiled as he picked up the boxes which held both his weapons and that of Shasta’s and headed for the door with Dive following him.

“Is that all you need, Oura?” asked Dive.

“I believe so, I got what I need and stuff for Shasta, Dive.” Oura replied, as he walked towards McDove Castle.

"Now all you need is for Cleo to train you how to use them, other wise they won't be much use, and it'll help in DuCaine Metro. It's a good combination since Shasta's fighting style is distance based, but yours is close combat."

Oura nodded as they walked into the castle and headed for the great hall to see Cleo and Lolita standing there talking. Oura smiled big when he saw Lolita, he bowed his head to her and spoke. “I hope you are well from this morn, Lolita.”

"I am feeling a bit better, your mother tells me you were originally born into the Quill family. Lady Kelsa has not been too impressed with the dealings of late."

Oura looked up at Lolita in shock, he hadn't expected her to look into the Quill family.

"I'm not sure of my uncle’s dealings, though this would not bode well for our small trade fleet."

"Your mother has filled me in on your blood uncle’s actions, if his fleet were Suscan it would have been understandable, but not in a Dove fleet." Lolita smiled. "I spent my younger days as a Suscan trader, and part of me is pissed off at that man’s actions. But if he wants to play it that way, then I have a match for you, and she's about your age." Lola said, as she handed Oura a file folder. "Her name is Kai Windsail, eldest daughter of the head of the Windsail fleet. You two are genetically compatable, and it would take the fleet away from your blood uncle. Though since she's Suscan the Quill fleet would be under Windsail control, namely hers, and your eldest daughter would be heir."

“I have already planned that my youngest would take my ties to the Quill house as my eldest was to be Cleo’s heir and my second born would be my heir to be assistant to Shasta’s line,” Oura said.

Cleo sighed. "I don't mind, as long as one of them is my heir, but with the match, your eldest daughter would have to be the Windsail heir, it's how Suscans work."

“Alright,” Oura replied. “Hopefully, my firstborn will be a girl.”

Dive grinned. "Your blood uncle is gonna be pissed, the Quill fleet gets taken from him after you two are married. Good thing Windsail is under Seabird, if your uncle retaliates he'll have Lolita's older sister to deal with."

“And he’ll have me to deal with as I warned him his time as the head of Quill House will be short, and I gave him a scar across his face with Dive’s dagger. I warned him to behave till I come to claim the House from him. He will try to stay in my good graces as long as possible, but if he even tries anything, I’ll kill him for all past hurts he did to me and trying to ruin my former House.” Oura growled off.

Dive didn’t know much about Oura’s past hurts by his blood uncle. “So what happened?”

Cleo looked at him. “Oura’s parents died soon after he was born, his dad lasted for three years before he ended it. His uncle took him in as ordered by his elder brother’s will. Needless to say, Oura was abused mentally and then thrown to Raven’s Court with little more then a sheet covering him. I was lucky to have opened the door when I did as the little fella was close to death. Rowain and I both stayed up the night to fight for his life, staying by his side warming him up with our body heat.”

"Ouch, why didn't anyone do anything about it back then?"

"We don't normally go hard on the trade ranks, and there wasn't much proof,"

“Except for Oura and the sheet he had on him,” Dive said. He flipped two of his daggers out and held them. “That’s proof enough for me to go stab him right in the heart right now.”

Oura smiled knowing that Dive was dead serious about slaying his uncle right now. “But he will get his justice when and if he tries to deny my mate’s right to claim the fleet from him. I remember that night, he took me from my bed, I was barely awake when he stripped me of my clothing and gave me a summer’s blanket to cover up with. He said we were going for a ride. All though the trip to Raven’s Court, I shivered with cold. The blanket wasn’t even thick enough to keep me warm, let alone block the wind from reaching me.”

“How cruel!” Cleo cried out, she had never asked him about that night, she figured he didn’t recall it.

Lolita remained quiet, such things were not uncommon amoung Suscans. "Cruel as it may be, I can understand his logic, too much time with Suscans can make a trader think like them. His logic was sound under Suscan law, it has happened to many Suscan little boys to be killed or abandoned."

“But not under Dove law!” Cleo snapped. “He is not Suscan, he’s Dove! He nearly killed Oura!, if it wasn’t for me opening the door that night, Oura would have been dead!”

Oura went to his mom’s side and wrapped his arm around her. “But I didn’t die, I lived by pure luck and look at me now, I’m now your son.”

"I didn't say it was alright, I simply said I know the logic, and merchants are influenced by Suscan merchants, there are Suscan fleets that won’t deal with another fleet because the head is male instead of female. Regardless of the outcome, your mate with the Windsail girl is purely political. Kelsa has caught your blood uncle in bad trade circles. She wants him eliminated, Paloma or not, this was arranged a couple months ago. And I have no intentions of changing your match, Oura."

“I am not wanting it changed. I have encountered Kai Windsail once before and I like her,” Oura stated.

“When?” asked Cleo.

“When she came to Raven’s Court one day, I was closest to the main doors and heard the chime ring off, I opened the door and greeted her and led her up to Rowain’s office. I thought she was a beauty back then.” Oura said.

Lolita smiled. "Good, now  I must excuse myself, I'm feeling tired."

“Would you like me to escort you to your chambers, Lolita?” asked Oura.

"I'll be fine on my own."

“As you wish,” Oura replied, bowing to her as she walked out of the Great Hall. Oura turned to Cleo and pulled out the box that held his new weapons. “Mom, could you teach me how to weild these more properly?”

"Sure, when we get back to Raven’s Court."

Oura nodded. “We best be returning to them as Rowain is probably slacking off on his paper work now,”

“Oh he better not or I’ll tell Charlotte to reinstall the gremlin again,” Cleo stated.

“You were the one who asked her to do that didn’t you?” Oura asked.

Cleo smiled and said, “Why would I ask her to do such a thing . . . but yes, I did ask her to do something to his paper work if he didn’t get to it within an hour of being on his desk.”

Oura simply shook his head and sighed.

~~~~~~~~~

Rowain knocked softly on Shasta's door, it had been a couple days since he had locked himself and Charlotte in the room. He put his head against the door and listened for any sound, he heard the sounds of two bodies slapping together very hard and the cries of passion before silence came to the room. He knocked again giving them about five minutes to catch their breaths. This time he heard padded feet coming to the door and opening it to reveal Shasta standing there in his robe. “Had fun?”

Shasta smiled, as he leaned against the door frame. “She is one very hot chick and she kept up with me too,”

"That . . . doesn't surprise me, though I'm sure Oura is going to have his hands full with you."

Shasta smiled. "Oura has already been warned, though if you have some spare time this evening, Charlotte may want a small break."

“You sure?” asked Rowain. He had wondered how he would be like in his Lust.

“Yeah, you have wondered how I am in my Lust, why not have a go at me tonight?” asked Shasta.

"Alright, it's not like I have gremlins to worry about . . . or Cleo."

“True, but she may return tonight or tomorrow morning,” Shasta stated.

"My bet is in the morning."

“She probably will be sending Oura right for my chambers to awaken me, while she heads for yours to awaken you when they return,” Shasta replied.

“You know her already. That is probably exactly what she will do,” Rowain said, he bent close to him and sniffed the air around Shasta. “The females won’t be bothering you at all now.”

“Why?”

“You reek of Charlotte McDove,” Rowain smiled.

“And that is a good thing . . . right?” asked Shasta.

"Right now, it's very good."

Shasta laughed. “They were hanging about my room till Charlotte came into my room and got me off within a matter of seconds. I think they heard my cry of release and left,”

“And if it was as loud as what I heard through your door, they probably knew immediately and left knowing that Charlotte had you within her and that you were now officially off limits to all lower ranked females. Not even that one girl who you necked and had subsequently sucked you dry that one day can’t touch you now.” Rowain said.

"Yeah, that is a good thing, she had me worried."

“Worried that she would get you at the wrong moment and you would give her the seed that would give her a child and trap you in a marriage that you might not want?”

“Yes,” Shasta replied.

“You have nothing to worry about, Shasta. I’m sure Lolita is looking for a mate for you. Someone worthy to have your children,” Rowain smiled at him.

"Mates, don't think one could keep up."

“Ah, so you want a little harem of wives?” Rowain asked with a smirk on his beak.

“Yeah, about five mates would do, now hopefully I hit them in their Lust at the same time as mine hits, I will have five offsprings by the end of the year I mate them.” Shasta said.

"You sure you can handle that many children at once?"

“I can handle that many kids,” Shasta replied.

“If they are anything like you, Shasta, that will be good,” Rowain said. "So tell me how is your singing lessons going?"

"They are going good but I am stopping them for the moment because of my Lust. Can't have the instructor be ravaging my body while I'm trying to sing, ye know." Shasta said.

"True, though it might be interesting to see how high of notes you can go while being ravaged."

Shasta laughed out loud. “Now that would be interesting to find out,”

Rowain grinned. "We can see tonight," he said with a grin before he left. Stars forbid if Cleo caught him slacking on the paperwork.

Shasta smiled as he entered his room once again and looked at Charlotte who was lying in bed with a satisfied smirk on her beak. “Did you enjoy yourself, Charlotte?”

"I did, how about you?"

“Very satisfied but I am still horny,” Shasta stated, as he pointed down to his crotch where his erection was still evident. He was not yet over his Lust. “It will be another five days before I am done with my Lust,”

Charlotte smiled, "I'll take Rowain’s visit as a chance to get some sleep."

“Yes, tonight you will be able to get some serious sleep, even though you did sleep while I was pounding your sex,” Shasta replied, as he climbed into bed with her. Her hand stroked his penis before covering him with her legs and guiding his erection to her entrance and slid down onto it as he thrust it up greeting her as she slid down onto it, encasing his thickness within her tight entrance.

Shasta moaned as he felt her tight entrance encase his thick erection, he grabbed her hips and met her as she came down onto him, he started to thrust up against her as hard as he could. It didn’t take him long before he expelled his seeds within her again. Soon, she collapsed onto him, filled with his seeds. He rolled her over onto her back and ravaged her again, to the point his seeds just oozed out of her entrance with each thrust of his penis.

Seven hours later, Shasta dressed himself leaving Charlotte under the covers of his bed drifting between sleep and awake. With a kiss, he headed off up to the top floor to Rowain’s personal chambers and knocked on his door. Rowain’s voice was heard within the room granting entrance to his room. Shasta entered the room and closed the door at the same time locking it tight before going towards Rowain, even hidden within his clothes, Shasta’s erection was noticeable.

Rowain grinned devilishly and pulled Shasta to him.

A lone foxlike shadow stood outside the door, it was going to knock and thought better of it. From the sounds coming from within, it may be a better idea to wait a few days for his brother to arrive as well. The foxlike shadow headed back down to the ground level after whistling at some Raptrin females and tried to see if they would like to go back to their chambers for a fling but all he got was a slap to the face and a knee to the nether regions. He headed for a local hotel to wait for his brother. A visit with Rowain Ringdove can wait till his brother showed up.

~~~~~~~~~~

Oura looked at his calender, it had been ten days since his adoption into the family of the Paloma, and Cleo, his adopted mother had started to train him as soon as they had returned to Raven’s Court. The family weapon wasn't bad but he'd needed a lot more practice till he was good with it. Shasta had gotten off his Lust, though he'd have to account for that when in DuCaine Metro. But now there was two rim foxes and an ebon dragon standing before him wondering if Rowain was in. “I will see if he is in, please wait.”

Both of the rim foxes nodded as did the ebon dragon. Oura went to Rowain’s office and knocked before entering the room. The room only had Cleo in it, which meant that Rowain was either in his chambers with Shasta or in one of the workout rooms with him. He came out of the office and told them to please wait as he will go find him.

He found them in the choir room with Rowain making Shasta practice his scales with an old children’s song. “Rowain, sorry to interupt but you have guests,”

“Who are they? I don’t have anyone on the schedule for today,” Rowain said, a bit irritated from the interuption, Shasta was getting the scales down and now this.

“A couple of rim foxes and an ebon dragon, sir.” Oura replied.

“Ah, Carter, Siris and Natasha! Great! Okay, Shasta, we’ll take a break as we have some politics to deal with now,” Rowain smiled at Oura and then to Shasta.

Oura blinked the mood change was off setting, he had never seen Rowain go from grumpy to cheery with such speed, whom ever their guests was must be something else. He watched as they headed towards Rowain’s office and stood there as Rowain greeted them very warmly. The Saurian ebon dragon greeted him with a kiss and a squeeze of his butt cheek.

"So who are they, Rowain?"

"Old friends, your mother isn't so fond of."

“Why is she not fond of them, beyond one doesn’t know how to keep her hands off your tail section?” asked Oura.

“Oh Natasha has always greeted me with a squeeze of my ass, she’s just flirting with me,” Rowain said.

Cleo sighed. "It's because Carter and Siris are always flirting. I wish they wouldn't."

“Well, with all the sexy females around here, how can we not, when they are flirting so much around us,” Sirius said, as his tail swished side to side as he eyed her.

“You are not on the rim no more, Sirius! We are not flirting with you!” Cleo snapped.

Oura took notice of her hand going behind her back where her weapon was at. He went to his mom’s side and grabbed her hand. “Mom, don’t.”

Cleo grumbled. “I would love to teach both of them a good lesson."

Rowain sighed. "We may as well get business settle, and please Carter, Siris, make an effort not flirt Cleo can be very sensitive about that."

“Well, we can’t help it when there are so many sexy ladies around here flirting,” Siris said.

Cleo growled angrilly. “Clothed females are not flirting here, you two bit fox!” Cleo snapped.

"Ever think we might enjoy getting slapped across the face? Cleo, we know yet we do. It's a hobby. And your reactions only make you look adorable." Siris said with a dark grin.

“I will wipe that grin right off your damn face, Siris!” Cleo snarled, as she pulled out her hand weapon and held it up.

"Try me, you’re not the first Dove I've ever dealt with."

“I bet they have given you a few slaps to the face with their hands,” Cleo snapped.

Siris smiled. “Yes, and I loved it,”

Cleo growled before she placed her weapon back up and walked away from them, letting Oura handle them, while she tended to something else.

Shasta just gave Siris an odd look. "Why do you entice her like that? She hates that, as you probably notice, Siris."

"Because I have no fear of her. Don't get me wrong, she's a very respectable female, dressed or not what ultimately makes a female attractive is their strength and resolve, and how well they get things done. Dove girls have all of that, and since Cleo doesn't really respond to flirting with her, I've been trying the other methods of flirting which is challenging her authority until she snaps to the point of a duel. Winner can court the loser if they so choose, and barren or not I'd like her as one of my mates or consort." Siris said with a half smile.

Shasta chuckled. “I will tell you she is hard to piss off but you are getting close to getting that blade in your face or at least in your throat.”

“Oh, I like that very much,” Siris smiled, as they walked into the office and took their seats.

Rowain looked at them. “I heard from Kelsa that there is a problem with the trade negotations with the Ti-Markay, Rim and the Suscans.”

“That is true, they won’t give much of their profits,” Carter said, shoving a thumb to Natasha.

"A large empire must be maintained." Natasha shot back.

"How about have the Black Dove sit in on it as a neutral party, she knows a good bit about trade agreements. Mind you please prolong the process as much as possible."

Carter raised an eye brow. "Little Lola acting as neutral party, well I can't see the Suscans minding, and since as Lolita she has to remain neutral . . . ."

“Of course, she will remain neutral. But please drag it out for months,” Rowain said.

“And why should we do it for months?” asked Carter. He was curious about why he was asking them to prolong it.

“This is to remain between us, Carter. This is not information to give to anyone else.” Rowain said.

“Alright,”

“Lolita is in failing health, she is couped up in the lands of the Dove far too long and it is starting to effect her health. She needs to be gone from this planet for more then a month, five months would be best as that will bring her back to full health and give us more time with her,” Rowain stated.

"In other words, her Suscan blood is making her sick." Rowain nodded. “Very well, we from the rim will try to drag this negotations out for a good five months. What about the Ti-Markay?”

“They agree to this as well,” Natasha stated.

"It's better for all involved if little Lola remains head of the Dove."

“Or it will be Charlotte who will be the next head Dove,” Shasta stated.

"No offence to Lady Charlotte, but we feel safer with Lolita, she's a trained merchant, and will not disrupt commerce unless necessary."

“And this plan is known to Lolita,” Rowain said.

“And she approves?” asked Carter.

“Yes, it is her way of getting away from the Doves and become the Suscan she is,” Rowain replied.

"Very well, it's a scheme with mutual benefits." Natasha said with a playful smile.

 

Chapter three is coming.