Archive-name: JourEntr/j916-277.txt
Archive-author: Elf Matheiu Sternberg
Archive-title: Kiza


   It was almost a year and a half ago that Nickolai and Jofuran first
appeared in the pages of The Journal Entries.  I must admit that the
incredible response and the enthusiasm to that series blew my mind.
I'm trying (trying!) to write the second half of the series, a second
half worthy of all of you who loved the first stories.

   In the meantime, there's a gap there between Travellogue and
Reunion, a gap that needs filling.  These four short stories, and the
articles attached to them proved those answers.  And raise not a few
questions...

   I'll admit to a LOT of trepidation in posting these four stories.
In a way they define the future path of The Journal Entries.  I have a
lot of ideas on what to do with the series at this point, a lot of
which have been encapsulated into story notes and fragments.  It'll be
at least a month before I post anything more after these four.

   In the meantime...



     Jofuran's Letter 277 / 0916

     Walking down the long hallway with her first bagfull of clothing,
Jofuran busily scanned the numbers on the doors as she passed them by.
It seemed to be something of a rule at universities, she thought, that
because the laboratories and classrooms were working on the next
century's advancement, the residential and student services had to be
rooted in the last century's.

     Which, she thought grimly as she located room 315, worked great.
The technologists lived in their labs anyway, and the archeology,
anthropology and humanities students were supposed to live in the past.

     She opened the door and looked inside.  Seemed comfortable enough. 
Large forward living room, kitchen to the left, two-meter square hallway
with three doors.  "Bedroom, bathroom, bedroom?"  she said aloud to the
empty room.

     "Correct," a voice from overhead said.  "How do you do, Miss
Shigokai?  I am Kerry, your AI and resident nag for the next two years."

     "Thank you, Kerry.  Resident nag?"

     "Indeed," the light, androgynous voice replied.  "I am here to
torture you; to make sure you eat, sleep, and burn the midnight oil
until your eyeballs pop out.  I shall be inquisitor, mother and
teacher's assistant all in one."

     "I already have a mother," Jofuran pointed out.

     "Yes, and as in all but a smattering of cases, she is but a few
footsteps away.  However, you did move here because you wanted to be in
the center of University life, as we say."

     She crossed the room and said, "Which one is mine?"

     "The one on the left."

     Opening the door, she appraised her new living quarters.  Desk,
bed, video table.  "Very nice."

     "I'm so glad you like it," Kerry replied.  "By the way, here comes
Kiza now."

     "Kiza?"

     "Your roommate."

     "Oh!" Jofuran ran out into the living room again just in time to
see the door open.  A red-furred Mustela Martens face poked around the
door, looking in, and with a sing-song voice said "Hel- lo?"

     "Hi!"

     "Hi!" the Marten replied, stepping into the apartment.  "Kiza
Lessap.  And you must be Jofuran Shigokai."

     "Uh-huh!" Jofuran replied.  She assessed her new roommate's
appearance.  Short, even shorter than she, wearing only a pair of silken
shorts and weighed down by a small duffel bag of bright green nylon.
"Pleased to meetcha."

     "Me, too."  She unslung the duffel and tossed it on the sofa that
dominated the small apartment.  "I decided to wait until you got here to
ask you all sorts of questions.  Besides, I don't think Kerry would give
me straight answers anyway."

     "Most certainly not," Kerry replied.  "I am not a gossip."

     "Ignore him," Kiza said.  "He's really a sweet guy."  Jofuran found
Kiza's smile completely infectious.  She talked with her hands as much
as her voice; constantly in motion, Jofuran found her delightful to
watch and to hear.

     "What kind of questions?"  Jofuran asked, looking suspicious.

     "The usual sort of new roomie questions."  Kiza cocked her head and
glanced up at the ceiling.  "You know, like, what's your major, do you
have a nickname, how long until you go field, are you a chem or
wirehead, are you a mill, do you have a lover..."  She ticked off the
answers on her fingers.  "Those kinds of questions."

     Jofuran laughed.  "Let's see.  Literative Xenoarcheology, Furry,
Two years, no, no, sometimes, yes."

     "What's his name?"

     It took Jofuran moment to figure out who Kiza meant.  "T.H.
Nickolai Dittrich."  She smiled as she watched Kiza's eyes widen.

     "You have a Terran boyfriend?  That is so con!" Kiza bounced into
the kitchen.  "You want a drink?  What's he like?"

     "He's sweet.  He's about this tall," she held her hand above her
head, "brown hair.  Goes to school in England, I remember."

     "Does he have a friend?"

     "Why?"

     Kiza returned with a two mugs, one of which she handed to Jofuran. 
"Here, drink.  It's just tea."

     Jofuran accepted.  "Why are you asking all these questions?"

     "I dunno," Kiza shrugged.  "I just think having a Terran boyfriend
would be super con."

     "'Con?'"

     "Contrary, Controversial, that kind of con."  Kiza bounded into her
bedroom.  "Come in, come in," she said, her voice reaching out to
Jofuran.  "I hate holding court in the living room!" After she had
entered and taken a seat on the desk chair, Kiza hopped onto her bed and
leaned up against the wall.  "Where did you get the nickname 'Furry?'"

     "I lived on Terra for ten years."

     "How old are you?"  Kiza asked, surprised.

     "Sixteen."

     Kiza looked stunned.  "Your parents moved you to Terra when you
were six?  That should count as child abuse!"

     "It was okay," Furry replied.  "I managed.  They had stuff they had
to do.  I'm living on Pendor now, and I think I'm here to stay."

     "Hope so."

     Furry looked around.  Kiza was inordinately fond of checked
patterns; her bed and the drapes over her windows were made of black and
red checked squares.  The bed had three pillows.  Posters of what Furry
recognized as famous Pendorian actors lined the walls.  The video table
had seen better days.  "Hey," Kiza said quickly.  "Got a picture of
him?"  Furry kept watching Kiza's hands fly.

     "Do you know any somatic languages?"

     "No, why?"  Kiza asked.

     "You keep gesturing with your hands, like you were using them to
say something."

     "Oh, that.  I got that from my mom.  Yeah, it's real expressive,
and I'm a noisy person anyway, so I don't see any reason to cut it out."

     Furry nodded.  "I have a picture of him.  Kerry, please call
Lexander and ask him for my Nickolai Dittrich files.  In fact, have
copies of them moved into my table, would you?"

     "Please?"

     "Please," Furry replied, rolling her eyes.

     Kiza laughed.  "He told you he was a nag.  He tells everyone that,
and it's true.  He is a nag.  About everything.  Now, about those
pictures?"

     "Done, Miss Jofuran."

     "Thank you."  She walked over to Kiza's video table.  "May I?"

     "Sure, sure!"

     Furry punched buttons and called up the flat images she had of him.
"That's him."

     "Wow, he's cute," Kiza exclaimed.  "For a human.  Hey, that looks
like Shardik Castle."

     "It should," Furry replied.  "It is."

     "How did you get in there?"

     "We walked."

     "That's really con," Kiza repeated.  Furry realized she would be
tired of that word rather quickly.  Kiza looked up suddenly and said
"Hey, Furry, got a serious question for you."

     "Another one?"

     "Yeah, sort of.  I can tell from the way you talk about him that
you like him.  When you were describing him your eyes got kinda
unfocussed."  She giggled, somewhat nervously.  "Is he on Pendor right
now?"

     "Not right now," Furry replied.  "He's going to be on Terra for
another two years, finishing up his schooling."

     "So....do you plan on seeing other guys around here while he's
gone?  And will it be just guys?"

     Furry laughed.  "That's what you had yourself all worked up over?" 
Kiza nodded.  "Are you making a pass at me?"

     "No!" Kiza replied quickly, her hands waving.  Too quickly, Jofuran
thought.  "No, I was just wondering.  I....The Mustela towns down in
Outskirt aren't quite as uninhibited as other places, and my last
quarter here was a little surprising."

     Furry nodded.  "It's been a bit of an education for me, too.  I've
only been on Pendor for about a month now, and I'm trying to learn stuff
everybody else knows already."  She thought for a second.  "Nickolai and
I agreed that it would be okay for us to have friends, even sleepaway
friends, while we were apart."

     "Good!" Kiza replied.

     "So, what are your answers to your questions?"

     "What were they?"

     Kerry answered the question.  "What was her major, does she have a
nickname, how long until she goes to field, is she a chemical or
biocybernetics abuser, does she study, is she currently in an involved
relationship..."

     "Oh, those," Kiza said.  "Let's see.  Adaptive Mechanical
Engineering is my major.  Everybody calls me Kiza.  No, I don't do any
of that stuff, but my last roommate did.  I'm already doing preliminary
field work.  Yes, I study, but I don't mill."  She gave the ceiling a
baleful glance.  "And I'm currently in a lot of relationships but none
of them are really serious."

     Furry laughed.  "I can understand that feeling."

     "Come on," Kiza said.  "I'll show you where the SDisk dispensers
and the cafeteria are.  Believe it or not, the food here is really good.

 
 
     Furry shoved the door open, tossing her pack, complete with her
third PADD of the semester, across the room.

     "Paige?  Furry?"

     "It's me, Kiza.  Jofuran."

     "Hey, what's wrong?"  Kiza asked, walking out of her bedroom.

     "My brain hurts, that's what's wrong."  Furry crossed into the
kitchen, grabbing an analgesic and a bottle of juice.  "Have you ever
tried to learn Sinox?"

     Kiza shook her head.  "Never even thought about it."

     "Sinox is one of the ugliest languages in the universe.  Vocally,
it's a repetitious pattern of short-vowel-terminated consonants.  'My
name is Tedefeh,' becomes 'Nefeh pecetatih tedefenah.'" She grimaced.
"I can't even talk that fast.  The other thing is that the burden of
language organization is on the listener.  My thoughts are allowed to be
as disorganized as possible....if the listener can make some sense of
what I say, the Sinox believe my thoughts are regimented enough."

     Kiza grimaced.  "Sounds like it's no fun."

     "It isn't," Furry agreed.  "I'm just frustrated."

     Kiza nodded and crossed the room to find Furry's pack.  "Well, you
didn't break your PADD throwing it across the room this time."  She
pulled it out and examined it closely.  "I see finding you the
explorer's custom package helped."

     Furry laughed.  "Oh, Kiza.  Thank you for that, it's really been
helpful.  I don't care if it's twice as heavy as a normal PADD, there's
something about being able to throw it across the room that I like."

     Laughing in reply, Kiza said, "I'm glad you like it."  She tossed
the PADD onto the couch with equal carelessness.  "Can I get you
something?"

     "You always make me feel guilty when you do that," Furry sighed.
"I never do stuff like that for you."

     "Sure you do," Kiza replied.  "You've actually been a great
roommate."

     "Are you sure you're not just comparing me to D'Roon?"

     "Positive," Kiza answered.  "D'Roon wasn't a bad roommate, she just
smelled bad when she refused to shower four days running because it
would take time away from her VR.  I mean, it was scary the way she
would eat with her eyes all glazed over."

     Furry nodded, stretching tiredly.  "Speaking of showers, I think
I'll take one, just to relax."

     "Okay," Kiza said, bounding around into the kitchen again.  "I'll
see you when you get out."

     Instead of a shower, however, Furry drew a bath, filling the tub
with hot water and slowly settling to the bottom.  Made to hold anyone
up to a Uncia (separate facilities were usually constructed for 'taurs),
the bathtub was, for a Markal, extravagant.  Furry stretched out in the
warm water and scratched at an itch in her fur, grimacing at the oily
feeling it had.  She hadn't taken care of herself very much recently,
she reflected, burdened with the pressures of classes and examinations.

     She was just starting to feel relaxed enough to get out and take a
nap when the door to the bathroom flew open, the doorknob striking the
wall with a loud bang.  "That does it!" Kiza announced, startling her
yet again.

     "Kiza?"  Furry asked.

     "I'm telling you, Furry, I'm giving up on mels.  That really does
it."  Furry heard the sound of the medicine cabinet being opened.

     "Giving up on Leif, you mean?"

     "He's such an idiot!" Kiza ranted, taking the name as a cue.  "I
don't know what I saw in him.  I'm sorry for interrupting your bath."

     "That's okay," Furry replied.  "I was going to get out anyway."

     "Well, I'll let you have some privacy."  Kiza closed the door
behind her.

     Alone again, Furry settled back down into the bathtub.  What Kiza
had seen in Leif, she reflected, was a bedmate and not much else.  They
had almost lasted a month, a record as far as Kiza was concerned.  In
the six months they'd been roommates together, Kiza had gone through
eight lovers.  Leif would make it eight for eight she'd said 'goodbye'
to.

     Furry, for her part, had managed to avoid any romantic
entanglements over the past months.  Letters from Nickolai sustained
her, and even though she'd had a few offers from classmates, none of
them really stimulated her in quite the way thinking of Nickolai did.
She worried that her fantasies were getting out of control, and that
when Nickolai returned he wouldn't live up to her cojoined memories and
phantasms.  But she would deal with that when the moment came.

     Still, she reflected, having a friend she could sleep with would be
nice.  If only to remind her of what lovemaking really felt like.  She
didn't want to fall in love again the way she had with Nickolai; he was
still her first love, and she was going to wait for him, just as he had
said he would wait for her.

     Sighing, Furry pulled herself up and stepped out of the bathtub,
striking the drain switch as she did so and listening momentarily as the
water gurgled down the pipes.  Once it was gone, she hit the 'air'
switch, turning the dial to the temperature she liked.  A mild tornado
began to swirl in the bathtub, and she stepped into the middle of it,
holding a dry towel and closing her eyes.  With the towel she vigorously
brushed at her fur, encouraging air underneath it and drying off.  She
felt better after that.

     Kiza was nowhere to be seen in the living room when Furry emerged,
but the door to her bedroom was closed so Furry assumed she'd be in
there.  She poured herself a glass of milk and sat down at the round
kitchen table, retrieving her PADD and trying to decide if she was going
to read or watch something educational, or if she was going to be
frivolous and watch entertainment.

     Kiza emerged from her bedroom while Furry was still deciding.
"Hi," Furry said, waving tiredly.

     Kiza merely waved, walking slowly to the kitchen and sitting down
opposite her, propping her head in her hands and looking morose.

     "It's not like Outskirt, is it?"  Furry asked.

     "That's not it," Kiza replied, sighing.  "If that were the problem
I'd just SDisk home.  It's more....I start to see their flaws, Furry.
They always seem so wonderful when we first start, but after a while I
begin to know their little, annoying problems and then they aren't so
wonderful anymore.  And I know that it's me, that I'm blowing up because
of something in me.  Other people live with each other's flaws, so why
can't I?"

     "Are you afraid maybe that they'll start to notice you're not so
perfect, either?"

     "I don't know," Kiza answered.  "I wish I did."

     "You know," Furry continued, "There is at least one person who
knows all about you.  And you know all about."

     "Oh?  Who's that?"

     Furry suddenly stopped, realizing to herself exactly where her
thoughts were leading her.  She didn't have time for this, she thought
to herself.  She already Nickolai... hadn't she just been telling
herself not to get into anything too serious?

     Too late, she saw, as realization of what she was talking about
apparently dawned in Kiza's eyes.  "You?"

     Furry felt her whiskers droop slightly.  Then she nodded.

     Kiza leaned back in her chair and pressed her hands together.  "I
never did think of it that way."

     Furry's throat was dry with what she wanted to say, what she wanted
to do with Kiza.  "Uhm... Kiza?"  The marten looked up.  "Listen... I...
I know everything about you, including the way you dump your lovers."
She stood up slowly, pushing her chair back.  Kiza's eyes followed her
as she walked around the table and approached her roommate.  "I don't
want to end up like them."

     Kiza leaned forward and reached out a hand.  Furry took it.  "You
won't," the marten promised gently.  "At least, I hope you won't.
But... what about Nickolai?"

     "He's the most important person in the universe to me, Kiza.
Please don't be mad, but when he returns I... I don't think I'll want to
be your lover anymore.  I'm not so sure I could do it now."

     Kiza stood up slowly.  She was shorter than Furry, but the
difference wasn't quite as dramatic as the difference between Furry and
Nickolai.  "I want you to try, Furry."  Still holding her roommate's
hand, she pulled them both into her bedroom.

     As the door closed behind her, Furry's heart jumped slightly.
"Kiza..."

     "Say 'no,' now, Furry.  Because if you don't, I'm going to strip
your clothing off and make love to you."  She smiled.  "If not with you.

     Furry found herself driven between two forces, one of which she
could find little reason for listening to.  She sat down slowly on the
bed.  "Come here," she said.  Kiza hopped over to stand in front of her.
"Sit down on my lap."  Kiza obeyed readily, a smile crossing her muzzle.
"Kiza, I do want you.  More than anything I've wanted in a long time.  I
want someone I can trust and rely on.  You've been that for me as a
roommate... and as a friend.  Anything more than that is just extra,
right?"

     "You have my word on that," Kiza replied, smiling.  Furry found the
way her black eyes glittered when she spoke to be incredibly beautiful. 
Almost without thinking about it, she pressed a hand to Kiza's chest,
feeling her roommate's rich, red fur under her palm.

     "Furrrrry..." Kiza sighed as she leaned over and kissed the
Markal's neck, sliding her tongue out and tasting.  Furry's hand slowly
slid along Kiza's chest, touching her nipples and caressing them gently.
Kiza gasped, and then slid her hand into Furry's robe, a hand closing
down on a breast and squeezing gently.  "You're so beautiful, Furry.
Nickolai is so lucky."

     Furry giggled softly and lay back on the bed, pulling her lighter
partner down with her.  She didn't know quite what to say to that
compliment, so she didn't say anything, instead running her hands over
Kiza's back.

     Kiza cooed softly, her tail twitching and fluttering with the
stimulation.  She reached down and pulled open the bow holding Furry's
robe closed.  "You're not wet underneath this," she said.  "The fur-
dryer in there works very well.  Why do you always walk around the house
covered up?"

     "Why do you walk around naked?" Furry asked back.  "I guess I just
got used to it when I was living on Terra.  There's always a lot of
covering up going on there.  It's funny, though, when Nickolai was here
I was always so 'Miss Pendor' around him.  I carried my gun, paraded
around in the nude..."

     "Habits," Kiza said, pushing the robe open.  "You were used to
wearing clothes.  You were out to shock Nickolai, because you knew you
wanted him to know you as a Pendorian, not a 'transplant,' I guess.  But
now that you're not out to consciously be a Pendorian, some of those
habits are coming back."

     "I still carry my gun," Furry said defensively.

     "That's just good common sense," Kiza replied, looking down at her
roommate as she lay on the bed.  "Furry, you're beautiful."

     "No, I'm not," Furry replied.  "I'm getting fat.  My fur is bland."

     Kiza leaned over and kissed Furry's breast, nipping at her tiny red
nipple.  "Leif had a name for that."

     Furry gasped, her back arching, then settled back to the bed.
"What was that?"

     "Girl-o-vision."  Furry giggled, then gasped again as Kiza's
fingers found her way around her other nipple.  "He said no woman could
look at herself the way men do."

     "I think it's a personal thing," Furry whispered.

     "Probably," Kiza replied, laughing softly.  Her fingers stroked
down Furry's body and slid between Furry's legs.

     Furry gasped as the Marten's little touches sent fire along her
spine.  She reached up to touch Kiza's thigh, to slide her own fingers
along the soft red fur, easing towards Kiza's warm sex.  She spread
Kiza's lips open, looking at the excited red flesh that shone through
the soft red fur.  Kiza gasped.  "Furry!"

     "Fair is fair, roomie," she giggled.

     "Oh, really?" Kiza laughed and slid a finger into Furry's cunny.
Furry arched her back.  Kiza curled her finger upwards and pressed it
against Furry's pubic bone.  The sensation was unlike anything she had
felt before, especially when Kiza slid the finger down along the inside
of her cunt, from pubic bone until she could just barely touch her
cervix, and all along the way a plethora of different sensations, all
wonderful, drove Furry out of her mind with lust.

     Kiza stopped suddenly, and Furry looked up at her, gasping.  "How
do you... do that?"

     "I play with myself a lot," Kiza replied, smiling.  "I know what
feels good on me.  I just figured I'd try it on you."

     "It works!" Furry replied.

     "Good!" Kiza said, smiling as her finger pressed up against Furry's
cunt again.  She slid down to her roommate's spread legs and, as she
slid a second finger into Furry and stroked her insides, kissed Furry's
clitoris.  A welcome moan escaped Furry's lips.

     Kiza's fingers pressed into Furry's cunt more insistently, twisting
back and forth in time with flickers of her tongue over her roommate's
clit.

     Furry's body thrashed against the bed, her breathing coming in
heavy gasps as Kiza dove deeper into her cunt, pushing her harder.
Climax after climax swept through her, making her tremble with pleasure.
"Kiza!" she screamed.  "Enough!"

     Kiza stopped, backing away a little.  "Too much?"

     Furry's body trembled gently still as Kiza lay up next to her.  "A
little much, Kiza.  Oh rings! Kiza, where did you learn to do that?"

     "I just did what I know feels good on me.  I figured that was the
best way to do it."

     "Oh, it was," Furry sighed.  "That was wonderful."  She ran her
hands over Kiza's small body, and found the small shivers she gave in
response delightful.  "It's your turn."

     "You don't have to do anything," Kiza insisted.

     "But I want to, Kiza, I do."  Her fingers found their way between
Kiza's legs, and Kiza smiled, a soft churring sound starting in her
throat.  "You want me to?"

     "Yes..." Kiza gasped softly.  "Oh, yes."

     Furry lifted her hand to her lips, licking a finger until the fur
was wet through.  "Now, you did this..." she said, sliding a finger into
Kiza's body and pressing upwards.  Kiza gasped again.  "That's neat.  I
can even feel where I'm pressing against."

     "Yeah..." Kiza moaned softly.

     "And then you slid your fingers back..."  The soft texture of
Kiza's inside slid under the pad of her fingertip; under the pubic bone
had been a firm pad of flesh, and as she slid back it gave way to softer
tissue, and then she felt the little nub, shaped like a tiny volcano,
she thought, of the cervix.  Kiza's body twisted on the bed, her hands
clenched and her eyes drawn tight.  "Furry!"

     "Shh..." Furry smiled.  "You like that."

     "It's so strong!  Please... lighter..."

     Furry back off, looking down and seeing her hand becoming coated in
Kiza's juices.  She leaned over and licked at them, tasting another fem
for her first time.  The taste was surprisingly sweet.  She slid around
on the bed, trading places, and began licking at Kiza's cunny selfishly,
licking up the sweet fluid her roommate produced.

     "Ohhh..." Kiza moaned softly, whimpering.  Furry licked harder,
feeling her roommate's body tense.  She suddenly remembered her hand and
began stroking within Kiza's cunny again, pressing upwards as she had
been shown.  Kiza thrashed about on the bed, fighting with herself to
not to move away from Furry's mouth and hands.  Furry licked harder.

     Kiza screamed as she came, kicking at the bed and gasping loudly,
dragging her roommate's name out, "Furrrrry!"

     Jofuran smiled up at Kiza.  "Are you okay?"

     "Oh, Fah, Furry, come here.  Hold me."

     Confused and concerned, Furry crawled up the bed and lay next to
Kiza, holding her tightly.  "Are you okay?" she repeated.

     "Furry," Kiza gasped softly.  "Nobody's ever made love to me like
that.  Nobody's ever payed attention like that to me... ever.  That was
probably the best lovemaking I've ever had in my life."

     "It's been a short life, Kiza!"

     "Yes... but that was the best of it.  Oh, Fah, Furry... I know, I
know promised, but I want you.  I want to keep you."

     "Kiza..."

     "I know," she said, swallowing.  "I know.  And I know it's a silly
thing to want, Furry.  But you're so perfect, so wonderful."  She
wrapped an arm around Furry.  Furry stiffened, then relaxed, trying to
sort her own feelings out.  "Furry, I promise I won't come between you
and Nickolai.  But please, don't hate me because I want you so much."

     Furry closed her eyes and snuggled next to her roommate.  "I won't,
Kiza.  I promise.  But I want you to look for someone else.  Can you do
that?"

     Kiza nodded.  "I can.  As long as you don't push me away from
you... too quickly."

     "I won't do that," Furry promised.  "I do like you, Kiza.  A lot.
I just have someone else, someone who means a lot to me.  You can
understand that, can't you?"

     Kiza nodded.  "I'll try to understand."

     "Okay."

 
 
          Dearest Nickolai,
 
          It's been a while since you last received a letter, but
     my class schedule has just overwhelmed me.  There are four
     language requirements on my schedule!  But you knew that.

          Mom found a place to go to, and so my folks are again
     off-world.  So much for their promise to "hang around" for a
     while, huh?  It's not so bad; I'm at University now, and it
     helps because I've got a few friends in the exoarcheology
     (what other kind of archeology does a ringworld have?)
     department.

          I may as well get to the serious stuff quickly.  You
     might remember my roommate, Kiza?  I mentioned her in my
     last letter somewhere.  I have a problem.  Kolya, she's
     fallen in love with me.  It wasn't something she meant to
     do, and I didn't want it either!  But it's happened.

          You have to understand her; she's never had a real
     long-term relationship.  She gets very frightened when
     people start to know her well.  But she was stuck with me,
     so she put up with my getting to know everything about her
     before we... we made love.  It was something that just...
     happened.  I know I'll try and handle it carefully; I do
     care about her, but I also know that in the end you're the
     man who's right for me, and I'm going to have to tell her
     that sometime.

          Please don't be angry with me.  I still love you,
     you're still the most important person in the universe to
     me.  She's attached herself to me, though.  And I do care
     for her.  I do worry.  I'm trying to help her find someone
     else, someone right for her.  It'll be a while... there are
     still sixteen months before I see you again.  In the
     meantime I dream about you always.
 
          Your beloved Jofuran.
--
"Kiza"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., And Related Tales
are (c) 1989, 1992 Elf Matheiu Sternberg.  May be freely distributed by
cybernetic media; hardcopies are limited to single printings for
personal use.
--
elf@halcyon.com  (Elf Sternberg)