A short time later, Archie and his husky escort arrived at the entrance building, blissfully ignorant of the drama and near bloodshed they had come within a few moments of witnessing. Such was the way of things.
Another aspect of the way of things was that the unity of the deer could not last. The dance broke up, and Marth began to feel the weight of the deer's attention, particularly the attention of the bucks. He turned to Hannah.
"It's time now, isn't it?"
Hannah replied. "Yeah, it is." She gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I'll be rooting for you."
The deer had formed a circle. Marth stepped into the middle of it.
++++++++++++++++++
Jeremy was just about to preside over the challenge to Marth when he felt a husky tap him on the shoulder. "Um, Lord Jeremy, we have the marriage contract. Could you and Lady Leticia sign it now?"
++++++++++++
"Doesn't look like anything's broken." Jackie stated. "The huskies are trained to take people down without inflicting injury, so you should be OK. Let me know if you feel anything. As long as we're on the subject of your body" she made a quick gesture, and Keith silently faded away "there's something else you need to know about."
++++++++++
"So how'd Jessica work out?" Naomi asked Katie. She had a pretty good idea already, but she wanted to hear her lieutenant actually say it.
"She was great! She's very, uh, enthusiastic. Bailed us out a couple of times."
"Good. Glad to hear it."
*Wow, Naomi seems to be in a good mood for a change* Katie thought.
++++++++
The crowd on predator hill was beginning to break up. Some hung around in the hope of seeing another deerfight, but most wanted to make it back to their territories before dark. Jackie was comforting a weeping panthergirl.
"Whenever I cried when I was working out with my dad, or when I was in a tournament and I got beat, he'd always tell not to be a girl, like that was the most horrible thing. After my mom died, it was just me and him, and there was never a woman around for more than a couple of days. My dad doesn't really have much respect for women. I guess I don't either. Oh, this is the worst."
"It's OK, Chris, it's OK." Jackie stroked the younger panthergirl's fur.
++++++++
"OK, Jessica." Naomi began. "It's time to turn you back."
"Back to what?" Jessica had a puzzled expression.