CAUTION: This story contains implied sexual activity between minors, mild violence, and profanity. Reader discretion is advised.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Masala Chai
by IndigoNeko and TaintedThylacine
Chapter 4
Saturday, January 24th, 2016
This time, Alex led the way through the halls of Prairie Flats General Hospital towards the maternity ward where hir mom was staying with Nick and Kate. The tigress was looking forward to seeing if hir siblings’ fur had grown any more. It seemed like every day they came to visit, the cubs had grown a tiny bit bigger. Eventually shi reached hir mom’s room and tapped hir claws on the door. A moment later the door opened.
“Hi Mom,” Alex said, holding out a brown paper bag full of supplies.
“Hey, kiddo,” the older tigress said, accepting the grocery bag and stepping back inside the room. Raenne stared at her daughter’s snow-white hair as shi stepped into the room, glad that her husband had warned her ahead of time about the change. It was eye-catching as hell, but it did look pretty good. Especially in contrast with the black clothes shi was wearing.
Alex bounced into the hospital room, going straight to the incubator holding hir baby brother and sister. The two cubs were sleeping right now, rather than squirming around like they normally did. They were definitely a little bigger, and looked more like a proper pair of tiger cubs. The shapes of their muzzles were slightly more pronounced and it looked like their arms, legs, and tails had grown slightly. Even better, the stripe patterns in their fur were starting to become visible, rather than just a nondescript brown and grey. “They’re adorable,” shi whispered.
“They are, aren’t they?” David said quietly, walking up next to Alex. “Look at those tail tips. It looks like someone dipped them in ink.”
“It does,” Alex said, purring quietly as Mom came up behind hir and gave hir a hug.
“Did you throw out your entire wardrobe and replace it with black skirts and hoodies?” Raenne asked. “It seems that it’s all you’re wearing when you come to visit.” The tigress gently ran her claws through her daughter’s mostly straight hair; she was slightly envious; her own hair had a mixed texture to it that made it seem unkempt when she grew it out, if she didn’t use product.
“Nope,” the younger tigress replied. “Well, I mean, I’m wearing skirts at school, but with the polo shirts we have to wear. I usually wear capris and t-shirts the rest of the time. But yeah... I like wearing black. Besides, you’re one to talk; you’re always wearing flannel and khakis.”
The older tigress glanced down at her pants. Her daughter was right, actually. They were comfortable, though, so she was going to go right on wearing them. “True. Also, I like the white hair. It’s striking. I think I’ll go with black though, myself.”
“That would look good too,” David said, glancing over at his wife. “I’m going to just keep mine short. I like the striped look.”
Both Alex and Raenne looked up at him. “Yeah,” Alex agreed. “You’d look funny with long hair.” Shi smirked, adding “Funny-er, that is.”
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Monday, January 25th, 2016
Ten minutes after school got out, Alex sat down at hir usual seat on the bus, the same seat shi had been sitting in since the beginning of the school year. Since Azalea had moved outside of town and no longer rode the same bus, the young tigress had the seat all to hirself. Five minutes later, the bus drove away from the school, beginning the forty-minute trip from Prairie Flats to Winter Creek.
Dad had finally relented and agreed to let hir start riding the bus again, on the condition that shi go straight home after getting off the bus, lock the door, and stay there until he arrived home from work. Alex would still have to ride with him on Wednesdays, to get to and from hir therapy sessions. It was good to talk with the bus-stop gang again, though they’d been full of questions that morning since shi had been missing for three weeks and Azalea hadn’t been there to fill them in. At least now the conversation had changed to other topics.
“Okay. So I know it’s a little early,” Jerome started, the mountain lion turning around in his seat and looking back over the few rows where his friends were seated. “But Mom wants to know who all is planning on going to the Imbolc meet this year. She said to find out so she can be sure she makes enough cookies this time.”
“Me! Me! Me!” Jason called out, the hyperactive beaver bouncing up and down in his seat.
“I am. No choice this year. That brother of mine ‘volunteered me’ to take part in the men’s groups opening ceremony,” Steve grumbled. The polar bear rolled his eyes in disgust.
“Well, you know I’ll be there, then,” Cindy said. The raccoon smirked and looked up at her boyfriend, adding “With a few blankets and buckets of water just in case. You’re not that good with the fire thing, fur ball.”
“Awww. We won’t get to see a giant flaming marshmallow this year?” Brandy joked. The skunk squirmed in her seat, trying to get a bit more comfortable. “I nearly peed myself laughing, last time.”
“Umm… So is this another one of those religious orgy things, or are you just having ‘s'mores?” Alex asked with a smirk from the back of the group, looking up from hir geography homework. Shi couldn’t resist the urge to poke fun at the older kids.
“Religious orgy? What the heck? Why wasn’t I invited to that?” Brandy asked, wide eyed.
“They’re not orgies,” Steve replied, a blush tinting his fur a pale pink. “I really didn’t do a very good job of describing what a meet is, did I?” he asked, glancing down at the raccoon girl who was sitting in his lap as she started giggling.
“No, you didn’t,” Alex replied, brushing hir white hair back from hir face. “But I’m pulling your tail. I talked to Star Dreamer around New Year’s, about all that pagan stuff. I was gonna ask him about the meets, but I forgot.”
“I hope he did a better job of it than I did. As for meets, I’m not sure you’ll understand them unless you go to one yourself,” the polar bear boy said, hugging his girlfriend. “There’s a lot of things going on at a grove meet and it’s kind of hard to explain some of it.”
Alex raised an eyebrow, looking at them. “Are you suggesting that I go to a religious orgy with you, Steve?” shi asked with a straight face, raising an eyebrow.
“No… that’s not what I meant at all. I only …” the polar bear boy began to protest, trying to defend himself before he heard the tigress snickering. Dropping his forehead onto his girlfriend’s shoulder and shaking his head slowly he added, “I’m never going to live this one down am I?”
“No,” the tiger cub replied, giggling. “So what’s this particular meet for? Could I go? Or is there going to be anything that, umm... that Mom and Dad might object to?”
“Well, grove meets are open to anyone, so you can go,” Cindy chimed in. “As for objectionable stuff... Most, but not all of them, have a designated ‘clothing optional’ area.”
“Yeah, but some people kind of ignore that rule if there’s good music and dance skyclad around the ritual fire pit anyway,” Brandy added.
“But… but that’s the fun part,” Jason piped up wide eyed. “That’s the only way mom and dad let me dance naked.”
“I’ll have to ask Mom and Dad, then,” Alex said, pulling out hir phone and typing out a text. “That’s the only thing you think they might object to? The ‘skyclad’ dancing?”
“Well, that’s the most likely thing,” Steve said furrowing his brow a little. “From what George told me the vendors are the usual group, so nothing strange there. The classes and stuff are mostly geared towards younger people and the newer members of the coven.”
“Yeah, they usually do the simpler stuff in the early part of the year, give newer people a chance to kind of learn some stuff before the bigger celebrations come up,” Brandy added, climbing across the aisle to grab the beaver boy and holding him down. “Sheesh Jason, you’re driving me crazy bouncing around in the seat like that. Sit down and chill out.”
“Anyway, things should be kind of calm for this meet,” Steve said. “I know Star will be there and last I heard Priestess Sharleen will too. It may be a decent chance to get some more information and better answers Alex, assuming your folks are okay with you going.”
“Who’s Priestess Sharleen?” the tigress asked, looking up and brushing hir hair out of hir eyes again, waiting for one of hir parents to respond to the text shi’d sent.
“She’s the high priestess of the coven, basically the leader of the entire group. Well, along with Star. Though he really takes more of a paws-off approach to things. She generally leads the ceremonies and prayers. Everyone really likes her. Kind of hard not to like a strong female like her,” Brandy replied, pinning the jittery beaver boy to the seat. “Jeesh Jason, seriously! You’re making me woozy with the bouncing dude.”
A ding from hir phone took Alex’s attention off the skunk girl wrestling with the beaver boy. Glancing down shi raised hir eyebrows at hir dad’s response. “Well, I guess Dad’s okay with it, though he’ll be coming too. But no naked dancing for me. So… when and where is this meet thing, and how do we get to it?” shi asked.
“I can text the directions to you, if that would make it easier,” Cindy offered with a grin, pulling out her flip phone.
“Okay,” Alex replied with a shy smile.
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Tuesday, January 26th, 2016
Kalu brushed aside his half-finished homework, scrambling to find his ringing phone under the pile of papers on his desk, barely managing to flip the old cell phone open just before the call went to voicemail. “Kal here. ‘Sup?” the elephant said, trying to keep his voice deep and manly, hoping it was one of the ‘African Trio’.
“Hey. Um, it’s Alex,” the person on the other line said.
“Oh. Uh, hey,” Kalu said, instantly changing attitudes as he realized he was talking to the tiger cub whose grandparents had been murdered. He still wasn’t quite sure whether to treat them as a boy or a girl, knowing they were neither. The elephant quickly turned around and picked his jacket off the cheap IKEA chair next to his desk, tossing it on the floor next to a pile of empty energy drinks cans and a paper cup. He gingerly sat down in the chair, hoping it would still hold his weight now that one of the two supports had split. The chair creaked, but held. “What’s up?”
“So, I, uh... I need some advice. I got some plushies a couple weeks ago. Picked out ones that looked like my grandparents and their, uh... bodyguards? All the people I met. The ones who died,” the tigress said, sounding uncomfortable.
Kal had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew that the kid was traumatized, which was why he’d offered to talk with them if they needed it and it sure as shit sounded like she... He? They? Like they needed to talk. “Go on...”
“I, uh... I modified them to make them look like they did when they died. Used some scissors and red dye and stuff. My girlfriend found them and told my Dad, who told my shrink,” Alex said, then sighed.
Kal blinked as he listened. ‘That’s some fucked up shit’, he thought to himself, ‘not gonna lie.’ He held his tongue though; he didn’t want to drop the f-bomb around a ten-year-old kid again. He’d realized just how foul-mouthed he’d been the first time they’d talked only after the fact.
“The shrink told me to make a, uh, diorama. A doll house, basically, showing how they died. And bring them in for the next session. That’s tomorrow. I’m not really good at working with cloth and dolls and stuff, so I decided I’d make a painting of what I saw instead,” the tigress continued. “It’s really good, actually. I had help from Mrs. Stanton to get the perspective right and all...”
“Yeaaaa... Your shrink probably wants to take those creepy-ass plushies away from you. I know I would,” Kalu said, unconsciously slipping into the Jamaican accent of his childhood that he’d tried so hard to get rid of, looking up at the Gorillaz and Bob Marley posters on the wall above his desk. “So... you wanna know if you should take de painting to your shrink instead?”
“Uh-huh,” Alex confirmed.
“Take dem both to your shrink and give dem to him,” Kalu instructed. The elephant leaned forward. “You put some seriously bad juju into those plushies and that painting. You gotta git rid o’ dat. Whatever you do, do not keep dem.”
“But... how else am I going to remember them?” the tigress asked, obviously distraught.
“You remember what dey look like, right?” the elephant asked, thinking rapidly, trying to come up with a solution. “Why don’t you paint another painting, from before dey died. Like, in de day-time or somethin’. When dey looked happy. Paint somethin... like you’d give to your mother. To hang on her wall. Somethin’ with good juju.”
“Uh... Okay. I think I can do that,” Alex said, pausing for a moment. “Thank you.”
“Your welcome,” Kalu said. “Anythin’ else? You doin’ good in school? Nobody be bullyin’ you?”
“Yeah. School’s fine. Thank you, Kal.”
“No problem. Later, Alex,” the elephant said, waiting for a moment before folding closed the small black flip phone and tossing it back onto the desk. Kalu looked around his messy desk and room, realizing just how filthy it was. He sighed and pushed himself out of the chair, then reached down and picked up his jacket, walking over to his closet to hang it up before he started cleaning the rest of his room.
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Wednesday, January 27rd, 2016
“Welcome back, Alex. David,” Everett said, gesturing for his patient and hir father to enter his office. “Your eye is looking better. And I like how you’ve done your hair. It’s fitting,” the skunk added.
“Thanks,” Alex replied as they stepped into the psychiatrist’s office, carrying a cardboard box full of plushies and a stretched canvas painting. David set the box down on the coffee table in the middle of the room while Alex propped the painting against the side of it. Both of the tigers took their usual seats at the small couch while the pot bellied skunk took a seat at the computer chair in front of his desk, then spun to face them across the coffee table.
“I expected a box, but I didn’t expect you to bring a painting. Now I’m curious,” the skunk said. “What is it?”
Alex looked down at the floor, not exactly wanting to meet the doctor’s bespectacled gaze, since shi hadn’t done exactly as he’d asked. “Well... I know you said you wanted me to make a diorama, but I figured that was just an excuse to have me bring in those plushies that Dad ‘found’, so you could take them away from me,” the young tigress explained, glancing up at him. “I’m not stupid,” shi said as an expression of surprise flickered across the skunk’s face.
“I never said you were,” the doctor said, attempting to placate the child. “And you were completely correct about my intentions. I’m sorry I attempted to mislead you.”
“You can have them, but I’m going to get replacements,” Alex said, cutting a glance at hir father, before staring defiantly at the doctor across from them. “I don’t want to remember how they died; I wish I could forget it. But I do want to remember them.” The tiger cub lowered hir gaze as tears formed in hir eyes and eventually spilled down hir muzzle to drip onto the capri shorts shi was wearing.
“Anyway, I’m shit at sewing and modelling, but I’m pretty good at painting and drawing. You said you wanted me to make the diorama so that I could get it out of my system,” Alex continued, holding up one hand to prevent the doctor from interrupting as he opened his mouth to speak. “I know that wasn’t exactly what you said. Whatever. I did it my way. You can keep this along with the stuffies.” The tigress picked up the canvas and flipped it around, walking over to the doctor and holding it out.
Everett carefully took the edges of the painting, holding it gingerly. It was a stunningly well-executed painting of what he instantly recognized as the scene of the Kaminskis’ deaths. The bodies of the two tigers, along with three of their bodyguards and one of the assailants lay in a rain-soaked street dotted with potholes, illuminated from overhead by a yellow-tinted street-light. A black Cadillac Escalade and a rusty gray Buick were parked across the street next to a chain-link fence in front of a graffiti-tagged brick building with boards across the windows. A crescent moon hung in the night sky above, partially obscured by dark clouds.
Most children painted in a very abstract fashion, with colors that were too bright or vibrant, and had a terrible eye for proportions and shapes. Apparently Alexandrea had no such problems; if he’d taken the two-foot tall painting and shrunk it to the size of a polaroid, it could have been a photograph of the crime scene. It was better than some of the thousand-dollar paintings he had hanging on the walls here in his office and at home. If not for the content, he would have been proud to have it on display. He was probably going to wind up hanging it at home somewhere, regardless. His wife would just have to deal with it.
“My God. This is incredible,” the doctor whispered, looking up at the two tigers as Alex sat back down next to hir father. The white tiger smirked at that, a look of pride on his face. He clearly knew exactly how talented his daughter was. “How long did this take you?” he asked, looking over at Alex.
The tiger cub shrugged. “I started it on Friday and finished it last night. I had help from my art teacher, Mrs. Stanton, and my friend Azalea and her mom, Cora.”
The doctor immediately recognized the names of two local artists that were fairly well known in Colorado. “Kelly Stanton and Cora Winters?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. He actually had a painting hanging in his living room that had been done by Cora Winters, who was known for doing portraits of interesting individuals, especially hybrids of unusual pedigree.
Alex nodded. “Azalea helped me with the base colors and Mrs. Stanton helped me get the perspective and shapes right on Friday in class. Cora helped me with the shading when I spent the night at their place over the weekend. I finished up the details last night.”
“Do you mind if I make a note of that on the back?” the doctor asked, spinning slightly to pick out a soft graphite pencil that was sitting in a jar on his desk along with several other writing implements; he knew better than to use a pen or sharpie on the back of a canvas. “And would you be willing to sign this?”
Alex shrugged.
The skunk used the least pressure necessary to write down the details on the back of the canvas, noting that it was a collaboration between Azalea Winters, Cora Winters, Kelly Stanton, and Alexandrea Andreyev, finished January 26rd, 2016, depicting the deaths of Viktor and Dina Kaminski and their bodyguards in Philadelphia on January 5th, 2016.
Everett flipped the canvas around again and held the pencil out towards the young tigress. “Please be gentle, so you don’t stretch the canvas. This is a work of art,” he said, knowing as he said it that he was stating the obvious.
Alex gave him a strange expression, then stood up from the couch and walked over to take the pencil. Shi knelt on the floor in front of him and carefully signed hir name on the back of the canvas, under the note he’d written. “I didn’t know you liked art.”
“Oh, very much so,” Everett said. “I actually have a painting by Cora Winters hanging in my living room.”
“Cora did a painting of me when I was over at their place over the weekend, just after I bleached my hair,” Alex said, standing up. “We had a group painting night. It was pretty fun, actually.”
“If she’s still got that painting of you, I would be thrilled to be able to hang it next to this one,” the skunk said, smiling. “And let her know I’ll pay full price.”
The tigress nodded, then pulled hir phone out of hir pocket and started tapping away.
Everett turned to Alex’s father, sitting on the couch. “I’ll tell my secretary that all of Alex’s sessions are free of charge. You don’t know how hard it is to get a Winters original.”
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Thursday, January 29th, 2016
A hundred-pound dumbbell hit the cement floor with a dull clank, dropped from less than an inch off the floor. A second dumbbell hit the floor a moment later. David looked across the garage from the bench where he was sitting, watching his daughter finish hir last set of bicep curls using the twenty pounders. The white tiger stood and walked over to the dry erase board on the wall and put a check-mark in the last box on the list. He went down the list: Squats, calf raises, back extensions, crunches, lat pulldowns, shoulder press, bench press, inverted row, shoulder fly, side leg raises, tricep extensions, and bicep curls. A note at the bottom mentioned grip squeeze.
He was proud of having come up with a list of exercises that worked nearly every muscle in the body. That wasn’t all, technically; there were variations to many of them to work slightly different muscles in the same areas, like doing lateral arm raises instead of the shoulder fly, or deadlifts instead of squats. Deadlifts were tricky though; it was easy to throw your back out if your form wasn’t perfect, and a real possibility when deadlifting over six hundred pounds.
“Well, that’s that,” the tiger said, looking up at the cheap clock hanging on the wall. “Let’s get these weights racked and go get some grub. Want to go to Mel’s?”
Alex’s eyes popped open at the thought of one of those delicious hamburgers. “Can we?” shi asked, excitedly.
David laughed. “Of course,” he said. He certainly wasn’t in the mood to cook right now and the diner was just a five minute drive away. It was strange how little their lives had changed after Raenne had told him about The Stash. But it had definitely changed, in small ways. Like eating out at restaurants more frequently and giving Alex an allowance for doing chores around the house. Being able to pay cash for all the minor expenses like lunches and gasoline was already making an impact on their finances. All the little things added up.
Half a minute later, they’d finished cleaning the garage and stepped out the ‘front’ doorway next to the garage door. David followed his daughter over to the SUV, his breath steaming in the chilly evening winter air. The cool air felt wonderful in his warm fur after a hard workout. He turned and locked the door as his daughter headed over to the car.
Five minutes later, David pulled into one of the angled parking spaces that lined Main Street, then shut the engine off. The two tigers stepped out of the little Nissan Rogue and shut the doors before heading across the street to Mel’s Diner, which glowed with red neon lights. While his wife preferred exotic foods from all over the world, he was content to have hamburgers, pizza, or tacos for almost every meal. And there was nothing better than a thick, juicy hamburger after a workout.
The bell hanging on the door jingled as he and his daughter stepped into the restaurant. It felt like they’d stepped back in time to a diner from the 1950s, with black and white checkered flooring, red leather booths, and white formica tables. It was pretty full, as he expected, but not packed to capacity like it would be on a Friday or Saturday night. He and his daughter walked over to one of the two empty booths and sat down, waiting less than a minute before a beaver in a red dress and a white apron walked over to them. “Hi Nadine,” David greeted the waitress.
“Welcome back,” the beaver said with a smile, showing off a pair of orange incisors. “Let me guess: Two hamburgers, one double, one single, both medium, plus two drinks, one fry? Or something different?”
“That and a black cow,” David said. He was impressed that she remembered what they’d ordered last time, and made a note to leave another twenty for the tip.
“Shake or drink?” Nadine asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Shake,” David confirmed, nodding.
“You got it, hun,” Nadine said, grinning. The waitress quickly scribbled a note on the pad she was holding before stepping away.
“What’s a black cow?” Alex asked, confused.
“In this case, it means a chocolate milkshake,” David said. “You’re still skinny as a rail, love.”
The young tigress sighed and rolled hir eyes. Not that shi would ever complain about having to drink a milkshake, but ever since shi had gotten back from Philadelphia it seemed Dad was constantly trying to get hir to eat more. To be fair, shi could still see hir ribs under the fur of hir sides, but shi also liked being able to see muscles when shi flexed in the mirror. Not that shi would ever admit that shi did so, any more than shi would complain about a milkshake.
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Friday, January 29th, 2016
The chalkboard in front of Mrs. Stanton’s classroom read ‘Free Choice Friday’, exactly as Alex expected. The tigress walked over to hir usual seat next to Azalea, noticing that the field mouse sitting at the next table had dyed her hair emerald green. Shi wondered if it was in response to having bleached hir own hair white. After shucking hir backpack, Alex leaned over and planted a kiss on Azalea’s fuzzy cheek on a whim.
The half-squirrel turned to stare at the tigress as a blush formed under her fur. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to give you a kiss. You looked very kissable today. I’d kiss you again, but we might get in trouble for ‘Public Displays of Affection’,” Alex said, pulling hir colored pencil set out of the backpack along with the spiral-bound drawing pad shi used for most of hir doodling. Neither of them caught the nasty glare that the field mouse with green hair was giving them.
“Also, my therapist really, really liked that painting you and your mom helped me with. He was super-excited when your mom agreed to sell that portrait of me to him, too,” Alex said as shi flipped the drawing pad open. “I want to do another painting of my grandparents when they were alive. I’m not in the mood for painting though...”
“Let me guess, you want to use colored pencils, like a peasant,” Azalea said haughtily. “And here I was trying so hard to teach you about fine art...”
The tigress frowned, then opened the pack of colored pencils, pulling out black, white, orange, and grey pencils. “You don’t look so kissable anymore. You look more like a spoiled princess.”
“Ewwww,” Azalea said, looking like she’d eaten an especially sour Warhead. “I was joking, but if I ever do act like a spoiled princess, feel free to bap me or something.” Azalea sighed. “I don’t want to be spoiled like that; only spoiled with smooches and tiger fur on my shirt.”
Alex smirked at having successfully slain the haughty artist persona. “Smooches I can provide. And tiger fur.” The tigress quickly drew out an outline of hir grandparents as shi remembered them when they had been standing together at the zoo, nuzzling each other. Shi couldn’t think of a more loving moment that shi had seen them in. It would make for a beautiful portrait.
The half-squirrel smiled as she leaned over and kissed the tigress on the cheek, sneaking a glance at what Alex was starting on before getting started on a doodle of her own. The drawing looked like it was going to be something nice this time. She smiled, glad that it looked like her girlfriend was getting over the whole ‘fascination with death’ thing.
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Sunday, January 31st, 2016
Nick’s fur was even softer than Alex had imagined it would be. Shi gingerly accepted the swaddled kitten from hir mom, being more careful than shi had ever been in hir entire life. The knowledge that shi quite literally held the tiny cub’s life in hir hands was almost too much to deal with. He weighed a little over five pounds now, exactly how much he should weigh considering his birthday wasn’t supposed to have been for another week. For preemies, he and Kate were exceptionally healthy. Healthy enough to come home this week, apparently.
Alex gently rocked hir baby brother and sang in Russian while Raenne nursed Kate, grateful that the cubs didn’t have any problems breastfeeding, as was so common for premature babies. The older tigress had long since learned to ensure the infants were fed immediately after waking up in order to avoid them making shrill cries and growls. Luckily they still hadn’t fully developed their vocal chords yet, so the noises were tolerable, but Raenne was dreading the noise they’d start making in a few weeks. The smells they were making now were bad enough.
“Here, I’ll trade you,” Raenne said as Alex’s song came to an end, covering her chest before setting Kate in the rocker next to her. “Did your Dad say where he was going?” the older tigress asked as Alex handed Nick over.
“To the restroom and to get a snack,” Alex said, carefully holding out hir baby brother. Shi stood and watched for a moment as hir mother held Nick up to her chest for his evening meal. “What’s that like? It doesn’t hurt does it?”
“Not yet. It will, though, after their teeth come in,” Raenne replied, looking up at her daughter. “That’s a few months away, but milk teeth are painfully sharp. I had to switch to bottles when yours came in. It’s annoying to have to use a pump and keep the milk refrigerated, but I didn’t exactly have a choice. Your teeth were so sharp they’d make me bleed. I have no idea what purpose it serves from an evolutionary perspective.”
“Oh,” the young tigress said, frowning as hir mom pointed at a towel hanging off the edge of the bed.
“Throw that towel over your shoulder, then pick up Kate here and hold her against your shoulder, patting her on the back,” Raenne instructed. “It’s called burping. When they feed, they swallow a lot of air at first, so you need to help them burp it up. Sometimes they spit up some of the milk too... which is why you need a towel.”
Alex followed hir mom’s instructions, adjusting the towel before picking Kate up and holding her against hir shoulder, unaware that shi was about to get a first-hand lesson in just how messy infants could be.
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Monday, February 1st, 2016
The Grove was a surprising distance from town, a much further drive than the land that Charles Weynesmyer had leased to them for building the Dojo. Gravel crunched under the tires for nearly a mile before giving way to packed dirt, and eventually ended at a wide flat area where several dozen cars were parked. Despite the lack of painted parking spots, the vehicles were parked in surprisingly straight rows and evenly spaced. David pulled his white SUV into one of the empty spaces and shut the engine off as another car pulled into the spot next to his.
David waited a moment for the other car to finish parking before he pulled the handle on the door and pushed it open, stepping out of his little Nissan Rogue. It was only a half hour ‘till dusk, and he looked around, trying to get a feel for the area while there was still enough light to see by. As he adjusted the collar of his bomber jacket, his daughter hopped out of the car as well, dressed in capri shorts and a hoodie despite the sub-zero temperatures and the snow on the ground.
A young lioness and polar bear in their late teens or early twenties, dressed appropriately for the winter chill, stepped out of the vehicle next to theirs. The lioness smiled and nodded at David as she strode past him, taking the polar bear’s paw and heading towards the far end of the parking area. The white tiger blinked as he walked around the back of the car where his daughter was standing. “Guess we should follow them, huh?” he asked, nodding in the direction of the two young lovers.
Alex shrugged. “I have no idea. I could text Cindy and ask,” the young tigress said, pulling out hir phone. Shi quickly tapped out a text message before following hir father, avoiding the patches of ice and snow. Lanterns, both electric and oil, hung on wooden posts at the far edge of the dirt parking lot.
The young tigress held hir phone up as it dinged, checking Cindy’s response. Apparently the Grove was further into the forest, past the vendor stalls. “Cindy said to look for the big oak tree surrounded by stones, past the vendor stalls. That’s the center of the Grove,” Alex said. “There’s another clearing next to it with a bonfire where Star Dreamer’s going to be, telling stories after sundown.”
“Huh. Okay,” David said, glancing down at his daughter for a moment as they reached the edge of the dirt parking lot. There was a bit of a walk across a small grass field before they reached the trees, where well-worn paths had been marked with more lanterns. As they headed into the forest, they could smell burning wood as well as incense and cooking food. It wasn’t long before they reached the first of several clearings with small bonfires in the center and vendor stalls around the edges. There were a lot more people out there than David had expected to see. This one clearing had easily twenty people, and they could see several paths that led to other clearings.
The pagan community here in Winter Creek must be enormous, David thought to himself. Pagans made up less than half a percent of the U.S. population from the little research he’d done, but he guessed at least a hundred people were here already and even more were still arriving. “Stay close to me, please,” he asked as they made their way around the clearing. The flickering light of the lanterns, torches, and bonfires danced off the bark of the trees, giving the impression that the trees themselves were moving.
The stalls had a surprisingly large variety of goods on display, including hand-made soaps and candles, wood carvings, dream catchers, bundles of herbs, polished crystals, pottery, and more. David stopped next to a vendor that was selling dried meats, including sausage and jerky, sealed in glass jars. He handed over a tenner in exchange for a surprisingly large bundle of elk jerky that the seller pulled out of one of the glass jars and wrapped in waxed paper before handing it over. David thanked the man before continuing on, handing his daughter a piece, then chewing on a piece himself. After the initial burst of sweet and spicy flavor, he noticed it definitely had a ‘gamey’ flavor, but not quite as strong as beef.
By the time David and his daughter reached the end of the vendor stalls, it was noticeably darker out, almost dusk. Together they walked into the heart of the Grove, where an enormous oak tree stood, its surface carved with runes that seemed to glow in the torchlight. The oak tree was surrounded by a ring of smooth stones covered with offerings of flowers, feathers, and crystals. A woman in a white robe standing near the stone altar pulled the hood of her robe back and started towards them. David stopped and did a double-take when he saw her face; it was rare to come across other tigers. Alex stopped as well, taking hir father’s hand as the priestess walked up to them.
“My, what a surprise. I didn’t expect to meet any other tigers here,” the Bengal tigress in the white robe said, holding her paw out. “I’m Sharleen Mittendorf, head of the Winter Creek coven.”
David took the woman’s paw and gave it a shake. “David Andreyev. This is my daughter, Alex. My wife would be here too, but she’s at the hospital right now.”
“Hello, Alex,” Sharleen said, smiling down at the surprisingly cute young tigress and holding out her paw as well before glancing up at the handsome, white-furred Siberian tiger. “If I may ask, why is your wife in the hospital?”
“Mom’s taking care of the twins,” Alex said, answering the question while shaking the priestess’s paw as well. “They were born premature, so they’ve got to stay at the hospital.”
Sharleen smiled at that, looking back down at the younger tigress. “Well, congratulations on the arrival of your new family members. I hope you enjoy the Imbolc festival. Most of the other children are just down the path over there,” she said, gesturing to one side. “Star Dreamer is going to start telling stories in a few minutes, if you’d like to join them. Just don’t go over that way.” The priestess pointed in at another well-worn path. “There’s signs saying that it’s a private area.”
“Thank you, and don’t worry, we know about the ‘clothing optional’ area,” Alex replied. “I told Dad about the skyclad dancing before we got here.”
The priestess raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Oh, so you know a bit about the festival, huh? Are you two pagan as well?”
“No,” Alex replied, shaking hir head. “But some of my friends that live here are. I talked with Star Dreamer about it too... about the Horned God and the Goddess and the Wiccan Rede and stuff. It sounds pretty neat.”
“Really?” Sharleen said, even more surprised. It wasn’t often that she found out that Charles had a hand in bringing someone into the fold. Usually the old polar bear was content to let the Goddess take care of things. “If you’re interested, I can provide you with some reading material to help you understand a bit about our beliefs. If you decide that you agree with them and are still interested, give me a call and we can talk it over. There’s an initiation ritual for people who want to become official members of the coven.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to read about it as well. I’d like to know a bit more about what my daughter here’s getting into,” David said, meeting Sharleen’s gaze. “If you have a few minutes, maybe we could talk about it. I’m only vaguely familiar with this festival as Saint Brigid’s Day and Candlemas, as they’re called in the Catholic Church-”
“I’m going to go find Steve and Cindy,” Alex interrupted; realizing where hir dad was leading this conversation. Shi had no interest in ‘comparative theology’, or whatever Dad called it, at the moment.
“Okay, love. Keep your phone on you so I can find you later,” David said.
“Oh, um...” Alex paused, looking up at the priestess. “I saw a white-furred tiger boy, like my dad, but my age, at school earlier. In the upper-class halls. Is he your son?” shi asked, peering at the older tigress and tilting hir head slightly.
For the third time in as many minutes, Sharleen raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Uhhh, no,” the Bengal tigress replied. “Here in Winter Creek, there’s my family, the Mittendorfs. Down in Prairie Flats, I know about the Smothers, whose daughter Barbara is around fifteen, and the Donaldsons. But your father here is the only white tiger I’ve ever seen or heard of,” she said, looking up at the older tiger. “Do you live here in Winter Creek or down in Prairie Flats?”
“Winter Creek. On the northeast side of Aspen Glen,” David said. “We moved here from Oregon, about six months ago. We were looking for a place that was a bit more open-minded-”
“Dad, I’m gonna go find Cindy now,” Alex interrupted for the second time before shi got stuck listening to yet another boring adult conversation.
“Okay, love,” David said, waving at his daughter as shi headed down the path before turning back to Sharleen to continue their conversation.
Another twenty feet down the path, Alex finally found the bonfire that Cindy had mentioned. Two dozen kids, ranging in age from six to sixteen sat on logs that had been arranged in a semicircle around a large bonfire, several of which were wearing hoodies. The orange light from the fire illuminated the surrounding trees, completely bare of any leaves at this time of year.
“Hey Alex!” the tigress heard one of the children call out. After a second shi spotted Cindy waving, sitting next to Jerome, Jason, Steve, and Brandy. Shi quickly stepped past the outer ring of log benches to where they were all seated, and sat down between Brandy and Cindy. “Hey guys,” the tigress said as shi sat down, noticing that several of them were holding odd trinkets, four-armed crosses made of woven reeds with each arm slightly off-center.
“Here, have a cookie,” Jerome said. The mountain lion held out a tin can filled with cookies that his mother had baked.
“Thank you,” Alex said as shi took a cookie, which looked like chocolate chip. A bit of chocolate wouldn’t be enough to make hir sick, but it was something shi always kept in mind. After shi bit into it, shi realized immediately that it was oatmeal raisin, but softer, sweeter, and far more delicious than any oatmeal raisin shi had ever had before. “Mmm. Thath good,” Alex mumbled through the mouthful of cookie.
“You missed the opening ceremony,” Brandy said. “We came in with a bunch of candles and lit the bonfires around the Grove. Oh, and we made these Brigid’s Crosses.” The skunk held up the woven reed cross in her hand.
“Here. I took a video of the ceremony,” Cindy said, from Alex’s other side, holding out a smartphone. She tapped the screen, showing a video of several people wearing white robes and carrying candles. They walked up to a bonfire and held their candles out, waiting until the bonfire was lit before standing back. There was chanting as well, but Alex couldn’t make out what they were saying. It didn’t sound like English.
Now that Alex knew about the white robes, shi spotted several of the children around hir were wearing them. She’d assumed they were white hoodies. The robes looked pretty comfortable, to be honest, like something shi might wear around at home if shi wanted to be cozy. The tigress looked up as the kids around hir went silent. Star Dreamer stepped out from behind the bonfire, walking to the middle of the semicircle of benches, taking a seat on a tree stump there.
“Tonight, I would like to tell you an old Scandinavian folktale,” the polar bear said, having settled himself. “It’s called ‘Saving Spring’. It takes place in what would normally be early summer, the month of July. The trees would be green, the bees would be buzzing, the flowers would have bloomed. Only this year, it was still frigid and overcast. The tops of the mountains were still covered in ice and snow. The rivers were frozen, and the fields where they would grow crops were still barren and hard as stone. For you see, Old Man Winter had kidnapped Spring and was holding her prisoner in his castle made of ice, far to the north...”
