WARNING: This story contains sexually explicit material involving adolescent children and incest. This story also contains mild violence and profanity. If such content is illegal to view in your area or you are not of legal age to view such content, close your RTF reader now.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Masala Chai
by IndigoNeko and TaintedThylacine

Chapter 14

Saturday, April 23rd, 2016

“No,” David said, looking at Ravi.

The young tiger lowered his paws, looking very confused.

“But Dad-” Alex started to say.

“Hush,” David interrupted, turning to his daughter. “Was this your idea?”

“Well, kinda...”

“I thought so,” David said with a sigh. “First, you know they’re siblings. If they have sex together, that’s incest, which is illegal in the state of Colorado. They could be sentenced to up to eight years in prison! And you could get charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, or worse, for encouraging it! Never, ever encourage people to do something that’s illegal, unless there’s a damn good reason!” The white tiger took a quick breath, then moderated his tone a bit as the gray-furred kitten in his arms began to cry, rocking the infant gently. “You can do stuff with them, but they can’t do anything with each other. Got it?”

Alex frowned as hir mouth went dry and hir heart started pounding, practically shaking as shi realized just how illegal incest was. This was not how shi had imagined this conversation going. After a few moments, shi nodded, but didn’t say anything; shi was trying not to puke.

Seeing his daughter actually thinking about what he’d said was encouraging. After a few moments, David continued the diatribe, careful not to raise his voice so baby Katherine didn’t get upset again. “Second, you all have been friends for all of, what, three weeks now? You, of all people, should know that sex isn’t something you do with people you’ve just met,” the white tiger chastised his daughter. “You were the one who said it’s a way to express your love for someone, and I seriously doubt you’ve grown to love Ravi and Aruna in just three weeks. Like them, sure. But love? Love at first sight doesn’t exist except in fairy tales. Lust at first sight, sure. But having a crush on someone isn’t the same thing as love,” he admonished.

Alex nodded again, sniffling as shi started to lose the battle against hir emotions. Dad did have a point, but having hir own words thrown back in hir teeth was frustrating. Shi was starting to feel decidedly miserable for having brought this up.

“Third, while I’m very glad that you all had the good sense to come ask first,” the older white tiger continued, looking back at Ravi, “I’m a bit disappointed in you, young man. I’d have expected you to be the voice of reason with a pair of younger kids,” the white tiger asked, staring at him with a frown. After a few seconds, he looked down at the coffee table, shaking his head. “Alex, you should have known better than to suggest such a thing. I’m tempted to call this sleepover off and take Ravi and Aruna home.”

Aruna looked back and forth from Alex and her brother to Alex’s parents on the couch, feeling her lower lip quiver. The youngest tigress held her tail up to her chest, suddenly very worried that they might get sent home for the night.

“But Daaad-” Alex whined, almost near tears.

“Alex,” Ravi interrupted, “he’s right.” The tiger boy took a deep breath. It might not have been clear on the outside, with his calm demeanor, but on the inside his mind and heart were awash with emotions. “Sir, I’m sorry, deeply so, that-”

“Hush,” David said, glaring at the older boy. “You can consider yourself, and dating my daughter, on probation. No funny business between any of you, understand? Especially you and your sister. I moved once to keep Alex safe and I’ll do it again in a heartbeat.

“We can discuss you two dating again with your parents when summer vacation starts, next month,” David continued. “I don’t know if they’ll be okay with Aruna dating at all, much less dating Alex at the same time you are.” The older white tiger took a deep breath, looking from Ravi to Aruna. “You all probably feel pretty miserable after this, I’m sure, Alex especially. Alex, if you want to call this sleepover off for now, say so. Ravi, Aruna... If I’ve upset you, and you two want to go home, I can drive you home, or have your parents come pick you up.”

Alex did feel utterly miserable at how this whole thing had turned out. It was all hir fault, too, but shi didn’t want to call off the sleepover. The tigress shook hir head, then wiped away a tear that was running down hir muzzle and anxiously watched the two other cubs, nibbling hir lower lip. 

“I would prefer for us to stay, but...” Ravi said, glancing at Alex before turning to his sister. “Aruna? Do you feel like staying? Or do you want to go home?”

“Brother,” Aruna whimpered, looking up at her brother. “Can we talk in private?”

“Sure, sweetie,” Ravi said, reaching out and ruffling her hair a little.

Alex didn’t say anything, looking down at the floor with a heartbroken expression. As the two other cubs walked upstairs, a second tear fell down hir muzzle, dripping off hir nose. Shi sniffled, and rubbed hir eyes with the back of hir paw.

__________________________________________________

The two siblings walked upstairs from the great room and slipped into Alex’s bedroom. The color-shifting Christmas lights around the ceiling bathed the room in rainbow hues. The door clicking was like a switch for the younger tigress. The moment that she was sure it was closed, she turned and latched onto her brother, hiding her face in his chest. Her body shook as she started crying.

“Bru- Brother,” Aruna managed to say, pulling her face back to look up at him. “I don’t want anything to happen! I don’t want her to move.” The little white tigress sniffled. “I like her a lot, and you, and- and-” 

“It’s okay,” Ravi said as he brought a paw up to stroke his sister’s ear. “I like her a lot too, and you know that I love you to death.” The white tiger boy paused, trying to find the words for what he felt. After a moment he took a deep breath. “But David is right. We shouldn’t do anything with each other, and this is moving a little fast.”

“But, if you really like Alex... and I do too... and we like one another a lot... Then why can’t we?” Aruna asked, her lower lip quivering. 

“You only do, ahhh, sexy things with people that you know, trust, and you really like. What would happen if me and you and Alex did something like that, and then we all ended up finding out that we didn’t like one another?” Ravi said, reaching up to wipe a tear from her cheek. “And we can’t do anything ‘cause we’re brother and sister.”

“It’s not fair,” she said in a little huff. 

“I know. But you have to look at it from her parents’ point of view; this is a lot to spring on them. And even if they were okay with it, what would our Mom and Dad say?” Ravi asked, gently smiling.

“Ummm,” Aruna paused for a moment, sniffling and wiping her eyes. “Th- They would say the same thing,” she said, folding her ears down. “But you love me and I love you. Why can’t we be together, and then when it’s okay and we know Alex, she can join too?”

“Sweetie, it’s illegal,” Ravi said, smiling again. “That’s something for us to talk about later. Now, do you want to go home? Or stay here?”

“I don’t want to go home,” Aruna said, looking up at her brother before latching onto him again. “I just want to stay, and play games, and- and-” 

Ravi cut his sister off with a shushing noise. “Okay then,” he said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Let’s go tell them we want to stay.” He stood and held out his paw.

“Okay,” Aruna said, taking her brother’s paw and following him as he pushed the bedroom door open and headed back downstairs.

“Mr. David,” Ravi announced as they reached the bottom of the stairs, his voice still a little shaky, “we talked about it and decided that we want to stay.”

“Okay,” David replied with a nod, trying not to show his satisfaction.

Alex looked up from where shi was sitting on the edge of the sectional, opposite hir parents. Upon hearing that Ravi and Aruna wanted to stay, hir heart felt like it moved back into hir chest, rather than being somewhere in the vicinity of hir tummy. Shi sniffled one more time, and gave a small smile at Ravi and Aruna. 

David glanced over at Alex, then back at the two Bassi children. “You all can go back to playing; I’ll trust that you won’t do anything you shouldn’t. If you need either of us, we’ll be down here.”

“No sir,” Ravi confirmed with a nod. “We won’t break any rules. And... I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Aruna said, sniffling. “We’ll behave.”

Alex stood up, still silent, and walked past Ravi and Aruna, heading back upstairs to hir room. The two white tiger siblings turned to follow, glancing back at Alex’s parents, then joined the orange tigress on hir way upstairs.

Raenne waited until the children were out of earshot. “Don’t you think that was a bit harsh?” she quietly asked.

David nodded slightly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to come off quite so hard-assed… I guess I got carried away with the whole ‘disapproving father’ thing.”

Raenne sighed, leaning up against her husband’s shoulder. “Well, if Alex doesn’t do anything else stupid, maybe you could play the ‘approving father’ next time.”

“Whatever you wish, love,” he said, giving her a kiss. “It was your idea. How the hell did you know Alex would ask if they could have sex tonight anyway?”

Raenne turned to her husband with a smirk. “Call it a woman’s intuition.” The tigress laughed lightly as David glared at her. “Seriously, though? Shi hasn’t had sex since Ravi asked hir out at the Dojo. Shi’s got to be pent up. Poor kid. And those testosterone blockers are supposed to help control the libido; can you imagine what shi’d be like without them?”

“I’m sorry,” David said, thoroughly embarrassed. “I warned you two years ago that it might be a problem; I had the same issue as a kid and the only outlet I had was masturbating to porn.”

“Yeah, well... I’m pretty sure if we hadn’t allowed hir to have sex with us, shi would be masturbating too,” Raenne replied. Then she laughed. “Can you imagine that if shi wasn’t on meds? The walls of hir bedroom would look like a Jackson Pollock painting.”

David blushed crimson under his fur; he still remembered what the underside of his childhood computer desk looked like under a black light.

__________________________________________________

Ravi was the first to speak when they got back to Alex’s room. “I didn’t know that your father could be that, ahhh, stern. But I can see where he’s coming from,” the white tiger boy said, taking a seat on the lounge chair.

“He’s a little scary,” Aruna said, taking a seat on the floor by her brother’s legs and looking up at Alex. “I mean... I don’t want you to move. I’m sorry.”

“No. I’m the one that’s sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you all to come downstairs with me,” Alex replied, looking rather dejected. “I didn’t think Dad would get upset like that... He’s never yelled at me like that before.” After a second, shi walked over and sat on the edge of hir bed with a sigh. “Dad’s right though. You two definitely shouldn’t do sexy stuff together, since it’s illegal. And sex is something you should only do with people who you truly love, and we’ve only just met.”

“I... can see where he’s coming from. I guess it’s ‘cause of that little talk that he and I had before,” Ravi said, leaning forward a little. “He said something about you getting hurt in the past. He doesn’t want that to happen anymore. And if we got in big trouble, or if we didn’t get along...”

Alex nodded, looking somewhat sad. “Yeah. I got hurt pretty badly last year. Then this thing with my grandparents... and then with Azalea...”

“What happened?” Aruna asked, curious.

“Aruna, shi might not want to talk about it...” Ravi warned.

“No, it’s... okay,” Alex said. “It’s a long story. Maybe one day I’ll tell you the whole thing, but the short version is that, uh, I used to pretend I was a girl in school. Then I got a stiffy and some of the other kids saw it. I got beaten up twice and I nearly died the second time. That’s why we moved out here.” The tigress wiped a tear from hir muzzle, remembering how badly it hurt, having to move away from everything shi had known.

Aruna raised her paw slightly, obviously having questions, but Ravi leaned forward and whispered in her ear, and she lowered her paw again.

Alex waited for a moment, then continued. “I was dating Lizzy at the time, and... I was hoping that we could stay together; that we could keep seeing each other during school breaks and vacations. Only, a few weeks later...” The tigress made a quiet noise that was something between a hiccup and a sob, then took a deep, shaky breath, managing to get hir emotions back under control. “It wasn’t Lizzy’s fault, really, but... it still hurt, finding out that she was dating someone else while I was hoping we could still be together.” The orange-furred tigress looked over at Ravi and Aruna, wiping hir eyes with the back of hir paws. “A broken heart hurts worse than anything.”

“That sucks,” Aruna said, looking up at Alex. “We wouldn’t do anything like that.” 

“Yeah,” Ravi agreed. “Are you two, ahh, still friends at least?” He was unsure of the best way to console the tigress.

“Yeah,” Alex replied, nodding. “I still talk with her and we play Minecraft sometimes.”

“Alex?” Aruna spoke up. “What, uhh, what do you like to do to feel better? Maybe we could all talk about ourselves or something. Ooooh, or eat ice cream.”

“Well, ice cream is good. Maybe... after that could we snuggle?” Alex asked, looking a bit less dejected.

“I would like that a lot,” Aruna said, smiling and nodding happily.

“Just remember, eat it slow,” Ravi reminded his little sister, ruffling her hair. “So... shall we get that ice cream and then snuggle?” the white tiger boy asked, blushing just a little.

Alex nodded, standing up from hir bed. “And maybe watch a movie, too? You two can pick,” shi said, gesturing towards the guest bedroom.

“I’ll help you get the ice cream, if you want,” Aruna said, getting up.

“Okay,” Alex said, finally smiling again. “Pick something Aruna would like too, Ravi,” shi said, walking over to the doorway. “And don’t trip,” shi said, pointing at the tiny bump at the entrance to hir room.

“I’m not that klutzy,” Aruna protested.

“Yes you are,” Ravi said with a smirk. “Don’t worry I will find us a good movie.”

Twenty minutes later, the three tiger cubs were sitting on the sofa in the guest bedroom with the lights off, curled up under a blanket and watching Harry Potter. Sitting between Ravi and Aruna with a small smile on hir muzzle, Alex quietly purred in contentment.

__________________________________________________

Sunday, April 24th, 2016

“So, just what is it that you two need to talk about that’s so important?” Atman asked, sipping from a mug of coffee and sitting down at the dining table with his children.

“Well, it’s kind of... weird. I don’t know the best wording to use,” Ravi said, looking over at his mother as she joined them at the table, holding a cup of tea.

“Sweetie, you know that you can tell us anything. Did something happen at the sleepover?” Sevita asked, tilting her head a little.

“No, Momma. We behaved and everything like you told us to. It’s just that... something got brought up,” Aruna said, with a little blush on her cheeks, barely visible under her fur.

“Well, Aruna and Alex and I got to talking about stuff...” Ravi said, “and, well, it came out that Aruna has a crush on Alex-”

“That’s pretty common,” Atman interrupted with a laugh. “Is that what you two want to talk about? I’m sure your mother can help with that.”

“She has a crush on me, too,” Aruna piped up.

“Wait,” Sevita said, glancing between her two children. “I thought that shi was planning on going out with Ravi eventually... or did something happen between you two?”

“No, Mom,” Ravi said, shaking his head a little. “Shi still wants to go out with me too.”

Atman’s gaze met Sevita’s for a split second before he turned back to his children. “And you two need help deciding the best way to go about finding out who shi likes more? Or which one of you likes hir more?” the portly tiger asked, tilting his head a little.

“Well, no...” Ravi said, looking down at the cup in his paw. “I, ahhh, I brought up the idea that we could both date hir. It’s called polyamory. Only...” the tiger boy said, his ears folding down and his voice dropping to a near whisper. “That brought up the subject of, ahh, incest.” 

“Oooh,” Atman said, glancing across the table at his wife for a second. Their children didn’t see the triumphant smirk on Sevita’s face, but he certainly did. “I take it that you asked Alex how shi felt about the three of you as a, ahhh, a trio,” the father said, shifting in his chair. “I mean... if it’s okay with Alex and hir parents... I don’t really see anything wrong with it...”

“D-Dad!” Ravi said, his voice cracking a little. “If both of us started dating hir, at the same time... isn’t that illegal?” he asked, shocked at his father’s blasé reaction to all of this.

“What? No,” Atman asked, tilting his head a little. “Well, it is if you two touch each other inappropriately, but not for you to both be in a relationship with hir,” he said, looking over to his wife for confirmation.

“That’s correct,” Sevita confirmed. “Incest and polygamy are both illegal, so you can’t have sexual contact with your sister and you can’t be in a marriage with more than one person. But you can both be in a relationship with Alex at the same time.”

There was a moment or two of silence as their children took that in before Sevita began talking again. “If you two eventually fall in love with hir, sharing a bed might be a bit awkward, if you’re trying to follow the law,” the mother said, taking a breath. “The way that I see it, as long as you’re not hurting each other and are taking precautions to avoid having cubs with each other, especially you two, then what you three do behind closed doors is nobody else’s business,” she said, blushing a little as she took a sip from her tea.

“Are you two actually considering dating Alex? Together?” Atman asked, leaning his elbows on the table and staring at his children.

“Well, ahhh, Mr. Andreyev got upset when we asked and said we’d have to wait until summer vacation starts until we can talk about it again,” Ravi said, bashfully, “but yes.”

“You already asked them?!” Atman asked, incredulously. He took a deep breath, looking up at his wife. “I... uh... thought Aruna probably wouldn’t start dating for at least a few more years.”

“Alex started dating Lizzy when she was nine,” Aruna pointed out. “Why can’t I?”

“We didn’t say you couldn’t,” Sevita said, gently. “But there’s a few things we need to tell you about before you start dating, sweetie.”

“You mean like saving my vir-gin-i-ty for someone special and using condoms and stuff so I don’t have babies?” Aruna asked.

“Yes, sweetie,” Sevita said with a sigh as Atman choked, spraying drops of coffee. The slender white tigress reached across the table for a napkin. “Exactly that.” 

__________________________________________________

Monday, April 25th, 2016

Alex frowned as shi looked down at the golf-ball sized sphere of polished quartz in hir paw. Shi’d thought it was pure quartz, with a few inclusions, but in bright light it actually seemed more like smoky quartz. Tiny fragments of red or orange in the center seemed to glow, even in dim light. Holding it seemed to calm hir down. The tigress relaxed, leaning against the bus seat, then quickly stuck the rock back in hir backpack, taking out hir Nintendo DS.

The bus was surprisingly quiet that morning; most of the cubs seemed to still be half asleep, as you’d expect at quarter-past seven in the morning. Ever since Azalea had moved, Alex had nothing better to do than play video games. Hir ear swivelled towards the seats directly in front of hir as Jerome broke the silence, asking who was going to be attending the Beltane festival.

The tigress leaned to the side, peering around the bus seats. “I will,” shi said, adding hir own confirmation to the rest of the bus-stop gangs’. As they quietted back down, Alex remembered reading about the Beltane festival customs. “Do you guys know if there’s going to be a Wickerman burning or ritual to appease the faeries?” shi asked.

Jerome looked back down the center aisle at the young tigress. “I don’t know about those, but I do know we’re going to be having great big bonfires, and there’s a ritual re-enacting the union of the May Lord and Lady. Why?”

“Just curious. I read about it back before my initiation ceremony, cause Priestess Sharleen said she’d quiz me about it before she approved it. I thought she’d ask way more stuff than she did, like about Gerald Gardner and stuff,” Alex replied. “But no; she just wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into and that I agreed with the stuff outlined in the pamphlet.”

“Ahh,” Jerome said, nodding.

Steve piped up, joining the conversation. “Hey, Jerome. You know all that stuff about decorating trees and making wreaths and stuff? That’s all to appease the faeries. It goes back hundreds, maybe even thousands of years.” The polar bear boy turned back to look at the tigress behind him. “Might be a good idea for you, Alex, if that Cat Sí is still bothering you,” he added with a smirk.

Alex flushed with embarrassment. Shi had hoped they’d forgotten what had happened last Halloween. At this point shi wasn’t sure if it had been real or just a dream. Shi remembered thinking that it had felt real, but it was months and months ago now and shi wasn’t sure anymore. Maybe it would be a good idea to leave an offering at the old cabin, just in case.

__________________________________________________

Friday, April 29th, 2016

“You’re really good, Owen-san,” Alex said as shi picked up hir gear duffel and followed the rest of the karate students, walking along next to Ravi. They headed toward the stairs that led down to the lounge and locker rooms.

“He’s got a black-belt in… What was it? Wado-Ryu Karate?” David asked, following along behind them.

“Yes,” Dafydd confirmed as they made their way downstairs to the brightly lit lounge. “It’s another of the original four karate styles and was founded by Hironori Otsuka in the 1930s. It emphasizes joint locks and throws more than the Shotokan style.”

Ravi listened with one ear as he followed the other students into the locker room. It was surprisingly spacious, with easily a hundred lockers and probably room for half that many people to comfortably fit in it at any given time. Raenne had clearly planned the Dojo with the expectation that it would be popular, despite being in the middle of nowhere.

“Neat!” Alex said, following the other six white-belt students into the large locker room and heading to the locker nearest the door. “Does Wado-Ryu teach weapons too?”

“A few,” the black panther said, heading over to his locker on the far side of the room. “Like those you and David-senpai have been sparring with; Staff, tonfa, sai, kama, and yari.”

“Did you learn how to use them?” Alex asked, dropping hir gear bag with a clatter of wood as the various lengths of staves knocked against each other, before pulling open hir locker. A few of the other white-belts headed to the bathrooms to change in private. Alex wasn’t that self-conscious anymore; shi was wearing hir black lycra shorts and sports bra under hir karate gi, and quickly stripped the gi off to change into hir usual t-shirt and capri shorts.

Ravi quickly changed into his own clothes as well, trying not to peek at the younger tigress near him; the last thing he wanted was to get an erection while in a locker room with Alex’s Dad present.

“Hmm... A few,” the black panther replied, taking his usual brown slacks and white dress shirt out of his locker, setting them on the bench. “But not in karate. I studied Kenjutsu and Historical European Martial Arts.”

“Ken-jutsu...” Alex asked, taking a second to mentally translate the Japanese. “Sword technique? You know how to use swords?!” shi asked excitedly as hir mom stepped into the locker room.

Dafydd chuckled at how excited the cub sounded. “Katanas, yes, and a few others,” he said with a smile. “I’m even a certified Kenjutsu instructor.”

“Could you teach me?” Alex asked, pulling hir t-shirt on.

“Alex, he might not have time for that,” Raenne warned, walking across the locker room to her own locker. “Sorry, Owen-san.”

“Reanne-sensei, it would be more your call if Alex can spare the time from your training,” the black panther said, pulling loose the knot on his white belt. “Isn't it a matter of honour for a student to have their sensei's permission to train under another at the same time?” he pointed out while carefully folding his white belt and placing it on the bench before undoing the knot on his gi. “For my part, I am retired. My inescapable duties are as husband and Dad, unless some ghost from my past crawls out to irritate me. Other than that, my time is my own and I have it to spare.” 

Dafydd pulled off the top half of his karate gi, folding it as well and setting it next to the white belt. “It would be a pleasure and an honour - so long as both of you...” He looked pointedly at David and Reanne. “...are okay with your child wielding live steel at her age. Much of the way I teach involves that. I can only teach it the way I learned it and it is not an easy school.”

The two older tigers looked at each other for a moment, and David gave a slight nod. Raenne turned to the black panther, who was busy buttoning up the white dress shirt he’d pulled on. “Hir age isn’t a factor anymore. We can’t wait any longer; Shi must learn to defend hirself, and quickly,” the Raenne said, sighing and shaking her head. “I had planned for us to start sparring with live sai now that our armor has arrived, and then start teaching David and Alex the tanto starting in summer break... but that would take time away from both myself and my husband, and we are already strapped for time, between teaching karate and caring for a pair of infants,” the tigress explained. “Owen-san, if you would be willing to give Alex instruction in Kenjutsu, you would be doing me a great favor. Additionally, I believe shi would benefit from having an instructor who is not hir parent.” Raenne bowed to the black panther. 

Dafydd squinted at the tigress after she made the cryptic comment about age not being a factor and that they couldn’t wait. After she bowed, he gave her one in return. “Very well. Starting in a month or so would give me time to prepare. However, I have a very different teaching style than you do, Raenne-sensei, and when teaching with live steel, one must be careful to not strike your opponent when sparring. Armor must be the last line of defense against injury, rather than the first.”

“Agreed,” the tigress nodded, then paused to consider the logistics. “Nobody is currently enrolled during the six to seven time slot. The Dojo is all yours during that time. I can’t imagine there would be that many people interested in learning Kenjutsu in Winter Creek, but if you wanted to offer lessons to others as well...” The tigress flashed a grin.

The black panther snorted, but smiled and waved one paw. “We can discuss the details later, Raenne-sensei.”

“Very well,” Raenne said, turning to her locker to get changed.

Meanwhile Alex was practically beside hirself, tail twitching with excitement at the prospect of learning sword fighting. “Thank you, Owen-san... Or would it be Owen-sensei?”

“In your mother’s class, Owen-san. When you’re in mine, Owen-sensei,” the panther said, turning and smiling at the cub. 

Alex smiled back, then quickly finished putting hir gi back in the locker, followed by the gear duffel, then closed it with a clang.

“Alex, can you go check on the twins?” David asked as he continued to get dressed.

“Sure,” the young tigress said, darting over to the door and yanking it open. Shi paused at the last moment. “Oh, can we go to the Beltane festival this weekend?” shi asked.

“Uhh... give us a moment to talk it over. Go check on the kids,” Raenne said, shooing her daughter out the door.

“Kay,” Alex replied, vanishing out the door.

“What the heck is the Beltane festival?” Raenne asked, looking over at her husband.

“It’s a Celtic celebration of the beginning of summer,” David explained as he finished buttoning his shirt. “It’s huge in Edinburgh, where they call it the Fire Festival. The one here should be pretty impressive too, if the Ostara festival was any indication. I still can’t get over that initiation ceremony; it was like something out of the dark ages.”

Raenne shook her head. “Well, okay,” she said, quickly shucking her gi and changing into her usual flannel and khakis.

“Ravi, do you want a ride home?” David asked. “Or should I even bother asking?”

“Yes, please,” the young white tiger said, pulling on his shirt. “Thank you very much, sir,” he added, putting his hands together and giving a quick bow. He flushed as he realized just how Indian he sounded just then.

“It’s no problem at all,” David said, waving his paw at the boy before shutting his locker. “It’s on the way.”

“Oh, and... Aruna asked me to invite Alex for a sleepover tomorrow night, sir,” Ravi added, closing his own locker much more gently, then following the larger white tiger out into the lounge.

David turned to look down at the boy. “You remember what I said?”

“Yes, sir,” Ravi nodded.

“Alright then,” David said. “I’ll drop hir off tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thank you, sir.” Ravi smiled, then sat down in one of the overstuffed leather sofas that surrounded the coffee table in the middle of the lounge to wait. He watched as the other students gradually filtered out of the locker room, heading upstairs to leave for the evening. Raenne was the last to leave the locker room, having double-checked to make sure nobody had left anything behind. David and Alex stepped out of the private room marked ‘Employees Only’ with Nick and Kate in their baby carriers. 

Ravi stood up and joined the Andreyev family as they headed upstairs to the main floor, then outside to the courtyard, waiting for a moment while Raenne turned off the automatic doors and locked them. As they reached the far side of the courtyard, Ravi glanced back at the Dojo, watching the motion-activated flood lights that lit the front of the building slowly dim, leaving the courtyard as black as the night that surrounded them.

__________________________________________________

Saturday, May 1st, 2016

Raenne and David followed their daughter through the well-worn paths of the Grove, baby-carriers strapped to their chests. Festival-goers around them weaved their way between vendor stalls offering handcrafted charms, candles, and mead infused with honey and herbs. The scent of roasting foot mingled with the rich aroma of burning wood, incense, and freshly crushed flowers.

Near the smaller campfires scattered among the trees, groups of people gathered. Some stood laughing around storytellers. Others listened or sang along with musicians playing drums, flutes, and fiddles. The rhythmic beat of drums echoed through the grove, calling dancers to the fire’s edge. Dressed in flowing skirts and adorned with crowns of flowers, they danced in wild, joyous circles, weaving in and out, mirroring the eternal dance of the seasons. Behind them, a maypole stood tall, wrapped in ribbons of red, white, and gold. Pairs of dancers wound around it in intricate patterns.

Alex led the way further in, looking for Steve, Cindy, and the rest of the gang. The great oak at the heart of the Grove had been adorned with bright ribbons, wildflowers, and woven garlands that fluttered in the warm breeze. Beneath it, the central bonfire roared, flames stretching skyward in golden and crimson tongues, casting flickering light upon the encircling stones. Sparks spiral into the twilight, carrying prayers and blessings into the night.

At the foot of the great oak, a quiet ceremony was taking place; a handfasting ritual for a pair of teenagers. They stood before a coven priest, hands clasped, gazing into each other’s eyes with nervous excitement. The priest, clad in deep green robes adorned with silver embroidery, holds a braided ribbon of red and gold, symbolizing passion and the fire of Beltane. Alex held up hir paw as hir parents approached, then put a finger to hir lips for silence. 

“You stand here on this sacred night, bound not by law, but by love and trust,” the priest intoned. He gently wrapped the ribbon around their joined hands, binding them together as he spoke:

“By earth, by air, by fire, by water,
By the turning of the wheel,
May your love grow strong and bright,
Bound together, yet always free.”

The gathered friends and family murmured blessings, some tossing flower petals at the couple’s feet. With the binding complete, the young lovers shared a kiss, met with cheers and claps from the onlookers. The two teenagers then turned together and stepped forward, leaping over a small fire.

As the ceremony ended, Raenne walked forward and tapped her daughter on the shoulder. “What was that all about?”

“What, the handfasting? It’s like a wedding, but not as serious. It’s for people who may get married later,” Alex explained.

“I got that much. What about jumping over the fire?” Raenne asked.

“Oh, uh... it’s a Beltane thing. It’s supposed to be a sign of courage and also give good luck,” the young tigress said. “Or something like that. Anyway, I’m going to go find Steve and Cindy and the rest, okay?”

“Just keep your phone on so we know where you are, okay?” David said. “We’ll be checking out those vendor stalls,” the white tiger said, pointing back to where they’d come from.

“Okay,” Alex said, waving as shi turned and headed deeper into the Grove, checking some of the side areas. The make-shift amphitheater was currently emptying out; apparently shi had just missed a performance, and the musicians were putting away their instruments. A piece of paper pinned to a tree at the entrance had a schedule, and the young tigress glanced over it, making a note to come back when Star Dreamer was going to start; the polar bear was a fantastic storyteller.

Turning back around, Alex checked the other two public areas. Jason Myers was sitting on a bench near a vendor that was selling polished crystals, looking down at his phone.

“Hey Jason. Where’s everyone else?”

The beaver boy looked up, eyes going wide for a moment. “Alex! I was wondering when you’d show up. Nobody else is answering their phones right now. Steve and Cindy went back into the private areas. Mom and Dad said I’m not allowed to go there, so... I’ve just been waiting.”

Alex peered at the beaver boy. He was the youngest of the bus-stop gang other than hirself, though Cindy came in a close third. Both Jason and Cindy were also in 6th grade, though Alex didn’t share any classes with them. “Did your parents tell you why?”

“No,” the beaver shook his head, bouncing one heel nervously against the ground.

The tigress pursed hir lips. “Remember how I joked with Steve on the bus about the last few festivals being a religious orgy?” 

Jason laughed. “Yeah. Steve was so embarrassed. That was great.”

“So, the other festivals aren’t, but this one really is a religious orgy. Beltane’s a time for fertility rituals as well as a celebration of the arrival of summer,” Alex explained, smirking as the beaver boy’s eyes went wide. “The priests re-enact the union between the May Lord and Lady, and a lot of other people sneak off to go do the same with their boyfriends and girlfriends.”

Jason’s tail started slapping the ground under the bench he was sitting on. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. Your parents probably just don’t want you to watch people having sex,” Alex said with a grin. “Betcha Steve and Cindy are getting it on right now. Probably Jerome and Brandy too. C’mon,” shi said, grabbing the beaver boy’s paw and dragging him away from the bench towards trees where ropes marked the edge of the festival grounds. “One of the private areas is right over there,” shi said, leading him into the dense forest. It wasn’t more than thirty or forty feet before shi saw daylight through the trees again. The tigress released Jason’s paw as shi stepped past another rope on the ground.

A teepee stood at the far side of the glade and numerous people in various states of undress were dancing to slow rhythmic music played by a handful of musicians. Several blankets and animal furs were strewn about the edges of the clearing. As they watched, two horses in their mid-twenties grabbed a blanket and stepped just past the rope into the trees near them, dropping the blanket on the ground while they began peeling each other’s clothes off.

“Told ya,” Alex said with a grin as Jason watched with his jaw hanging half open in shock as the mare’s sizeable breasts were revealed. “You might want to keep that closed, unless you’re trying to catch flies,” shi said, pressing a finger to the underside of the boy’s chin.

A moment after the boy’s jaw clicked shut, it fell open again. “Holy shit,” the beaver whispered in awe as the stallion dropped his boxers.

“C’mon silly,” Alex said, laughing at Jason’s reaction. “We’re here to find Steve and the others, not watch people have sex.” The tigress took the beaver’s paw again and led him out into the clearing, keeping an eye out for either Steve or Brandy’s signature white fur. It didn’t take too long before shi finally spotted a patch of white fur in the trees past the edge of the glade; bouncing rhythmically. As they got closer, they both realized it was Steve’s fluffy white butt, pistoning his hips against the raccoon who was laying on the blanket underneath them.

“Hey Steve, Cindy,” Alex said, dragging Jason over to the other two kids. “Have you seen Jerome or Brandy?”

The polar bear paused and looked up at them, panting heavily. The raccoon underneath him was panting just as hard, tongue hanging out her muzzle, eyes unfocused as she massaged her small breasts. After a few seconds the girl blinked and looked up at them. “What are you two doing here?” she asked as Steve sat back on his haunches. “I thought you two were too young to get into the private areas.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Jason muttered, adjusting the crotch of his pants, which had become exceedingly tight. “You’re only a month older than I am.”

“I got permission,” Cindy said, her Bahamian accent coming to the fore. “But you didn’t. And shi is like, what, ten?” the raccoon asked, pointing up at the young tigress. “You two shouldn’t be here. Besides, we’re busy. Scram.”

As Steve finally got his breath back enough to talk, he finally answered Alex’s question. “They should be over there somewhere.” The polar bear pointed.

“Thanks. We’ll be waiting when you’re done,” Alex said, dragging Jason away as Steve began pumping his hips into his girlfriend again.

“Daaamn, did you see how big Steve’s dick is?” the beaver whispered.

“No, I wasn’t looking,” Alex replied, leading them through the trees in the direction where Jerome and Brandy were supposedly going to be.

“It’s gotta be at least six inches long!” the beaver boy said, holding his fingers about a candy bar’s length apart.

The tigress paused, looking down at his hands, then back up at his face. “What, is that big or something? Mine’s about that long.”

“What?! No way,” Jason replied. “Prove it.”

Alex sighed, and quickly lifted hir skirt and pulled the hem of hir lycra shorts down a bit. Hir penis was already half-hard from the smell of sex in the air, and as it came into view shi flexed the muscles in hir pelvis, causing it to swell even further. “There, see? Give it a moment and it’ll get even bigger.”

“What the fuck,” the beaver said with dismay. “Why do I gotta get the smallest dick? You’re not even a boy, you’re a herm!”

Alex pulled hir shorts back up and let hir skirt fall back into place. “Look, I would have the smallest ‘cause I’m a cat, except I take after my dad. Jerome’s a cat too; so he’s probably got the smallest dick. Besides... it doesn’t matter how big it is, it’s how you use it.”

“That sounds like something someone with a big dick would say,” Jason grumbled. “Is your dad like half-zebra or something? He’s got white fur,” the beaver pointed out.

The tigress rolled hir eyes. “Look, I’m certain you’re not the smallest. Just ask Jerome how big his dick is. He’s right over there,” Alex said, pointing as the mountain lion came into view. Just as shi had been half-suspecting, Brandy was sitting atop the boy’s hips, bouncing up and down. 

As they walked up to the albino skunk and the mountain lion, Brandy fell to one side with a startled yell, grabbing her shirt and quickly covering her chest while Jerome looked around in bewilderment, wondering why he was no longer in heaven.

“See? Told you,” Alex said, pointing at the glistening pink spike jutting from the mountain lion’s hips.

__________________________________________________

Sunday, May 1st, 2016

The decrepit log cabin was exactly as Alex remembered it; half-collapsed roof covered in moss and the front porch so badly rotted that the floorboards would crumble at the slightest touch. The tigress dumped the last bits of the oatmeal cookies from the paper plate shi was carrying, the small bell tied to hir wrist jingling quietly, and walked over to the steps that led up to the porch. Shi set the paper plate down on the steps and pulled out the small carton of milk from hir pocket. It didn’t take more than a moment to pull out a corner of the cardboard container and pour the milk out onto the plate.

The tigress peered into the cabin, afraid to so much as set foot on the steps, much less go inside. The black-furred feral cat shi had seen before was nowhere to be found, thankfully. Alex wasn’t sure shi would have been able to keep from running away in terror if shi saw it. Shi glanced around, but didn’t see anything else in the tall grass surrounding the cabin, or among the aspen trees further away. The grove around the building was quiet except for the buzz of insects hiding in the nearby grass. 

Task complete, the young tiger crumpled the small milk carton and put it in hir jacket before turning to head back down the hill to the service road that led back to town. Shi didn’t see the small feral cat watching hir from its perch atop the roof, calmly licking its paw and rubbing the back of its pointed ears followed by the spot of white fur on its chest. As shi disappeared from view, the cat licked its lips. “Tha thu air spèis iomchaidh a phàigheadh,” it murmured. “Math fortanach dhut, nighean.”

__________________________________________________

Monday, May 2nd, 2016

The Scott Carpenter Middle School gymnasium was surprisingly well lit by long overhead fluorescent lights enclosed in wire cages designed to protect them from impacts. The walls were painted gray and white, with navy trim. Alex paused at the doors for a moment, looking across the expanse of polished wood that lined the floor. The lines painted on it were obviously for basketball, but there were too many of them. After a second shi realized that the extra lines were for a volleyball court.

On the far side of the gymnasium, several girls in skirts were currently unrolling a gym mat, including a bear, cat, dog, and fox. All of them were upperclassmen that Alex had never seen before. A tall bear in jeans and a jacket holding a clipboard looked up as they entered, then waved at them. Shi followed Ravi across the floor over to the group, slightly nervous, hoping shi would remember the school anthem and fight song they’d been practicing for the past week. The moves were super-simple, but shi was bad with lyrics.

“Hello Ravi,” the tall bear said as they approached. “You must be Alexandrea, right?”

“Yes, sir.” The tigress nodded. “I prefer to go by Alex.”

“I’m Coach Dillon,” the brown bear introduced himself, holding his hand out to shake the young tiger’s paw. “It seems you already know Ravi. Over there are my daughter Candice, the team captain Rosalie, Stela, and Bijou,” he said, pointing at the younger bear, egyptian mau, marble fox, and black and white saluki respectively. He turned and raised his voice, calling the girls over. “Hey! Come on over!”

The four girls finished unrolling the gym mat and came jogging over. “Welcome everyone to the Scott Carpenter Middle School cheerleading team tryouts. Just to set a few expectations, don’t expect to join the cheerleading team just so you can get out of classes; at most you’ll miss the last period class a few days of the year. Also, it’s a lot of work. You’ll be spending at least six hours a week practicing gymnastics, acrobatics, and dances after school. If that doesn’t appeal to you, the door is right over there,” Coach Dillon said, pointing to the door.

“I want to thank all of you for dropping off all your forms at the front office. Before we get onto the tryouts, do any of you have any questions?” the brown bear asked, waiting for a moment, glancing at each of the three children that weren’t already on the cheerleading team.

“Uh, who’s he?” the saluki asked, pointing at the white tiger boy.

“That’s Ravi,” Coach Dillon answered. “He’s a helper for the cheerleading team; he’s got the strength to hold you in the air so you can learn to balance on other people without needing to form a triangle.”

“Oh,” the saluki said, relaxing.

“If that’s it...” Coach Dillon said, waiting a moment for any further questions before continuing. “The tryout is simple. We need to make sure you’ve got the balance and coordination to do the simplest of gymnastics moves that we’ll be using and can at least perform the school’s fight song dance. It was listed on the back of the cheerleading form you three already turned in, along with a URL to a video of the dance. So, one-by-one we’ll have you three do cartwheels, front flips, and back flips. After that, together you’ll go through the fight song, led by Candice, while Rosalie watches.”

As the children nodded, the brown bear walked across the gym towards the mat they’d unrolled earlier. “Please, while doing any tumbling, stay near the center of the mat. You don’t need to show off; just one or two of each move will be sufficient. Bijou? Do you want to go first?”

“I would love to!” the saluki said, quickly stepping onto the gym mat. She did a few quick stretches before taking a few steps to build up speed, then turned sideways and held her arms out, quickly performing a cartwheel with two full rotations before ending on her feet. 

After taking a quick breath and stepping back a few more times she darted forward and leapt into the air, doing a full front flip, hitting the mat with her heels and jumping once again. She let out a soft grunt as her hands hit the mat, pushing herself off in a classic front handspring. She did two more handsprings before stopping near the edge of the mat.

The saluki turned on her paws, facing back towards the mat, then took a few more steps to build speed before doing a pair of cartwheels and ending with a back handspring, landing gracefully on her paws, tail wagging a mile a minute. “How was that, coach?”

“Well, that wasn’t exactly a backflip, but you’ve definitely got the balance and coordination that we’re looking for,” Coach Dillon said. “Come on over here so we can see what Stela can do. Stela?”

The marble fox nodded, walking over to the edge of the mat as Bijou stepped off the mat. Stela quickly did a few steps and put both hands down, splaying her legs out as she turned the front handspring into a cartwheel, stopping after she’d done two full rotations. She stopped and walked over to the edge of the mat, then took several quick steps and did two consecutive handsprings. 

After pausing a moment to get her bearings, the fox jogged to the edge of the mat and did the same move that Bijou had done, taking a few steps before starting a cartwheel and ending with a pair of back handsprings.

“Also good enough. Nice job, Stela,” the bear said, smiling at the marble fox. He turned to the young tigress, easily the smallest and youngest of the children there. “Think you’re ready, Alex?”

The tigress nodded and walked over to the mat, grateful that shi had remembered to bring hir sneakers; they were way better for athletics, though they were getting a bit tight now. Shi quickly leaned to one side, planting hir hands and swung hir legs over, then repeated it faster and faster, stopping just at the edge of the mat with five full cartwheels.

The tigress looked over at the bear standing a dozen feet away. “Did you say front flips, or handsprings?”

The bear squinted at the little tigress. “I said front flips, but either is fine.”

Alex walked a few feet onto the mat and bent hir knees, then leapt almost straight up, tucking hir chin forward and doing a standing front flip, hitting the floor with hir feet, knees slightly bent, and followed it up by a front handspring, just as Ravi had taught hir earlier. The moment shi hit the floor with hir feet, shi leapt back into the air, doing a standing backflip and following that with a back handspring and stopping back where shi had started. The young tigress turned and walked back towards them as the coach tucked the clipboard under one arm and clapped a few times. 

“Excellent,” Coach Dillon said, grinning. “I see you’ve got a bit of gymnastics training.”

“Nope.” The tigress shook hir head. “Just what Ravi’s been teaching me over the past couple of weeks.”

The saluki in the group narrowed her eyes, glaring at the little tigress.

“Apparently Ravi’s a good teacher,” the bear said, grinning at the tiger boy. “Maybe I should have you take over when I retire, eh?”

“No thanks, Coach.” The white tiger shook his head. “I’ll be going to high school after next year.”

“Ah, well... so will Candice. Guess we’ll see who we can get to take over as Coach. Anyway... You three line up on the mat here... Yes, like that,” the bear said, gesturing and pointing to get the three children lined up on the mat. “Candice? Stand in front and do the fight song. You all sing and dance along with her while I clap the beat. On three... One. Two. Three!”

__________________________________________________

Friday, May 6th, 2016

The white tiger let out a quiet purr as he walked across the Dojo courtyard. Alex was right at just how pretty it was here this late in spring. Pink cherry blossom petals danced through the air with the mild breeze. Ravi smiled as he reached the sliding door, which opened just in time to see a blur of orange fur and black clothing flipping across the dojo floor. 

“You’re getting really good,” Ravi said as he walked to the edge of the gym mat where Alex was practicing. “You might just give me a run for my money.” 

Alex came to a halt on the far side of the room as shi heard Ravi’s voice. “Hey!” shi greeted him, panting for breath. “These are awesome! I’m starting to understand why people like gymnastics,” shi said, wobbling slightly with dizziness. “Oh! And I got a letter from the front office saying that I made the cheerleading team. Practices will start the second week of class next year.”

“That’s great news! Once we start going out, I’ll get to say that I’m dating a cheerleader,” Ravi said with a snicker. “So, I got to thinking about this. Seeing how good you’re getting with the back handsprings, I was thinking that we would add a little twist to it,” he said, taking off his shoes and giving the customary bow at the edge of the mat before walking out on it, to start going through his stretches.

“Sure,” Alex said, jogging over to Ravi and dropping down onto the mat next to him, panting. Shi straightened hir karate gi, and then started doing the same stretches he was. After they’d finished stretching, shi asked “So... what do you mean by twist?”

“A twist,” Ravi said, smiling a little. “I didn’t think that my English was that bad,” he said as he got up and took a few steps away from Alex. “This,” he said as he started off what looked like it was going to be a back handspring, but the moment that his foot-paws left the ground he started twisting in mid-air, before his hand had hit the mat under him, he had turned and finished the flip.

Alex went wide-eyed when shi saw him do a full corkscrew rotation while doing the back handspring. It was the same thing shi had been trying to do on hir own after watching him do it a week ago, only with a front handspring. “Shouldn’t you be teaching me how to do that twist thing with the front handspring first?” shi asked, trying to hide a sly smile.

“Well...” Ravi paused for a second. “That might be the smart thing to do,” he agreed with a nod. “It’s not too hard, going forward.” After a moment he did the same move, but in a front handspring.

Alex stood off to one side, watching as he demonstrated the front handspring, twisting as his feet left the mat, doing a half-twist and then bouncing off his hands and doing another half twist. The tigress smiled; it was exactly as shi had remembered him doing it earlier. 

After he’d demonstrated, shi said, “I think I can do it. Let me try.” After waiting till he’d turned around, shi took a few feet back and then took a running start, jumping into the air and twisting, hitting the floor with hir hands and then pushing off with another twist. Shi had too much momentum to stop, so shi hit the ground with hir feet, bounced, twisted again and continued in a back handspring before coming to a stop.

“Well, it looks like someone has been doing a lot of practicing,” Ravi said happily. “That was really good.”

Alex smiled, panting a little. “Thanks. I’ve been wanting to show that off since I saw you do it last week. So... How do you do that twist with a back handspring? Is it just the same kinda thing?”

“Yes. It’s the same thing, just backwards,” Ravi said. “Just like when you jumped forward and started twisting, you do that right before you start bending back and then you finish it when your paws hit the ground.” The tiger boy smiled. “Want me to show you again or have you got it?”

“Hmm... I’ll try doing a half twist thing, like a back handspring into a cartwheel first. Then I’ll try it,” shi said, pondering. Shi held hir hands out as if trying to figure out where everything would go, then turned around and started into the back handspring with a half twist, turning it into a cartwheel. “Okay. I think I’ve got this then,” shi said, walking back to where shi had started.

This time shi did the back handspring with a one-eighty, landing on hir paws and continuing as if shi had done a front flip. When shi hit the ground, shi turned around. “Halfway there... Let’s see if I can get the second twist down.”

“Alex... Be careful,” Ravi said as he was watching. “Don’t need you to get hurt; I don’t think that would look good in front of your dad.” He gave a rueful smile at the thought.

“Nah, I won’t get hurt,” shi said, moving hir hand and twisting slightly as if trying to work out the mechanics for the rest of the body motion. “I think I’ve got this. It’s not that hard, if I don’t actually stop to think about it,” shi said, walking back to where shi had started again.

For the third time, shi started with a backflip, doing a one-eighty twist and springing off hir hands, then doing another one-eighty and bringing hir feet down. Shi stumbled slightly, then straightened, looking over at Ravi and giving him a smile and a thumbs up. “See? Not so hard.”

“Just making sure,” Ravi said, poking his tongue out a little. “And I have to say, you have lovely form.”

Just then, the two of them heard a slight scraping noise as the door downstairs slid open, then closed a moment later. Creaks came from wood panelling on the stairs, something that only happened when someone very heavy walked on them, and Ravi turned to look.

A moment later, a white and black striped head appeared, followed by the rest of David’s body. Lately he’d taken to leaving his jacket off when there weren’t any students around and was only wearing karate pants. With his physique, he could have been a stunt double for Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, if he weren’t the wrong species. With the black velcro straps he had wrapped around his wrists and ankles, Ravi thought he looked like a character from an arcade game like Street Fighter or Tekken. Ironically, he was a computer programmer or something.

“Hey Dad!” Alex called. “Watch this!”

When Alex was sure that hir father was watching, shi took a few quick steps and started with a full front flip, followed by a front handspring with a half twist, hitting with hir feet and doing a full backflip followed by a back handspring and a half twist. The tigress came to a stop about ten feet from hir father, and bowed.

“Wow,” David said, nodding and giving a few solid claps. “That’s awesome. I can’t believe you managed to pick up gymnastics so quickly. You must be a helluva good teacher, Ravi.”

“Well, a big part of it is having a good student,” Ravi said, smiling and nodding to the older white tiger. “Especially when they take it upon themselves to learn more on their own.”

“Well, shi has been practicing up here for nearly an hour each day, between evening lessons,” David said. Then the tiger got a calculating expression on his face. “You know... you’ll be testing for your first belt next month. Once you’ve learned the basic stances, blocks, and strikes, a large part of each belt rank is learning the kata. If you got here slightly earlier, Alex could teach you the kata, and then you could focus on perfecting things during class. You’d probably manage to test for a new belt every month that way,” he suggested.

Before Ravi could come up with a response to that, the door to the basement slid open once again, and a moment later Raenne appeared at the stairs.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Raenne said, walking over to them, “but I just got off the phone with the ISKF. Alex, you mentioned wanting to go to a tournament. There’s going to be a tournament this weekend at the dojo in Boulder. Unfortunately, it’s too late to register, but we can still go watch... and you can test for your fifth kyu belt. Do you want to go?”

Alex’s eyes went wide, and hir mouth split into a wide grin. “Really?” shi asked, hir tail twitching wildly. “I mean… Hai, sensei,” shi said, quickly adopting a calm demeanor and standing straight before giving a bow. Hir tail continued to twitch and thrash behind hir though.

“Okay then,” Raenne said, nodding and turning back around to head back downstairs.

David frowned down at his daughter. “You know we’ll have to go over all the kata to make sure you’re ready.”

“Yes, Dad,” Alex nodded. “Can we do that after the evening lessons?”

“Hmm.” David eventually nodded. “That’s fine by me, though Ravi will have to wait a few more minutes if he needs a ride home...”

Ravi nodded. “I’ll call my parents to let them know I’ll be late. I’d like to watch.”

“You know... Alex, if you’re planning on participating in tournaments, you’ll need practice against someone closer to your own size,” David said to his daughter, trailing off and then glancing sideways at Ravi. “Perhaps if he can catch up...”

Ravi tilted his head a little as he caught David glancing at him. “Well, sir, you know that if I can, I would be happy to help.” The tiger boy gave a shy smile.

“How about this then,” David suggested. “Alex will be taking up Kenjutsu when summer break starts, from six to seven. But for the next three weeks or so, you can come in from six to seven and Alex can drill you on kata for fifteen minutes, then you can spend a half hour sparring. That’ll get you caught up enough that Alex will have a sparring partner closer hir own size during regular karate practice over the summer.

“I’ll have a suit of hard-shell body-armor shipped in for you to wear. Trust me; you’ll need it. Alex kicks like a mule. After sparring, you’ll have regular evening lessons... and we’ll waive the lesson fee for you, since you’re helping us out. The only question is: are you willing to be here for two hours a night, every week-night for the next three weeks?”

“I can skip my evening run and just count this as my workout,” Ravi said, thinking rapidly. “Hmm... Yes, sir. I can be here two hours a night,” he said, nodding to Alex’s father.

“Well, it might not be running, but it’s serious cardio,” David said. “I think you’ll enjoy sparring, especially if you’ve got armor on so you don’t get bruised. That, and you’ll learn kata much, much faster if you’re doing the drills with Alex. We’ll be using the Japanese names for everything, but you’ll pick it up quick; you’re a smart kid.”

“I’m sure that I can handle it,” Ravi said, glancing at Alex then back to David. “What’s that saying? ‘No pain, no gain’?”

David smiled. “That’s the spirit.”