Pendant of Fortune (29 page)

Volyan sat on the edge of the pool beside him and dipped his legs into the water. “Mommy says you’re taking me to the palace to meet the King,” he said without preamble.

Volle was about to answer when a voice floated over to him. “If he starts to bother you, let me know.”

Startled, he looked around. It sounded like Ilyana was right beside him, but when he looked, she was on the other side of the pool waving at him.

Dewanne flicked his ears in amusement. “It’s a speaking arch,” he said. “So the males and females can be separate but still talk to each other.”

“
How interesting,” Volle murmured, though really it struck him as slightly sinister. The sulfur blocking his sense of smell and the steam obscuring his sight he could handle, but that he could listen and talk to someone forty feet away that he could barely see made him a bit nervous. He edged away from the arch and sat closer to Volyan, whose wet tail slid across the tiles in excitement.

“
What’s the King like?” he asked.

“
He’s big,” Volle said. “He’s a bear. Have you ever seen a bear?” The cub shook his head, his eyes getting a little wider. “Well, he’s this big around,” he held his arms about four feet apart, “and he’s very tall.”

“
Are you scared of him?”

“
Sometimes. But he’s a good King. He wouldn’t hurt you.”

Volyan nodded. He looked across the pool and then back. “Are there other cubs at the palace?”

“
Some.”

“
Other fox cubs?”

Volle shook his head. “No, none of those.”

“
Oh.”

“
Do you know other fox cubs in Vinton?”

“
Uh-huh.” He nodded. “There’s Chally, and Pikor, and Hally who came to my birthday once but she ate too much and got sick and had to go home.”

“
I’m sure you’ll find some friends at the palace. Are you excited about going?” The cub nodded, but his ears were halfway down. “Scared?” He nodded again, more slowly. “That’s okay. I was scared when I went to the palace too. And I was much older than you are now.”

“
Did you go to see your daddy?”

Volle shook his head. “I didn’t have a daddy growing up.”

“
I didn’t either.” He blinked shyly and mumbled, “until now.”

Volle didn’t respond to that verbally, just smiled and perked his ears up. His neck was starting to hurt from turning to look at the cub, so he faced forward again and relaxed in the pool. The heat was soaking into his fur and body and felt very good.

Across the pool, he heard splashing and opened his eyes. The two vixens (blurry shapes) were getting out and walking toward them around the perimeter of the pool. He estimated the time it would take them and closed his eyes, folding his ears down to block out other sounds. Very faintly, he could make out Dewanne’s scent, but it was distant. Volyan’s was clearer, but the cub had been soaking in the sulfurous water and his scent was fainter. For the moment, Volle felt very isolated, and the sensation of privacy was not altogether unpleasant.

The water lifted his fur so that he almost felt like he was floating. Ilyana’s voice wafted to him through the humid air, sounding oddly less substantial than it had through the arch. “We’re going to the cooling pool. Can you look after Volyan?”

Volle opened his eyes and turned. Dewanne, he noticed, was already turned and staring at the two naked vixens. Ilyana, closer to him, was as shapely as he remembered her, with a little more plumpness that her clothes had hidden well. Her breasts had grown noticeably, but her figure was still very attractive. Lady Dewanne, behind her, was even plumper and less attractive. Her small chest did not complement her wide hips, though her fur was very sleek even when wet, and it was a rich chestnut brown, very dark for a fox. He’d noticed it before, but the color was brought out by the water.

“
Volle?” Ilyana said, amused, and he realized he was staring. His sheath hadn’t responded, but he heard Dewanne’s movement behind him and felt certain that the older fox was at least showing some level of interest. He himself was more interested than aroused, and Volyan didn’t seem interested at all.

“
Yes, we’ll look after him. We’ll bring him to the cooling pool when we’re ready to go.”

“
There’s a separate one for males,” Dewanne said, behind him. “But we’ll leave him with you on our way there.”

“
I’m a male!” Volyan piped up.

Volle grinned. “Well, maybe you can come with us, then.”

Dewanne coughed slightly. “Actually, Vinton, I was rather hoping to have a private word with you today.”

“
We’ll have plenty of time for that.” Volle turned to look at the other fox, and couldn’t help glancing downward. Dewanne was indeed showing a partial erection beneath his stomach, and it occurred to Volle that Dewanne might have another reason for wanting private time. Certainly his wife’s constant health complaints probably meant that his sex life was less than it could be, but in all the time Volle had known him, Dewanne had never been interested in males.

The older fox noticed his glance and crossed his legs, trying not to draw attention to it. He nodded. “All right. Just wanted to let you know.”

Volle nodded and turned back to the vixens. Ilyana had knelt down and was giving Volyan a hug. “Be good,” she told him. “Mind your daddy, and don’t talk too much.”

“
Okay, mommy.” He licked her nose and then she kissed him and nuzzled. Tousling the fur between his ears, she stood up, and Volle suspected she was showing off for the fascinated Dewanne, at least a little bit. She made no effort to hide the curve of her breasts and the nipples on them, nor the pink between her legs that was clearly visible through the wet fur. Lady Dewanne at least had her hips tilted to one side and her arms folded modestly across her chest.

Volle smiled and raised a paw to her. “See you later.”

“
Goodbye, my dear,” Dewanne said.

“
Bye, darling,” she replied, and put an arm around Ilyana’s shoulders as they walked away. Volle thought he heard her say something like “not even the
slightest
sign of interest? oh, my dear…” but the steam in the room muffled the words.

Volyan watched them leave, and then turned back to Volle. He said, with a comical gravity, “It’s just us guys now.”

Volle laughed, and lifted an arm from the water to rub Volyan’s shoulders. “Yes, it is.”

It was clear that Volyan wasn’t sure why he had said something funny, but he enjoyed the attention and laughed along with Volle. His little tail wagged behind him across the tile. Volle thought he was adorable.

“
What do daddies do?” The cub was still smiling, but his wet ears now had an inquisitive tilt to them.

“
What do you mean?”

“
Mommy said that mommies stay with cubs and take care of them until they’re big. Then daddies help them grow up. But what do daddies do?”

“
Well…” Volle paused. “Don’t your friends have daddies?”

The cub’s ears flicked back and he nodded, less happily. “They all do.”

“
What do their daddies do?”

“
I dunno.”

“
Didn’t you ever ask them?” The cub shook his head. “Why not?”

“
I dunno.”

Volle searched the recesses of his own memory, a childhood he hadn’t looked back on in some time, and said softly, “Because they had daddies and you didn’t?” The cub nodded, very slightly. “Did they make fun of you?”

“
Sometimes.” He shrugged.

Volle held the small paw in his own. “You remember I told you that I didn’t have a daddy when I was your age?”

The cub’s ears perked up a bit, and he nodded. “Did your friends tease you too?”

Volle nodded, though it wasn’t strictly true. The other children he’d grown up with in Caril had mostly had two parents, but a few had been in his situation, and some had been orphaned. They had been picked on, but there had been enough of them that they had been able to stick together. He squeezed the cub’s paw. “But I never got a daddy, and you have one now.”

“
I told them I did, but they said I was lying.”

“
Sometimes friends say that if they don’t know any better.” Volle couldn’t think of any words that would make the cub feel better, but he didn’t really have to. Volyan was already perking up, just from Volle talking to him.

“
They’ll see now.” His tail was wagging again.

He seemed to have forgotten that he wouldn’t be seeing his Vinton friends again, and Volle chose not to remind him. “Yes, I suppose so. But it wouldn’t be nice to make too big a deal of it.” Volyan tilted his muzzle, not understanding. “When you’re right about something,” Volle tried again, “and your friends were wrong, it would make them feel bad if you told them they were wrong.”

“
I think he’s a bit young to grasp the concept of courtesy,” Dewanne said with some amusement.

“
I’m five years and three months!” Volyan said indignantly.

Volle let the issue drop. “What games do you like to play with your friends? Do you play, um, Ballhop?”

Volyan nodded. “Sometimes. We play Flea and Ballhop and Ring-around-the-rosy.”

“
What’s your favorite?”

“
I’m good at Flea. The flea almost never catches me.” His tail wagged again.

“
That’s good. I was good at that too.” Of course, he’d played with a group of mixed species; only the rodents were faster than he was.

Volyan launched into a story about a game of Flea he’d played that had taken place around the governor’s mansion in Vinton. Volle had only seen it a few times, and he enjoyed listening to the description of the mansion through the cub’s memories.

Despite his mother’s warning, which had obviously lost its power with her departure, Volyan launched straight from that story into another one about when he’d gotten in trouble for breaking open a bag of flour, and by the time that one trailed down, Dewanne was getting impatient. Volle was feeling rather warm himself, so when the older fox suggested, “Maybe we should go over to the cooling pools,” he agreed readily.

“
Want to come with us, Volyan, or go back to your mother?”

“
I’ll come with you!” The cub sprang to his feet, tail wagging. He had dried off a bit, but not much, and his tail sprayed droplets of water as it swung back and forth.

“
Only for a little while,” Dewanne said as he started to climb out of the pool. Realizing that Volle was in his way, he stopped and waited.

Volle got up obligingly. “Don’t worry, Dewanne, we’ll have time to talk.”

“
I know, I know.” The older fox waited until Volle was out and then followed him onto the tile. Volyan scampered ahead of them, and it didn’t occur to Volle to warn him not to run on the wet tile until he saw the cub skid and hit the wall.

“
Careful!” he called.

Volyan looked back briefly, then went on at a slightly slower pace. He disappeared into the changing room and was pawing through the clothes when Volle and Dewanne walked in. “I can’t find my clothes,” he said, looking up at them.

“
Did you take them off here?” Volle thought Dewanne sounded faintly irritated.

“
Yeah.”

“
No you didn’t,” Dewanne said. “You took them off in the other changing room with your mother.” He pulled his shorts on over his wet fur.

Volle followed suit, draping his tunic over his arm as he saw Dewanne doing. “Don’t worry, Volyan,” he said. “Just come along.”

He didn’t think a naked five-year-old would attract much attention, and Volyan seemed to enjoy the freedom. He pranced around in front of them and his little tail didn’t stop wagging until they reached the cool pools.

They were housed in a long, low building that looked like two squat cylinders joined together. Dewanne led him to the left hand one even as Volyan skipped toward the right. As they drew closer, Volle saw the ‘male’ and ‘female’ markings on them. Volyan finally noticed that they were going to the other building and changed course abruptly, running back to join them. Volle had the idea that Dewanne was hoping the cub would have continued on his course, but other than a revealing downward flick of the ears, the older fox didn’t react even when Volyan ran right in front of him.

This building was lower and darker than the other. No arch soared overhead, and no skylights let in the outside light. In a small changing room much like the other, Dewanne slipped his shorts off again and Volle followed suit. Volyan was already splashing around in the pool inside.