COURIER BOLD

FOUR MYSTICS BAR LEVEL 3 CENTER PHASE WORLD

Treller waited patiently for what seemed to be a lifetime. As a mage by profession, the D'norrian was normally patient while things unfolded. However, since he ran a small courier service, timing was everything, and right now his contact was late. So he sipped at his FireRum and watched the stage show.

Normally, most mages avoided the FOUR MYSTICS like the plague. It was "low-brow" in their estimation, however the women were pretty and it also meant magic sensitives were unlikely to be around him. Two sips later his contact finally arrived.

"Sorry I'm late," spoke the man, a middle-aged human with shoulder length black hair an salt and pepper beard. "Things went a bit beyond the norm today."

The waiter that seated him took his order then disappeared.

"I understand the gate to Port Eclipse is now open," asked the man, who went by the name of Barlow.

Treller grunted, paused as a raucous applause broke out over a pair of dancers, "Yes, though they're only letting citizens through. They expect the gate will function two-ways by the end of the week."

"Of course that doesn't really matter to you."

The D'norrian shook his head. Treller was a Shifter, known as a "Traveller." He used magic to move throughout the megaverse, though most of his time was spent in the various planets within the Anvil Galaxy.

"Ever heard of the Starwell Sector?"

"Sure," it was a neighboring region of space. It held about 40 planets built around a void or "well"
in the center. A dangerous place, hundreds of ships had been lost over the last 300 years. The surrounding worlds were much poorer since most traders looked for easier prospecting grounds.

"Good, I need to get someone there in the next week or so," Barlow pulled out a deck of playing cards, shuffled and dealt out a hand. Both men organized their hands.

The waiter showed up a few moments later.

"Flush," said Treller dropping his hand. Barlow had a pair of eights.

"Okay, I'll get it," he found some bills and paid the waiter, while Treller gathered the cards, then pocketed them when the waiter left.

"Look at the eyes on that one," said Barlow suddenly as the pair aped at the two girls on stage.
"Can't miss those."

The two men toasted the woman's eyes, downed their drinks then split up.

Treller wound his way carefully to the Warlock market, found a ley line, then phased to the nexus point on it. Drawing on the nexus point's energies, he opened a small, mini-rift then disappeared into it.

Finding Port Eclipse was easy. His mini-rift targeted concentrations of PPE energy in destinations he chose. Since it was built on an asteroid it was the only one in the Oropan solar system, and only someone unskilled in magic travel could miss it.

He stepped out of the rift into a well lit, massive cathedral-like structure with thick marble floors and impressive columns. Another column of blue-white energy rose up from the middle of the hall and raced up through the hole in the ceiling to the levels above. The arcology known as Eclipse Station was equal to a massive skyscraper of 80 floors. There was also another arcology, known as the Inner City, elsewhere.

Treller moved over to the column of magical energy, drew some within him and then channelled it,
phasing up the line to one of the upper levels.

The biggest problem facing the D'norrian was how to assign his remaining men. Occaisionally jobs outnumbered the number of employees he had in his company. He'd almost reached that point.

Treller spent a half-hour sitting on the edge of level eight, sipping coffee and looking out over the inhabitants and down into the portions of the level below. He turned it over and over in his mind, but kept coming to the same conclusion: he was going to have to add another operative.

With the coffee getting to him he left his perch and headed to the public restroom to relieve himself. As he straightened himself out in the mirror, a young human came in, dressed in worn,
wrinkled clothes. He studied the man in the mirror then noticed the young man's form blurred momentarily and that he had completely changed his wardrobe in what amounted to a few heartbeats.

"Not bad," he thought, of course magic tricks weren't anything new in Port Eclipse.

He nodded at the man and left, pausing outside to activate his wrist-comm.

"Skin, this is TD, come in," he said.

Momentarily a bald human face filled the tiny comm-screen.

"I'm here."

"Get to Level 8, east wing, public restroom. I just ran into a guy in the men's room and he seems to have mystic powers. I want you to type him. I may need to approach him." He relayed the rest of the man's physical description.

"You got it boss," was Skin's reply before signing off.

Feeling a little better about things, Treller headed back to his office. It shouldn't take Skin long and he had to come up with his own plan.

Like all newcomers to Port Eclipse, Rald Dannar had left the starship he'd arrived on, was herded down to Level One, pushed through Customs before being spat out into the general public of the asteroid station. It was clean, brightly lit and had plenty of space, three things Rald found unusual in his travels. He'd gotten a free starship boarding pass on the last job he'd done and decided he wanted to see what life inside the UWW was like.

Aside from the unusual flying creatures and new aliens, it wasn't much different a place that those inside the CCW, where he'd originally come from. He didn't have wings and magical flight was beyond him, so he passed his credit card through the scanner and used the turbolift to get down to Level 8.
The directory had a restaurant named the SHADOW KITCHEN that intrigued him.

By the time the waiter brought bread and his drink, Rald noticed the bald man near the front,
staring at him before looking away whenever Rald looked back. Trouble? Then again it might just be his imagination, the place was almost empty, just four customers.

When the ribs came he dug in and forgot about the bald man.

By the time he'd come back out of the restroom to wash his hands, the bald man's table was empty.

Rald Dannar sat outside the ROBOT CENTRAL and watched one of the AI units try to rope passers-by into the store. Store wasn't quite the right word for the place. It was part showroom and mostly a workshop. The front held two-dozen stock, mostly anthropomorphic units and few specialized robots for buffing floors, etc; but the back was a multi-stalled workroom, where two techs put the finishing touches on repairs and upgrades.

When they got going on some welding and heavy work, they drew the optic curtains and engaged the sound filtration units, so that it kept the noise down and didn't draw attention away from the stock. This killed Rald's interest and he turned to look across the huge expanse of level eight. A line of shops and businesses were directly opposite him, 200 meters or so away, separated by an organic planter. In between the thick branches of a fern, he caught a glimpse of a telephoto lens,
aimed his way. The lens dropped and a familiar bald head was there briefly before turning to put the camera away.

"Well," he thought, "Enough coincidences for one day."

After gobbling what was left of his cone, he bent down to tie his shoe, then melted into the shadows under the table. Following the dark region to the planter, he was there moments later looking through the bases of the ferns at his own bald shadow.

He shadowed the shadow back to the far northern side of the central portion of level 8. Here the light was brighter and few shadows could be found. He watched baldy pause at a door labeled "PERSONAL SERVICES GROUP -- PRIVATE" and go in.

The door had a security camera above it, so whoever was inside could see if there were any callers.
Luckily the wall the door was set into was recessed back from the main walkway and was set in semi-shadow.

Rald approached, close enough to stay off-camera and still reach the shadow. Turning insubstantial,
he melted down and slipped under the door.

Inside, immediately straight ahead was a set of stairs. A quick look around down below revealed four empty offices, one of which had a monitor for the door-cam. The ceilings were high in here for some reason. With the white paint, he diffused his shadow enough so that it couldn't be clearly seen and moved along the wall back to the stair.

Two men were talking. He slipped up the stairs along the dark red carpet.

"I don't know what he's got."

"Nothing? Are you sure you followed the right guy?"

"Oh, I'm sure. Here, look at these."

Footsteps retreated away from him, then Rald was up on the landing. Straight ahead a large conference room of some kind.

"Download this into your deskcomp," the words came from his right.

It was the bald man with another, almost demonic-looking man. It was the guy he'd seen in the restroom earlier!

A short beep meant the data was downloaded.

"Computer bring up the digital pictures."

"That's him," the voice held a tinge of disappointment. "You got nothing."

"Nothing. No psionics, no magical ability."

The voices got louder and Rald watched them walk right over him as they carried the conversation back into the conference room.

"Well, that's not a deal killer. He's got something else then."

"Are you sure you want to take a chance on that?"

The carpet was lighter upstairs but the men weren't looking down. Rald slid under the table into the inky blackness and sat up, his head folding around one of the tables thick legs.

"I'm telling you, one second he was wearing one set of clothes, the next he had completely changed."

"So?"

"So it could be a very handy talent to have in our business."

Rald smiled, these guys had no idea.

"Where does he stay?"

Silence.

"Skin? Where does the guy stay?"

"Uh, I lost him."

"You lost him?"

"Yeah, that's why I came back." Rald heard the footsteps as the man paced. "He was eatin' ice cream in front of the ROBOT CENTRAL and then I stopped to make a few adjustments and he was gone."

"That's great!" the demonic fellow didn't sound pleased.

"So you want me to go find him?"

"Yes I want you to find him!" the demonic man was adamant.

More footsteps sounded as the bald man started down the stairs. A flash of light grabbed Rald's attention. His shadow form flowed out from underneath to look.

A gigantic man, twice the size of the demonic one, appeared in the back of the conference room.

"I'm back!" he held out his arms like he was expecting a hug, or music.

"How'd it go?" the demonic one's voice had turned conversational.

"Are you kidding?" the big man laughed, took a step forward, then looking down from his 13-foot perspective saw the black outline of a man's shadow on the rug. The look on his face was unmistakable. Before Rald could do anything a globe of magical daylight blossomed from the just beyond the giant's reach. It was bright enough to force Rald back into solid form.

"Who the hell are you?" growled the giant.

A brief moment of shock rippled on the the demonic one's face and it was replaced with smile when he realized who was laying on his carpet. Meanwhile on the stairs, the bald man charged back up.

"Son of a..." baldy produced a vibroblade.

Rald rolled over so the giant couldn't stomp him and had barely gotten up before noticing his feet were anchored in place. Luckily baldy was too, just beyond the reach of his knife.

Almost as fast was a blurring of Rald Dannar's form and a split-second later he held his caseless autopistol out, barrel pointing between baldy's eyes. A smile came to Rald's lips. As fast as the big man had been they hadn't been able to count on this.

Now they had an idea.

The ejection button on Rald's weapon unexpectedly clicked and the clip dropped into the dark goo that engulfed his feet. Then a powerful unseen force wrenched the pistol from his grip and it flew over to the big man, hovering in mid-air next to him.

"You'll have to do better than that," was all the big man said.

"I run a courier service," the demonic man said. His name turned out to be Treller and he was quite happy things had turned out the way they did. "I'm partners with the titan."

After the scene in the conference room the D'norrian convinced everyone to calm down, spells were cancelled and weapons were returned to their owners, and the demonic one put his cards on the table.

"And I need more operatives."

"And you want me."

"You could make some nice money."

When the D'norrian mentioned figures in the hundreds of thousands, it got Rald's attention. When he pitched the possibility of a signing bonus Rald was pretty certain he'd do it. And they still had no idea about his radio-powers, that he could jam and generate radio signals as well. He'd save that for a later date, when the topic turned to raises.

"Well, I suppose I could try it for a while."

"No. We'd expect your full cooperation for a year, and the signing bonus will reflect that. It'll take you some time to learn the ropes, how we operate. Then you can start taking regular assignments. Are you interested?"

Rald thought it over quietly.

"Sure."

3 WEEKS LATER 12:14 AM ITRAGON OFFICE ECLIPSE STATION LEVEL 10

Rald was a few steps behind Treller as the pair came around the corner of the center spire on level ten, having stopped at a drinking fountain.

The level was mostly dark in the simulated nighttime of Eclipse Station except for light escaping from a single, plassteel storefront ahead. There, a group of four men stood facing into the Itragon office, staring.

As they got close, Treller and Rald could make out a form inside moving. The floor was blocked up to the chest by a planter, but beyond that the clear window revealed a shapely young woman in the middle of her workout. Her skin-tight sweats and tank top gave all the onlookers the needed insight their imaginations were generating. A distant thud of bass could be heard, no doubt the woman had the music inside turned up loud.

While this wasn't their intention, both of the new arrivals were males and decided to linger for a moment. She moved faster and faster, bending each time at the waste to touch the ground in front of her toes. The men were silent, but their heads bobbed with her every movment.

The woman finished suddenly and the men all broke into applause. As she straightened, she caught sight of them, took a bow then made a motion with her hand. The glass suddenly turned opaque and the disappointed men groaned in unison, before breaking up their little gathering.

Treller and Rald remained in place until all were gone before knocking on the door. The music was still blasting and she couldn't hear them.

Rald slipped under the door, solidified and flashed the lights without gawking too much.

The woman made another motion and the music cut-out.

"Sorry about that."

Rald opened the door for Treller.

"Miss Frost?"

Harmony smiled, "Yes. You're Treller with PSG?"

"That's right and this is my associated Rald."

Harmony's faced suddenly darkened, "How'd you get in here anyway? The door was locked, I just forgot to change the glass's display setting."

"A little talent of mine," replied Dannar.

Harmony toweled off and sipped from a water bottle.

"Give me a moment to change," she said. As she moved towards the backroom of the office, the two men noticed a watermelon-sized eye, floating. It moved with her.

Treller's pulse raced and his mouth dropped open.

A few moments later Harmony rejoined them, wearing only a white robe and smoking a cigarette.

"Isn't that a..."

"Eye of Eylor?" She smiled, "Yes, a Splugorth bio-thingy. We liberated it from a remote planet,
along with that." She pointed to a sword mounted on the wall near the ceiling. "A Kittani plasma-sword."

"But how do you..."

"Control it?" The gorgeous female kept finishing the mage's sentences. "I'm psychic, it's psychic. I work out with it every night. We seem to get along. I'm developing quite a bond with it."

Harmony's explanation cheered Treller up and settled him down, since the presence of such an item was usually dangerous.

Rald wandered over and petted it, repugnant-looking, bio-thingy or not since it got him near the beautiful woman. He found the touch of the thing oddly sensual, it was warm and damp, just like Harmony and in her case, beauty was beauty.

"What kind of music do you like?" As Harmony puffed on her cigarette the office radio came back on,
the sound down. A moment after mentioning "jazz" it switched to Treller's choice.

"It has a wide range of powers which is extremely handy. But I have to do the thinking. I just have to remember to darken the glass next time."

Rald thought momentarily about wandering by for her next workout.

Each man found a seat on the couch while Harmony sat crosslegged on the floor.

"So," she said after a drag on her cigarette, "Speaking of the Splugorth..."

Treller's pulse shot back up again suddenly.

"Let's say that I had to leave Center suddenly," Harmony Frost put the spin on her story. "But it really wasn't my fault."

After spinning a tale about trying to buy a Kittani plasma harness from the Splugorth Trading Post there, she'd been forced to kill the Splugorth slave who tried to ambush her for the money. The death of even Splugorth minion meant the Phase Adepts and their associates the Phase Mystics eventually got around to trying to apprehend her. Somehow she escaped, gear and all.

Treller sat back, his firm didn't go for this type of work. They respected those in power, well except the Splugorth. Everyone despised them.

"The trouble was that I didn't quite get out with everything." She told of being followed by the Phase Mystics and shedding one of their tails in the old, abandoned starport annex, where she'd left a data disk. "I had a friend who was a talented engineer, a Psi-Tech. He made me a set of technical schematics of the plasma harness, which I'd planned to sell to Naruni. He left the schematics on Center when I had to leave unexpectedly."

"Can't you use your friend," Rald asked wondering what her relationship was to the psi-tech, "Have him make another one?"

"It would take months," Harmony dropped her cigarette into the almost empty water bottle, "And besides I already paid good money to have the original made." She stood, "Look, the authorities there are searching for me, and don't know about the disk. I just want someone to get it and deliver it to my contact at Naruni."

She turned and disappeared into the back room, the Eye following right behind her. Her empathic sense was difficult to read. The D'norrian's mood alternated between bouts of calm and chaos.

Rald turned to Treller, "I get the feeling you're not liking this."

"Well, I'm not sure we'd be breaking any laws. I don't think so. And the Splugorth component isn't really applicable. Unless the courier was to get caught..." The D'norrian stood and paced. "Sounds like a standard hazard-pay mission."

As if on cue, Harmony Frost shuffled out, "I can't go higher than fifty-eight thousand." Her robe was turned around and she held it in front of her like a towel, her bare shoulders, exposed. She fished a cigarette from one of the pockets, awkwardly placed it between her lips and waited, hunting impatiently for the lighter. When the D'norrian didn't answer right away she sighed heavily, laying on: "I'm getting cold," with plenty of attitude. That seemed to do it, her empathic sense was suddenly clear.

"Done," Treller said, taking the lighter and assisting the lady, which pleased her. "But half up front."

Harmony's smile disappeared momentarily. "Okay partner, you got yourself a deal. Come by tomorrow and I'll have it ready for you after ten. I'll also give you the rest of details."

She gave Rald a sultry smile. He hadn't stopped staring at her since she'd come back out. He had no idea the Pleasurer could sense the level of his arousal. Of course this wasn't the first time a male had expressed an interest in the dark haired woman. She'd always been a looker.

Treller bowed, "Until then."

The two men left, but Rald paused at the door, glancing back as Harmony turned before getting completely into the back room and the courier caught a glimpse of her backside.

TWO DAYS LATER WARLOCK MARKET LEVEL 4B CENTER, PHASE WORLD

"Whoa!" was all Rald Dannar could say. Center made Port Eclipse look like a popsicle stand.

One moment he and Xilon the titan had been standing within the ley line at Port Eclipse and the next the surroundings had changed and the pair had arrived near the nexus by the Warlock Market, on Center. Since Harmony Frost had no immediate need for the item, Treller had waited until the group had a job at Center, as they frequently did. PSG was known there as well as in the sector of space where Port Eclipse was located, and using the titan's teleport ability was cost-effective. They could get there and back free and virtually instantly. In Treller's eyes, two paydays and minimal expenses were better than most of the alternatives.

"You like that Dusky?" asked the titan. Apparently the big man was responsible for the creation and use of nicknames at PSG. Everyone had one, and they were thought up by the titan. With his shadow-powers, Rald was called Dusky. "Okay, here's the plan. Meet you at the restaurant near the starport for brunch tomorrow. Ok?" Rald nodded. "If there's a problem leave a message at the PIGEON COOP over there," the giant pointed to a large two-story building with several birds made of blue-white energy flew in and out. "They know me." Rald nodded. "Good luck, Dusky."

"Later X-man" said Rald, remembering the nickname the others had given him. Xilon didn't turn, just waved over his shoulder as he calmly walked away.

Rald Dannar browsed around the marketplace, paid a few credits for a four-level map and then headed towards the old starport annex on Level 2B.

Rald paused at the tunnel mouth. From his position inside the inky blackness he could see the old starport annex as it rose up against the east landing pen, it's two story stone staircase leading from across the street up into the four story building. The landing pen was huge, but this portion of the annex had originally been used for passenger flights and handling new arrivals. Now with the construction of new teleportation pods on each level stairs were obselete and the pods could be turned off while the arrival area handled large crowds, instead of the unending stream of visitors the steps brought. Below the stairs ran a mag-lev track, unused now, due to the pods, which could immediately transport arrivals to virtually any other location in the entire city.

The only trouble Rald could see was the rent-a-cop patrolling the now fenced-off area. There was also a bright light at the end of the tunnel, near him, which flooded the immediate area with enough light that would force him back into solid form. He might possibly be seen by the guard.

"What the hell can this guy be guarding?" he thought. "Those buildings might have valuable equipment inside." He gave up his query and concentrated on the mission.

According to Harmony Frost, the four story annex had stone steps that curved up and around the interior, which was cylindrical in shape. This held botannical planters back when the annex was in use. There were windows so those taking the steps could view the organic displays. While being chased by the Phase Mystics she'd entered the middle one to escape a pursuer. She'd placed the data disk inside the planter, just in case she was caught, where she could come back for it later. If the disk was still there, Rald needed to take it to her Naruni contact.

Waiting until the rent-a-cop got close, Rald focused his night vision on the man. Typical, bored security guard, stunstick, flashlight (which could be dangerous to Rald's shadow form) and a small radio-earpiece. Using his Frequency Absorbtion power he determined the man's unit was a scanner.
This meant Rald could send on any frequency and the scanner would lock onto it.

"Perfect," thought the courier.

He waited until the man was farthest from him, then generated a high-frequency radio signal which overwhelmed the guard's receiver. He summoned a bolt of darkness and blasted the guard light. As the light disappeared instantly, he slunk across in shadow form while the surprised guard yanked his earpiece out and cursed. With any luck he'd think some electrical anomaly had done in both his earpiece and the light.

By the time the man had recovered, Rald was half way up the stairs.

The top floor was silent. The annex stairway was fenced off here too, but had anyone been here they would have used the teleport booth on the opposite side. Certain he was alone, he slunk back down the stairs, found the planter, and slipped inside. The data disk was exactly where Harmony Frost had left it.

Forty seconds later he was swiping his credit card at the teleportation pod on the top floor and getting an instant transport to the Free Trade Zone.

The magic pigeons from the Warlock Market couldn't reach the Free Trade Zone, so Rald had to try another approach to get ahold of the Naruni contact. Using the email address Harmony had provided him with, he rented a netlinked computer and emailed Dowza, a Uteni, sending a sample file and some simple instructions.

A hour later, in the park just beyond the Free Trade Zone, a blue-skinned Uteni, sporting a small,
red dufflebag showed, and sat on one of the benches. From his spot in the shade, Rald talked to his contact.

"Glad you could make it. I trust the file I sent was proof."

Bewildered, the Uteni glanced around, "Interesting," he responded, after metamorphing a mouth. He wasn't sure of where the voice was coming from. "But hardly proof."

"Did you bring the downpayment?" Harmony had instructed Rald should ask for two hundred fifty thousand in cash. The balance, three quarters of a million, would be sent to her via wire -- after Naruni had gotten a working prototype running.

"Yes," he jostled the bag, "But I won't give you a credit until I see more."

"That's reasonable, look in the bushes behind you."

The Uteni turned around, peered nervously then left the bench, finally scrambling on his hands and knees before discovering a small data disk. Rald had copied half the data onto it.

Dowza 'jacked into his handcomp after inserting the disk. He saw the directory readout: 653 files,
6.9 gigabytes of data. He brought a few graphics files up. It was impressive work. Someone had done an exacting, detailed workup of the Kittani item. If it was fake, it was a good one. Knocking off a Kittani item was the perfect way for Naruni to thumb its nose at the Splugorth.

"And the rest?"

"Right here with me. Put the bag in the bushes, then you'll get the rest."

Nervous, the Uteni took the bag and tossed it into the bushes. The shade around it seemed to engulf it and it disappeared. A moment later a second data disk appeared in its place. The Uteni dove for it, then recovered his composure once he had it.

"Pleasure doin' business with you," said the disembodied voice.

"Tell Miss Frost we'll be in touch."

The Uteni left the park and jumped into a hovercar down the street, occupied by a another pair of Uteni.

"You have the item?" was the telepathic communication.

"Yes, and the homing beacon?" Dowza replied.

"It's right..." the Uteni's telepathic explanation faded as the readout on the unit it held stopped.
Apparently the micro-beacon placed inside the dufflebag, had suddenly stopped sending.

Rald was on his third glass of champagne when he spotted Xilon towering over the rest of the crowd.

The giant stopped outside the restaurant's patio scanned it and saw the upstretched arm of his newest employee, signalling him. The maitre'd approached, spoke to the giant then escorted him back to Rald's table.

"Everything ok?"

Rald smiled, "Just fine. And you?"

"Another day, another successful mission."

Rald swallowed, then poured the big man a glass, offering a toast.

"To success in the future," the big man noticed a wry smile on Rald's face, chalked it up to cockiness and the wine, then touched his glass to the human's.

The waiter finally appeared.

"You look like you could use some food, and I need an omlette. Six eggs, with pakish and ham."

Rald chose two over-easy, then grabbed the bottle, "And another toast."

"Easy there," the titan chided. "We're not home yet."

So the pair ate, took one of the teleportation pods down to the nexus near the Warlock Market and were back home by late evening local time.

THAT NIGHT 12:06 AM ITRAGON OFFICE ECLIPSE STATION LEVEL 10

Harmony Frost left the bathroom and came out front. She was getting ready for her post-workout shower. She'd remembered to turn the glass opaque this time, but wore a robe anyway.

Harmony felt something. An unmistakable and familiar presence. The Eye of Eylor floated out of the backroom behind her and scanned the room. It found nothing.

The feeling was still there: simple, primal, energetic.

"Come on out. I know you're here."

The shadows on wall collected themselves and bulged out, solidifying into the form of Rald Dannar.

"I saw your Uteni buddy," he said, wry smile on his face. He gave the Pleasurer the once over, from her red-cheeks to her bare legs. The robe ended just above her knees. "I've, uh, got your money."

Rald's satisfaction of completing her mission had energized him.

The tiniest of smiles touched the corner of Harmony's mouth.

"Where is it?" The Pleasurer's voice slipped down into a husky, sultry timbre. She wanted him to be pliable.

Rald's form blurred and a pile of cash appeared on the table next to his chair. Harmony was caught off-guard as the man's clothing had suddenly disappeared.

He reached out and kissed her, probing her mouth with his tongue, while his hand explored the inside of her robe. He pushed her back and sat her down on the couch. She struggled briefly, until his hand went between her legs. She let out a a soft moan, his empathic adrenalin was overwhelming. So she opened up.

Rald tugged at her robe, pulling it off her shoulders and kissing the warm, exposed flesh. He entered her with a grunt and resumed their passionate kiss. Their faces separated momentarily as he began thrusting. Harmony, clearly caught up in the moment clung tightly to him, then realizing the Eye of Eylor was hovering nearby, attempted to link with it. It took her two attempts. Suddenly she could see through it, watching from behind as Rald unleashed his libido on her.

Crude as it was, she enjoyed the spectacle. It enhanced her pleasure level a notch.

As his breathing became more labored, she engaged her shapeshifting abilities slightly, sliding her hips down so he could effect better access. Her legs elongated a few inches and she clenched her knees together behind his shoulder blades and pushed. Their foreheads pressed together as a result.

"Faster!" she gasped.

Like a racehorse responding to a jockey's prod, Rald increased his pace noticeably. His hands grasped her buttocks and he slipped deeper inside. Both lovers grunted continually until, finally,
almost a half-minute later, Rald released a long, unrelenting growl of pleasure.

Harmony's entire body was tingling from the empathic synergy.

Rald gasped for air. His sweaty body slipped off hers and he dropped to his knees on the floor,
totally spent.

Licking her lips, Harmony stood, the enormity of her actions were quickly catching up to her racing mind. Rald's arousal had anesthetized her thought processes. She scooped up her robe and shuffled quickly into the bathroom in the back and activated the shower before staring at her reflection in the mirror. Why had she encouraged him? It wasn't something she'd planned on. She'd been caught up in the moment, something she thought she'd long ago mastered. Perhaps her attempts to shield herself from such contact only served to heighten it? Too late now. She had complicated her life significantly with a rash series of wanton choices. She put on her robe and walked back outside.

Rald was where she'd left him.

A succinct, "Please leave," eventually escaped from her lips.

She didn't wait for an answer, but went back inside the bathroom and locked the door and thought about what had happened. The tingling feeling had diminished, but she still felt unfulfilled,
wanting. She began to sense another wave of arousal.

Something touched her hand. Rald had somehow gotten into the bathroom.

"I could use a shower," his face wore that same wry smile and his voice held a sensuous demanding tone.

Looking down at his waist Harmony saw that Rald had more on his mind than a shower.

THE END