The kelvic carried her master proudly. There was no denying it on either of their parts. Her awareness surrounded him, lending him her tremendous strength and balance and even her sense of smell in the alpine air. Her emotions wrapped around him, wanted or unwanted. Completion, fulfillment, and even love. It was nothing artificial, forced, or contrived. Marcus' program was brilliant. Importing the mimics to Mizahar, altering them to allow them to accept bits of human flesh to know what they should look like - mostly blood - they'd played gods. He remembered his blood design of A'Kenas and the components he'd added to her mix. The captured kelderon mimic had accepted his blood offerings, his potent brew a product of hundreds of failed combinations that had resulted in ugly or misshapen kelvics. Of his A generation, only three had survived. Two were sold, and then there was A'Kenas. Her base animal had been hard to decide. He knew she'd be a success, knew from how close the failures were getting. But he hadn't wanted an animal that would cling to him, need him, and never get any privacy from.
He had no desire to bond either, knowing what they'd made the animals from and having an enormous pile of executed failures cut down as infants because of their imperfections. That he'd been at the horsefair and seen the shield pinto had been a fluke. She was a young young filly, which was the sex he wanted for his experiments. Females were easier to control and dominate. And the Gods knew what Marcus Kelvic would do with one more out of control male intent on ruling the proverbial roost. They 'd seen that way too many times.
The horse fair owner had told him the story of shield pintos and how many of the more barbaric cultures believed hey were incredibly lucky. Rumor placed them with stronger hearts than average horses, and so long as heir coloring covered their chest, it acted as a shield for weapons and magic, bouncing such things right off the horses and thus protecting their riders from all things.
And when he'd been cooking A'Kenas' brew, the filly had been bound in the lab, laid out on a gurney immobilized. She'd been a pathetic little thing, weak and scared before he'd doped her with enough sedative to make her quiet. He'd programmed the kelderon mimic with his blood samples and waited for it to assimilate them properly. Then he'd introduced the mimic to its host, infecting the filly until she actually screamed through the sedatives as in essence her soul lost its individuality and became what later generations would call kelvics after Marcus' surname itself.
Her first shift had granted him a glimpse of a gorgeous toddler with huge ice blue eyes and a wide fearful face. Seeing the kelderon mimic infuse itself into any animals body was hard. They shifted back and forth back and forth wanting to discard the animal shape in favor of the human one, but unable to do so. A'Kenas' first awareness in Irvyn's lab was of torture, her body's forced shift repeatedly until the symbiont settled down. Irvyn's assistant, a man who had a D generation from one of Marcus' original A stock smirked and glanced at Irvyn. "She'll be the one. Finally. I can see it already. This one is special. You'll raise her and keep her close and when shes old enough, you'll bond. And then you'll understand why I take my D'Soral to bed and keep her with me always. Damnit Irvyn, shes only a toddler and look how beautiful she is. You didn't give yourself a chance, not at all, buddy." The assistant said, and moved to the girl, pulling her hair out of her eyes and examining her like a piece of meat. "Yea, give her a year if you like them young like me. If not, two, so she'll be smarter but oh so ripe." His assistant had bonded his kelvic when she was six months old, despite Irvyn's advice. The little deer girl was never far from his assistant, but she was stupid as the day was long and it was obvious the assistant kept her for only one reason. His grip on the filly's hair turned firm and he pulled the little girls head back until she cried out being held in the restraints. "Such a pretty little mouth. Irvyn, your a brilliant son-of-a-bitch. Wait until Marcus sees her. Even though hes got a dozen following him around at all times, he'll want this one too.
The assistant continued his exam, being none too gentle and crossing the line of appropriate more than once. When he got to the little girls' stomach and lower torso, Irvyn dismissed him in a slight rage. He never worked in Irvyn's lab again. But the little girl stayed. She was sometimes attended by a nurse, but most often she was allowed to follow Irvyn like a foal following its damn and learning from him.
A year passed and she grew up. He taught her to read and to do calculations and let her have access to Marcus' library. But he kept her living in the stables. He'd never crossed the line. But now, mounted up on her, taking in the ride from her perspective, he knew he'd never had a chance.
By his own design, she was perfect. What happened was inevitable - shocking - but inevitable. She could be no less than she was because everything he put into her design had been under his control. The markers for her height, weight, even the fullness of her breasts had been his design and given to the kelderon mimic with infusions of blood. He'd gave her a shorter torso because that pleased him, and then added human markers to give her long straight muscular legs. Her hair he'd coded as long and silky fine, straight like he liked it, and not tumbling in waves which annoyed him. Irvyn's universe was narrowed down to genetic traits. Full lips, a heart shaped forehead, and a chin that was strong without being masculine. Every bit of her human form was his design, his desire, and his decision. She was just shy of his height. She was small enough for him to control. And she was, he had to admit, perfectly suited for his sexual tastes.
And as he thought about this, A'Kenas felt his thoughts, his brooding feelings, and sent acceptance of it all through their bond. She knew. She knew exactly how she'd been made. Two years of roaming the lab and watching him make others had taught her that. Those others were still around, still under his study, but they were not the first and he'd not applied everything he'd desired into one form. In that way, A'Kenas had been a lesson for him.
The pair rode higher.
A'Kenas had thoughts of the food in their saddlebag and of resting in a high mountain paddock that was all but sheltered from the rain by a ring of big trees. When they got there, sooner than Irvyns thoughts wanted to turn from the situation at hand, A'Kenas halted, waited for him to dismount then shifted, letting her tack fall lightly to the ground. She took a blanket from one saddlebag and spread it out on the ground. Then she took another part of the saddlebag, the other side, and took out food and a wineskin. She laid it out on the blanket and then stretched out there herself, on her stomach, legs curled up over her form and her chin resting in her hands.
"You always look inside. You should look outside and see beauty and relax. I brought you here to think, and to be alone with you but not before you've eaten. You never eat enough." She said, fussing. "And I've taken the courses Marcus teaches. I know what happened. You and I bonded. It is important now that we be alone together a great deal and solidify it. You have bonded no one else. I know this because I am with you the most. You would not know how important it is that we stay close for a day or two. But we must." Concern flooded their bond and she sent him pictures of the apples, pears and smoked meat sandwiches in laid out beside the wineskin.
If he sat down close enough, she'd reach across and nuzzle him. Close meant many things to Marcus Kelvic. Irvyn had hit on the intimacy already, as awkward as it had come. And A'Kenas was going to make sure she stayed bonded to her bondmate at all cost. "We are bondmates now. Mates. Do you understand? I am yours. To fight it is stupid. To reject it is stupid. You reject your own work then. I am the result of your labor. I see it in your head." She said firmly, then reached for a sandwhich.
He had no desire to bond either, knowing what they'd made the animals from and having an enormous pile of executed failures cut down as infants because of their imperfections. That he'd been at the horsefair and seen the shield pinto had been a fluke. She was a young young filly, which was the sex he wanted for his experiments. Females were easier to control and dominate. And the Gods knew what Marcus Kelvic would do with one more out of control male intent on ruling the proverbial roost. They 'd seen that way too many times.
The horse fair owner had told him the story of shield pintos and how many of the more barbaric cultures believed hey were incredibly lucky. Rumor placed them with stronger hearts than average horses, and so long as heir coloring covered their chest, it acted as a shield for weapons and magic, bouncing such things right off the horses and thus protecting their riders from all things.
And when he'd been cooking A'Kenas' brew, the filly had been bound in the lab, laid out on a gurney immobilized. She'd been a pathetic little thing, weak and scared before he'd doped her with enough sedative to make her quiet. He'd programmed the kelderon mimic with his blood samples and waited for it to assimilate them properly. Then he'd introduced the mimic to its host, infecting the filly until she actually screamed through the sedatives as in essence her soul lost its individuality and became what later generations would call kelvics after Marcus' surname itself.
Her first shift had granted him a glimpse of a gorgeous toddler with huge ice blue eyes and a wide fearful face. Seeing the kelderon mimic infuse itself into any animals body was hard. They shifted back and forth back and forth wanting to discard the animal shape in favor of the human one, but unable to do so. A'Kenas' first awareness in Irvyn's lab was of torture, her body's forced shift repeatedly until the symbiont settled down. Irvyn's assistant, a man who had a D generation from one of Marcus' original A stock smirked and glanced at Irvyn. "She'll be the one. Finally. I can see it already. This one is special. You'll raise her and keep her close and when shes old enough, you'll bond. And then you'll understand why I take my D'Soral to bed and keep her with me always. Damnit Irvyn, shes only a toddler and look how beautiful she is. You didn't give yourself a chance, not at all, buddy." The assistant said, and moved to the girl, pulling her hair out of her eyes and examining her like a piece of meat. "Yea, give her a year if you like them young like me. If not, two, so she'll be smarter but oh so ripe." His assistant had bonded his kelvic when she was six months old, despite Irvyn's advice. The little deer girl was never far from his assistant, but she was stupid as the day was long and it was obvious the assistant kept her for only one reason. His grip on the filly's hair turned firm and he pulled the little girls head back until she cried out being held in the restraints. "Such a pretty little mouth. Irvyn, your a brilliant son-of-a-bitch. Wait until Marcus sees her. Even though hes got a dozen following him around at all times, he'll want this one too.
The assistant continued his exam, being none too gentle and crossing the line of appropriate more than once. When he got to the little girls' stomach and lower torso, Irvyn dismissed him in a slight rage. He never worked in Irvyn's lab again. But the little girl stayed. She was sometimes attended by a nurse, but most often she was allowed to follow Irvyn like a foal following its damn and learning from him.
A year passed and she grew up. He taught her to read and to do calculations and let her have access to Marcus' library. But he kept her living in the stables. He'd never crossed the line. But now, mounted up on her, taking in the ride from her perspective, he knew he'd never had a chance.
By his own design, she was perfect. What happened was inevitable - shocking - but inevitable. She could be no less than she was because everything he put into her design had been under his control. The markers for her height, weight, even the fullness of her breasts had been his design and given to the kelderon mimic with infusions of blood. He'd gave her a shorter torso because that pleased him, and then added human markers to give her long straight muscular legs. Her hair he'd coded as long and silky fine, straight like he liked it, and not tumbling in waves which annoyed him. Irvyn's universe was narrowed down to genetic traits. Full lips, a heart shaped forehead, and a chin that was strong without being masculine. Every bit of her human form was his design, his desire, and his decision. She was just shy of his height. She was small enough for him to control. And she was, he had to admit, perfectly suited for his sexual tastes.
And as he thought about this, A'Kenas felt his thoughts, his brooding feelings, and sent acceptance of it all through their bond. She knew. She knew exactly how she'd been made. Two years of roaming the lab and watching him make others had taught her that. Those others were still around, still under his study, but they were not the first and he'd not applied everything he'd desired into one form. In that way, A'Kenas had been a lesson for him.
The pair rode higher.
A'Kenas had thoughts of the food in their saddlebag and of resting in a high mountain paddock that was all but sheltered from the rain by a ring of big trees. When they got there, sooner than Irvyns thoughts wanted to turn from the situation at hand, A'Kenas halted, waited for him to dismount then shifted, letting her tack fall lightly to the ground. She took a blanket from one saddlebag and spread it out on the ground. Then she took another part of the saddlebag, the other side, and took out food and a wineskin. She laid it out on the blanket and then stretched out there herself, on her stomach, legs curled up over her form and her chin resting in her hands.
"You always look inside. You should look outside and see beauty and relax. I brought you here to think, and to be alone with you but not before you've eaten. You never eat enough." She said, fussing. "And I've taken the courses Marcus teaches. I know what happened. You and I bonded. It is important now that we be alone together a great deal and solidify it. You have bonded no one else. I know this because I am with you the most. You would not know how important it is that we stay close for a day or two. But we must." Concern flooded their bond and she sent him pictures of the apples, pears and smoked meat sandwiches in laid out beside the wineskin.
If he sat down close enough, she'd reach across and nuzzle him. Close meant many things to Marcus Kelvic. Irvyn had hit on the intimacy already, as awkward as it had come. And A'Kenas was going to make sure she stayed bonded to her bondmate at all cost. "We are bondmates now. Mates. Do you understand? I am yours. To fight it is stupid. To reject it is stupid. You reject your own work then. I am the result of your labor. I see it in your head." She said firmly, then reached for a sandwhich.
