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Amber face, are you awake, luv?
She opened her eyes and quickly took in the both of them. Hello,
Mudge.
A sweet, seductive voice, Jon-Tom thought, one that curled around
each vowel as slickly as an otter would curl around a fish; toying with it,
playing with it before finally devouring it. He was conscious of bottomless
black eyes studying him intently. This must be the friend you spoke of. She
half twisted, half jumped out of the deck chair, gave one leg a final shake.
Water droplets sparkled in the air.
Come now, tall man, bend down and give us a kiss. Jon-Tom
glanced uncertainly at his companion, only to find Mudge grinning back at him.
So he bent over and tried to bestow a quick peck on one furry cheek. Much too
fast for him, she turned and treated him to a full otterish buss on the lips,
which consisted of a rapid-fire series of wet bewhis-kered smacks smelling
vaguely of mackerel. Contact with a cold black nose completed the
extraordinary sensation, not unlike having one s mouth attacked by a fishy
jackhammer.
She pulled back and cocked her head sideways at him. He s shy.
You didn t say he was shy.
E s married an a spellsinger an e s from another world. Wot
did you expect, luv? Normalcy?
Not from a spellsinger.
Straightforward as an arrow, Jon-Tom thought, shifting
uncomfortably under that uncompromising stare. Otters were not a subtle race.
He watched as she reached over to muss the fur on Mudge s forehead just below
the brim of his green cap. Diaphanous material swirled around her lithesome
form and her fur gleamed like brass in the midday sun.
So you re his best friend? Jon-Tom glanced at Mudge in surprise.
The otter shrugged.
Well, for want o a better choice. Anyway, you re ere.
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That sounds more like it, he said.
What am I to make of your companion, Jon-Tom? He s been trying to
get me into bed with him from the moment we met. Do you think I should?
Ah, hey now, friends, I that is... He stopped stammering when he
saw they were both grinning at him. Mudge put an arm around her and she didn t
resist or pull away.
She s just teasin you, mate. You ought to know otters that well
by now. We took care o that little detail right away.
Yes, and we have a lot of work to do to get it right, she added
pleasantly.
Uh huh. Swell meeting you, Weegee. Now if the two of you will
excuse me, I have an appointment to make a fool of myself somewhere else.
Don t do it here, she chided him. I m sorry if I embarrassed
you. Mudge said you were easily embarrassed and I wanted to find out for
myself. Now come and sit down. She grabbed his arm and practically yanked him
into the empty deck chair next to hers, sat down and crossed her short legs
over her lower torso, the latter a spine-destroying trick that only someone
with the backbone of an otter could manage.
Now then: tell me all about yourself.
Jon-Tom flicked his gaze sideways. Hasn t Mudge done that
already.
Yes, but I ve known Fastfingers long enough to realize that in
addition to his many talents he is also an incorrigible liar. So tell me about
yourself, and about him, and about anything else you think I might be
interested in. I m all ears. She wiggled the short brown ones atop her head.
Mudge says that you re as trustworthy, honest and open as you are naive and
ignorant.
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I see. He looked up at his companion, who had suddenly found
something of interest to study in the water below. I d be glad to. When I
first found Mudge and dragged him from the gutter in Lynchbany where he was
lying in a drunken stupor....
The otter s outraged bark echoed throughout the ship.
As the days passed Jon-Tom rarely saw Mudge far from Weegee s
side. The more they talked, the better he liked her. She was one of those rare
otters whose sense of playfulness and joie de vivre did not prevent her from
functioning effectively in an urban context. Most otters didn t have the
patience to make a go of it in the world of commerce.
She found the stories of their travels and adventures fascinating.
Who wouldn t, considering what he and Mudge had been through this past year?
And when the otter s embroidery grew too elaborate, Jon-Tom was always there
to inject a dose of reality into his companion s narcissistic fantasies.
He was delighted to see that Mudge s feelings for her were being
reciprocated and that what he initially viewed as a typical shipboard romance
was ripening into something deeper and more substantial. He was quite prepared
to lose a traveling companion to true love. Mudge had never been thrilled
about galavanting around with the spellsinger anyway.
For his part, in spite of all the trouble Mudge had caused him in
the past, Jon-Tom was quite fond of the irrepressible otter. Weegee might be
strong enough and stable enough to settle him. Mudge needed that kind of
influence if he was to see middle age. Nor did Jon-Tom have to build the otter
up in Weegee s eyes. Mudge did quite a good job of that all by himself, and
Weegee was sensible and perceptive enough to discard ninety-five percent of
everything her paramour said. The remaining five percent was remarkable
enough, if only Mudge would realize it.
It was a pleasure to watch their relationship grow, to witness the
change in Mudge from indifferent seducer to protective companion. To see him
finally mature a little from drunken carouser into a thoughtful, attentive
being. Until one day hopes new and old were shattered at a single stroke.
The alarm rang at night when all of the passengers and most of the
crew were asleep. It was only through the courage and alertness of one of the
night watch, a brave little aye-aye with an outsize voice, that the warning
was given at all and utter disaster thereby averted.
At the first clang of the alarm bell Mudge was out of bed and
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donning clothes and weapons. Jon-Tom was still struggling with his pants when
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