She had known it was coming. All of her research on all of the events happening in her homeland led her to believe another cataclysmic event like a Sundering was on its way. She had not been wrong. There was a mass exodus going on through portals to the unknown other world. People were leaving in droves. Luckily for her Jori was visiting her and Hissko and his little girl. They were off playing but she had corralled them together as a portal opened up, gaping, in the middle of the shop. “I’m sorry Hissko. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop it. We have to go, it’s our only chance.”
 
 
Now the portal dumped them off on the outskirts of a city that she most certainly did not recognize. The whole landscape she did not recognize. She was in some new place and then… how did she get here anyway? She looked over and saw the rippling specimen of a man beside her with his dark hair and wild eyes and wondered at who he was. She remembered who she was and the land they came from but that was about all. Looking down in her arms, she didn’t even remember the child sitting there who was calling her “mommy”.
 
She stood up in her arcane robes of silvers and blues and held the child closer to her. This seemed to calm him down. When she asked of his name, he told her “Jori” and she thought it was a pretty name. Then she looked over next to her. “Who are you? I’m sorry if I should remember you… it seems our little trip gave me a bit of amnesia.” She shook her head. As many times as she had traveled through a portal such a colossal goof up had never happened. Now she could hardly remember anything.
 
“I think it’s best we start off to the town down there and see what we can procure for accommodations and food. Looks like it might be dark soon.” Rei pulled the child up on her hip and started making her way down the sloping hill towards the town below. It looked dark and full of adventure but that wasn’t the type of city you wanted to bring your child to. At the very least they would blend in. There was everything here from drow to faeries to plain humans.
 
She didn’t know what he was but she and Jori were lycans and it was very important to blend in under those circumstances, as not everybody was a fan of lycans. “Oh look over there. The Winking Mermaid. But I think we should have a plan first. We can’t just go as we are. We could be a married couple and this is our child and we got displaced and we are looking for food and a place to stay?” She felt a bit uncomfortable lying. Something about it felt slippery and wrong, a wrongness she was sure she should know.

When he had opened his eyes, the noise around him, the smells assaulting him- those were familiar. Cities all smelled and sounded familiar. People chattering, shopkeepers haggling, the sounds of hooves and footfalls. The smells were always a mixture of water, sweat and waste thrown from the windows onto the street. It was what he saw that terrified him. He did not know who he was. He did not know where he was. And when he saw the woman and child near him, he did not know who they were either.

In the fall, his blouse had ripped and now the tanned skin of his chest was nearly bare to those around him. As he began to stand, he crinkled his nose in annoyance. and when she spoke to him, the only thing he could do was stare at her. that is, of course, until he looked down at his belt and there was a small potion bottle there. He was curious as to what it was and what it contained so he unlooped it and when he held it up, there was a tag. Fire Bringer Fineries by Hissko Firebringer read the tag and since it was a masculine name, he assumed it for himself. "Hissko Firebringer," he mouthed to her. The name sat right on his tongue. The other thing that sat right on his tongue was her scent. He felt a tingling in his groin as he took another inhale of the mixed scents of the city. She was close and her scent was heady and strong.

He shook his head as he realized being out in the street was not the right place for such things even if it was only natural. They were both dual natured, after all.

"I agree. We may be able to defend ourselves but the boy needs to be safe." he looked around them as he put a hand on her back. The young child had tanned skin and dark brown hair. His eyes, however, were blue. The type of blue his mother's were. Actually, posing as a married couple would likely work wonderfully. The child looked like a good mix between them. "I agree. We were on the road and our wagon was attacked. We managed to escape with only our lives." he reached out to brush the boy's soft, wavy hair back. He knew what he was and what he was was a protector. This young boy and this woman were important to him somehow.

They got to the inn and it was then that they asked for coin. He patted his belt and his pants until he felt a pouch at his side. Instead of the silver crescents, he actually had gold. The innkeeper's eyes widened and said one would be more than sufficient. She seemed in awe of the city name and the fact that this dirty stranger with a woman and child carried such high coin. But she gave them a key and up he led them to the room they had just purchased. When he opened the door, there was a nice bed and even a chaise at the far wall. There were dusky blue curtains and blankets and all the woodcrafting had intricate carvings of waves and the sea maidens among them. By now, the young boy in her arms had fallen asleep and his breaths were deep and content.

He undid his belt and draped it over the foot of the bed before he turned back to Rei. He slid an arm around her waist and his other hand reached up to hold her chin, his thumb brushing her lips. "He seems tired," he whispered. His pupils were growing smaller as he felt the leopard inside him uncurl. He leaned forward and gently brushed his lips against hers. "You should lay him down."

Like Hissko (she assumed, for she smelled an animal on him, like a shapeshifter), she smelled a city and they all did smell very similar. She smelled vegetables and fruit, freshly baked breads and other goods, raw cut meat and fish, herbs, and all sort of other smells mixing and melding like the familiarity of a market. She smelled other things in town like the fire and metal of a forgery and the ale and smell of people packed together like a tavern. It was a lot of smells to take in when your senses were so sensitive. She only hoped what she assumed to be her son was not experiencing the assault. He didn’t seemed bothered if he was.
 
The man, who was undeniably very attractive, had seemed to have found something of use in his pocket. When he pulled it out there was a label and he read a name off of it. The way he said it was as if it were his name but there still seemed to be some uncertainty to his voice. She couldn’t blame him. While she did remember her name there was plenty of other things she was very unsure about. “I’m Rei Isballa. I can’t remember my last name or if I even had one? This is Jori. I think he’s my son.”
 
While they walked down towards the town below she smiled and looked over at him. “Amnesia. You and I. We have amnesia My magic, that I had no idea I had, tells me we came through a portal from another land. It was likely that which caused our memory problem.” Jori was wide-eyed and mystified looking at the surrounding greenery and the new buildings below that he had never seen before. When Hissko posed his story, Rei simply nodded her head. “Of course. There are likely plenty of merchants and no matter where you go there will always be bandits.”
 
As they neared the city, Jori started to wave at people and animals and give his lovely childlike chatter to the people they passed. The reactions varied greatly from those greeting him back very merrily to those who sneered at him and ignored him as if he didn’t exist. Those who were mean to the child made her hair stand on end like a mad wolf. Then again she was a wolf and likely very overprotective of her still young pup.
 
When they entered the tavern people stared but no more than the usual staring every time someone came upon the door. Hissko handled business with the innkeeper while the tired Jori laid his head on her shoulder and very quickly passed himself into a deep sleep. Hissko led her upstairs to the line of rooms and opened one. It was big a spacious with a large bed and a large chaise that would be perfect for the boy. There were plenty of extra blankets and pillows piled up.
 
When Hissko undid his belt, Rei went to turn away to give him privacy but his arm circled around her waist and his hand lifted her chin, his thumb tenderly brushing her lips. While he was a complete stranger, something in her mind urged her on that this was right and it told her that she liked it- and she did. She was going to respond but he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. She did not know who seemed more hungry her or him.
 
She went very quietly to the chaise and laid Jori on it with a pillow under his head and tucked him in with a very heavy velvet blanket that was the same dusky blue as the curtains. Rei went back towards the bed. Despite the bite of the cold here she was wearing a long velvet dress of cream and gold with bell sleeves and a scooped neckline. Her silver hair fell in lovely waves around her shoulders and back. Her blue eyes were nervous as she slowly loosened the laces on the back of her dress. It fell to her waist and (along with her boots) she elegantly peeled off the rest of it. Her bare skin prickled at the cold in the air.

Her back was still to him and he approached her, one arm slipping around her waist and his other hand sliding down one of her bare arms. He nuzzled his face against her thick, pale hair and inhaled her scent. She was not exactly what he was but at the same time, he did not feel that other nature of his discriminating. Instead, it reminded him that he liked what he saw and felt. Hissko had no issue with that at all.

He fell back from her and pulled his blouse over his head before tossing it to the foot of the bed. Hissko moved around her so that they were facing and he did not even make an attempt to be subtle as he pulled her to him and pressed his mouth against hers. The feeling of her bare, creamy skin was an interesting contrast to his own tanned chest that was covered in a thin layer of dark hair. But she reacted to him in the same way he did to her. And though he could not remember her, or that child, it was as if he had muscle memory of her. As if his body remembered a hundred couplings, a thousand presses of lips to skin. Somehow he knew her. Somehow he was sent with her and this child to this unknown land.

Hissko then unlaced his pants and kicked off his boots as the ache in his groin was growing too great. He wanted her. He wanted to be inside her. The shifter's arm lowered until it was able to lift her ass, her legs winding around him. And as they fell to the bed, he slipped inside her with a growl of contentment.

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Lucidity came to him quite quickly after their coupling and his fiery eyes stared up at the ceiling. This felt natural with her and yet, he did not seem to know her. Rei's body still pressed to him, the two shifters indulging in one another's warmth, but he could not place why this happened. Why this woman he had been brought here with? Was she his mate? Gods above, was that child theirs? The stunning realization was enough to make his body feel paralyzed. Not in fear that he was a father but that he did not know if it was true or why he wouldn't remember.

Yet the shifter was thankful for one thing. The exhaustion of the day and their activities left him hazy with a need for sleep and his eyes slowly closed until he felt himself drift into an uneasy rest.

———————————————

The next morning he was awoken by the sound of Rei and that of the young child with him. They both were already dressed and Hissko still did not want to even move. He had dreamed of being confined, of a sadistic and vile woman with dark hair and pale eyes who had kept as a leopard and forced him to do… things. When he did not, she had tightened the barbs around his collar and he felt shocks of power run painfully through him. Even now, it was as if he felt the pain. Was this just some strange dream about commitment? The thought nearly made him laugh.

The sunlight made his pupils slit and he kept the sheet around his waist as he reached over the bed for his pants. Once he slipped them on, he felt better… but still troubled.

"What now?"