jeriendhal | Shadow of the Future, Work Out, PG-13 for mild sexuality

In the morning Salli awoke in what she was rapidly beginning to find as her preferred position, laying on her side with Ali snuggled in against her, her arm around the younger vixen's waist, the top of Ali's head rubbing against Salli's chin.

They had spent much of the night before making love, after Salli had gone back downstairs briefly to eat dinner with her family. Fortunately, her parents had apparently come to the mutual decision not to discuss her relationship with Alinadar during dinner, and had very deliberately kept the topics of conversation limited to the progress of the manor's expansion and the upcoming opening of Greenholme to general colonization. In the interests of keeping the peace Salli had gone along with them, then decamped back to her suite as soon as she politely could, to find Ali finishing off a sandwich and a beer she'd snagged from the night counter in the kitchens.

“Mmm,” Salli purred. Ali stirred against her, her bodyguard reflexes bringing her much more rapidly to wakefulness.

“Training time,” Ali murmured, turning around embrace Salli.

“Nooooo,” Salli moaned, burying her nose against Ali's cheek fur and rubbing softly.

“Yes,” Ali insisted. “We didn't have a chance to do any on the freighter, and I don't want you stiffening up again.”

“You've been keeping me quite limber,” she teased.

“Not the kind of exercise I'm talking about. C'mon.” Traitorously, Ali slipped out of Salli's embrace, standing up and pulling the covers off the bed.

“I'm up... ahh....” Salli reluctantly followed, rising to her feet to search the drawer of her dresser, trying to figure out where the suite's serving staff had put her exercise suit. She found it on the third try, hanging in the closet, apparently defeating the staff's attempts to find an appropriate drawer in her dresser. Well, she couldn't blame them. It was so far outside her normal conservative mode of dress even she was still amazed at her growing accustomed to wearing it.

The suit was a one piece black bodysuit, made of SmartTex, allowing to cover her body completely, while allowing her to sweat normally and not overheat herself as she exercised. Though it covered Salli's body from neck to wrist and ankle, it was the most scandalous piece of clothing she'd ever allowed herself to wear. The suit's fabric clearly defined every curve of her body, leaving precious little to the imagination. The first time she'd ever put it on, after reluctantly agreeing to Ali's proposition that she help Salli with a program of exercise to overcome stiffness from her old injuries, the younger vixen had been visibly aroused at the sight. Though perhaps fortunately at the time Salli had been too busy trying not to be mortified at the effect on her own self image, not being aware of either Ali's orientation or attraction at the time.

While she dressed, Ali slipped back into her own room to change, returning in a minute wearing her usual black leggings and a blue sports bandeau, the holster to her palm stunner strapped to her arm once again, and her palm comp in her opposite paw. “All set, Salli?” she asked.'

“Ready,” Salli said. “Where do you want to work out?”

“Er, don't you have an exercise room in this place? It's big enough.”

“No, actually,” Salli admitted. “There was a small one that Rolas used before he left for his Service tour, but I think it was re-purposed into a lounge for the servants. I suppose if you want to do just some general isometrics we could go back to the holy arbor in the gardens.”

“Oh, where I sparred with Lord Rolas before? That'll work,” Ali agreed, smiling.

The sun was just rising over the trees as they reached the holy arbor, a large grass circle defined by a circle of sandstone columns connected by soaring arches. During the Autumn Harvest and other festivals it was where House Darktail and its servitors gathered to receive the blessings of the Mother Goddess, though Her holy representative and head of the household, Countess Darktail. It was where on the morning of the Summer Solstice and the evening of the Winter Solstice, the Countess stood humbly naked before her family, her commoners, and the Mother Goddess' all seeing gaze, and prayed for guidance and wisdom in the coming seasons.

Salli had watched her mother perform this duty over two dozen times. She'd even seen the old Countess Highglider perform it twice, during her brief and painful marriage to Kev. Both had done it well, though the look on old Highglider's face had just dared anyone to make the slightest indication that they found anything amusing about a seventy year old matron trying to shiver in the Winter's first morning. It had made for a remarkably quiet ceremony altogether.

In her current mental state, Salli couldn't even consider doing it herself. The idea of appearing nude before a score or more people, staring at her while she went through the motions of the ceremony, was enough to send a shiver down her back. Though that was an improvement over breaking down in wracking sobs, as she might have reacted once. But someday it would be her duty, and she was going to have to face that fact, though not soon. Live long, Mother.

“Something wrong?” Ali asked, as Salli stood silently in thought at the edge of the arbor.

“Thinking about the future,” she replied. Salli shook her head, shaking off the funk. “Let's get started, shall we?”

“Righto.” Ali brought up a thumping electronic beat, easy to keep time to, and set her palm comp on a shelf formed by a column's base.

Salli followed the younger, much more athletic vixen's lead, as Ali led them through a series of isometric warm up exercises. Soon she was grateful for her black bodysuit's ability breathe, as she began to work up a sweat. After about ten minutes, Ali called for a break, and Salli greedily sucked cool water from a plastic bottle.

“Told you that you'd gotten out of shape,” Ali teased.

“Bite my wagging tail,” Salli muttered, provoking a grin from younger vixen.

After another ten minutes, Salli was forced to admit that Ali had been right about her getting out of shape. Her weeks of recovery from her injuries at the hands of Bloody Margo, and the subsequent trip on the House Lovejoy frieghter back to Foxen Prime, had left her little time to properly exercise. She could feel herself paying the price for the lapse now, as fatigue poisons filled her muscles.

“All right, that's enough,” Ali said, noting as Salli began to flag. “Drink some more water.”

“Thank you,” Salli said, sitting back against the base of a column and drinking the last of the water, as Ali retrieved her palm comp.

“Will you need a rubdown when we get back to your rooms?” Ali asked.

“No,” Salli answered. “Definitely a shower though.” She moved her shoulder experimentally, hearing the joint click, a remnant of the time Kev had broken it throwing her against a wall. “Hmm.”

“What?” Ali asked, sitting cross-legged in front of her.

“I was just thinking, since we're here anyway, and Melanie and Rolas are managing the administration of Greenholme, whether I should set the time aside and go for a full cellular regeneration, rather than just getting my eye replaced.”

Ali froze, her ears flicking back briefly. “You're a bit young for that, aren't you?” she asked. “I mean if you were the old Countess Highglider's age sure, but you're just over thirty.”

“Normally yes,” Salli agreed. “But given all the damage done on my body by my late and unlamented husband, I think it would be a good idea. I'm aching now, when I should be at the top of my health. I shudder to think what I'll feel like when I'm seventy of eighty. Plus, I'd be able to exchange my cyber eye for a proper natural one again.”

“Yes, but... You'd be in a nanostatsis for a couple of months,” Ali said, tail twitching in agitation. “And it's.... well... dangerous.”

That was a fair point, Salli had to admit. Full cellular regeneration made miracles possible, but the cost could be high. The patient's body would be set in a nanostasis lattice, each individual cell provided given support as microscopic level repairs were initiated, healing any and all damage more perfectly than one's own body could ever manage, essentially resetting the patient's biological clock somewhere back to their early twenties.

The potential downsides were manifold however. For one thing, the price of the required nanobots, whose size could be measured in microns, was insanely high, out of reach of the average commoner, and even most of the lower nobility. Certainly it hadn't been an option when Salli had originally returned to her family, when their soon to be impoverished House was still under Countess Highglider's thumbpad.

Next of course were the numerous side effects. For starters, there was a one to two percent chance of the recipient outright dying in the process, their life functions unable to be restarted after being frozen in place during the process. Assuming that didn't happen, once revived, the newly awakened person had to undergo extensive physical therapy to regain lost muscle memory and learn to walk again. Worse still was the loss of cognitive function, which generally took anywhere from two months to over a year to return to normal. Unless it failed to, leaving the poor patient a very healthy vegetable, mind reduced an infantile state, for the rest of their days.

For those reasons, even among the Countesses, cellular regeneration was not something done on a whim. The only one among the high nobility who had undergone the procedure more than twice was Count Wildwing, who was approaching his third century of life, and who's vote had been placed by his grandchildren for at least the past seventy-five years, as he now avoided all public gatherings.

“Not overly dangerous for someone who goes in with reasonable health,” Salli replied. “But I'm not sure I want to leave the colony in Melanie's paws for that long anyway. Further, it would be mean assigning a legal representative to act your minder during my period of incapacitation. Neither are options I look forward to.”

“Me neither,” Ali agreed. She held out her paw and Salli took hold of it, allowing the younger vixen to help her to her feet. “Let's go back. I can get breakfast for us both while you get cleaned up.”

There was a polite cough from the other side of the arbor. Salli turned her head to see who was there. Beside her, Ali's paw twitched as she apparently fought the urge to snap her wrist and unholster her palm stunner, instead keeping her arm at her sides as Zaker approached them.

“Milady Sallivera,” she said, bowing to her. Her only acknowledgment of Ali's presence was a brief twitch of her ears in the bodyguard's direction. “Your mother the Countess requests you join her and your father in the morning room for breakfast as soon as you're able.”

Salli suppressed a grimace of irritation. “Very well, Zaker. Let them know I'll be along.”

“Yes, Milady.” Zaker started to turn to go, then paused to ask, “Do you normally wake up this early, Milady?”

“On occasion,” Salli said neutrally.

Zaker nodded. “I'll make a note of it then. You caught me a bit by surprise this morning.”

“What does it matter to you?” Ali said, glaring at the Military Caste vixen in suspicion. Salli felt the younger vixen's grip tighten against her palm pad.

“I”m sorry, I forgot to inform you, Lady Sallivera,” Zaker said, ignoring Ali to address her answer to Salli directly. “Your lady mother has assigned me to your household while you're on planet.”

Salli let her voice turn a shade cooler. “That won't be necessary. I have all the servitors I require.”

Zaker looked apologetic. “I'm sorry, milady. Those were the Countess' orders to me. You'll have to take it up with her.”

“I intend to,” Salli said. She turned to Ali, who was standing ramrod straight, her eyes staring up at the taller bodyguard. “I'll see you as soon as I'm able, all right?”

Ali broke her suspicious gaze with an effort, meeting Salli's eyes. “Yes, Milady. I'll walk you back to your suite to get cleaned up.”

“I'll let the Countess know you'll be along,” Zaker said.

“You do that,” Salli replied. Only after Zaker had turned and disappeared behind a hedgerow did she feel Ali's grip on her paw loosen.

“I want to kick her in the face,” Ali said flatly.

Salli let out a long breath, trying to dissipate her own irritation. “That isn't an option, Ali.”

“Right. Stun her from behind, then drop her body into a recycler. Much less blood that way.”

“No, Ali. I need to de-escalate this situation, not make it worse.”

Ali nodded, her cold expression not changing a millimeter. “Yes, Salli.”