I walked over to the wall Ember had been leaning against and sat on the floor.I walked over to the wall Ember had been leaning against and sat on the floor. Other than the two grooming tables, the room had no furniture. It was one of the last rooms in the Castle to not undergo decontamination procedures. It and my apartment, which held most of the adults of Castle Shardik, grooming each other, pairing down to the point where Kimmie and I would do the last pair. Not being furred (at least, not much), we wouldn't have to take the dip. "Okay, Priss, up and out," Ember said. I looked up just in time to see Priss walk to the far end of the room and jump on the portable SDisk we had set up in one corner to take the ones we were done with to the beach and a date with flea dip. I smiled. Ember looked over at me and said, "You okay?" I blew a long, whistling breath and said, "I will be. I'm sorry, Ember, but I just had to get out of there." "What's wrong?" she asked, standing up from the grooming bench and walking over to me. She crouched down, still on her feet, her hand on my knee. My face flushed hot, and I said, "Ember, I hope you won't get mad at me, but I needed you to take over or else I was going to start touching Priss in a less than fatherly way. I don't know why I feel this way, either, and that bothers me." Ember lowered her voice until it was just barely above a whisper. "You mean you wanted to touch her sexually." No question, no accusation. Just fact. And the whisper was more for Mitch's benefit than Kimmie's. I nodded, my face feeling hotter. "I'm sorry," I said. She put her paw on my shoulder and said, "For what? You did what you always taught me to do- weigh your choices and decide when it's time to get out. Isn't that right, Father?" Her voice took on a tinge of growl, just like she had had when she was much younger herself. I smiled and nodded. "I know, I did the right thing." I waved a hand in the air and said, "Dammit, Ember, I like touching people. I'm a very sensual person. But I can't do that without permission. So I like to be sure I have permission." She watched me intently as I spoke. "So here I am, with your sister, who's not old enough to understand what her sexuality really is, who's not old enough to understand what that permission is, and I was having trouble keeping from crossing the line. |