WARNING: This story contains sexually explicit material involving adolescent children and incest. This story also contains 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.

Assam Chai
by IndigoNeko and TaintedThylacine

Chapter 4

Saturday, June 4th, 2016

Alex pelted down the stairs and took the corner so sharply hir toe-claws tore tufts of fabric out of the carpet. Shi came to an abrupt halt as hir mom barked an order to slow down. The tigress checked to make sure there weren’t any kittens crawling around, then shi walked over to the side entrance door, quickly turned the deadbolt and yanked the door open.

Aruna darted forward and wrapped Alex in a hug, then started purring when Alex kissed her on the cheek. Ravi smiled and stepped forward as well, wrapping his arms around both of them. Alex gave him a kiss as well, not realizing shi had started purring as well. Hir tail was vibrating with excitement.

After a moment the three tigers separated. “Come in,” Alex said, waving them inside. “And set those backpacks down; you can leave them here for now.”

“Uh-uh,” Aruna said, swinging her backpack around to her chest and pulling open the zipper. “I have a present for you first.”

Alex’s eyebrows went up. “What?”

“Mom made it for you,” Aruna said as she pulled out a small spice jar. “It’s her Chana Masala blend.”

Alex’s tail twitched excitedly as shi accepted the glass bottle, then carefully took the lid off. Shi sniffed appreciatively. It smelled... fruity. Shi tilted hir head and looked at Aruna questioningly. “What’s the fruit smell from?”

“Amchur and Anardana,” Aruna said, repeating what Sevita had told her, clearly expecting that Alex would ask.

“Dried mango and pomegranate powder,” Ravi translated. “You’ll need to use about twice as much as usual.”

“Ooooh,” Alex exclaimed. Shi couldn’t wait to try it out. “Please tell your mom I said ‘Thank you’.”

“Will do,” Ravi said, smiling as he looked around. “Oh... Hi Mr. and Mrs. Andreyev,” he said, spotting the older two tigers sitting on the sofa. “I didn’t see you.”

“We noticed,” Raenne said with a smirk. “Welcome...” the tigress paused and looked down. An orange-furred tiger kitten was pulling at her pants leg. She quickly bent and picked him up off the floor, setting him on the sofa, then repeated the same for the white-furred kitten who crawled out from under the coffee table. “Apparently Nick and Kate say ‘Hello’ as well,” she said as the two bright-eyed kittens stared at Ravi and Aruna.

Aruna smiled and dropped her backpack, then walked over to the sofa, kneeling in front of it. “Aww... Hello little ones,” she said, slowly reaching her paw out to Katherine. The baby tigress reached out to touch her paw, then leaned forward to sniff... and then promptly put Aruna’s fingers in her mouth.

“They think I must taste good... and they’ve got strong teeth,” Aruna said, twisting her paw slightly and tugging her fingers free of the kitten’s mouth.

David gave an amused snort. “Sorry. Their baby teeth have grown in. Worse, they’ve started putting everything in their mouths lately. I’m just glad Alex doesn’t leave toys around. But we’ve still had to start making sure there’s no power cords hanging within reach.”

“You okay?” Alex asked as Aruna stood up and started inspecting her fingers. Any time Aruna started checking herself over, it was usually for injuries that she couldn’t feel.

“Umm... Well, she drew blood,” the younger tigress said, showing where her white fur was slowly turning red along two fingers.

“That’s not good,” Raenne said with a frown. “Alex, you know where the first aid supplies are. Wash the wounds thoroughly with the antibacterial soap and water for three whole minutes, pat it dry, then use antibiotic ointment on them and cover them with the larger bandaids. Ravi, call your parents and let them know Aruna’s got an open wound they’ll need to monitor.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” both Alex and Ravi said in tandem, with Ravi pulling out his phone and Alex pulling Aruna down the hallway towards the downstairs bathroom.

“Oh, and we’ll have dinner in an hour,” Raenne called after them. “Chili, cornbread, and a roasted vegetable vinaigrette.”

__________________________________________________

The sound of squealing tires and engines revving emanated from the upstairs den (which also doubled as a guest bedroom) where Ravi was playing video games. The sounds were muffled though, as both Alex and Aruna were currently in the upstairs bathroom across the hall. Alex was sitting on the edge of the bathtub and Aruna was sitting on the fuzzy cover atop the toilet seat lid.

Aruna had a pair of blue nitrile gloves over her paws and held a brush in one hand and a handful of Alex’s head-fur in the other. A jar of white cream with bleach in it sat on the edge of the tub next to Alex. The younger tigress was carefully taking small clumps of Alex’s hair, holding them up, brushing bleach through the roots, and then laying them down next to the other bunches of hair that had already been processed.

“This is actually pretty easy when you get the hang of it,” Aruna murmured. “Takes foreeever though.”

“Yeah. It’s time consuming. It’s a lot harder to do yourself, though; It’s not like you have eyes in the back of your head, ya know?” Alex replied.

“If you did, you wouldn’t see much through all that hair,” Aruna said with a grin. “And you’d get bleach in your eyes.”

“True. Oh... That reminds me. Can you feel it if you get stuff in your eyes?” Alex asked, curious.

“You mean, like fur or eyelashes?” Aruna asked. “Yeah, I can feel them. They’re mildly irritating, and I know they’re not supposed to be there, so I’ll go get a washcloth and try to get them out. Sometimes Momma or Ravi has to help.”

Alex mulled that over. It was still strange that Aruna couldn’t feel pain at all. The younger tigress continued to paw through hir hair for another minute before announcing she was finished.

“Thanks!” Alex said with a grateful smile. “Now we wait fifteen minutes, then check to see how much it’s lightened,” shi explained. “Also we need to check it to make sure the hair hasn’t gone soft or weak, ‘cause bleach will slowly dissolve the hair itself. If you leave it in too long, your hair just pulls apart like taffy. So you give it a tug every five minutes and if any of it comes loose you need to rinse it out immediately.”

It took about thirty minutes before Alex’s roots had lightened to yellow, after which shi used the detachable shower-head to rinse hir hair out, then washed it with shampoo and conditioner. After that they repeated the process, applying purple-colored toner, and left that in for ten minutes before washing it out as well. The last step was yet another bleaching, which took another thirty minutes, followed by another rinse, shampoo, and conditioning. 

All totalled it was well over an hour before Alex’s hair was finished... but most of that was spent watching Ravi play video games while waiting for the bleach and toner to work its magic. Afterwards, Alex stepped out of the bathroom still rubbing hir head-fur with a towel and joined Ravi and Aruna in the den. “Do you guys want to watch a movie or something before bed?”

“Sure!” Aruna said. 

“Hmm... Have you two seen ‘Pan’?” Alex asked, walking over to the TV console. “Dad got it earlier this week. I figured we could watch it together.”

“What’s it about?” Aruna asked, tilting her head slightly. 

“Have you ever heard about Peter Pan?” Alex asked, picking up the DVD case sitting atop the TV console and using a claw to tear the cellophane wrapper. 

Both of the Bassi children shook their heads. “No,” Aruna said.

“Oooh, you’re in for a treat then. The original ‘Peter Pan’ was a play written in nineteen-o’-four, about a boy named Peter who couldn’t grow up and a girl named Wendy. Fifty years later, Disney made an animated movie about it,” Alex explained, holding up the DVD case for a moment before cracking it open and pulling the disc out. “This is the movie about how Peter became the boy who couldn’t grow up.”

Alex quickly pressed the button on the DVD player to eject the tray and stuck the disc in, then used the remote to switch TV inputs to the DVD player. Shi turned and jogged over to the sofa and sat down between Ravi and Aruna, leaning up against the taller boy while Aruna lay against hir side. Alex waited until the movie menu loaded and then hit the ‘Play’ button.

__________________________________________________

Ravi flashed a glance at the open door to Alex’s bedroom before turning back to the younger tigress, who was already in the process of peeling off hir clothes and tossing them in the closet hamper. “Are you sure?” he asked, wondering why they were supposed to leave the door open.

“Yep. Mom and Dad want to be able to hear us if we yell for them, that’s all,” Alex explained, taking off hir sports bra and tossing it in after hir t-shirt and skirt. “Just don’t go out into the hallway naked. Supposedly nobody’s got access to the security camera feeds except us, but... Mom and Dad don’t want to take any risks.”

The tiger-boy shrugged, then peeled off his shirt, followed a moment later by his pants and boxers. His dick was already poking out of his sheath in anticipation, like a fuzzy tube of pink lipstick. He stood there for a moment, admiring Alex’s well-toned physique, watching the play of the thin black stripes across hir orange and white fur as shi moved.

“Come on, slowpokes,” Aruna said, already stripped naked and rolling around in the middle of Alex’s bed. “I wanna have sex again,” his sister said, catching his attention. She had noticeably thicker stripes than Alex did, and in a pattern that looked remarkably similar to Ravi’s own.

“Hold your horses, Aruna,” Alex said, pulling several old towels out of the closet and tossing them to the youngest tigress. “And lay these towels out. I don’t want to have to wash the blankets again.”

Aruna quickly spread one of the blankets out and a moment later Ravi and Alex climbed up on the bed to help spread out the others. Within a minute, Alex’s black Vellux blanket was covered completely by cotton towels. Aruna was sitting back against the pile of pillows at the head of the bed, legs spread wide. Ravi couldn’t help but stare at the line of bare skin between the downy-furred lips between his sister’s legs. He felt his penis swell, emerging the rest of the way from his sheath. Alex coughed, getting his attention.

“Oh, uh, Ravi? I’m on my period, so, uh,” Alex apologized, ears going flat in embarrassment, “my flower’s off limits tonight.” The tigress sat back on hir heels. “I’m sorry... I really wanted to have sex with you tonight, but... We’ll have to wait until later.”

“What’s that mean?” Aruna asked, puzzled. “Why can’t you have sex?”

Alex waved hir paw. “I’ll tell you later. It’s gross, and you won’t have to worry about it until you’re older, hopefully. I can have sex, just not with my girl parts.”

Ravi blinked and frowned with disappointment; he’d been looking forward to having sex with Alex. He was still coming to grips with how different a real relationship was than they were portrayed in his books. There was far less hand-holding, kissing, and poetry than he’d been expecting. They definitely didn’t talk about things like girls having periods and stuff. He was still a bit vague on what that meant. He would have asked, but Alex clearly didn’t want to talk about it. 

“So... Does that mean you’ll both have sex with me?” Aruna asked, tail twitching excitedly. A smile spread across her muzzle.

Alex smiled too. “If that’s what you want, and Ravi’s okay with it...” shi said, glancing over at the older tiger.

“Uh, sure,” Ravi said, nodding slightly. “Do you want to go first, or...?”

Alex shook hir head. “You can go first. I like watching you two together. Here, lemme get you some lube,” shi said, scooting over to the nightstand and pulling out a jar of coconut oil out of the drawer. Shi quickly unscrewed the lid and used a claw to scoop out a teaspoon or so before setting the jar back on the nightstand. A shy expression flickered across Alex’s face. “Can I, uh, do the honors?” shi asked, pointing at Ravi’s penis.

Boy, could shi ever... Ravi nodded, scooting closer to hir and thrusting his hips out, his dick bobbing slightly in time with his heartbeat. He watched as shi spread the white goo from hir claw to hir palm and then wrapped hir paws around his length. Shi squeezed it slightly, then pumped hir hand up and down. It felt so much better than when he did the same thing to himself; Alex’s paws were noticeably smaller and softer than his own... but it was over far too soon.

“Come on already,” Aruna complained, spreading her legs wider. The crease at the bottom of her vulva glistened with arousal.

Ravi felt his heart begin to pound and licked his lips, then leaned forward, crawling over to his little sister. His dick was so stiff it was almost painful. This was only the second time he’d ever had sex, and still felt awkward about it as he loomed over Aruna’s smaller, delicate frame. He was still worried he might accidentally hurt her. He had no such concerns with Alex; the feisty young herm had proven numerous times in karate that shi was tougher than shi looked.

“Wrap your legs around his waist,” Alex suggested, moving next to them so shi could watch. 

Aruna scooted towards her brother and did so... panting as Ravi wrapped his paws around her waist and pulled her closer. His penis throbbed, a drop of seminal fluid beading at the pointed tip. He realized that he was panting for breath, staring at this downy fur between his sister’s legs and the glistening pink skin in the crease between her vulva. Ravi looked up, meeting his sister’s gaze. “Ready, sis?”

The younger tigress nodded. “Uh huh!”

“Just go slow, Ravi,” Alex warned. “And stop when you can’t go any further, or you’ll bruise her insides.”

“I know,” he said, remembering their first session. He pulled his hips back slightly and reached between them, pushing his tip into position against the glistening pink hole. It was warm and wet, and he carefully pushed his length against it. His sister’s insides stretched around his tip as he entered her. It felt just as good as he remembered... although somehow tighter.

Aruna gasped as he pushed against her, her insides stretching to allow him entry. He waited patiently, steadily applying pressure and waiting as his length slid further into her. Alex sat next to them, one paw wrapped around hir penis.

It took a while before Ravi felt like he couldn’t go any deeper, an inch of his length remaining outside her. “I think that’s it, sis.”

“Yeah...” Aruna agreed, reaching down to rub her clit with one paw, her pink painted claws glistening in the lamp-light. “I feel so full.”

Ravi held the position for a moment... It was still one of the strangest things, having his sister’s insides wrapped around his dick, but it felt incredible. After a moment he pulled back, and it felt almost like she was trying to keep him inside. Her flesh slid over his length as he pushed back inside. That started a rhythm of slowly building pleasure that radiated from his hips. “Gods, this feels so good, sis.”

Aruna smiled, eyes half-lidded in pleasure. “Yeeeaaah. Don’t stop,” she ordered, gently moving her fingers in a small circle around the nub of pink skin above where he was penetrating her.

Ravi kept the pace as best he could. He didn’t know how long he lasted... As Aruna’s pants turned to gasps and eventually moans, he felt the pleasure build to a crescendo.

“Oh, Ravi!” Aruna cried, her fingers suddenly turning into a blur. Her legs squeezed tight around his waist, keeping him firmly hilted inside her.

Ravi watched the muscles in her tummy tighten, felt her insides clench around his length. It felt absolutely divine. He felt his manhood twitch within her once, twice... then began filling his sister’s sacred chamber with his essence. “Aruna... Aruna... I...” Ravi panted as his pulse thundered within his veins. “I... I love you, sis.”

The younger tigress panted, then blinked, and stared up at him with a contented smile. “I love you too, brother.”

“Goddess, you two...” Alex said, catching both of their gazes. “You’re so beautiful together,” shi said with a wide smile and tears in hir eyes. “I’m so glad I found you two.” 

“Thanks,” Ravi said with an awkward smile. “Was it good, sis?”

“Good?” Aruna asked, clearly incredulous. “That was awesome! Can we do it again?”

Ravi snorted. “I’ll need a while to recover. Alex, do you...?” he asked, turning back to hir.

“You have to ask?” Alex asked with a smile, then turned to the younger tigress. “We can take turns for as long as you want, Aruna.”

“Oh, heck yes,” Aruna exclaimed. “This is the best thing ever!” The younger tigress unwrapped her legs from around her brother’s waist, then scooted back a little, letting him roll backwards out of the way. A trickle of white fluid leaked from her flower, dripping onto her tail.

Ravi watched for a moment. Aruna was sexy as hell with his seed dripping from her flower. His dick twitched at the sight, but it wasn’t enough to keep it from gradually retreating back into his sheath, hiding from the chill air of Alex’s bedroom. For a moment he felt strange, sitting naked with his sheath and balls on display like that. It didn’t seem to bother Alex or Aruna though, so... he sat back with his legs spread as he caught his breath.

With a pink spike jutting proudly from hir hips, Alex moved into position where Ravi had been a moment before. Shi reached out and took Aruna’s hips, dragging her over. The older of the two tigresses lay hir erection against the crease of the younger girl’s vulva and ran it up and down a few times, coating the underside of hir length with Ravi and Aruna’s mixed fluids. Shi carefully angled hir hips, resting the tip of hir pointed penis at the entrance to Aruna’s vagina, then slid inside, slowly hilting hirself within the girl’s flower.

Both of the girls gasped as their hips met. “Oooh, Alex...” Aruna said, sighing in pleasure.

“Goddess, Ravi, you really made a mess in your sister,” Alex said, shifting hir hips slightly. “Aruna, I think I’m just barely touching your cervix. Can you feel that?”

The smaller tigress quivered slightly. “Yeah. God that’s intense. I think Ravi went right past it.”

“Probably,” Alex said, turning to Ravi and motioning him closer. “Next time you should see if you can find it. There’s a slightly harder spot near the end that’s got a little dimple in it. That’s the entrance to her womb. Normally touching it is so intense that it’s painful for a girl, but... well, Aruna can’t feel pain. So it’s just intense.”

“Holy crap is it intense,” Aruna agreed, quivering with every motion Alex made.

“Shhh, don’t swear,” Alex chastised the younger girl, then pulled hir hips back and thrust them forward with a squelch. Aruna bounced slightly when their hips met. “It’s not good if you push against it, ‘cause it’ll bruise. But I think I can just rub against it...”

Aruna twitched again, and Alex smiled, then drew back once more. “It might be too much if I kept at it, but every three or four thrusts should be fine... Why don’t you give her some belly rubs, Ravi?”

Ravi smiled at that, then rolled over to lay next to his sister. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and ran his paw over her tummy, lazily dragging his claws through her fur. After a moment he moved one paw up to her chest, running his thumb over one of her nipples. 

“Oooh, that’s strange... but good,” Aruna muttered, glancing up at him. “Don’t stop, Ravi.” 

“Gladly, sis,” he said, tilting his head down to touch noses with her. He couldn’t help but give her a kiss, which she returned, holding his muzzle against hers for a moment. After a second they both turned to look back at Alex, who was watching them with a smile while steadily thrusting against Aruna’s hips with wet squishy noises.

“I’m going to have to teach you two how to french kiss,” Alex said, then sped up hir pace a bit, making Aruna gasp in time with hir thrusts.

That was something else that Ravi had read about in his books but never tried. The thought made him tingle slightly. He glanced down at his sister for a moment, still rubbing his thumb over her nipple, then back up at Alex. The contrast between the two younger cubs was so strange. His sister was delicate and slender, whereas Alex was powerful and wiry.

He watched Alex’s abs ripple as shi rocked hir hips, and his gaze slowly moved up hir body. Both of them looked feminine, but at opposite ends of the spectrum. Actually, Alex looked slightly more feminine than Aruna, especially considering that shi was a hermaphrodite and nearly as muscular as himself... not to mention having a dick nearly as big as his own. He felt himself grow stiff again from watching hir and wondered again if he was bisexual. He was almost certain of it at this point.

Aruna smiled, and reached over to wrap her paw around his penis. She gave it a squeeze. “Think you’ll be able to go again after Alex squirts in me?” she asked with a playful smirk.

He licked his lips. “Definitely, sis. Maybe two or three times.”

“Good, cause I’m pretty sure shi’s about to,” Aruna said, looking over at the other tigress.

A snarl formed on Alex’s lips as shi started bucking harder against the younger tigress. Aruna began gasping with every thrust. The young herm went still, hips flush against his sister’s, and hir tail started thrashing behind hir. Aruna let out a moan and began twitching in orgasm. Ravi felt his penis throb in arousal, knowing Alex was filling his sister with hir seed.

Suddenly Alex pulled hir hips back, and hir penis bounced up, followed by a string of cum that splattered over Aruna’s pubic fur. Shi pushed hir hips forward slightly, resting hir shaft against Aruna’s clit, and continued to ejaculate strings of semen across Aruna’s belly and pooled in her navel. “Sorry, Aruna, but... Just thought that... you might want... another taste,” Alex said, panting.

“I tried it last week, remember?” Aruna said, dipping her fingers in the puddle of warm cum on her tummy and licking it. “Oh, it’s even better this time! Sweeter and less salty. Try it, Ravi!” the young tigress said, dipping her fingertip in it again holding it out towards her brother’s face.

Ravi pulled back with a disgusted expression. “Ewww! Aruna, stop!”

“But it tastes like chai tea!” Aruna insisted. “Seriously, try it!”

“It’s true, it tastes like salty chai tea. Even mom says so,” Alex confirmed, dipping a finger in the puddle on Aruna’s belly and licking hir fingertip. “Huh. You’re right; it is sweeter.”

A chill ran up Ravi’s spine. “Your mom’s tasted your cum?” he asked, head tilting slightly as he stared at Alex, not quite sure he’d actually heard what he thought he had.

Alex froze, hir gaze meeting his own. Hir ears slowly went flush against hir head and hir fur stood on end from the tips of hir fingers all the way up hir neck. “I, uh... Shit.”

Ravi watched as shi took a deep breath, hir irises dilating wide open. He realized that Alex was panicking and shi was about to bolt, or cry, he wasn’t sure which. He quickly reached over and grabbed hir wrist. “Wait. Alex, stop. It’s okay. We won’t tell anyone. Just... calm down.”

He pulled Alex towards him, wrapping his arms around hir and whispering calming phrases until shi stopped hyperventilating. Then he let hir go, pushing hir to arms length. “Okay now?”

Alex nodded, glancing down at Aruna. “I, uh... Sorry. I guess I, uh, let the cat out of the bag.”

“Ya think?” Aruna asked, letting Alex go. Ravi wasn’t sure when his sister had joined the hug, but apparently she had. “Do you have sex with your parents?”

Alex’s ears splayed out and hir tail twitched, this time in embarrassment. “I used to, before we started dating. It’s a long story.”

“They don’t make you do anything... do they?” Ravi asked, worried Alex’s parents might be raping hir.

“Goddess, no!” Alex exclaimed, looking at him like the idea was absurd. “I’m the one who started it. We had a huge argument about it being illegal and wrong and stuff,” shi said with a derisive snort. Shi smirked. “I won though.”

Ravi sighed, then started chuckling with relief. “I’d believe it.”

“Well, are you going to tell us what you do with them or not?” Aruna asked, clearly irritated. “Or can we get back to having sex?”

Ravi sighed with exasperation. “Aruna, you have a one-track mind sometimes.”

“Well, I need some time to recharge...” Alex said with an amused smile. “How about I tell you how it started while Ravi fills you up again?”

“Oh, I like that idea,” Aruna said, glancing down at her brother’s crotch. “That reminds me. C’mon Ravi,” she said, scooping a finger through the cooling cum on her belly. “Alex wasn’t kidding. It tastes like chai tea, just kinda salty,” she said, holding her finger out.

Afterwards Ravi wondered why he did it, but nevertheless bent forward and stuck his tongue out. Aruna ran her finger down the tip, leaving a dollop of salty, chai-flavored semen on his tongue. He ran it around his mouth, puzzled. It actually wasn’t bad, though it would be better if it was less salty. “Huh. Not bad.”

“Toldja,” Aruna said, flopping backwards against the pillows and spreading her legs. “Now stick your thingie in me again. And this time squirt on my tummy so I can taste your stuff again too.”

Ravi felt his dick throb, his length growing stiff once again. He had a feeling that his sister was going to be one very messy kitten by the time they called it quits tonight.

__________________________________________________

Monday, June 6th, 2016

Ginnie stopped just inside the dojo’s front doors and watched the two young tigers practicing with long staves in the middle of the dojo. Both were wearing wide flared pants... almost like dresses, rather than the karate gi she’d been expecting. The younger of the two was calling out the names of the moves in Japanese, but they were both moving in tandem next to each other, like a choreographed dance.

The smaller, orange-furred tiger with white head-fur was about the same size as Ginnie, and the larger white-furred one was several inches taller. Given that birds like herself were on the smaller side for evolved species, the smaller tiger was probably a few years younger than she was. She vaguely recalled that the tiger cubs had been sparring together during her first karate class last week, just like the black panther and the much bigger white tiger.

After watching them for several seconds, Ginnie turned and continued across the wooden flooring that surrounded the gym mats, heading to the stairs that went down to the lounge and locker room. The shoji door at the bottom of the stairs slid open as she approached, just like the doors at the main dojo entrance.

As Ginnie turned the corner into the lounge area, she saw Sensei Raenne sitting on one of the sofas, already dressed and ready for the class that wouldn’t start for another fifteen minutes. 

The tigress immediately spotted her as well and stood up. “Welcome back, Ginnie-san,” the tigress said, giving a curt bow to the young thrush. “You seemed very enthusiastic last week. I was worried when you didn’t return.”

“Sorry,” Ginnie apologized, not quite sure why she was apologizing; it wasn’t like she’d done anything wrong. Still, she felt like she owed the teacher an explanation. “I... uh... that’s part of why I wasn’t here, actually. I overdid it the first day and was too sore to get out of bed for like three days afterwards. My pediatrician said it was an overuse injury... something called ‘delayed onset muscle soreness’ or something. They put me on a high protein diet. I’m still a bit tired and weak, but at least I’m not sore anymore. My dad still thinks that it’s a mistake to continue. He’s afraid I’ll get hurt even worse...” She trailed off, realizing that she was babbling.

“Aaaahhhh,” Sensei Raenne said, tilting her head slightly. “Delayed onset muscle soreness is a symptom of overexerting muscles after an extended period without exercising them. The longer that you wait between exercising, such as more than a week, the more likely that you are to overexert them. Given how long you were sore, I assume you haven’t done any serious exercise for several months?”

Ginnie nodded in confirmation. “Since last year...”

The tigress nodded with understanding. “It is my fault then, and I take full responsibility. 申し訳ありません、” the tigress said, surprising Ginnie with a deep bow, and stayed with her head lowered. “I humbly apologize. It is the teacher’s responsibility to know the limitations of their students and not to push them beyond their limits. The others in the class started earlier, and it was ill-done of me to assume that you could do as many repetitions as them.”

The young thrush took a half step back, bemused by the fact that an adult was apologizing to her, much less with the degree of formality that the tigress used. This was starting to get weird, like she was in one of those silly Japanese cartoons... anime or whatever.

The tigress straightened again. “I sincerely hope this will not make you stop taking lessons with us; I believe everyone should have martial arts training, both to learn self-defense and to build character. As an apology, this month’s lessons will be free.” Raenne turned towards the desk on the south side of the lounge and sat down at it, saying “I will write a letter of apology to your father as well.”

“That’s not necessary, Sensei-” Ginnie protested, breaking off as the door slid open and the two tiger cubs stepped into the lounge. The younger of the two gave her a smile and a wave as they headed back into the locker room area. The thrush paused for a moment, waiting until the two tiger cubs were out of sight before asking, “Um... Are those your kids?”
 
“The younger one is,” Raenne replied, writing on a sheet of paper with the dojo’s letterhead on it and a pen. “Hir name is Alex. Shi’s a hermaphrodite, and shi’ll be turning eleven in August. The older boy is hir friend Ravi. He’s thirteen. They go to Scott Carpenter Middle School.”

“Huh,” Ginnie muttered to herself. She’d never met a herm before; they were supposedly super-rare, like one in a thousand. After a moment she spoke up. “I go to Scott Carpenter too... Wait, you said shi’s turning eleven? So shi’s ten?”

A tiny smile of amusement appeared at the corner of Raenne’s lips, though the thrush couldn’t see it. “Yes. Alex skipped fifth grade. Shi’ll be entering seventh grade this year. Shi’s very mature for hir age,” the tigress explained while finishing the apology letter; a written copy of what she’d said to Ginnie. She signed the letter with a flourish.

“Huh,” Ginnie said, turning to the locker room door. She shook her head, feathers rustling. The fact that a ten-year-old just finished sixth grade was crazy. Ginnie wondered if Alex would be in any of her classes this coming school year. If Alex had just moved to Colorado, shi probably had only a handful of friends, like herself. For a moment the young thrush considered making an overture to the young tigers, imagining making friends with them.

Then the vision faded as reality set in. Ginnie’s primary interest, by far and away, was music. She doubted the two tiger cubs cared much about anything other than martial arts. Most felines were very active, and Ginnie most certainly wasn’t... other than deciding to take karate over the summer because she was bored. She sighed, wishing she had some friends who lived in Winter Creek, rather than way over in Prairie Flats.

After folding the letter, the tigress turned to look at the young bird, who was still facing the locker room door. Raenne narrowed her eyes, a calculating expression flickering across her face.

__________________________________________________

Isabel bent and kissed Madison goodnight, then turned to the other bed and did the same to Emily. “Sleep well, little ones,” the lizard said. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Mommy,” the two girls echoed.

Isabel stood and walked to the doorway, resting her scaled hand upon the light plate for a moment before turning the light off. She sighed, then turned and left the room, heading back downstairs to finish working on the finances. Heinrich had handled all of it before, and it was taking her hours to go through everything.

When she reached the office, Isabel sat down in front of the iMac and moved the mouse cursor. A moment later a spreadsheet covered the screen. She was grateful Henry had never put locks on the computer; she was barely able to use it as is. Luckily he had left everything extremely well organized, with each folder and file clearly labelled. All of the financial accounts and copies of all the most recent bills had been left in the drawer to the right, all of them stamped with ‘PAID’ in black. The fact that he had a stamp and ink-pad sitting atop the desk just for that made her smile. Henry might not have been the funniest of men, but he’d had his moments. His quirks had been the kind that made her smile, rather than frown. 

An hour later, Isabel finished reviewing all of their major accounts; the mortgage, two car payments, Henry’s 401(k) and Roth IRA, money market account, savings, and checking.  Without Henry’s income, there was absolutely no way she could afford the house or the Maserati (not that the latter mattered, since the police hadn’t found it) or even the new minivan. The money market account would run out within eight months... a year at most, and they didn’t keep much in their savings or checking accounts except what was needed week-to-week. According to the spreadsheet, most of their funds went into making mortgage payments... Apparently Henry had been trying to pay off the mortgage early.

She knew she couldn’t take anything from Henry’s 401(k) or IRA without paying an early withdrawal fee, and had to look that up. As she dug further into the finances, she realized he’d been making payments to State Farm that were larger than what was needed for the house and cars. Frowning, she pulled out the insurance documents in the drawer and began reading. Apparently Henry had a life insurance policy.

Five minutes later, Isabel stared at the computer screen, reading the results of her latest google search result. If she’d had hair instead of scales, it would be standing on end. From what she was reading, someone who was missing couldn’t be declared dead for seven years, and she had to keep paying the life insurance policy to keep it active for the entire time, or it wouldn’t pay out. Henry’s life insurance, his retirement, and anything that wasn’t in both their names might as well not exist.

She was going to lose everything they had. Feeling nauseous, she fumbled for the waste basket under the desk. A second later Isabel puked up everything she’d had for dinner.

__________________________________________________

Tuesday, June 7th, 2016

Alex carried a pair of black plastic gun cases up the stairs, following hir mom (who was carrying the twins). Shooting the classic Heckler & Koch MP5 had been surprisingly fun. It was no wonder that it had been such a popular gun in the action movies from the 80s and 90s. Slapping the cocking handle to chamber a round was satisfying, as was the 30-round magazine. 

The sound of the alarm system’s warning interrupted hir train of thought, and shi shut the door before moving past hir mom to the security panel that was loudly announcing ‘disarm now’ between triple beeps. Alex dropped one of the gun cases and quickly swiped down on the touch-screen and entered the real security code, ignoring the post-it note with the fake code sitting next to the panel. 

“Thanks,” Raenne said, heading down the hallway to the nursery. “Just drop the guns in my bedroom, then we’ll head downstairs and do some yoga.”

“Okay,” Alex said, following hir mom down the hallway. Raenne took a right into the nursery while Alex took a left into to hir parents’ bedroom. Shi set the gun cases on the floor and slid them under the bed to join the many other black plastic cases. Eventually shi’d learn to shoot each and every one of the guns in them.

The tigress stood back up and turned to follow hir mom back down the hallway towards the great room, stopping just at the end of the hallway and taking a right down the stairs to the garage and mud room area (which Alex thought of as the ‘basement’ even though it was technically the first floor). Exercise machines and equipment occupied most of the space around the walls, but the center of the wide open area was a blue gym mat that they’d used for exercise and karate before the Dojo had been built.

Alex peeled off hir t-shirt and capri pants and dropped them at the edge of the mat while hir mom fiddled with the phone, bringing up the nanny-cam feed from the nursery. Shi walked over to the far side of the mat and began some stretches while Raenne took off her usual flannel shirt and cargo pants and set them at the edge of the mat too, along with her phone. With martial arts every weekday evening, along with the alternating days of yoga and weightlifting before dinner, Both of them wore black Under Armour shorts and sports bras as their day-to-day undergarments.

“What were we doing last?” Raenne asked as she joined Alex on the mat, sitting down and stretching out her hamstrings. 

“Uh... I think I remember doing, uh, Bird of Paradise and Flying Crow pose. Oh, and that twist... Baradvasa?” Alex said, struggling to remember the poses. Shi barely remembered which warrior poses were which, much less the advanced poses they’d been going through lately. As fun as they were to do, the Sanskrit names for yoga poses didn’t stick in hir head like Japanese karate moves did. Shi just followed along with whatever Mom was doing.

“Bharadvajasana,” the older tigress corrected. “Okay, let’s see what the list says,” she mused, reaching over and picking up the paper printouts that they’d found online with some of the more advanced poses to try. “We were on day twelve. Let’s see what day thirteen holds. Looks like several warrior poses as warm up, then pigeon and peacock poses: Mayurasana, Pincha Mayurasana, Kapotasana, Eka Pada Rajakapotasaan two...

Alex rolled hir eyes as Mom casually rattled off the Sanskrit names. Shi hadn’t the faintest clue what any of them meant. Ravi and Aruna probably would, though. Alex frowned, wondering if the Bassi family practiced yoga.

__________________________________________________

Wednesday, June 8th, 2016

Ivan walked across the warehouse, past the tables laden with new product that was being repackaged into smaller dime bags for street distribution. Half a dozen women of various species in blue smocks and hair nets sat at those tables. An equal number of men with guns in street clothes stood watch, lounging against shelves and boxes... almost a third of the ‘soldiers’ in his employ right now. 

Behind one of the heavily laden shelves, the lawyer was lying on a dirty mattress in the corner. Liam and Dillon had set and splinted the man’s arm and leg, but there was nothing they could do for his missing teeth and broken jaw or collarbone. Ivan squatted next to the lizard and snapped his fingers a few times until the man opened his eyes. “Do you want another dose of morphine?”

“...Yesh, pleashe,” Heinrich said, barely moving his lips or head.

“Hold still,” Ivan said, pulling a syringe out of his coat pocket and uncapping the tip. “Going in your left thigh,” he warned before stabbing the needle through the lizard’s slacks and the thick scales underneath them. After depressing the plunger all the way he withdrew the needle again and stood up. “Should take effect in about twenty minutes.”

The lizard sighed, but otherwise remained silent. That was exactly what Ivan expected. The tiger didn’t expect any kind of gratitude; he was the one who’d inflicted the injuries that he was now treating. He told himself he was doing it in an attempt to keep the lawyer alive, since he was the only lead he had on his sister’s whereabouts. Ivan would never admit, even to himself, that he felt guilty at how he’d treated the man.

Heinrich Pullman had proven to be surprisingly willing to talk... helpful, even. Even though the lawyer had cooperated, he was still difficult to understand with all the broken teeth (and possibly broken jaw) and couldn’t write with the broken arm and collarbone. Threatening the man’s family and breaking his femur hadn’t been enough to get the information that Ivan wanted. He actually believed that the lizard legitimately didn’t remember Raenne or Alexandrea’s last names, or where they lived in Colorado.

He’d have taken the lizard to the office and gotten their address days ago, except that the lawyer’s office was monitored by off-site security. Pullman had given them the system’s security code, but warned that it probably had been changed and that any attempt to use it would trigger a silent alarm. He’d also been helpful in explaining how the trust had been created according to the Will, set up with yearly payouts until his niece reached adulthood... and then it became monthly payouts. Ivan had grudgingly come to accept that the money in the trust was out of his reach.

But his traitorous sister and her family weren’t, if he could find them. Raenne owed him a debt of blood and money after all, for the dozens of men she’d killed and millions of dollars in cash and drugs that she’d burned to ash (or had been seized by the Philadelphia police afterwards). He was toying with the idea of breaking his niece in and selling her; there were billionaires who would pay hundreds of thousands for a toy like that. Then he’d torture his sister’s husband while she watched before killing them both. That would settle some of her debt.

__________________________________________________

Friday, June 10th, 2016

Ginnie climbed into the SUV with her dad, feeling surprisingly good. She’d only been slightly sore after Monday’s Karate class, though she’d been sluggish and tired most of the week. It had taken all of her willpower to come in today, but she was glad that she did. By the time class had ended, she felt less tired than she had over the rest of the week. Plus the younger snowy owl had been there, and he’d been a hoot with some of the off-the-wall questions that he’d asked the instructor, like how many bad guys she could beat up at a time. Apparently the answer was four.

“Hey Dad?” Ginnie asked as her dad turned on the car and began backing out of the parking lot. “Want to sing a duet? Maybe Bach’s Double-Violin Concerto? I’ve been practicing the second violin all week...” She reached over and turned the car’s audio player to use the aux input.
 
“Chiclet, I haven’t sung that for...” Hank paused for a moment, thinking. “At least a year now. Since I was with the Boston Philharmonic.”

“That’s fair,” Ginnie sighed. “But I’m going to practice,” she said, pulling her digital audio player from the satchel at her feet and plugging it into the car’s aux input line. “And if you want to join in, feel free.”

The young bird tapped the audio player in her hand a few times, loading the piano accompaniment of the famous piece. She tapped the button on the audio player to start playing. After the four chime intro, she opened her beak and started singing, closely imitating a real violin.

Her father took a deep breath before opening his own beak. The pure tones of the legendary Messiah Stradivarius filled the car, one of the many famous instruments that Ginnie knew he could mimic perfectly. Neither of them knew it, but for the first time in history, Bach’s Double Violin Concerto was being played live by a pair of musicians without a single instrument being present. The two birds sang the violin duet all the way home.

__________________________________________________

Saturday, June 11th, 2016

Alex hopped out of hir mom’s SUV and followed the older tigress across the parking lot, small duffel bag in hand. This was the second time they’d been there; the previous tournament had also been held at this particular high school gymnasium. Both of them were wearing white karate uniforms instead of their usual black ones, because the tournament and belt tests both required it. Just as last time, the gym was surprisingly crowded, and a horse at the entrance greeted them. 

“Hello,” Raenne replied, bowing. “My daughter’s name is Alexandrea Andreyev. Shi’s scheduled for a belt test at nine fifteen and is enrolled in the intermediate youth bracket tournament that starts at ten.”

The horse looked down at the clipboard in his hand and ran his fingers down the list. “I see her,” he said, making a checkmark next to the name. “And she’ll still be in the same tournament bracket regardless of the belt test results. You’re good to go.” The horse turned to look down at the smaller tigress. “Good luck,” he said with a smile and a short bow.

Alex bowed back, then followed hir mom across the gym to find a seat among the crowded bleachers. It was barely fifteen minutes later when they called hir up for the belt exam, and shi dropped hir duffel at the edge of the mat, bowed, and walked out to the center of the mat, turned to the judges table and bowed again.

As expected, the examiner started with calling out various kihon techniques, having Alex go through various kicks and maneuvers, like mawashi geri chudan, sanbon zuki jodan, jodan age uki, and chudan maegeri followed by jodan mae geri. After the examiner called out a given move, the tigress waited as they called the counts, repeating the moves five times before returning to the center of the mat to wait for the next move.

After finishing the kihon portion, they called out ‘Heian Godan’, the fifth Peaceful Mind kata, which Alex had known by heart for months. Out of the 23 moves, the only tricky part was the spinning jump about 2/3rds of the way through, with the downward x-block on landing. The rest of it was just a matter of remembering the moves in order. Alex went through the entire thing without any problems. 

The last part of the exam was kumite. Unlike traditional sparring, this was just to test a student’s knowledge of specific moves and the counters for them. Pads were unnecessary, so Alex simply waited as the examiner stepped across the mat to hir, bowed with them, and waited as they called out the jodan oi zuki moves for hir to perform while they countered, then they switched roles and shi performed the counters against jodan oi zuki. They repeated for the chudan oi zuki and chudan maegeri variants, and they bowed to each other again before the examiner stepped away. 

With the exam complete, Alex turned and bowed to the judges table before walking off the mat. Raenne was waiting with a smile on her muzzle. “Good job, kiddo,” she said, ruffling Alex’s snowy-white head-fur. Alex smiled happily.

__________________________________________________

Alex spent the next half hour practically over the moon at having passed the belt test. At this rate shi might reach black belt before Christmas. Eventually hir mom took the paper certificate back out to the car and stuck it in the glove compartment where it wouldn’t be lost or crumpled. Hir first match in the tournament was at 10:15, about forty-five minutes after the belt examination. 

When they called out which ring hir first match would be in and what color shi would be, Alex quickly grabbed hir duffel and jogged over to the edge of the mat. It took a few minutes to put on the claw-caps required for all clawed species. In contrast, it didn’t take long at all to strap on the various foot, shin, hand, and head-pads. Shi quickly undid hir purple belt and put on the blue belt, used for identification during tournament matches, then waited for the previous match to finish. Shi held hir custom-fitted mouth guard in hand until the last minute, waiting until the previous match finished before sticking it in hir mouth.

Hir first opponent, some kind of horned sheep or goat (shi wasn’t sure which), bowed and stepped onto the mat when the examiner gestured for them to enter. Shi did the same, walking over to the black line on hir side of the ring, then turned and bowed to the judges before turning and bowing to hir opponent. The referee checked to make sure they both had all the necessary pads and mouthguards in before stepping into position opposite the judges table. 

When the referee called ‘start’, Alex hopped forward, easily dodging the sheep’s initial kick. His cloven hooves would have hurt, even with the mandatory hoof-caps they were wearing. Alex ducked under a hastily thrown punch and crouched next to him, throwing a reverse punch into his side, harder than shi probably should have. The sheep staggered back. Alex wondered if the referee would call a halt, but he didn’t, and shi stepped forward again. 

Hir opponent kept his arms tucked this time, and seemed to be favoring the side where shi’d hit him. He threw another snapping front kick as shi approached, this time moving fast enough that his gi cracked like a whip, this time clearly intending it to hurt. It barely missed and Alex darted in as he pulled his foot back, feinting towards his stomach with hir left, then slamming hir right fist into his head as his elbows went down to block.

This time the referee shouted ‘Yame!’ and Alex stepped backwards, shaking hir paw. Shi’d clipped one of his horns with that punch and it had hurt despite the pads shi was wearing. 

That powerful front-kick was probably his favorite maneuver, which made sense with his hooved feet. He was shaking his head as he stepped into position, like he was seeing stars. Alex suspected it was a ruse, since sheep and goats were known for having hard heads. Wild sheep and goats frequently head-butted each other both in play and when fighting. 

Knowing he’d probably start with a front kick of some kind, when the referee called start again, shi darted forward, then leapt as high as shi could just when the boy lifted his foot. Shi sailed right over his kick, throwing hir own leg out straight. He didn’t have the speed to dodge, and the flat of hir foot hit him in the face, throwing him backwards.

The sheep, goat (whatever he was) hit the ground and rolled twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the mat, where he lay still. The referee immediately yelled a halt again and ran over to the sheep, checking to see if they were alright. Alex went still, hoping shi hadn’t seriously injured him. When the sheep lifted his head, blinking, shi let out a sigh of relief. 

After a few seconds, the referee helped the boy to his feet. They were talking, but Alex couldn’t hear what they were saying. When he reached the line on his side of the mat, the referee announced that he had yielded the match. The boy turned and bowed to hir, and shi returned it. They both bowed to the judges, then stepped off the mat. 

Peeling off hir headgear, Alex quickly jogged around the mat to the boy, asking if he was okay. He said he was, but still seemed dazed. Apparently evolved sheep’s heads weren’t quite as hard as their four-legged cousins. Alex bowed to him once again, thanking him for the match, wishing him luck in his other matches.

After returning to where Mom was standing, shi got both a compliment and chastisement for the flying sidekick. It had been an excellent kick, but they were easy to counter and could get you disqualified. Alex nodded, resolving not to use them against a trained opponent. Most of Alex’s other matches went similarly, ending early when shi won by points or occasionally when hir opponents forfeit. As the tournament progressed, shi quickly got the hang of predicting others’ moves and aiming for the head to finish the fights quickly. 

Near the end of the tournament, shi found hirself facing a tall, muscular horse-boy with speckled grey-white fur and his mane cropped into a mohawk. Mom’s advice ‘Whatever you do, don’t get hit’ rang in hir head. ‘Well no shit’, shi thought to hirself. The horse looked like he weighed twice what shi did; shi seriously doubted that he was actually in hir age bracket. He looked like he was at least twelve or thirteen. Alex walked forward, wondering how in the world the judges considered this a fair fight.

They bowed, and the referee called for a start. Alex shuffled to one side, waiting for the kick shi knew was coming, then darted past it. Shi slammed a fist into his head, having to aim way higher than normal, then danced backwards, waiting for the ref to call the points. 

When they clashed again, shi dashed forward, landing a punch to the chest for one point. Instead of backing up like shi’d thought he would, the horse shifted closer. Somehow he got his gloved hands around the front of hir gi, holding hir in place.

Alex raised a fist to punch him in the face and glanced up... then froze. For a split second shi saw a much larger, older horse with shredded bits of cornea and blood dripping from his right eye where shi had raked him with hir claws. His expression of unbridled rage and utter hatred was terrifying. Suddenly shi was flying backwards. It wasn’t until shi hit the mat, facedown and several feet away, that shi realized that hir opponent had kicked hir in the stomach, just under hir ribs.

For a moment Alex couldn’t breathe and lay curled up on the mat. Finally shi managed to get hir lungs working again, sucking a couple of deep breaths. The pain didn’t register until after shi’d managed to roll onto hir knees, and eventually back to hir feet. The referee was standing next to hir, asking something. Shi had no idea what he was saying, but waved at him. Mom was standing on the bleachers shouting “それはダメです!” but shi wasn’t thinking clearly enough to remember what it meant. The horse was standing near the center, waiting on his side of the black bars.

Shaking hir head, Alex walked towards the black bars so they could resume the match. The memory of what had happened in the Cadillac Escalade when shi had been kidnapped was replaying from start to finish in hir head. By the time shi was facing hir opponent again, the brute had slammed hir against the inside of the car door, where the memory ended. Somehow shi had forgotten it... not that it was something shi wanted to remember, honestly.

When the match resumed, Alex danced around the horse, making faints and dodges. Shi had come to the conclusion that if he landed another solid blow he might actually break bones, and shi didn’t want to risk broken ribs again... or any other broken bones for that matter. So shi kept hir distance until their two minutes were up, winning with a substantial lead in points.

The next, and last, match against a fox boy was the only one shi lost fair and square. The older kid moved just as fast as shi did, and they were pretty evenly matched, but Alex’s sore chest from hir bout against the horse had left hir wary and cautious. The fox quickly figured out that shi was skittish and pressed the advantage, using feinting snap kicks towards hir chest to keep hir out of range. At one point he managed to clip hir helmet with a fist after shi dodged a kick, taking the lead. The match left hir panting for breath by the time that the referee called a halt for time. In the end, the fox beat hir by two points.

At the end of the tournament, when they posted the leaderboard results, Alex’s name was second.

__________________________________________________

Sunday, June 12th, 2016

It was still pitch black outside when Alex stepped out of hir dad’s SUV and stumbled up the front walk to the Bassi family’s house. Shi yawned and rapped on the door, not wanting to wake everyone up since Ravi and Aruna were probably still sleeping.

The door opened, revealing an old white tigress in a brilliant orange and red dress embroidered with gold thread. Lanka smiled down at the cub, then turned and waved at the white SUV across the yard. “Come inside,” the elderly tigress said, stepping to the side.

Alex yawned again, covering hir mouth, and stepped inside. “Thank you, Lanka-ji,” shi said, using the honorific that Ravi had told hir to use. Shi stopped a few feet from the door, bending to take hir well-worn open-toed sneakers off and setting them on the small shoe rack next to Ravi and Aruna’s shoes. 

Alex stood back up and looked around. The only light on was a small lamp on the corner table between the sofa and loveseat, but it was bright enough to see. The Bassi family’s Indian-inspired decor, with bright tapestries and colorful blankets, had become familiar over the past couple of months.

“Come. Sit,” Lanka said, stepping around Atman’s recliner and moving Sevita’s chikankari embroidery loop before gingerly sitting down on the love-seat. 

Alex blinked, wondering what Ravi’s grandmother wanted; shi hadn’t spent much time with Lanka before, other than occasionally discussing cooking recipes, because the old tigress barely spoke English. The young tigress took hir backpack off and sat down on the sofa, dropping the pack between hir feet.

“Are still you Ravi’s lover?” Lanka asked in broken English, leaning forward. “Or... Are now you Aruna’s lover? I you smelled... on Aruna. Last week.”

The fur on the back of Alex’s neck stood on end. Both of their parents had forbidden them from saying anything to anyone else about their unorthodox relationship, but clearly Lanka knew about it... and also just as clearly hadn’t been told about it. Now Alex was in a very sticky situation.

The old tigress glared at hir for a second while Alex tried to figure out how to reply. Shi opened hir mouth for a moment, trying to think of any lies that could explain it, but came up totally blank. There was no way out, except to let Ravi and Aruna’s parents decide what to do. 

“I... I’m not allowed to talk about it, Lanka-ji,” shi said, looking down at hir backpack. “Atman and Sevita told us not to.”

The elderly tigress waited for a moment, then sat back against the couch. “Good. I know. I you... testing. मुझे खुशी है कि आप अपनी जिम्मेदारियां निभाते हैं।”

The strangely musical Hindi fell pleasantly on Alex’s ears, but shi had no idea what they meant. Shi looked up, confused, but the smile on Lanka’s muzzle was clear enough. Shi hesitantly smiled back, and the old white tigress stood up.

“You tired. Now sleep,” Lanka said, taking a thick crocheted blanket off the back of the loveseat and unfolded it, draping the heavy purple and teal fabric over Alex. Then she picked up a pillow as well, one of the few that wasn’t covered with embroidery, and held it out.

“Thank you, Lanka-ji,” Alex said, accepting the pillow, then watched as the old tigress turned off the small lamp next to the sofa and carefully stepped around Alex’s backpack while walking out of the living room and down the hallway. As shi fluffed the pillow and lay down on the sofa, Alex couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that Lanka’s smile had seemed... fake.

__________________________________________________

David awkwardly held the baby seat with Nicholas in it, while Raenne strapped the other baby seat with Katherine in it to the airplane seat. By pure happenstance, the car seats that they’d purchased were rated for both automotive and airplane use, and had the required DOT sticker on them. Airline stewards at the luggage check-in, the gate, and inside the plane had inspected the baby seats to verify that they were airplane certified and wouldn’t need to be sent as luggage. After Raenne finished looping the seatbelt straps through Katherine’s baby seat, David handed over the second seat and she repeated the process. 

Unfortunately the Boeing 737 they were on only had rows with 3 seats each, and both Katherine and Nicholas would start fussing if they were more than a few feet apart. Consequently their carriers were strapped into the window and middle seats. Raenne sat in the aisle seat and David sat across the aisle from her. 

Thanks to some quick research before the flight, Raenne came prepared with baby bottles and had purchased some formula in the terminal for the kittens. Apparently the swallowing action helped to clear the eustachian tubes and relieved the built-up air pressure in their ears. 

Thirty minutes later, the plane was racing down the runway when the flaps angled up. The plane lifted off the tarmac and ascended into the early morning sky.

__________________________________________________

It was well-past noon when David and Raenne arrived at Camp Green Lake, where several rows of small cabins with white painted siding lined the area. Raenne halted the vehicle and asked for directions from one of the campground employees who wore white and grey shirts with a green and white circular logo. Eventually they found a parking spot, and five minutes later David and Raenne were walking around through the campground with Nick and Kate in their carry slings, both in the white karate uniforms that were required for belt tests. Not that David needed to wear his, but he felt it would be tacky if he was still in slacks and a polo shirt while Raenne was taking her belt test.

“I’ve gotta say, it’s very awkward having to haul a pair of kittens around. One was bad enough,” David muttered as they walked across the grounds. This time he was carrying the baby bag that Raenne normally carried.

“...and you weren’t the one carrying Alex around. That was mostly me,” Raenne muttered, shifting her grip on the duffel bag full of pads that she was holding. 

“Mostly,” David admitted as they approached the surprisingly large cabin they’d been directed to. “Is this the hall where they’re doing belt tests?”

“Pretty sure,” Raenne said, hefting her duffel bag and heading up the ramp. After reaching the top, she pulled the door open and stepped inside. Apparently a belt test had just finished, and the judges were still writing their papers.

“Aaah, Raenne-san, welcome to the ISKF Master Camp,” said a short red panda with a greying muzzle as he walked up to them. 

“Hello, Nobu-sensei,” Raenne said, giving the red panda a respectful bow. David did the same, recognizing the man who had visited their dojo many months ago and given both him and his daughter belt tests.

“I hope you’re well-rested for this,” Nobu said, “as the fifth-Dan examination is several hours long.”

“Yes, Nobu-sensei,” Raenne said, bowing again.

“Good. You’ve brushed up on the Unsū kata, yes?” the red panda said, watching the tigress out of the corner of his eye while leading the two tigers across the room. “You’ll need to complete it in thirty seconds.”

The tigress stumbled slightly as she heard that, and stopped to stare at the little old man while David raised an eyebrow; he’d never heard of the Unsū kata before. The red panda halted as well and turned to look at Raenne with a slight grin on his muzzle.

“Thirty seconds?” Raenne asked incredulously, making David even more curious about this kata they were talking about.

The red panda let out a hearty laugh. “I kid! I kid. I think most do it in two to three minutes. You’ll do fine.”

David couldn’t help but smile with amusement as his wife growled deep in her throat.