I watched the two walk along the path, one a hym, the other a lagowoman. Curious. Surely, the hym was making her follow, but she walked at the hym’s side and didn’t look upset.

Staying downwind, I even smelt their lingering musk. That seemed the likely answer. I didn’t know much about cities, but I heard the hym men liked to buy up hymoids for mating. All it took was the hym treating her a little nice and I bet she would’ve been thankful.

Eyes narrowed, I kept watching for a while longer, but their musk really was overwhelmingly strong, making me feel heady. I couldn’t imagine how much that hym must have mated with her for it to still be this strong. Unconsciously licking my lips, I stared at the lagowoman one last time, then finally moved ahead of them and waited for a different reason.

Waiting, legs coiled, until—

“—told Lola I found someone and will be travelling with them, at least for—”

I crashed into the hym, launching them off the path and into the bushes. Turning to the lagowoman, I said, “Quick, let’s run!”

But she just stared at me, wide eyed—and she had very big eyes to widen. I took a step towards her, reaching out, and she shuffled back, pulling on her ear. I took another step, she shuffled back, but I quickly took another.

“P-please, I’m going to die,” she said, voice shaking.

I stopped and raised my paws, saying, “It’s okay, I’m—”

The next thing I knew, my face was in the dirt, snout aching, head pounding—inside and out. Rubbing the back of my head, I sat up and looked around.

Already back, the hym stood there… rubbing the lagowoman’s ears? My ears twitched, picking up the words the hym said.

“I’m fine, you’re fine, everything’s fine.”

Curious, I stood up and took a step, only for the hym to instantly raise a hand towards me, like they were about to do magic. That explained my headache. Knowing I was done, I held up my paws in surrender and didn’t move any closer.

There was a tense second of silence, then I asked, “You… care for her?”

The hym lowered that hand, but didn’t look away. “Yeah. We’re lovers.”

I looked at the lagowoman, seeing an unexpected reaction: she wasn’t quite looking at me, but nodded, and she clutched the hym’s clothes, acting very intimate.

My earlier distrust forgotten in the face of this interesting situation, I asked, “Can I come with you?”

The hym’s face scrunched up—angry, I thought—then smoothed out. “You attacked me!”

“And you attacked me back, so we’re even,” I said.

The hym didn’t like that answer, but the lagowoman tugged and whispered, “She’s going to follow us anyway, unless you… stop her.”

I shivered, understanding what “magic” and “stop” meant when put together. So I got in front of the issue, saying, “I’ll just happen to walk in front of you. It’s a road, so that’s fine, isn’t it?”

The hym didn’t look entirely convinced, but huffed and waved me off. “Whatever. I’m watching you, okay?”

I smiled, snout scrunching back, which sent a spike of pain through me, wincing, eyes watering. Sort of moving my mouth in a circle, I stretched out my snout, softening the pain. Then I remembered the people in front of me.

Smiling not so wide, I said, “So it’s fine if I watch you as well, right?”

The hym huffed, but didn’t say anything. However, the hym’s eyes definitely narrowed when I started walking backwards—the better to watch them. Still, nothing was said, so I carried on, worth the occasional stumble to better study them.

Of course, no one said I couldn’t chat with the travellers who coincidentally were heading the same way as me. “I’m Ka’ne, who might you both be?”

“Fukyu.”

I frowned, wondering if I’d heard that name before. “With a name like that, you’re not from around here, are you?”

The hym sighed, but the lagowoman giggled. I couldn’t imagine why.

“That’s not a name, I’m telling you to fuhkorf.”

I rubbed my chin, stumbled over a rock, caught myself, and still didn’t understand. “Sorry, I don’t know what that means.”

The lagowoman whispered something to the hym, my ears only catching her say, “—word here.”

Whatever she said, the hym seemed to understand something, face falling. Then the hym said—voice dragging like every word was difficult—“I’m Siya, and this is Dandee.”

“Good to meet you.”

Siya gave me a sarcastic smile, Dandee still hiding from me.

“So, how did you become lovers?” I asked, that question at the front of my mind.

Although Siya went to answer, Dandee spoke first. “You don’t think it’s, um, strange for us to be lovers?”

My left ear twitched, an old tic from listening to women’s voices that were higher-pitched. “Well, I hear hym men quite like buying lagowomen to mate, so it’s probable that some fall in love. But you’re right, it is strange that a decent hym would buy a lagohym,” I said, my eyes narrowing as that occurred to me.

Siya didn’t look amused, but Dandee giggled. “Siya didn’t buy me, she… saved my sister a few months ago. And there’s not many hyms that… buy mating.”

Ear twitching again, I tried not to scrunch up my face, snout still sensitive. “I’d say any number of those hyms is too many.”

Dandee lowered her head, her hand coming up to brush her ear. “You’re not wrong.”

But what caught my attention was Siya’s expression: serious, a touch cold. And they said, “You’ll be pleased to know there’s a few less where we came from.”

My eyes wide, they grew even wider as I tripped, ending up on the floor. It wasn’t often I was caught by such surprise. And of course, as I got up, I connected the dots, looking at Dandee and seeing… yes, an echo of pain in her expression. “I hope your sister is doing better now.”

She weakly smiled, then unconsciously tugged on Siya’s shirt. “She is. Far stronger than me.”

Pleased with myself for noticing all that, it slowly dawned on me something that had slipped my notice: “Did you say… she?” I asked, looking at Siya.

“Yeah, I’m a woman?” Siya said, a bit confused.

My mind suddenly filled with countless imaginings, eyes wide and smile wider, ignoring the ache in my snout. “How does a woman mate another?” I asked eagerly.

Dandee stepped behind Siya at that, and Siya looked, well, her face was frozen in a mild panic. “Th-that’s not something you ask strangers.”

“I think you will find it is something I ask strangers, as I just, in fact, did. And frankly, I don’t know why you’re more hesitant to tell me about this than casually confessing to murders.”

Rather pleasing, Siya looked embarrassed, no doubt realising how sensible my words were. Unfortunately, she didn’t answer. “We just do. And anyway, how do you know we… do that?”

“You did say you were lovers, but I knew as soon as I smelled you,” I said, twitching my snout for good measure. “You stink of musk—and I mean, utterly stink. My nose is rather sensitive, but I’m sure any hymoid with a snout can smell it, and probably half without one.”

While Siya kept trying and failing to speak, my ears turned, picking up Dandee say, “We’re buying soap at the next town.”

I chuckled, these two very, very interesting.

Eventually, Siya gave up and, soon after, Dandee stopped hiding. Not only that, she had a question for me: “Is it strange—two women mating?”

“Well, it’s as strange as any two people who mate with no chance of children,” I said, mind whirring. “But strange is a strange word. After all, everyone agrees normal is right, just that they can’t agree what normal is.”

Siya, smiling wrly, said, “You have a lot to say.”

“I spend a lot of time thinking so that, when I speak, I don’t waste the patience of whoever listens,” I said, raising my chin… only to stumble a moment later, almost ending up on my tail.

They laughed at me, but I smiled, knowing that I had done something laugh-worthy.

For a while, I questioned them on some other areas, which inevitably led to them questioning me. Of course, I was prepared to answer.

“If you don’t mind, what kind of hymoid are you?” Siya asked.

“Vulp’hym—fox,” I said, gesturing at my snout and ears, tail curling around to the side.

They shared a look at that, then Siya asked, “Your fur? Sorry, if you don’t mind saying.”

I sighed, not unhappy with the question, but the answer. “My family lived to the far south, amongst the snow. We grew thick coats to stay warm, white to stay cold. That is, we would overheat in the sun if our fur was dark, so it grew white or yellow like hay, sometimes a silvery blue. In summers, our fur didn’t need to keep us as warm, so it could be thinner and darker in colour.”

With an ironic smile, I gestured around. “But I’m not in the cold north now. My body doesn’t know what to do, growing patches of summer fur, and I have to trim the white fur otherwise I’ll boil. It’s annoying, but I have no choice.”

They didn’t know what to make of that, but, really, I would’ve been surprised if they did.

“You can’t go back?” Siya quietly asked.

“I’d die. I don’t know how to hunt or make a home there, I don’t know if my fur would grow properly. I don’t even know if my people are still there. So, no, there is no going back.”

Their faces—no clue how to react.

Taking pity, I smiled and said, “You can understand why I don’t like hyms, but I make exceptions for good people.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Siya said.

Then they shared a whispered conversation, too quiet for me to hear. When they finished, Siya said, “You… can walk with us, if you want.”

“I appreciate that, but I prefer it here if you don’t mind me watching you both.”

They shared another few whispers, Siya ending in a sigh. “Fine, if that’s what you want,” she said.

“It is.”

I meant that, enjoying the glimpses I caught into their life, easily making up for the stumbles. How excited they were when noticing something, eager to point out the bird or whatever else to the other. How Siya often gave Dandee’s ear a stroke for no apparent reason, or asked her if she needed a break, and how Dandee’s whiskers happily twitched at those times as well as when she peeked at an unsuspecting Siya.

Yes, they truly loved each other. And when the breeze blew from behind them, oh did they still stink of musk, rekindling my overactive imagination.

We spoke little else on the way, only stopping for a break once. At that time, I learned two lessons: one, it was convenient to travel with a witch, able to make water appear. Two, never accept food from a witch.

“How can you even eat this?” I asked, staring at what could easily have been a bread-shaped lump of wood pulp.

Siya shrugged. “It means we don’t need to worry about bringing food, and it’s only when we don’t make it to a village.”

I shivered, thankful I wasn’t that hungry, but watched in a kind of morbid fascination as Dandee nibbled at chunks, apparently unfazed by the flavour.

After that, we carried on, making it to a small town before dinner—gods be praised. Still recovering from the “snack”, I indulged in some meat. They saw this and started a curious conversation between themselves.

“Sorry, I never realised, but did you want meat? Actually, can you eat meat?” Siya asked.

Dandee shook her head, ears flopping a bit. Adorable. “Um, it’s not that we can’t, but we aren’t brought up on meat, so it makes us sick. Not all of us—I knew a couple who did eat it. What about you?”

Siya smiled. “I guess I’d probably be sick too, years since I had any. A decade? Oh, except I still eat rabbit—if you know what I mean.”

That confused me, but Dandee giggled, looking rather shy, and she mumbled, “Oh stop it.”

Well, as long as they didn’t make me give up my meat.

After dinner, Siya subtly brought up me maybe leaving, but I wasn’t having any of that, far too interested in them. “Are you going to stay here? I’ll get a room too.”

Siya looked ready to say something, but Dandee stopped her and softly said, “I’ve been thinking… she did try to save me.”

“What, you want to share the bed with her?” Siya said, chuckling.

But Dandee didn’t laugh, her eyes finding mine and staring. For some reason, my breath caught, hard to get it over the lump in my throat.

“You said you wanted lots of wives,” Dandee whispered, something I wasn’t supposed to hear, but which got my heart racing, joining the dots.

What happened next was a blur, a blur of whispers and drinks and one question being put to me: “Do you want to watch how two woman mate?”

“I do.”

Then we were in a room, and they were naked, kissing, touching, writhing. It didn’t escape my notice that Dandee was on top. Soon, the smell of musk intoxicated me and I saw why, Dandee apparently trying to coat Siya in her essence—no wonder it didn’t wash off easily.

The longer I watched, the less I knew, the more I understood. I understood how two women mated, but I didn’t know how it felt to be touched like that, how that part tasted, why they moaned. So many questions, questions that I didn’t want answered, questions that I wanted to discover the answer to myself.

And Dandee was the one at the centre of all this. Beautiful was a word I didn’t understand before, but did now, the way she moved like a dance. Her musk enthralled me, so sweet. The way her ears flopped around, I had the urge to bite them, like scurrying mice, teasing me. Her fur was like morning sunlight, a warm and gentle orange, with a front like chocolate, this amazing contrast between the colours. And her tail, a little thing that wagged in arrogance. So cute.

They raced towards a climax, then slowed to stop, thick with sweat and breaths heavy, both full of loving whispers and gentle touches, eyes for no one else.

At least, that was I thought until they turned those eyes onto me. Eyes thick with passion and heavy with desire.

“Do you want to see how three women mate?” Dandee asked, her voice making my ears twitch for a different reason this time, a kind of shyness overcoming me for a moment.

But my curiosity got the better of me and thank the gods I wasn’t part cat.

“Yes.”

We kissed with our noses, whiskers mingling, and I was quickly overwhelmed with a different musk to hers, but one still fairly sweet. Then she tilted my chin up and we kissed with our lips, now tasting that other musk.

She only broke away to lift off my shirt and kept kissing me while she shuffled us to the bed, where she guided me onto the lying down Siya, straddling her waist, my back to her face. Finally ending the kiss, Dandee trailed her hands down me to my teats. I looked there and only now realised Siya lacked them, glancing over my shoulder to see her with two on her chest, but they looked less firm, flattened out but for her puffy nipples.

Dandee yanked my attention back to the front, brushing over my nipples with the back of her hand. My breath hitched, whole body tensing up, but it wasn’t unpleasant, something like pain without the pain, this sharp sensation that filled my body, but which left me wanting more.

And like she knew that, she pinched my nipple and rolled it between her fingers, the sensation this time hot, lingering below my belly—maybe in my womb.

“Is this okay?” she whispered.

“Yes, very okay,” I said, and I realised now why they moaned, that sound trying to escape as soon as I opened my mouth, mixing with my words.

But she wasn’t done. “Can I do this to you?” she asked.

I was confused for a moment, then looked down and watched, watched as she brought her mouth to Siya’s lower mouth, giving it an amazing kiss, tendrils of essence and spit joining the two, sounding so wet, and Siya’s moans set my ears twitching, begged my mouth to open and moan with her.

Almost forgotten went Dandee’s question, until she looked up at me with questioning eyes and a damp chin.

“Yes—please,” I said, remembering my manners.

Her hand came up and took over kissing Siya’s lower mouth, and that was when I noticed something strange: while I was furry and yet bare there, Siya was bare yet hairy there, these tight coils of dark black hair, and I found myself momentarily very curious how they felt to touch.

But then Dandee’s breath touched my lower mouth and I forgot even my name. When her nose brushed against me, I forgot to breathe, and only remembered to breathe again when her thin tongue delved into my lower mouth for a very intimate kiss, forcing the air from my lungs, coming out in a moan.

And yet she had one last trick to try and kill me, her nose pressing against some part of me I never knew I had, feeling for a moment like I’d died, every single muscle trying to clench and relax at the same time, especially the muscles I didn’t know I had. My lower mouth couldn’t decide between closing up and pushing out. Shudders kept coming over me, waves of pleasure unlike anything I’d felt before.

Although she slowed to a stop, I still felt the echoes, my thighs clenching randomly as if hiccuping. And there was the strangest sensation as I felt a dribble from my lower mouth run down, but Dandee caught it before it got too far and I watched in a kind of disbelief as she licked it off her finger—as if her tongue hadn’t just been at the source.

Before those lingering sensations left, she returned to kiss my upper mouth. Knowing the taste was mine, wasn’t just mine, I felt that heat in my womb throb.

Then something ticklish touched my waist, but Dandee didn’t let me look, demanding my lips, my nose. I soon realised it was Siya’s touch, her bare fingers so slim, sliding through my fur. Not just that, but that tickling turned to pleasure, as if getting mixed up with everything else I felt.

When she touched my teats, gently massaging two of them, I remember hers, turning slightly and reaching behind me. Oh gods, her teat was so different, so soft, I felt like I could squeeze it through my fingers, only to stop when she hissed in pain.

Through Dandee’s kiss, I tried to say, “Sorry.”

I didn’t know if she heard or not, but she pinched my nipples, mildly painful, then stopped, and I took that as us being even. Still, I played with her strange teat, my other going in search of Dandee’s teats to compare. When I found one, Dandee moaned into my mouth and I shivered, something so erotic about knowing she moaned because of me. Spurred on, I carefully tested them both, teased them, pleased them, found their moans so pleasing.

Before I knew it, I was gently rocking back and forth, indescribably frustrated as there was nothing to rub against. But they knew and Siya’s fingers came down to my lower mouth, resting her palm against the top of it with a finger gentling swirling around my entrance.

“Can I?” Siya asked.

I tried to answer her by rocking my hips forward, but her finger pulled back, making me so angry for a moment and I took it out on Dandee’s lip, biting her until she hissed in pain. Instantly sobered, I tried to kiss her better, mumbling, “Sorry,” a few times, but then she nibbled on my lip and the ache in my heart faded.

As if growing impatient, maybe upset at being ignored, Siya pressed her palm against me, a surge of heat flooding my womb. I struggled to think because of that, the feeling almost like I needed to relieve myself.

“Y-you can,” I said, words hard right now.

And she did, sliding that slim finger inside. It didn’t hurt, but it felt uncomfortable. Maybe she knew that, not doing anything at first, then moved it slowly out and in again.

“Is that okay?” she asked.

“Mm,” I said, that positive hum all I could manage.

Every time she moved her finger, tingles filled my entrance, kind of ticklish, kind of painless pain. The heat in my womb swelled, and I honestly thought I was going to wet myself as it threatened to spill.

“I, I need to, toilet,” I said, forcing out those words.

Dandee stopped kissing me to hold me, resting my head on her shoulder. “It’s okay, relax,” she whispered.

Too drunk on these feelings to disagree, I did as she said, relaxing, giving up on thinking. My hips rocked, rubbing against Siya’s palm, lower mouth swallowing her finger over and over, faster, ever faster. My upper mouth didn’t stay still either, kissing Dandee’s neck, sometimes the urge to bite her overcoming me, but there was no strength in my jaw, barely nibbling her. Siya rubbed her face against my back, whispering words, words this time I was close enough to hear.

“You’re so beautiful, so nice to touch, I love the sounds you make, love that you trust us to do this together, you make me feel so hot, I feel like I’m going to cum just from feeling you rub against my hand.”

She strung those out between heavy breaths and little moans, and I could barely process them, but I felt her emotions, her warm and intimate emotions, like she was trying to join our hearts together. Not just mine and hers, but Dandee’s too.

Maybe she did.

When it finally was too much, it was like before, every muscle trying to clench and relax, but I didn’t have the energy to clench, so instead I just collapsed. And I knew I wet myself, felt it flow out of me, knew it was going all over Siya’s hand and the bed. Yet I didn’t feel shame. There was… something deeper inside of me, a flicker of memory reminding me of how Dandee coated Siya in her essence.

Marking, I was marking Siya.

That stopped any chance I had of stopping the flow, instead gave into it, safe in Dandee’s hug as I spilled the warmth from my womb. It didn’t exactly feel good in the same way as mating had, but it sent this kind of pleasant tingle through me, satisfied.

Then I lost myself in the warm happiness that remained, feeling like it had always been there, but I could only feel it now that every other emotion had left me. So I barely noticed how Dandee’s hand had joined Siya’s to clean me, but I noticed enough to smile, glad that I had marked her too.

What happened next was a pleasant blur, full of little kisses and tender touches, cuddling on the bed, one of them either side of me. The dreams I fell in and out of were more memory than imagination, reliving the moments with a kind of detached clarity, just admiring how beautiful it had been and reinforcing the feelings I now felt for them.

In my moments of conscious clarity, I thought of how wonderful it would be to travel with them from now on.

After all, I could hardly let them escape now I’d marked them as my own, could I?