Teep

TEEP

Chapter 58

Edward walked out of his bedroom and went across the hall to see how Andrew was doing in packing what he wanted to take with him, opening the door he walked in and saw Andrew looking at the several large packing crates Kevin had provided the other day with a pensive expression on his face. Sitting down next to his brother and surprisingly, his lover, he pulled Andrew into a hug, "What is bothering you Andrew?"

Startled, Andrew leaned into his older brother, "Nothing really, I'm mostly packed and ready to go, I figure over the next few weeks I can start to move the rest a little at a time."

"So why the glum look," Edward looked at the clock, Aaron's security escort would be here shortly, they were going to keep an eye on him as he talked to Toshi at lunch time, then after they were finished, he would hitch a ride back with them to Prime, a nice relaxing weekend, the last before he had to start classes again on Monday. For once, he was looking forward to school, all the scruff courses were thrown out and he could concentrate on the things he needed to know, to be the best leader he could for his people, plus of course, the Alteran way was fun.

"Oh, I was just thinking, it is sad really, the way Richard was treated by his parents, I mean he is family and here I am talking about taking weeks to move everything and he had barely enough to fill one rucksack," Andrew smiled at his brother before looking at the door, checking to make sure it was closed before leaning over and kissing Edward. "At least I know he is truly happy, and has the world at his fingertips now," laughing he shook his head in amusement, "well I should say the universe now."

"Are you going to be alright?" Edward hugged Andrew and when he nodded his head and smiled at him, he stood, "Okay, I have to go talk to father and grandmother before my guard detail shows up, I will see you later tonight." hand on the door handle he glanced back and smirked, "just so you know, I plan to be first in line to help you release the need after you are resequenced, I can't wait to fill you before being filled by you as the rest of the Clan takes turns quenching the need."

Breathing hard at the image Edward's words invoked Andrew stared after his brother as he left the room, "Damn, I can't wait," he whispered as the door closed and he felt a need to rearrange things in his pants.

Having to rearrange his own slacks, Edward closed the door to his brother's room and checked to make sure he had everything he needed, P.A.D.D., communicator and panic button watch all in place, he walked down the hall and eventually walked around his grandmother's secretary and opened the doors to her office and closed it behind him, startling his father and grandmother who were working on something over the tea table. "Father. Grandmother, I was going to ask what the two of you were plotting secretly the past week, but I checked your terminal usage and what you looked up and noticed you were studying Alteran clan structure." Pulling one of the antique chairs over so he could keep this conversation at a reasonable and quiet level, he sat down and stared at them.

Letting her eyes flicker up to her first born son, Victoria sighed as she sat back, "I would ask how you found out, but I fear I would find out you have a higher security clearance on the terminal than I do."

Sitting back and looking at her grandson she finally relented, "Your father and I have been working on a proposal that would give you the best of all worlds, you would remain as King and heir to the British throne, while allowing you to become Alteran and keep your relationship with Aaron and the Clan."

"You see Edward, we knew you would do your duty no matter how unhappy that made you," James smiled at his son, "We also knew that you truly want to be King and the leader of our people. When Aaron mentioned about how the clans were formed, the idea hit us, we have been doing a lot of research on the clan structure, and what can and can't be done with the charter." Tapping the paper on the table, "I would have to double check things with one of the Shaolin or maybe Richard would be best, but I think we have come up with a charter that would truly work." Sitting back in his chair, he looked at his mother, "But we have run into a snag." Seeing his son staring at him he sighed and looked to his mother for help.

"You need five individuals to start a clan, Edward," Victoria sighed as she looked at the paper with all of their hard work, on the table.

Laughing, Edward placed his head in his hands before getting control of himself, "Now I know why Aaron has been putting off the conversation about having children with me, the lot of you thought about this around him and he has been waiting for me or you to make the first move."

Alfred who had been released that morning practically skipped into the room having more energy than he remembered ever having, or at least in years and walked over to the safe, and after going through all the combinations opened it, pulled out the crown he had retrieved from the Tower after their talk with Aaron, before placing it on the table in front of Edward. "We truly only want your happiness Edward, plus you don't have all the information; do you recognize this?"

Edward picked up the crown and did not have to turn it much before seeing the red diamonds, "Yes grandfather, this is the crown from your side of the family, and it has the same red diamonds that Aaron's does."

"True, but what you don't know, as Aaron has been thinking about it after making the discovery Wednesday, is," picking up the crown and pointing to the largest red diamond, "Red diamonds are not native to Earth."

Edward blinked several times as the last bit of what grandfather told him kept repeating in his mind, finally he looked at the crown as if it were a snake, "That is not possible, you told me it has been in the family for generations."

"We were there Edward, when Aaron touched the red gems they glowed, just like his own crown does," James told him gently as he looked at his father, "Also one last thing, as far back as records or verbal histories go, your grandfathers family has never sired a girl."

Edward stared at his father and the crown, then at his grandparents before shaking his head in confusion.

"We plan for you to wear this crown when you are coroneted and the world will see these gems glow, if we have anything to say about it." Alfred picked the crown up and looked at it before getting up and walking over to the safe to return it to its case.

Edward glanced at the clock his team should be here ready to take him to meet Toshi, finding his voice he glanced down at the paper and looked past the first couple of lines of the charter, like the clan leader being required and or allowed to be in a physical relationship with the head Clan of the empire, Altare, and the fact a child would be produced between the two clan leaders as the heir to Clan England. "Toshi, the heir to the Japanese throne, we are meeting for lunch because he wants to discuss this very thing," he set the paper down and got lost in thought, "I need to go, we will talk more about this when I get home Sunday, maybe by then I will have an idea how to respond."

Moving over to the door and stopping when his hand started to open the door Edward glanced back, "The only way for that crown to get into our family is through the Shaolin."

"Yes, Aaron confirmed that Wednesday when we were at the new hospital, your grandfathers line comes from one of those that damaged themselves in a search for a cure for the rest of their clan," Victoria told him softly, "Aaron said this opened up other possibilities and he needed to think on it, we felt this was one of the possibilities he was thinking about and we went about seeing if it would work on our end."

"I don't know how much of the media campaign you have been following, but the tide is turning," James looked at his son, "It is a good thing you are.BI, soon the people will demand you marry into Aaron's family and if the tabloids reports are true, have a son as soon as possible."

Edward rubbed his eyes and head, like Aaron did when he was trying to figure something out, "I need to go before I'm late, Sunday.We will defiantly talk Sunday." Walking out of the room and quietly closing the door behind him, he had no clue on what to think, and yet his family was trying to give him what we truly wished for.

"You sent for me father," Toshi bowed as he entered the private office of his father.

"Yes my son, I wish to hear about your meeting with the King of Altare and what conclusions and information you have learned after I left," pointing to the chair Morimoto told his son, "Sit and share with me."

Taking the chair, Toshi was glad his father was not a telepath, "He is a most amazing man, his very presence demands obedience, yet he is the most caring person where his people are concerned. Not only that, his Clan is truly loved and he is not afraid to show emotions or love to his Clan in front of others, almost as if he dares you to say something about it." Sitting back in his chair he went over some of the things he had learned and found out, before looking at his father, "Ton passed the first test with honor, and family can go up to Sol Station where he is staying for the next.week, I think, we are invited to eat meals with him if we wish. I do know his technology that he has at his disposal is so far in advance of what he is releasing to the public that if we completely upgraded we would still look like stone aged peasants next to them."

"Rolph, the Danish king's nephew and the volunteer for the Danish kingdom was discovered to have cancer, by our standards incurable, with only weeks to live if he was lucky," Toshi looked amazed, "Aaron pulled him to one side and escorted him to the med bay, he called it, and personally performed the surgery to start the process of curing Rolph, he will be up and walking around next week completely healthy and cured for good, that ability alone would be worth anything to our people and I have been working on a way to gain closer ties with his kingdom, like the British did, he built one of his hospitals in their country, I have a meeting with Edward, the Heir to the throne of Britain at twelve thirty to discuss some of my suspicions and to see if my ideas are workable."

"He is an honorable man, more so than most, he amended the agreement between his kingdom and those petitioning for open immigrations for their people, to include two new parts, as he truly has the best interest of those wishing to marry into his family in mind," seeing he had his father's attention Toshi smiled, "He will allow the candidate, if they feel a connection or love for someone in one of the other clans, to marry them and count as completion of the agreement or if the person is not a viable candidate or does not wish to marry into the Clan, he will allow donation of genetic material so sons can be created to count as completion of the contract, he also left open that the possibility of the candidate to join his kingdom will remain open if all that happens is a donation of genetic material."

Toshi thought about it and added, "He also left open that the genetic material could be donated from any male in our royal line that would pass their initial tests of health."

Morimoto smiled at his son, the truth was the King was a very honorable man and it showed that he meant this deal to go through, "Good.very good, you are right, such is the actions of a man of high honor. Did he say anything about who had attacked him or what was done?"

"The leader of Iraq ordered the attack, and he used weapons that would have killed the world," Toshi, seeing his father pale, drove home the point, "He used germ warfare weapons, weapons that would have infected the Tuna and then been carried into the world's food supply. He was merciful and did not kill anyone while at the same time destroying the country of Iraq, everything man made was removed in under one hour."

"Both the Russian and Chinese leaders were there and shared that there is nothing left of the country, except half naked people as the weapon Aaron used was not a weapon but one of their inorganic recyclers," Toshi sighed as he closed his eyes and shivered at the thought of the devastation that weapon could do to his country. "I do know from hearing it from his own mouth he has lost patience with those that would attack him, at the same time the UN was trying to drum up support for an invasion of his country, he was removing the threat Iraq posed. I fear for those who try to attack him next, there will, in his words, be a very large lake left over after he is finished and innocents will end up dying."

Waiting until his father composed himself as they both had watched the broadcast of the Dragon Lords revealing themselves to the world, Toshi changed to a happier topic, "Our meeting was held at Sol Station and the one wall of the conference room was a window that looked down on the Earth, it was amazing to look down on the world of my birth, or to look in the distance and see the huge dockyard where the new hospital ship was being built."

Morimoto gazed out at the garden as he tried to decide which question to ask first, "Did you find out what the British did to tie the two kingdoms so close together?"

"Truthfully I did not, I have a few suspicions which I hope to verify with my meeting with Edward today, I did find out a lot of interesting things, but most of them I can not tell you," Toshi saw his father stare at him, "I have a very valid reason, as if I do share with you what I have learned and I am ever around one of their telepaths, it will get back, I was told things, then told to keep them to myself."

"It is a test of sorts, I believe, and I have seen what one of their non lethal weapons can do to a country and I will not jeopardize our country with the possibility of it being used or even one of the more lethal weapons at his disposal," Toshi shook his head, "I am sorry father, not even for you my emperor will I share these things with you, I dare not." Seeing the expressionless face staring at him, "I believe, if I ask for permission and both of us go to his Sol Station or other secure areas, I may share what I learned with you, he did not give me the option to share what he told us with you, not like he did with some of the other information."

Deciding he would do the same, Morimoto relaxed, "What other information was released then?"

"The fact that Aaron will be having a son in around eight months I think is interesting and exciting, or the fact that as a country they hate wearing clothes, unless dealing with outsiders," Toshi kept the smile off his face, "Mostly things of that nature."

"Hmm.Please make a list of what you can share, and when are you going back for the next meeting?" Morimoto asked as he thought about things, after hearing this coming Sunday at two, he looked up, "Please ask his Majesty for permission to speak of some of the things he has shared with you, I agree I do not want to endanger my people with his wrath, but I do need to know."

Bowing and keeping the smile off his face, Toshi bowed, "Of course, Father, it shall be one of the first things I ask Aaron before we start." Secretly he was pleased, he had several more days and hopefully time to work on Edward to get the answers to his suspicions, looking at the clock, he quickly made his way to the area where the cars were kept and picking up one of the faster ones, left the driveway in a squeal of burning rubber so he was not late.

Edward looked round, this was the tea room Toshi had told him to meet him at and he had yet to see the teen and his counterpart for Japan, sighing he looked up at William who had miraculously been assigned to his Alteran based guard detail, "Well, maybe he is inside, at least I hope so," he whispered as he walked in and turned around after catching motion moving towards him, grinning at Toshi who was out of breath he chuckled, "And here I thought I was going to be late."

"Sorry Edward," Toshi panted after running up the walk, "But I got caught in traffic." Moving to the hostess, he bowed slightly and asked for one of the private rooms where they could talk, then asked for a meal to be brought in, and it had to be by someone who did not understand English.

Following the woman with a serious makeup problem, as in she added so much she ended up looking like a doll, Edward glanced around as they were escorted to the back side of the building before the woman knelt down and pulled the door open for them. Edward followed Toshi's example of kicking off his shoes and placing them onto the mat when it was pointed out to him and stepped up into the meeting room and then down into a cushioned pit like area with a low table. Glancing back over his shoulder as the door closed and he saw two of the security detail take up positions on either side of the door he looked back at Toshi, "This is the first time I have been in a formal tea room like this, very nice."

"Thank you Edward, I asked for a light meal with tea to be delivered, it should be here momentarily, we should be able to talk freely," Toshi smiled as he looked at Edward, he had to admit to himself he was pleasant to look at and he wondered what he looked like without clothes on. "Before we begin, can I ask what determination was made on how much you may share with me, I assure you and through you to Aaron that I will keep your secrets."

Edward stared at Toshi for a moment before sighing, Aaron was right; Toshi wanted more than sex, and he was too smart for his own good, "I did talk to Aaron, and he has laid some ground rules for this conversation, I will call my escort in, you will swear and be confirmed by telepathic scan what you learn will not be shared, to anyone without Aaron's permission.Ever."

Toshi stilled as he thought over the conditions and slowly said to give himself more time, "I understand that to be quite painful."

Nodding, Edward reached into his pouch and retrieved the syringe full of painkiller and placed it on the table, "It can be very painful if a telepath has to dig deep, but he is here to confirm that you are going to keep your word, and if it gets too painful he sent this," Edward tapped the syringe, "it is a specially designed painkiller to alleviate any pain from the mental contact. I understand the more willing you are for the contact to take place the less pain."

Toshi eyed the syringe with interest, "You say that like you have never experienced it before."

"No, I've never experienced the pain during shari." Edward trailed off as Toshi snapped up to look at him.

Coming to a quick decision, Toshi looked at Edward, "Call your telepath in then, I will welcome him in my mind."

Edward starred at Toshi for a moment as if gauging his willingness before sighing, "William," he said, after extending his mic and tapping it, "He's agreed." Placing the mic back up so it was in the stored position Edward was not startled as the door they came in through opened and a barefoot William walked in before closing the door behind him.

Kneeling next to the suddenly nervous teen, William smiled, "This will be quick and hopefully not too painful, hopefully the most you get is a brief burst like the pain from a sudden intense sun glare, if it is more than that, let us know, the painkiller is here for a reason." Placing a hand on the teen's face he looked him in the eye and prepared to deliver the lockout Aaron had prepared, it would stop him from ever telling anyone the secrets of the Alterans without Aaron's express permission, he was to administer it if Toshi was sincere in his desire to keep their secrets.

"I have only two questions, and I want you to give me an honest answer, I will be examining the thoughts behind the answer," William told him as he brushed his mind against the teen's surface thoughts. "Do you truthfully plan to keep the secrets you learn here today to yourself, letting no one know what you learn?" following the thoughts, William was glad that the teen did plan to keep what he learned secret and then after implanting the lockout, he asked, "What do you plan to do with the information?" several minutes later William sat back before standing and looking at Edward, "He's telling the truth, you can talk to him, if you wish, safely."

Nodding his head, Edward looked at Toshi, "Do you need the painkiller?" getting a negative shake of the head back in reply, Edward placed the syringe back in his pouch and waited for Toshi to say something first.

Hearing a soft chime, Toshi stopped gazing thoughtfully at Edward and went over to the small panel in the wall and slid it back before removing the tray full of food then placed it on the table, before going back for the other tray with the tea, sliding the panel shut again he looked at Edward as he poured and sighed, "Are you sharing yourself with the Clan?"

Taking a sip of his tea, Edward looked at Toshi who was dishing out the food, "That is an awfully personal question."

"Yes it is, and I must apologize for it, but it is the only thing that makes sense, you spurned my advances, yet I believe you would have acted on them if conditions were different," Toshi told him as he picked up his chopsticks and as he went to grab a fork from the side he noticed Edward was using his, and correctly too, "You have spent time learning to use our utensils."

"Spend enough time around Aaron and you will learn to use them too, and I spend a lot of time in the Clan Compound," Edward shrugged before deciding that it would be alright to tell him what was going on, after all, William planted the lockout so he wouldn't be sharing this with anyone without permission, "To answer your first question, yes I currently hold one of the four spots for non Clan members to be able to share themselves as you say with the rest of the Clan, the other belongs to Ichiro who belongs to the Clan."

Raising an eyebrow Toshi looked at Edward, "belongs?"

"Ichiro is.he is submissive, I think Aaron called it 'Ukeru', in the old culture, we don't have as descriptive a term as you do, it seems," Edward sighed as he tasted the noodle dish.

"I see, then you are right, he belongs to the Clan," Toshi stared at the ceiling for a few moments trying to think of a way to ask, "Edward, I must apologize in advance, I can find no way to discuss this without being blunt, you have sex with the Clan.the whole Clan is this the reason your country is so close to Aaron and his kingdom?"

"No." Edward had been prepared for this one actually, and had asked Aaron what to say, he had been told to tell the truth. "I am allowed to have sex with the Clan as I fell in love with them and they with me, in the beginning it started out as something totally different, but I always knew I had a duty to my people." Putting his chopsticks down, he sipped the tea and winced, "My cousin Richard is part of the Clan, my brother will be joining the Clan tonight, plus I have donated genes and wish to have a son with Aaron. But most of all it is love, love of me and my brother and cousin that cemented the ties with Aaron."

"On one hand I am jealous as hell of Richard and Andrew, they will get to have something I never will; on the other hand, they must pass their ordeal to be an adult of the Clan, and I would not wish that on anyone, to hold life and death in your hands, to wield that power by right of who you are," shaking his head, "no, as much as I am jealous of them and being able to receive the gifts all Aaron's people have, that one thing makes me lose my jealously every time, they will have a burden I never will."

Toshi stared in shock for a moment, so many new things, so many questions answered, and so many created by the answers, "Is this a burden they are required to take on themselves?"

"No," Edward replied as he pushed the food and drink away, "Aaron makes sure before each of them goes too far into their ordeal that they know he would gladly take it from their shoulders without thinking less of them. I've seen him do it, and yet, each time it happens, the person who's test it is does not back down; he accepts the burden. Each and every member of the Clan lives and breathes the Clan motto, Clan Stranton leads, and others follow, I have seen it, I have seen how every single Alteran would follow any of them into hell unasked, I only hope one day after Aaron finishes my training I will instill the same feeling in my people."

Blinking several times, Toshi sat back, this was not surprising really, it went with what he had observed, "Tell me Edward, what is the possibility of forming a Clan of our own and having Aaron recognize it as one of his?"

Edward laughed as he fell back into the pillows, "My grandparents and father have been working on a clan charter, so that I can do just that, Aaron made a comment to them once, as long as a clan gives him fealty and loyalty to his crown, they are free to leave his kingdom and hold their own, his planetary governors will be from the other clans," chuckling again, "I don't know why I did not see it before, most of the other clans have more than the bond of loyalty to Aaron, they have his bloodline in them."

Snorting he looked at his tea as if something to loosen his tongue was placed in it, but in reality, he needed to bounce what he learned an hour ago against someone, "My grandparents even have, as part of the clan charter they are drafting, that the clan leader, ME," Edward thumped his chest, "has the option of having sex with the leading Clan.Aaron's, and it also has a provision that my heir to my kingdom and clan would be from a son with the leader of the leading Clan, meaning Aaron."

Toshi was wide eyed at that admission, the more he heard, the more he wondered why Edward was not jumping and grabbing that charter with both hands, "Why are you hesitating, what else needs to be done?"

Snorting, "I found out about it minutes before leaving to meet with you, as for what else needs to be done, a clan is a marriage, I would need to find at least five more people to marry," Edward told him as he closed his eyes, "not only that, think about it, Aaron's clan is one of the smaller ones I think and he has seventeen lovers, and he usually has sex with each of them daily, besides me on the weekends. Hell, he kids us about the stamina of youth, a measly three hours and we are asleep." Leaning forward very serious, "If you look at a true picture behind the myth of the Satyr you will see a picture of Aaron staring back at you, even his clan can not keep up with him at times."

Toshi had been stunned once again, leaving aside the stamina, no wait a minute, he told himself he needed to at least let this roll around in his mind a few more times. After several enjoyable minutes, he slightly shivered, "Let me be as blunt with you as I have been asking you to be with me, the idea of forming a clan that is based on Aaron's excites me on several levels, not only the smallest one of what it could do for my people, or the fact that I would be able to have a son using their technology, but more personal of finally being able to be true to myself. I invited you here to be able to determine if it was possible you were in the same situation and if we could find a way out of it by becoming our own Clan."

Reaching out and touching Edward's hand Toshi told him, "I know where to get the other four people needed; in fact we both met all of them yesterday, the candidates for the open immigration to Aaron's kingdom."

Aaron smiled as Kenny walked into the med bay as he looked the reports over before releasing Pat, "Hello Love, I was surprised to see you stay behind, but then again I'm not, not really. So what's up?"

Kenny grinned as he walked over to look in the bio-tube, Pat sure looked different he thought, "I'm here to help Pat with 'THE NEED'."

Lifting his head up as he tried to understand what the hell Kenny said, sometimes the Clan came up with the strangest expressions that boggled the mind, Aaron stared at Kenny a moment longer before asking, "I'm afraid to ask what 'The Need' is?"

Kenny giggled, "We were talking to some of the new guys down in the city the other day, the ones that like to go over to Middle Earth and explore," Kenny giggled again at seeing the pained expression on Aaron's face. "Well we were talking about what it is like to come out of the bio-tube after alteration, and Xon was comparing it to Maes'byrn that the Kathat go through twice yearly, well, after a while it was decided we should have a special name too, so we chose one that explained it." Kenny went back to looking at Pat waiting for Aaron to open the bio-tube.

Aaron's mind flashed through the different explanations and finally hit on what they were talking about, the need to cum when a person was released had become 'THE NEED', chuckling he closed out the file and started the release cycle. Once the bio-tube unsealed, he went about removing the breathing tube and the IV cuff, before turning the soma unit off and removing the sensors. Placing his hands, one either side of Pat's head he closed his eyes and brushed his mind against Pat's and smiled as they merged.

"Morning love," Aaron sent as he felt Pat start to wake up and then started to show Pat what had happened while he had been asleep, ten minutes later Aaron opened his eyes to see Kenny laying on Pat's stomach swallowing as he felt Pat stiffen up as his orgasm hit. Keeping Kenny away from sex was a losing battle it seemed; maybe he needed to come up with new positions for those two so they could finally get what they wanted. Alteran genetics had come into play now that they were full Alterans, and Alterans as a group were a very horny bunch.

Smiling as Pat opened his eyes and smiled up at him, Aaron helped him stand, once his feet were on the floor he kissed Pat to the point where he was aroused and moaning in pleasure, reaching down, Aaron felt Pat's hard cock and was slightly surprised at how big it was, a healthy six and three quarters, and he was not finished growing yet. Reaching for the lube, Aaron noticed Kenny's disappointed expression and smiled, time to start doing things differently, moving to the side and pulling Kenny around so he was kissing Pat he quickly yet gently lubed and stretched Kenny up, it was surprisingly easier than he thought it would be, after Kenny was prepared, he stood and turned Kenny around and slipping his fingers out, slowly he slid half of Pat Inside Kenny, making sure to keep his hand on the lower part of Pat's hard cock so he could not thrust too deeply and using his lube slickened fingers he lubed himself up and slowly in between Pat's thrusts entered him and smiled at the pleasurable groans coming from Kenny's throat.

Pat, more in control now that he had just come down from his fourth orgasm, smiled as he felt Kenny spasm under his hand yet again and then leaned back into Aaron as he felt the spurting inside him, sighing as he stopped moving, content to relax and let himself go soft, he leaned over and kissed Kenny before blinking and finding all three of them at the entrance to the hot spring Aaron had shown him in his mind. Being careful he walked, without slipping out of Kenny, down the steps, keeping a tight hold on Kenny the whole time as he felt Aaron move with him, slowly thrusting in and out with each step.

Settling back after both he and Pat had slid out of their lovers, Aaron smiled at the contented look on Kenny's face and pulled him over to his lap, "If the others are willing, there are several ways to do like I did for Pat, to make sure no one goes too deep inside you, so you can get off restriction and put away your measuring stick.well only until." Trailing off Aaron looked at Kenny, breaking out in an evil grin, "you know what, I have come up with the perfect prank you can play on Edward, you'll need to get dressed in your formal over robes and uniform, and you will have to play the part of a Nakodo perfectly, but Edward is meeting with Toshi for lunch and Toshi is more than a little interested in Edward," Giggling, Aaron leaned over as Pat slid close, "Now here is what we are going to do."

Standing in the hall, trying to give Edward the privacy needed for this conversation, William was enjoying being openly imposing for once, the staff were terrified of him and keeping away, sensing movement he turned back to the hall leading to the entrance and froze as he noticed one of the Clan approaching in formal robes, standing up straight, he noticed it was Kenny, "Greetings Young Sir, is there a problem I need to know about?"

Smirking, Kenny looked up, "Not really, I am here in my official capacity as go between for Edward, I believe it is called Nakodo; as such, I have duties I must perform." Nodding regally Kenny stepped around William and made his way down the hall where one of the other guards stiffened and bowed his head before kneeling down and opening the door for him, "Thank you."

Walking into the room, he was secretly relieved they were both dressed and there was a meal on the table, smiling at Edward who was shocked at seeing him and then at Toshi who did not know what to think, he made his way to the table and sat down carefully billowing his robe behind him; he had been practicing after all, Aaron had spent a long time helping him perfect it for this purpose, the shock value of his entrance had hidden the SE110 that followed him into the room near the ceiling, perfectly.

Hiding his grin behind his formal face, Kenny looked at Toshi, "I am Kenny of Clan Stranton of the Kingdom of Altare; I am Nakodo to Edward of the house England," he gave this almost several inches long head bow toward Toshi who was shocked, his mouth was moving but no words were coming out. "At this time, I must ask your intentions towards Edward and ask for your family history to ensure HONOR is upheld."

Kenny looked over at Toshi who all of a sudden became nervous, slapping his measuring rod on the table making Edward gulp in surprise and hissed out, "Kenny." as he tried to shove the rod off the table, only to have his hand slapped by Kenny, "How big is your penis when fully hard and how big around is it? How often do you masturbate and how much do you cum? Have you ever had sexual relations with anyone other than your hand?"

Edward was mortified, red and blushing furiously as he groaned, "KENNY.What do you think you are doing?"

Toshi did not think he could ever be as shocked as he was now; his mouth was open in shock while his eyes bugged out.

Smirking, Kenny looked at Edward while watching Toshi out of the corner of his eye, "Well, as your Nakodo I am well within my rights to ask these questions, even within my rights to examine his genitalia personally to see if they measure up."

Edward couldn't believe it, "GODS.Kill me now," he groaned out before banging his head down on the table in embarrassment.

Mouth moving, Toshi looked at Kenny and squeaked out, "Examine my penis.!?!?"

Acting prim and proper, Kenny looked at Toshi, "Of course, how else would I know if you measure up, after all, we have standards," Kenny picked up his measuring rod and held it up doing better than his best to hold in his laughter, after all a prank like this would win him the title. "I require you to get fully hard so I can measure you, you must be larger in length than this rod or you are unacceptable, proper breeding or not."

Toshi paled and squeaked out, "Larger.Hard."

"Oh my gods, I'm going to kill Aaron, when I agreed to this I thought he would handle it himself, or even one of the others, I'm so embarrassed," Edward whispered, blushing as red as the silk pillows he was leaning against.

"I must also ask how many girl children have been born into your line in the past one hundred years," Kenny ignored Edward which just added to the mirth. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Toshi mouthed the word 'what' several times before he found his voice, "What."

"Strip and get hard so I can measure you of course, you can answer my questions as you do that, start with the girls born into your line." Kenny looked at him like a teacher looking disappointed at his favorite pupil.

Mortified, Edward jumped up, "Excuse me, I need to go.go talk to someone.I'll be." Edward rushed out of the room but not before hearing Kenny tell him, "Of course, you should not have been left alone with this one until I have done my duty.now then, are you slow in the head or are you not interested."

Pete looked around at the rest of the Clan they had been told Kenny was going to pull a prank to rival his and they had gathered to watch it, "I never knew someone could get that red before and still be able to move."

Tim who was wheezing from laughing so hard pointed to the screen, "He.I.can't believe."

"Oh my God, he is actually stripping," Damien giggled before falling back into Fred's lap.

"Well SHIT, his prank beats mine, and I thought I would hold first place forever, I mean how do you top 'The Talk'," Pete was stunned as he watched Kenny harrumph over the size and lack of hardness on command.

Right about then, Edward tried to come back into the room and saw what was going on, turning red once more, he closed the door and went back to William, "I need to talk to Aaron.like really.really bad," glancing over his shoulder as he heard Kenny demand that Toshi shoot his load so he could measure it he frantically looked at the guard, "Like right now!!!"

Kenny watched as Toshi finally was able to climax all over the table top he had cleared and then tapped the cleared top when he told him to shoot his load, pulling his scanner out he ran the diagnostic on the sample, when it beeped he placed the scanner back in its pouch and pulled his sleeve back down and stood, placing a long form on the table Kenny smiled, "that should be enough for now, at least until you fill this out and return it to me, after that, I will schedule your physical. Do hurry and be truthful as I have other prospects to interview." Placing each hand in the other arm's sleeve Kenny walked towards the door and as he approached it, he disappeared in a shower of sparkles as Richard who had been watching the SE110's feed from Aaron's office ported him out.

Toshi stood there naked as the day he was born, staring at the space Kenny disappeared from, sperm still covering the end of his hand as he stared at the long list of questions. That is how Edward found him several moments later after arranging to be picked up so he could kill Aaron; well it wasn't Aaron's fault, but Kenny on the other hand. Eyes wide as he took in Toshi, staring at the cum covered table, "My God, you actually went through with it," Closing the door behind him he went over to Toshi and pulled him into a hug, breaking the shock.

"Not to be rude or anything, but how did he leave here?" Toshi ignored his cum covered hand and only noticed it when Edward picked up one of the towels and started to clean him up, and it felt nice.

"He ported out, another one of the gifts besides telepathy you get when you are altered to be Alteran," after what Toshi had been put through Edward felt he deserved to know what the pluses were.

Mark was still laughing as he got dressed; Doug was washing his face again so he did not look like he had been crying. Which he had, he laughed so hard he had cried tears while watching Kenny's performance, pulling his circlet off the shelf he placed it on his head, before looking in the mirror, if anyone had even seen him dressed like this, they would never think of the blond haired cowboy from outside Bixby.

Smiling and pulling Doug into a hug after he came out of the bathroom, Mark kissed him and straightened his circlet and over robes, after the incident yesterday, the new rule was outside the kingdom you dressed the part, "Well love, do you have your list? I was thinking of stopping at Gene Corp first, and then after taking a peak at some of the herd they want me to look at, we could go to Australia to get your sheep, maybe get a late lunch somewhere over there, I don't plan to be long, so if you get what you want fast enough, maybe we can go sightseeing."

"Sightseeing, I don't know what is around Australia or what to do there," Doug was pleased yet confused, he never thought of going anywhere else.

Laughing, Mark ported them up to the livestock cruiser, the ship Xon had transformed for them to transport livestock in the transporter buffers, "Well, I was thinking if we have time, we could visit the park where they built Rohan for the Lord of the Rings movie, maybe even where they built the shire."

Victor looked up from the command chair smiling, "Velcome Young Lord, Young Sir, shall we get underway?"

Doug smiled as he looked at the commander, "You've done a bang up job on getting rid of your Russian accent, and we are ready any time you are."

Blushing Victor looked over his shoulder and nodded to the gestalt team who yelled out "Porting," once the Earth was in the view screen he smiled, "I have been trying very hard," he added a chuckle, "and a month ago I spoke no English."

"Doug's right," Mark smiled as he pulled Doug a little closer, "It is amazing how quickly you've mastered English," kissing Doug as he pulled him around to the position everyone who ported with Aaron so loved, face to face, "I think we will start with Gene Corp, if the herd is acceptable, after you use the transporters to place them in the buffer move on to Australia, we'll port over after we've given the herd the once over, I would expect the inspection of the sheep to go quickly for the most part and once you've got them your good to go back if you want, we'll plan on making our own way home." Tilting his head to look over Doug's head so he could see Victor's face better, "Just let Tommy know as soon as you make orbit at Middle Earth, so he can be ready to receive the livestock."

Victor laughed and waved as the two ported off his scout, he still thought it was hilarious when the youngsters voted overwhelmingly to rename the farm planet after the Lord of the Rings book. Glancing around the tiny bridge and at his crew he smiled, even if he was only doing milk runs right now, he was enjoying himself. And one excited thought popped in his head as he settled back; in another month or so, he would be getting a larger command, the anticipation at seeing the ship for the first time was killing him, no one knew what they looked like yet, or even where they were being built.

Mark looked up at the building in front of him and heard the neighing of the horses in the pasture, and smiled, this was going to be fun he thought as he noticed a limo pull in and an older gentleman in jeans get out of the back, "Well, let the fun begin," he told Doug as they started for the main doors Doug giggling all the way as he knew what Mark wanted to do.

Looking around the interior reception area, Mark noticed nothing had changed since the last time they had been here, not that he had expected it to, looking down at Doug, "Well my young Jedi, it is time."

Giggling, Doug looked up at Mark, "You're just still upset that the farm was named after Tolkien instead of Star Wars."

"Not really," Mark laughed, "I just think the over robe thing makes us look like Jedi Knights, but I'll deal because of the built in protections on the things."

Hearing laughter Susan looked over towards the door and saw two individuals in fine clothing wearing what looked to be crowns; glancing down at her appointment book she saw the late morning was free until two when there were several appointments, but nothing now. She was about to call one of the free salesman when another group walked in the door, several of them dressed as Shaolin and her eyes widened when the older one berated the first two.

Master Lo had ported in with his team, some of the best of his students and apprentices, walking into the building without looking at the beautiful surroundings he spotted the two he had been sent after, David had been quite angry when he found out these two had left without a team. "Young Dragon.Dragon Lord, I must chastise both of you for leaving without your protection detail, Dragon Lord David was very angry," he held his laughter in before bowing respectfully and moving closer, "Really, you two should know better, David is threatening a no nookie for a week as punishment if you do this again."

Shocked, Mark turned around and seeing the Shaolin spread out, paled, "Sorry, I forgot, I wonder how Aaron deals with all of this, I mean I never truly gave it a thought, and now we are constantly surrounded by guards when we leave the kingdom."

Doug sighed, "You know if we keep this up, we can't complain about when Aaron leaves his detail all the time."

"Chastisement noted, Master Lo, and we will try to do better, no promises though as this is still new to us having to worry about such things," Mark smiled as he noticed the nervous secretary on the phone and walked over. "Hello, would you tell Mr. Lancaster that Mark Stranton wants to see him," stepping away from the desk, he stopped and smiled, "Oh, could you also tell your CEO, Alan I believe his name is, that I am here and file 29, 34 and 11 are acceptable; I would like to complete the transaction and start transporting the herds."

Doug watched Mark from the glass wall overlooking the show ring, when Mark walked back with a smug smile on his face he snorted in amusement, "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

Giggling, Mark nodded as he watched the secretary have a nervous breakdown form the reflection in the glass, "Yes I did, I am so going to enjoy all of this really, Lancaster shouldn't have squashed the expansion attempts his CEO wanted to do to get our business."

The same man they saw in jeans getting out of the limo rushed into the lobby and looked around, spotting the two young men standing next to the showroom window he tried to rush over but was stopped when one of the Shaolin stepped in his way and glared at him, staring up into the unsmiling face, he gulped before stepping back.

Mark not wanting to make the man any madder than he probably was already, moved over, "Mr. Lancaster, I understand you own Gene Corp solely," leaning on the edge of the couch, more sitting in the arm, Mark looked at the man. "Name your price and if it is reasonable, I will call the bank and have the cash transferred over immediately, we can get the sale over by the end of business today," Watching the man gulp and move his mouth silently, he added, "A reasonable and fair price, don't overinflate it, or I will just build my own facility, it's just easier for me right now to buy one already finished than take time out of my busy schedule to get one up and running."

Hearing the doors open, Mark glanced over his shoulder and smiled, "Hello Roger, I take it the sale went through then?"

"Yes it did, Dragon Lord," Roger smirked as the man Mark was negotiating with paled, "You are now the proud owner of the seventeen hundred acres across the road from Gene Corp."

Lancaster paled again and sighed, "I'm a hard headed Scotsman and I guess I had my head in the sand and did not want to bother myself about expanding." Breaking out into laughter, he moved over and sat down on the couch farthest away from the lad, he did not want the guards to get antsy again, "Five million and my farm gets supplied free of cost just like it is now, you have my word I won't take advantage of the free services."

Mark looked over at Roger who looked at the folder he brought with him before nodding as he looked up, "Fair, very fair and the condition is standard for these type of deals."

Mark smiled, "Good, then my business is done here, it's now in Roger's hands, and you'll have the cash transferred into your account by four as long as all the papers in that folder get to the courthouse in time."

Laughing, Roger shook his head, "I just need to know which account to pull the money from, is this a kingdom project or yours?"

Mark shook his head as he stood up and spotted Alan standing at the side looking nervous and confused, "Take it from the kingdom account, I have no clue what's in mine, better be safe.plus, I won't have the time to play with this until I get the new farms in order."

Motioning Alan over, Mark held out one of the Isolinear chips, "Alan, are the lots ready to start transporting out?"

Nodding his head not knowing what to say, Alan took the chip and looked at it confused, "Um yes and I had the herds placed in the side pasture," looking at the chip, Alan was not sure what was going on, except he had a new boss and it was this young man.

Picking up on the man's thoughts Mark took pity on him, "The expansion plans for this facility are on this chip, at the end of business today, make sure the building is empty and the south side is clear. Our construction bots will be building the new section overnight; my plans for this expansion include the quarantine facility being built across the road and I listed all the species I expect you to handle, even if you have to contract it out like you will for the poultry. I want to be able to stop in one place, this place, to get all of our livestock needs met, and that includes the other off world colonies as well."

Walking back towards Doug, he thought about Tommy, "I know you will never have the facilities, but find a staff member that is willing to work on aquaculture, he can act as the go between anytime we need stock, we can place a call to your office and you can make all the arrangements and all we have to do is send a ship to do the pickup."

Hugging Doug to his side, Mark picked up on his excitement, "Master Lo, our next stop is Brisbane, we're supposed to meet someone by the airport for some reason." Smiling as he watched Master Lo point fingers at some of his team, telling them to go first, he sighed as he waited for him to turn back towards him and nod that it was safe to port, when he got home he would be having a long talk with the Clan, how the hell Aaron did not go nuts putting up with this shit was beyond him.

Once they appeared at the air terminal, Doug looked around and ran over to the window to look outside, he ignored the man who was yelling at him to stop, thinking he was yelling at someone else, staring out at the view outside the window he heard a scream of pain behind him, looking over his shoulder he saw one of the Shaolin apprentices had a man in uniform on the ground and had snapped his arm.

Mark moved over and glared at the man as he skimmed his thoughts, sighing when he found the man did not have harmful intentions towards Doug he made a motion with his hand, once the man had been dragged to his feet and several other nervous police had surrounded them he shook his head, "Please take him to Sol Station Trauma and have one of our healers fix his arm, when he's released bring him back down if you would."

The apprentice holding onto the officer bowed his head, "As you command Dragon Lord," afterwards, he ported out with the man.

Mark could have sworn he saw a smirk in the apprentice's eye as he bowed to him, this was getting more than ridiculous, oh yes, he thought, a long talk with the rest of the Clan was in order when he got back. Hugging Doug and kissing him silly, Mark turned back to the officers and moved nearest to the one dressed differently, "Sorry about that, but the Shaolin are a little bit overprotective after someone tried to kill off all of my people," The first part was said with a smile that disappeared, then he added in a cold voice, "So I can fully understand why someone rushing after one of us would end up hurt.or worse."

Point gotten across, Mark smiled again, "Now what can we do for you gentleman, we are supposed to be meeting a Karl somebody about buying some livestock."

Senior Constable Walllings tried to wrap his mind around what had happened and moved over slightly so he could look at the teen and his companion, he moved slow enough, so those right scary blokes did not dummy him up and do another slap down, "Well mate, only a dropkick would approach you again, but I do need to see passports."

Master Lo smirked as he and every one of the seven remaining members of his team pulled out the Alteran passport with the rearing dragon on the cover and opened it up, showing the red diplomatic notice on the inside.

Walllings eyes got huge as he looked at the passports and then over to the tall poppies and got this gobsmacked expression on his face as both of them faced him with their passports out, and the taller bloke told him his name.

"I am Mark Stranton, of Clan Stranton of the Kingdom of Altare," Mark smiled and resisted the impulse to add 'take me to your leader', but only just.

"Right then, the Jackaroo is waiting for you over by the luggage carts," Walllings looked at the right scary blokes that his mind was screaming Digger every time he looked at them. Motioning his men to back away he watched them walk away and hoped no one Drongo crossed their path."

Doug was beaming as they walked out of the doors; he was finally going to get some sheep of his own, "I wonder what a Jackaroo is."

Chuckling, the young man waiting for them stepped up, "G'Day Mates, a Jackaroo is a male station hand or station trainee manager, and before you ask, a station is what we all call a farm." Looking at the group he glanced back at his rover and wondered how he was going to get all of them to the station.

"'Do not worry, we will have our own vehicles transported over," Master Lo smiled as he looked up to the sky after arriving at the parking lot and then looked back at the empty lane smiling as two of the Clan's diplomatic hummers appeared, pointing at the two black hummers he grinned, "Transportation for my team is arranged, I shall ride with you and the Dragons, while the rest of the team leads and follows."

The young man looked at the two black rovers and shook his head, before getting into the rover, "hop on in and we'll be off."

An hour later Doug was looking over several hundred sheep that had been cut out of the main herd and watching the cattle dog break the herd up again, "Time to pick the ones I want then," Doug smiled as he moved through the pen, touching and checking each of the young sheep before moving to the next. Every time he found one he liked, he pulled it to the side and pushed it through the gate into the smaller grass side lot, after half an hour he looked over his choices and looked up, "While I run the scanner on these, do you have any young ones around?"

Pushing his hat back so he could rub his head he looked over his shoulder towards the barns, "Over there we have all the young ones, most are." thinking about it he finally said, "Most are going to go to the slaughter house for meat, we don't normally check them for new breeding stock unless we need to replace a few."

Doug Grinned, "Great, that sounds just the ticket," pulling his scanner out of the arm pouch he happily moved away and caught each one of his picks before running the scanner on it.

Mark grinned as he watched the Shaolin walk around the area looking for threats, and when the young man moved over to him he gave him a quick look before going back to watch Doug have his fun.

Thinking very carefully as he watched the younger one laughing as he pushed one of his choices back towards the gate into the larger pasture, he filed it away to look at that one later as he shunted it into another smaller treatment pasture, finally as the young sir as he was called moved off happily towards the barns with his scanner out, he glanced at the taller one he was walking next to and brought up the courage to breach the subject, "I have heard a lot of rumors about your people," he was being so careful and trying to chose his words wisely, "If you truly help out people my brother needs help."

Mark skimmed the young guys thoughts and found him to be very worried about his brother, the way his parents treated his brother was wrong in his mind but he did not want to see them end up dead, "Where is your brother now, and why are your parents treating him the way they do?"

"I wish I bloody well knew, but he won't tell me and they won't so I am stuck in the middle," the young man told him as he watched the younger of the two who seemed to be in charge move quickly thought the lambs, checking the ones he was cutting out of the pens he noticed he had a very good eye for sheep.

Mark was following the young man's thoughts as he took his time responding and when his mind flashed on his brother sleeping in his bunk he turned, "If you want to get your brother help, yet make sure your parents don't fall under our laws and judgment there is not a lot I can do, not unless he asks me for asylum, and if he does not want to press the issue, there is nothing I can do about it."

Watching the indecision war in the young man's mind Mark decided the issue for him, "Don't hesitate if he's hurt, if something would happen to your brother because he is hurt and you didn't want your parents to get in trouble how would you feel?"

"I would feel horrible and curse myself every morning, noon and night." Sighing, he looked back towards the bunkhouses, "My brother is not feeling well, he is doing a lot of sleeping and my parents, my parents have not physically harmed him that I know off, just reduced him to tears.constantly," he whispered.

"Catching an image of his brother sleeping this morning and not being able to wake up from the young man's mind Mark looked around to see who was on his detail, "Sounds like your brother is sick, maybe something physically wrong with him."

A little more than worried, he looked back at the group of bunk trailers and pointed to the far end one, "I left him asleep this morning, he was still sleeping when I left to pick you up.Please, I don't have any right to ask you but will you check on him?"

Now who has medical training Mark thought slightly on the loud side as he gazed over his detail.

One of the apprentices ran over and bowed, "Young Dragon Lord, I am training to be a healer, Master Lo asked me to join the detail today in case the services of a healer were required."

Seeing that Doug was finished and cleaning up, Mark nodded, "Yes, I think we have a young man to check, his brother here tells me he wouldn't wake up," glancing at the Jackaroo with a slight frown, "If we knew this earlier we could have checked up on him first, but we will damn well do it now."

"Is this your parents' place?" Doug asked as he secured his over robe and noticed for the first time the energy shield merged into the seams.

"Nah.the oldies place is the other side of town, dad is a confirmed cattle station master," he wondered if they would be able to fix whatever was wrong with his brother and opening the door for the healer he moved to the side and noticed it was too still, way too quiet. Confused and trying to find out what was different as he walked around the bunkhouse he gulped in fear as the healer and the one who was in charge came out of the bedroom, alone with unreadable expression son their faces.

Scared for the first time in his life, he fell back in the chair knowing deep down something wasn't right, he paled further when he heard the word, 'had', and the sorrowful expression on the healers face.

"I am sorry, but it is too late, your brother had a defect to his heart, one that even your healers could have fixed, if it is any consolation he went in his sleep peacefully," The Shaolin bowed his head and went to the side of the room and carefully ran the scanner on the brother, the defect he had found was usually hereditary.

Mark did not know what to feel right now, he watched the young man cry silently as he seemed lost and over something so silly and easily fixed, as the young man relived all the moments of bullying done over the past couple of years by his father; he watched it unfold in the young man's... no he picked up his name; it was Karl, so he watched the story unfold in Karl's mind. He was startled out of his thought as the Shaolin healer suddenly struck and the young man was slumped over in the chair.

"I am sorry Dragon Lord, but this one has the same defect to his heart as his brother did, but not quite as bad, he was coming close to having a heart stopping event, I needed to act fast," the Shaolin healer bowed.

"Take him to Sol Trauma then, I am done here anyway," Doug whispered sadly hearing what had happened, after Bruce had been ported out Doug hugged Mark, "I don't think there is a lot we can do about this, is there?"

The station master having gotten word back that the money had been transferred had come over to tell the visitors they could take their stock now, well after hearing what had happened he had slipped inside and checked on Bruce's brother and came back into the room as Doug asked what they could do, "A terrible tragedy that could have been prevented.if I only knew," looking back into the bedroom he thought again, if I only knew.

Straightening his shoulder he looked back up as he pulled his cell phone out, "I was coming to tell you the money transfer is complete and the stock is yours now, I will handle everything from here, it will be better if I do this instead of all of you. I can make sure a louder message is sent my way, than yours." Flipping the phone open he hit speed dial and walked out of the bunkhouse, 'G'Day Sarge, George's boy was just found passed on, in his brother's bunkhouse, it looks like all these years George was trying to toughen up the ankle biter was for no good reason, he had a heart problem that if the stubborn blighter would have taken him to the docs, it would have been fine in the end.yeah those are the blokes that are here.nah I convinced them my way was better, it would put the word out more forceful." the conversation died out as he left the bunkhouse, out of hearing range.

Mark hugged Doug and they both thought it was a sad waste; Mark looked over at Master Lo, "Would you convey my regrets and offer them my help if they need it in the future, leave a number they can contact us through. I think it is time we get lunch," and smiling at Doug, "And try to come up with a plan on what to do now."

Bowing without saying anything, Master Lo walked outside as Mark pictured in his mind the parking lot of the At Merthyr, he had looked it up on the web before they left to see if it sounded like a good place to eat and sent the visualization to the Shaolin and sighed as they waited for the all clear before porting over.

Doug, feeling slightly silly, all dressed up like some Arabian prince, tried to ignore the stares as they waited for a table to be set up near the back, placing his hand on Mark's he thought real hard so Mark would know to make contact, "Am I a bad person for not feeling bad for that boy dying?"

Shaking his head, "No, we both feel slightly sad, but it would have been different if he died in front of us or even after trying to help him, it is tragic, but I guess as a coping mechanism, we won't feel anything really drastic. It happened before we even arrived in Australia. The one that is going to have problems is Karl, the brother; he is going to have to spend time with the mind healers before he stops blaming himself."

Editors' ramblings

RadioRanchers note: This chapter has been in my hands for some time now, and I am sorry I didn't get it out sooner. My only excuse, if you can call it that, is that I had edited it sometime back, before it had been rewritten to correct a continuity error, and somehow it got pushed back out of my thoughts.

I certainly Hope that Karl can be helped to keep him from blaming himself for his brother's death. However, their father should shoulder that blame and remember for a good long time that his stupid attitude is what killed his son.

I don't think it was malice, or I think it would have been picked up from Karl's mind. Just the feeling that the boy should have been more of a "real man".

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

A/N