REDEMPTION

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 37
New and Improved
 

Relocation of the colony saw several improvements to the general layout of the settlement and Sofiya was more than proud of her people as she saw everyone taking the forced move in stride. The plume from the volcano was still visible on the northern horizon, but the danger it posed had been negated by the move. With the reassertion of normalcy for the group she felt less of a failure. Logically the blond vixen knew that there was no way that she could be held responsible or having to move the settlement, but coupled with the loss of Joel Eckard and then Amanda’s miscarriage, events had caused her to doubt her abilities to lead. On top of that were the injuries that Richard had suffered as he and Kurt Reichmann hunted down the animal that had killed the other Adirondack Fur.

Her mate was on the mend, the fennec that formed a quarter of her family was on the rebound, Amanda’s grief having mostly run its course and her spirits were again on the rise, though much of that was due to Mandy’s age and relative innocence. So caught up in her ruminations, Sofiya was unaware that her first officer had entered the operations dome until he called her name a third time.

“I am sorry, Hector,” the vixen said with a tired shake of her head and wave of her paw. “What were you saying?”

The South American grey fox looked at his friend with concern. “Are you alright, Sofiya?”

The red fox nodded. “There has just been much happening of late. Too much, perhaps.”

“Sofiya, these things that have happened, no one could have prevented them. We have had very little difficulty until just recently. We have been very fortunate, senorita. That so many trials happened at once would test anybody’s strength. I shudder to think what might have happened had it not been for you to guide the others.” He took one of her short fingered paws with both of his in a reassuring gesture. “We knew that when we came here that it could be much worse. Much, much worse. You have done a great deal, senorita, and have kept your promise to see to everyone’s safety and success. There is no reason for you to doubt yourself.”

Sofiya smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Hector. It is kind of you to say such. But…still, there is something in me that thinks I could have prevented some of these tragedies.” She let out a breath, her ears and tail drooping with the expulsion of air. “And we still have four more years to go.”

The grey fox pulled the Ukrainian Fur to her feet. “Come with me.”

“Where are we to be going?”

“Just come with me,” Hector said without releasing her paw. All but physically hauling the red fox outside, he gestured to the colony around them. “Look. I mean truly look. We have reestablished ourselves, we have moved almost one hundred miles and are again functioning, exploring, learning about this world. No one is sick, our stores are still full with much of that being what we brought along, we have permanent structures being made, and we even have stone and paving so that we do not track muddy feet into our domes! Sofiya, what more can we ask for?”

Looking around, the red fox vixen had to admit that Hector was correct. The deposit of something that was similar to an extremely frangible limestone had been found by Rupert Campbell and he’d begun using the crushed rock to build paths throughout the colony with the chippings from producing the makings of blocks and mortar for the actual buildings he’d gotten permission to construct. Other Furs had jumped in on the project with unrestrained zeal, also wanting something besides their geodesic structures to live in, Matthew Sykes being one of the most enthusiastic and going so far as to make tools to help before Ruiz joined in.

Seeing the progress did indeed lift Sofiya’s mood, and she had to admit that the wall that now surrounded the colony made her feel a little more secure. It also helped that the local herd of aurodons, who were placid enough with the colonists, didn’t react kindly to a variety of predators and almost functioned like additional sentries.

“Sofiya, take a few days to be with your family. Relax a bit. You are doing yourself no good by worrying so much, and you certainly aren’t behaving properly for one in your condition,” Hector told her pointedly.

The vixen recoiled slightly. “What are you saying? One in my condition?”

The grey fox laughed deeply. “Sofiya, you are pregnant. I don’t know why you are trying to hide this, but it is rather futile. Even if you aren’t showing, it isn’t hard to tell,” he informed the other fox by tapping his nose while giving a sly wink. “Why do you think Richard, who still isn’t fully recovered, is adamant about doing everything he can for you? Or Elena and Amanda? They know as well.” Hector looked at the vixen pointedly. “I am curious as to why you haven’t told them, though.”

Sofiya sighed again, something that she’d been doing a lot of it seemed. “It was not seeming right, not with what Mandy has endured. It is almost like pouring the juice of lemons on a cut…”

“Have you thought that perhaps this would make her happy as well?”

The vixen shook her head. “I thought…perhaps it would be like showing a child a toy that they could not be having. I know that she was so looking forward to being a mother. It seemed…cruel.”

Hector gave the younger Fur a warm smile even as he turned her in the direction of the dome she lived with the others in. “No. It would be cruel not to impart this news. I must admit that I was a little curious as to how you sharing Richard would work, but in these past months I have watched all of you grow close, to develop bonds of genuine love for each other. Believe me when I say it is for that very reason that you should tell them. Do not hide things from each other. That is what has ruined more marriages than anything else I’ve ever seen when I was a lawyer.”

“Perhaps you are correct,” Sofiya said after a moment of contemplation. “I should be telling them. I know that Richard will be happy.”

“Tell us what?” the silver fox said as he and Elena stepped out of the medical dome next to operations and moved to the other two Vulps.

“Are the sutures out?” Sofiya asked as she stepped away from the South American grey fox and into the arms of the American and her oldest friend.

“Yep. Riva says that I’m healing up nicely but doesn’t want me to do anything strenuous for a while, though I’m being encouraged to do light exercise and duties. I think I’m looking forward to taking a real shower most of all.”

Elena snickered and pinched the silver fox’s tail base flirtatiously. “Are you not enjoying the baths that we have been giving you?” the golden furred vixen asked archly.

The insides of Richard’s ears flared a dark pink and he coughed with a surreptitious glance at Hector. “No…no. They’ve been fine. Really. I just really want to sit under some hot water for a bit, you know? Work some of the kinks out.”

“If you feel up to it, why don’t you go visit the springs that Toshiro and his team found?” Hector offered with a mischievous grin. “I think that you would have all of the hot water you could stand there.”

“Which is sounding like a very good idea,” Sofiya told the others decisively. “Hector has ordered me to take some time to be relaxing, so perhaps a trip to the springs is certainly in order.”

Elena was thrilled and clapped her paw-like hands in girlish enthusiasm. “It is only an hour’s ride! I can fetch Amanda and we can be putting together a picnic!”

“That is a very good idea,” Sofiya agreed. “But pack more. I think we shall take a tent as well and be making a small trip of this. It has been too long since all of us were doing something like this,” the vixen declared, pointedly ignoring Richard’s attempts to suggest otherwise.

***

Conchita found her cousin looking over the daily reports at his desk in the operations dome and didn’t hesitate in giving the other grey fox a warm embrace. “I see you finally got Sofiya to take a break,” the vixen said in her and her cousin’s native Spanish. “She has been working too hard.”

Hector nodded as he finished writing in a notation with his claw tip and set the PBJ aside. “This is true. But then she is very worried about all of us. Too many things have happened. Speaking of which, has Charity started showing signs of getting better?”

Conchita took one of the camp chairs and shook her head slowly. “She and Joel were just starting off as a couple. His death has been very traumatic.”

The other grey fox looked at his cousin. “I thought they were together before coming here?”

“No. They were close friends, but not like I believe you are thinking. Then again, Joel was close friends to many of us vixens, but it wasn’t until this past summer that Joel thought of settling down.” She saw the slight frown on Hector’s face. “Do not think ill of him for being so. There are too many of us ladies, and it was only natural for Joel, and a few of the others I might add, to enjoy the disparity of numbers.”

“You as well?” Hector asked with a slight edge to his voice.

“No. I had enough of such before you convinced me to volunteer. Besides, it takes a little more than sweet words and a handsome face to attract me. You know this, cousin!” she added with a chuckle. “Not all can be as dedicated as our esteemed leader and her family. And I am very happy with Toshiro. He’s a very attentive person, caring and gentle.” The vixen sat on the edge of the table, her padded feet swinging idly as she looked at the floor without really seeing it. “I think it’s harder for Charity than it would be for one of us to deal with. Especially considering why she volunteered.”

Hector looked at his cousin in curiosity, though maintained his silence, letting her impart what she knew in her own time.

“I suppose that it’s not really a secret. Charity was an orphan. She never learned what it was to have a family…not really. Because of that she is very cautious as to who she lets into her heart. Bad boyfriends, a rough time finding a good job where she wasn’t taken advantage of. She felt that by volunteering she might find the things that she was missing. Not to mention that you and I know all too well there are many that would prey on a young woman. ”

Hector nodded and leaned back, his padded thumb and forefinger stroking his chin as if he still had his beard. “All too true, cousin mine.” He sighed and looked up into the vixen’s eyes, a wry look on his vulpine face. “I wonder at times if the Furmankind Project didn’t come about to save the people that were worth salvaging. Almost everyone that I have talked to has given similar reasons for volunteering.”

Conchita smiled at her cousin. “Perhaps. I know that I like Sofiya’s ideas of building a better world.” The vixen was silent for a moment before slipping from the table and putting her hands in the pockets of her robe-like top. “Will we really be able to stay here after our five years are done?”

“That’s how it has normally been done. I know sometimes Furs can volunteer to go to a new world if it’s close-by, but for the most part they stay on the original world they’ve been sent to. Even when a permanent colony is established there is much to learn. We have seen but a small part of this planet, after all. That and it will be up to us to help the other people that will eventually settle here.” Hector pushed himself up out of his chair and shook before motioning to the door. Like the rest of the Vulps he found the cooler weather to be somewhat invigorating and not all that uncomfortable. “Now, I don’t know about you, but my stomach is telling me that it’s lunch time, and the smells that have been wafting in from the kitchen are far too enticing to ignore any longer!”

“Then I say we find Emanuella and go see what is on the menu today,” Conchita replied as she took the other grey fox’s arm and headed to the Great Dome.

“What of Toshiro? Won’t he be joining us?”

The vixen chuckled. “He’s out examining the site where Rupert and the others are getting their stone. If you wish to keep him happy, give him a handful of rocks and a map!”

***

The tendrils of steam rising from the hot springs and the fire that Richard built sufficed to keep the four Furs warm as they dried out from a leisurely soak in the mineral rich water. The silver fox lay on his stomach with his chin resting on the fennec’s thighs as Sofiya ran a brush through the fur on his back while Elena was busy putting simple but elaborate looking braids in Mandy’s sandy blond hair. It didn’t escape the silver fox’s attention that all of them were touching in some way, all of them seeming to draw comfort from even casual contact of their skulk. Even Richard had to admit that he was more relaxed and comfortable when all of them were together, which led to a bit of self-examination.

When he’d been human, particularly when he’d worn a uniform, he’d found contact with others less than comforting. If anything being in close proximity to others had caused feelings of unease. Even in the few amorous liaisons Richard had had were temporary things, a sating of needs and nothing more, his rendezvous carried out with all of the attachment of a business dealing, which was what no few exactly were. Becoming a Fur had changed more than his physical appearance it seemed.

Now he liked touching and being touched, to be with his coterie of ladies that all held a substantial bit of him, and socializing with his fellow Vulps. As he thought more about it he found that the changes had occurred as his body was sculpted and molded into its new form, the development of these new perspectives just as slow, which was why he hadn’t really noticed them until now. Richard couldn’t help but smile as he came to the conclusion that it was all for the best.

In retrospect, Richard Nathaniel Tavington hadn’t been a person he liked at all when he first stepped foot into the Adirondack Furmankind Institute. The man that he’d been knew anger better than anything else, just as likely to engage in a fist fight as others would casual conversation. It had seemed that with the loss of his humanity that he’d been able to let go of the knot of bile and avarice that his drinking bender had only fueled before volunteering. At one point he’d been a compassionate person, caring, always trying to do the right thing.

Perhaps his time in the Marines had changed that, or at least started the process. Then losing all he’d worked for upon settling in Alaska. Or maybe losing a place that he’d felt so comfortable in had simply been the catalyst that condensed all of the things that he’d seen and done into a sort of emotional abscess. Whatever happened, as he grew into the Fur that he was now, something in his psyche had shifted, drawing Richard closer to the person he’d once been and was far happier for it.

“What are you thinking about?” Amanda asked as she looked down at the silver fox where his head rested on her legs, the pad of her finger gently massaging the furrow between her mate’s eyes.

Richard snorted lightly with a short laugh. “Just some deep thoughts,” he commented, his relaxed state making it more of a mumble. At the three vixen’s prompting he told them of realizing that he really was a far happier individual, how he had been turning into exactly the kind of person that he’d never really liked and that in giving up being fully human had helped him rediscover the things that he thought were lost.

Touching Sofiya’s furred leg before rolling over, Richard looked into three pairs of eyes, his head still cradled on the fennec’s crossed thighs.

“I think…I think that if I hadn’t volunteered, something…well, I would probably have drunk myself to death. Or committed suicide. It wasn’t until just now that I discovered just what I’d lost and gotten back.”

“This is being your redemption as much as it is being mine,” Sofiya said softly, leaning forward where she still sat straddling the male’s legs before leaning down to nuzzle the silver fox.

“Yeah. It is,” he agreed in a slightly choked voice. Richard wasn’t aware of the tear that rolled from the corner of his eye until Elena brushed it away with the back of her finger. “It also helps that for the first time in my life I feel like I’m loved…”

“Too right you are!” Mandy whispered huskily. “But that’s how I feel, too.” The fennec smiled and closed her eyes as Elena placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, the other cupped by Sofiya while Richard nuzzled his face against the soft fur of her belly.

“I am thinking that love is something we certainly have much of,” the platinum fox told the others. “I wasn’t thinking that I would be finding my heart lost to another after finding Sascha was seeing other women. Now I am having three that hold my heart and it is being very wonderful!”

Sofiya grinned at the other vixen. “Yes. It is.” She winked at her friend before turning to Mandy and finally the silver fox, her tail starting to wag energetically. “I am thinking that our kits will be having the best family possible.”

“I was wondering when you were going to spill the beans,” Richard said as his arms slipped around the vixen’s waist to hold her tight as his eyes grew misty.

“You were knowing?” the red fox inquired.

All three nodded. “Yep. And we couldn’t be happier!” Amanda crooned as she and Elena shifted to add themselves to the hug.

Sofiya luxuriated in the slightly damp but still warm pile of fur and affection before pulling up slightly. “You are neslukhnianyy for knowing and not telling! But I am glad that you are being happy. What is important at this moment is how you are feeling? Is your side hurting?”

Richard shook his head as he gave the blond haired and copper colored vixen a curious look. “I’m actually feeling pretty good.”

“I am very glad to be hearing this,” Sofiya whispered as she adjusted the way she lay on her mate, her yellow-green eyes warm and full of affection as she felt the silver fox react to her attentions.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.