FSE

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Joined in Mind and Body

Chapter 15

Andrew looked at the furred backs of his hands and felt his whiskers pressing into the seat he was flopped on. His first order of business though was his poor tail. His fingers unlatched his pants and drew them down far enough for him to extract his tail from them. He also noted that his pants really didn't fit right at all on digitigrade legs. If they weren't loose-fitting military pants, he'd likely have uncomfortable legs too.

"Okay, so what happened? I was asleep, and having vague dreams about the hunt, and you woke me up to this," Andrew said, sliding his feet out of his boots. The change in his leg shape had thankfully not gotten stuck in his boots, since his shanks were much longer now than his feet originally were.

Serina shook hir head. "I'm not sure myself. I was stroking your hair, and you suddenly just changed. Really fast too. It took maybe two seconds, if that." Shi looked thoughtful. "I felt you expend psionic energy into this, but it seems it almost all went back to you afterwards. Andrew, you are very handsome this way too, but... really, is this good or bad? You know I love you perfectly fine as a human."

Andrew wriggled his nose and sat up. "No idea. Um... Let me see if I can undo this. If I can't this could be a bigger complication."

You should pay attention to how this is right now, just in case you want to go back to it.

Andrew paused. As an inspiration he scanned himself fully, figuring out how everything was and how it could get to be that way. The effect seemed to potentially be useful, since it did enhance some things in way that he couldn't enhance his human body in. Plus, the fur felt kind of nice. Quite comfortable, and he wasn't too hot at all.

He patterned his normal human body, with the modifications that he previously made for enhancements, and exerted his energy. He was given half a moment of pause when he realized that he had two options of what to do with the fur. Since it was all dead matter, it could be expelled from the roots and effectively instantly shed, or he could take the effort to reabsorb it. He decided on the latter, since shedding a whole him worth of cat fur into his clothing likely wasn't a good idea.

The effect was quick and decisive. Fur melted away first as he reabsorbed it, leaving himself a naked feline. Then his whole body felt odd as it restructured everything. The effect on his legs was the weirdest part of it, since they had some serious changes made. But the whole process of reverting took only about two seconds as well. The loss of the tail felt odd too, leaving him with a phantom limb for a few seconds.

Serina watched the process with interest, smiling when he was reverted. Shi was obviously relieved. "You did make a very handsome feline," shi reassured him, "But it was somewhat of a shock, hon. I don't think humans would have liked the idea much either."

Andrew snorted. "The purists have restricted cosmetic modifications for centuries. A group of people who call themselves 'furries' have been quite upset with that, but what can you do against religious nuts with government power?" He chuckled softly. "I seem to have discovered some furry fan's wet dream in reality."

Serina giggled, "You humans always have been somewhat weird since we've known you. That's why we are so touchy on who we interact with. Meh... Some humans freak out if they see our rump. You'd think they've never seen genitals before."

"I think enough of them still insist sex is a sin against whatever god that..." Andrew began, but he was interrupted by an announcement over the PA.

"We took some shortcuts to try to make up the time lost meeting the Karenthis, and the good news is that we have shaved off most of it. We are leaving slip space now, and will be docking in 13 minutes. This means only a short delay from our original scheduled arrival."

Andrew lost his train of thought. The announcement was in Katharin, and the time units were Kat time units, but he had translated them mentally as he listened. Amazing how that worked. He wondered though... was he able to do this naturally as a psionic, or was it because of his computer work?

"Oh, blast, I should have let my parents know I was coming!" Serina exclaimed. "I never called them. I guess I should let them know really quick."

Andrew felt hir reach out psionicly towards the planet below, and was aware of hir conversation. He realized he had little way of not knowing the details, since they were linked. Shi reached hir mother, since hir father was busy with clan business. Andrew could feel hir dread about that. With so many clan members on-planet, it may make it harder for Andrew. Shi didn't give the specifics, just saying that shi had a bit less than two days for something very important involving the clan.

Andrew was confused about the idea of a mother and father in herm Kats, so he asked hir when shi broke contact. "Oh, it's based on who does the impregnating and who carries the cub. So a person's mother can be their sibling's father. In fact, my mother is in male phase right now." Shi earwilted. "Shi blames hirself partially for my small size, since I'm the first cub shi carried. Shi hasn't carried any since because of it."

Andrew reached to touch Serina's cheek and sent comforting thoughts to hir. "I still like the idea that you were meant to be this way for us to be together," he sent warmly. He had honestly never been so happy as when he was with hir. Shi brightened as shi got that thought from him.

"I like that idea too. If the powers want payment for our happiness, I'll gladly give them anything as long as I get to be with you." Shi grabbed him into a warm hug and purred deeply to him. "Let's just be ready for whatever happens." He nodded agreement and snuggled against hir as the restraint fields tightened in preparation for atmospheric entry.

The landing was smooth and uneventful. Once the ship was docked on land, the restraint fields vanished, and all the Kats got up and stretched. Andrew climbed out of the bowl chair and was quickly approached by several of them.

"We were really curious about you turning into something like a Kat," one of the group said. "What was that about? Personal holo projector costume?"

Andrew shrugged. "The real thing. I'm a healer psionicly and it looks like I changed myself. I honestly only found out about my own psionics a few days ago." Had it been that recently? Wow.

"Amazing!" the Kat murmured. "Well, the best of luck to you two in the future. A lot of folks will be surprised to see a human this deep in Kathari territory. There are humans on the planet, but mostly in their own regions, and only indoors. Your skin won't like the sun. Stay safe!" The whole group left him with touches and caresses before turning to depart the ship as the door opened.

Andrew looked at Serina. "The sun?" he asked worriedly.

"Erm... We have a blue-white sun," shi told him. "It has a lot more high-spectrum radiation - just at the top of our visible spectrum - I don't think humans can see it though - that reaches the ground. I heard humans have a bit of problem with it and always wear protective glasses and heavy clothing outside. Don't know the details on why though."

Andrew frowned. "Our skin burns when exposed to extended high levels of UV. Some people don't do as badly, but honestly, I'm a computer geek." He made a face. "I'm not neon white like most, but I'm definitely not very tan. Sounds like I'm going to be carrying around some heavy clothing or sunscreen on this hunt."

Serina looked worried. "You can't. Only your own body, clean as you can be, and your feather band. How quickly do you burn? I mean, like in a few weeks on Terra, I hope."

He grimaced. "Actually, in about 15 minutes on a sunny day on Terra in the summer."

"Oh... dear..." Shi considered. "Here you might have three minutes before you burn then."

Andrew winced at the thought of being out all day in sun like that. "Then I guess we should hope for an overcast hunt, or I could be in for trouble."

"How are your eyes doing?" Serina asked, changing the subject as shi led him to the exit of the ship. "They are VERY handsome this way."

Andrew considered and smiled. "Much better after the nap. It is not at all overwhelming anymore. Or the hearing or smelling. Wow... What a difference it makes though." He stopped as they left the boarding ramp and saw the massive number of Kats here at the spaceport. The crowd made the streets on the Karenthis look almost empty.

"Maybe you should get on my back, trus," Serina sent. He agreed with hir and climbed aboard. The back drape had been left back on the Karenthis when he was glad to have fur to feel.

The small Kat and the human riding hir created an instant stir amongst the crowd and attentions turned to follow them as the whole place got a lot quieter from suddenly-killed conversations. The positive side of the attention was that he crowd made way for them readily as they worked their way through the space port, because nobody knew quite what to make of it. Andrew picked up a huge amount of leakage and realized that one of the biggest things was that a majority of the Kats here were like the humans on Terra. They had never seen a human in person before.

Andrew felt a few brushes against his shielding, but he had set his flag to busy and requesting no casual psionic contact. That meant that speaking to him was their primary option, but none of the Kats could get up the courage to do so. Andrew also noted that a few of the Kats were as infatuated with the idea of meeting a human in real life as he had originally been with the idea of meeting a Kathari.

There was a small commotion just before they reached the exit to the space port and the two were suddenly surrounded by a huge group of small Kats.

"Look, look!! See! I told you so!" one exclaimed.

The voicings of awe and questions between the group were too many for Andrew to pick out easily. He looked at the Kats curiously though. Some of them were smaller than Serina, standing only about as high as hir chest. Others were taller than hir. But all of them were small compared to normal Kathari. He noticed their features, and their oversized paws, and realized these were all young Kathari.

"Is it really a REAL human?" a little one asked and poked him in the belly with a claw. Andrew yelped and glared at hir and shi laid hir ears back in dismay.

"Of course I'm a real human," Andrew told hir, smiling to reassure hir. "But no poking please. How would you like it if somebody poked you with a claw?"

Shi shook hir head. "I wouldn't like it. I'm sorry, Kass Human."

"Shi talks funny," an older one observed, referring to Andrew's heavy accent when speaking Katharin. All of them that could reach him were touching him curiously now, their fingers exploring and caressing. Apparently Kats were very tactile from a young age.

"I'm Andrew," he told the little one and turned his attention to the larger Kat. "I'm male only, actually. And you try speaking Katharin without a proper nose and tongue. Heck, I can't even lick my own nose. I can barely even touch it." He stuck his tongue out and managed to touch the tip of his own nose after a quick bit of concentration, causing all the young Kats to giggle.

"Yeah, humans are only male or female," one of the oldest said. "Don't worry, Keshi. They don't teach you that for another few years."

"How come shi gets hir very own human? I want one too!" one of the mid-sized ones complained, pouting.

The older one tweaked the youngster's ear. "Shi's fully grown, silly. Pay attention to hir paws and face. Shi's just a little adult. Only adult Kats get to carry humans."

"Oh... Well this is REALLY cool! This is the best field trip ever!" the Kat exclaimed, perking up.

The huge gathering of cubs had attracted quite a crowd and now there was a commotion at the edge of the crowd as several chaperones squeezed their way through. "WHAT are all of you doing, running off like...?! Oh my..." The chaperone was cut off short as shi spotted the object of the younger Kats' attentions. Andrew felt a brush from hir at his shielding, checking who he was as several of the other chaperones began trying to bring order to the crowd of cubs.

"Our apologies, Kass Foster and Kass Alathir. They were all so well-behaved for this moon field trip, but then they all just rushed off at once. I'm very sorry if they caused any trouble," the chaperone Kat said.

Andrew forbore mentioning the poke in his side, which he had already healed the discomfort of. "No trouble at all. They were all very excited to see me. We do have to get going though. We don't have much time for our current task."

The chaperone nodded and smiled, then spun on all the younglings who had managed to get grouped back into a line from tallest to shortest. "And we'll be late for our flight if we don't hurry! Come on, quick, quick you all!" The cubs all looked chagrined and took off with the other chaperones. The one who had spoken to Andrew threw him a quick smile and took off to follow. Andrew got a quick look from Serina, then they made their way past more gawking Kats and headed out of the space port.

It was late afternoon as they stepped outside, so the sun was very low. Andrew could tell with his new vision that he'd have trouble here though. His pupils were contracted to mere slits in an instant, just like other Kats who stepped outside, and the light in the UV range that he could see was pretty substantial.

Andrew felt Serina get a mental ping from hir mother and then Serina quickly made hir way to a vehicular loading area. Andrew noted that there was an even mix of ground and air vehicles. Serina found a clear parking space for an air vehicle and stood and waited. Andrew was glad it was in the shade and the wait was not long. A large air vehicle landed with no apparent power source driving it. Serina quickly informed him that hir mother was powering it with telekinesis. Much more efficient and less expensive. Then a lovely grey and black stripped tabby Kat climbed out and rushed over, shouting as shi went.

"Serina!" shi exclaimed. Andrew blinked as he tried to properly digest the idea of this male-phase Kat being Serina's mother. "Oh, darling, it seems like it's been forever! I hear about bad news on the Karenthis. But you said you're..." The Kat stopped as if shi hit a brick wall the moment shi spotted Andrew perched on Serina's back.

"Oh my Light! A HUMAN!" Andrew winced, expecting the worst, but the feeling of amusement from Serina confused him. "Oh, my fur's a mess! The car's not been washed, and WHAT will I make for dinner?! Oh, Serina, why didn't you TELL me you had a human with you?! I mean, honestly!" Andrew blinked as the larger Kat asked Serina mentally whether he was male or female.

"My mother is absolutely bonkers about humans," Serina sent. "Shi's never met one before either. You've just made hir year, if not hir decade." Then out loud, "You look fine, mom. I sure Andrew won't mind the car, and I know your cooking is always great." Shi grinned evilly. "Not as good as Andrew's though!"

Andrew felt Serina send hir mother the memory of eating the omelet he made for hir. The older Kat's tongue snaked out and shi licked hir lips. "Oh, my! That IS good! But I can't make a guest cook. That wouldn't be proper." Shi shifted to hir other forepaw. "Maybe if he shares the recipe though..."

Andrew grinned widely, trying to keep from laughing. "I'd be happy too."

"Oh, where are my manners?! Obviously you know Serina. I am Arith, hir mother." The Kat bowed slightly. "Hir father, Ralinda, is at a major clan meeting at another estate near ours. It should be out soon though." Shi fidgeted and looked at Andrew, who realized that this Kat had been so distracted by the idea of a human that shi hadn't even noticed his shielding.

"I heard sad news about Serina's place on the Karenthis. I hope this is not a bad visit," Arith said.

Andrew shook his head, "Oh, no, not at all! In fact, we don't have a long time here, but we came with great news."

Serina cut him off, "We should probably tell you at home, mom. It involves clan business too."

"Oh, of course!" Arith exclaimed. "We shouldn't stay standing around here. Hop in, we'll be home in a jiffy."

They were soon situated in the air vehicle, which had sensor and navigation electronics, but no actual engine. The car lifted off from the power of Arith's mind alone and they quickly merged with other air traffic. Andrew was aware of Arith having a conversation mentally with his mate as they approached a very large permanent travel hole array and joined traffic heading in their direction.

"Oh, it's so good to have good news, dear, especially after that scare about you getting kicked off the ship," Arith sent. "But really, why didn't you tell me you were coming with a human? No warning at all and you show up with him! You know how I feel about humans!" Andrew was amazed at the undertone of admiration for humans that this Kat held. It was like shi was meeting the most famous thing in the world.

"I came on short notice, because of the status on the ship. They even diverted a civilian flight to dock with the Karenthis so we could get here," Serina replied. "Heck, I only had an hour warning myself."

"He's a good human, right?" Arith asked worriedly. "I've heard that some of them are not the nicest around us. Please tell me you brought a nice human for me to meet."

Serina grinned widely, "Mom, he's the most wonderful human I have ever met, believe me on that. Now careful of your shielding. You're leaking with all your excitement." Arith strengthened hir shield and threw a furtive glance at Andrew, who actually was fighting against a strong urge to blush. Shi had indeed been leaking badly.

Now, the day that Andrew had left, Chris had teased him about Kathari porn. This wasn't the first time this banter had occurred either. Andrew denied it every time of course, but this was primarily because Chris had actually accidentally discovered his cache of Kathari porn before. Andrew didn't deny to himself that he had found the idea of Kathari to be sexually attractive from the start.

Notably, Arith found the same to be true about humans, as the leakage had made perfectly clear. This was what had caused Andrew to blush. And of course, Ralinda, being Arith's bondmate, had picked up the same opinion. Andrew demanded from Serina why shi hadn't told HIM that hir parents were strongly sexually attracted to humans.

"Oh, not just my parents, trus. All three of my sibs and me too," shi replied with a mental grin. "In fact, I think it was a good thing. If I didn't find myself attracted to humans so much, I don't think I would have gotten up the courage to come and ask you for a place to stay the night. The thought of being able to stay with a human and maybe rub your naked body all over as a thank-you massage gave me a thrill that overpowered my shyness." Shi sounded very excited. "The whole family is gonna love you! None of them have gotten to meet a human in person before, let alone one like you who already has a Kathari for a mate."

Andrew's jaw dropped open as shi pointed out to him that only actual reproduction between family members was frowned upon in Kathari society. Other fun and companionship was just fine and family sharing was of great importance to keeping family bonds tight. His face failed to fight off the blush now, much to Serina's amusement. Thankfully Arith was too busy driving them home quickly to notice.

It wasn't long before they were landing at a large ranch-style mansion amidst the plains, between the rolling hills and a mountain range. Kathari took great value in natural spaces and being a multi-millennia old tech race, they had no problem in shifting unpleasant things to take minimal space. This allowed for massive sprawl across the planet and plenty of wide open space to be left for the clans. The planet's population remained mostly stable, as when a large enough overflow occurred, they simply departed for any of the dozens of newer worlds the Kathari inhabited. Only very old clans with ancient call for their land stayed on Karenthis, and transit-hole grids allowed for easy travel to business centers and node-cities for operational things.

Andrew saw several other vehicles, both semi-ground, like hover vehicles, and air, most of which were self-powered. The vehicles were all on the same obviously-hardened slab that they had just set down on, but everywhere else around the slab was mid-height, grass-like foliage and some areas of dirt like the path. The light wasn't all that strong in the setting sun, but all of the plant life, both grass and other leaves, was a dark gray in color, similar to Serina's fur, and his when he had changed into a feline.

"Go ahead and leave your boots and socks in the car, Andrew. I've already told Mom that you will," Serina sent. He looked at hir, confused and worried about the walk through the grass potentially abusing his feet. Shi sent warm encouragement with an undertone of amusement and teasing, so he trusted hir. Shi wouldn't ever want to do him harm, he knew that.

Upon exiting, the vehicle pad turned out to be a semi-soft surface, like hard rubber. A quick walk across the pad, following Arith with Serina close behind him, and he stepped tentatively onto the bare ground beyond. He stumbled slightly as the ground gave way unexpectedly, being relatively soft, and almost had a foot-gasm. He sent a questioning thought to Serina.

"Most of the plains on Katarus are a mixture of very soft mineral soil and plant matter that creates a psionicly-reactive compound as a whole," Serina sent with a smile. "For the longest time, it was considered a spiritual thing, like grounding one's chi in your history. Even though we eventually found out the reason behind it, and that it wasn't a spiritual psionic bond to the planet, it still feels really good against bare skin."

Shi sent a teasing thought, "Kats have a lot of fur to block it... So I expect you to be the first one to ever give us an idea of how it feels against your body. No Kat has ever had the guts to shave and find out."

Andrew considered blushing again, but he was getting used to Kathari wit and humor. He was very pleased with the result, regardless of what caused it. He could definitely understand how it could be considered a spiritual thing also. He was so distracted by the ground that he didn't notice the speeding ball of fluff until it hit him at high velocity.

Now, notably, this "ball of fluff" was also only slightly smaller than Serina, so maybe 600-700 pounds of Kathari had just pounced him into the nearby grass. Andrew went down with a yelp of surprise. Serina had obviously known this was coming, since he could feel hir kinesis supporting hir sibling enough to avoid having hir mate be squished.

"Wow! It really IS a real human!" the cub exclaimed. "Hi! I'm Chari! Dad's chewing me out for being so rambunctious even though I'm mature, but I just HAD to come and see! I picked up dad's leaking all the way from here." Shi examined him thoroughly and smiled, "You look nicer in person than humans do in pictures. Neat eyes. I didn't know humans had such nice eyes."

Andrew wasn't sure what to make of this, and the flow of amusement from Serina was almost as distracting as the disapproving glare from Arith. Chari suddenly laid hir ears back in dismay and hopped off Andrew. "Dad says we might have a really tasty dinner tonight and I don't get any if I didn't get off you and calm down. But it's really nice to meet you, Kass Andrew." Shi bounced on all four paws and crouched. "Oooo, I can't wait to tell the others! Even mom's home! See ya, sIB: " Then shi took off like a shot into the house.

Arith shook hir head as shi looked after the energetic youngling. "We thought that once shi started mating, shi'd calm down. That was almost five years ago though and shi's still just as much a bundle of energy as ever."

Andrew realized that Arith was leaking again, with pride that if Andrew was amenable to pleasant play, even though they wouldn't get nearly as much fun from a non-psionic, Chari would be able to enjoy it more because shi was still the right size. But of course that was just dreaming, the Kat thought. Can't go lusting over humans, even with one right here and so close. Need to be a good host and not scare him. Humans did tend to get disturbed easily. What a shame.

Andrew was stuck between embarrassment and pride himself at the admiration, and had a lot of intrigue at the idea of "family fun". He picked himself up off the ground as Arith glanced at Serina. "Did you want to let me know the details of your visit before we go in, dear? We'll not get much peace once we do."

Serina nodded. "I found a lifemate, mom! We're perfect for each other and we did explosively well at pair testing! It's amazing!" shi exclaimed with glee.

Arith looked astounded and brimmed with joy. "Oh, Serina! I'm so happy for you! Oh, honey, I told you that you would find a good Kat, even if you're small." Shi looked concerned. "Shi's not too big for you, is shi? You can still please each other properly, and share...?"

Serina shook hir head. "Just the perfect size! If I was any bigger, it wouldn't work at all. So I'm the perfect size too!" Andrew could feel the wash of relief and pride from Arith as hir cub made that declaration. "But we need to have a hunt and a clanship ceremony, if you and dad agree. I only have two ship days of leave for this and it's very important to me."

Arith considered, doing some quick mental calculations. "That's four days here." Andrew blanched as he remembered that the planet's years and day cycles were shorter than Terra. That meant less time from midnight to sundown for him to finish the hunt. Arith continued, "Most of the clan is already here for the meeting. They would probably be ecstatic to have a hunt start tomorrow night or the next. But where's your mate? We need to meet hir and approve of hir joining the clan at least. Maybe some quality family time if we have time." The last item, Andrew knew meant a family orgy.

"Already here, mom. Don't worry and fret so much," Serina assured hir mother.

"Oh? Does shi have a ride? Shall I go pick hir up somewhere? When's shi arriving if I don't pick hir up?" Arith asked.

Serina shook hir head with a grin and stepped behind Andrew, slipping hir arms around him. "No, really, already RIGHT HERE, mom."

Arith looked around confused and obviously missed the direct clue. Serina rolled hir eyes and said, "Say Hi to mom, trus."

Andrew smiled warmly and improved on it with psionic sending. "Hi, mom! Sorry it's been a bit confusing, but Serina-t'rus likes to keep people on the edge sometimes. I'm just hoping you'll approve me for the clan."

Arith's jaw dropped and the look of surprise on hir face was priceless. Also the fact that hir shielding went down in hir shock meant that Andrew was able to read exactly how ecstatic this Kat was.

Here was a human, who would be fun regardless if they could convince him to play. But he was also psionic, which meant hundreds of times better. And he was mated to hir cub, which meant he was already into the idea of having fun with a Kat. And hir cub was living out hir wildest fantasy dream in a way more exciting than shi ever could have imagined. -And- hir youngest cub could do it too at the right size!

Of course hir massively unshielded leakage alerted the rest of the family about the situation in an instant. Andrew picked up the broadcast inquiries of disbelief, surprise, and heavy anticipation of a horrendously wonderful time. As the reality of the situation finally lodged itself firmly in Arith's mind, hir shields finally came back up and hir stunned look cleared into the most enormous smile Andrew had ever seen on a Kat. Even through the shielding, Andrew could feel the radiant joy coming from this Kat, being echoed by the whole family, including his mate.

Arith laughed warmly. "Oh, Andrew, you are SO approved! And I do hope you'll spend plenty of quality time with us." Andrew smiled back. Interestingly though, he hadn't been subjected to this much background of lust and desire since he had been in the ENEGMIS core. In fact, he wasn't sure if the core incident was as strong as this. This looked like a strong potential for a very interesting trip.

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