Decisions

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

02/03/97:

"You can't be serious?" My sister asked, as I stuffed some
clothing into my duffel bag. "You just can't up and abandon
your House like this?"

I threw a glance over my shoulder. "I only run it," I said,
"Lady Shandin still owns it." I forced a few pairs of
underwear into the bag. "She can find someone else who will
be a bit more dedicated to it then I currently am."

Rose let out a low groan, standing up from the couch she had
been on. "Oriana, this is NOT a good idea! You and I both
know how much this place means to you. You've been single
pawed keeping the House in the black sense you became the
Lady. You think whoever takes over will be able to do that?"

I shook my head, my hair flinging about a bit. "No, not at
all. That money came from an account Fox set up before his
Exile, though I don't think he knows how I was using it." I
stuffed a shirt in my bag. "Not like he even knows how I run
this place."

Rose walked over, and grabbed my wrist as I was about to grab
a dress. "Fox, that's all you've talked about sense you came
back last month. Fox this and Fox that, one might be
inclined to think you had something for him."

I frowned. "I do... or rather did. I found out that it was
not something he shared."

She took a step back, blinking her eyes, and twisting her
ears a bit, her tail swishing thorough the air behind her.
"Is that what's this all about?" She asked, throwing her paw
over my bag. "Because he didn't love you?"

I stopped. It was a good question, but not one I was willing
to answer yet. "Not really."

She gave a frustrated groan. "Damn it, wasn't it you who
said that love was something out of reach to a whore?"

I flattened my ears, and clenched my fits, I could feel my
claws starting to flex out of my fingers, and dig into the
pads of my paws. "I was wrong." I whispered.

Ignoring any signs I was giving, she walked up right behind
me, her muzzle next to my face, I could feel her breath
through my fur and short set of whiskers. "Are you sure?"
Said asked, barely in a whisper, but directly into my ear.

I turned my head, and looked her right in the eye. Then,
with as much force as I could muster, I slapped her, right
accost her muzzle, my claws digging a bit into her skin,
drawing a light trickle of blood.

As my actions registered with her, she slowly took a few
steps back, holding one paw against her face, her eyes wide.
"I guess you are." She muttered to herself.

Without a word on my part, I went back to my packing.

After a minute, Rose finally broke the silence. "Where are
you going to go?"

"Back to Prid." I gave as an explanation. I had told Rose
some of where I had been over the past year. She understood
the basics well enough, and also knew what, and mostly
where, Prid was.

She crossed her arms. "What will you do when you get there?
Go back to Fox?"

I shook my head. "Before Fox got the house, he had an
apartment. He still owns it, and I still have a key."

"And what about Fox himself? Don't you think he might come
looking for you?"

I paused again. If he had used the gift I had made for him,
I was sure that he would want to know how I did it, and I
admit, I wanted to tell him, but I wasn't ready to talk to
him again, not yet. I was sure he wouldn't try to find me for
one simple reason though.

"I asked him not to when I left. He won't."

She slowly nodded, though I got the feeling she though Fox
would still try and find me.

Putting the last bit of clothing in my bag, I closed it, and
pulled it over my shoulder. "Rose... thanks for stopping by
at least. I know you don't approve of me working and running
a place like this..." I gave a shrug.

She sighed, walking back over to me. "I still don't but,
from what I've been told, you're damn good at your job, so I
guess that accounts for something. I still think it's
generally immoral, and boarding on evil, even if _your_ religion
accepts it."

I nodded, not very many of my family is happy with me about
first dropping the religion I was raised on, then going over
to believing in Thyrn. They regarded it as a cult, even if it
has been around for going on two thousand years.

Rose bit her lip gently, her tail limp behind her. "Even so,
I can't let you leave here like this, not with a clean
conscious. Though I do have an idea." She dropped her eyes
to the ground, picking at one of her shirt cuffs. "I
could... that is, I would be willing to take over until you
come back."

This gave me a shock, setting my bag down, I walked over to
her. Setting my paw on her shoulder, I squeezed a bit. "You
would do that? No matter how illegal it is, you would take
over for me?"

She nodded, "At least until you decided to return, or clear
your mind enough to make a hard decision about leaving."

I hugged her, pulling her close. I was taller then here by a
few inches, so she was pressed against my shoulder, but she
didn't seam to mind. In fact, she quickly returned the hug
on her own.

Finally breaking the hug, I stuffed my paw into one of my
pockets, and came out with a bank card. I handed it to her.
"This is the account information, use it if you need it."

She nodded again, just holding the off-white card. It took
me a few seconds to realize that under her black hair, my
older sister, who just like the rest of my family, had
disowned me until I almost died under the ocean, was
crying.

I pulled then bag back on my shoulder. "Thank you Rose."

She looked up a bit, and smiled. "You're welcome Oriana, and
come back soon, please?"

"I'll try." I said, then turned, and left my room in my
House. Then working my way through the halls, past a few of
my employees, and a couple clients, and out the back door.

My House wasn't exactly in the best part of my world, it was
decent as it goes, but generally most anything can go on in
that area without it getting talked about. Which was why Fox
and Rathal where able to walked through it undisguised with
out worry (though 'Thal did start to disguise himself on
later visits).

As I neared the fold, I pulled out the portal controller, and
punched in the familiar verse number for Prid. Not even
worrying if anyone was watching, I opened the fold, and
walked through onto Prid. The only real evidence of my
passage was a slight tingling from my implants just behind
my ears.

Coming out of the fold, I took a few turns, and came to a
small unmarked door in one of the many underground areas of
the city around the Marble Hall. Opening the lock, I
walked inside. It was as I remember it, just two rooms. a
main room with a couch and a kitchen in the corner, and the
bathroom.

Dropping my bag on the floor, I slumped down on the couch, I
didn't know what to do, I still wasn't sure why I came back
actually. It just came to me the day before.

Tapping a finger on my leg, it came to me. I was going to go
and lookup an old friend...