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http://vergilxanon.blogspot.com/2010/10/xanon-chronicles.html

This is the 6th book of series

The Akashic Castle

The Akashic Castle

  Prologue


  As I record this, we exist mostly in the High Astral and Low Causal Realms. We were native to the High Astral, but the border was close and easy to cross for us. In other words, for the whole lot of us...myself, Thanatos, Stefan, Deliah, Sylvia, Kevalyn, Macha, and Andre Courtois, who I had not written of before, being he had just joined us; our existence was as far removed from the Physical as I could know to this point, and there really isn’t anything to write about, as far as this aspect of our being went, so I won’t. I’ll write about our ‘time’ in the High Etheric, where in reality we spent very little ‘time’; but it’s the only thing I can write about that would be of the remotest interest to my readers.  
  Our ‘nostalgic’ artistic creations were in the Lower Realms, and our enjoyment of those works of art is what I will be writing about, in addition to the induction of Andre Courtois to our group.
  Anyways...in the Xanon Chronicles as written by Stefan as Kyle Shannon, Kyle had written of a black marble castle on a planet far away with two stars that I guess I should call suns (And occasionally, I do.), and six moons, where the world spun on its axis in such a way that both polar regions were uninhabitable due to the fact that one faced a perpetual summer, and the other a perpetual winter. In the book, we were toward the far side of the sun, in the land of eternal twilight. In Kyle’s story, we were situated on a high plateau, and it was always cold, though it was possible to live in it if one dressed for it, and so it was, though we spent ninety nine point nine percent of our time temperature insensitive, and it wasn’t relevant to us. The castle was unimaginably huge, and it had a room dedicated to every civilisation that ever had, or would exist on Earth, which was an elaborated version of what I had on Tech Duinn. Of course, one floor was devoted to a library, also like on Tech Duinn, but bigger, again, with everything from every era. Physically, like what ‘Kyle’ had written of, the concept of all this was not possible. Of course it was Etherically possible, being the laws of physics did not apply on the Etheric Planes, so yeah, we (Mostly Thanatos) actually ‘built’ a castle like what was in ‘Kyle’s’ third story. The ultimate Earth-based museum and library! A dream, and memories of Kyle's visit to the Etheric after her suicide attempt with the freight train were responsible for that book. It could have been a good book, if only the plot had been a bit tamer, and more true to what Thanatos and I were really like.  
  As for how this pertained to us, we had discovered something like Kyle’s world a long time ago in our explorations of the universe, though it had seven moons, not six, and we claimed it to make the home of Kyle's tale as close to real as we could. The sky was red where the sun shone bright, and different shades of violet where we were. One nice thing was, that our black marble castle accessed the Akashic Library, as well. A place couldn’t be any better, I thought at the moment. Of course, I’d be proven wrong, later. Much later. Later than this story. 

  *****

  Andre Courtois! The moment he’d faded from The White City, he tracked me/us down. In his last life on Earth, he was half French, a quarter Sudanese, and a quarter Navajo, or Diné, as they called themselves. He looked basically black, you couldn’t tell specifically what his ancestry was, but he was very attractive. Sometimes I felt he rivalled Thanatos in the aesthetics department, depending on what mood I was in. Needless to say, I couldn't wait to paint him.
  Andre had been a mechanic for Boeing, and he was electrocuted on the job at age twenty-nine. He’d left behind a wife and one year old daughter. Thank the gods Andre could handle Stefan’s sense of humour regarding children. In the old times when Stefan had worked as a psychopomp (We were all completely retired from that, by now), he’d treated children very well, but off the job he was pretty bad with his ridicule, and have I mentioned Stef had even put together a mid-sized cookbook on what to do with children that is not going to be included in MY series of stories?
 Andre’s father had been French, and his mother was Sudanese-Navajo. Andre had been educated in a private school, and before anything, he was French. He spoke English, French and Spanish. He’d been born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, he’d had an upper-middle class upbringing, and he was quite sharp. You had to have a degree of intelligence and a very open-minded attitude to deal with us. Andre had it all. This tale starts from just a little after his arrival.

   









































  Chapter 1


  Stefan and I sat beside each other on a loveseat; Thanatos and Andre were in their own recliners. No, there was no tea. None of us consumed anything anymore. Our interest in food and beverages had completely faded, and we couldn’t handle it without causing ourselves undue trauma, not that we were even motivated to try. Yes, we were surrounding a fireplace; which was there for the sake of aesthetics, and we were discussing my literary series.
  “The stories seemed like a stream of consciousness in a lot of places, but I still enjoyed them,” said Andre. “You just wrote what happened, and it seems these events happened again and again, but hey. You kept the descriptions to a minimum. ‘The Second Time Around’ was kind of shallow, and for all the allegedly raunchy stuff you implied you did; you were very un-graphic in what happened, and I kind of wanted to swat you for that. There are also a couple of unanswered questions in the saga.”
  “What did that mysterious ritual that Stefan, or rather, Stephanie started entail, that our lovely Red Tail will kill me for, if I tell?” I asked.
  “Can you tell me, now? It seems to be a closely guarded secret that’s not even in the Hall of Records.”
  “You mean, you actually looked?” asked Stefan, in a slight state of shock.
  Andre shrugged. “Yes. I like to have my questions answered.”
  Stefan scowled. “Uh, it’s pretty stupid. It’s not that uncommon. I just had issues with it. Still do.”
  “I think I know what it is,” said Andre. “You -censored- everyone you did this with?”
  “Yup! You got me,” said Stefan. "Now please don't tell anyone."
  “I almost can't believe I figured it out. A wild guess on your clue, and an avoided subject! Also, I have three more questions,” said Andre.
  Thanatos didn’t even wait for him to ask. “I got upset about being compared to John Holmes because even though I was one, I didn’t want the reputation of me being a wild conjugal partner, and no, I was not a record setter for schlong size. Far from it! Donn, would you like to answer why you requested Macha to go from six to seven inch blade length for those knives she threw at you?”
  “That was the maximum length I could catch with a guarantee of no error. No, there was no phallic symbolism involved, and any coincidental facts are just that! Coincidental. Any more questions?” I asked.
  “I…um…see. I think. Thank you for clearing that up.” He struggled not to laugh. “I’m still not used to this. Can you guys please let me ask the questions first for a while? Sheesh! I just got here, you know?”
  Thanatos smiled, reached toward Andre with an extended index finger, and made a stroking motion with it. “Would you like to merge with us?”
  Andre flinched. “Mon Dieu (My God), I felt that! You didn’t touch me, but it felt like you petted my nose.”
  “Nice, huh?” asked Stefan.
  Andre smiled. “It felt better than it should have. Do you guys all already know me?”
  I shook my head. “No. I wanted your permission first.”
  “Same,” said Stef.
  “I have no choice in knowing,” said Thanatos. “I’ve already seen tomorrow, and you, my dearest Andre are a part of it as far as I can see.”
  Andre smiled, and nodded. He knew where he stood with our bunch, and he couldn't have asked for more. “Actually, I do have another set of questions.”
  “Shoot,” said Thanatos.
  “It is said that what is imagined in one realm is reality in another. Then what about Seth Karnak? That obscure character that tended to take on a black form that I haven't been able to locate; intrigues me.”
  “That’s a mistranslation by Stefan. What Stef, or rather Kyle wrote about; was an incarnation of my Grandparent. The personality about fits, not that ‘It’ would incarnate like that, or even bother with appearing on Earth. Nice phantasy, though. That took me a little bit of thinking to figure out, way after I read the series. You can reread Kyle's series later to re-familiarise yourself with his, her, whatever way of thinking.”
  Andre crossed his right ankle over his left knee. “I'd like that. It must have been interesting to just have been transferred to Tech Duinn, and not die.”
  “To say the least. To close your eyes in one location, then open them to another, not to mention suddenly having a completely different body of lower density,” said Thanatos. 
  “It was the trip of my life,” said Stefan. “Shall we do a more thorough tour of the castle, next?”
  “Please?” said Andre. “Can we go to the observatory again?” It was in our tallest tower in the building, and Andre had been a little bit of an astronomy buff.
  “Of course, you want to walk,” said Thanatos.
  “I’d be a fool, not to. I mean, all the statuary, and paintings you have in the halls?”
  “And the rooms will detour us every once in a while,” I said.
  “No doubt. We’ve got forever though, huh?” asked Andre.
  “At least. The ladies might also join us, after they’re done with their recording session. Sorry, but Sylvia came up with a bad time to write some amazing lyrics.” said Thanatos.
 “That’s another thing! I think I’d like to sit down and hear some of the music you guys wrote. Also, Donn! Stef! I recall reading you are both killer on the ice.”
  “Aye, we can give you a performance later,” I said.
  “Actually, Thanatos is even more entertaining to watch,” said Stefan
  “Only if you prefer half illusion to sheer skill,” said Thanatos.
  “Uh huh! Like you can’t do a triple axel and an aerial?” asked Stefan.
  “I can, but...”
  Stefan interrupted Thanatos. “You’re better than me, dude!”
  Thanatos looked at Andre, smiled, and shrugged. “I guess it’s your call.”
  “I’d like to see you on skates, too.”
  “OK.”

  *****

  It would take almost forever to get to the observatory. Andre was a great appreciator of art, history, culture, and our progress of actually hitting our current destination was severely curtailed for it.
  Our meeting with Andre at this time was strictly intellectual. Andre didn’t really know how to approach us. All the conversation was directed at what we saw on this tour.
  “These torch lit halls are a marvel,” said Andre. He stroked the black marble wall. “It looks so modern, yet so ancient. What were the Tech Duinn halls like?”
  “Polished granite and mortar,” I said. “Same means of lighting, though.”
  As we were stopped, Stefan put his arm around Than’s waist, and leaned into him. “It’s still there. Shall we go visit Tech Duinn later?” Stefan asked.
  “The principle of the place was the same as this, huh? The library you said you have, rooms dedicated to the different civilisations, and all,” said Andre.
  “Only this is bigger. This has everything, of all Earthly eras. No culture too obscure.” I said. "Mine had the major cultures, but not the subcultures."
  Andre smiled. “Still give your pony sponge baths in the whirlpool?”
  I scowled. “Uh...no. Actually, the whirlpool is something we didn’t transfer, here. No one seems to care. We’re not into that type of pleasure or sensuality any more.”  
  “Do you still go temperature sensitive?”
  Thanatos chuckled. “Gods, hardly ever. We only did it once, to check out what it was like. It’s thirty degrees in these halls. We only spend time here for the visual arts, and to create things the old way.”
  “And a bit o’ snoggin’,” said Stefan. 
  “You still snog?” asked Andre.
  “Hell yeah,” I said. “I love a good snog before the blend, if you know what I mean.” 
  "I think I can understand that," said Andre.
  We started to move down the hall again, and ended up being detoured by the room dedicated to Babylon. Thanatos and Stefan, who were linked arm in arm, disengaged and walked in with a delighted Andre and me to follow.
  Andre traced the back of an intricate, jeweled chair. “All the rooms are dedicated to royalty. Nothing to how the commoners lived.”
  I looked at him. “What would you rather see? Versailles, or a peasant shack?”
  “Point taken,” said Andre. “This seems the ultimate paradise. It’s beyond my imagination. All information of everything that ever was.”
  “You should have been born later,” said Stefan. “You would have loved the internet.” Andre was killed in 1983.
  “Tell me of it,” he said.
  “Well, it...” started Stefan
  Andre interrupted, while shaking his head with a smile. “No, Stef! I know all about it. What room is next?”
  “Aksum,” said Thanatos.
  “Never heard of it,” said Andre.
  “Area is now occupied by Ethiopia,” said Thanatos.
  Andre crossed his arms. “For you guys being so hung up on non-white cultures...”
  Thanatos cut in, “You're here. Everyone else is here circumstantially along with you, and no one in your company cares about anything about the shell you chose to be born into in your last life.”
 A smile crossed Andre’s lips. ‘So, Than! If I’m going to be here forever, what will our relationship be like?’ he sent nonverbally.
  ‘Close. Very close in the only way that counts! You can loosen up, and quit being so self-conscious.’
  Andre looked at me, smiled, and we simultaneously reached out to take each other by the hand. There was no telepathy involved. It just happened, and we both chuckled a little. “Off to Aksum,” I said, and we all slowly walked out of the room.
  He reminded me of Thanatos in more ways than one.

  *****

  Kevalyn switched the settings of the mixer, and said, “We almost have it.”
  “Hm hm. Then shall we meet our new guest?” asked Deliah, who’d been playing an oboe.
  Macha closed her eyes. “They’re kind of preoccupied. I think it would be good for them to finish this tour first. Let Andre satisfy his curiosity about the place, because quite frankly, I’ve seen it all and I don’t want to see it again from a newcomer's perspective.”
  “I know the feeling,” said Sylvia, who was only a vocalist for this one piece.
  “I think this next take is gonna do it,” said Kevalyn. “After this, anyone want to go for a ride in the desert below?”
  “Gods, we haven’t done that in forever. I’d love to,” said Deliah.
  “No objection from me,” said Sylvia.
  “You know better than to ask me,” said Macha.

  *****

  Andre looked through the telescope. It was moved and focused by computer. It was too powerful and precise to be manoeuvred by hand. “This is incredible. To be in an alien star system, and to be on a planet with multiple natural satellites! Can we go Astral, and see them up close later?”
  “No problem,” said Thanatos. If only it wouldn’t slip our minds.
  “I think I’m ready to meet with the other half of the household when convenient,” said Andre. “Especially the redoubtable Percy, as he’s been called.”
  “Aw, Percy is a real pussycat most of the time,” said Stefan.
  I looked to the ceiling. “Yeah, right.”
  Thanatos’ right eyebrow went up, and for a second a smile crossed his face that looked as devious as hell. He kneeled, and in no time he had one of the most beautiful ebon cats I ever saw, in front of him. Percy reared up on Than’s bent knee, and the two nosed each other. Percy then walked over to Andre, looked up at him, and meowed.
  Andre just sat on the floor, and stroked the sides of Percy’s face. It was obviously love at first sight.
  Percy got up, and rubbed the side of Andre’s face. I wasn’t ready for what happened next.
  Both Percy and Andre blinked out for just a split second, and then they reappeared. Sort of! Percy came back about a hundred eighty pounds heavier, then when he’d left. Andre had a leopard before him.
  As Thanatos leaned against the wall laughing his head off, I said, “Gods above, and below”, being in a state of total shock.
  “Percy?” asked Stefan, as the black leopard looked at him. “Is that you?”
  The cat gave him an acknowledgement that sounded like a non-threatening growl. Stefan sat beside him. “Andre, what did you do?”
  Andre smiled, and shrugged. “It took a little while and I obviously had to time trip, but I’ve always wanted a leopard as...an owner, I guess.”
  “He is absolutely beautiful,” I said. “Of course I can paint you two together?” I asked Andre.
  “I was hoping you’d offer,” said Andre.  
  “He won’t be the only one,” said Stefan. “Would it bother you if I told you were a total fox?” he asked Andre.
  Andre shook his head. “I’m too evolved for that, Red Tail. It’s far beyond being an issue anyway.”
  Stefan sent him, ‘I think I love you.’
  Andre sent back, ‘I know I love you. I love everyone here.’
  Stefan walked over to him, and extended his hand to help Andre up. “Can’t wait until we all really learn each other.”
  “I assume we’ll meld when all of us are together?” asked Andre, as he allowed Stefan to give him the lift.
  “That would be more practical. Let’s beckon our fair other half,” said Thanatos.
  “Percy in on the meld, too?” asked Andre.
  Thanatos scowled. “Donn’s done that with Hesper, but I’m not sure that would be a wise idea. Percy is not a Sidhe cat.”
  “You mean you don’t know the consequences?” asked Andre.
  Thanatos scowled. “I never looked, so I didn’t see it.” Thanatos himself walked over to Percy, and kneeled before him. He jerked himself back to a standing position just in time to keep his face from getting rasped by the leopard’s tongue. “To absorb that primaeval intelligence. To blend that with our own in that sort of Sub-Causal merging! Do we all want to become part cat?”
  Stefan looked up at him. “Purr?”
  Thanatos scowled. “You know damn well the panthera class can’t purr.” 
  “Sarcasm.” said Stefan.
  Thanatos smiled. “I notice. OK, we’ll take Percy with us. Let me focus on the ladies, for now.”

  *****

  After a brief introduction, Kevalyn wrapped herself around the reformatted Percy. Our generally feminine counterparts had come to us, rather than us going to them. “Andre, how in the world did you talk him into this?” 
  “I’ve had cats all my life. I also knew about picture thought communication since I was a child. A very young child.”
  “It’s instinctive, but trained out of everyone in the so called civilised cultures,” said Thanatos.
  “I relearned it,” said Stefan.
  “That’s easy enough to do,” said Thanatos.
  “I noticed. I just had to be told that it can be done. Or I read about it, rather,” said Stefan.
  “So, we all want to become part cat?!”
  “Definitely,” said Deliah. “It should be interesting.”
  And the leopard became part person in our merger of acquaintanceship. Talk about double-edged swords!
 
 
 
 
























  Chapter 2


  I don’t know how I let myself be talked into it, and I don’t know how in all eternity I’d live it down.
  Percy! My dear beloved Percy! The lovely copper eyed black beauty that had spent so much time (which doesn’t exist) in my lap, being stroked, and purring up a storm. The ravishing creature that sometimes rested on my pillow, as I slept on Tech Duinn, and in The White City. I moved his black rook according to his telepathic instruction, and I found myself mated.
  I looked at Thanatos. “I just lost a chess game to a leopard.”
  “So, I see,” said Thanatos.
  ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself, dude,’ Percy sent to me. ‘You never play any more, and I’ve decided to retain the skills of Thanatos and Macha.’
  “Hey!” said Deliah.
  The leopard looked at Deliah. ‘Oh, you’re good. You’re still third rate compared to those two, though. I think I can cream you on the board.’
  Deliah stroked Percy’s head. “Being what you are, please don’t use the word ‘cream’ and my identity in the same sentence, my dear.”
  Percy gently rubbed the side of his head against Deliah’s thigh. ‘I wouldn’t hurt you for the life of me, my love. I’m not sure I can out-do you in the way you use words, I must confess. That does seem to be a specialty of yours in which I might not be able to compete.’ Yes, he was underestimating himself.
  “I wouldn’t bet on that, you little upstart,” I said.
  ‘You flatter me to no end... Vergil.’
  I chuckled. “You little button pusher.”
  Percy tilted his head. ‘Little? I weigh more than you, buster.’
  “So you do!” I looked at Andre. “So now that I’ve been subjected to one of the most humiliating moments of my existence, would you like to play this black beauty next?”
  “Later. When no one’s watching, thank you. I have a feeling he’ll whup my ass, as well.”
  Sylvia stretched in her chair. “I never thought I’d ever enjoy watching a chess match, but this was a bit of fun.”
  I looked at her. “Especially since Percy left me in the dust, huh?”
  “How many moves, Than?” asked Sylvia.
  “One and forty.”
  I glared at Thanatos. “What’s it Del always says? I’d hate you, if I didn’t love you so much?”
  Thanatos smiled. “Something like that!” He pointed to Macha. “You guys wanted to go for a ride in the desert. Anyone else, here?”
  ‘I’m game. I can keep up with a horse in this form,’ sent Percy.
  “Let’s,” I said. “It’s so rare we’re all together like this here.”

  *****

  This place was Stefan’s ultimate dream. He’d even written a poem about it, long ago. The land of perpetual twilight, where the main star was always just barely visible on the horizon! The poem came after we’d visited it, of course. 
  Thanatos had time tripped to find Andre a black and white pinto mustang stallion of perfect form. He was an independent natured animal, and when he was called on for service, he was guaranteed to request a payback that went way beyond what he’d delivered, but Andre agreed. He’d been a wild horse, never having known the touch of man, until a bullet brought him down to turn him into dog food.  
  As I'd stated in the prologue, the sky was red toward the main star of this binary system, gradient shades of violet to where we’d situated ourselves, fading to black toward the dark side of the planet. The second star in our system was distant, offering the planet no discernable heat, but it was visible half the time, depending on where you were on the planet. The main star was brighter than anything imaginable on Earth, and what little we could see of it could not be looked at directly with Physical eyes in our eerie twilit sky, and all seven moons, two of which were ringed, were now in sight. It was far from a rare sight, but it was convenient for our satellites to be so in view now. This world was beautiful, and harsh beyond belief. In this planet's Physical Realm, life existed on a narrow strip of the planet, and we were on the very outskirts of it. The visuals were stunning.
  As we were on the desert floor, behind us was the plateau. There was no path to get up it. If we’d been Physical, we would have had to use picks, grappling hooks and ropes to ascend to the castle. The castle loomed, and it looked more ghostly than anything found on Earth from where we were. It was taller than any Earthly castle, as well, and from the outside it seemed to cover many acres. From the inside, it seemed to cover many square miles.
  Eight riders, and one black leopard racing through the rocky sands toward a sun that never rose and never set, but circled the horizon. (Yeah! How many times am I gonna dwell on that?) There was no sound of hoof beats. Gravity’s seeming effect on us was an illusion. The horses and Percy could run forever, being stamina was not an issue in our current High Etheric form, as I already wrote about that in a former tale of this saga, which I am beginning to wonder will ever have a conclusion.
  Gilgamesh was in the lead. I signalled Hesper that I wanted pole position, and he sped up. I was getting off on this. I was visualising what I was doing from outside of myself. I was getting high. I was taking in the whole scene. The euphoria was boundless. I wanted to scream in ecstasy.
  I took the lead. Thanatos looked at me, and gave Gilgamesh a request to slow.
  Suddenly I heard a pop, like a vacuum seal being broken.
  I wasn’t on my pony, anymore. I no longer had a form. Thanatos decided to trigger another merger, completely unexpected by the rest of us, but more than welcome. 
  I got to know Andre Courtois better, this time.
  The animals had been left behind, by the way. Even Hesper and Percy. A very PISSED Percy!

  *****

  So beautiful, so wise, so at peace, so knowledgeable, so intelligent, and so discriminated against in his early years when he was on Earth. Yet, so un-resentful he was in life. Andre had understood.
  Andre came to us first because of Stefan and Stefan’s concept of the mysterious Seth Karnak, second, because of me. He fell in love with all of the characters of my tales, however. He’d waited with patience for the chance to meet with us. He had to transcend The White City first, according to his own rules. Chronologically, we were not there when he was there. He’d arrived later, despite the fact, that by Earth standards he had died before Kyle and Kevin were taken to Tech Duinn.  
  He could have time tripped to meet us, but he didn’t. He’d re-read my tales many times, and he had all of our prints on his walls that he could fit. At the time, he had no clue on how to relate to us. We defied everything he ever knew. People didn’t relate like we did. To our stream of consciousness, I had been in a continuous river of awareness of what might seem many a millennia, but had remained neurotically celibate with the most loving, beautiful entities that existence had to offer. Then on my second round at Tech Duinn, I went on a wild ‘fuckfest’ of sorts, only to be celibate again now. (I was. We all were. Completely, and totally! Yes, that would change, but it would be a while. Like after this book?)
  For the longest time Andre couldn’t understand how I could have been basically heterosexual; yet ultimately disregard the gender of my favourite lover.  
  Now, he knew everything. Well, almost everything. Let’s say he knew everything of importance. Everything relevant. Everything that Thanatos wanted him to know. He understood us...me. The enigmas of his existence had finally become clear to him, regarding the Gate Keeper-writer he'd become so fascinated with.
  He was as much of a find as Deliah, though a bit less volatile. Not volatile at all, in fact. 

 *****
 
 Macha, Thanatos, Deliah, Kev, and Sylvia left me, Andre and Stef on our own, still in the Astral. It was the polite thing to do. 
  Yeah, it turned into a mental ‘make-out’ session. Oh, it was great. However, when the three of us ‘landed’ back in the castle, we had a bit of a surprise waiting for us.
  The ‘attack’ was sudden, but it was not for the sake of injuring me, not that this could have been done. Percy jumped on me, placing his paws on my shoulders, and he roared, and then proceeded to hiss, then growl.
  I ended up on the floor. ‘You abandoned me, you assholes! What’s the matter? I’m not good enough for you?’
  Percy had me pinned, and we were nose to nose. Stef and Andre perceived everything he was sending me, and they looked at each other, then at Percy and I. “Uh, no. I guess Than didn’t know this was an issue with you.”
  Percy got off of me, and lay beside me. ‘Make certain this doesn’t happen again. PLEASE!’ 
  I rolled on my side, and embraced him. “Shall we go back and include you in a Astral baring of our souls? In a little bit, I mean?”
  He growled again. ‘In a...little...bit, huh? What about now? How are you going to make your inconsiderateness up to me, huh?’
  I scowled, and thought for a moment. “Can I brush you down?”
  ‘Soft bristle!’
  I sat up, and materialised a brush. I went to work. Both Andre and Stefan approached me. Stefan sat on the other side of Percy. “Percy, are you alright?”
  Percy hissed at Stefan, then conveyed, ‘Help the man brush me down, or I swear I do declare, I will LICK your NOSE!!!!’
  If that wasn’t a serious threat, what was? Stefan immediately materialised another brush, and went to work. 
  Percy tucked his front legs under himself, lay his head down on the floor, and closed his eyes. I swear he would have purred, if he could have.
  I’ve never been so pussy-whipped in my entire life.
  Andre had to leave before he completely lost his composure, regarding his inability to control his laughter.
  I sent Andre Courtois a private message. ‘Dude! I am going to get you for what you did to this cat!’
  I got nothing back. 

 *****

  Percy was incredible. He mellowed the minute I went to work on him, and he was quite a riot when he rolled over into a ‘rub-my-tummy’ pose. As me and Stefan continued brushing him out, Stefan asked him, “What are you, Percy? More cat, or person?”
  ‘I’d say cat, with an adopted intelligence. You know, words are such a stupid, convoluted way to communicate.’
  I cut in. “I’m writing a story. I can’t convey picture thoughts as easily for any potential readers who aren’t into telepathy to understand.”
  ‘Excuses, excuses.’
  Stefan said, “I’m glad I don’t have to feed you anymore.”
  ‘I suppose a couple of goats and a dozen chickens every week would have cost you a bit.’
  “I don’t know. We lived real close to three different schools, so that wouldn’t have been too much of a problem. You could have kept yourself fed. I mean, one of them was a Catholic school, and they had elementary classes, but I don’t think you would have been that happy as you are in an apartment, not to mention the fact that I would have needed a permit to keep you.”
  ‘I don’t think the town would have been happy if I started picking off school children.’
  “No, but considering the economic decline that hit a few years after I took you on, some of the parents might have been.”
  ‘Yeah, right.’ He stretched, and lay on his underside, again.
  I was having fun perceiving all of this, and I was struggling not to laugh.
  ‘Can you guys call my beloved Andre back, before we do that merger you promised me a little earlier?’
  I scratched him behind the ears. “Our other black panther. Depends. Not now this minute. Is he your favourite?”
  ‘Oh, I don’t know if I have a favourite. It all depends on my mood. I mean, Stefan when Kyle used to buy me all these fish steaks, and shrimp, until I got sick of it. She used to hand feed me, and have dinner with me, and she was my drinking buddy, considering at least once a day, when she had a cup of tea, she’d pour some cream for me, and we’d enjoy that together. She’d also sleep with me on her pillow, and she’d wrap herself around me, and I’d get my litter box cleaned every time she used the loo; and yes, this was important to me. I can’t stand dirty litter boxes, or dirty anything else. Thank you, Stefan...Kyle...whatever.’
  “Welcome,” said Stefan.
  “I never could have dreamed that cats were so aware of all you said.” I said.
  ‘Dude! How can you think that with how you relate to Hesper?! Being a telepath, and picking up what was important to Kyle made me what I am. An arrogant, hopeless romantic! After all, she often did concentrate on how much I awed her. If someone keeps telling you that you’re a god, eventually you tend to believe it.’
  I kissed him on the forehead. “But you give back so much. You’re with us so much of the time, when we’re lounging about, or when we slept, or whatever.”
  ‘Hmmmmm. Love does existence, make.’
  I lay down, and pressed myself against him. “Did you like that run in the desert?” 
  ‘Oh, yeah! I’d love to do it again. However, if Thanatos leaves me out of the loop again, I swear I will slap him silly.’
  “Oh, don’t do that. He’s a sweetheart.”
  Percy looked at me. ‘I wouldn’t seriously do that. I mean, he’s treated me like royalty as well, but what he did was sooooo thoughtless.’ 
 I brushed my finger down his nose. “Maybe he did that so we’d be having this conversation, and so that you’d have an excuse to get spoiled like this. Thanatos is not an inconsiderate individual. He’s also not the type to make a faux pas like this. I think it was deliberate.”
  ‘Can you check?’
  I nodded. ‘Than?’
  ‘How goes it with Percy?’
  ‘He was a little upset at being left out of our interlude.’
  ‘I assume you mollified him?’ came the response.
  ‘In less than a minute, but it seems we have a harsher taskmaster on our hands than ever, not that he’s not worth it.’
  Thanatos appeared in the room. I was virtually spooning the cat, and Stefan was sitting on the other side of him, still brushing him. “How adorable,” said Thanatos.
  ‘Why did you leave me out after I’m now virtually one of you?’ asked Percy of Thanatos.
  Thanatos sat down at the leopard’s head, and gently put his hands on the side of the cat’s face. “The merger was for Andre. You already know us. You have known us since you’ve existed with us.”
  ‘Now I know you from another perspective. Human, as well as feline! I am become hybrid.’
  Thanatos now kissed the cat on the forehead. “A hybrid who quotes the Bhagavad Gita, to a degree!”
  ‘Everyone here has read it, I am both all of you and myself, and it seems I’ve adopted all your tastes and outlooks, or rather had them forced down my throat, not that I terribly mind.’
  Thanatos caressed him. “You are not us, now. You were, during your mindshare, but now you are an individual with our memories, and we are individuals with yours. As soon as you do another mindshare, or when we go back to the Astral, then you are the rest of us.” 
 ‘Hm.’ He stretched again, got up to a seated position, and put his right paw on Thanatos’ knee. ‘I guess I can live with that. Why wasn’t my current overall awareness increased from our telepathic interludes?’
  “You mis-phrased that! What you mean is, why don't you share more of what we are. It’s not a question of awareness. You understand everything, but you are not like us. It’s an issue of what you can or can't share with us because they go against what you are. The only thing that’s changed is that now you are a more complex creature, because Andre basically force fed you an alien nature.”
  ‘He shouldn’t have done that, huh?’
  “It’s not generally advisable. What he was to create a new sort of entity, but on the other hand, I don’t think any of us wants you any other way now. Including yourself, huh?”
  ‘You have something there.’
  Thanatos scratched Percy under the chin. “And it looks like you are going to be the most spoiled little bastard of the castle.”
  Percy took his paw from Than’s knee, and put it back on the ground. ‘Well, you guys are just proving my ‘head of household’ status.’’
  “So, we are.”
  ‘Now, about that merger, though sans Andre, unfortunately?’
  Thanatos looked at Stefan and I. “Are we ready for a further Astral mental unification with a leopard?”
  I shrugged. “Sure.” I kissed Percy on the forehead.
  Boy, did Percy have a good life.

  *****

 Thanatos went his separate way with Percy, and I with Stefan, after the Astral meld.
 Would our addiction to snogging on couch in front of a fireplace ever be overcome? It didn’t look like it. Well, this time Stef was sitting down, and I lay on the couch with my head in his lap, as he was playing with my hair. The fire was just for show, for this place could not have been heated up without central heating, and like that wasn’t going to happen. “After we are done here, I want to paint Andre and Percy together,” said Stefan.
  “Same. I think I want to paint him on his horse with Percy at his side, in Dinè clothing and accessories.”
  “I’m going for the African look. No horse, just an African warrior with his hunting cat.”
  “I’d like to do that after we get our fill of each other, here.”
  “Do you mind that I paint mine in another room from you? You still intimidate me,” said Stefan, as he petted my nose.
  I closed my eyes. “Stefan! You’re end products are as good as mine. It just takes you four or five times longer.”
  “Double that if you’re watching me.”
  I worked my way to a seated position, and kissed him on the cheek. “I could watch you from a formless perspective, and you wouldn’t even know it.”
  Stefan chuckled. “And now I’ll be wondering every time I do a painting if you’re beside me, huh?”
  “Oh, I wouldn’t do that to you. I don’t get the same pleasure out of watching the completion of a painting from scratch, as you do. To me, that’s like watching the grass grow.”
  “Watching me paint is like watching the grass grow. Watching you is like watching a flower open up.”
  “That’s a beautiful line. Thank you.”
  Stefan leaned into me, and put his arm around me. “We’ve about stopped writing each other poetry. I wonder if I should do something with that line.”
  “Maybe. You might trigger another spree, but what is there left to write about. Our poetry was mostly about longing, seduction, you bitching about the past, and our dysfunctionality. That’s all over, now.”
  “Hm, aye. So maybe not.” 
 
  *****

  “I can’t believe what Andre did to you, and I find it even harder to believe that you allowed it,” said Thanatos to Percy. They lay on a rug, side by side, with Thanatos having an arm around the leopard.
  ‘He was very persuasive. Being this way has both its advantages, and its drawbacks. I’m more in tune with what shallow creatures you are.’
  “Is there anything less arrogant than a feline?”
  ‘You know damn well most cats aren’t like me. I’ve been worshipped since the day I walked into Kyle’s apartment. What can you expect?’
  “I wonder what you’d look like, if you were a man.”
  Percy closed his eyes. ‘Whatever I felt like looking like! I could probably take a form to break down the currently celibate tendencies of Deliah and Sylvia, but I don’t think I will. After being first neutered as a kitten, then transferred to where none of it is relevant any more, I have no such inclination.’ 
 Thanatos sat up. “That’s easily understood. Would you like to go for a walk with me?”
  ‘Hm...not really...unless you brush me out after, for a very long time.’
  “Are all cats merchants?”
  ‘That’s a rhetorical question. You know the answer to that. Of course I can relate unconditionally. It’s just that I’m in such a relaxed state, I’d find a walk rather inconvenient at this time, so if you are going to inconvenience me, I am going to inconvenience you.’
  “I’d love to give you a long brushing out. Don’t you ever get sick of that, though?”
  ‘Uh...I’m a cat. Hell, no!’
  “You’re not doing much for the stereotype, Sir Percy.”
  Percy stretched, sat up, and rubbed the side of his face against Than’s shoulder. ‘Oh, let’s go for that walk. No, you don’t have to brush me out.”
  “And if I want to?”
  ‘I guess I’ll let you.’
  “Percy?”
  ‘Yes, I can be a bastard. I’ve been told that often enough, too.’
  They both stood up. “Want to go to the observatory to look out the windows?”
  ‘Do you plan to actually get to our destination, or are we going sight seeing, and admiring the artwork on our way?’
  “What would you like to do?”
  ‘Race you to the observatory.’ Percy crouched, lunged, and took off at a dead run.
  Percy would be followed and surpassed by a stark white cheetah.

  *****

  Andre was on a three seater, snuggled against Deliah and Sylvia. Kevalyn and Macha were on a love seat that they had temporarily materialised for the meeting. The CD player just turned itself off from the song that the women had just recorded.
  “I am impressed. If I’d been more aware of it, I would have had quite a collection of old Irish music,” said Andre.
  “You wouldn’t have been able to find anything like this. It’s related, but the straight Tuatha music isn’t the same,” said Macha.
  Sylvia brought her hand to Andre’s shoulder. “Can you please untie your ponytail?”
  Andre’s hair went halfway down his shoulder blades, and he always tied it up. He simple de-materialised the hair-tie. “Go ahead. You curious to touch it too, Del?”
  “Hm hm. I've never laid hands on nappy hair.”
  Sylvia stroked his hair, first. “Nice. Soft.”
  “Versatile, too,” said Deliah.
  “Can be,” said Andre. “I never did anything with mine, but tie it when I wore it long.”
  “It’s beautiful. Too bad inter-racial dating was such an issue in our day, huh?” asked Deliah of Sylvia.
  “Race never made a difference to me. If he looked good, I had my way with him. Just don’t bring this up when Stefan’s in the room. He’d rant about the race issue non-stop for hours,” said Macha.
  "Well, racial injustice isn't a bad thing to be passionate about," said Deliah.
  "True," said Andre.
 
 
 
 

















  Chapter 3 


 Percy was on his hind paws, holding himself up on the window ledge with his front paws. Thanatos was beside him as they looked at the small part of the eternal sun that was visible. ‘I’m obviously not all cat anymore,’ sent Percy. 'I feel so different, be it wrong or right. I never used to have an interest in things that now catch my eye.'
  “And I’m part cat,” said Thanatos.
  ‘I’m more like you, than I am cat. You still have most of your basic identity.’
  “Correction! I have all of my basic identity. It’s just that I know your life and how you think. You never acted like most cats. You were and are still very demanding, and born to rule. So, can you answer Stef’s question on having been in Ancient Egypt before this incarnation?”
  ‘I wasn’t, but you know that.’
  Thanatos stroked Percy’s head and neck. “I also know that you came back to Kyle from being the cat she had when she was an eleven year old child? Yes. I found that out during our merger.”
  ‘Obviously. Can I ask how I can repay you after all this household has done for me, unconditionally?’
  “You already have. Just being in my lap and purring, was enough. Your kneading behaviour also felt pretty good. Granted, you don’t measure up to Stefan or Donn in the backrubs, but you may have noticed no one ever kicked you out of bed.”
  ‘If I could guarantee you I’d keep my claws retracted, shall I give you one as I am now?’
  Thanatos kissed the leopard on the bridge of the nose. “No. You're too big now.”
  ‘OK. By the way, One Of Glowing Red Eyes! Can you add on a tower taller than this where you can actually go outside, like the watchtowers of ancient Europe?’
  “The cat is now an architect?”
  Percy looked Thanatos in the eye. ‘Out! Out! Out! I want ouuuuuuuuuuut!!!!!’ 
  Thanatos chuckled. “You could almost say that, when you were a housecat.”
  ‘And they’d always open the door for me.’
  “Come on! Let’s go outside.”
  Thanatos and Percy transferred outside, but it wasn’t under Than’s power.

  *****

  A somewhat stunned Thanatos regained his composure. “Ye gods! I thought I was gonna do that.”
  ‘You suggested going out, so...’
  “Uh, yeah! Just out of curiosity, can you install the tower, too?”
  ‘Where do you want it?’
  “I’d say, this side of the castle, closest to the edge of the cliff, next to the entrance.”
  Percy actually nodded, once. The tower appeared. ‘Want to check my work or enjoy the scenery out here?’
  “Percy, you impress me.”
  ‘I see you time tripped, and find it to your satisfaction.’
  “Let’s stay out here for a while. How’s about sitting at the edge?”
  ‘Fine by me.'
  They walked to the edge of the precipice, and sat down. Thanatos dangled his legs over the cliff.
  They sat there for a while, and eventually went Astral, disappearing from the site.

  *****
  Andre, Deliah and Sylvia sat on the floor in front of the fireplace, in the main living room. “I wonder what would have happened if we'd met sooner, Andre,” said Sylvia.
  “Probably nothing. I'm not going to betray the memory of my wife."
  "You're one of a kind," said Sylvia. "Too bad we weren't of the same time."
  “But everything's pretty good now for all of us,” said Andre.
  "None of us have any complaints," said Sylvia.
  “You’ve kept to yourself until now, since you died,” said Deliah.
  “I have my standards. My wife was a hard one to measure up to, before I became detached. Then I just didn’t care enough to seek out new company.”
  Deliah looked at Sylvia. “He sounds like another bane at Tech Duinn, the first time around.”
  “Is there one male here, who wasn’t?” asked Sylvia.
  “Keith, for most of his time there,” said Deliah.
  “Only for Macha,” said Sylvia.
  “How little faith ye have in me,” said Del.
  “Never mind,” said Sylvia.
  “Says the demure gender,” said Andre.
  “Tell it to Macha,” said Deliah. 
  “Yeah, right,” said Andre. “Is there any way I can ask you two to take me on an extended tour of this castle out of time, that I didn’t see yet?”
  “Glad to,” said Deliah.

  *****

  Both Stefan and I time tripped out of the castle dwellers’ perception of it. We also had to invade Andre’s past privacy, unknown to him, being both me and Stefan wanted to paint him with quite a bit of skin showing, and neither one of us had seen him less than fully dressed. It turned he was a bit on the thin side, but his muscle lines were quite prominent. He was another epitome of masculine beauty.
  Historically, there was nothing wrong with painting Andre in a Navajo setting. The unwilling imports to the New World adapted rather well to the Native lifestyle, for it was similar to their own back in Africa, as the New World was being destroyed. Hey! Jimi Hendrix was a quarter Cherokee, and as I said in my intro, Andre was a quarter Navajo, or Diné, as they called themselves.
  Andre’s face was very refined. He had a narrow, high cheek boned face, wide ebony eyes, sensuous, medium-full lips, and a nose of medium width that extended from his face a bit, showing his European heritage. He wore a thin moustache that traced his upper lip, and had a somewhat rounded chin. He looked artistically aristocratic.
  I had to trip out of the place to look at Andre’s horse, who he’d named ‘Wind Warrior’. We’d just call the stallion, ‘Wind’. Stefan time tripped to get Percy the pardale, at his finest. These projects took both of us a bit more effort than we’d originally thought.
  After we were done, we met at the same time we left the castle, so no one would have been the wiser to us being gone. We hung the paintings on the each side of the fireplace of the main living room, and left. This was the most commonly visited room in the castle, and both me and Stefan decided we were too into each other right now to be bothered by all the accolades we’d get for these works. No one has painted anything for a while, so a fuss would have been made over this. Now, Stefan and I just wanted to be together.

  *****
  Stefan and I doubled up on Shiva, and went for a slow ride on the plateau. We didn't look too silly, being Shiva was almost a horse, and Stef and I weren't exactly gargantuan in size. We spotted the new tower right away and planned to head for it after we took care of Shiva’s payback. We rode from one end of the castle to the other, enjoying the view of the violet sky. We could see four of the seven moons very clearly, the other three were on the verge of disappearing over the skyline, our main sun was on our side of the plateau, though the secondary sun was on the other side of the planet. I would never tire of this alien landscape. Its surrealistic appeal would never fade.
  “What would it be like to go temperature sensitive, here?” asked Stefan. 
 “Painful, and your nose would fall off. Don’t be stupid. It’s twenty degrees out here.”
  “I’ve been in worse.”
  I was holding onto Stefan from behind, and I almost laughed. “Like the time you got sent to New Jersey in December to do some cleanup for your data centre, and you only brought your Bay Area clothes? Oh yeah! Run like hell through the field to the Chinese restaurant, about three hundred yards away in six-degree weather while in a pair of jeans, and a regular cotton long sleeved shirt and T-shirt. Yup! That was absolutely brilliant, Stef.”
  “Wasn’t it, though?” he asked.
  “I don’t know what was worse. That, or you running for the ocean waters of Tech Duinn, dressed like you are now.” He was in his breeches, boots, silk shirt, gloves and cloak.”
  “Close call. I still act before I think, some times.”
  I ruffled his hair. “I notice. It’s funnier than hell when I write about it later. It adds to your appeal.”
  “That I’m an idiot sometimes?”
  “Reckless, is a better word.”
  He leaned back into me. “Gods, can I love you any more?”
  I put my head on his left shoulder, and pressed my face against the side of his head. “I don’t think your love for me can be surpassed, though it’s obviously matched by Thanatos.”
  “Hmmmmm. What do we do for Andre, on the ice?”
  “How about Blue Oyster Cult and Led Zeppelin? Later, though! I just want your company right now.”
  “Sounds good to me. Let’s get out of standard time, though. I treasure having you all to myself like this.”
  “Let’s let Shiva go, and you and me go High Astral, or Low Causal for a while,” I suggested.
  “Oh, yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah.” 
  No, I’m not gonna write about that. I mean, how boring, ya know? It's so remote and pointless to get into any details over.

 ***** 

 Del and Sylvia had Andre between them again, and Thanatos was on his feet, pacing in front of the couch. “You want me to what?” Percy was laying in front of the fireplace, focused on the conversation.
  “You heard me! Add a tunnel in the back of the castle, and put a hot spring at the end of it,” said Deliah.
  Thanatos stopped in front of her, and scowled. “Do you know how high this place is?”
  “About two thousand feet?” asked Deliah.
  “Closer to twenty five hundred, but you want me to rearrange the whole geography of the area so you have an excuse to...um...what exactly do you have in mind, for our intrinsically evolved Andre?”
  “Not much,” said Deliah. “The usual. Cuddle, snog, and you know the rest. Just preludes to Astral mergers.”
  Thanatos chuckled. “Uh, huh? More like, whatever you can get away with.”
  "Not more than what I said, dude."
  Thanatos winked at her. "I know that. Just had to say it."
  Deliah laughed, herself. "Glad to know I still have a reputation."
  Andre shrugged. “I missed your hot tub experiences. I feel left out, OK?”
  Thanatos closed his eyes, smiled, and nodded his head five times. He then looked at Andre. “I note a touch of ambivalence.”
  Andre shrugged. “It does seem like a pointless thing, but I've wondered what it was like.”
  “Oh, we had our fun. We just outgrew it, but I can understand,” said Thanatos. "You know something else? I'm gonna join you this first time!"
  Deliah scowled in confusion. “Why? I thought you were fed up with it?”
  “Because there’s a storm incoming. Electrical.”
  “Oh my god!” said Sylvia.
  “Let’s get everybody!” said Deliah, as she made an immediate effort to contact all castle dwellers resembling humans.
  ‘I think I’ll pass,’ sent Percy, to everyone. ‘This isn’t my idea of entertainment.’
  Thanatos went over to Percy, and scratched him behind the ears. “Understood, love.” He closed his eyes. “Donn and Stefan are Causal now, but they’ll time trip back to a few moments from now. The hot spring is set up, and Macha and Kevalyn are already looking at it, thanks to Del.”
  “Will you transfer us to the tunnel?” asked Sylvia.
  “If you like. I even added the beloved multi-coloured torches to the scene,” said Thanatos. "Both in the tunnel, and around the spa."
  “Sounds interesting,” said Andre.
  “Temperature sensitive?” asked Deliah?
  “I would really wait, until I was actually in the water, or at least just about to step into it!” said Thanatos. “I also wouldn’t do anything stupid, like get out of my clothes by actually taking them off.”
  “Didn’t the guys in Tierra del Fuego run around naked?” asked Deliah.
  “Del, if you really want to suffer...”
  She gave Thanatos a sarcastic smirk. “This once spoiled Jewish rich bitch ain’t that masochistic, babe. I’ll take your advice, my love.”
  Thanatos transferred them to the entrance of the new tunnel. A black marble and obsidian beauty, where you could almost see your reflection on the walls, and flames of every gas on Earth and here burning on those walls. Yeah, there were a few indescribable colours.

  *****

  Stefan and I ‘landed’ at the door of the tunnel a few minutes after everyone else had come this way. Percy’s new tower would come later in our explorations. We were a little dazed in an elated sort of way, having totally gotten off on our total Low Causal merger. We walked slowly through the tunnel, stumbling every so often and laughing about it when it happened, but we didn’t actually talk to each other. We didn’t need to. There was absolutely nothing left to say, unless one of us just thought of some sort of witticism to share, and believe me! Neither one of us was feeling terribly creative, right now.
  Due to a lightning strike, the sky lit up in a brilliant red right as we got out of the tunnel. That was the only time this place actually saw ‘daylight’. The clouds weren’t quite over us yet, but the freezing rain was coming down hard and hitting us, thanks to the high winds. Everyone was sitting by the edges, conveniently submerged up to their chins in the Thanatos-made, seemingly natural hot spring, with a ridge that surrounded the interior of the sides that was of varying height, so everyone could find an area suited for them. Stefan and I, our arms still around each other, simply waved to everyone. Everyone waved back. No one said anything.
  I dematerialised my clothes, entered the pool, and went temperature sensitive. Stefan, uh...Stefan, being Stefan, dematerialised his clothes, went temperature sensitive and entered the pool very slowly. Inch by inch, so to speak. Our minds were still connected, I could feel what he was going through, and I felt like getting up, and pulling him into the water. I think I had goosebumps, despite the fact that I was soaking in roughly hundred and five degree Fahrenheit water, give or take. He was shivering up a storm, yet he did not budge on his slow motion entry into the water.
  OK! I suppose I could have disconnected my mind from his. On the other hand, that would have put a damper on what we’d just done in the Causal Realm, so I didn’t. I was relieved, when he was up to his waist in the water. It had taken him about two or three minutes to get there. Probably closer to two, but to me, it felt like a week. I sent him, ‘Stefan, if I didn’t love you so much, I would take a set of pliers to that precious nose of yours, and pull you under water with them for what you’re doing right now. I don’t want to lose touch, so I have to suffer with you, you masochistic fool!’ I was only kidding about the pliers, of course.
  ‘I’ll make it up to you,’ he sent back.
  He waded over to me, put his back against the wall, and proceeded to sink into his seat, taking a couple of more minutes to do so. The steam of the hot spring could have helped, if the virtually gale force wind, didn’t drive it off. After he was completely seated, he put his arm around me, rested his head against my shoulder, and drew me into complete bliss.
  Would Stefan ever get over that ‘It feels so good when it stops’ agenda? Uh, yeah! Uh huh! Sure. There’s no time, but if there were, how long would we have been together by now? Over a century, quite easily! It was still happening.
  No, it would never end.

  *****

  We were enraptured by the fantastic light show. Even when the clouds came over us, they had breaks so you could still sometimes see our main sun, the one far distant that looked a little larger that the earth’s moon, and the currently four moons in our sky view at different times. We sat in the toasty water, and the freezing rain cascaded on our faces sometimes, and drizzled at other times. It was a metaphysical experience. That, with me being still so strongly linked to the fellow storm-obsessed Stefan; made it an experience beyond ecstasy.  
  No one said anything. We stayed there until the main sun circled one fourth of the horizon. Finally, Thanatos said, “If we stay here much longer, we will look like prunes.”
  Macha said, “Aye, I think I’ve had enough. I think I’d also like to transfer into the heart of the castle, with temperature sensitivity gone.”
  “I’m with you there,” said Andre.
  Thanatos said, “Let’s go to the main living room. Andre, you haven’t seen the pictures Stef and Donn did, of you?” 
  Andre looked at Stef and I. “You did pictures of me? You didn’t tell me!”
  “Sorry,” I said. “Things just piled up.”
  “You couldn’t have sent me a thought?”
  I shrugged, “We wanted to surprise you, to tell you the truth. We figured you’d have been in the main living room, by now.”
  “Let’s say I got distracted.”
  I looked at the lovely Sylvia and Delia. “So I see.” I extended my hand to Thanatos, who took it. “We ought to do this more often. This was an amazing experience. Let’s join hands and get ourselves back in the castle.”
  “OK,” said Thanatos. We did, and we ended up all standing together, fully dressed, in front of the paintings. I will not bore everyone with the endless stream of compliments me and Stefan got. 
  Then, Stefan and I checked out Percy’s tower. It was a nice addition.

  *****

  “Where’s Percy?” asked Kevalyn, as we all sat in a circle in front of the fireplace in the main living room, after a slight, temporary rearrangement of the seating.
  Thanatos closed his eyes. “He’s on the sunny side of the habitable part of the planet. He’s on an exploration trip.”
  “I’d like to do that one day,” said Sylvia.
  “Same, but its low priority. Note that I haven’t bothered yet,” said Deliah.
  “I’m still into ‘Give me Niflheim, or give me death.’ I’d rather not. I never want to see full daylight again. You all can just send me the thought pictures of what you saw,” said Stefan.  
  “Percy can show us, when he gets back,” said Macha. “I’d like to spend some time mollycoddling that gorgeous creature.”
  “Can I help?” asked Kevalyn.
  “We both know he’d appreciate that,” said Macha. “He’s always liked to be spoiled in stereo.”
  “Tell me about it,” said Stefan. “Now he’s big enough to be spoiled in quadraphonics.”
  “At least,” said Thanatos, “but what a remarkable creature he is. Thanks for persuading him to become like this, Andre.”
  Andre smiled. “Welcome. Now I find that though I’ve always wanted a pet leopard, there’s not even such a thing as a pet cat.”
  “Household despot, is more like it,” said Stefan.
  “The only way to relate to them,” said Deliah. “Cat’s make better rulers than people, it seems.”
  “They do tend to be more reasonable,” said Thanatos. 
  “Reasonable? As long as you cater to their hedonism to the nth degree! I’d come home from a double shift, and can I just open a can of cat food and leave? Nooooooo! I had to measure out a half a pound of shrimp, thaw it in the nuker, and hand feed it to him one by one. Not the little ones. He liked the big ones. Nine dollars a pound, you know? If I didn’t hand feed him, he’d go hungry, and I’d feed the waste to the ferals. Sometimes he ate too fast, and he’d throw up. Arrrrrrgh! It’s like, I could have eaten that,” said Stefan.
  “It was a touching sight to see,” said Kevalyn.
  Stefan smiled. “So it was. I didn’t always hand feed him. If I was eating my own dinner; he’d feed himself. Just as long as we ate together! Percy really is quite a romantic. In fact, I am tempted to beckon him.”
  “Of course we were the first to declare dibs on him,” said Macha.
  “Fine,” said Stefan. ‘Percy? Have you had your fill of the Hell side of the planet yet?’
  ‘I will not pounce on the beasties, I will not pounce on the...’
  Stefan chuckled. ‘I hope you are being sarcastic.’
  The leopard materialised at Stefan’s side. ‘Of course! You know, only about twenty two percent of the surface of this planet is habitable?’
  Stefan asked, “Are you a geologist and mathematician, now?”
  ‘Hey, zone-case! I know everything that you and everyone else knows, that they have chosen to share with me now. Remember? I have all of everyone’s memories and knowledge here that I consider innately relevant. In fact, I retain things better than you, because I have a higher degree of perpetual self-awareness than you, you damn space cadet. I am a CAT!’
  Stefan kneeled, and kissed Percy on the forehead. “Macha, Kev? You can have ‘im. He’s being a bit cantankerous, here.”
  “Well, considering that you did just insult his intelligence,” said Macha.
  Stefan embraced Percy. “I’m sorry love. I hold everyone to my own standards, and they appear to be lower than yours.”
  ‘I notice, but I forgive you. After all, you’re only just a person.’
  Deliah laughed. “Ye gods.”
  Stefan looked up at Andre. “Dude! Do I pet your nose, or slap you upside?”
  “Hopefully, neither,” said Andre.
  Percy got up, and stepped away from Stefan. Suddenly, it wasn’t a leopard that was standing beside Stefan, but a man.
  We were all absolutely stunned. Even Thanatos. Stefan was the first to speak. “Holy shite! David Selby, eat your heart out!” Percy did look quite a bit like the young David Selby, though with copper eyes. You could tell there were some minor differences if they were side by side, but...actually, Percy looked better if that could be imagined.
  “Thank you,” said Percy. “Now can we all start realising that there is more to me than just a desire to sleep in front of the fire, or a desire for a tummy rub and play time? You let me in on all your shallow traits to top the basic personality traits of my own kind, and I want to check some of these things out from another perspective in this body. You hybridised me, and I suppose now you have to pay the consequences of putting up with me.”
  Stefan scowled. “If you were still a cat, I’d kiss you on the forehead, but you’re not, so I don’t think I will.”
  Percy smiled, and shook his head. “Stefan, Stefan, my dearest Stefan. You know, you must be the most confused individual in existence, regarding issues like this.”
  “You mean it’s not me?” I had to ask.
  “Don’t flatter yourself, Donn. Not only does Stefan take the cake in what ‘it’ is/was, and what ‘it’ wants/wanted, but it’s taken the whole damn bakery, as the expression goes.”
  “My former cat, the psychologist,” said Stefan.
  “YOUR cat?” asked Percy.
  “You didn’t exactly open your own cans of cat food, dude.”
  “That’s what slaves are for,” said Percy.
  “He’s got you,” said Macha.
  “I think I’ll quit while I’m behind,” said Stefan.
  “Wise decision, Stef,” I said.
  Percy went over to Stefan, and embraced him. “Thanks for everything, love.”
  A tear trailed down Stefan’s face, as he returned the gentle hold on Percy. “Gods, I adore you, cat.”
  Percy did get that kiss on the forehead, after all.
 
 
 
 









   





  Chapter 4


  Thanatos took Stefan, me, and Percy away from the rest of the lot. This time, it was Percy who was wrapped around Stefan, as we were led to the room devoted to Scotland.  
  Stefan had gotten himself well under control by now. “Percy, I really wish I’d paid more attention to you. I didn’t give you one tenth what you deserved.”
  “You had other things to do. It took a lot of money to keep me in the royal style you’ve got me accustomed to, and I knew that even when I was alive, as if you let me forget. You gave me a lot more attention then most people give to the felines they share their households with.”
 “Why didn’t you sleep with me more, on Earth? I mean, you seemed to enjoy it?” asked Stefan. 
 Percy chuckled. “Cats are notorious grudge holders, and I was very immature. Whenever you did something I didn’t like, I punished you by depriving you of myself. You weren’t always a good enough telepath for my taste.”
  Stefan and Percy sat next to each other on a three seater, while me and Thanatos pulled up a chair in front of them. “Do you know how confusing it is to relate to you, now?” asked Stefan.
  “Would you prefer I become a leopard again?” He didn’t say so, but in reality, Percy preferred it so.
  “Later. The form you wear!”
  “I took it from your mind,” said Percy. “You thought I’d look like David Selby if I were a person, and I just couldn’t resist improving the look according to your standards. After all, you saved my life from becoming a tragedy when you adopted me. You also gave me the best food available. The high-class seafood?! The organic cream?! The Nutro cat food?! The bottled water?! Then there was the cat structure, and all the toys you bought me? Those times when you brushed me out? The snogging sessions, where you acted like you were scent marking me back? You really cared about me. You still do. And all you wanted from me, was that I sit in your lap and purr.”
  “You did a lot more than that. You even got me to work on time, when I forgot to set my alarm.”
  Percy ran his right index finger down Stefan’s nose. “I was accustomed to eating at a certain time. Cats are sticklers for schedules. We don’t like to be kept waiting.”
  Thanatos asked. “Considering the heavy duty nose petting that’s going on, shall we leave you two alone?”
  Both Percy and Stefan laughed. “Gods, no,” said Stefan. “I guess I just had to clear up some guilt feelings.”
  Percy pointed at Stefan. “You know, you treated me better than you treated Kevin? You rather slept with me than Kevin.”
  “You didn’t snore.”
  “Tell me about it,” said Percy. He looked at Thanatos and I. “I also thank both of you, for all you’ve done for me.”
  “It was our pleasure,” said Thanatos.  
  “Totally,” I added.
  “Thanks. Now, might it be possible to cater to me in satisfying my curiosity about some things?” asked Percy.
  “Like, the intimacy of the tea rituals we used to have a long time ago?” asked Thanatos.
  “I remember the days of Tech Duinn. You’d all sit on the couch under cover in front of the fire place, and everyone would have a cup of tea, and sometimes I’d be in someone’s lap, enjoying the heat of the fire if I’d decided to go temperature sensitive.”
  “I was never even aware of you having the ability to turn your senses on and off, like that,” said Thanatos.
  “I guess you just took it for granted that I had everything figured out and didn’t play stupid games like that, huh?” asked Percy.
  Thanatos smiled. “A polite way of putting it.”
  “Well, I did, being the hedonist that I am. I’ll forgive you. I mean, you obviously thought of me as more than just a cat.”
  “I would hope so, Sir Percy,” said Thanatos.
  “Your master, your liege, aye?”
  Thanatos winked, and pointed at Percy. “Only when you’re a cat. In this form, you can open your own damn cans.”
  “As if you ever fed me.”
  Thanatos cocked his head. “That can be arranged, if you like.” His tone of voice was a bit on the suggestive side.
  Both Stefan and I jerked our heads in his direction. Both our lower jaws had dropped, too. “Say, what?” I asked. The double entendre was a bit much.
  Thanatos said, “Read me, babe.”
  I did. It was only said in jest. “Ye gods! Remind me to establish a stronger connexion with you, before you give me a cardiac.”
  “As if,” said Thanatos.
  I smiled, and shook my head. “You are something else. Stef, mind if we time trip Percy to Tech Duinn?”
  “Not at all.”
  Thanatos raised his right hand, and flicked his wrist, with index finger extended.
  Suddenly the four of us were in Tech Duinn, in the main living room with the perpetually burning fireplace, a thick blanket was on the couch, and four cups of creamed China black tea were on the table. Percy and Stefan sat in the middle. It was one of the most beautiful nostalgic moments we ever had. Of course none of us could even think of getting the tea down without gagging, though we did enjoy its scent, which was the only reason we materialised the cups. 
 
  *****

  “We are the same. All creatures, all objects. Exactly the same,” mused Andre.
  “Eventually,” said Macha.
  “Every mammal, bird, reptile, insect, fish, rock, and speck of dust.”
  “You knew that,” said Deliah. 
 “From an intellectual perspective,” said Andre. “Now I know it intrinsically. I ‘grok’ it, so to speak. I understand everything Carlos Castaneda wrote about regarding inorganic life forms, and all. I feel like another blanket has just been lifted from over my head.”
  “It’s a wonderful feeling,” said Sylvia. “I know exactly what you’re talking about.”
  “Unfortunately, I seem to have lost the company of a leopard.”
  “Would you like another one?” asked Macha.
  “I’m not sure. Percy is something special. Because of all the care he’d gotten, he was pretty anthropomorphised even before I did my complete mind share with him. He had a lot of Stefan in him. Those two are virtually soul mates. Donn didn’t write about that,” said Andre.
  “He didn’t consider it worth writing about. We’ve all talked about it, though. Percy was rarely mentioned in the Xanon Chronicles, but he did spend one hell of a lot of time with us. If there ware a lap available, he’d be in it much of the time. He also liked to sleep with whoever was asleep that day or night,” said Macha. “He was a very affectionate animal.”
  “Still is, from what I can tell,” said Sylvia. “Whatever the hell I should consider him as being.”
  “I might have married him, if I’d met Percy in life in his human form,” said Deliah.
  Sylvia snorted. “He’s legions over Ted.”
  “I thought you forgave Ted?” asked Andre.
  “I did, but I also stated a fact. After all, by now Ted Hughes is pretty much a dead issue.”
  “Brilliantly phrased. I’ll have to remember that line for Stefan,” said Deliah.
  “You and Stefan seemed to have almost everything in common when you were alive,” said Andre to Sylvia.
  “I loved my children and I was comfortable with my femininity, unlike Stefan...or should I say, Kyle? I was also a hell of a lot more jealous and possessive of my slutty husband, not that I was easy to live with.”
  “Neither was Kyle easy to live with.” said Andre.
  “I think I was worse,” said Sylvia. “Me and Kyle did have a lot of overlapping issues, though.” She looked at Kevalyn. “You know how goddamn weird this is, talking about you guys in the past when you were alive? I mean, not only didn’t you keep your names, you didn’t even keep the façade of the gender you were.”
  Kevalyn shrugged. “Stefan doesn’t even like the concept of gender.”
  “I could tell,” said Deliah. “He was also such a frustrating lover in the Tech Duinn days.”
  “No, he wasn’t,” said Kevalyn. “He was damn good.”
  “Depends on what you wanted,” said Deliah. “You weren’t going to get unbridled passion or a good fuck from him. Same with Donn and Thanatos! They were all the same. So artsy, so controlled, so deliberate, so appreciative, so...goddamn quiet. I mean, why be so self-conscious of your dignity at moments like that? Never once did I get wild abandon from any of those three, not that I really wanted them very much after the first few times. The only reason I had them again, is 'cause they're so damn gorgeous. Man, how can anyone feel more unused, you know?”
  Andre had to laugh at that last line. “Is this a bad thing?”
  “I couldn’t make those guys lose control of themselves,” complained Deliah. That did wonders for my ego. I mean, LOOK at me.”
  “You’re very beautiful,” said Andre. "Even more beautiful than my Tonya, I have to admit."
  “That time is gone, though. The time for the mundane basics is relegated to memory,” said Deliah to Andre.  
  “I never dwelled on it much since my arrival in The White City,” said Andre.
  “I can't quite say the same,” said Sylvia.  
  Andre smiled, and said, “Anyway, I admired Donn and Thanatos so much, I would have been inclined to imitate their style if I'd cared.”
  Sylvia scowled at him. “If you had Stefan’s priorities, I’d threaten to bite your nose off for saying that.”
  “I’m glad I don’t share what’s important to him, then. My nose also doesn’t extend halfway across the room.”
  Everyone laughed over that one. 

 ***** 

 “This is nice,” said Percy. “Now, while we are back at Tech Duinn, what is it like to swim in the ocean, to ride a horse through the surf, to sit in the perfumed spa, or to sit under the English gazebo on a foggy night with a cup of tea, as a person?”
  Thanatos looked at me. “Looks like we’re going to be here for a while.”
  I shrugged. “Fine by me.”
  “Would you like an equine companion?” asked Thanatos of Percy.
  “No! Can a borrow one?”
  “Hm hm. I’ll ask Aslan.”
  “Thank you,” said Percy.
  Aslan was cool with being ridden by his some time feline buddy.
  *****

  Percy ended up preferring to ride double; not that riding really mowed his lawn. Despite his now human form, Percy was still such a cat, and he liked being in close contact with someone else.  
  He liked romping in the surf, and hitting the ocean. Leopards don’t have an aversion to water, and that carried over to the human Percy. Even when Percy was a housecat, he used to love playing in the rain, although he wasn’t too thrilled with baths. Nevertheless, he tolerated being put in the tub without a fight when the situation called for it, on those days when he’d been trapped on Earth.
  We ended up spending quite a bit of time, playing in the ocean. I had fun, myself. We stayed temperature insensitive, of course.
  We’d had to time trip to get to a foggy night in the garden for the stint under the English gazebo, and Thanatos had no problem directing us to the conditions we wanted. Afterward, we walked through the garden. The neglected torches were still burning, and everything was just as we’d left it. We materialised tea, but none of us could get past the first sip. Again, Thanatos and I were now too far removed from the intake experience, and Percy couldn't stand the taste, on top of that.
  We walked to Percy’s final experience of curiosity. The spa.
  Percy wanted to experience the self torturous method of disrobing in the hall while being aware of the uncomfortably cold temperature, and feeling the relief as one walked into the steamy room. We all did that. Would this be my last time?
  Gods, I didn’t know. Before now, I thought I’d never see Tech Duinn again. The whirlpool would be filled with jasmine oil, thanks to Thanatos. Percy used to love the scent when he was a housecat, and that hadn’t changed. Percy entered the water first, and though he didn’t think much of the soak in itself, he revelled in everything that came with it. He sat between us, and rubbed the side of his face first against Than’s shoulder, then against mine. We ended up having a platonic make-out session of sorts, basically treating Percy like he was still a cat. Mutual scent-marking behaviour, light snogging, and me and Than traded places on giving him a light, something of a back and shoulder rub. If we’d been filmed for a controversial flick, the audience would have been bored to tears. Stefan, not being next to Percy, just sat there.
  When it all ended, the four of us went Causal to do another complete mental merger. It was sweet. Percy had a quality about him, that wasn’t found in people. An innate knowledge! An alien innocence!  
  We time tripped back to the Akashic Castle to the moment before we had left, but to that room devoted to Scotland.

  *****

  Andre, Deliah and Sylvia stood outside of ‘The Room of Akasha’. “Past, present, future, anywhere, everywhere,” said Andre.
  “Hm hm,” said Deliah. “Every world that exists, in every time frame, on all levels of existence.”
  “Will I come out sane, if I enter?”
  Sylvia smiled. “It’s not a case of ‘Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.’ You just view it internally. You just know it.”
  “And you can just open up, and let the knowledge flow?” asked Andre.
  “It hits you all at once. A good analogy might be, you getting seven thousand tomes downloaded into your memory banks in less than a second,” said Deliah. “It’s cool. I’ve done it lots of times. Just don’t develop any passions with your knowledge. That’s very counterproductive, and unless you can guarantee yourself that, you don’t want to go in there.” 
 “I remember that from our merging, but I’m not sure I’m ready for this,” said Andre.
  “Then let’s go read some books for now,” said Deliah.
  “Sure. The library seems to go on forever,” said Andre.
  “Almost,” said Deliah. “It’s a student’s dream, huh?”
  “Would you forgive me if I said, ‘totally’?” asked Andre.
  “We would,” said Sylvia. “We say it periodically. Thank you, Stefan.”
  “I love it,” said Andre, “but can we walk?”
  “Seeing that you want to see more of the castle, it seems the library isn’t your highest priority,” said Deliah.
  “You haven’t seen it all, yourself,” said Andre.
  “No. Not by walking through it. I absorbed it,” said Deliah.
  “And I want to actually see more of it. I know what you know about it, but I want a more in depth experience.”
  Deliah smiled, and put her arm around Andre. “Then, let’s go!”

  *****

  After we got back to the castle, I had an intense desire to go Causal with Stefan, but I refrained from letting the wish be known. Instead, I embraced him as well as I could with one arm, and sent him the warmest feelings I could, along with a ‘Thank you for having taken such good care of Percy, and paying so much attention to him.’
  He looked at me. ‘What brought this on?’ Stefan returned the telepathic transmission.
  I smiled, and brushed my head against his shoulder. ‘By catering to him as you did, and by having been aware of how to communicate with him when you were alive, you helped him become quite an intellectual creature.’
  ‘He struck me as having been born that way.’
  I couldn’t resist this. ‘Well, he was smarter than your average cat.’
  Stefan’s eyebrows went up. ‘My love, my liege! Have I ruined you, with my memories of silly childhood cartoons?’
  ‘Call me ‘my liege’ again, and I may ruin you, nostrils for brains.’
  Stefan had to laugh. “Oh, Donn! I can’t believe how adorable you are,” he said aloud.
  Percy then said, “I couldn’t have asked for a better liege, myself.”
  “Percy!” I exclaimed.
  Percy smiled. “I perceived every thought you guys shared with each other. Now, that telepathy stint wasn’t polite, was it, my dearest Tuatha prince?”
  “Oh, spare me! Please,” I said. "I never identified with being one of those, and I think I abdicated completely at seventeen, not that I ever thought of myself as such."
  Stefan ruffled my hair, turned to Percy, and kissed him on the cheek. “Mi gatito bonito!”  
  Percy raised his left eyebrow. “Your pretty kitten, Stefan? Now?”
  “Mon chat? Mon léopard?”  
  Percy chuckled. “Andre is rubbing off on you. Spanish suits you better. French in an Irish accent is atrocious, and at least you have the decency to adopt a little bit of a Mexican accent when speaking Spanish.”
  “Thanks...I think,” said Stefan.
  Percy leaned into Stefan. “I’m glad our relationship hasn’t changed with my form.”
  “How can it? Will you ever take the form of a leopard again?”
  Percy tilted his head. “Of course, I’m becoming a leopard again. This form is deplorable. So weak, and inefficient.”
  “I haven’t slept in forever, but can I sleep with you as a leopard?” asked Stefan.
  "Sounds good," said Percy.
  “Yes, it does. I’ve never slept with a big cat before,” said Thanatos.
  Percy looked at him. “Take a number, babe.”
 We found that statement quite amusing.
 Yeah, I wanted to experience crashing out with Percy in leopard form, as well. An alternative would do, however. I looked at Thanatos. “Remember the time we first met, when you introduced yourself as Keith?”
  Thanatos shook his head, gave me sardonic smile, and suddenly a snow leopard sat, where formerly was either the first or second most attractive thing in humanoid male I ever saw was, depending on my current taste.

  *****
 
 Snow leopards are nowhere near as big as a true leopard, but Than’s soft, lush fur, more than made up for it. In a rare show of this type of hedonism, I crashed out with the lovely cat. Sleeping with my face against his neck was nice. I wondered why we hadn’t done this before.
  Thanatos wouldn’t be sleeping with Percy in leopard form. He wasn’t as curious about crashing out with a large cat as he’d verbally implied.

  *****

  Andre stopped in front of a statue of an Oriental jade dragon. “I was pretty good at geography, and now I find that I didn’t know ninety odd percent of these nations existed.
  “You were good at what was your current geography. You weren’t exactly a history major,” said Sylvia.
 “I studied it to a degree. So much was ignored,” said Andre.
  Deliah put her arm around his waist. “Gods, I love people with a penchant to grow intellectually.”
  He stroked her hair. “It takes one to know one, eh?”
  Deliah cocked her head. “I suppose so. Too bad we were born in different times and countries.”
 “What would your father have said if you were dating a black man?”
  Deliah scrowled. “I think he would have had a cow, and died in the delivery room.”
  “And people wonder why I couldn’t adjust in life,” said Sylvia. “Having to live with attitudes like that, you know?”
  “And you should have seen how many people went into shock, when I displayed any level of intelligence,” said Andre.
  Deliah snuggled against him. “And you were never bitter.”
  “My father told me that if anyone ever gave me any of this garbage, just to look at the situation objectively and remember that I had a private education, I had more money in a trust fund that most could dream of, and that with my choice of careers, I was going to make four times the national average in salary. Granted that is not a very spiritual philosophy of dealing with the situation, but it worked, I never got defensive, and I actually made a few friends which originally never dreamed they’d be associating with a nigger.”
  “I hate that word,” said Sylvia.
  Andre stepped forward, and rubbed his left index finger down her nose. “Then I won’t use it again, but you have to promise me never to call yourself a former Nazi bitch.” (I didn’t think that was worth writing about in my tales, though it’s happened with regularity.)
  “Deal.”
  Andre stepped back into Deliah’s now firmer grip, but looked at Sylvia. “You are not your ancestry. There never was a reason to feel guilt over having German blood. Sylvia, you were one of the most enlightened people of your time.”
 The three started slowly moving forward, again. “Too bad Tech Duinn couldn’t have been like this,” said Deliah.
  “If it were, you’d still be there. You wouldn’t be one third finished with exploring it, and you couldn’t have left until you saw every last inch of it on foot. Anyway, I wasn’t there, so that would have curtailed our meeting. We couldn’t have had that, now could we?”
  Deliah and Sylvia looked at each other. “But now that we have met...hmmmmm,” said Sylvia. She looked at Andre. “Shall we ask Thanatos if he can arrange for one more round at Tech Duinn, so we can scr...”
  “No! No...no...no! Good place to visit, but not to live. I have no desire to devolve to re-evolve. Let's leave this in the history files.”
  “You do have a point, though I do wish we'd met earlier in the game,” said Sylvia.
  Andre ran his hand through her hair. “I don't think so. Let's go Causal.”
  "Works for me," said Deliah. 
 "US!" exclaimed Sylvia.
  Deliah smiled at Sylvia. "You know what I mean.
  Sylvia winked at Deliah. "Indeed I do. 
 
 
 
 































  Chapter 5


  Later on, Andre and Percy were sitting on the steps to the main entrance of the castle with Percy in human form, and the sun was almost directly in front of them. It was a partly cloudy sky. “You were one strange cat, Percy. Your level of intelligence and what you valued, were something else. And the games you played in San Jose?”
  “Like me and Kyle chasing each other around in the courtyard of the apartment, and me jumping out from behind a bush to attack her ankles?”
  “And the way you used to jump from tree branch to tree branch? And the time you bit Kyle’s nose front and centre? And we mustn't forget when Kyle made snorting noises at you, and you returned the noises the same amount of times she made them, and then you did the same for Kevin, just to prove that you could count? But you only did that once for each of them!”
  “I wasn’t a performer.”
  “Yes, you were. You repeatedly kept them entertained with your antics, like jumping straight up in the air once or twice, or on rare occasion, three times, and the time you took these vertical leaps into the air, all the way to the front door, and then you reared up on your hind legs and put your front paws on the door with a “let me outta here” look, and all that?  
  “Kyle used to dream you spoke English, until she tried to leash you,” said Andre.
  “When I was a kitten, I had a brief interest in communicating with Kyle on her level, but when she leashed me, I got pretty upset and decided it wasn't worth the effort. I never forgave her for it, for as long as I lived. You don’t need to leash a cat when taking it for a walk if you have a close relationship with it. They just follow you.”
  “As Kyle found out,” said Andre. “You and Kyle and Kevin used to walk around the neighbourhood in San Jose, and people who saw you would trip.”
  Percy smiled. “I remember. I used to love those midnight walks. Sometimes Kyle and I would run together for half a block or so. I used to feel sorry for her, since she was so damn slow and clumsy.”
  “She made a damn good servant for you, though.”
  “When she wasn’t on overtime. Or should I say, when ‘it’ wasn’t on overtime?”
  Andre laughed. “For the umteenth time, I have never met someone who has had such a gender identity problem in all my life.”
 “I never thought about it. I can’t say I was into the concept of gender, either. I got neutered while I was in my adolescence. I never knew what I missed, not that it ever mattered.”
  “And if you were to materialise on Earth as you are, you’d have women throwing themselves at you, left and right.”
  Percy scowled. “I wouldn’t do that, and I’d consider that attention a major nuisance. Unless of course, they wanted to brush me out, give me tummy-rubs, and dangle a string in front of me.”
  Andre shook his head. “You sound like Stefan. Gods, Percy! Your wit astounds me.”
  Percy cocked his head. “You think I jest?”
  “I certainly hope so.”
  Percy’s scowl turned into a smile. “I do. Kyle/Stephanie/Stefan/whatever left quite a strong mental imprint on me. When people give an animal their full attention, awareness, and focus with a true intention of communication, they do leave something of themselves behind in the animal’s personality if there is a trust and love there. With our telepathic natures, and all?”
  “You could even see if someone was lying to you.”
  “Unfortunately, not all can. That’s been the cause of much avoidable pain and misery.”
  “Not that you care that much, anymore.”
  Percy shrugged. “Oh, I suppose not. I mean everything is as it should be, huh?”
  “So I’ve been informed by our lovely Thanatos in our Astral and Causal mergings, not to mention it's mentioned in The Chronicles.” 
 “I also have nothing to complain about in my last life. I was the sire of a comfortable middle income dwelling, and I didn’t have to do anything but be myself. My two slaves generally behaved themselves quite nicely, except for Kevin not liking me on the table when he was eating, but I usually let him get away with removing me from said table.”
  “Usually! Uh huh! Yeah, right!”
  “I trashed his studio, once. Rearranged it a bit.”
  Andre nodded. “Yeah! You moved the speakers on the table, and you dragged everything on the worktable across the room. I remember those images. That was funnier than hell. And what about right after, when Kyle hissed at you repeatedly for doing that, and you went into the cabinet and dragged out the catnip?”
  “Oh, that chastisement hurt. I felt I was justified in what I’d done in the studio, and the love of my life yells at me. I just couldn’t deal with it. At least Kyle was kind enough to open the bag all the way, being I’d somewhat destroyed it, and serving me enough catnip so I didn’t care anymore. She learned never to treat me like that again. I mean, it’s not nice to drive your cat to drugs.”
  “Tell me about it. Especially not one like you! You know, despite what you look like, you still seem so feline to me.”
  Percy looked at Andre, and smiled. This was the perfect excuse to go back to his preferred form. Percy moved closer to him, and suddenly a black leopard sat next to Andre. ‘Better?’
  Andre put his arm around the big cat. “Sometimes. Do you mind that I love you?”
  ‘Not at all! I appreciate it. Thank you for hybridising yourself with me! You’ve made a better man of me.’
  “And you’ve made a better cat of me. Want to go back inside?”
  ‘Sure. Let’s walk.’
  “Telescope tower?”
  ‘I’d dig that.’

  *****

  I actually ended up alone, somehow. It was a rare occurrence, and I used the opportunity to hit the ice. I actually got out of my usual black tunic, and switched to one of the same design, though in multi-coloured fluorescents, and a few extra sashes. I went gravity-lite, and ice-danced to only the things my adopted family or I had written, of the Tuatha, or later Irish styles. I also drew forth Astral-Etheric energy for a light show, and divided myself up by time tripping, so I could skate and watch at the same time, which is kind of hard to do, due to the mind-fuck, and I stepped out of time so I could keep myself entertained for a short eternity, and not have anyone miss me. Yeah, not that there really was any time, but you all know what I mean. It's all a perspective issue, and such.
  Gods, I was no so aware of what a work of art I was. I went into full grace mode rivalling Thanatos, and matching...no surpassing the shows he so impressed me with when he strutted his stuff on the ice. The music, the colours, the flow, and the artistry were a mind blower.  
  This was one of my rare moments of a narcissistic indulgence pushed to the extremest extent I ever took it. I even wondered if I should do a self-portrait of me either at the high point of an axel, or in the middle of a flying leap.
  I decided on the axel. I’d do that out of everybody else’s time frame, as well. It would give me a little ‘time’ to reflect on the newest member of our lot, the transformation of the lovely Percy, and maybe just completely relax and think of nothing.
  But for now, I was still on the ice. I got lost in the music, and the Etheric/Astral flow.

  *****

  Stefan and Thanatos went to the room of the Akashic Library connexion and sat on the floor, hand in hand. “I’ve done this with so many other cultures,” said Stefan. “I’ve never been that bothered by their passing.”
  “This is different, love. This is something you can’t imagine.” 
  “Knowing Atlantis isn’t as bad as visiting The White City from Tech Duinn, is it?”
  “It might be comparable, to you. Then again, you might surprise me. You have come pretty far.”
  “I know it a little bit of Atlantis.”
  “Through me, aye. Getting the full force of that whole civilisation through The Records all at once isn’t like watching an Ed Wood flick. You won’t have a buffer of any kind.”
  Stefan smiled. “I’m aware of that.”
  Thanatos moved closer to him, and put his arm around him. “You want to do this without me guarding your mind?”
  “I think I can handle it.” Stefan returned his hold, and they ended up in a half-cocked embrace.
  Stefan locked his mind onto one of the greatest civilisations that ever was.
  He managed to remain dispassionate, as the information inundated him.
  Yes, Stefan handled it quite well.

  *****

  I felt so good, after my time on the ice. Kind of high, I guess. Also kind of hedonistic! More hedonistic than anything at the castle could provide. I ended up transferring Causal for various experiences that were literally indescribable, for lack of wording in the English language.

  *****

  Percy looked in the direction the sun, from the tower. ‘I always used to wonder what motivated people. All the strange distractions they had that took their attentions away from me.’
  “You used to love it when Kyle surfed the web,” said Andre.’
  ‘Oh, yeah! Sit in her lap, getting perpetually petted, purred at, and nosed once in a while.’
  “Hm. You know, it is so interesting to see all these alien constellations. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this place.”
 ‘I don’t think much of them. I just take everything for granted. I’ve had it so good since the day Kyle took me in; I just can’t imagine existence any other way. Even before Kyle took me in, I wasn’t ever in need. I was rescued by some people the same day my mother was killed by a car, and when they abandoned me the apartment complex kept me fed and watered, and I was only living outdoors for about three weeks,’ sent Percy.
  “If only everyone had it that good.”
  Percy looked out the window again. ‘Aye. I like this place better than Earth. The darker sky?’ 
 “Another perpetual twilight lover, huh?”
  ‘I’m a cat. What can you expect?’
  Andre looked at him. “Leopards too, huh?”
  With that, Percy changed himself into a housecat again, and raced up Andre’s left leg into his arms. ‘Sometimes,’ he sent to Andre.
  Andre cradled the cat. “Those claws of yours, you know?”
 ‘Those wounds of yours can heal instantly, now.’
  Andre kissed Percy on his feline forehead. "I suppose you want me to carry you downstairs."
  ‘To Persia! Please.’
  Andre transferred them. “Carry you all that way? You’re a big cat, Percy.”
  ‘It was a nice thought. Put me down, please,’ sent Percy.
  Andre gently put the cat on the floor. “Here ya go, my currently little leopard.”
  Big leopard. Percy shifted his form. ‘How’s about a heavy petting session?’
  Andre shook his head, and laughed. “Cats will be cats.”
  Percy stretched. ‘Especially the spoiled ones.’
  “Oh, I don’t know. You seem pretty fresh to me.”
 
 *****

  I came back from the High Causal, having meditated, and more or less communed with Chaos. The feeling of love couldn’t be any stronger, not to mention my feeling of peace.  
  I remained formless for a while, after I got back to the castle. I had a vague desire to see Thanatos, and I drifted off toward our Akashic Library connexion. I know I could have transferred, but I was just enjoying all that is, and was in no rush, so...
  I knew he was with Stefan, and I dreamily floated toward them.  
  I went down the halls, and through the closed door. Thanatos and Stefan were wrapped around each other, unmoving. Both had their eyes closed, and they were in a mind-share. I was invited to join them, and I did. I hovered into them, in my formless state.
  Stefan’s grip on Thanatos tightened, “Aiiiiiiiyah,” he said softly. He felt my 'invasion', and sensation of it came as a pleasant shock.
  I gave him a mental caress. ‘So you saw Atlantis from a personal perspective.’
  Stefan smiled, and answered me in thought. ‘Hm hm! Impressive culture. Impressive end, too. Pretty dramatic, but they deserved it.’
 The two of them dismissed their forms, and became like me. Me, in total bliss, Stefan, the freshly sated one in the realm of curiosity, and the evolved as they come Thanatos, became as one. Thanatos transferred us back to where I just came from, and like I was going to argue?

  *****

  Macha and Kevalyn were in the Akashic Castle's library of books. “This place rocks, as the old cliché goes,” said Macha, as she pulled a copy of ‘The Divine Comedy’ from the shelf.
  “I’m more into a Socrates mood. You know, I just love walking through these aisles. Ancient dreams of childhood still haunt me.”
  “That’s why we’re here,” said Macha.
  “Will there ever come a time, when I don’t care anymore?”
  “There’re a lot of things we don’t care about anymore.”
  “I never thought I’d not want tea anymore,” said Kevalyn. “Some forms of nostalgia just won’t let me go, though.”
  Macha smiled. “Like the embrace of a loved one?”
  “Oh, yeah! It still means so much even after a complete oneness with everyone. Or sharing that communal whirlpool in the storm, or looking at the horizon of eternal twilight! There are just some elements that I can’t get out of my system.”
  “Getting them out of your system isn’t the point. They have to leave on their own.”
  “How many times has the crew discussed this, already?!”
  Macha chuckled. “As if there’s a point to any of us conveying anything to each other, anymore?”
  “Old habits die hard, huh?”
  “To say the least.”
  They transferred to the ‘philosophy’ section of the library, and started walking down the aisles. There were fifteen-foot long shelves, each with torches at the ends. When standing outside the library, it seemed large, but a bit more finite than when actually standing inside the room.  
 That’s how this place worked. From the outside, it may have seemed a hundred thousand square feet, or so. From the inside, it was many a square mile. None of us had any problems with this MC Escherian math.
  The ceiling of the library went forty feet up. There was a level over the floor along all the walls that contained only books dealing with absolute fact. They were not books of the Earth, but those compiled by those who were beyond Earth. They were popular, despite the fact that reading them was a redundant activity for the likes of us. 
 We were innately High Astral-Low Causal, but here we bide! In the realm where we experience a sometime Physical perspective of a Physical world, from a view that bordered the Astral-Etheric! How absolutely frivolous of us!
  “This place is so surrealistic,” said Kevalyn.
  Macha scowled. “Do you know what you just said?!”
  Kevalyn laughed. “I think that comes from having Stefan around too much.”
  “Must be,” said Macha, with a smile. “Having him a part of you does have its...effects.”
  “A nice way of putting it.”
  Macha put her arm around Kevalyn. “Aren’t you glad things worked out between us as they did? You being mostly with me?”
  Kevalyn looked to the ceiling. “Oh gods, yes. I’ve never had such a good relationship with even Kyle, as I do now.”  
  “I know. But who could measure up to her Donn and Thanatos?”
 “It used to bother me a little. It also made me feel bad, that she wanted those two so bad, but she had to stay alive to take care of me. I felt like a hindrance, every once in a while. I’m glad she loved me enough to stick around, not that being considered the best mortal flotsam in existence was bad.”  
  “So am I,” said Macha.
  “Back to the here-now, I’m also damn well aware that Stefan wouldn’t mind it one bit if the only two he would see for all eternity was Donn and Than, even now.”
  “And Percy, and the horses. It’s been like that since he/she/it was alive, babe. Some devotional states never fade.”
  “Such sweet torture, to have been rescued by Donn.”
  Macha shrugged. “Torture to love him in those early days. What a confused mess Donn was.” 
  Kevalyn tilted her head. “Like Kyle wasn’t?”
  “Hey! They were meant for each other.”
  “Tell me about it.”
  “Here we are. The S section.”
  “S-O, a way down.”

  *****

  When me, Stefan and Thanatos landed on our world again, we ended up on the far pole away from the sun. Of course, we weren’t stupid enough to perceive any of it from a Physical perspective. Not the cold, not gravity, nor anything else, though from an outside perspective we were grounded, so to speak. There was not any sort of sensation for us, whatsoever. We were spectral observers.
  The distant secondary sun and three now visible moons from here, gave us light.  
  It was freezing, and covered with ice.
  Thanatos tilted his head, raised his left eyebrow, and smiled. “Let’s have some fun.”
  “How?” I asked.
  He extended his hands. “Take my hands, you two.”
  We did, and suddenly our location changed.
  We looked before us. “Holy shite!” said Stefan.
  “Gods above, and below,” I added. A volcano was erupting before us, about five miles away. If we’d been solid, we would have been hit by debris. If we didn’t have enhanced sight, we’d have been walking through an ashy volcanic night.
  “To be able to see that, this close!” said Stefan.
  “Want to get closer?” asked Thanatos. 
 “Sure,” I said. “Shall we pretend to walk?” If we’d been physical, we couldn’t have done it. The ground was unstable, hot, and Physical visibility was close to zero.
 “Fine be me,” said Thanatos. “Nice lava-flow, huh?”
  “I have a confession to make,” I said.
  “I’ve never seen anything like it, either,” said Stefan, who was on to me. 
  We went through the motions of walking through steaming slush and ash, not leaving any prints or evidence that we were there. We would have needed oxygen tanks, if we’d been Physical. 
  It was so weird, when things fell on me. They went through me, there was no resistance, but there was an innate awareness! I felt something. What does an electric current feel, when another electric current hits it? It’s the only thing I can think of, even though it sounds like a totally psychotic comparison. 
 We approached very slowly, by choice. We took in everything. We were like people walking through a hologram set, only we were the holograms.
  The volcano exploded. The top was ripped off, and the lava flow increased. A hole appeared in the side of the mountain after another explosion, and we could see the orange flaming molten rock, within.  
 The land shook. We didn’t. If I’d not been stablised by Thanatos suddenly putting his arm around me, I might have done some interesting things due to the disorientation I was feeling. Fallen? Probably not, but I was having a hard time dealing with my perception of the situation. I closed my eyes, and leaned into Thanatos.
  To my concept of touch, all that existed was Thanatos.
  We had stopped moving forward. Stefan was having the same problems as me, and Than supported him as well. Of course, none of this was an issue with Thanatos. He just braced us, until the temblor was over. “OK, you guys can open your eyes again.”
  We did. “Thanks, love,” I said.
  “Ditto,” said Stefan. 
  “No problem. That’s what I’m here for.”
  Stefan looked at the volatile volcano. “I wish I’d related to you two differently, in the past.”
 Thanatos kissed him on the temple. “It’s OK. We’re all where we’re supposed to be now. Everything that happened should have happened, and your motivation was always right in everything you did for us. When I was on my second incarnation and when Macha had me in her clutches, mine wasn’t.”
  I moved forward, and reached toward Stefan. “I wish our relationship had been different, too.” I kept my thoughts guarded for this moment.
  Stefan touched his fingertips with mine. “I’m sorry,” he said sadly.
  I smiled. “I wish I’d been warmer to you. Maybe not so hung up on retiring a virgin the first time around.”
  “It’s OK. You made me appreciate you even more, not that you quite technically made it to retirement in that state,” said Stefan.
  I smiled. “What’s ten minutes?!”
  Stefan just shrugged, and we moved on. 
  As we headed up to the volcano, we ended up ‘walking’ on top of a river of lava. We might as well have been walking across the Phlegathon.
  No, we didn’t walk up to the crater. We went up to where the side of the mountain was blown out, stayed there a while, and went back to the castle.
  No one had been aware that we’d even been gone.
 
 
 
 








































  Chapter 6



  When the three of us got back to the castle I wanted to let everyone in on what we’ve just experienced to the fullest degree, being everyone else was too occupied to get more than a trace of our experience in our connective thread of unity, but Stefan over-rode me. He wanted some more time with Thanatos and I, alone.
  We transferred to the outside of the front of the castle, where the sun wasn’t. We walked the half-mile to the edge of the precipice, and Stefan lay face down, overlooking the edge. There were many square miles behind the castle. Surprisingly, none of us had actually gone to the far edge behind the castle, even via a transfer. We just didn’t care. “None of us ever jumped off this thing,” said Stefan.
  “Transferring is easier,” said Thanatos. “If you’re thinking of floating down, a gust of wind could smash you into the side of the plateau. You’d always have to concentrate on shifting your state on a nano-second’s notice.”
  “Never mind,” said Stefan.
  Both Thanatos and I sat beside Stefan. Thanatos stroked his hair. “Will Your Nostrilness ever stop being so impulsively ridiculous?”
  “Probably not,” said Stefan.
  “Good,” I said. “Don’t want to lose the high amusement factor.”
  Stefan looked at me, and blew me a kiss.
  Thanatos looked up. “Clouds coming in.”
  “Water the lichen desert, huh?” asked Stefan. With the low light, cold temperature, and harsh winds of the area, that was almost all that grew in our vicinity. We had a few low lying scrubby plants here and there, but they weren’t much to look at. The fungi got pretty lush in some of the rockier areas.
  Thanatos closed his eyes. “Eventually. Not anything to stay out for, though. No electricity in this one.”
  “You can fix that,” said Stefan.
  Thanatos looked down at him. “Red Tail, we get enough electrical storms here. This isn’t the Bay Area of California.”
  “‘Tis true.”
  “I’d rather time trip, than mess with the weather, babe,” said Thanatos.
  Stefan sat up. “It’s OK. Wanna walk to the edge of the castle so we can see it come in from there?”
  “Sure,” said Thanatos.
  We all stood up. Stefan immediately took off at a run.  
  Thanatos and I looked at each other, and he shrugged. We took off after Stefan, with Thanatos not going all out to leave me in the dust. Well, that was one way to get there faster.
  Stefan stopped as soon as he got to the front gate, and we caught up with him a few seconds later.  
  Yeah, I enjoyed the run. I still liked to do that. “Have fun?” I asked.
 “Totally,” said Stefan. “I still don’t see the haze of rain.” 
 “Give it time,” said Thanatos. “After this, shall we get the others together to share the volcano experience more completely?”
  Stefan put his arm around Thanatos’ waist, and invited me over for the same. Of course, I complied. “Sure. I think I’ll have my fix of you two alone after a few hours in the rain,” said Stefan.
  Thanatos looked at me. “A few hours? As if we wear watches, based on Earth time?”
  Stefan then said. “Hm hm. And after we all do that, would one of you be kind enough to read me the Bucolics again?”
 “Ye gods! By now we know everything that man wrote by memory, except for the Anneid! I wouldn’t have to read it. I could just recite it. Give us a break, laddie,” said Thanatos.
 “Gods, you’d think he liked Maro’s poetry better than our own,” I said.
 “Bite your tongue. Our own, I know from memory! Every piece we ever wrote,” said Stefan. "Vergil Maro, I do not, despite your alleged assumptions, Thanatos."
  “I was being sarcastic, though you obviously do have a bit of him committed to memory. Let’s go for a ride, instead,” said Thanatos.  
  “Can I double up with you?” asked Stefan.
  Thanatos looked at me. “One less horse to service.”
  “I’ll ride Shiva, then,” I said. “He’s not as demanding.”

  *****

  After the ride, we did the mental merging with everyone, which included the animals, and it was mutually decided that we would time trip back and have everyone experience the volcano incident first hand. We approached the erupting volcano on horseback. Deliah decided to go for the dramatic effect, and she wore a sheer, layered, mi-calf dress with jagged edges, coloured in flames. Andre had a hard time not staring at her, everyone knew it, and he knew that everyone knew it. Finally he said, “Can someone do me a favour and paint this Jewish princess, as she currently is?”
  “You know I can’t really say I’m Jewish, anymore,” said Deliah. “I haven’t identified with that religion since shortly after I died. Thank you, though.”
  “Can I volunteer for the painting?” I asked.
  “Of course. I appreciate it,” said Deliah.
  I smiled. “So do I. I’ll get right on it, as soon as we return from this adventure.”
  “All this ash falling through me feels weird,” said Sylvia. Because of the very low visibility, again we saw everything through the dark haze, with Astral Sight.
  ‘Tell me about it,’ sent Percy, in his preferred pardale form.
  “Wait until we re-experience the earthquake,” I said. 
  “Should we all dismount and sit down for that?” asked Kevalyn.
  “You don’t have to sit down. Just brace yourself. It might be hard on the horses, though,” said Thanatos.
  “I’d dismount now, and tell them to prepare,” said Macha.
  “That’s a pretty good idea,” said Thanatos. “It will be a while, though.”
  Macha got off of her grey mare. “It’s OK. We shouldn’t ride any farther, anyway.” Macha went and kissed her horse on the nose, and closed her eyes, sending the beautiful creature a picture of what was to happen.
 “For the sake of our perception, I’ll have to agree,” I said, as I got off of Hesper.
  “It is kind of weird,” said Stefan. “Can we go to where the side of the mountain gets blown out?”
  “Sure,” said Thanatos. “But if you think riding toward the crater now is a dizzying experience, are you sure you can handle it?”
  “You’re being sarcastic, I assume,” said Stefan.
  “Yes. Actually, you have a very interesting idea,” said Thanatos.
  “I’m staying on my horse for a little while longer,” said Andre.
  “Same,” said Deliah.
  So did Kevalyn, though she didn’t say anything.
  I took Stefan’s hand, as we progressed.

  *****

  We made it to the point of the pending structural explosion well before the time, and everyone else just got off their horses/ponies/whatever, and we made the motion of sitting down on the shallow slope, being ghosts in the environment.  
  Almost. We still felt everything that hit us and fell through us, like an energy surge.
  Everyone was in both mental and physical contact with their equine companion, though Stefan and I also had our arms around each other.
  When the volcano did it’s major eruption, it was a complete mind blower.
  Imagine that you are just sitting there unmoving, as what is under you starts to shake, and the mountainside you are on gets blown to smithereens, and everything goes right through you, and everything is smoking from tremendous toxic heat that you can’t feel in the slightest. When the lava hits you, but you may as well be surrounded by wisps of fog, for all it mattered.  
 Now to have half ton rocks, both molten and not, going through you is quite an experience. I could only feel those energy surges, but I just had to flinch and react as if it were affecting me more. Stefan and I disengaged from each other. I actually covered my face, and curled up a bit. At least I wasn’t the only one, and after it was over, I looked at a very unfazed, highly amused Thanatos. I pointed at him. ‘Don’t say it.’ I conveyed.  
  He chuckled, and shook his head. ‘I won’t.’
  We all looked each other over, and even Percy, who was flat on the ground with his chin on his forelegs looked up at me with a ‘Who me?’ expression, though he didn’t convey anything to me.
  Only Thanatos had not reacted, and the rest of us, while the volcano was still madly spewing, just busted up over our nonsensical reactions.
  We stayed a little longer to watch the rivers of lava, and hear the violent rumblings of the volcano, and then everyone...animals included, blended into each other, and we went Low Causal.  
  We stayed ‘Home’ in the realm we really belonged for quite a while, from our perception.
 
 
 
 



















  Chapter 7


  The first thing I did after we got back to the castle was to paint Deliah in the outfit that she’d worn on the volcanic trip, on Aslan. She and Andre had really gravitated toward each other, and they both ended up watching me complete about half the painting. Those two were the only ones with me, when I did my work.
  Though for how I loved Stefan, I was a bit relieved he wasn’t there. He’d always be a pacer, walking around me, staring over my shoulder, just being as distracting as Hell. If I were lucky, he’d sit down for a short stretch.
  They sat on a couch sort of behind me, angled so they had a relatively full view of what I was doing. They were snuggled up against each other. Their conversation was not to be perceived by me.
  ‘There’s so much we could have done if you’d been here earlier,’ sent Deliah.
  ‘We’ve both done everything we've wanted to. Just not with each other, not that there’s a point to that anymore.’
  ‘Some things I just can’t bring myself to do anymore. Those cups of tea, I used to cherish so?’ 
 ‘I couldn’t stand consuming anything even before I got to The White City. Odd, considering I was half French.’
  Deliah smiled. ‘You were practical. Like the animals! You dropped everything that wasn’t innately you anymore. Everything that no longer had a function! You didn’t carry over any habits or addictions.’
  He traced his left index finger down her nose. ‘I never lost my appreciation of feminine beauty.’
  ‘I’m almost curious enough about you...’ 
  ‘I have a better idea. Let’s go Causal and hopefully we’ll get back before Donn finishes the painting.  
  ‘That sounds like a wonderful idea! We'll time trip if we don't.’

  *****

  Thanatos and Stefan went back to the now ‘heavily modified’ volcano. It was still smoking, but enough time had passed for there to be a fair amount of visibility, and the landscape had been re-arranged a bit. Two hot springs had been exposed, and this area was beginning to look a bit like Iceland in the winter in the middle of a moonlit night.
 Actually, it was a bit brighter. The distant sun and currently four visible moons gave enough light so even Stefan didn’t need a torch.  
  For Thanatos, there was no pitch-blackness. His glowing eyes saw all. They walked to the edge of the hot springs.
  “This looks so cool,” said Stefan.
  “Don’t even think about it. The temperature of the water is hotter than you could physically handle, unless you want to be stew meat, the temperature outside of the steam is way colder than the coldest Antarctic night, and then there’re those winds.”
  “Not gale force.”
  “At the moment.”
  “Can you bring me here some time when it’s snowing?” asked Stefan.
  “You really love this place.”
  “It’s beautiful. I’m just thankful I don’t have to feel it.”
  Thanatos chuckled. “So am I. Anyway, Red Tail! If you were affected by the cold, your nose would get frostbitten, and have dropped off before the hour was up. We couldn’t have that, could we?”
 “Heavens forbid! No! I’d fade away in agony. I love my nose as much as I love you and Donn.”
  Thanatos petted that nose. “I’ve grown quite attached to it myself.”
  Stefan smiled. “Let’s go up to the crater.”
  Thanatos looked up. “Let’s transfer.”
  “That’s what I meant. I assume you knew that.”
  “Even if I weren’t a chronic low level telepath, I’d know that.”
  They took each other’s hands, and transferred.

  *****

  When I put my brush into the water can for the last time, I turned around, and found I was alone.

  *****

  Deliah and Andre landed on the equator of the planet, after their Causal meld. They had a change of heart, as to coming right back to watch me finish the painting. There was a lot more life here. They’d touched down in a rainforest.
  “Stefan won’t even consider coming here?!” commented Andre.
  “Nope. He’s allergic to light not given out by fire.”
  “This place is so beautiful, though.”
 Deliah shrugged. “He’s seen it vicariously through everyone else who’s been here, so he doesn’t have to come here himself. Our telepathic unions spare him the trouble.”
  “This has got to be the most wonderful bunch I ever met. Also the strangest.”
  Del and Andre took each other’s hands, and started walking through the thickly canopied forest. A heavy mist hung in the air. “Don’t worry. You’ll adapt,” said Deliah.
  Andre stopped, and the ‘in tune’ Deliah turned to face him. “I wish we could have been alive at the same time, in an era where in was OK for us to be together.”
  They embraced. “We’re there now,” said Deliah.
  “You are soooooo short.”
  Deliah looked up at him, and laughed. “I like it like that.”
  Andre laughed, too. “Yes, my dear shape shifter. I know it suits you, or you would have done something about it. Still, I think you must be the most beautiful thing I ever laid eyes on.”
  “Surely I’m not more beautiful than Thanatos, Donn, or Stefan’s nose.”
  Andre looked to the right, then back at Deliah. “All right! I have a confession to make. You are as beautiful as Thanatos and Donn, but all three of you are slightly behind Stefan’s nose.”
  “Andre? Would you consider making out here, as we are?”
  He scowled. “After what we just did? On the Causal?! How can you even go there?”
  “Once?”
  “I’d have to force long dormant desires to surface.”
  “Is there no degree of curiosity?”
  Andre stroked her hair. “You’re demanding, wild, and hard to please. We’re not compatible like that. You’d find me frustrating, because I wouldn’t compromise my style like Thanatos did that one time he did. I know you. I know everyone. There is no need for curiosity.”
  She pressed the side of her face against him. “I think I’ll take your council, and not bring it up again.”
  Andre kissed her on the forehead. “That’s probably a good idea. Let’s move forward, shall we?”

  *****

  Stefan and Thanatos stood at the top of the crater, or should I say, ‘pretended’ to stand on top of the crater. The roiling lava was an impressive sight.
  ‘It’s so nice, being in the state we’re in,’ sent Stefan. It was easier than yelling over the thundering volcano. ‘To actually be able to see things like this, up close.’
  ‘I don’t share your awe, but considering past limitations; I can understand what you’re going through.’
  ‘I take so much for granted, but at the same time, I don’t.’
  ‘You never really took me and Donn for granted.’
  ‘I used to cuss both of you out for not being there in such a way where I could touch you.’
  Thanatos shrugged, ‘It was understandable, but not possible. If it were possible, it would have been stupid. I might as well have cut your head off.’
  ‘I could have lived with that.’
  Thanatos looked at Stefan. ‘Tell it to Anne Boleyn.’
  ‘Another historical tragedy.’
  ‘Considering neither she nor any of those executed with her were guilty of any of the crimes charged against them, but it’s of no importance to any of them any more.’
  Stefan chuckled. ‘Tell it to Ann Boleyn. That’s a great comeback for what I said.’
  Thanatos nodded, and closed his eyes. ‘I just sent the conversational sequence to Donn. He found it amusing, and it will be recorded on his word processor.’
  Stefan ‘appeared’ to sit down, and dangled his legs into the crater. ‘There was a time we would have gotten a kick out of sitting out here, and having iced lemonade.’
  ‘That would have made for a strange moment. With the toxic fumes and unbearable heat, you couldn't experience it as it was happening. I still enjoy other things in this realm, but I'm not really interested in that sort of thing.’
  ‘Isn’t nostalgia the reason why we’re here in the first place? Even you still like to read, paint and you enjoy the music, poetry, and visual artwork of the others.’ 
 “‘Tis true. Sylvia’s the only one who’s stuck with the poetry, though. I ought to get off of my butt and start working on some more of that.’
  ‘I still feel like I’ve said everything there is to say,’ sent Stefan.
  Thanatos ‘sat’ beside him, and he turned Stefan’s face toward himself, gently with his fingertip. ‘You still dwell much on the past. I’m sure you’ll dig something up to gripe about, and you may trigger mine own creativity.’
  ‘You have a point,’ sent Stefan, as the noise level and the lava started rising. ‘She’s gonna blow.’
  Thanatos put his arm around Stefan’s shoulders. ‘Let’s stay.’
  ‘Sure.’
  They were soon perceptually completely enveloped in lava. Actually, they were one with the lava.

  ***** 

  After I put the brush down, I just couldn’t help myself. I was into this again, and I couldn’t stop. I was on fire. I stepped out of everyone’s time frame, and went ballistic.
  I did a total of three more paintings. Deliah and Andre on Andre’s pinto, with both dressed in Dinè clothing and accessories, Percy and Thanatos snuggling; both in feline form, and Percy in human form, facing Stefan, both in profile, and touching fingertips. Stefan was in his usual uniform with cloak and gloves included, and I painted Percy dressed like Quentin Collins, of Dark Shadows who he resembled, in all out Victorian finery.
  That satisfied my need for a fix. I didn’t tell anyone, and just hung the paintings up. They’d be noticed, soon enough.

  *****

  I was alone.
  What did I want to do?  
  Did I want to go for a solitary ride? Did I want to run like Hell up to the observatory? Run like Hell to the library, and pick out a book?
  I was feeling kind of amped. I just took off down the halls for the front exit, and then raced to the edge of the plateau. I looked over that edge, and just went nuts. I materialised a very heavy metallic spike into the ground, with a very long rope going over the edge, to ground level. I changed my boots to a pair of mountain boots with cleats, and a good pair of thick cloth gloves made of hemp, fastened myself to the rope, and actually rappelled down, going gravity lite.
  I wasn’t the type to generally do this sort of thing, but once in a while, you just have to try something new. Of course, being that injury would not be a problem, I was pretty reckless, and went faster than would have been wise for a member of the Physical Plane, but I just went with what I could do.
  I had a blast. I momentarily contemplated what it would be like to take a hang glider off the top, but only momentarily. Surprisingly, absolutely none of us knew how to do that. Off the cuff, not even Thanatos, though he could learn in no time. He’s probably say, “Why bother? I can just become a falcon or an eagle,” which was a damn good point.
  It was a long drop, and it took a while for me to hit the bottom. I ended up laughing pretty hard over my detour from my general mode of behaviour, and just sat down against the wall of the cliff after I dematerialised the rope and spike.
  I wasn’t going to go up the same way. There was no challenge in it for the likes of me, and I most certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed an ascent in such a fashion.
  The sun was behind me, on the other side of the plateau. Gods, I loved this perpetually eerie realm as much as Stefan. I wasn’t much into landscapes, but I’d have to paint this one, one day. Kevalyn already had a few dozen paintings up of various scenes of the area, but I knew damn well that I could come up with something new. Maybe not of the immediate area, but hey! This was a whole world. Maybe I could do a picture of the sere landscape at the pole closest to the sun.
  We didn’t call it North or South. We called it dark pole, and light pole, and facing the light pole, it was left or right.
  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I faced the dark pole. If I could feel it, it would be cold enough to make water freeze. When it was cloudy, it was usually a little warmer. Granted it didn’t get as cold as North Dakota in January, but it wasn’t something I wanted to experience.
  The winds were strangely nonexistent, now. Gale force occurred with regularity, though hurricane force didn’t happen in these parts.  
  I dematerialised my gloves, and got back into my regular boots. I stretched out, and simply sat there for a while, listening to the silence. What little wildlife was in the area wasn’t terribly noisy. Again, we were at the outskirts of acknowledgeable surface life. It existed, but sightings were hard to come by, and nothing came up to the castle. The ground up there was so barren, not even the lichen of the desert floor grew there.  
  We all took well to Stefan’s idea of paradise. Red Tail’s imagination from the earlier days was quite a boon to us. In fact, so was his imagination in the present. He could still be as funny as Hell.  
  ‘Hesper,’ I called him. ‘Want to spend some time just walking with me in the desert?’
  I got an affirmative in a nonverbal fashion, and he appeared by my side. I put my hand on his shoulder, and we just walked.

  *****

 From under a sea of flowing lava, Stefan and Thanatos materialised back into the castle, straight to the room dedicated to Egypt’s golden age. They sat across from each other on the floor. “I can’t believe I can still experience new things,” said Thanatos. “You’ve actually found something I haven’t done.”
  Stefan simply shrugged. “Neither have I. I can’t wait to call that meeting later, to share this.”
  “Hm hm.”
  “I kind of wish Donn was here.”
  Thanatos closed his eyes, and smiled. “Let’s leave him alone for now. He’s communing with Hesper, down below.”
  Stefan looked to the ground. “Can I confess something to you?”
  “You don’t have to. Everyone knows me and Donn are ultimately your whole life.”
  “Is it a lie I’m telling to myself?”
  Thanatos shook his head. “No. You’ve been like that since you first remembered us.”
  “I used to dwell on that. Is it wrong?” asked Stefan.
  “It means you can’t be totally unconditional, but to tell you the truth, no one else is, either. Macha and Kevalyn are hooked on each other, Andre and Deliah, us three...Sylvia seems to show the least preference, but her poetry is more important to her than anything else.”
  “But you’re unconditional.”
  “With most things, but I choose to exist here. With you! I do have preferences in some things. If I have to be somewhere, why not be with those who’ve helped me realise myself after I temporarily destroyed what I was originally meant to be?” asked Thanatos.
  Stefan raised his hand forward. “Than? I really want to be one with you. Can...can...please can you…take me beyond…Cau…Causal before we go back to the others?”
  Thanatos nodded. “I will.”
  Stefan smiled, and reached toward Thanatos. “Thank you.”
  Thanatos reached back.
  They stayed like that for a few moments. Face to face, with only fingertips touching. Thanatos faded them out to the Nirvanic Plane.  
 

















  Chapter 8


  I soon got to vicariously experience what it’s like to be in a river of lava, and not be affected by it. All I can say is that it was very interesting, and I’d really rather not actually do it myself. The rest of the domicile was in full agreement with me. Percy the pardale was convinced both Thanatos and Stefan needed therapy after the information exchange of our household merging. He could have done quite well without the images. Feline personalities are very pragmatic, and they just don’t do some things. For having such a curious nature, they don’t tend to dwell on traumatising their senses.
  All of us did a complete merger in the low Causal. The equines were a part of the package as well, and though they thought Thanatos and Stefan were off their rockers as well, they did deal with it a bit better, being simply amused by the pointless things people did.
  When we got back to the castle, we split up again. Macha, Kevalyn and Sylvia off to record their latest, Deliah, Andre and Percy as a leopard off to do some snogging and philosophising, and me, Thanatos and Red Tail, went off to do our own thing.

  *****

  Thanatos immediately dragged us to the hall where I’d put my new paintings up. We had what amounted to about a half hour viewing, I had to deal with all the compliments, and then we just slowly walked the halls, looking at the rest of the old paintings, while we ‘talked’.
  I fought my way into the esteemed middle, and I wasn’t going to give it up. I had Than and Stef by the hand. “No matter how far we go, we always come back,” I said.
  “That’ll have to stop eventually,” said Thanatos. “It will be of our own choosing, though.”
  “I can’t imagine ever not wanting to see stuff like this again,” said Stefan, as he waved his hand across the wall before us.
  “You’ll always see it. Just not in the same way. I’m enjoying this as much as you, by the way,” said Thanatos. 
  “We have changed a lot, since we first met,” I said.
  Thanatos made eye contact with Stefan, and smiled with a raised right eyebrow. “Some of us have changed more than others.”  
  “I will have to agree,” said Stefan. He pointed to a painting Deliah did of herself and Thanatos almost not quite position, where both Del and Thanatos were in a ‘barely legal’ state of dress. “Gods, I love that one.”
  Thanatos laughed. “That never happened.”
  Stefan said, “I know, but you know, no matter how absolutely gorgeous the higher mergings are, there just isn’t any point to painting them. The overlap of two or three or however many clouds of different pretty colours just leaves me feeling absolutely nothing. I’d rather look at a picture of a space nebula.”
  “Tell me about it,” I said.
  “That’s obvious from our erotically themed artwork,” said Thanatos. “From a visual perspective, I’m with you all the way.”
  “Aren’t you supposed to be too evolved to care?” asked Stefan.
  Thanatos adopted a comical lopsided expression. “My love of our paintings has nothing to do with my personal evolution, you provocative little button pusher.”
  Stefan winked at him. “I’m just being a twit, of course.”
  “I just told you that, though I phrased it a tad more politely,” said Thanatos.
  “Israel is coming up just ahead,” said Stefan. “Can we just crash-land in there for a while?”
  “Sure,” I said. 

 *****
 
 Deliah was pressed against the pantherine Percy with her arm around the cat, and Andre sat to Percy’s other side in the violet grass, a bit closer to the Light Pole, than where the castle was. Percy had his eyes closed, his tail was twitching slightly, and he looked like he was smiling. He was in seventh heaven. We must remember; Percy and Del took to each other immediately when Percy was a housecat in The White City.
  Andre stroked Percy’s forehead, and scratched him behind the ears. “Gods, where were you when I was alive.”
  ‘I wasn’t born yet, dude. You died twenty years before I was, and I wasn’t quite the big, black, beauty you have before you.’
  “Details,” said Andre.
  “Nice being with my two black panthers,” said Deliah.
  ‘YOUR black panthers?’ asked Percy. ‘If anyone owned anyone, it’s more like you gave yourself to me, than the other way around, you little cat slave.’
  “Figure of speech, Percy. My friend, of many transitions,” said Deliah, as she ran her hand sensuously down his side.
  ‘Mmmmmmmmmm! I wish I could purr!’
  “Aren’t you a shape shifter? Can’t you rearrange yourself so you could both purr and roar?”
  Percy looked at her. ‘I’d have to ask Thanatos about that. It never occurred to me, and I don’t have a clue on how.’ 
 “Oh, why bother,” said Andre. “You’re fine as you are, and if we absolutely must have someone purr for us, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind switching back to your former housecat form.”
  ‘Not at all, if someone will hold me in their lap. I’m a real affection-monger, in case you haven’t noticed.’
  “We’ve noticed,” said Andre.
  Percy rolled over on his back, out of Deliah’s hold. ‘Tummy rub?’ 
  “Oh, yeah,” said Deliah, and Andre rubbed the appreciative cat under the chin.

  *****

  We all ended up sprawling on whatever couch, mat or pillows were available. “The House of David probably never had it so good,” said Stefan, as he closed his eyes, and threw his right arm over them.
  “You tend to state the obvious, my dear,” said Thanatos.
  “I suppose I do. In fact, I myself have never had it so good. Do you mind hearing for the billionth time, how grateful I am to both of you?”
  “Only if you don’t mind hearing for the billionth time, that this wasn’t exactly a one-way deal. We wouldn’t be here, if it weren’t for you,” said Thanatos. “In your own, strange, Stefanesque way, you’ve improved our lives just as much as we’ve improved yours. You’ve rerouted us in ways I wouldn’t have dreamed of, considering what a nutter you are.”
  I chuckled slightly, as Stefan said, “And what would you like, for the highest compliment you just gave me?”
  “You could pet my nose, at your convenience,” said Thanatos.
  I laughed. “Ye gods! You’ve been converted!”
  Thanatos looked at me. “Should I enhance mine own schnozz the way Stefan had, so many transitions ago?”
  “Oh, please don’t. I like not having to look into a mirror to see myself,” I said.
 “Of course, you could enhance your own nose,” said Thanatos to me.
  “Don’t you dare!” said Stefan. “I don’t need no competition! Anyway, if you do, I’ll make mine bigger.”
  Thanatos looked up to the ceiling, and then closed his eyes. “I see it now! The war of the noses! With every schnozzular increase of one, the opposing party does the same, and before long, those in the war will literally be ninety-nine point nine percent nose.”
  “Oh gods, that sounds sexy,” said Stefan in a really histrionic tone of implied awe.
  “I’m just glad you guys are kidding,” I said.
  “We are?” asked Stefan, still playing.
  “As if!” I said.
  Stefan cocked his head, and smiled. “Yeah, right.”
  “After we’re done lounging around here, wanna go to the library, outside on top, down below for a ride, or Causal, where we belong?”
  “Yes,” said Stefan.
  I looked into him. “Hm! I see our lovely redhead really wants to snuggle in bed for a reading session, and go from there.”
  “Sounds good to me. Perhaps we should do this out of everybody’s time frame, or they won’t see us again for a few illusory days,” said Thanatos.
  I wasn’t about to complain.

  *****

  Percy stretched out, and extended his claws. ‘The three of us have something in common.” he sent to Deliah and Andre.
  Deliah stroked him again. “A life of no regrets.”
  ‘Hm hm.’
  “The only way to die,” said Andre. “The only way to move on.”
  “It’s so strange,” said Deliah.
  “That Thanatos has regrets?” They’d discussed it before.
  “Hm hm. The fact that he destroyed himself over losing Donn’s company again?”
  “And that he regrets so much of Keith’s life.”
  Deliah wrapped herself around Percy. “Do you know how much I loved Keith by the end of Donn’s first story?”
  'Yes. So did I. Not in the same way of course, but...'
  “I can see, but he could have changed gender.”
  “That wasn't the entire issue with me. It wasn't a lust thing. Even you felt maternal toward him, in addition to wanting him as a lover. I would have seen him as a mentor. I could have handled a physically close relationship with him, like what he had with Donn. Platonic lover, and light snogging buddy! I couldn’t have dealt with a gay sexual relationship on Tech Duinn, though. I wasn’t capable of that until just before I landed in The White City, not that I had any relationships at all after I was killed. And by the time I got to The City, I didn't want to be bothered with my former basic drives, so...”
  “You never got over your wife, for the longest time.”
  Andre shrugged. “Or my daughter, even though I barely knew her. My death didn’t really bother me. Tonya was very well taken care of. I had a very good insurance policy, my father loved Tonya and his grandchild, so she lived with my parents after I was killed, and she got married again to a wonderful gentleman two years after my death, but it’s like I just didn’t want to know anyone else after her...until I read the Xanon Chronicles.”
  “I fully understand.” Deliah reached her left hand up. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
  Andre caressed her hand, and then put his own under hers, so their fingers’ bottoms were touching each other. “And I’m glad you’re here. Such beauty and intelligence are hard to find, in conjunction.”
  “Thank you. I’ve got to say the same for you.”
  “You’re not as sarcastic as you were.”
  “I still have my moments. Also, you’re not Stefan.”
  Andre smiled. “He’s great.”
  “Our resident zone case. Everything he thinks of seems to happen, though.”
  “He gets a lot of good ideas.”
  “I notice. He just moves too fast, some times. He’s always existed by the ‘leap before you look’ philosophy, but he’s so adorable, despite having been the worst goddamn bed warmer I ever had.”
  “It helps if your bed warmer had wanted you, and you hadn’t coerced him against his will. He never really wanted anyone but his two Gate Keepers.”
 Deliah shrugged. “That’s why I didn’t hold it against him. I mean, at least he was mechanically adequate.”
  “I’m glad I’m on your side, Del. I’m also glad I’ll never be in what was Stefan’s position.”
  Deliah laughed. “If I really wanted you, I’d have you.”
 “I believe that, but I think you know better.”
  “I do.”
  Percy raised his head. ‘I think she needs neutering more now and when we lived in The White City than I did on Earth.’
  Deliah scratched him behind the ears. “You would have cost more in hospital bills if you hadn't been fixed, kitten. You would have fought more.”
  ‘Oh, I suppose so. It seems I was obligated to keep my looks, huh?’
  “Well, you had to do something to earn your keep,” said Andre.
  ‘I kept everyone well entertained.’
  “So you did. You still do,” said Deliah.

  *****

  I was re-reading a novel called ‘The Running Man’, Stef, who took middle position, was working on a reread of ‘Theory of the Leisure Class’, and Thanatos was reading ‘Metamorphoses’. We were all in a modified bed with heating pad, electric blanket, extra fireplace, and I was wearing thin gloves, being we decided to be stupid, and go temperature sensitive. We also had an electric blanket behind us. 
  Neither Stefan nor I had noticed that Thanatos had closed his book, and was simply staring ahead, being we were pretty into our own books.
  Stefan read three more chapters, before he noticed Thanatos wasn’t involved in what we were allegedly here, for. “You cold?” asked Stefan.
  Thanatos smiled, and shook his head. “No. I was just triggered into thinking about the past.”
  “You OK?” asked Stefan.
  “Fine. I’ve got everything resolved. Everything is as it should be. Everything is now.”
  “What’s so distracting?” I asked.
  “Nothing, anymore.” Thanatos put his arm around Stefan, and kissed him on the temple. “Stef. . .Stephanie.”
  “You want me to change?”
  Thanatos nodded. “Somewhat.”
 “Somewhat?” asked Stefan.
  “I’d like something different at my side, if you don’t mind.”
  In a split second, a woman was between Thanatos and I. He picked up his book again.
  Stephanie scowled. “You asked me to switch gender. Why?”
  Thanatos scowled back. “I just find it preferable to have a woman next to me, at the moment.”
  Stephanie handed me her book. “I don’t like being like this, so much. I’ll do it for you and Donn, but considering I find my current state not to my tastes...”
  The scowl on Than’s face turned to a smile, and he petted Stephanie’s nose. “I think I can make your current state worth your time?” He closed his book again, and put it on his end table.
  I put my own book down, and did a thorough read on both Thanatos and Stephanie. I closed my eyes, gave a sigh, and snuggled next to Stephanie. “Ye gods. Is this moving backward?”
 “Not at all,” said Thanatos. “I just want a little extra TLC and escapism to justify, and ease my mind on that everything is as it is because of what I did, and what was done to me.”
  Stephanie did her best to pull Thanatos toward her. “You already know everything is OK.”
  “But I was reflecting on the worst of it, like I knew I shouldn’t.”
  Stephanie manoeuvered herself up, so she could put her arm under my neck, and she beckoned Thanatos to get into position so she could do the same with him. “Shall we pass out?”
  “I’d like that,” said Thanatos. “In a little bit, anyway. Perhaps after you take me over?”
  “Gotcha,” said Stephanie. "I wonder if I can take you over both at the same time? -Censored- both of you at the same time?"
  I moved myself into the crook of her arm. "I'd love to see you try." I dematerialised my gloves and my tunic, though the leotards and socks stayed. I put my left arm around her, and got all the way under the covers. “Gods, this is nice.”
  Stef stroked my hair. “Isn’t it, though?”
  Thanatos positioned himself like me. He was in heavy, black silk pyjamas with Asian dragons all over them, and socks. “Let’s pass out in a complete mind share after our surrender.”
  “Oh, yeah,” said Stephanie.
  Speaking in analogy, Stephanie did take Thanatos and I to the Lethe for a while, and having the company of Thanatos on the trip was a definite experience worth repeating. We absolutely revelled in one another, after we 'came back'.
  Three as one, we eventually went to sleep.
  Love really was the ultimate ‘high’.

  *****

  Percy rubbed his head against Andre’s hip. ‘You know what I would really like?’
  Andre looked into him. “White City. See the view from the top of your old home from a person’s perspective, and a walk in the park.”
  ‘You got it.’
  “I’m game,” said Deliah.
  Andre looked down at the leopard. “Shall we hold hands, or hands and paws?”
  Percy altered his form to human. “Let’s go.”
  “All right,” said Andre with a smile.
 They connected, and transferred to the rooftop of our old flat in The White City.
 It was as they’d left it.
  After they’d gotten their fill of the rooftop, they checked out the old apartment.
  Everything was the same, except for the fact the doors were all gone, and there were a few books lying around on various tables. Percy about went into shock, when a finch landed on his shoulder, having just flown in from an unopened window.
  “What the...” Percy started, as he put his left index finger up, sending the bird a mental image of her rearranging her perch, which she did. “Ye gods, as you say.”
  “You’re not an Earth-bound cat, now,” said Deliah.
  “I never killed anything other than insects when I was alive on Earth. I never caught a bird, though I did have the drive to go after them. I didn’t even kill any rodents, though I’d played with a few.”
  “We know,” said Deliah.
  Percy gently stroked the finch. “I must have been the worst hunter of the feline world.”
  “You never had to do it for survival,” said Andre.
  “Gods, I would have had to deal with fur or feathers in my teeth. I think not. When you get what I got, who needs to waste the energy killing something that you wouldn’t even recognise as food anymore?”
  You were a pacifist cat,” said Deliah.
  “As long as I got my way, and you didn’t give me no ‘tude regarding my territory,” said Percy, with a smile.  
  “Which was about ninety nine percent of the time,” said Andre.
  “At least,” said Percy. “They only issue there was, is that Kevin didn’t want me on the dining table during meals, or on the computer table, but I really preferred someone’s lap anyway, so hey. It’s just that I was so heavy they had to pick me up and re-cross their legs, being I would cut off their circulation. I didn’t like that, but it came with the territory, and sometimes even I decided to take the bad with the good, although I did often protest.”
  “Yeah, you could really make Kyle feel bad, with your rebukes,” said Deliah.
 “Oh, well. It never damaged our relationship. It gave her another reason to call herself ‘pussy whipped’.”
  “We do seem to use that word a lot, because of you,” said Andre.
  Percy shrugged. “Being default head of household has its advantages.”
  “Only when you’re in panthera or felidae form, baby,” said Deliah.
  “Then I’ll just have to be the preferred cat the majority of the time. Mind if I slide down the rail?”
  “We have to get rid of the post at the bottom of the stairs,” said Deliah.
  Percy scowled. “I am not Stefan. I don’t think so.”
  “This, I’ve gotta see,” said Deliah.
  “Let’s go,” said Percy. “I’d like to see more of the park from this perspective.”
  They walked out the front door, and Percy looked down the spiral staircase. Deliah put her hand on his shoulder. “So much for feline caution, huh?”
  Percy winked at her, as he disengaged from Deliah, and mounted the stair rail. “No problem.”
  “See you in a few,” said Andre, and he and Deliah transferred to the bottom. 
  Both Andre and Deliah focused on Percy, and saw vicariously what he was going through. He was going down sidesaddle, and his speed was something Stefan couldn’t touch. Percy’s sense of balance and control was far greater than Stefan could ever hope to attain.
 When Percy was almost at the bottom, he simply jumped off, landed on the third step from the bottom, and pirouetted to the landing with a grace that would have left Bruce Lee in the dust. He then bowed histrionically. “I am still innately a cat.”
  “So you expect us to be less impressed for that fact?” asked Deliah.
  “Oh, I suppose not. Going up there was a waste of time. I’m sorry,” said Percy.
  “How about going to the park, and then the museum across the street?” asked Andre.
  “I’ve never been to The Gallery. I’d like that,” said Percy.
 “You never expressed an interest before.”
  “Cat’s can and do appreciate beauty, but see no pleasure in paintings. That’s more for birds.”
  “Understandable,” said Andre.
  They went outside, and crossed the ‘street’, to the park.
  Percy took a great delight at looking at the statuary, the gardens, and the fountains. In this land without night, they walked every last path the park had. Deliah walked in the middle, holding the hands of both Andre and Percy, for most of the trip. The three of them had a grand old time, and when they finally got to The Gallery, they saw or absorbed every last MS Escherian square foot of it, being so much of it was new to even Deliah and Andre, by now.

  *****

  I woke up first, immediately repositioned myself, and covered the temperature sensitive, unconscious Red Tail to her neck. I pressed myself against her, as I myself got almost completely under the covers. I debated making the freezing temperature irrelevant to me, but decided to go the masochistic route. 
  My movement woke both Stef and Thanatos. I brushed my nose against Stef’s upper arm and inhaled, with Stef still retaining the Drakkar scent. “Hi,” I said.
  “Gods, I’m cold,” said Stephanie. “I almost can’t feel my nose.”
  “You threw the blankets off when you were asleep,” I said. “I just covered you up all the way just now.”
  “Of course, we could do the wise thing, and go temperature insensitive,” said Thanatos.
  “Don’t wanna,” said Stef. “Move closer to me, Great White.”
  He did. “Stephanie sandwich.”
  “May I switch to my other more masculine façade, now?”
  “Oh, I suppose so,” said Thanatos with a reluctant edge.
  “You obviously prefer I wait ‘til we leave this bed,” said Stephanie.
  “Obviously,” said Thanatos.
  Stephanie smiled. “Then I’ll wait.” She brushed her head against Thanatos’ shoulder, and then turned to embrace me. The fireplace was suddenly fed spontaneously by Thanatos, and the fire couldn’t have gotten any bigger. “You two had nice dreams, I imagine?”
  “Mine were Nirvanic,” said Thanatos.
  I said. “Mine were High Causal.”
  “Same,” said Stephanie. “Can I ask something stupid?”
  “You want to go into a star that is in the process of a supernova,” said Thanatos.
 “Hm hm.”
  “Can I sit this one out?” I asked.
  “Sure,” said Thanatos. “And while we’re at it, shall we also find a galactic collision, where the galaxies half destroy each other?”
  “Sounds great, if you can find one,” said Stephanie. 
  “I’ll read you when you come back. I think I can do without the direct visual sensory overload,” I said.
  "Oh, come on," said Stephanie as she caressed my hair. "After we're done I can take you both to oblivion again."
  I looked at Thanatos. "Sounds like an offer I can't refuse."
  "If you do, I'll never pet your nose again," said Thanatos.
  I laughed, as I was pleasantly coerced into going on the tour.
 




 
 
 
Chapter 9


  Imagine being boiled alive in the brightest liquid fire that can possibly exist. Imagine a noise that is beyond the concept of loudness. When we experienced the collision of two stars as getting hit from two directions, I swear I would have gone insane if Thanatos hadn’t stablised me, even though it was only like a hologram to us.
  It was magnificent. It was beautiful. It was overwhelming. I’m glad all we were, was perception. Gods, but I really wasn’t ready to deal with what I saw without help. My mind just couldn’t fathom it. Things like what we were experiencing just weren’t meant to be experienced in the way we did.
  Another thing that blew me away was to actually be aware of how fast things move in space. You don’t have time to think. Also, Stefan reminded me of a line of one of my oldest poems, about catching a comet by the tail.
  Yes, we figuratively ‘rode’ a comet, an asteroid and a very large meteor, all the way to the surface of a planet as it burned up.
  After that, I felt like I experienced all there was to experience.
  Well, almost.
  When we got back to the castle, Thanatos made sure we landed sitting on the couch. Two of us needed that. Without warning, the always slightly in tune Thanatos then reeled his head toward Stefan, barely controlling his impending laughter. “Stef! Are you nuts?”
  Stefan did start laughing. “Uh, yeah. A little.”
  “Go ahead! Say it,” said Than, with an escaped chuckle.
  “Than, do stars have atmospheres?”
  Thanatos closed his eyes, and nodded. “Yes, Stefan. They do.”
  “But they burn, so they have oxygen. So we can breath on them, right?”
  I looked at Stefan. “Where in the Nine Hells do you come up with this?”
  Stefan just shrugged, as his chortles subsided. “No clue.”
  Thanatos shook his head. “Where is Stephen Hawking or Carl Sagan when you need them?”
  I looked at Stefan. “You will never change.”
  “I hope not,” said Stefan.
  Thanatos said, “To tell you the truth, I hope you don’t change either, Red Tail.”
  “The monarch of brilliant idiocy?” asked Stefan.
  “Something like that,” said Thanatos. “When everyone else gets here, we’ve got to ask them if they want to see this, though I think all the equines but Hesper will decline.”
  “Percy?” I asked.
  “I’d rather not disturb him, now. He’s just finished doing a museum viewing in The White City with Andy and Del.”
  “Andy, huh?” asked Stefan.
  “All right, Andre. Yeah, I know you like the sound of that better. You know Stef, for having such a lofty opinion for the French culture, you sure came down on them a lot.”
  Stefan shrugged. “Easy target. Everyone did it. Only I did it better.”
  “Well, with more imagination, anyway. Lily Pond. You are the only one who ever called the nation of France that; from the day you first said it. Of course it’s caught on by now, being our lovely Donn Ui’Midir did record it in his ongoing series, but...” 
  “I really wonder if it will ever end, but I have another confession.”
  “Yes?!” asked Stefan.
  “I reread the series recently, and it’s really not all that hot. I wonder what the appeal is?”
  “You,” said Thanatos. “No, you’re not CJ Cherryh, but you are quite entertaining”
  “I never claimed to be another CJ Cherryh,” I said.
  “This is true,” said Thanatos. “On the other hand, your poetry is something I feel compelled to reread periodically.”
  “Isn’t that ‘our’ poetry?” I asked.
  “Yes. Our compilations, but you are damn good. What could one expect from a Tuatha prince?”
  “Thanatos, shut up. My Earthly origins are no longer relevant, and I’ve rejected that stupid title from the day I knew what it meant.”
  Thanatos blew me a kiss. “Another reason I love you so much.”
  I smiled at him. “Thanks.” I returned the virtual kiss. “I love you, too.”
  Stefan leaned back into the couch. “I won’t say it.”
  “Yeah, damn fruits,” I said.
  Stefan looked at me. “You’re as bad as I am, some times.”
  “Now, if that isn’t a compliment...” I said.
  Thanatos finished the sentence. “What is? Now, Stephanie, didn't you more or less promise us something?”
  Stefan laughed, and switched gender. "Here, or shall we lie down somewhere?"

  *****

  “Let’s go up to the old flat again,” said Deliah. “I’d like to hit the spa.”
 “That is so boring, unless I get a backrub out of it,” said Percy.
  “I love a good soak in perfumed, agitated water, and a backrub can be arranged,” said Deliah.
 “Then I guess I can humour you for a bit. If you decide to stay for longer than I like, it’s too bad you're not Stefan, or I could eye your nose and say that I’ve got a tongue, and I know how to use it if we’re not out of here in ten seconds,” said Percy. “But you're not, so I won't.”
  “You just did, and I’ll take it in the proper context, oh generally raspy tongued one,” said Deliah.
  Percy smiled. “Cat licks.”
  “Not Catholics?” asked Andre.
  “No. Cataholics,” said Deliah.
  “All Stefanisms huh? Let’s transfer upstairs,” said Andre.
  They did.

  *****

  “Oh man, screw the backrub. I don’t feel like doing this. I'll sit with you guys on the edge, but I’m not going in the water all the way," said Percy with a grimace. “If I’m going to play in the water, I prefer beach or river. This reminds me too much of the baths Kyle used to give me.”
  “OK,” said Deliah, as she entered the tub. “You can reserve the right to change your mind.”
  “I won’t,” said Percy as he looked at Andre. “Hot tubbin’ ain’t ma thang.”
  Andre scowled. “I don’t talk like that.”
  Percy tilted his head. “I am a black cat, when in feline form.”
  “The next time you take the form of a housecat, I may pick you up, transfer you here, and throw you in the water if you keep that up,” said Andre.
  Percy winked, and smiled. “I dare you.”
  Andre laughed. “Don’t worry, mon chat. You could beat me up even as a housecat.”
  “But I wouldn’t do that, my love.”
  “Of course, mine own threat was quite idle.”
  “I’m aware of that, but the sarcasm was amusing,” said Percy.
  “Darn tootin’” said Andre.
  “Ye gods,” said Deliah, as she looked at Andre. “Just get in the water with me dude, huh?”
  “Man, I can't believe you just want to sit in roiling water when there's so much else to do.” said Percy.
  Deliah cocked her head. "Oh, Percy! Not even for a delicate, sensuous shoulder massage from moi?"
  Percy crossed his arms, and cocked his head. "And play with my hair, if you’re going to up the ante!"
  “Sounds fair to me,” said Deliah.
  Percy looked at Andre. "I guess I can't turn that down."
  Andre chuckled. "Can't dismiss a heavy petting session, huh?"
  "Dude! I am a CAT, regardless of what form I wear."
  Deliah chuckled. "As if you’ll let us forget."

  *****

  After another zonk out session, me, Thanatos and Stef went to our favourite living room of the Akashick Castle. Stefan reloaded the fire in front of us for visual enhancement. Stefan leaned back, and having the treasured middle position, he put one arm around me, and the other around Thanatos. “Here we are, in the Akashic Castle where we have all information of what happened, what is happening now, and what will happen everywhere in existence, and here we sit, watching a fire before us, whilst seated on a couch.”
  "So we've got a lazy streak," said Thanatos.
  “I’ve got a hankerin’,” said Stefan.
  “You know just about everything in Earth’s recorded history on a subliminal level, and everything of every civilisation that ever caught your fancy,” said Thanatos. “How’s about another visitation of different worlds, right?”
  “Can we see some dead ones, and you tell us about them?”
 Thanatos smiled, and stroked Stefan’s hair. “Sure, but I'd rather do a mindshare while we explore, and spare us days of pointless conversation about them.”
  “That sounds good to me, too,” I said.
  “Yeah,” said Stefan. “Now?”
  “Fadeout,” said Thanatos.
  Our façades disappeared into a gaseous cloud, and we were off, three as one. 

  *****

  Deliah and Andre sat across from each other in the water, while Deliah was working over Percy's shoulders with an occasional caress to his thick mane. 
  “Your wife was very beautiful,” said Deliah.
  “Second generation American. One hundred percent Masai! She was a classic beauty. I’m glad I found her.”
  “What if she found you again? From your memories of her, I like her quite a bit.”
  Andre shrugged. “I’d welcome her back. What are the odds, though?”
  “We could search for her,” suggested Percy lazily, who had his eyes closed, and didn't look like he wanted to talk.
  “She’d gotten married again. I’m not sure it’s a good idea. I only did enough research to find out that she was taken care of.”
  “Let’s look her up, later.”
  “OK, lets.”

  *****

  Yellow skies, pale violet skies, orange skies, red skies, green skies, bleep skies...oh I’m sorry, but again we have those colours with no definitions, for they exist not on Earth. We were under the direction of Thanatos. He knew what we wanted, and he knew where to find it. Long destroyed worlds, where no one would live again until another race found it from a distant planet!
  Some ruined architecture was similar to Earths Classical Ages, like Greece, or Gothic Europe, but some was really alien. There were structures that reminded me of segmented insects or myriapods. One I found interesting was a structure made of a smooth ceramic that looked like plastic, and there were a number of large domes, connected by tunnels that went halfway up the domes. Nothing had any windows, but when we went inside, all the domes were two stories high, and had a basement and sub-basement. There were furnishings inside the structures, but everything that could move, had been smashed to bits. There was no sign of anyone who’d lived there.
  A huge Earthquake had taken the immediate region down. The mess had started with an asteroid shower hitting the place. That triggered all kinds of little niceties, like setting off a Caldera bigger than Yellowstone’s, other widespread volcanic activity, tsunamies, and weather from Hell.
  Sometimes I really wanted to throttle Stefan. We were originally supposed to explore ‘dead’ civilisations. Stefan’s curiosity just couldn’t be contained, and he had to ask Thanatos to time trip us back to the days of this world’s destruction.
  It was one of the saddest, most disgusting things I’d ever witnessed, but at least the reasons were right.
  It was a very evolved utopian world. All of it! The people could transcend no more, and they were removed from the scene by divine intervention, but I think it would have been far kinder to simply take them Etheric, like what we’d done with ‘Kyle’ in my first story. Just transfer them, instead of killing them, some over the course of a few months.
  Both Stefan and I were kind of on the devastated side after witnessing the holocaust of space and nature. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been; being Thanatos anchored us, but sheesh!  
 Detachment came and went with us. It was only there when we knew what to expect, at this point in non-existent time, to be perfectly honest. All of us but Thanatos could still be fazed by unpleasant surprises.
 Yes, I know I could have withdrawn from the situation. I also knew I had incremented my knowledge, and that just because I didn’t know about it didn’t mean it didn’t happen, and I was due to know about it in the end anyway, but...
  That didn’t stop me from materialising a feather duster, and taking it to Stefan’s face, after we got to the castle, while calling him a morbid bastard. Hey! It worked on cats. When Stefan was Kyle, she’d done that a few times to Percy when Percy was being a bad puddytat, and it would discourage him from his indiscretions for the moment.
  I don’t know who laughed harder, Thanatos, or Stefan. After the incident was over, we all sat down together, and entangled ourselves amongst each other, as usual. One good thing came out of the situation, and that was that I got the middle position this time. I told Stefan, who usually got it, that he owed it to me to give the coveted seating arrangement for putting us through what he’d put us through with his desire to see yet the end of not only another civilisation, but an entire world.
  “This sort of thing always hurts us. Why do you persist in instigating it?” I asked him.
  “Why do you go along with it?” he asked, in turn.
  “Because I’m a stupid idiot, I love you, I like to share experiences with you on the same level, and I wanna know too.”
  “Then, quit yer bitchin’.”
  I looked at Thanatos. “I can’t counter that, can I?”
 “Not considering what you just said before that.”
  “I thought so,” I said. 
  Thanatos managed to give us a cock-eyed scowl with his smile. “You two are becoming more and more alike, every day.”
  “Thank you,” said Stefan.
  “Heavens forbid,” said I. “If I become much more like Stefan, all we’ll be talking about is noses.”
  “Like there’s something wrong with that?” asked Stefan.
 Thanatos chuckled. “Ye gods. You are going to write this down, eh Donn?”
  “Oh, I suppose so. Prove to all existence on how silly we can get?”
  “I’m mildly amused,” said Thanatos. “You two are also dealing with the destruction of that planet a bit better.”
  I pulled both of them closer to me, to the best of my ability. “I suppose so.”

  *****

  Both Percy and Deliah were now just sitting there with their backs against the wall of the spa. "Can we go do something else now?" asked Percy.
  “If you’d been in human form on Tech Duinn, you might have gotten into this,” said Deliah.
  Percy shrugged. ‘I’m not sure about that. I'd rather as a cat just put my head in your lap, and you can stroke me, scratch me behind the ears, or best yet, under my chin. Or hold me in your lap in the form I was born to. Now that’s what I like! “
  “Not a jasmine oil backrub or having your hair brushed out in your human form?” asked Deliah.
  "Sure. Same difference," said Percy.
  “Before, or after we look up Tonya Kinyanga-Courtois?” asked Andre.
  “Think we should do what’s more important, last?” asked Deliah.
  "Might as well. I can wait," said Percy.
  Andre looked up at him. “No, I think you’re getting your rubdown first, you adorable snot.”
  Percy winked at Andre. "I guess I can make the sacrifice."
  “And you would like your backrub in Egypt, no doubt?”
  "Of course," said Percy. "Deliah can brush out my hair, and you can give me that backrub. I think I deserve it after sitting in that whirlpool with you for so long."
  “How can I argue with logic like that?!” asked deliah.
  Percy chuckled, took the hands of both Deliah, Andre, and transferred them to the room devoted to Egypt.

  *****

  Percy dressed in a pair of flared jeans and heavy socks. He didn’t bother with shoes for what was pending. He simply sat down, materialised a brush, and held it up. “Del, my love?”
 Deliah got behind him, and took the brush. She first ran her hand through his now dry, thick raven hair, and then proceeded to drag the brush through it. “Ever planning on wearing longer hair?”
  “It’s hardly short. It touches my shoulders. I’d find what you, Donn and everyone else wears, a nuisance. This feels nice, by the way.”
  “As good as getting scratched under the chin as a cat?” asked Deliah.
  “No. I don’t think anything feels as goods as that. From what I was permitted to know about, anyway.”
  “That’s not a hint, is it?” asked Deliah.
  “No. Just a statement of fact.”
  Del kissed Percy. “Kitten, and if I wanted you?”
  “No, even if it wasn't only a theoretical question.”
  “I just had to verify.” She stroked his hair again, before resuming with the brush.
  “Hmmmmmm. You always did know how to treat a cat.”
  “You hung around in my apartment enough, buster.”
  Percy closed his eyes. “Because you knew how to treat a cat.”
  “Spoiling you rotten,” said Deliah.
  “It’s the only way, huh?” asked Andre.
  “Darn tootin’,” said Percy.  
  “Says the most sensualistic species in existence,” said Andre.
  “You’ve got that right,” said Percy.
  Deliah said, “You know Percy, when you were a housecat, you always used to play the masseur. I’d like to pay you back too.”
  “When you weren’t bitchin’ about my claws. Later. I know both your styles from our mind shares, and I like what Andre used to do with Tonya, better than what you used to do with your lovers, here.”
  “You spare no one with truths untold,” said Deliah.
  “Nope. I’m a cat.”
  “But there were times when you did stuff wrong, and you’d give Ste...I mean Kyle and Kevin that ‘Who, me?’ look,” said Deliah.
  “But I never denied doing it.”
  “Is there a way of doing that in Catonese?” asked Deliah.
  “Of course. Everything you can convey, a cat can convey, if only the person can understand.”
  Deliah said, “Kyle was damn good at figuring you out.”
  “She got good at it. During our last few years, it never took more than three translation attempts to give me what I wanted, and she often got it on the first try. Earlier, it might have been seven or eight times. At least she endeavoured, and did successfully learn my lingo. Which reminds me. After you two are done serving me my silver plates, I think I would like to see Stefan…as a cat, of course. Of the panthera variety!”
  “Of course,” said Deliah. “That’s how you get his best attentions.”
  “Don’t I know it,” said Percy. “I love your light touch with the hairbrush, Del.”
  “Thanks. I figured you like the same treatment, regardless of what species you are?!”
  “Big time. Andre, I’m almost ready for that backrub. And Del, you can run your fingers through my hair as he does that.”
  Delia chuckled. “Yes, dear.”
  Cats!

  *****

  By now, me, Thanatos and Stefan were walking the halls. We were headed toward the library at a leisurely pace, not for the sake of getting any books, but just to experience the atmosphere of the place.
  “It is so weird,” said Stefan. “When a culture stagnates, be it bad or good, it is destroyed.”
  “The point of existence in any realm is evolution, and once that stops, you are taken out of there. If you hit a low stagnation point, you reincarnate, if you hit a high stagnation point, you move to the next level. It’s like a video game,” said Thanatos.
  “That makes it sound like all we are to The Source, is a game of Tetris,” said Stefan.
  “That’s a very basic way of looking at it, but it’s a good analogy,” said Thanatos. The highest level is when you hit Home, but you knew that.”
  “That’s a pretty innovative way of phrasing it,” I said.
  “I know the pain stops as soon as the transition is complete, but the horror of that transition is so damn common. Knowing what I know, it just all seems so unnecessary, even if people do agree to die they way they do, before they are born,” said Stefan.
  “Isn’t it amazing that you used to think that once you transcended the Physical Plane, you’d innately understand everything?” asked Thanatos.
  “But at least I can access real Truth here, and not just be exposed to the garbage and lies masquerading as Truth on Earth.” said Stefan
  “Stef, I’m still learning, too. Before what we just did, I never rode a comet, or floated between colliding stars, or any of that. It had never occurred to me to do that,” said Thanatos.
  Stefan smiled. “Thanks.”
  “I’ve got to call a meeting later, to share all that,” said Thanatos. “If I leave it to randomly all get together again, we might as well be waiting the equivalent of a century.”
  “We’re so much more cohesive, yet we’re not,” I said.
  “Well, we always seem to be aware of one another, but our interests and tastes have diversified so much, that there’s no point to existing like we used to when we’re in a place like this,” said Thanatos.
  “So weird, how we’re completely one in the Astral and Causal Realms, but here, we have grown more separate than ever,” said Stefan.
  “We revel in our short bursts of illusory independence,” said Thanatos. “I admit, I do.”
  “I thank you both again for staying with me,” said Stefan.
  “We wouldn’t leave you for anything. Now, I wonder what other adventures you’re going to come up with,” said Thanatos.
  “We could investigate the digestive function of a cow first hand,” said Stefan.
  “No!!!!!!!! Never!!!!!!!!!” I said with a vehemence.
  “I’ll sit that one out, as well. You can tell us about it. I don’t think I even want to do a mindshare on that one. There are some things even beyond me, I find now that I must admit,” said Thanatos.
  Stefan started laughing, and the rest of joined in at the thought of engaging in his repulsive concept of an adventure.
  Yes, he had been joking.

  *****

  Macha, Kevalyn and Sylvia turned the horses back to the castle. “Damn, we’ve come far,” said Sylvia. "The mesa looks mighty small."
  “If it’s OK with our mounts, we could get the rides of our existence, back home,” said Macha.
 Kevalyn stroked her black equine companion. “Nova! Want to make a mad dash home? I’ll give you the longest grooming you ever had, after we get there.” Thought pictures were sent, as well.
  The way to a horse’s heart was definitely through its hedonistic tastes.
  All three took off.

  *****

  Percy was stretched out on a silk covered mat, with his head resting on a silk covered pillow, and his eyes were closed. “Hmmmmm. I almost feel like making purring noises.”
  Andre poured more of the jasmine oil on his back, and gently rubbed it into Percy. “I’m that good, huh?”
  “Oh, yeah.”
  “And why can’t I do it?” asked Deliah.
  “You brushed and played with my hair. Maybe next time, if you study Andre and promise to try and stick to his technique.”
  Andre said, “Next time you want me to spoil you, I want my black leopard back.”
  “That can be arrrrrrrrranged,” said Percy lazily.
  “Me too,” said Deliah. “I can take a soft bristled cat brush to you.”
  “I’d like that.”
  Deliah sat beside his head, and started stroking his hair again. “It’s almost hard to not think of you as a cat, even though now you have human form.”
  “Good, if you’re going to treat me like this.”
  Deliah wrapped an index finger around some of Percy’s mane. “You know Percy? I really, really wish you’d been like this before we moved to Tech Duinn, in ‘The Second Time Around’.
  “No you don’t,” said Percy. “You would have gotten me very upset. I wouldn’t have screwed you then, either. I’m not like you. Animals are different.”
  “What about now? What are you, now?” asked Deliah.
  “I’m all cat. It's just like if you took on the form of an animal. You'd still be a person, just with another façade. I would not have eaten, or joined any of your silly rituals on Tech Duinn. Also, don’t forget that I was neutered on Earth before I even mated, and we are completely devoid of all mating drives after we transcend the Physical Plane. You would have gotten me very upset if you’d tried to relentlessly seduce me. Asking me to engage in what used to be instinctive is like asking you to iron a stack of clothes now. If we didn’t have those obnoxious mating drives so firmly ingrained on the Physical Plane, we would have let ourselves all die out, by the way.”
  “All animals?” asked Deliah.
  “Yes.”
  “I didn’t pick that up in our merger.”
  “It’s pretty far back in my mind. I don’t think about this spontaneously, but that’s the way it is. We aren’t so stupid as to perpetuate Physical existence voluntarily.”
  “But you chose to be born,” said Deliah.
  “Yes. As for your next question, the answer is that I chose to be reborn for love. Kyle took care of me twice. The first time, though she did make some mighty stupid mistakes with me being human children are mighty stupid creatures; we had more good times than bad. The second time, I knew she would make very few mistakes, and I was attached to her. I saw what I was due for, before I lived. You think I was going to turn that down?”
  “What about lab rats, and other vivisection victims?”
  Percy chortled. “Huh! We’re no nobler than the human race. We have to suffer to evolve too, sometimes. I already paid my dues in former lives, just like you.”
  “The last life of everyone isn’t always paradise, though mine was.”
  “Sylvia had a hard life. Ste...Kyle! When will I stop referring to that mortal incarnation as Stef? Anyway, Kyle’s life wasn’t easy. She always had enough to eat and a roof over her head, but she had to work her tail off,” said Percy.
  “So that’s why she didn’t have a tail,” said Deliah.
  “Yeah, right,” said Percy. “She always put me first when she could. She gave me the whole bag of langoustines most of the time. Other times, she might filch two or three from the one-pound bag, but she spent more money on me, pound for pound, than she did on herself most of the time. I got organic cream, while to compensate her budget; she put half and half in her tea.  
  “I did what I could, to pay her back. The kneading, the waiting to eat with her if she had her dinner on the table with me, the request for cream when she was having her tea, so we could be drinking partners...it meant so much to her.”
  “You are very sweet.”
  “I loved her more than anyone. She tried so hard to learn to understand me. Most people don’t bother, and they read a bunch of garbage into us. It was so nice to be treated as an intelligent individual instead of a goddamn toy, you know?”
  “I know,” said Andre.
  Percy said, “Andre, you can stop now, and I really am very grateful to both of you, for doing this for me. We can trade places the next time if you two aren’t totally fixated on spoiling a leopard.”
  Andre closed his eyes, and tilted his head down. “Stefan-Stephanie-Kyle is the main reason I’m here.”
  Deliah reached over to him, and stroked his tied up hair. “We know. The Seth Karnak trigger.”
  “Interesting, how Stef is the only one who doesn’t go by the latest past life name.”
  Percy said, “Well, you know how it goes. Those who come back to life exclusively for the sake of serving the ‘Cause’ of reintegration by any other name, retain the identity they had when they volunteered for the unnecessary physical torture of living another physical life, even though they don’t have to, the moment of transition to the Etheric. The one who chose to reincarnate as Zanna Milovitch was Stephanie, though it ended up doing a strange mental yin to yang switch when she was reborn.”
  Andre chuckled. “Not from personal experience do I know how it goes. Considering what a case Stefan is, I’m almost amazed he/she/it falls into that category.”
  Percy shrugged. “Intent and priorities are everything. Being happy in your dedications isn’t a requirement. Stef, as Zanna or Kyle felt compelled to do what she could. No, she didn’t have a major impact on the world like she’d wanted before she insisted on returning to the Physical Realm, but to even help one individual is enough, and she’d helped way more than one.”
  “It is so strange, referring to someone of varying genders,” said Andre.
  “Gender is a dirty word, with Stef,” said Deliah. “In fact, if he switched to chick, it’s kind of hard to tell that he did, in those clothes of his. Stephanie’s a little thinner, but you really have to know what you’re looking for.”
  “Voice is a little higher, and Adam’s apple goes away,” said Percy.
  “I can hardly tell with the voice,” said Deliah. "I guess it’s a cat thing, huh?” 
 “We are more sensitive, and I refuse to compromise my senses when I take this form,” said Percy.
  “Understandable. There’s one other thing about you all that I really couldn’t ‘grok’ at all,” said Andre.
  Deliah stroked his hair again. “How some of us waited to experiment with the wildest of the sensual experiments after it didn’t matter anymore? Yeah, that was pretty weird, but some of us did have issues, the biggest one being shared by Donn, Thanatos and Stefan. On how they all held off on each other until so late in the game, then no holds barred in the most beautiful ways.”
  “Gotta make love for the sake of the other party alone. Yeah. And then only doing something once or twice for the sake of experiencing it, and never again, regardless of how good it felt?” asked Andre. (Don’t ask.)
  “You have to admit, from a philosophical perspective love can reach no higher apex than what those three feel for each other,” said Deliah. “Can you untie your hair, and let it go as it was meant to be? It feels nice, like that.”
  Andre nodded. He dematerialised the hair tie, and ran his hand through it. His hair was in its natural state, as always. “Better?”
  She caressed his hair again. “This softness is not what I would have expected when I was still alive. I love it. It’s beautiful.”
  Andre said, “Thanks. As for the three we are discussing, their love for each other is as plain as day, from their poetry. I can’t imagine a bigger treasure, than having been let into their circle.”
  “Tell me about it,” said Deliah.
  Looking at Deliah, Percy asked, “If I become a leopard again, will you pet me, too?”
  “I thought you’d had enough?” asked Andre.
  “Enough of your skills as a masseur, dude. I’m still a cat, and I’m getting jealous.”
  Andre and Deliah looked at each other, and both smiled. Deliah said to Percy, “Go ahead. Take something closer to your true form, and we’ll fawn over you.”
  “Purr.” 
  The three stayed together for quite a while, until Percy grew bored and left them.
 
 
 
 









































 Chapter 10


  Later, Andre met Stefan and the pantherine Percy in the halls of the paintings. Andre looked at Percy. “So that’s where you went, you little deserter.”
  ‘I’ll ‘little’ you, Andre. Remember that Stefan by any other name is my main servant. Always has been, so I should give him some time, shouldn’t I?’
  Stefan scratched Percy on top of the head. “You have such a way with words, dearest.”
  ‘Purr. Anyway, should we go toward the Light Side, or the Dark Side for my next picture?’
  “Another painting?” asked Andre.
  “Oh, yeah. Percy in attack mode! I’m debating on whether to put him on a snowy cliff, or in the tropics,” said Stefan.
  ‘I think black on white is more dramatic,’ sent Percy.
  “OK, then we’ll go Dark Side.”
  ‘You know what I’d really like?’
  “What?!” asked Stefan.
  ‘On the side of your volcano with lava streaming beside me, and omit the ash in the atmosphere.’
  “Sounds cool,” said Andre.
  “I’ll do it. Wanna go over and pose, so I can do a mental snapshot?”
  ‘Sure,’ sent Percy.
  “Can I watch?” asked Andre.
  “Oh, I guess so,” said Stefan.  
  “Maybe I’ll get into painting myself, one day,” said Andre
  “The more the merrier. Let’s go,” said Stefan.
  The three of them transferred to our favourite volcano, and Percy took the most fearsome pose he could.
 
 *****

  Thanatos and I were on Gilgamesh, on a rare ride toward the Light Side of the planet. I rode in front, Than was wrapped around me, and Gil was going at a fast walk in a temperate meadow. The red sky and the violet leaves in the bright of the day was a rare sight for me. I loved the alien nature of this locale as much as ever. We materialised enough of ourselves to be affected by gravity and touch. We could not now go through anything.
  None of the animals were afraid of us, and we’d had a few curious birds land on us. Everything had the same basic design of two sense organs like eyes, ears, nostrils, four legs, tails, claws, or hooves, and such. Of course the colours and more intricate details of the animals varied a bit more, and there were some non-insect land animals that couldn’t be remotely be classified as mammalian, reptilian, amphibian, or anything else. There were leathery looking, slime-covered creatures which left a residue on you similar to a slug, if you petted them. There were others with a body cover similar to raw cotton, and things that would remind you of prehistory.
  With the telepathic assurance that we meant no harm, many a creature came to us to check us out, and we were quite cordial to all that were interested. Not quite Eden, it was. Of course, these creatures still ate each other.
  We remained insensitive to the temperature. When we got to a small brook, we detoured, and rode along side of it, upstream. When we got to a small waterfall, we stopped, and dismounted.
  “Want to stay here for a while?” I asked.
  “Sure. A few nostalgic moments! This reminds me of a young Earth.”
  I sat down at the edge of the pool by the waterfall. I dematerialised my boots and leotards, and put my feet in the water. “I’ve only seen that through you.” 
  “It was like this, only in different colours. The nice thing about this place, is nothing like man will ever set foot here.”
  I smiled. “Unless they’re High Etheric, or Low Astral.”
  “We’re kind of borderline Physical now.”
  “For a little while, but I know what you mean.”
  Gilgamesh lay beside me in a feline fashion, tucking his front legs under him, with his head and neck erect. He looked at me, and I leaned into him. The stallion and I exchanged a few mental waves of peace and love. He nosed my shoulder, I stroked his forehead, and scratched him behind the ears.
  Thanatos sat a little behind me, slightly off to the side. He then got to his knees, crawled forward, touched the water, and sat behind me again. “I think I’ll pass soaking my feet.”
  “I haven’t done it, since we’ve been to the Elysian Fields. I wonder what the water tastes like, but at the same time, I recoil at the thought of trying it, even if I could get it down.”
  “It’s not our world. I don’t think it would be wise to test it, though I know it wouldn’t instantly kill our kind if we were capable of being poisoned. It’s di-hydrogen oxide, but the mineral content is not what you’d find on Earth. I think I’d definitely not go there. Even my curiosity is a bit tempered in this case. If I were still into sampling food, foreign worlds are best left alone. This is reality, not Star Trek. We’d get sick and die here, if we had to breath the air for too long, though it could keep us alive for a little while if we were mortal.” “Sage advice, noted! I assume we have no name for some of the tastes available here.”
  “We have that problem even on Earth, as far as the specifics of sweet, salty, bitter, and all that go. On the other hand, we have good, bad or indifferent.”
  I chuckled. “True.” I reached for him, and he embraced me from behind.
  “Too bad our ever so morbid Stefan is so hooked up to the castle's area or the Dark direction.”
  “How in the past he’s bitched about full daylight, I think it would be better to leave him in the twilight world, and just share this moment with him vicariously.”
  “Hm hm,” said Thanatos, as he ran his fingers through my hair.
  I trilled softly.  
 "Let's go from Astral to Nirvanic, one level at a time," he said as he kissed the back of my neck.
  "Ye gods, yes," I whispered.
  We were out of there. We blended on the Astral, and moved on without separating to the Causal, the Mental, and the Highest Nirvanic Realm there was. It was absolutely awesome, and beyond description! When we got back to the castle, Thanatos made sure we landed on the couch. I was so overtaken by what had just been done to me, I keeled over sideways. As I passed out, I had a smile on my face. Thanatos materialised a pillow and a few blankets, as he rearranged me to make sure I was comfortable.
  What sweet dreams I had, as he sat beside me rereading Medea, by Ovid.

  *****

  Percy had switched to human form to watch Stefan paint, and Andre sat beside him. Stefan threw on a white acrylic undercoat, let it dry, and then sketched the lovely part time black panther in attack mode, with bared fangs more than slightly elongated. 
 “I swear you were a cat in a former life, Stefan,” said Percy.
  “Not how it works,” said Stefan, as he started filling in Percy. The first colour he worked with, was light blue.
  “But you are hybridised, now that we’ve done such an intense mind share. You’re part cat, now.” 
 “Yeah, I guess so. I’m trying not to go over there right now, and rub my head on your shoulder to claim you as my property.”
  Percy chuckled. “You know Stef, you’re quite welcome to do that any time. Of course, I’ll scent mark you right back to claim you as mine, instead.”
  “So we’d have a scent marking frenzy?” asked Stefan.
  “I’d love to see that,” said Andre.
  “Might be a while,” said Stefan. “I’m not going to put my brush down for that.” 
  “Understandable,” said Andre. He looked at Percy. “Do you have any desire to mark me as your territory at the moment?”
  “I suppose I can accommodate you.”
  “Can you become a cat, first?”
  Percy narrowed his eyes, and gave Stefan a mental signal to turn his head toward himself and Andre. As soon as Stefan turned around, Percy turned into a leopard, pounced on Andre, rubbed his cheek on Andre’s, and pinned him to the couch. ‘OK, Andre! You’re mine. So what shall I do with you?’
  Stefan laughed. “You asked for it.”
  Andre smiled. “So I did.” He managed to kiss Percy on the bridge of his nose. “All right, kitten. You can let me up, now.”
  ‘Purr.’ Percy let Andre sit up, and he lay beside him, resting his head in Andre’s lap.

  *****

  A bit later, as I stirred I discovered myself to be under an unnecessary blanket, and I suddenly found my hair caressed. I just had to smile. “Than?”
  “None other.”
  “Gods, that was great.”
  “Wasn't it, though?” 
  I rested against him. “And what can I do for you?”
  “Silly question. I was just as involved in our unifying experience as you. Everything you went through, I went through. The only thing is, you can’t instigate it yet. In a little bit, I’d like to do it again, but only with our currently occupied Stefan, with us. Later, when everyone is completely up to par, then all.”
  I closed my eyes. “Stefan. Painting.” I zeroed in on the project. “Nice one of Percy, though it’s a little stylised. The cat looks his cross between a leopard and a smilodon. Gods, those teeth and muscles.”
  “Want to join Andre and Percy?”
  I wrapped myself around my virtual twin. “Oh, sure. In a few! Shall we run, or transfer?”
  “Let’s run, and I’ll pace myself to you, OK?”
  “Thanks.”

  *****

 Deliah had gone to watch Macha, Kev, and Sylvia practise. Deliah crossed her arms as Macha, Kevalyn and Sylvia closed their performance. “You guys have been might busy, here,” said Deliah. “That was absolutely beautiful, as always.”
  “I never thought the Morrighan could make music to rival Apollo,” said Kevalyn.
  Macha chuckled. “Hey! I am of the Tuatha de Danaan.”
  Deliah uncrossed those arms, and leaned on the right armrest of her chair. “That’s a good of an excuse as any.”

  *****

  When Thanatos and I got to the art studio, Andre and Percy were totally focused on each other. Their eyes were locked, and Andre was stroking the leopard’s temples. They both looked hypnotised. With Percy sprawled out along the length of the couch, there was no room for me or Thanatos to sit down, and I ended up kneeling before the cat, and running my hand over his neck and shoulders. Andre backed off to let me kiss Percy on the forehead, and then I stood up and went over to Stefan. He hadn’t gotten very far, as applying the paint, went. I went back to the others.
  Thanatos leaned over Andre. ‘Let’s you, Percy, Donn, and I go to the Akashic Library for a few. We’ll time trip, and no one will be aware of us being gone.’
  ‘OK,’ Andre replied.

  *****

  Andre scowled. “Tonya! She’s in the White City!”
  “She hasn’t forgotten you,” said Thanatos. “She thinks of you, often.”
  “Gods, I still love her so much. But now there’s Deliah.”
  “And Percy,” said Thanatos.
  “But Percy’s a...”
  Percy immediately transformed into his human form. “Percy’s a what?”
  Andre looked at him. “Cat.” He swallowed. “Sometimes. Uh...never mind.”
  Percy smiled. “Right, lover.”
  Andre looked down, and brought his right hand to his forehead. “Oh gods.”
  I laughed. “Who cares if you love Deliah. You love everyone here, and you think Tonya is going to care? We are not Earth dwellers any more. I know you’ve never considered another until you came here, but what was, is no more.”
  “You’re going to bring her here?” asked Andre.
  Thanatos stepped toward Andre, and put the tips of his fingers under Andre’s jaw, gently tilting his head up. “Shall she read about us before, or after?”
  Andre caressed Thanatos’ wrist, as Andre’s eyes started tearing. “You’ll actually transfer her, here?”
  “Of course. She gave so much of herself, using her wealth to benefit humanity. She’s right for us, and right for you. I can honestly say, that she belongs here.”
  “Let’s let her read the series first,” said Andre.
  “You deliver it,” said Thanatos to me.
  “Me?” I asked
  “Yeah! You wrote the thing,” said Thanatos.
  “I’ll tell her Andre sent me.”
  “You do that. You also can time trip outta here, and come back when you finish with the present story you’re working on, give that to her as well,” said Thanatos.
  I scowled. “Say, what?”
  “You heard me, babe.” He went telepathic, and it was directed only at me. ‘And before you do, as soon as Stefan finishes his painting...I’m taking you both to the edge of High Nirvana. Everyone else, later! After everyone can handle it, and that won't be long.’
  I tilted my head forward, and looked down. “Let’s go back to Stefan.”
 
 
 
 
  Chapter 11


  Thanatos got us back to the moment of departure, with Stefan. We weren’t missed.  
  Percy, back in his leopard form, jumped off the couch, and walked over to Stefan. When Stefan rinsed his brush, Percy stood up on his hind legs and put his paws on Stefan’s shoulder. ‘That is so flattering! Thanks.’
 After getting over his initial shock, Stefan said, “Thanks. This version of you is a bit more impressive.”
  Percy gently scraped his fangs on Stefan’s neck and shoulder. ‘Compliments will get you everywhere.’ Percy put all fours on the ground, again. In a split second, he was more muscularly defined, had a heavier bone frame, and his fangs extended over his lower jaw by five inches. He turned to me, and yawned.
  “Nice,” said Andre.
  Stefan turned around. “Thanks, Percy.”
  ‘Purr.’
  “Purr! That about explains everything,” said Thanatos, as he came over, and kneeled beside the cat. “I don’t think we have a leopard, anymore.”
  ‘You don’t want one back, I sense,’ sent Percy.
  “Not if you give us this as an alternative,” said Andre. “Whatever your species is, now.”
  ‘It doesn’t exist,’ sent Percy.
  “It does, now,” said Thanatos.
  “I don’t want to paint anymore,” said Stefan. “Not with you looking like that, Percy.”
  ‘Sorry,’ Percy took his human form again. “But can I motivate the fire within you again, to finish this project by threatening not to become a cat again until you do?”
  Stefan walked over the part time man, and stroked his hair. “You always get your way with me, don’t you?” 
 “Almost.” Percy stroked Stefan’s nose. “Thanks, but you do understand.”
  Stefan smiled, and said, “Hell, yeah,” as he went back to the painting.
  “We’ll have to beckon the ladies, pretty soon,” said Thanatos.
  “Deliah is going to be impossible to pull away from Percy after she sees him with the longer fangs,” I said.
  “I find it hard to stay away from him, myself,” said Stefan. Stefan looked at him. “When he’s a cat, anyway.”
  Percy narrowed his eyes. “Stefan?”
  Stefan looked at him. “Kidding, love. Want a backrub later?”
  Percy smiled. “Sure. After you finish the painting!”

  *****

  When Stefan stepped back from the painting, we were pretty enthralled. It must have been the painting of the most ‘bad-ass’ looking feline that had ever been painted.
  “That is so beautiful,” said Percy. ‘Stef, I know I repeat myself, but I don’t know if I can love you any more. I have never met anyone who has put so much of themselves into me,’ he sent nonverbally.  
  I scowled. “Isn’t it amazing, that even though you would be the only one of your kind on Earth, if you materialised there like this, someone would want to shoot you?”
  Percy shrugged. “I’m glad I’m never going back.”
  I put my arm around him. “So am I. You’ve been wonderful company.”
  Thanatos took Stefan’s hand, and brought him closer to Percy and I. He winked at Andre. “Thank you again, for all you’ve done for us. Percy, thank you for choosing to be with us.” He blew Andre a kiss. “Andre, the four of us old timers have something to see to. We’ll be back in a minute, to your perception. Just have a seat, and we’ll set you up for your wildest dream.”
  Andre pointed at Thanatos. “I know what it is. Thanks.”
 Thanatos took me, Stefan and Percy out of there. We ended up on the other side of the equator of the planet. Poor Stefan had no say in being forced to see daylight again, but he didn’t complain.

  *****

  Thanatos pointed at Percy. “Actually, I want to take care of a further bonding with you, and pleasure before business, not that it should matter to Andre, for I told him the truth. Can I take you to the border of the point of no return to Nirvana with us before Donn writes his next book?”
  Percy tilted his head, and raised his left eyebrow. “Before my time? With another class of being?”
  Thanatos smiled. “We know you. We’ve been one with you. We are all hybridised. We have different origins, but we are all the same, now.”
  Percy smiled. “In a unity that’s about as unifying as you can get? Something that’s been denied me since I've gotten a taste of having the illusion of being an independent entity?! I suppose I’ll have to try that.”
  Thanatos looked at Stefan and said, “Come on. Let's all join hands and go."
 Stefan and I went to Thanatos, and we formed a circle. To the heavens, and back we would go.
  After this, there was truly no difference between Percy and us, at all. The bridge of the human (Tuatha and second generation from The Source, included) type and animal type had been completed.
  When it was over, three of us had to pass out, and we did. Under the shade of a grove of trees, in the soft purple grass of the Light Side of the planet.
  After we awoke, Thanatos transferred us back to the castle, and I ended up in front of the word processor.

  *****
 
  “So, I just type up a concise review from when I last left this thing to this moment?” I asked.
  “Basically,” said Thanatos. “Then you go down to The White City, and give a copy to Tonya.”
  “And the story ends with me sitting here, now?”
  “No, your sarcasticness. Speculate on the future, and make it happen.”
  I scowled. “You make it happen. I can’t do that.”
  “Well, just write what you’re expecting. It doesn’t have to be exact. In fact nothing you write ever is like what actually happened anyway. You yourself admits to writing in analogy in the books, so what’s the deal?” asked Thanatos.
  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” said Percy.
  “I can. Conversations around here have been stranger,” said Stefan.
  “That I will have to admit to,” said Percy.
  “OK,” I said. “But instead of guessing about the future, I’m gonna time trip out of sight.”
  Thank the gods I did!

  *****

  One more short story of review complete! I was one hell of a fast typist, and it was one hell of an easy project. If I’d been on Earth, and needed no sleep, it would have been done in less than two days.
  I knew damn well that I’d be writing another tale, very soon.


 












































 Chapter 12


  The minute I finished my book, we came back to Andre, and it was more like a few seconds to him than a minute. After that, we called everyone for a meeting in the hall of my newest paintings
  Deliah, Kevalyn, Macha and Sylvia were sitting around the sabre toothed Percy, none of them being able to get enough of the reformatted leopard. Yes, they all loved my painting of him.
  “So, we are actually going to aggressively pursue an individual to kidnap them!” said Sylvia. “I thought we weren’t supposed to do that.”
  “No, we will not kidnap her,” said Thanatos. “It will be Tonya’s choice, and I guarantee that she will choose to come here. She’s evolved enough to exist here. She can’t come Causal with us for a while, but staying here until she is ready is hardly a sacrifice for us, considering how much we enjoy this place.”
  “It will be so nice to share her company again,” said Andre.
  “Nice to have another foxy chick on board,” said Stefan. “One more gorgeous art project to work on. Putting you two down together is something I can’t wait to do.”
  Andre smiled. “Thanks.”
  “You two really are a beautiful couple,” I had to agree.
  Andre shrugged. “Unfortunately I know better than to say it was an accident of nature.”
  Thanatos said, “Well, what’s a little vanity among friends. Let’s drop the story set off.”

  *****

  Tonya was on the fifth floor in our own very former place of residence. I had Percy with me, and a seven hundred odd page book, which consisted of a bit of poetry in addition to my completed tales. 
 When I knocked on the door, Tonya wasn’t the one who answered. Instead, it was a young Asian man. He recognised me. “Donn! You’re here?!” he was delighted to see me.
  I knew who he was due to my time trip. “Ronin?”
  “Yes. Glad to see you again. I was at your Irish bash, when you played. Unfortunately I didn’t read your books until after you moved, but I am so glad to see you. Tonya?”
  “Yes?” she called back.
  “Donn Ui’Midir’s here.” (I hated it when people said that. For those of you who don’t know, ‘Midir’ is pronounced ‘Meer’, and yes, Stefan had been known to say, “Never fear, Donn Ui’Midir is here,” and I swear! If he ever says it again, I am pouring a bucket of cold water on him the next time he goes temperature sensitive.)
  “Don’t leave him standing out there. Let him in.”
  The man looked at Percy. “Some sort of sabre-cat, too.”
  Tonya came to us. “Donn! Come on in.” She looked at the cat. “Who is that?”
  “Percy. He's shape shifted. Have you read my stories yet?”
  “No. Only your poetry! Ronin’s read them, and he recommended them to me.”
  “I added one more story,” I said. “Andre is with us, and I was supposed to give these to you to see if you’d want to join us.” I handed her the book.
  Her eyes lit up. “Andre? My first husband?” She kneeled down, and stroked Percy.
  “Same. He still loves you like anything, though he also has another girlfriend.”
  “Can Ronin come, too?” she asked.
  I shrugged. “I guess we can try to see if it will work."
  He extended his hand. “I’m Ronin Sakanashi, but I suspect you know that. Me and Tonya have been friends since she first got here.”
  I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
  Tonya stood up, and motioned for us to follow. “Have a seat. Would you like some tea?”
  Percy and I followed. I sat on the couch, and Percy remained on the floor. “Thank you, but I have an impossibly hard time getting anything down anymore. You just come to a point where you just lose the desire to continue in the habits you had that you needed to survive.”
  “Understandable,” said Ronin. “We don’t consume things either, except for extenuating circumstances. Social ritual, and such.”
  Tonya scowled. “There is a problem with us leaving now.”
  Ronin sat down. “Yes, there is. Warren Colfax! We can’t leave him in the lurch.”
  “Channel?” I asked.
  “Yeah,” said Ronin, with a mischievous grin. “English channel.”
  I chuckled. “That’s bad.”
  “He’s a sweet kid. He’s into music with a message, and we're helping with the lyrics. We can’t desert him.”
  I held up my index finger. “Wait a minute.” I closed my eyes. ‘Thanatos. I’d be bringing back both Tonya and her friend Ronin to see if he's ready for our place, but I’m not sure if they can come now. They have a channel.’
  ‘So many White City dwellers do. What year?’
  “What year is it to Warren?” I asked.
  “Two thousand six,” said Tonya. A pre-Ahau Kankin date! Lovely. Well, that’s existence, out of time.
  ‘I got it,’ said Thanatos. ‘Look into Warren. If he’s OK, transfer him. There’s so little time left, I think I’ll be excused for authorising this.’
  “I heard that,” said Tonya. “He’s OK. Very benevolent and thoughtful! Helpful to a fault, kind of shy, and bothered with the state of world affairs. He’s way ahead of his years.”
  “How old?”
  “Twenty one,” said Tonya.
  “That’s not much time to get ones self established. How’s the music?”
  “He’s personally established, but musically, not. He has our shared ideas, but he can’t do it alone, you know!” said Tonya.
  “So getting professionally established won’t happen at all,” I said.
  “The best he could hope for, is to be another Kyle Shannon,” said Ronin.
  I had to say it. “If he’s another Kyle Shannon, he can stay where he’s at. I’m sorry, but one of those in my existence is enough.”
  Ronin crossed his arms. “You know damn well, I meant from a musically professional standpoint. He’d help a few people along if he had the time to do it. He’s another one who exists for others. Besides that, his work and future brilliant lyrics would only go to a small audience and be buried in the Akashic Library.”
  “Well, our group always has room for more musicians. Can I take you guys with me now, or would you like to read about us first, Tonya?
  “Ronin told me all about you. I do want to read it, but I don’t have to read it now, and how’s Andre?” she asked.
  “He’s a treasure. We’re glad he came to us.”
  Ronin beckoned Percy. “I’ve never seen an animal shape shift before.”
  ‘I bet you’ve never seen an animal form sentences before, either,’ sent Percy.
  Ronin stroked the cat. “No, I haven’t.”
  “Andre’s doing,” I said. “He unified himself with the cat, and talked Percy into becoming a leopard, among other things. Percy took this form after Stefan painted him like this. He’s also quite an attractive gentleman, in human form.”
  “What a trip,” said Ronin.
  “Totally,” I said.
  Tonya said, “So Percy! Are you going to satisfy my curiosity, and take on your human form for a moment?”
  ‘Oh, I suppose so. Will you acknowledge me as being a part of this conversation, then?’
  “I’m sorry, kitten,” said Tonya. “Most animals don’t care for human conversations.”
  Percy shifted his form. “I’m not most animals! I’ve been hybridised.”
  Tonya’s lower jaw dropped. “My god! You look like Quentin Collins without the muttonchops.”
  A look of shock crossed my face. “You used to watch Dark Shadows too?”
  “Oh, yeah! David Selby was such a babe,” said Tonya.
  I looked to the ceiling. “This is getting more interesting by the moment.”
  “I think I’ll go back to my feline form, thank you,” said Percy.
  “Mmmmmm. And how about coming to me, after?” asked Tonya.
  Percy looked at Rodin. “Chicks! I swear!”
  Tonya tilted her head, put one arm akimbo, narrowed her eyes, and with her mouth slightly skewed to one side, she said, “Neutered pussies! I swear.”
  “Ye gods! Please don’t go there,” I said.
  Percy pointed at Tonya. “I’m kidding, if you are, with my derisive implication.”
  Tonya chuckled. “Of course, I’m kidding.”
  “Good! You know what I’m gonna do?” I asked.
  “What?!” asked Percy.
  I lifted my book. “I’m going to drop this set of stories on the dining table of Warren’s house, and if he takes to us, I will take him to the Akashic Castle, myself.”
  “Sounds good to me,” said Tonya.
 
 
 
 
  























 Chapter 13


  I lay the book on the end table next to his bed, instead. He still lived at home with his parents, so I couldn’t have left it in a communal area. I also found out what he looked like, just then.
  A flawlessly featured, green-eyed, red-brown haired lad!
  Thank the gods we were where we were, on the evolutionary scale.
  If we’d still been on Tech Duinn, I don’t think he would have been allowed out of the bedroom for an eternity, at least.

  *****

  OK, I just finished this tale. I guess I’ll have to get busy on the next.






End of Volume Six

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