Silver Moon: Bk. 02 Ch. 07

Thanks for your patients as I worked on this. I hope you enjoy this installment and continue to vote and give me feedback and comments.

All intimate relations are 18+.

*****

It was several days later when Pam finally received all the patches she had asked for. Each and every one was carefully inspected by her and matched up with the drawing that had been created. Once the patches had passed Pam's inspection she talked to Xipil about having a little ceremony for the little Kitsunes as well as the pups. She wanted to give the patches to the kids in front of anyone that was in the throne room.

Xipil had thought it was a grand idea and after long consideration had small swords made for the pups as well to replace the scavenged knives the pups were carrying. As far as the hair pin Kasai carried that was almost her personal symbol and wasn't going to be replaced. He had talked to both his weapons master as well as the local royal blacksmiths. He had made sure the blacksmiths knew he wanted real swords and not just some play thing. They promised they would be done in time for the ceremony.

Once they had everything ready they put their plan in motion. All the parents of the pups, senior wolves, a number of officers, and various officials were invited (read would be there or else) to the ceremony. They even had a cake and some drinks for the pups and kits. There was no way he could hold a party large enough for all the attendee's and this wasn't for them. It was specifically for the children.

The morning of the ceremony once breakfast was over Pam looked at the pups and the two Kitsunes and frowned. "Amarish I need all of you to change into you best cloths and report to the throne room at nine am sharp. There are a few things to be announced that you and your mousy hunters need to be made aware of. Take charge and ensure your troops are looking as best possible." She dismissed him.

He pricked his ears at her and tilted his head to one side and contemplated her words and what her spirit had to say. Her spirit wasn't giving anything away and had her normal emotions. He nodded at her. "Yes Auntie Pammy I will take care of it." He hopped down from his chair and waved Kasai over. "Take the girl pups and makes sure they are neat and clean. Gianni will helps you with that. I's will take the boy pups and take care of them."

They split up and hurried out of the room. Pam had to grin at the girl currently sitting in the chair. "I can't wait to see their expressions. If you want to come along please do. I know you have been doing some sewing for the pups to standardize what they wear on the mouse hunts." The girl grinned and put her sewing aside. Next to her chair was a small chair that Amariah was using. She still didn't have any urge to hunt since there were spiders. Instead she was learning actual sewing from the girl since she was still way too young to call clothes out of thin air. She had been helping with the little uniforms as well.

When Pam and the girl walked out of the room they encountered Mari and Gettie who were also heading to the throne room. Gettie had Amariah on her shoulder this morning. Since Dan wasn't there Amariah had been sitting on a number of shoulders. For some reason she loved sitting on Gettie's and Xipil's shoulder. With Xipil it was also sitting in his lap while he was holding court. She would quietly ask him questions about some of his decisions and he was teaching her a great deal. When she grew up she might not be a leader like her father or Amarish but she would stand next to her mate and help.

The small group walked into the throne room and Pam almost smiled. On one side facing Xipil was the pack members in a neat formation. On the other side were the court officials and they were far less organized. About five minutes before nine Amarish and Kasai walked in leading their little pack of pups and neatly formed up. Amarish stepped forward and spoke. "The mousy squad is present and accounted for." He stepped back and all the pups quieted down.

Xipil gave Amarish a nod and ignored the officials who glared at the pups. The last time they had been in there they had a puppy fight which most of them had been offended by. He glanced at the watch on his wrist and stood up and stepped down from the throne. "Good morning Ladies, Gentlemen, pack members and pups. I am here to make official a new section of the Imperial Guard. The new section has been loyal, diligent, exceeded their duty requirements, and been of a great boon to the palace."

He turned to Pam and gave her the nod. Pam stepped forward and smiled. "Thank you Xipil for allowing me to take over. The troops he is talking about have taken their orders very seriously and stand above all the others in that diligence. They have also helped save a senior wolf and helped ensure that the royal wing and those living in it have been kept safe. Now for the introduction of the new troops will Captain Amarish Silver-Tail step forward as well as Kasai Fire-heart. Bring your troop to formation in front of the throne please."

Amarish and Kasai traded startled looks. In his little voice Amarish called the pups to order and marched them out so they were standing in two lines in front of Xipil. When Amarish spoke his voice was somewhat nervous. "Clan Lord and Lady of the Clans we report as ordered." He was looking somewhat concerned as well since he still wasn't sure where this was going.

Pam looked at Xipil. He spoke to the crowd. "Since this issue was brought to my attention by Lady Alpha Pamela Legarith I chose to let her deal with it. She has my approval for her actions and what she is to do this morning."

Pam stepped forward and knelt down in front of Amarish and Kasai. "Amarish I have paid close attention to your actions and since you are doing a worthy job I talked to Xipil. He approved the formation of the new Imperial Mouse Assault Squad. It is to be led by Amarish and his mate to be Kasai." She pulled out a stack of the patches and waved him forward. "These are your squad patches. Since you are to be the leader you have the right to hand them out to the pups that are worthy of them."

Amarish stood there and looked at the patches in shock. He tried to say something but tears were flowing down his face. After a few moments he looked up at her. "Thanks you Auntie Pammy and thanks you Clan Lord Xipil." He looked back down at the patches and lightly stroked one.

As soon as Pam stood up the emperor took a small bundle from the Weapons Master and walked forward. "I have a present as well. For the pups who have earned the patch I have had replacements for the various knives that have been used." He handed it to Kasai and looked at Amarish. "As you give out those patches give out the swords. As to what Dan told you that applies here as well. They only come out when you are hunting the mice, rats, and spiders. Any other time they are to be kept in Lady Pam's room. I have a sword stand for them already installed."

He paused before returning to his seat. "The knives need to be returned to whence they came." He returned to his seat and sat down. "Order your troops and report to Lady Pam's room to have the patches sewn on your cloths. Dismissed."

Since Amarish was still a child he forgot decorum and hopped onto Xipil's lap and gave him a good hug. "Thanks you and this means a great deal to me and my squad." After one more hug he hopped down and was getting ready to march them out when a glowing silver portal appeared and his and Amariah's parents walked out.

Amaratsue smiled at him. "Take your squad to Lady Pam's room and we will be there momentarily." For a very brief moment he ignored the face that all the other Kitsunes went to one knee.

Amarish gave his father a reasonable salute. "Yes daddy I will do so." He formed up the troops and they marched out of the room.

"Rise everyone please. This is an informal visit and nothing else. I am just visiting my children since my mate and I were invited as well." When Amariah came over and held her arms out he picked her up and held her to his chest. He looked down as she leaned against him and closed her eyes. *Relax hun, your mother has some information for Pam.*

"If you will excuse us Xipil I am going to say hello to my son and Kasai as well." He turned and started to walk out. His mate took Pam's arm and tucked her arm though Pam's. "I have some news and some progress to tell you about. Don't get too excited since we are still researching this." They walked out of the throne room together followed by Mari and Gettie.

Pam nodded though her face became tense, her stride didn't change even slightly. *We will talk about it in a few. Right now I want to watch Amarish give out the patches and the swords.* "He is such a darling boy. I hope our pups are as good as he is. His sister is a darling girl as well. They have brought a good deal of humor to this stressful time."

Gin No had to smile and then sighed. "I would like to know the secret you and Danilo have on keeping them semi-corralled. I am not sure what you have done but they have been better behaved than usual. Mind you they aren't bad kits but most Kitsunes their age tend to be stinkers since they are discovering their powers. I think that is where half the stories of the 'trickster fox' came from." She had to roll her eyes.

Pam gave a light laugh. "I wish I could tell you but I think much of it is Dan himself. He treats them like he does the pups. He expects rambunctiousness but he also expects them to obey certain rules. I am pretty sure the pups are about as active as your kits and as mischievous at times. That is just a guess though. I think some of it is also we aren't their parents so they react to us differently."

Gin No shook her head but had to laugh. "They are darling little stinkers though and I think I am going to see if I can talk my mate into another pair." They walked into Pam's room and Amarish and Kasai had their heads close together and they were quietly talking. Amariah hopped out of the little chair she was sitting in and ran over and jumped into her mother's arms. She gave her a good hug and settled her in her arms as Gin No settled down in a chair at the table.

Pam settled down as well and accepted a cup of tea from her maid. "Thank you and relax. This is going to be interesting." She was grinning since the two groups of pups were separated by pack and Gianni was in front of their pack pups and a boy was in front of the local pack. The pups were standing in reasonably neat lines and were waiting relatively patiently.

Amarish had handed the stack of patches to Kasai and turned and faced the pups. "I's be calling yous up one at a time and gives you a patch. Once that done I's hand out swords." He looked and though he didn't show it he could see the youngest pup was looking sad.

He wasn't allowed to carry a weapon but they let him go with. He tended to do things like taking the mousy's to the kitchen. He would get little bottles of water and snacks when they were hunting. Since he didn't do any hunting he figured he wasn't going to get a patch.

Amarish and Kasai stood side by side and gave all the pups a smile. "First I am going to hand out a special patch. Will Hose step forward please?" He almost smiled when the little pup's head popped up and he looked shocked. "Come on Hose, come forward please." Kasai was smiling at the little boy as he slowly came forward.

"Hello Hose, Amarish and I both considered this and you deserve it." Kasai held her arms out and gave him a good hug. "Now stand in front of Amarish so he can talk to you."

Hose accepted the hug and then moved in front of Amarish. He was still looking somewhat worried but he stood as tall as he could.

Amarish gave him a good smile. "Hose yous the youngest of the team but you fills a very important roll. You keeps us going by taking the mousies back to the kitchen, bring snacks, and water. That's very important. I made this patch special for you. At the moment you are the only mousy squad trainee and I expect good things from you." He had willed the patch into place without even thinking about it. It was one of the first things he had ever created.

Hose's eyes opened wide and he was smiling really wide when he took the patch. Without thinking about it he gave Amarish a good hug. "Tanks you Amish. Tanks you so much." He stepped back and looked almost ready to cry in happiness.

Kasai pulled out a small pouch and held it to him. "This is for yous to carry mousies in or snacks so you don't haves to run to thes kitchen constantly." She had created it as well and it was a neat little pouch and just his size. She returned the hug as well.

Once Hose moved back to his spot he was fingering the pouch in happiness. Amarish started calling the pups up starting with the next youngest. He would say something about the pup and hand him or her a patch before they moved over to Kasai. Each little sword had been custom made for each pup. They also had their names on the blades.

Eventually everyone had a patch and sword. Next to Kasai was a pile of knives of all types. The last item in the roll was her new sword. The hilt and sheath looked almost exactly like her hair pin. When she pulled it out somewhat the blade was straight but styled like a katana. She had to grin and tucked it in next to the hat pin.

Gin No watched that and she had to sniff a bit. *You and Dan have definitely made an impression on him. He has always been a good boy but that was lovely. Now watch this.* She flicked a finger in his direction and barely managed not to snicker at his reaction.

He stiffened up and a very shocked expression crossed his face. A small surge of power went through him and suddenly he had four tails. His head whipped around and he had to look and looked so happy. He looked at his mother and she simply smiled.

Amariah hopped down and ran over to him and gave him a big hug before petting the new tail. She wished she had hers as well but eventually she would. "Goods for you Amarish." One more hug and she hopped back on her mother's lap.

*Pam I need to borrow one of your tails.* Red contacted her and hoped she wouldn't mind it.

Pam blinked and frowned for a very brief moment. *Rusty that sounded vaguely wrong. I understand and go for it but still just wrong.* She had to use Rusty just to tease him.

*Women are weird and I am not rusty you disrespectful Lady of the clans.* Her tail whipped around and a spark of fire flew across and hit Kasai on the butt and she twitched as well.

*Unkles Rusty that not funny.* She rubbed her bottom and then started giggling. "I's has new tail as well." She whipped them around and petted them. *Thanks you but still not funny.*

~~~

Pam had told the pups to go and get the patches put on their shirt and then relax till lunch. She did ask Kasai and Amarish to remain since she needed to go over the map with them. They had a few places they were very concerned about. Amaratsue had picked Amarish up and given him a good hug and told him just how proud of them he was.

"What information do you have on Dan?" She gave Gin No a firm look. "Don't try to hold anything back. I want, no, have to know everything to keep from going crazy wondering how he is doing." Her shoulders slumped and she looked stressed as she was talking about her mate.

Gin No took a sip of the tea the girl had brought over and organized her thoughts. "We have him stabilized and have done a number tests. We believe we have identified most of the components of the spell. Some we are still chasing down but it appears the spell was directed at his spirit." She nibbled on a nail for a moment. "Actually not specifically for him but for a powerful alpha, he should have died shortly after the spell hit. It shouldn't have mattered what Amariah did or the shield we put around him. It would have slowed the spiritual poison down but he should have been dead by now."

Pam looked appalled at that and then after some serious contemplating she had to grin. "Damn but I have a strong mate. I can't wait for Dan to go and say hello to the asshole who did this. He is going to rip him a new one and then rip his head off and stuff it into the new one he just ripped." She was feeling positively viscous at the moment.

Gin No and Amaratsue had to blink and glance at each other but Gin No kept talking. "What it appears is that there are several reasons why he didn't die. First and most important is that his soul is still resonating with where he originally came from. It is a slightly different spiritual signature than ours. Second is he is no longer quite a wolf. Much of that is my mate's fault but also when he became a Lord of the Clan's that changed is spirit as well. He is also drawing power from the packs that fall under his control as well as the Kitsunes he is leader of."

She took another sip of the tea. "This is giving us several options on how to approach removing this taint from his spirit. We did place a warding around him to slightly amplify his resonance with his home dimension. This shouldn't cause any problems such as his being drawn back to his world. It does seem to be working to an extent. Beyond that we don't have any more information."

Pam was sipping on her tea as well and contemplated what she had to say. "So basically he is doing somewhat better than he was when you took him?"

Gin No nodded. "I will say he is doing better as far as we can tell. We are getting more of the ichors from the spell and there is showing less in his body and soul. If nothing else it gives us time to do more research."

Pam nodded. "Thank you for that. I do appreciate all the work you are putting in. Mind you some of the rich and wealthy and upper crust doesn't appreciate it though." She gave them a rather feral grin. "It is keeping them cowed and more careful than they used to be. God help them if they denigrate my wolves. Several officials have discovered the hard way that I don't approve of that."

Amaratsue snorted. "Tell me about it, Red told me all about your visit to a fabric store." He rolled his eyes. "The part with using her head as a kick ball was just a wee bit over the top though the part about it being too ugly was a nice touch."

Pam snickered. "Can you stay for a while or do you need to get back? I need to talk to Amarish and Kasai about some things they found in the palace that they are concerned about." The two came over and hopped up on the table before settling in their chairs. The girl brought over some smaller cups for them before settling back in a chair. She was working on sewing with the new material.

Amaratsue and Gin No traded looks and sighed. "We would love to but Gin No needs to get back to Dan and I have work to do as well. If you need anything just call for us, keep up the good work all of you and we will stop by at some point." The two of them vanished.

~~~

Dan was floating in a golden fluid and it was warm yet fiery. The warmth surrounded him and comforted him. The fiery was inside and felt like it was burning through something. It was battling with something evil deep within. Dan's wolf didn't like that feeling whatsoever and snarled deep in Dan's mind.

Dan responded by slowly drawing power to him. Where it was coming from he wasn't sure but it trickled into his body. For now he was simply going to let it collect till he had a useful amount. Till then he focused on the fiery sensation and took a tiny bit of the power and fed it to whatever was causing the fiery sensation.

~~~

Pam turned back to the two. "Okay, show me the map. For the sections that just felt off or odd use blue. The sections that felt bad or negative use red and any hidden tunnels in yellow." She waited for him to call the map up and add the colors.

Amarish concentrated and created a 3-D see through model of the temple. He had to really concentrate since he had never done this before. The addition of the tail really helped though since he had more power now. Eventually it was created. Once it was he had a discussion with Kasai about it and made a few changes. "There you go Auntie Pammy. We still have a moderate amount of palace left since we's go back and start over to make sure we didn't miss anything."