Late

A "Winds of Change" Story

By Jon Sleeper

"Does he do that often?" Bryan asked me just after Brian took off abruptly. God what a weird thought...

I squinted in his direction. "He must of seen something... or someone. I don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait." The revelation that Bryan was another ruminant was rather exiting, I must say. But for some reason I noticed he tended to avoid the fibrous foods on the menu. I also noticed that he spent little time chewing earlier, while I was still on lunch. I asked him about it.

"I've got some sort of meat skip. I'm just average Degree I guess. You seem to be a little higher."

"Yeah," I replied, gesturing at myself. "I guess I've gotten used to it though. Same as I've gotten used to going about naked." I thought about that a moment. "Well, not naked. I guess clothes are rather redundant for me now. Heck, the fur I've got down here provides enough modesty. I shapeshift way to often for stuff other than this nifty belt anyway."

Bryan cocked his head for a moment. "You can Shift? The news said you had some sort of Power but they did not say what."

"Yep. In norm-shape I'm a great runner. I can run tens of miles without tiring much. But my other Power is rather... different." I was thinking how Brian had reacted when I showed him my Power, and I wanted to head off any kind of recurrence. Though I could not imagine another riot happening any time soon... "Punch me." I said.

"What?!" he said unbelievingly.

"I said, take your fist and throw it with all your might in my direction. I'm going to demonstrate my other Power. Don't worry, you can't hurt me." I turned on my shield, and my pedicles tingled with the mental effort.

He shrugged. "Okay..." and tried to punch me in the shoulder. Of course, when his fist got within a foot of my body it seemed to slow as my layered shield absorbed it's kinetic energy. His eyes grew wide, "wow," he said. "They said you were unhurt, but now I see why. It feels like pushing through a... a... I don't know." He shoved some more against it experimentally.

My antlers were now glowing a dim red. Enough for my next demonstration. "And then there's this," I said. I went right next to the sand, and with a mental twist the glow moved down my shoulders down my arms and onto my hands. I decided on a two-handed blast. I did not yell anything, I did not feel like being dramatic, but the puff of sand that was kicked up by it was quite large. Two-handed Reds are as powerful and a single-handed Orange. "Wow." He said. I stepped off the sand.

"You know, hoofed feet are not that good for walking on sand." I said. Bryan nodded. I'd sunk in pretty deeply. Then he looked up. "Hey, Brian's landing... and he's got another eagle with him."

I smelled the both of them before I saw them. Brian's wings can create quite a downdraft. I recognized the other eagle's scent as Kim's, she was shifted in norm-shape. She alighted on Brian's arm for a moment and then hopped off, shifting back. "Is this your friend you were talking about Brian?" she asked my feathered friend.

"Yeah," he replied. "Kimberly Moss, Bryan Derksen." They shook hands.

"Well I guess you have an excuse then." she said. "Excuse for what?" Brian asked.

"You were supposed to meet Maxine and I at the Poseidon an hour ago. She's very nice, by the way. But I don't mind now since it's not like you were just goofing off or something." I really could not tell if she was mad, that glare she seemed to share with Brian. He did not seem embarrassed, though. He looked at me, "Jon, if Bryan wants to go back to your apartment I'll meet you at the restraunt."

"No, that's fine," Kim said. "He can come with us if he wants. We've got along an extra anyway, she wanted to meet you, Jon, so I agreed."

Bryan smiled. "I guess that rules out me going 'stag', eh?" I just looked at him for a moment, trying to make me expression as blank as possible. I did not succeed though, and laughed a bit. The three of us had been making references like that all afternoon. It was great fun, even if the puns were rather bad.

"Shouldn't it be 'going ram'?" Said Kim. Then we all laughed.

"If it's okay with you Jon I'd like to fly back with Kim." He grinned, blushing on the cere slightly. Bryan and I both nodded, and they took off.

Then I realized I must of parked a mile down the beach. There was a running path along the cliff that I often used, but with Bryan with me I could not use it. He must of seen me look at the path for a moment. "You can run on ahead if you want." He said. "I'll catch up. Frankly, I'm curious about your other form anyway."

"Well, I really don't want to be impolite..."

"No, you won't be. Really, just go *right on ahead*." He seemed to say the last sentence with more force than he intended, and a worried look came over his face. A strange lassitude came over me. Quite suddenly I agreed with him totally.

"Fine." I said. I have no idea why. I heard him muttering under his breath, "damn it!" I smiled. "I hope you're a good runner." Then I got down on my hands and knees and made the shift.

I looked at him for a moment, fixing his scent in my mind. "Okay," I said, surprising him. "Gueth I'll thee you down the beath." He seemed to be considering something, and come to a decision. I bounded off.

About a hundred yards later I saw someone. Glancing back, I saw a curly-haired bighorn running about a hundred yards behind me. I stopped in my tracks, shifting back. I'd seen it many times before, but none of my other friends have such a Power. I gaped at him and he shifted back. "I don't do it often," said he. "But a friend of mine said I need to deal with it. Do you have to go so fast? And don't let your mouth hang open like that, you might swallow a fly and you're not a frog." I closed my mouth.

"Sure, I'll slow down. I'd imagine you won't have to take the stairs up that cliff, will you?" He laughed. "Maybe not."

He did indeed demonstrate his rock-jumping ability at the short cliff below the car. Amazing... Amazing he did not slip. I took a look at his feet at the car. "I think I'm jealous." I said. For some reason speaking and just plain *knowing* another hoofed-mammal and a ruminant was having an effect on me. One I really did not mind too much.

"I don't slip on tile floors." He said.

I rubbed my backside. "Now I *know* I'm jealous." And laughed. I'd noticed that he *did* seem to feel uncomfortable in norm-shape. So I offered to teach him at some point how to modify it so he could talk, though his voice would have a bleating quality to it. I did not force the issue, though. I'd noticed that the subject seemed to be rather awkward for some.

He agreed, and I felt it was important enough to do it then and there. He seemed hesitant, but I think the problems most seem to have with their norms is the lack of the ability to communicate. It only took about a half hour to explain and then show him how by letting him feel my throat while I did it. But in another ten minutes he was bleating out recognizable words that I'm sure would get much better with time.

We drove quickly to the restraunt. The Poseidon is in Del Mar, about fifteen miles south of Oceanside. And it was rush hour. So of course we got caught in traffic. But we'd pretty much talked each other out, so we were silent as we finally pulled up to the restraunt.

Copyright 1997, Jon Sleeper

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