Thanks to Andaros, Caera's life had been saved, and the lives of what remained of her tribe. He had given her a future, yet how had she repaid him? Even if it was under the influence of her first heat, she had taken him without his consent. That alone was enough reason for her entire pride to be wiped out. Because she was the eldest member of her pride and was honor-bound to him, Andaros had the power to order her and her entire pride to be killed if he wanted, and they could do nothing but accept their fate. This was all according to the Mroa ancestral laws, as passed on by the ancestral memories. Caera despaired as she thought of what she had done to her pride.

Caera incorrectly assumed that Andaros would order her pride to be killed because of her indiscretions, and despaired as a result. She had come to think of him as a member of her pride and consider him in Mroa terms, forgetting that he was not a Mroa. This resulted in the current situation. Andaros's anger had unhinged her logic, and she forgot all the kindness he always treated her and her family with. Of course, this was a very practical approach, but it didn't match Andaros's personality at all.

-----

Meanwhile, Andaros was thinking of Caera's feelings. He didn't want to accidentally hurt her by yelling at her about what had happened. Siri's explanation truly had helped him to come to terms with at least part of what had happened, but his emotions were still high-strung, and he didn't want to hurt her as a result of an emotional outburst. While he was still angry, he could understand the reason why it had happened, so he intended to get his anger under control, or better yet completely resolved, before he spoke with her.

As the afternoon went by, and time progressed into evening, his worrying for the saberlioness began to overwhelm any anger he had remaining, but he resolved himself to deal with the anger before it caused hurt to Caera, or anyone else. He continued to face his anger, and found himself having a kind of argument with himself.

It's beastiality!

She's not a beast, she's completely intelligent, and even part human.

She used me!

She wasn't in control of herself at that point, her hormones took over.

That's no excuse!

No, it's a reason.

It may be a reason, but she was still using me!

If she had a reason, using me was not that reason, nor her intent.

How would I know that, I never asked her about that?!

That is a good point, but rather than getting mad, I should ask if she had a reason for losing control of herself, rather than getting mad at her without knowing anything.

Sigh, this is tiring, why did this have to happen?

I can't possibly understand why it had to happen, but considering that I did a similar thing to Qora, being mad at Caera is hypocritical.

I guess I shouldn't be so bothered, huh?

It can't be helped, but I don't want to be mad at her.

I want to understand her. . .

In the end, that was the decision Andaros came to. Rather than being angry, he simply wanted to understand her. This thought was enough to dissipate his anger, or so he thought. Human minds are strange in this regards, the simplest impetus can change the way someone responds to a situation completely. For Andaros, this impetus was the desire to understand Caera, although he hadn't truly addressed his anger yet. Not just her reasons, but to understand her. This is a simple thing to desire, but a very difficult thing to accomplish.

In fact, for the rest of his life Andaros would be seeking this very thing, though he had no way of knowing it at this point in his life. This simple, but exceedingly difficult to accomplish desire would bring the two, and those around them, through many hardships and good times. If he knew at this time what they would go through, would he have desired this? The answer is most probably yes, but he had no way of knowing, so it is a moot point.

After he had finally realized what he truly desired, Andaros quietly contemplated every memory he had of the saberlioness. Ever since he had saved her, she was often by his side. Since she was extremely intelligent, and had an insanely good memory, she had learned galactic sign language far faster than his current pace. She had learned to write in galactic commons within a week of finishing learning galactic sign language, a feat that left the others stunned.

She had many questions to ask, and not enough wood in the world to use to scratch words into using her claws, so Andaros was forced to work with the prison's I.T. guys to put together a special tablet-style device that was completely impervious to the scratches of her claws, yet could still capture the movements so she could write using any one of them. In the end, they came in handy for the other saberlions as well, though only three learned anywhere near half as fast as Caera. The rest either took a month to learn each different language, or were still learning one or the other.

Still, the fact that they could learn so quickly said a lot for their race, a frighteningly large amount in fact. Either their race were all earth-shaking geniuses, or they were extremely malleable at their age and could learn very quickly. Andaros was guessing that it was the second option, rather than the first. Caera, without a shadow of a doubt, was a extremely fast, but the others were much slower at learning than her. This lead him to believe that Caera was a genius, the ones who were half as fast at learning as her were lesser geniuses, and the rest fell somewhere in between geniuses and slow learners.

Andaros wasn't sure if this was the case, but decided to leave things at that. He would later learn that this estimate was incorrect, it wasn't far off except in one point, his estimation of Caera's level of intelligence. Caera wasn't able to learn the two languages so quickly because she was some kind of genius. She was able to learn the new languages because of a love she hadn't realized yet, and because of a totally different aspect of the mind, Wisdom.

Now before complaining about this explanation, one must think carefully. Wisdom is the ability to take things learned and apply them in every day situations. There is no doubt that Caera did indeed have a lot of intelligence, but it wasn't to the level of genius. However, Caera's wisdom allowed her to apply what she had learned in an effective and non-harmful manner so that she didn't waste her intelligence. If a high I.Q. makes someone a genius, a high W.Q. (Wisdom Quotient) can do the same thing, even if the concept is hard to define. The only difference is that wisdom takes into account how you should treat others and is most focused on "judgment" and understanding others. In Caera's case, Wisdom allowed her to take what was being taught to her, and apply it to the knowledge she already had. It also allowed her to apply it to her own pride's knowledge, and to adjust to Andaros's moral values extremely quickly.

This is not to say this is everything Wisdom does, or that wisdom was all that was involved in these things, but it played a huge role in them. Wisdom, for all intents and purposes, is the ability to not only consider yourself, but to consider others and apply knowledge based on that consideration, to think more of others than yourself, but not become so caught up that you think nothing of yourself or the others affected by those you are thinking of. There are many variables involved, but this is the heart of the matter.

How does this help someone learn? An interesting question to be sure. Language is all about interaction, considering others and applying knowledge to bring about a satisfactory level of communication and understanding. Wisdom plays a large part in understanding others and their most important values, so of course it plays a large part in communication and interaction. Therefore, wisdom plays a larger role than one might think in learning a language. If it were other things, it was a different story. Caera may not have done so well in learning things like mathematics, but language was a different matter, as her wisdom helped her to understand how best to use the languages to communicate effectively with others.

The above definition for Wisdom may be convoluted, and confusing, but it is valid. There is another way to look at wisdom however. Another definition for Wisdom defines it as integrity versus survival. How does this apply to the first definition? Integrity, at it's heart, considers the wellbeing of others, although this is a very simplified idea of what integrity does. This second definition is not the source of wisdom, but it's result.

The second definition also sheds some dubiousness on Caera's wisdom, but I assure you it is still applicable. The reason is that sexual hormones can over-write both wisdom and intelligence if in a large enough quantity. She basically had the same problem that humans do. Wisdom said to do one thing, intelligence said to do another thing, and hormones over-wrote the other two and did their own damn thing.

This whole, lengthy explanation was not intended to belittle Caera's intelligence. She has an above average intellect, but thanks to her wisdom, which has effects on practical application of knowledge gained, she was able to learn languages more quickly than most. Wisdom is not a simple thing, so please do not think less of it because of it's core, it has many far reaching effects on everyday life. In essence, Wisdom will look at something in such a way that it considers how that thing will affect everything around them. This is another way of considering the core of wisdom, and perhaps one must say that Wisdom is indeed considering things with how it will affect one's self and others, and thinking of what is best for all concerned while putting that consideration into action. After all, words without action are worthless.

As far as the judgement aspect of wisdom, it is judging whether something is either right, wrong, or is best for all concerned. Rather than placing judgment on another person, or condemning them, this judgment is about choosing the best course of action, or use of a word, situation, or idea. Thus, this was very helpful in using the new languages.

Andaros found himself considering something along these lines earlier as he was considering what to do, and chose the wisest course of action he could, considering his state of mind at the time.

-----

"So, when are you going to go look for her," Reiya asked.

The girls had wisely left him alone the night before, but Andaros was still struggling with himself and half of the next day had already passed by this time. Reiya and Qora had been out searching the entire time, and were becoming worried that his procrastination would only make things worse for both him, and Caera.

"I-I-I-I'm n-n-n-not," Andaros replied after a moment.

He didn't say anything more, and went back to the dazed look that had been on his face the entire day. Reiya didn't like this Andaros, this was not the usual kind boy she had always seen so far. His tone had been frustratingly flat, and didn't show a hint of emotion. If he was so angry he should just show it!

*bam*

Before she knew it, her fist lashed out, and the young man fell to the floor. She soon found herself saying words she wasn't aware she was intending to say.

"If you're angry, you should just show it! Stop moping around and go find her!" Her voice came out of her mouth without her bidding. A kick flew out, and Andaros fell off the second level, down into Qora's space. Her body jumped down, picking Andaros up by the waist and throwing him out the door. "Get out! If you don't find her, don't you dare come back to this manor! And make sure you tell her how you feel!"

She, of course, realized where her actions were coming from, it was her twin, Meiya. This was a peculiarity among her race. It didn't happen very often, but when twins were born, they were truly linked. They could see and feel everything the other twin was feeling, and could even act through the other twin, though this wasn't easy to do and could only be done very rarely. This was a kind of defensive mechanism left over from the distant past. There was it's fair share of problems, especially when it came to reproduction, but the mechanism had certainly saved their people at one point in time.

This ability had no distance limit, and everything was seen in real time. It was highly valued by the military, where twins would be used for three purposes. The first purpose was for near instantaneous, and undetectable communication, most often between command posts, but very rarely was used on ships out on secret missions. A second usage was as special forces soldiers, with one twin being kept in a top secret secure location watching out for their twin. This type was more common than the secretive missions aboard intergalactic ships due to the fact that their ability to assist their twin was much more useful in personal combat than in ship-to-ship battles. The third usage was for spies, where the twins could near instantaneously relay important information without giving themselves away as spies.

This ability was actually why Reiya was on the planet. The director of the facility was officially sheltering her, but she had secretly been sent to spy on the dangerous individual. It wasn't really useful, as the director didn't really pay much attention to her race, so when she was sent to watch over Andaros and help teach him sign language, the two were actually quite relieved. Truthfully, Reiya thought their father had indeed sent her here in order to shelter his daughters from their military.

After Andaros ran off, Reiya felt a sense of guilt, and doubt, from her sister. She understood her worries, but she kept her sister from taking her body to stop him from going. As much as she herself might want to do so as well, she knew that it was important that Andaros and Caera made up. On one hand Caera had become an important friend to all of them, and on the other hand she was afraid Andaros would begin to close himself off if he didn't get past this event soon. She didn't want to see him like this much longer, especially when her sister would be arriving on the planet soon enough and was looking forward to seeing him in person. She felt appreciation coming from her sister at the thought, as she remembered what happened a month ago.

-----

Reiya waited nervously outside the director's office after informing his aide of her arrival, she was always nervous when going to see the director. Even if their father was friends with him, he was one of the most powerful, and dangerous, beings in the known galaxy. His personal power was terrifying since it was such that he could destroy an entire planet on his own if he desired to do so. In fact, he had done so. . . several times.

They had all been enemies of the galactic republic, or planets solely populated by criminal organizations who had perverted justice in cases he worked on back in the day. He had, out of his own sense of responsibility, saved any slaves or people forced to work on those planets against their will, so the justice system of the republic had turned a blind eye. They weren't getting a cut of the profits, and he was so powerful they were forced to respond like this. Their ignoring the matters was, in fact, in order to avoid any more incidents where they lost a fleet of high end battleships that cost quadrillions of galactic credits.

The first time he responded by destroying a planet owned by a criminal organization, they had responded with force. The leader of the first fleet to arrive had been a supporter of the organization, who immediately ordered an attack on him without allowing for his men to learn of the details. Thraxc had not only destroyed that fleet, but entirely eradicated a taskforce consisting of eight fleets of the federation space forces' finest that had responded to the S.O.S. the original fleet released. The Federation's legal system had tried to bring him to court but he had ignored their attempts to bring him in, and told them to investigate the fleet captain who first opened fire on him, then went about his business.

They didn't dare to try bringing him in again after the second try, and did as he stated, the result of their investigations totally confounded them. Not only did the Admiral have ties to that organization, but he had been embezzling a great deal of funds from the space forces, and was using them to fund over sixteen other large-scale criminal organizations. Losing the fleets was a blow, but no where near the number of fleets they had lost to those organizations. In the end, they agreed to drop the charges, but demanded that he deal with those organizations, and pay the pensions for the entire nine fleets.

Thraxc agreed, but the prosecutors found themselves even more shocked when three months later those sixteen organizations suddenly quit their former illegal practices and began operating as legal businesses. After an investigation, they learned he had taken over the organizations and made them turn from crime, forcefully. They shuddered at these results, but were forced to accept them. After all, most of the men and women from those organizations who had done more than petty crimes had willingly turned themselves in, and any illegal goods had been destroyed, permanently. A large number of people received plea-bargains for information on what Thraxc had done in order to get them to do this. The responses left the people in the justice system shuddering uncontrollably.

Thraxc had taken a page from Earth's medieval history to a whole new level and drawn and quartered their leaders in front of the entire organization using cargeels, a particularly disturbing beast from the planet Ghlerf'Nevra. The saliva of cargeels would increase the pain a victim felt by one-thousand times while preventing them from fainting, trapping them in what seemed to be never-ending torment to the victims. It also had the property of coagulating blood that came into contact with the outside air much, much faster while the long-lasting poison was in effect. The howls and shrieks of pain had lasted for over sixteen hours while the beasts slowly pulled them apart, bit by tiny bit.

The experience had been so traumatic that the criminals had willingly given themselves up, Thraxc, however, wouldn't just let those people go. He further informed the onlookers that those who turned themselves in were required to return to the organizations upon being released back into society and all members were to work honestly in the new fields he had decided on for each branch they now formed in his new organization. Those who refused to turn themselves in, or did not return after being released would have the same situation that befell their leaders befall them.

The secret of what had happened with each of these organizations was safely hidden away, and they were officially listed as destroyed. Thraxc's organization had gone on to become a completely different type from what the original organizations had been, and the criminals all became model citizens following their return to society, so model the men and women who knew what had happened truly pitied them. Most of the men and women had actually been released fairly quickly, as the experience they had undergone was deemed punishment enough. Some refused the release, demanding life sentences on prison planets they would have done anything to stay away from before that time.

Thraxc's new organization specialized in investigation, espionage , and counter-terrorism, against large-scale criminal organizations and foreign threats. Over a period of several generations, they became the go to guys when the regular police and space military forces around republic space could not solve a case, or when they simply were unable to handle the groups, or individuals, involved. Their operatives were known to never turn against the company, and became the absolute worst nightmare of any groups that preyed on the weak and destitute. They were fearless, after all, no criminal leader could compare to Thraxc when it came to inducing fear. Over time, their loyalty wasn't just motivated by fear, and they began to idolize the being known as Thraxc.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Thraxc's organization, better known as "The Company", was also known for advancing the field of criminal investigation techniques and technologies. An entire division devoted themselves to this alone, and The Company's most publicly revealed face was this one. Over the years, they had advanced the field to unprecedented heights, bringing in thousands of new innovations.

Another well known division of Thraxc's organization was a mercenary division. It was not easy to contract this division, as any group, no matter how benign they may appear, was investigated thoroughly before they even looked at the request.

Several large organizations had tried to dupe them into going after legal businesses or their illegal rivals, and been either destroyed or absorbed in much the same way the original sixteen organizations had. Over time, the number of absorbed organizations after the first had come to a grand total of 42. They were encompassed in the original 16 divisions, and had all been forced to do just as the original sixteen had, all members who had committed more then petty theft had turned themselves in, and reported to the organization upon their release.

The organization even had it's own division of parole officers, who worked with the new members, or worked with the police forces on various planets to reform convicts. They worked closely with another division that worked to provide education for those who had only turned to crime because a lack of education left them no other choice.

The education division not only worked with the parole division, but a large number of their staff worked in crime prevention by providing affordable, or sometimes free to the recipient, education on less well-to-do worlds. These were often worlds known for being under the influence of many small-time, on the galactic scale, criminal organizations, and so they worked with another division, the security division, who only worked in providing security for their organization.

The whole organization worked together, with Thraxc as the central figure. They worked with his sense of justice in mind, more-so than the republic's, or that of the planets that were part of it.

Of course, they did hold to the laws of the republic for the most part, but there were two exceptions, the smuggling and judgment divisions. The smuggling division mainly was used to smuggle individuals, or their families, who would not get a fair trial on their homeworld due to unfair laws, or who were endangered by the laws that did so to their parents. On the other hand, the judgment division was used to deal with those who would twist the laws of their worlds to cause such situations to occur. These two divisions were the only ones that were counter-republic in a sense.

Reiya and Meiya's people were among the few even aware of these two divisions, but they allowed them to be because their royal family had actually been saved by these groups at one point in time.

"Director Thraxc is ready to see you Reiya, you may enter," The aide informed her, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hello, Sir," she said as she nervously entered into the director's office and closed the door behind her.

"Ah, Reiya, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit my dear niece," Thraxc asked in an ancient sounding voice.

Reiya was confused, and it showed in her manner as she told him, "You said you wanted to speak to me in person, Sir."

Thraxc seemed to be thinking for a moment before he replied. "Ah yes, that's what it was. Computer, activate anti-bug and communications field, Authorization: Red, Alpha, 243678, Tango."

"Authorization confirmed, anti-communications field activated. Ensuring data wipe of any sensitive information present on any recording devices present and switching to next authorization code in the chain," a sonorous, and slightly metallic, voice responded. This was Thraxc's assistant A.I., who generally acted as a go-between for him and his agents.

"Now that we no longer have any snoopers present, contact your sister and have her bring your father. Have her tell him that I need to speak with him, that should get him out of any meeting he happens to be a part of, or stop it long enough we can have our conversation."

"I. . . don't understand, Sir," Reiya replied, trying her best to hide her fear of being found out by the director, "With this field in place I couldn't contact my father or sister if I wanted to."

"Come now, my dear girl," Thraxc replied in an amused manner as he leaned his gigantic body forward a bit, "do you really think I don't know what you and your sister are? Your father placed you with me "in order to protect you", but he didn't send your sister as well. Add to that the fact that your race's council had been bugging your father for some fifty years to position operatives to watch my movements prior to your arrival, and I can only think of one reason he would do this. You two are linked twins, you father did send you here to protect you, but he also sent you to keep an eye on me to ensure I do not make any sudden movements they can't account for."

Reiya was surprised at the revelation that Thraxc knew, and fear flashed across her face. Thraxc signalled to her to calm down, and let him finish saying his peace.

"I have allowed the current situation to save your father face, and keep my dear nieces away from dangerous assignments," he said, giving her a surprisingly fatherly look for his race. "Still, I have decided to end this charade, and to help my sworn brother and his daughters at the same time."

"I'll . . . do what I can, Sir," Reiya replied, and sent the message to her sister.

"I wish you'd just call me uncle." Thraxc sighed resignedly as he spoke.

It took Meiya the better part of an hour to locate their father. When she did, their father sounded annoyed.

"What is it Thraxc," Reiya relayed, trying to sound as much like her father had as she could. Thraxc laughed and applauded the attempt, then replied seriously.

"Not surprised I noticed what you were doing with Reiya and Meiya?"

Their father sighed heavily at his question.

"No, not considering whom I am talking to through my daughters. Do you have a reason you needed to contact me? We're sort of in the middle a joint council session, and everything's on hold until we're done here."

"Ah, good, good, this will make things much easier. Are you still inside the council chambers, and is everyone present?"

"Yes, why?"

"Good! I'm going to have the girls relay what I say as close to what I say as possible, so none of you better get mad at them, understood?"

"One of the council elders is asking who you think you are."

"I'm the most powerful being in the known galaxy. I could destroy your planet in a heartbeat if I wanted, even with those 10 redundant planetary shield arrays working at the same time, or have you forgotten, Councillor Melfys. Do I need to remind you of what I did to the Croxhons 450 years ago?"

"How'd you know? Oh, he just pissed his pants," Reiya gave a disgusted look as she finished speaking.

Thraxc couldn't help laughing before saying, "I've known that old codger for 500 years, it's easy to tell. Anyway, back to our conversation. Meiya and Reiya are to be remanded to my legal custody, and Meiya is to be sent to my prison planet to keep her sister company. In exchange, I promise to not meddle in your race's affairs for 5,000 of your planetary years."

"Furthermore, I promise to assist your government through my most elite mercenary troops for free during this timespan, so long as the jobs do not go against my organization's rules. This will allow you to free up your own men and women for the jobs that mine will not be allowed to do under these rules all my mercenary units abide by. I will even give you access to two Draevnel."

"They're going nuts," Reiya informed him. "What are these Draevnel?"

"They're the elite of the elite among my forces," Thraxc answered her. "The Draevnel specialize in espionage and assassination, and are loosely modelled after the Ninjas of a nation by the name of Japan that once existed on Earth. My Draevnel are capable of destroying a planet if they so wish, but rather than doing that they specialize in stealth operations where no one learns of their presence. Their enemies are left confused, and panicked when their leader, or the person they were tasked to protect, is found dead long after my men are gone. If it's information they're after, the enemies won't even know they've been compromised at all."

"They sound impressive. . . Oh, they've recovered now."

"What is your answer?" Thraxc asked in a serious voice.

"How can we know you'll do what you say?"

"Hmph, have I ever not kept my word?! My promise is my bond! You have tested my patience enough! If you do not agree, I will utterly destroy your people, and only leave those I value alive!"

Reiya went pale at his response, but she then saw Thraxc wink at her. She was shocked, he was playing the council for fools! On the other end of their shared connection, she could feel Meiya fighting desperately to avoid laughing, or showing her amusement on her face. She could only shake her head as she considered everything that was happening, it was simply too ridiculous. Finally the response came, and she found herself unable to hold back a wry smile as she reluctantly spoke.

"Fine, we concede. We shall take the aforementioned deal. . . They are now your property, take care of my daughters."

"Don't say this to them, but have Meiya pass on a message to your father later, in private. They're not my property, they're my nieces, and I have found a man I deem worthy of them."

After that, everything had worked out until this situation came along, though the twins still didn't know how they'd address their own issue. That would be a tricky one considering their physiology. . .

-----

Andaros stalked his way through the orchard toward his destination. The young man was angry, but more-so at himself than Reiya. He knew he was worrying her and Qora, but he had gotten cold feet after finding that a nights rest had done nothing to truly relieve his anger. In fact, it had made the situation worse, sleeping with a belly full of unresolved anger was never a good idea.

Yet he was also mad at himself for behaving this way toward Caera. Here he was getting cold feet just because he was angry about not what had happened, but how it happened. While he wasn't into beastiality, and worried that this might be a case of such, Siri ha managed to convince him that it was not such a case. This gave him some comfort, but what about the other individual involved in this debacle.

Here Caera was out there crying, and likely scared he hated her, and he had let a little anger cause enough doubt that he couldn't move forward, he berated himself over this fact. It wasn't like he believed he would get over his concerns quickly but, like Reiya had said, it was better to tell her he was angry and explain why than hold it in and become bogged down by his worries, turning bitter. He had to set things straight so they could move on with their lives. He couldn't promise he would instantly be comfortable with the new bond they shared, but he could at least promise to keep her by his side and treat her properly.

The two would have to discuss proper treatment after they managed to convey their feelings over the incident. He wanted to know what prompted her actions, and also tell her about his people's beliefs, his own as well. This was important to him, as he really didn't want to treat her badly, and even wanted to continue to get to know her better. Who knows, maybe some day he would be able to reconcile the situation with his beliefs, and they could be together. That wasn't something easy though, considering his beliefs. . . and what had happened.

Andaros had quickly checked on the areas searched, and any information he could get on how they were searched with the search teams, so he had a good idea of where she might be hiding. His gut feeling had already said it would be this place, and after checking the information he had become even more convinced that it was there. So he had headed over immediately. In the end it took over three hours to get there as he was lost in thought the entire time.

As he came upon the clearing where the four of them had first spent a night together, he couldn't calm his heart. Would she be here? Would he be able to control his anger? Could they truly reconcile? Doubts popped up one after another, but he managed to push them aside after a bit and called out into the clearing.

"C-C-C-Caera? A-a-a-are y-y-y-you th-th-th-there? W-w-w-we n-n-n-need t-t-t-to t-t-t-talk, p-p-p-please," He called as best his could in his usual halting voice.

Just as Andaros was about to give up and leave to look elsewhere, he saw movement on one side of the hill and recognized Caera's familiar head. She kept guiltily looking down at the ground, only glancing up for brief moments in order to see if he showed any signs of being angry. She couldn't seem to keep her eyes steadily on him now, so he gave the sign to pay attention while she was looking his way.

{We need to talk,} He used his sign language to communicate, since his stuttering was really a bother to himself.

{You, must hate me for what I did to you,} Caera looked sad as she replied.

{I do not hate you,} he assured her, {but I am angry. Before you do anything hear me out. I am not angry that something like that happened, but how it happened.}

At this admission, she perked up, but he wasn't done signing, so she patiently waited. She no longer looked away, but her posture still showed her nervousness.

{I was not asked what I thought, or if I wanted to be in that situation, and that is why I am angry,} he told her. {Among the people of my planet, it is a taboo to sleep with a beast. This was why I yelled out upon waking to find myself in that situation. Siri told us that your ancestors were once human, so that somewhat helped me calm down about that part but, the anger over it happening without my consent was not dealt with. . . I have my hands full with the situation with Qora, and my beliefs are that a family should consist of one father and one mother, so I was not planning on doing anything like that, with you or anyone else.}

Caera looked ashamed as she looked downward.

{Sorry,} she signalled.

{It is fine, what is done is done,} he answered. {I will not throw you away, or push you out of my life for what happened. Still, we cannot have sex. . . at least until I can come to terms with this situation, but we already share a bond so I will not treat you poorly. I. . . actually took this long to come because I was worried I would hurt you in my anger.}

After finishing his explanation, he waited for her to respond. It seemed as if she was sad, but she didn't argue with him.

{Can I still stay close to you, Master,} she finally asked with a nervous look.

Andaros sighed heavily, but then answered, {You can stay by my side, but I cannot promise everything will be alright immediately. I might end up hurting you without intending to do so, is that alright?}

{Yes,} came the answer, but she didn't look too happy. On the other hand, she also looked relieved.

{Let us go home.}

{Yes, Master,} Caera answered, and soon walked over. The saberlioness walked ahead of him, and Andaros shook his head as he noticed her hips swaying in a more sultry manner than usual. He realized it was intentional after she looked back the first couple of times, but stayed quiet and pretended to not notice. Letting her know he had noticed would be letting her win, but he did notice and just kept looking straight ahead as they walked, she did have a cute butt though. . . for a lion.

When the two returned, they found everyone waiting for them. All the humanoids seemed to be smirking at Andaros and started teasing him about the event, while the saberlions berated their "older sister", but soon started to do the same as the humanoids. Andaros couldn't help turning red at the comments from the male searchers, but the anger he had felt had finally been released by telling Caera how he felt, all that was left was a bit of embarrassment at their jeers. For her part, Caera was penitent at first, but later on seemed strangely excited. Andaros couldn't tell what she and the other saberlions were saying in their growling and roaring language, so he really didn't have much understanding of what was going on with them. He could hazard a guess of course, but he really didn't want to do so.

"So, it seems you've got another wife now," Qora teased with a smirk, "Just remember, I'm his first wife! Hehehe, I'm gonna milk me a cock tonight!"

Andaros couldn't keep a wry look from appearing on his face as the gruff individuals present snickered. She really was too forward about it, yet he didn't really feel it was proper to retort to it at the time. Everyone present were fairly gruff individuals who had seen a great many things in their lives, none, however, were human. They had a good laugh at the situation, rather than condemning the two for what had happened. Their reactions helped Andaros to further relax, but he couldn't really be comfortable with the situation.

Reiya was the only one not laughing and jeering at Andaros, but she had been around these gruff individuals long enough that she couldn't help smiling slightly at the response. She surprised Andaros when she came up to him and hugged him before giving him a kiss on the cheek, eliciting more whistles and jeers from the onlookers. "Thank you," she whispered, "and I'm sorry."

Andaros was stunned by her actions, and stood there unmoving for a good, long time. Qora didn't seem bothered in the least by her actions, and just stood there propping up her bountiful chest with her crossed arms while looking on with a smirk. When he finally recovered, Andaros unconsciously touched his cheek where she had kissed him, eliciting more jeers and laughter.

An impromptu party was soon started, and continued into the evening before it ended with most of the participants leaving back to the prison proper. Andaros wasn't too comfortable with it, but he endured the jeering and ruckus as he always did. These prisoners and prison staff were rather different from what he had expected from a prison, but he found himself relaxed by their close manner. It was almost like they were one big, happy, dysfunctional family. A large number of individuals had been involved in the searches due to the fact that Caera and her family had become quite popular among the prisoners and staff during their frequent visits to the main prison.

-----

Later that night, Andaros lay in bed with Qora's arms wrapped around him contemplating what had happened. The anger he felt that day had flown away with his admission, and now he found himself wondering how he was supposed to treat her. Should he treat her like he always had, or should he treat her as his lover, or something else entirely. He wasn't sure, but as he watched her sleeping curled up on the floor he found himself strangely attached to the big cat. In the end he wasn't sure what to do, and just set aside the matter while he fell asleep. He completely forgot to ask for her reasons that day.