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The cub hangs it's head and sits down next to him while he fixes him something to eat, then he sees an ant crawling across the floor and that is far more interesting to watch than the feet of the funny black thing that keeps picking him up by the neck.

The insect crawls under a cabinet which is just high enough for the cub to wedge his head under, only once it is there he can't figure out how to get it back out. Suddenly Kero's attention is snared by the plaintive mewing of the caught cub.

Finally he simply pours the cub a bowl of cream while he cooks and the greedy little monster practically inhales it, while holding it firmly in place with his two front paws planted in the bowl. Seeing that he's white, it's hard to tell just how much he's eaten and how much he's managed to absorb in his fur, but it's a fair guess that most of it went to the right place. Then he sits and begins to clean himself. Too bad he can't reach where it needs it most.

*both... Lathander removed the barriers, Ai is a true hermaphrodite... I've been calling him a he... but he's actually both*

As he cleans the cub, Kero makes a discovery that makes him wonder how the mature Ai will handle it. Lathanders solution was simply to allow the bard to function naturally, as he truly was. This could get complicated.

The cub curls up against him and quickly goes to sleep. It's explorations while Kero cooked have worn it out. For the longest time, Kero watches over him, concerned, then he too drifts off. At some point in the middle of the night, he awakens to find the snow lion half draped across him, snoring loudly. They are clearly of the same size. Blinking sleepily, he tries not to laugh out loud as he realizes Ai is curled against him, much as Tam used to sleep with him before all the craziness began, with his face half buried in his fur. Some things never seem to change.

In the morning he awakens to the smell of sausage and fried potatoes and the sound of Tam's humming in the kitchen. Going downstairs he finds the bard making breakfast, his long read hair pulled back in a thick damp braid.

"Kero, it's about time you woke up.." he says smiling wryly at him. "I've been up for hours already. Woke up smelling like sour milk, so I came down to take a bath."

*long red hair should have given ye a clue... also Ai isn't very good at cooking, remember?*

Tam smiles at him and places a heaping plate on the table, before joining him with a smaller one for himself. He pours them both large bowls of tea and then blinks. "Now why did I do that?" he mutters looking at the bowl by his plate.

Tam's smile fades and he sighs. "Physically or emotionally? Physically I'm okay, I guess... can't go shirtless anymore and I guess our days of bathing in the public pools are numbered. Emotionally... I'm trying not to think of anything right now... too much has happened. What is it that Ma used to say all the time... You can't change the past, it's cut in stone, look to the future where it's writ in sand. I... I can't undo anything... not so sure I want to anyway. There was a great deal of good mixed in with the bad, but right now I have no idea what the future wants of me.""