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If you are easily offended or are under the legal age to view adult content in your area, please exit now. This text is intended for adults only and may include scenes of sexual content or graphic violence. Reader discretion is advised.\n\nAuthor’s Note: The species-specific medical conditions described in this story, while unbelievable, are very real and often fatal. Feel free to verify them using internet searches or contact your local veterinarian.\n\nRevelations by IndigoNeko\n\nChapter 4 – Dark Secrets\n\n[b]Saturday, May 23rd, 2015[/b]\n\n“-Shichi! Hachi! Kyu! Ju!”\n\nThe class in front of her finished their set of side kicks. They were nearly done with practice strikes. Then, after a few forms, they’d be ready to start sparring. Her musing was interrupted as the faint sound of music began to come from the office at the front of the dojo.\n\n“Hikari, you lead for a moment. Walk them through Heian Yondan and Heian Godan.”\n\n“Hai, sensei,” the japanese macaque responded, bowing.\n\nAs the brown-belt moved to the front of the classroom, Raenne jogged to the office where the sounds of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto were coming from. She wondered what had happened to make David call during her Saturday morning class. She picked up the phone and tapped the accept button, answering “What happened?”\n\nThe response came back badly garbled from the noise. From the volume of the noise, David had terrible reception, or was driving on a highway. Possibly both.\n\n“Please say again,” she said, walking back to the office door and closing it. “You’re breaking up, David. Please say again.”\n\nDavid repeated his message, this time loud enough to be heard over the highway noise. “Alex had a bad fall. We’re on our way back, to the Legacy Meridian urgent care clinic. We’re about an hour and fifteen minutes out.”\n\nRaenne’s heart felt like it missed a beat. “How bad?”\n\n“Possibly broken ribs and leg.”\n\nFor some reason she felt numb, and felt like she couldn’t breath. Alex was hurt, far away, and she couldn’t do anything to help. She heard someone say, “Copy that. Confirm ETA one hour and one five mikes. Over.” Raenne realized after the fact that it was her own voice, and that she had said it. She blinked, realizing that she was standing in the office in her dojo, and that she was still talking to David. She felt strange.\n\nDavid paused for a moment, wondering what the hell ‘mikes’ were. Raenne didn’t do it very often, but sometimes she used military slang and it confused the hell out of him. “Err... we’re one hour and fifteen minutes from home, probably a bit less to the urgent care center.”\n\n“Okay. When I’m done with class, I’ll head over to start the paperwork. I’ll meet you at the urgent care center.”\n\n“Okay, I’ll meet you there. Love you.”\n\n“Love you too, honey.”\n\nRaenne held the phone and tapped the red circle. She stared through the glass wall, looking out at the parking lot for a few seconds, trying to settle her thoughts. Somewhat belatedly she realized she’d been using radio code, and swore. Ten years now, and it still slipped out occasionally. Given how protective David was, she knew he’d have taken Alex to the nearest emergency room immediately if it were serious. She relaxed a little bit, assured that it couldn’t be too bad. She loved him dearly, but sometimes he treated Alex like the kid was made of glass. Alex had taken hard falls while snowboarding before, and doubtless would again.\n\nRaenne looked out the office window back into the dojo. She watched as Hikari led the purple-belts through the complicated kata, paying very close attention to the other twelve student’s form and effort. She knew the japanese macaque practiced at home with his old man, who probably could have instructed this class himself. The boy was nearly ready to test for 1st kyu, and she was thinking of hiring him as an assistant instructor over the summer. Enrollment picked up then, and it would be nice to have someone else to deal with walk-ins and assist with large classes. Hikari knew all the kata inside and out; all he needed now was combat practice.\n\nShe opened the door and stepped out into the dojo and walked to the front of the class as the first kata finished. She was glad she’d put the massive mirrors up on the front wall; it made it so much easier to keep an eye on the students, no matter which way you were facing. It also made it better to catch your own flaws in technique and correct them on the spot.\n\nShe simply watched, silently, as Hikari led the rest of the students through the next kata, making mental notes of each of the flaws she saw with technique, and in a few cases the hesitation that meant that the student didn’t remember the next move in the forms. Finally, they came to an end.\n\n“Domo, Hikari.”\n\nThe primate bowed.\n\n“Robert, Ruth... you both need to work on Heian Yondan. Go through it three times, in the northeast corner. Jose, Laura, you need to work on Heian Godan. Three times in the southeast corner. Cara, you and Marilyn, go get pads. You’re on mat one. Patrick, Miguel, get pads also, you’re on mat two. Fred, Alan, same thing, mat three. Hikari, you keep an eye on Fred and Alan. I’ll watch the other four.”\n\nFor the next few minutes, she had them trade off on attack and defensive rolls, then let them spar freestyle for another few minutes before mixing up the matches. By that time, the other four had finished their Kata, and she had them join in. Periodically she’d interrupt a match, offering advice or criticism as needed. By the end of the session, every student had gotten at least two minutes of sparring time with every other student; nearly a half hour of fighting. All the students but Hikari were dripping sweat.\n\nAfter the brief cool-down, she knelt at the front, and the rest of the students lined up and knelt as well.\n\n“Mokuso.”\n\nA minute passed in complete silence, interrupted only by faint panting and the occasional faint rustle of fabric.\n\n“Mokuso yame.”\n\nEveryone stood. Hikari at the far right of the line said “Sensei ni rei”, and everyone bowed. All the students except Hikari began heading into the changing rooms, saying “Oss” as they left the mat. She glanced at the clock. Another forty five minutes until Alex and David would be at the clinic. There was just enough time for a sparring match.\n\n“Hikari, do you wish to spar?”\n\nThe primate hesitated for just a moment, then answered. “Hai, sensei.”\n\n“With or without pads?”\n\nHikari was silent for several seconds. She had never asked him that before; they had always used pads. The fact that sensei had asked him implied that she felt he was ready for it. He felt honored. He only hoped that he actually was ready for it.\n\n“Without.”\n\nRaenne nodded, then walked to the ring in the center mat, standing on the far side in heisoku dachi, or informal attention. Hikari followed her example. They faced each other across the ten foot ring marked in white on the blue mat. A strange silence swept the dojo: the parents standing in front stopped chatting, and the students coming out of the changing rooms stopped and turned to watch. Hikari somehow knew in the back of his mind that this wasn’t just sparring; it was a test. A test of fitness, a test of skill, a test of composure, a test of confidence. Most of all, it was a test of worthiness.\n\nThey bowed.\n\nHikari immediately took zenkutsu dachi, front stance... and barely avoided getting kicked across the dojo as Raenne darted forward with a powerful spinning sidekick which went right through where his chest was. He dodged sideways, behind her. He clenched his fist tightly and drew back for a powerful reverse punch thinking she would stop. Only she didn’t; Raenne followed through the spinning kick with a backhand strike which slammed into the side of his hastily raised arm.\n\nThat stung. He launched a snap kick toward her knee. It hit, but it was light. She danced backwards, and he followed, hoping to press his advantage. It was a feint, and he took a hard kick to the stomach for it. He grabbed her leg before she could pull back and twisted his whole body, throwing her to the mat. Hikari leaned over her and threw one hand into the air, bending his arm and falling to the mat while slamming his elbow towards her chest. Raenne seemed to spin almost supernaturally fast, hitting the mat on her hands and knees, and his elbow struck the back of her shoulder instead. He hit the mat hard on his side and rolled, trying to put some distance between them. She had the advantage again.\n\nThe only sound in the dojo was the rustle of cloth, grunts, and the occasional ki shout. The purple belts from the morning class watched in almost complete silence, absorbed in what was, in most cases, the first serious sparring match they’d witnessed in the dojo. The parents watched in awe as they saw firsthand the raw speed and power of a serious sparring match.\n\nHikari was barely able to hold her off. Somehow she must have found out that he and his father had been sparring at home, because she’d never pushed him even half as hard as he was being pushed right now, even with pads. Within the first thirty seconds, she’d landed a dozen strikes, and he was really starting to feel that kick to his stomach. He’d only landed four, with the hardest being that botched elbow strike.\n\nThere was a brief lull as they circled each other, and he decided to go for broke and launched himself at her. She somehow anticipated it, and darted forward, going into a crouch under him one leg forward, the other going up. He felt a pair of hands on the front of his gi, and then he was flying as she planted a foot in his stomach for the second time in under a minute.\n\nSeveral parents winced at the thud as the macaque landed near the edge of the mat, fifteen feet from where he’d been launched into the air. Hikari lay there for a moment, stunned, then shook his head. He kicked his feet into the air for a kip up, managing to land on his feet in a crouch. Raenne stood on the far side of the ring, waiting with one leg forward and both arms in a guard position.\n\nHikari’s stomach was throbbing now from that kick. He knew just how fast she was now, and knew that charging her would only wind up with him laid out on the mat. He walked back to the ring and began circling her, arms in guard as well.\n\nSuddenly Raenne jumped forward toward him. He felt like he was trying to swim through molasses as he tried to dodge to the side. He barely managed to get out of the way as she launched a flawless hurricane kick. It looked flashy as hell, but if you timed it right, it was very easy to take down someone who did it. He dropped to the floor and started a sweep, managing to hit her left foot the moment it hit the mat. She crashed to the floor and he followed up with a powerful kick to her side. She rolled away from it, kicking her legs into the air and somehow managing to get to her feet as he followed her, trying to press his advantage.\n\nThey were too close for anything but knee strikes and punches at this point, and he went into a flurry of punches, trying to break through her guard. She blocked all six of them before she tried to knee him in the groin. He barely managed to twist his hips to soften the blow, but it still struck his thigh with punishing force. He continued with the twist, using it to power a roundhouse punch which cracked against the side of her head. He was so surprised he managed to hit her that he missed the uppercut that slammed into his chin, splitting his lower lip open against an upper incisor and rocking him back a step.\n\nHe darted forward with a pair of alternating reverse punches. Raenne took one to the chest, but blocked the second strike, then jumped backwards, glancing at the clock. They had gone slightly over two minutes. “Yame!”\n\nHikari glanced down at the mat to see where they were, then danced back a few steps towards the circle they’d started in, feeling his stomach and chin start to throb. Raenne followed him a moment later.\n\nThe tigress and primate faced each other once again in the center mat, both panting with exertion. Raenne put her palms together a few inches front of her chest, fingers pointed up, and bowed at the waist. Hikari mimicked her, bowing low. A drop of blood fell from his split lip and landed on the mat. She could hear whispers from some of the students and even parents who had stayed to watch the match. They began to file out of the dojo.\n\n“You did very well, Hikari. Your old man was correct in his assessment of your skills. You are more than ready for 1st Kyu. You may test for it whenever you wish.”\n\n“Thank you, sensei.”\n\nShe went to the office to grab a wipe, then cleaned up the few splatters of blood from the mat. Hikari was back out of the changing room by the time she was done. She sensed him standing by the edge of the mat, and stood to face him. “Domo arigato, sensei. Oss.” He bowed, and walked out of the dojo.\n\nRaenne slowly nodded her head at him and watched as he left the dojo, still standing in the center of the mat. She looked at the clock again. Thirty minutes left. Time to go.\n\n[center]__________________________________________________[/center]\n\nRaenne waited in the lobby of the clinic, having finished the last of the forms. The lobby was familiar enough now that she remembered the artists’ names for the various pieces of art hanging on the wall, and the receptionist remembered her by name. She wasn’t terribly surprised; siberian tigers weren’t that common here in America, and the Andreyevs been coming here every six months to have Alex’s blood work done since she’d been born. It doubled as both a regular clinic and urgent care for Legacy Meridian, even though it was across the street from the main hospital campus.\n\nShe walked up to the counter and handed the forms to the cute little robin perched on the stool behind the desk. “Thank you, Mrs. Andreyev. I think the next available physician should have a break in about a half hour, so Alex won’t have to wait too long when she gets here.”\n\n“Good. You wouldn’t happen to know if Dr. Nez is here today, do you?” Raenne asked.\n\n“Actually, I do. He came in about an hour ago. He should be finishing up with a patient in a few minutes. Would you like me to let him know that you’re here?”\n\n“If he’s got a few moments, I certainly would like to chat with him.”\n\n“I’ll let him know then,” the robin replied. Her beak shut with a click and then she hopped to her feet and walked back into the clinic, presumably to let Dr. Nez know that Raenne was there. Raenne watched a bit of feather fluff drift through the air, eventually getting caught in one of the drafts from a vent before getting sucked into an air intake for the filtration system. She wondered how often the air filters had to be cleaned to keep a place like this free of fur, feathers, and dust.\n\nAlmost immediately the robin came back, followed by a river otter in his white coat.\n\n“Mrs. Andreyev! What a surprise! I hope nothing’s wrong with Alex.”\n\n“Well, you know how active she is. She apparently took a fall up on Mt. Hood while snowboarding with her father. They should be getting here in a few minutes.”\n\nThe river otter’s whiskers perked forward, his concern obvious. “Oh no. How bad is it?”\n\n“Her father said possible broken ribs and leg, but since he said possible, then it might simply be a bad bruise or sprain. It’s kind of obvious when someone has a broken bone.”\n\n“Not necessarily; there’s several kinds of fractures that aren’t obvious. Dr. Clark should be finishing up with his current patient in a few minutes. He should be able to see Alex when she arrives.”\n\n“That’s what Sandra here said. I’ve never met Dr. Clark before, though.”\n\n“He’s a good general practitioner. He’s probably dealt with more sprains and fractures than any other three doctors in the clinic here. Alex will be in good hands, you have my word on it.”\n\n“Thank you, Dr. Nez.”\n\n“Please, we’ve known each other for ten years now. Call me Jim.”\n\n“Only if you call me Raenne,” she replied, smiling.\n\n“Touché,” he said with a grin in return. “Alex is going to be coming in again for blood work in another month, correct?”\n\n“Yes. I’ve already got it scheduled.”\n\n“Excellent. If I don’t see Alex today, tell her I said ‘Hello’.”\n\n“Will do, Jim.”\n\nThe river otter put his hand out, and Raenne gave him a firm handshake. She loved the old otter. He was one of the best pediatricians at the clinic. Always upbeat. He somehow managed to reassure kids and parents that everything would be fine no matter how serious the problem, while still giving all the information he could about a given medical condition. Truth and comfort seldom walked paw-in-paw, especially in a hospital, yet somehow he managed it. She watched as the otter walked back out of the lobby. She sighed as the door shut behind him; there was more silver in his pelt every time she saw him. It would be a sad day for the clinic when he retired.\n\nDr. Nez sighed as well as he walked back to the lab to check on the centrifuge that he was using for platelet extraction, knowing he wouldn’t have time to chat with the cub today. He loved talking with Alex; the cub had such an interesting view of the world, being simultaneously both and neither gender, and hearing her opinions and perspectives on such things was a real eye-opener. She was one of his more interesting patients. Not the most interesting, though. That title belonged to the cub he’d treated many years ago for a pair of heritage traits that had combined in a way that literally nobody could have imagined in their wildest dreams... or nightmares.\n\nJim felt so sorry for that poor family, and only hoped that they had somehow come to peace with the hand fate had dealt them. He would never forget that morning when he’d delivered the news to the infants’ parents. The ferret’s expression when he realized exactly what he’d need to do to save their infant daughter’s life was something that would haunt him for the rest of his life; the look of shock, disgust, and then absolute hatred for a God that could be so cruel as to force them to do things that would make any civilized fur sick to their stomach.\n\n[center]__________________________________________________[/center]\n\n[b]Thursday May 18th, 2006[/b]\n\nA business-ferret and his wife, a beautiful white-furred stoat, sat in a pair of chairs in the PICU room next to the bed. The infant on the bed lay in a pan full of medical gel and ice packs, keeping her temperature down. Both parents were wearing harried expressions that wrenched his heart. Dr. Nez knew what they were going through; he’d seen it countless times in the fifteen years that he’d been practicing, and knew he’d continue seeing it for years to come. It was part and parcel of being in the medical profession; even more-so as a pediatrician than any other specialty. Normally he didn’t like talking to parents, preferring his work behind the scenes as an endocrinologist. Unfortunately, he was running out of treatment options, and this last one required their informed consent.\n\nHe pulled out the rolling stool that was on the other side of the bed and rolled it around until he was sitting only a few feet from them. He sat down, draping his thick tail and the sides of his lab coat over the back of the stool. He took a deep breath and looked from one of them to the other. Then he told them what he’d discovered, starting with her immediate status.\n\n“Terrence, Julia... as you can see, your daughter’s temperature is back down to 98°. Unfortunately, her red blood count is still dropping, and she will eventually need a transfusion. Luckily, we may have found a donor match.” He paused, and both of the parents took deep breaths and looked at each other, before looking back at him. He waited for their questions. He knew they would ask it, and this time he had an answer.\n\n“Have you found out what’s wrong, yet?”\n\n“Yes,” Jim nodded. “I had to consult with a dozen different specialists, including four of them on an international conference call at 3 A.M where we were brainstorming possible causes. One of them recommended that I talk to a researcher up at OHSU who is studying heritage conditions and possible interactions. That turned out to be a lucky break, since when we ran the endocrine tests they recommended, we hit pay dirt.”\n\nJim knew he was rambling, but this had been one of the hardest cases he’d ever dealt with. He knew that this case would be worthy of publishing in a half-dozen different medical journals that he subscribed to, and once this little girl was stabilized, he intended to do exactly that. Heritage traits, or inheritances, were usually minor blessings or annoyances. In this case, however, the combination of traits the infant had would have been fatal.\n\n“Your daughter has inherited two of the rarer endocrine-related traits. The stoat trait she inherited caused her to become sexually mature within a month of being born. She actually entered estrus. None of us noticed it because you were treating what you considered to be a minor rash with baby powder, and after she came in we put her in the gel-bed. That masked the smell, and would have masked it for anyone who doesn’t have an inherited sense of smell, which none of the staff here do.”\n\nThe river otter took a deep breath, then continued with the explanation. “Your daughter, as far as we can tell, is going through the full seasonal estrus that most stoats with that heritage trait do. She will continue to enter and remain in estrus from mid-april until mid-september every year. The exact dates may change, depending on the weather.”\n\n“The problem is that your daughter has also inherited one of the ferret heritage traits, one that’s covered in most sexual education courses. This particular trait causes slightly elevated body temperatures and greatly increases estrogen levels during estrus. It is often mistaken for a fever. Over short periods of time, this will cause no problems. However, over extended periods of time it will cause aplastic anemia.”\n\n“Aplastic anemia is reduced production of red blood cells. This is due to the fact that bone marrow requires a specific temperature range to produce the red blood cells, and is also disrupted by high estrogen levels. This is what happened to your daughter. The increased estrogen levels caused her red blood cell count to drop, which led to her lethargy and subsequent hospitalization.”\n\nNow that he’d finished explaining the problem, he took another deep breath and paused for a moment to see if they had any questions. It seemed like they were following so far, so he continued on with the treatments they’d tried and the one they hadn’t.\n\n“We’ve tried the standard inhibitors that normally alleviate estrus cycles for stoats. Unfortunately, it seems that none of them are working on your daughter, likely because of her mixed parentage. We don’t know of any way to terminate seasonal estrus cycles in stoats. Short of impregnation; it simply can’t be done. We also tried the standard ferret ‘jill jab’ to induce ovulation, but it hasn’t seemed to work. There is, however, a way to [i]naturally[/i] terminate it in individuals of ferret heritage. We just haven’t tried it for [i]obvious reasons[/i].”\n\nJim paused to look into their eyes, hoping they would understand what he had said. This had been a very long explanation, and it was taking its toll; their eyes were looking a bit glazed over. After he had finished the technical explanation, he knew he’d have to pause to let them regain their wits a bit, then say it in layman’s terms.\n\n“There are essentially only two solutions. The first is that we perform a full hysterectomy. That would terminate the estrus, but remove her childbearing capability. Since she’s becoming anemic, we absolutely will need a blood transfusion for surgery. It will also cause other complications, and will require hormone treatments until she’s an adult.”\n\n“As for the second option,” he said, swallowing with discomfort, “Natural insemination can induce ovulation and the desired hormone changes. Since you can’t use inhibitors or birth control for it, she runs the very real risk of getting pregnant, even though she is only four months old. Spermicide makes semen worthless for the purpose of terminating estrus cycles, as does using semen that has fallen more than a few degrees below body temperature. Physical stimulation may be part of naturally terminating the estrus cycle as well... we simply do not know. What we do know for certain is that [i]vasectomized[/i] male ferrets can bring a female ferret with this heritage trait out of estrus by naturally inseminating them, causing induced ovulation. We just don’t know if it will work on your daughter.”\n\nJim sat there, silently, letting them digest the information he had imparted. He hoped that they would understand, but feared they wouldn’t. This possible solution to the problem was abhorrent in the eyes of modern society. When he’d first realized what the problems and solution was, he’d been physically ill. As a doctor though, he couldn’t afford to have such scruples. If this little girl didn’t get what she needed, she would die. He could not bear to let that happen, but he also didn’t have the right to force another person to sacrifice a part of themselves to save another’s life. It was a moral quandary that he would let greater minds than his ponder during their philosophical discussions.\n\nThe clock hanging on the wall ticked loudly in the silence of the PICU room. Tick, tock, tick, tock... over and over. As he looked into their eyes, he saw comprehension dawn on Terrence’s face. The male ferret had figured it out. A combination of horror and disgust came over the hob’s face, followed after several moments by a growing sense of rage and injustice at whatever God had seen fit to deal them this hand. A tear rolled down the ferret’s facial fur and landed on his hand-tailored business pants.\n\nJim was overwhelmed by a sense of self-loathing; being the bearer of bad news was a job he never liked, but this... this was nearly as bad as informing a parent that their child could not be saved. He was brought out of it, somewhat, as the beautiful ermine sitting beside Terrence leaned forward, saying “You said there were two solutions, but you also said that neither of them would work.”\n\n“Mrs. Stouffer, I believe- I hope the second option will work. However, it requires a sacrifice on your husband’s behalf, and the performance of duties that are-”\n\n“Sick. They’re sick, that’s what.”\n\nJim knew they were sick. They weren’t just sick, they were illegal, and grounds for imprisonment and possibly far worse if the story was discovered by the inmates at whatever prison the perpetrator was incarcerated in. He said nothing, and simply waited, hoping the man would make the ethical choice, even if it was illegal.\n\nThe wife was looking back and forth at both of them, still confused. “But you said it might not work-”\n\nTerrence cut her off. “I don’t care about the vasectomy. I was planning on having one eventually anyway. I just don’t know if I can bring myself to- to- to...”\n\nSuddenly comprehension dawned on Julia’s face, followed by an expression of shock. Jim waited for the inevitable expression of horror and disgust, but it didn’t come. Only the faint narrowing of her eyes: the look of anger or fierce determination. Jim felt relieved, in a way; Julia would bring Terrence around to do what he needed to in order to save Elizabeth’s life.\n\n“I can schedule your surgery immediately, Mr. Stouffer, but it’ll take two weeks for you to recover. In the meantime, we’ll keep Elizabeth in the gel bed here to keep her temperature regulated, and I’ll see about that possible blood donor. Last, I need your consents in order to surgically remove her hymen and to begin a series of exercises so that she isn’t injured during any insemination procedure.”\n\nBoth the Stouffers looked at him. They had gone through so many tumultuous emotions in the past few minutes that they were probably in shock. He understood; it had taken a while for him to come to terms with the treatment as well. He only hoped it worked. He held out the informed consent waiver that he’d been holding throughout the conversation, and pulled a pen from his pocket, handing it to Terrence.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "WARNING: This story may contain content of an adult nature. If you are easily offended or are under the legal age to view adult content in your area, please exit now. This text is intended for adults only and may include scenes of sexual content or graphic violence. Reader discretion is advised.

Author’s Note: The species-specific medical conditions described in this story, while unbelievable, are very real and often fatal. Feel free to verify them using internet searches or contact your local veterinarian.

Revelations by IndigoNeko

Chapter 4 – Dark Secrets

Saturday, May 23rd, 2015

“-Shichi! Hachi! Kyu! Ju!”

The class in front of her finished their set of side kicks. They were nearly done with practice strikes. Then, after a few forms, they’d be ready to start sparring. Her musing was interrupted as the faint sound of music began to come from the office at the front of the dojo.

“Hikari, you lead for a moment. Walk them through Heian Yondan and Heian Godan.”

“Hai, sensei,” the japanese macaque responded, bowing.

As the brown-belt moved to the front of the classroom, Raenne jogged to the office where the sounds of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto were coming from. She wondered what had happened to make David call during her Saturday morning class. She picked up the phone and tapped the accept button, answering “What happened?”

The response came back badly garbled from the noise. From the volume of the noise, David had terrible reception, or was driving on a highway. Possibly both.

“Please say again,” she said, walking back to the office door and closing it. “You’re breaking up, David. Please say again.”

David repeated his message, this time loud enough to be heard over the highway noise. “Alex had a bad fall. We’re on our way back, to the Legacy Meridian urgent care clinic. We’re about an hour and fifteen minutes out.”

Raenne’s heart felt like it missed a beat. “How bad?”

“Possibly broken ribs and leg.”

For some reason she felt numb, and felt like she couldn’t breath. Alex was hurt, far away, and she couldn’t do anything to help. She heard someone say, “Copy that. Confirm ETA one hour and one five mikes. Over.” Raenne realized after the fact that it was her own voice, and that she had said it. She blinked, realizing that she was standing in the office in her dojo, and that she was still talking to David. She felt strange.

David paused for a moment, wondering what the hell ‘mikes’ were. Raenne didn’t do it very often, but sometimes she used military slang and it confused the hell out of him. “Err... we’re one hour and fifteen minutes from home, probably a bit less to the urgent care center.”

“Okay. When I’m done with class, I’ll head over to start the paperwork. I’ll meet you at the urgent care center.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there. Love you.”

“Love you too, honey.”

Raenne held the phone and tapped the red circle. She stared through the glass wall, looking out at the parking lot for a few seconds, trying to settle her thoughts. Somewhat belatedly she realized she’d been using radio code, and swore. Ten years now, and it still slipped out occasionally. Given how protective David was, she knew he’d have taken Alex to the nearest emergency room immediately if it were serious. She relaxed a little bit, assured that it couldn’t be too bad. She loved him dearly, but sometimes he treated Alex like the kid was made of glass. Alex had taken hard falls while snowboarding before, and doubtless would again.

Raenne looked out the office window back into the dojo. She watched as Hikari led the purple-belts through the complicated kata, paying very close attention to the other twelve student’s form and effort. She knew the japanese macaque practiced at home with his old man, who probably could have instructed this class himself. The boy was nearly ready to test for 1st kyu, and she was thinking of hiring him as an assistant instructor over the summer. Enrollment picked up then, and it would be nice to have someone else to deal with walk-ins and assist with large classes. Hikari knew all the kata inside and out; all he needed now was combat practice.

She opened the door and stepped out into the dojo and walked to the front of the class as the first kata finished. She was glad she’d put the massive mirrors up on the front wall; it made it so much easier to keep an eye on the students, no matter which way you were facing. It also made it better to catch your own flaws in technique and correct them on the spot.

She simply watched, silently, as Hikari led the rest of the students through the next kata, making mental notes of each of the flaws she saw with technique, and in a few cases the hesitation that meant that the student didn’t remember the next move in the forms. Finally, they came to an end.

“Domo, Hikari.”

The primate bowed.

“Robert, Ruth... you both need to work on Heian Yondan. Go through it three times, in the northeast corner. Jose, Laura, you need to work on Heian Godan. Three times in the southeast corner. Cara, you and Marilyn, go get pads. You’re on mat one. Patrick, Miguel, get pads also, you’re on mat two. Fred, Alan, same thing, mat three. Hikari, you keep an eye on Fred and Alan. I’ll watch the other four.”

For the next few minutes, she had them trade off on attack and defensive rolls, then let them spar freestyle for another few minutes before mixing up the matches. By that time, the other four had finished their Kata, and she had them join in. Periodically she’d interrupt a match, offering advice or criticism as needed. By the end of the session, every student had gotten at least two minutes of sparring time with every other student; nearly a half hour of fighting. All the students but Hikari were dripping sweat.

After the brief cool-down, she knelt at the front, and the rest of the students lined up and knelt as well.

“Mokuso.”

A minute passed in complete silence, interrupted only by faint panting and the occasional faint rustle of fabric.

“Mokuso yame.”

Everyone stood. Hikari at the far right of the line said “Sensei ni rei”, and everyone bowed. All the students except Hikari began heading into the changing rooms, saying “Oss” as they left the mat. She glanced at the clock. Another forty five minutes until Alex and David would be at the clinic. There was just enough time for a sparring match.

“Hikari, do you wish to spar?”

The primate hesitated for just a moment, then answered. “Hai, sensei.”

“With or without pads?”

Hikari was silent for several seconds. She had never asked him that before; they had always used pads. The fact that sensei had asked him implied that she felt he was ready for it. He felt honored. He only hoped that he actually was ready for it.

“Without.”

Raenne nodded, then walked to the ring in the center mat, standing on the far side in heisoku dachi, or informal attention. Hikari followed her example. They faced each other across the ten foot ring marked in white on the blue mat. A strange silence swept the dojo: the parents standing in front stopped chatting, and the students coming out of the changing rooms stopped and turned to watch. Hikari somehow knew in the back of his mind that this wasn’t just sparring; it was a test. A test of fitness, a test of skill, a test of composure, a test of confidence. Most of all, it was a test of worthiness.

They bowed.

Hikari immediately took zenkutsu dachi, front stance... and barely avoided getting kicked across the dojo as Raenne darted forward with a powerful spinning sidekick which went right through where his chest was. He dodged sideways, behind her. He clenched his fist tightly and drew back for a powerful reverse punch thinking she would stop. Only she didn’t; Raenne followed through the spinning kick with a backhand strike which slammed into the side of his hastily raised arm.

That stung. He launched a snap kick toward her knee. It hit, but it was light. She danced backwards, and he followed, hoping to press his advantage. It was a feint, and he took a hard kick to the stomach for it. He grabbed her leg before she could pull back and twisted his whole body, throwing her to the mat. Hikari leaned over her and threw one hand into the air, bending his arm and falling to the mat while slamming his elbow towards her chest. Raenne seemed to spin almost supernaturally fast, hitting the mat on her hands and knees, and his elbow struck the back of her shoulder instead. He hit the mat hard on his side and rolled, trying to put some distance between them. She had the advantage again.

The only sound in the dojo was the rustle of cloth, grunts, and the occasional ki shout. The purple belts from the morning class watched in almost complete silence, absorbed in what was, in most cases, the first serious sparring match they’d witnessed in the dojo. The parents watched in awe as they saw firsthand the raw speed and power of a serious sparring match.

Hikari was barely able to hold her off. Somehow she must have found out that he and his father had been sparring at home, because she’d never pushed him even half as hard as he was being pushed right now, even with pads. Within the first thirty seconds, she’d landed a dozen strikes, and he was really starting to feel that kick to his stomach. He’d only landed four, with the hardest being that botched elbow strike.

There was a brief lull as they circled each other, and he decided to go for broke and launched himself at her. She somehow anticipated it, and darted forward, going into a crouch under him one leg forward, the other going up. He felt a pair of hands on the front of his gi, and then he was flying as she planted a foot in his stomach for the second time in under a minute.

Several parents winced at the thud as the macaque landed near the edge of the mat, fifteen feet from where he’d been launched into the air. Hikari lay there for a moment, stunned, then shook his head. He kicked his feet into the air for a kip up, managing to land on his feet in a crouch. Raenne stood on the far side of the ring, waiting with one leg forward and both arms in a guard position.

Hikari’s stomach was throbbing now from that kick. He knew just how fast she was now, and knew that charging her would only wind up with him laid out on the mat. He walked back to the ring and began circling her, arms in guard as well.

Suddenly Raenne jumped forward toward him. He felt like he was trying to swim through molasses as he tried to dodge to the side. He barely managed to get out of the way as she launched a flawless hurricane kick. It looked flashy as hell, but if you timed it right, it was very easy to take down someone who did it. He dropped to the floor and started a sweep, managing to hit her left foot the moment it hit the mat. She crashed to the floor and he followed up with a powerful kick to her side. She rolled away from it, kicking her legs into the air and somehow managing to get to her feet as he followed her, trying to press his advantage.

They were too close for anything but knee strikes and punches at this point, and he went into a flurry of punches, trying to break through her guard. She blocked all six of them before she tried to knee him in the groin. He barely managed to twist his hips to soften the blow, but it still struck his thigh with punishing force. He continued with the twist, using it to power a roundhouse punch which cracked against the side of her head. He was so surprised he managed to hit her that he missed the uppercut that slammed into his chin, splitting his lower lip open against an upper incisor and rocking him back a step.

He darted forward with a pair of alternating reverse punches. Raenne took one to the chest, but blocked the second strike, then jumped backwards, glancing at the clock. They had gone slightly over two minutes. “Yame!”

Hikari glanced down at the mat to see where they were, then danced back a few steps towards the circle they’d started in, feeling his stomach and chin start to throb. Raenne followed him a moment later.

The tigress and primate faced each other once again in the center mat, both panting with exertion. Raenne put her palms together a few inches front of her chest, fingers pointed up, and bowed at the waist. Hikari mimicked her, bowing low. A drop of blood fell from his split lip and landed on the mat. She could hear whispers from some of the students and even parents who had stayed to watch the match. They began to file out of the dojo.

“You did very well, Hikari. Your old man was correct in his assessment of your skills. You are more than ready for 1st Kyu. You may test for it whenever you wish.”

“Thank you, sensei.”

She went to the office to grab a wipe, then cleaned up the few splatters of blood from the mat. Hikari was back out of the changing room by the time she was done. She sensed him standing by the edge of the mat, and stood to face him. “Domo arigato, sensei. Oss.” He bowed, and walked out of the dojo.

Raenne slowly nodded her head at him and watched as he left the dojo, still standing in the center of the mat. She looked at the clock again. Thirty minutes left. Time to go.

__________________________________________________


Raenne waited in the lobby of the clinic, having finished the last of the forms. The lobby was familiar enough now that she remembered the artists’ names for the various pieces of art hanging on the wall, and the receptionist remembered her by name. She wasn’t terribly surprised; siberian tigers weren’t that common here in America, and the Andreyevs been coming here every six months to have Alex’s blood work done since she’d been born. It doubled as both a regular clinic and urgent care for Legacy Meridian, even though it was across the street from the main hospital campus.

She walked up to the counter and handed the forms to the cute little robin perched on the stool behind the desk. “Thank you, Mrs. Andreyev. I think the next available physician should have a break in about a half hour, so Alex won’t have to wait too long when she gets here.”

“Good. You wouldn’t happen to know if Dr. Nez is here today, do you?” Raenne asked.

“Actually, I do. He came in about an hour ago. He should be finishing up with a patient in a few minutes. Would you like me to let him know that you’re here?”

“If he’s got a few moments, I certainly would like to chat with him.”

“I’ll let him know then,” the robin replied. Her beak shut with a click and then she hopped to her feet and walked back into the clinic, presumably to let Dr. Nez know that Raenne was there. Raenne watched a bit of feather fluff drift through the air, eventually getting caught in one of the drafts from a vent before getting sucked into an air intake for the filtration system. She wondered how often the air filters had to be cleaned to keep a place like this free of fur, feathers, and dust.

Almost immediately the robin came back, followed by a river otter in his white coat.

“Mrs. Andreyev! What a surprise! I hope nothing’s wrong with Alex.”

“Well, you know how active she is. She apparently took a fall up on Mt. Hood while snowboarding with her father. They should be getting here in a few minutes.”

The river otter’s whiskers perked forward, his concern obvious. “Oh no. How bad is it?”

“Her father said possible broken ribs and leg, but since he said possible, then it might simply be a bad bruise or sprain. It’s kind of obvious when someone has a broken bone.”

“Not necessarily; there’s several kinds of fractures that aren’t obvious. Dr. Clark should be finishing up with his current patient in a few minutes. He should be able to see Alex when she arrives.”

“That’s what Sandra here said. I’ve never met Dr. Clark before, though.”

“He’s a good general practitioner. He’s probably dealt with more sprains and fractures than any other three doctors in the clinic here. Alex will be in good hands, you have my word on it.”

“Thank you, Dr. Nez.”

“Please, we’ve known each other for ten years now. Call me Jim.”

“Only if you call me Raenne,” she replied, smiling.

“Touché,” he said with a grin in return. “Alex is going to be coming in again for blood work in another month, correct?”

“Yes. I’ve already got it scheduled.”

“Excellent. If I don’t see Alex today, tell her I said ‘Hello’.”

“Will do, Jim.”

The river otter put his hand out, and Raenne gave him a firm handshake. She loved the old otter. He was one of the best pediatricians at the clinic. Always upbeat. He somehow managed to reassure kids and parents that everything would be fine no matter how serious the problem, while still giving all the information he could about a given medical condition. Truth and comfort seldom walked paw-in-paw, especially in a hospital, yet somehow he managed it. She watched as the otter walked back out of the lobby. She sighed as the door shut behind him; there was more silver in his pelt every time she saw him. It would be a sad day for the clinic when he retired.

Dr. Nez sighed as well as he walked back to the lab to check on the centrifuge that he was using for platelet extraction, knowing he wouldn’t have time to chat with the cub today. He loved talking with Alex; the cub had such an interesting view of the world, being simultaneously both and neither gender, and hearing her opinions and perspectives on such things was a real eye-opener. She was one of his more interesting patients. Not the most interesting, though. That title belonged to the cub he’d treated many years ago for a pair of heritage traits that had combined in a way that literally nobody could have imagined in their wildest dreams... or nightmares.

Jim felt so sorry for that poor family, and only hoped that they had somehow come to peace with the hand fate had dealt them. He would never forget that morning when he’d delivered the news to the infants’ parents. The ferret’s expression when he realized exactly what he’d need to do to save their infant daughter’s life was something that would haunt him for the rest of his life; the look of shock, disgust, and then absolute hatred for a God that could be so cruel as to force them to do things that would make any civilized fur sick to their stomach.

__________________________________________________


Thursday May 18th, 2006

A business-ferret and his wife, a beautiful white-furred stoat, sat in a pair of chairs in the PICU room next to the bed. The infant on the bed lay in a pan full of medical gel and ice packs, keeping her temperature down. Both parents were wearing harried expressions that wrenched his heart. Dr. Nez knew what they were going through; he’d seen it countless times in the fifteen years that he’d been practicing, and knew he’d continue seeing it for years to come. It was part and parcel of being in the medical profession; even more-so as a pediatrician than any other specialty. Normally he didn’t like talking to parents, preferring his work behind the scenes as an endocrinologist. Unfortunately, he was running out of treatment options, and this last one required their informed consent.

He pulled out the rolling stool that was on the other side of the bed and rolled it around until he was sitting only a few feet from them. He sat down, draping his thick tail and the sides of his lab coat over the back of the stool. He took a deep breath and looked from one of them to the other. Then he told them what he’d discovered, starting with her immediate status.

“Terrence, Julia... as you can see, your daughter’s temperature is back down to 98°. Unfortunately, her red blood count is still dropping, and she will eventually need a transfusion. Luckily, we may have found a donor match.” He paused, and both of the parents took deep breaths and looked at each other, before looking back at him. He waited for their questions. He knew they would ask it, and this time he had an answer.

“Have you found out what’s wrong, yet?”

“Yes,” Jim nodded. “I had to consult with a dozen different specialists, including four of them on an international conference call at 3 A.M where we were brainstorming possible causes. One of them recommended that I talk to a researcher up at OHSU who is studying heritage conditions and possible interactions. That turned out to be a lucky break, since when we ran the endocrine tests they recommended, we hit pay dirt.”

Jim knew he was rambling, but this had been one of the hardest cases he’d ever dealt with. He knew that this case would be worthy of publishing in a half-dozen different medical journals that he subscribed to, and once this little girl was stabilized, he intended to do exactly that. Heritage traits, or inheritances, were usually minor blessings or annoyances. In this case, however, the combination of traits the infant had would have been fatal.

“Your daughter has inherited two of the rarer endocrine-related traits. The stoat trait she inherited caused her to become sexually mature within a month of being born. She actually entered estrus. None of us noticed it because you were treating what you considered to be a minor rash with baby powder, and after she came in we put her in the gel-bed. That masked the smell, and would have masked it for anyone who doesn’t have an inherited sense of smell, which none of the staff here do.”

The river otter took a deep breath, then continued with the explanation. “Your daughter, as far as we can tell, is going through the full seasonal estrus that most stoats with that heritage trait do. She will continue to enter and remain in estrus from mid-april until mid-september every year. The exact dates may change, depending on the weather.”

“The problem is that your daughter has also inherited one of the ferret heritage traits, one that’s covered in most sexual education courses. This particular trait causes slightly elevated body temperatures and greatly increases estrogen levels during estrus. It is often mistaken for a fever. Over short periods of time, this will cause no problems. However, over extended periods of time it will cause aplastic anemia.”

“Aplastic anemia is reduced production of red blood cells. This is due to the fact that bone marrow requires a specific temperature range to produce the red blood cells, and is also disrupted by high estrogen levels. This is what happened to your daughter. The increased estrogen levels caused her red blood cell count to drop, which led to her lethargy and subsequent hospitalization.”

Now that he’d finished explaining the problem, he took another deep breath and paused for a moment to see if they had any questions. It seemed like they were following so far, so he continued on with the treatments they’d tried and the one they hadn’t.

“We’ve tried the standard inhibitors that normally alleviate estrus cycles for stoats. Unfortunately, it seems that none of them are working on your daughter, likely because of her mixed parentage. We don’t know of any way to terminate seasonal estrus cycles in stoats. Short of impregnation; it simply can’t be done. We also tried the standard ferret ‘jill jab’ to induce ovulation, but it hasn’t seemed to work. There is, however, a way to naturally terminate it in individuals of ferret heritage. We just haven’t tried it for obvious reasons.”

Jim paused to look into their eyes, hoping they would understand what he had said. This had been a very long explanation, and it was taking its toll; their eyes were looking a bit glazed over. After he had finished the technical explanation, he knew he’d have to pause to let them regain their wits a bit, then say it in layman’s terms.

“There are essentially only two solutions. The first is that we perform a full hysterectomy. That would terminate the estrus, but remove her childbearing capability. Since she’s becoming anemic, we absolutely will need a blood transfusion for surgery. It will also cause other complications, and will require hormone treatments until she’s an adult.”

“As for the second option,” he said, swallowing with discomfort, “Natural insemination can induce ovulation and the desired hormone changes. Since you can’t use inhibitors or birth control for it, she runs the very real risk of getting pregnant, even though she is only four months old. Spermicide makes semen worthless for the purpose of terminating estrus cycles, as does using semen that has fallen more than a few degrees below body temperature. Physical stimulation may be part of naturally terminating the estrus cycle as well... we simply do not know. What we do know for certain is that vasectomized male ferrets can bring a female ferret with this heritage trait out of estrus by naturally inseminating them, causing induced ovulation. We just don’t know if it will work on your daughter.”

Jim sat there, silently, letting them digest the information he had imparted. He hoped that they would understand, but feared they wouldn’t. This possible solution to the problem was abhorrent in the eyes of modern society. When he’d first realized what the problems and solution was, he’d been physically ill. As a doctor though, he couldn’t afford to have such scruples. If this little girl didn’t get what she needed, she would die. He could not bear to let that happen, but he also didn’t have the right to force another person to sacrifice a part of themselves to save another’s life. It was a moral quandary that he would let greater minds than his ponder during their philosophical discussions.

The clock hanging on the wall ticked loudly in the silence of the PICU room. Tick, tock, tick, tock... over and over. As he looked into their eyes, he saw comprehension dawn on Terrence’s face. The male ferret had figured it out. A combination of horror and disgust came over the hob’s face, followed after several moments by a growing sense of rage and injustice at whatever God had seen fit to deal them this hand. A tear rolled down the ferret’s facial fur and landed on his hand-tailored business pants.

Jim was overwhelmed by a sense of self-loathing; being the bearer of bad news was a job he never liked, but this... this was nearly as bad as informing a parent that their child could not be saved. He was brought out of it, somewhat, as the beautiful ermine sitting beside Terrence leaned forward, saying “You said there were two solutions, but you also said that neither of them would work.”

“Mrs. Stouffer, I believe- I hope the second option will work. However, it requires a sacrifice on your husband’s behalf, and the performance of duties that are-”

“Sick. They’re sick, that’s what.”

Jim knew they were sick. They weren’t just sick, they were illegal, and grounds for imprisonment and possibly far worse if the story was discovered by the inmates at whatever prison the perpetrator was incarcerated in. He said nothing, and simply waited, hoping the man would make the ethical choice, even if it was illegal.

The wife was looking back and forth at both of them, still confused. “But you said it might not work-”

Terrence cut her off. “I don’t care about the vasectomy. I was planning on having one eventually anyway. I just don’t know if I can bring myself to- to- to...”

Suddenly comprehension dawned on Julia’s face, followed by an expression of shock. Jim waited for the inevitable expression of horror and disgust, but it didn’t come. Only the faint narrowing of her eyes: the look of anger or fierce determination. Jim felt relieved, in a way; Julia would bring Terrence around to do what he needed to in order to save Elizabeth’s life.

“I can schedule your surgery immediately, Mr. Stouffer, but it’ll take two weeks for you to recover. In the meantime, we’ll keep Elizabeth in the gel bed here to keep her temperature regulated, and I’ll see about that possible blood donor. Last, I need your consents in order to surgically remove her hymen and to begin a series of exercises so that she isn’t injured during any insemination procedure.”

Both the Stouffers looked at him. They had gone through so many tumultuous emotions in the past few minutes that they were probably in shock. He understood; it had taken a while for him to come to terms with the treatment as well. He only hoped it worked. He held out the informed consent waiver that he’d been holding throughout the conversation, and pulled a pen from his pocket, handing it to Terrence.
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