Chapter Five
Flying The Houks
Every now and then, one of our houks would call out. It was exhilarating to feel the powerful muscles of the houk I was riding moving under me as we rose ever higher into the air. Looking around, I could see the house down behind us. Most of the animals we had been feeding were moving back out into the large grassy area. Though some of the others were moving toward the lake, but farther away from the house. We were heading toward the edge of the forest when Mav’s houk started banking toward the lake. With the forested hills on the other side and the mountains beyond those. The rest of our houks banked to follow Mav’s. Getting a better look at the ground as we turned, Sue of course thought and said, “This is kind of scary, but fun.” Bev then said, “You’ll get used to it.” I said, “What a wonderful thing to become used to!” Our houks started flying in the direction of the lake and straightened out. Though they were still gaining altitude. Just not quite so fast. Zem said, “You know how we are. Fun is practically our middle name.”
I said, “Zem Fun Reall. I like the sound of it.” I could barely hear it. But everybody laughed verbally. Sue’s thoughts came through as she said, “My brain has been so full of other things, I never asked. Do you even have last names?” Bev answered and said, “Far in our ancient past, we Reall used to. Now we just use numbers.” Sue then said, “I don’t think I would care to try remembering sets of numbers.” Zem then said, “They are only used for more specific identification if necessary. Usually, referring to the person’s spouse is good enough. Though there are a couple other couples named Zem and Bev. But none from the Tenat. So mentioning that as our origin is good enough.” Sue thought back and said, “I see.” After about a minute, Mav said, “There are a group of multa below us just below the surface. When I turn to the right, the other houks will follow. Then you will be able to see them better.” Mav’s houk started making a wide bank to the right. As Mav said, one by one, our houks started to bank to the right to follow.
I looked down to the water, which was about three hundred feet below us. Just as Mav said, there was a group of six creatures swimming abreast of each other just under the surface. From their outline and with the water being so clean, it was easy to see that they were indeed shaped like Plesiosaurs. Their necks were longer than their tails. They were a bluish grey in color and two of the largest appeared to be slightly longer than fifty feet from head to tail. Two were slightly smaller. There was another smaller yet that appeared to be a juvenile and an even smaller one that appeared to be a baby. Every now and then, one would raise the top of its head out of the water and breathe pretty much like a dolphin. As our houks flew in a wide circle, I said, “They look very interesting. Is there any chance of seeing them up close?” Til said, “We can feed some later.” Sue said, “That would be interesting. The fun never ends with you guys!” Everybody emitted telepathic humor. Which Sue quickly joined in on. Having made almost a complete circle, our houks at the moment were heading in the direction of a river valley on the left end of the lake.
From what I could see, there were tall trees along the sides of the river valley and some cliffs here and there. Along the bottom, there were gravelly and sandy areas with a river running through it. I could see some rapids through one break in the trees. Our houks gained a little altitude as they continued to slowly turn in the direction of the large, forested hill that was across the lake from the house. Zem turned his head to look a little behind him and grin at Sue. Responding to Sue’s last statement, Zem said, “I take it you’re enjoying yourself.” Sue grinned back at Zem as our houks began to catch up to Mav’s. Sue said, “Enjoying myself! I think I’m going to end up kissing somebody when we get down!” I grinned at Sue. Mav said, “Me first!” This made everybody laugh. Though we also emitted telepathic humor. We all glanced at each other to share in each other’s laughter. I could barely hear Bev and Sue laugh. Til then looked over at Mav and I could hear her think, “Flirting with me right next to you!?” This caused everybody to laugh again.
Afterwards, Mav said, “You know you’re the only girl for me.” Til said, “I better be!” This made us all laugh some more. Because we all knew that they were just playing around. I looked at Til and said, “You don’t need to worry. I plan to keep Sue on a short leash.” This made me grin and everybody except Sue laugh. Our houks were flying abreast of each other. We were still gaining altitude as we headed toward the large forested hill across the lake from the house. Responding to what I said, Sue said, “Oh you!” I grinned over at Sue, who was looking at be with a mock, slightly angry face as she continued saying, “You’re lucky I’m not over there!” This made everybody except Sue laugh again. I said, “You know I’m only kidding sweetheart.” Sue’s mock, slightly angry expression turned to a slight smile as she said, “Well, ok. Just watch yourself.” Bev then said, “Given the way some humans treat their women, (I then looked over at Bev) especially the Moslems, that isn’t really the wisest thing to kid about.” I said, “Sue knows that she will never have to worry about anything like that.”
Then I looked at Sue with a loving expression. Sue looked at me with a loving expression too as I said, “They don’t make a leash short enough for me to wish you would keep me on darling.” Sue said with a slightly emotional, loving look on her face, “Oh darling!” After a brief pause to look at each other lovingly, Sue said, “Let’s keep each other on short leashes.” I said, “I have something for you darling.” Everybody was smiling at us as I kissed the tips of my fingers and blew Sue a kiss. Sue grinned and pretended to grab it out of the air and held it to her heart. Which made everybody else grin also. Sue then said, “I have something for you too sweetheart.” Sue then blew me a kiss. Which I also pretended to grab out of the air and held it to my heart. Til said, “You newlyweds are so adorable. Apart from Tal and Sas, it’s been forever sense I’ve been around any.” Sue and I both grinned at Til. Bev said, “They have been a joy to be around.” Sue and I turned our grins to Bev. Sue said, “Thank you. You already know how we feel.” Mav said, “Til darling. I have something for you.”
Apparently what Sue and I had done seemed like a good idea to him. He kissed his fingertips too and blew Til a kiss. As Til went to pretend grab it out of the air, Zem smiled lovingly at Bev and said, “I have one for you too darling.” Zem then kissed his fingertips and blew Bev a kiss as Til held the kiss she caught to her chest. Til said to Mav with a loving look on her face, “Thank you darling.” Bev was holding the kiss she caught to her chest, which was between her and Lika, as she said to Zem with a loving look on her face too, “Thank you darling.” Til said to Mav, “Here’s one for you darling! Don’t drop it!” Then Til kissed her fingertips and blew Mav a kiss. As Mav made a determined effort to catch Til’s kiss, Bev said to Zem, “Don’t miss it darling!” Bev kissed her fingertips and blew Zem a kiss too. Sue and I were of course smiling at them with sentimental looks on our faces. Mav was holding Til’s kiss to his chest as Bev blew Zem a kiss. Zem also made a determined effort to catch it. Holding it to his chest, just above Panny, after he did so.
Til said to Mav, “Sue and Erik are so cute. Maybe we should get ourselves a couple of humans and see if they will fall in love too.” Sue and I both grinned widely at them as Mav said, “You know there would be many things to discuss before we did such a thing. Maybe we can talk about it later.” Til smiled and gave Mav a nod. By this time, we had gained more altitude. I could see the other side of the hill that was across the lake from the lake house. There was a small lake beyond. Off to the left of it I could see a gap in the trees where the river I noticed earlier had come from. It went for a little ways and turned in the opposite direction we were going. Flowing in that direction for a ways, I could also see a bit of a waterfall at the head of a valley. I looked over to Mav and said with a smile, “You must be pleased with the way the landscape had developed.” Mav smiled back at me and said, “Yes. It has come along well.” Then Mav then went back to flying and looking at the wonderful scenery. I did too as Mav added, “Though even without a moon to cause as much tectonic activity, you’ve probably noticed that there are many wonderful places on planet Bev too.”
Zem then said to Mav, “I’m afraid they hadn’t seen very much of it.” Bev then added, “But they will get a chance to in the future.” This statement caused Sue and I to happily grin at each other.” Sue then added, “And we can’t wait!” Which caused Zem, Bev, Til and Mav to shoot Sue a grin before turning back to their flying. As we all looked around, as usual we would now and then catch another’s eye and grin at each other. As we flew on, Sue smiled at Sas and said, “I don’t want you to feel neglected Sas. But I have a question for your dear mommy.” Everybody smiled at Sue with sentimental looks on their faces. Sas said with a sentimental tone to her thought, “I don’t mind.” Sue smiled over at Mim as Mim said in an affectionate thought, “What would you like to know Sue dear.” We all continued to smile at Sue as she said, “Do you Nal make planets of your own too?” Mim said, “No Nal has ever had a wish to. Besides. There are many more planets that are inhospitable to biological creatures than there are those that are hospitable. Though many of the inhospitable ones can be quite beautiful. We would be as comfortable there as we are here.”
Sue said, “I figured that it was a silly question. But I just thought I would ask.” Til said, “It’s a good thing that we all love our Nal so much. Or they might just leave.” Pam said, “And we love you too.” It was at this point that Pam went over and hovered just in front of Mav’s face. At the same time, San went over and did the same with Til; Mim did the same with Zem; Pim did the same with Bev; Sas did the same with me and Tal did the same with Sue. This caused surprise to briefly flash across everybody’s faces. Then all the Nal made mouths appear on their surfaces. Quickly, they all puckered their lips. Then they made smooching motions and sounds with their lips. We all busted up laughing. It was so cute! The Nal changed their smoochie lips to expressions of laughter and laughed verbally. Our houks started doing a wide circle in the air as we laughed. All of the houks seemed to react to our amusement. They gave off various calls that seemed to reflect enjoyment. After about a minute of laughter, Zem thought to Mim with a little verbal laugh still coming out of him, “Erik or Sue didn’t put you guys up to that did they?”
Mim said, “No. It was my idea. But when Bev had Pim and I give Sue and Erik a smooch earlier, it was so much fun that I thought it would be funny to do something similar again.” Til said to San, “You’re so adorable!” I said to Sas, “I know we just met. But.” I then puckered my lips and made smoochie motions and sounds with my lips to Sas. Everybody did the same with their Nal. Then we all gave our Nal a quick smooch. Afterward, we all took a Nal and cuddled them against our cheeks as we laughed some more. After a little laughter, I said to Sas in a kidding around manner, “I don’t know if it is a Nal version of genetics, but you smooch as well as your mom.” This caused more laughter. Then Tal said in a kidding around manner, “Don’t forget whose girl she is!” This caused even more laughter. The thought of a human and a Nal having a relationship was just silly. After some laughter, Sue held Tal out a little in her hand. The Nal had made their mouths disappear at this point. Sue said with a mischievous grin, “Let’s make Sas jealous.” Then Sue started peppering Tal around his surface with quick kisses.
As the rest of us held our Nal a little ways from our faces and looked at this, we all laughed. Except for Sue and Sas. Sas darted away from me and shot over to Tal. Then Sas extruded a number of tendrils and took hold of Tal. Sas then plucked Tal from Sue’s hand and pulled him away. As she did so, Sas said in a kidding around thought, “Don’t forget who’s guy he is!” This made us all laugh even harder. Sas was emitting telepathic humor too as she reabsorbed her tendrils. Tal and Sas circled around each other’s surface at differing angles. Everybody let their Nal go too. They all came together as a group and joyfully circled around each other’s surfaces. The rest of us grinned at each other widely. Our houks were at this point flying again toward the mountain. We were flying level at about two thousand feet. The temperature up here was slightly cooler than it was at ground level. But even with the wind rushing by, it was still quite comfortable. After a few moments, Mav said to Sue and I, “Get ready. I’m taking us down a little.” The Nal separated and headed toward the being they were taking care of. We were just over the crest of the hill at this point. Mav nosed his houk down and started heading toward the back slope of the hill.
The rest of our houks followed Mav’s in a stepped back formation. The wind started rushing by faster as our houks bent the tips of their wings back a little. We flew just above the trees on the other side of the hill. Sue exclaimed, “Weee!” Our houks also gave out excited calls. This sure was a rush. Soon, our houks leveled out and headed for the small lake. I said, “That was fun!” Sue said, “Really fun!” Bev said, “The fun has hardly begun yet.” Zem said to Mav, “I take it we’re going to the mountain.” As we started to pass over the shore of the smaller lake, Mav said, “Of course.” Til then added as she smiled over at Zem, “You know how much fun it is.” Bev looked over at Til with a smile and said, “Oh, we know.” Til nodded at Bev with a smile. Sue said to Bev, “Do you have any houks on planet Bev?” Bev said, “I’m afraid we don’t. But we do have other creatures there which can be flown.” I said, “I’m surprised you didn’t mention those.” Zem then added, “There are a lot of things that we didn’t mention. You seemed to be a little preoccupied at the time with other matters anyway.” Sue and I grinned at each other.
Then Sue smiled over at Zem and said, “What are they like.” Bev answered and said, “They are more bird like and require a saddle to ride. They aren’t quite as smart as the houks. If they don’t know you well, they could give you a nasty peck if you’re not careful. Though they aren’t malicious at all. They’re smart enough to not peck you in the face. Even when fighting amongst themselves, they will avoid each other’s eyes. You would no doubt enjoy them.” I said, “What are they called.” Bev said, “They’re called Etat.” Sue said, “I can’t wait to see one.” Zem chuckled and grinned over at Sue. He said, “There’s a lot you can’t wait to do.” Sue giggled a bit and said with a wide grin, “I know. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to explode!” This caused us all to laugh and grin briefly at a very happy looking Sue. It made me deliriously happy to see my sweet, wonderful, darling Sue so happy. An emotional look came over my face. Seeing the expression on my face, Sue’s face changed to an emotional loving look as she said, “I love you so much darling.”
I found that I couldn’t answer. I’m not really sure what happened to me. But everything seemed to catch up to me. As you know if you read the first book, a little over two days ago, I was a homeless guy. When Zem found me, I was sleeping under an overpass in a train yard. So much of a person’s sense of self worth depends on having meaningful work. But I didn’t have any kind of work. Except for the odd job here and there. Any sense of hope was close to completely disappearing from my life. It fucked with me bad. Then I met Sue. Who came from a completely different world than me economically. Living a life that I would have been unlikely to provide for her. But other than that, we were a perfect match. It was so wonderful that Zem and Bev made it possible for us to be together. Just a little over a couple days ago, I was in hell. And now this! A look of intense emotion came over my face and I buried my face into my arms as I started crying uncontrollably. Sue saw what was happening and an anguished look came over her face as she started crying herself. As Sue did so, Sue called out in an anguished, verbal voice, “Oh Erik!” Zem, Bev, Mav and Til looked over at me and Sue with concerned looks. Even Panny and Lika seemed to look at me with concerned looks.
A couple moments later, Bev said to Sue with compassion in her thought, “Erik needs you!” Sue and Sas fairly quickly faded out of existence. As Sue and Sas did so, they faded into existence with Sue next to me. Sue’s houk made a couple rather plaintive calls at losing its rider. Sue took hold of me and said with an anguished, sobbing, audible voice, “Erik darling! Erik my love!” Sas flew over to Tal about six feet above us. They both just flew next to each other. I buried my face into between Sue’s shoulder and neck as I took hold of Sue in a tight embrace with my free arm. Sue laid the side of her head on top of mine and embraced me too. To have so much good fortune after such misfortune! And seeing my dear sweet love being so much more happy than I could have ever made her on my own back on earth. I couldn’t stop crying. Though I managed to get out between sobs, “Oh darling!... I love you so much!” Tal and Sas started circling around each other’s surfaces at differing angles. Though they did so a little more quickly than normal. What I said caused Sue to embrace me a little more firmly and cry a little more heavily as Sue sobbed, “Oh darling!”
I knew that it was causing Sue pain to see me like this. But I couldn’t help myself. I managed to get out, “You’ve saved me darling!” Sue said tearfully, “You saved me too darling!” While all this was going on, just after Bev sent Sue to me, Zem and Bev started to look at each other with emotional looks. As Mav and Til did also. At this point, as they say, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Bev and Lika levitated along with Mim over to Zem. Bev’s houk also gave out a rather plaintive call at losing its rider. Zem held out an arm to receive Bev. No doubt they were exchanging private, loving thoughts all the while. When Bev reached Zem, they embraced each other enthusiastically and emotionally. Panny and Lika happily embraced each other. Pim and Mim also flew along with each other about six feet above them. They circled around each other’s surfaces at differing angles. At the same time as Bev and Lika levitated over to Zem and Panny, Til and Pam also levitated over to Mav and San. When Til reached Mav, Til and Mav enthusiastically embraced each other with tearful emotion. San and Pam also flew above them doing the same thing Pim and Mim were doing.
After a couple minutes of this, I had regained some control. Sue said tearfully, “Are you alright darling?” I parted from Sue enough for us to look into each other’s emotion wracked faces. The wind was blowing the tears away that fell from our chins. I said with emotional love, “Oh darling. I’m not really sure what happened. Seeing you so happy. And thinking of the kind of life you deserved on earth that I may not have been able to provide. And all this could so easily have not happened at all.” Sue said with emotional love, “As long as we have each other now darling.” We then kissed each other with enough loving tenderness as to make the gods weep. After a few extended moments of this, we parted our kiss and embraced again. Sue said in a tender, loving voice, “Your love will always be safe with me darling.” I said, “Oh darling!” We then kissed with a slightly uncomfortable firmness. But it was still so wonderful, it was beyond description. After about thirty seconds, we fully embraced again. I then said emotionally into Sue’s ear, “All that matters is that we’re safe and I’ll love you forever!”
Sue squeezed me so hard that her strength astonished me. I squeezed Sue so hard I was afraid I might break something. As I did so, I said, “My darling love!” After another few extended moments, I relaxed my grip on Sue. Sue also held onto me less tightly. Then I said, “Tell me again you’re really my wife darling.” Sue said, “I’ll be your wife forever and ever my darling!” Sue gave me about five kisses around the side of my head before fully embracing me again. We continued to lovingly embrace each other as the houks continued to fly toward the mountain. After a few more minutes had passed, Sue and I again kissed. Afterwards, we just looked at each other with tearful, loving, emotional looks. There was no need to say anything else. The love in our eyes spoke volumes. And seeing such love on Sue’s astonishingly beautiful face was more magnificent than the incredible scenery around us. Zem and Bev and Til and Mav had already come out of their emotional state. Though they were still looking at their partners with loving looks.
My little breakdown had apparently caused much love to pass between them also. Which no doubt pleased them greatly. We flew along for a number of minutes as we all took great pleasure in caressing and looking at our partners with loving looks. Occasionally exchanging loving, tender kisses. Zem was the first to speak. He grinned at Bev and turned his grin over to Sue and I. I heard his thoughts again, saying, “You see what you’ve done. Now Bev is going to demand that I pleasure her when we get back.” This caused us all to laugh heartily. Except for Bev. Bev got a shocked look on her face and said plaintively, “Zem!” Then Bev slapped Zem on his shoulder. Mav said, “I think we’re both goners now!” Sue and I briefly buried our faces into each other’s shoulders and laughed. Til said plaintively to Mav, “Mav!” Zem said to Bev, “Sorry darling. You know I’m only kidding. Will you forgive me?” Bev’s slightly miffed expression lessened as she said, “Just watch yourself.” Zem then gave Bev a loving kiss. Referring to any possible molestation Til might do, Til looked at Mav and said, “You know you love it.”
Mav gave Til a tender, loving smile and said with a thought just dripping with loving sincerity, “You know I do my love.” This caused Til to grin widely and look at Mav with happiness splashed across her face. Mav looked at Til in the same way. Then Mav and Til kissed each other. Sue and I grinned at each other with happiness written across our faces. Then Sue and I kissed each other too. After about a minute, we began to part our kisses from our partners. We all continued to lovingly look at and caress our partners after parting. I thought to everybody, saying, “I’m sorry about what happened. I don’t really know what came over me.” Zem answered and said with a lot of kindness in his thought, “Things have been moving pretty fast for you two. Even though you hadn’t experienced anything traumatic like real battle back on earth, I would say part of it was a sort of post traumatic stress thing. But it isn’t anything to be ashamed of or even worry about over analyzing. Believe me, you’re just fine.” Sue smiled lovingly at me and said telepathically, “You sure are darling.” I smiled lovingly at Sue and said in the same manner, “I love you so much my wife.”
This caused Sue and I to embrace again. Sue said, “I love you so much too my darling husband.” This caused me again to tightly embrace Sue. Though not as tightly as before. Sue also tightly embraced me back. Again, the feeling of this loving, wonderful being that I held in my arms was almost too much to bear. I said verbally into Sue’s ear, “I still have trouble believing that I deserve somebody as wonderful as you.” Sue said lovingly and verbally into my ear, “I’m the lucky one my love.” I nuzzled my cheek against Sue’s. Which Sue did likewise with me. Both of us of course had our eyes lightly closed with loving expressions on our faces. After a few moments of this, I pulled back a little to look into Sue’s sweet, loving face. I gave Sue a serious yet loving look and said, “I pledge my life to making your existence as wonderful as possible my love.” Sue’s face took on an emotional look and she said, “Oh darling!” We then kissed each other passionately. After a few minutes of this, we again tightly embraced each other.
As we embraced, I said into Sue’s ear, “Someday you’re going to catch a cold or something. And I can’t wait.” Sue giggled a little and we parted enough to look each other’s amused, loving faces. As we both grinned at each other, Sue said, “Why would you want me to get sick.” I said, “So I can baby, pamper and comfort the hell out of you until you get better.” Sue expression again turned to an emotional, loving one and she hugged me tightly. Then Sue said in an emotional voice, “If you’re a dream my love, I never want to wake up.” As I hugged Sue back, I said, “I’ll never let you wake up darling. Never.” As Sue and I embraced, Mav’s thoughts came through and said, “I hate to break things up, but we’re going to turn again. We had better get back to flying.” Sue and I parted and smiled lovingly at each other. We briefly but passionately kissed each other before again looking into each other’s blissful faces. Then we laid next to each other and positioned ourselves evenly on the back of our houk. Sue and I were laying on our houk basically the same way that the other’s were. Both Sue and I had our shoulders leaning against each other’s with those arms around each other’s backs. With our other arms, we propped ourselves up on an elbow and held a handful of fur. We had our outer legs slightly off to the side for balance. I had my ankle slightly over Sue’s lower calf. Zem and Bev were of course laying on their houk the same way. Panny and Lika were laying next to each other just under the propped up upper portions of Zem and Bev’s upper bodies. Both Panny and Lika held handfuls of fur as they happily looked around. As we had been flying, our houks continued to gain elevation. We were only about two hundred feet from the mountain at this elevation. As Mav’s houk started to turn to the right, I thought to Mav, saying, “The houks aren’t going to have any trouble with two of us on them are they.” The houk Til had been riding was turning at this point. No doubt the rest of our houks would follow. Mav answered and said, “Not really. They’re strong flyers. Besides, we’re catching some good updrafts now.” Our houks were indeed gaining some more altitude as they turned. The tree line must have been about seven hundred feet below us. The mountain was rocky here. Above us a few thousand feet or so, it was icy and snowy.
Mav’s houk, followed by the others, continued to turn to the right. Sue and I briefly but happily grinned at each other before returning our gaze back to the amazing scenery. I thought to Sue, “Are you cold sweetheart.” Sue smiled at me and said, “A little honey. But I’m ok.” Bev said, “I’m a little chilly too.” Bev had good reason to be chilly. Because some of Bev’s top was a latticework of strips of fabric with open squares as wide as the strips of fabric. Bev then said, “But we can fix that.” Our Nal separated and formed a smaller spheres next to them. These smaller spheres came down to us and formed jackets on us. The jackets remained the same colors as the Nal had been. Bev wore a yellow Mim jacket. Zem wore a orange Pim jacket. Mav wore a red San jacket. Til wore a blue Pam jacket. Sue wore a deep purple Sas jacket and I wore a green Tal jacket. Bev said, “There. How’s that.” Sue said, “Just great. Thank you.” Then Sue smiled at the slightly smaller Sas sphere and caressed her jacket. Sue then said, “And thank you Sas.” Sas said, “Happy to be of service.” Tal added, “As always.”
I smiled at Tal and said, “You guys are just great.” Tal said, “Thank you.” Sue and I then smiled briefly at each other. Then we went back to enjoying our flight. As our houks continued to circle and gain altitude, the view was just beautiful. We of course were all wearing smiles. As we made a couple more circles. Our houks didn’t need to flap their wings much. Though the ones carrying two people did a bit more frequently. Mav then said, “We’ll be landing soon.” I said, “Where are we going to land.” Mav said, “Do you see that ledge up there?” We all looked about a hundred feet up the mountain. There was a precarious looking long narrow ledge. I said, “There doesn’t seem to be much room.” Mav said, “There’s enough.” Sue and I looked at each other a little nervously. But Mav had to know what he was doing. Our houks made a couple more turns and started heading toward the cliff face. Mav said, “Everybody hang on.”
Our houks went toward the cliff face and started flapping their wings a little more as we slowed. It appeared that the houks weren’t going to land on the ledge, but on the wall of rock that rose up from it. The houks started landing on the cliff face. Expertly digging claws onto various cracks and small ragged ledges of rock. They all were making various calls after they landed. Sue said in an audible voice loud enough for everybody to hear, “That was fun.” Zem, Bev, Mav and Til started to slide themselves off of their houks. No doubt they could have just levitated down. But this was probably more fun to them. Sue and I did as they did. We simply grabbed handfuls of fur kind of like we might grab rungs of a ladder and lowered ourselves to the ledge. Panny and Lika headed in the other direction. Apparently they wanted to climb around on the cliff face as well. We all came to stand on the ledge that was, on average, fifteen feet wide. It seemed a lot safer looking from this vantage point. Sue and I briefly looked at each other with wide, happy grins. At the same time, our houks moved on the cliff face closer to each other.
Sue and I looked at them do so for a moment. It was interesting how easily they did it. Then Sue and I turned our grins to Zem and Bev as we put an arm around each other’s lower backs. Sue and I walked hurriedly toward them. Zem and Bev grinned at Sue and I. Mav and Til also walked toward Zem and Bev with grins on their faces. Sue and I went up to Zem and Bev and we both gave them a bit of a hug. Though Sue gave Bev a kiss on her cheek first. After parting, Sue said with a joyful voice, “Oh Bev! It’s so wonderful!” I then said to Zem, “You’re wonderful too!” Bev said as Zem patted me on the shoulder, “I guess we just can’t help it. But I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” We all continued to grin as Mav said, “Don’t forget who’s houks they are.” This made us all laugh a little. Sue and I quickly stepped over to them. Sue and I then gave them a bit of a hug too. But again, Sue gave Til a kiss on her cheek first. As we hugged, Sue said to Til, “You’re both wonderful too!” I said, “Really wonderful!” Til said, “Thank you. You’re so sweet.” We parted and grinned