Welcome to Gaia! ::

Amestru chuckles sourly. "If I had even a penny for the number of times I"ve heard that question, I'd be far richer than I would ever have a need to be. Afraid not, Kero. Done is done. Perhaps a higher power could take matters in his or her hands, stalling the development or slowling it down to a crawl... but you or I... and I include your older self in that latter group, not even he could do anything reasonably safe... couldn't do anything like that without endangering the child... It would take a creationist of some considerable skill... not even sure if Lyssie could have handled it in her prime or would even have felt brave enough to try. Of course that is a moot problem where she's concerned as it is. She's given up most of her powers, so in all honesty, I don't think she can even begin to attempt the act even if she wanted to."

Kero's eyes widen. "Why did the Lady Inari give up her powers?"

Amestru smile is gentle and sad. "Because of me, I'm afraid. She did so, so that my life would not be snuffed out but lived to the fullest. She's decided to live only for so long as I live, then return her essence to the pool of creation upon my passing. It's a complicated matter, one we've both thought about for a long long time. She knows her temple is slowly fading into the mists of time and has no wish to prolong her own passage, even as she has no wish to hasten mine. Neither does she wish to take another mate. Therefore, we support each other as best we can. It is what true mates do, is it not?"

Amestru sighs and leaning over gives him a hug. "Kero, sometimes we cannot undo the mistakes we make... and I suspect Tam will have something to say about this as well once he... er she finds out."

He sighs and slowly gets to his feet. "I need to wrap my mind about that fact... that the he we raised probably should have been raised a she. We... didn't know what to do when he first came to us. Didn't know how to respond to him or address him... so Lyssie said since he looked more masculine than feminine at the time, we should encourage him to make a choice."

Kere nods in agreement, but then his eyes sparkle with wry amusement. "It might have helped him but then it might not have. You did the best you could given the circumstances. I'm not sure I understand it completely, but she once told me that she only recently has begun to mature... or so she thinks. I think... I think that giving him a home... loving him and showing him how to live and survive in the world... sharing your lives with him... was far more important than figuring out whether he should have worn skirts or pants. Heck, she still won't wear skirts... hates the way they wrap around her legs."

Amestru shrugs. "There are numerous ways to stop a pregnancy, I'm afraid, but they are all fatal. Some to the mother , all to the child. Be careful, and talk to Talesian first. I am more than willing to bet she'll nix most if not all of your suggestions before you even go that route. She's been around for a very long time, Kero. All of us have. You need to remember, Elysian is your master's twin... and your master was around a obnoxiously long time before he took you in. Neither one will tell me exactly how old they are, but they are primal deities... not secondaries like many of the gods we see hovering around the various planes these days. And to be absolutely honest... there have been times when I suspect Tam to be among their number. He has that odd strange mix of youthfulness and agelessness that primals seem to radiate in their auras."

Amestru watches him leave with a small hidden smile. Kero's efforts were a little too pat and he had a very good idea that tending to the needs of his body was the very last think the lion truly wanted to do. Which was fine by him, he needed to talk to his mate, to see if she had confronted Tam on the matter, because he suspected Lyssan already knew what the source of their child's problem was.

Kero follows Ai's scent up to the third floor of the keep and down a long carpeted hallway, stopping outside a vaguely familiar door. Each door in the hall has bee ornately carved with a variety of frescoes. One shows a series of garden themes, another hunting. This one is adorned with musical instruments.

As he knocks, the door opens beneath his paw, so Kero... being Kero that is, goes in. Ai had never allowed a closed door come between them before, so he doubts she'd let one now. It had been one of the reasons he had come to love the bard so much to begin with, that no matter what she was doing, if he needed her she was there for him.

It makes him grin with amusement as he realizes that the sitting room of Ai's small suite of rooms is arranged a great deal like the living room of their home, right down to the overflowing work desk by the bedroom door. Whether consciously or unconsciously, it seemed that when Ai thought of home, she thought of here.

The door to the bedroom is open and beyond that he can see into the bathing room which is, from what he can see, empty. So he decides to check out the balcony. She's around here, somewhere. Her scent is everywhere, fresh and clean but somewhat damp. Perhaps she has gone outside to dry off in the sun.

Ai opens her eyes slowly and in them, he can see his worry echoed in their emerald depths. "If it's what Ma yelled at me about, you are so very right about that." she breathes with a heavy sigh. She gives him a half hearted but loving nuzzle and then lets her head fall back to her paws.

"Trouble is... I... I think she might have been right... What... what did you and Da come up with?" she asks bravely, but there is a hint of fear in her voice, not fear as in truly frightened, but the dreaded fear one gets when one's worse case scenario is playing out before one's eyes.

Ai takes a deep breath and nods back, but the fear in her eyes only seems to solidify, not vanish. "Ma seems to think that might be the case as well. Only her theory about me being something akin to the kitsune is a bit off course. I... I know you always said you were sterile... and truth is, Kero... you should be. Technically your body is a magical construct... the real you died a long long time ago. You are not a ghost or anything like that... though some may see you as such. You were a wandering soul, heart sore and spirit wounded, too caught up in what had happened to you to move on, who desperately needed to know why it had happened, who caught the attention of someone who seemed to know instinctively what you needed. He taught you all you know about void magic and gave you a purpose and reason for living. In many ways, you are more alive now, than many people I know. But you shouldn't be able to reproduce."

She sighs and closes her eyes, looking away as if in shame. "Trouble is, Dulcha... every damn question she fed me was spot on... I... I don't know what to do. Kero, what... what if she's right?""

Ai flashes him a loving but hesitant smile.

"Kero, you have what left with me... four... five years years at the most? Then you need to resume your mantle. Between the time you lost due to that mis-firing spell you were cursed with just before this and the time you have taken off for this rejuvenation, you need to retake control of your realm. I'm afraid.... I'm afraid that it might not be possible for you to stay with me.. with us, if that is the case. I have no idea how long it will take to raise a child born of the two of us. Heavens, look how long it took for me to start maturing. Besides, you have someone else you are forgetting about. Someone who loves you as much as I do... maybe even more... someone I should have respected far more than I have. She may never forgive me for this. Damn..." swears the lioness heavily and although she is calmly lying next to him, Kero can feel Ai pull away mentally, curling up into a tight miserable ball, already fearing the fact even though she is far from certain it is the case.