Ray and Gentle had been kept up to date as best possible and that include Hands being sent to help Toes, *Gentle I think it might be a good time for another interview. I am going to have Nose come over and do another one. This time I want your pups as well as Flitter's with us. We can have Vyra and Gerdal as well.* He was figuring the more they could make most of Pack Zorg look like innocents the better.

Gentle was nursing Butterfly currently and considered what he had to say, *It is hard to admit that most are innocent but you are right. It would be like defining my former pack based on the actions of my Dame. It would be wrong. Mind you I still want to rip the hide off someone but that is a very good idea. Set it up and we will go with it. Even better do it in the Den and have much of the pack there.*

Ray had to tug on his whiskers and then grimaced, "I am so not used to having this type of whiskers. I have to admit it is nice not to have to worry about shaving through." After shaking his head, he contacted Nose and then the pack and set things in motion, "Since it is close to a meal time I am going to do a meal and let them see us relaxing as best possible. If it works out I will have Toes contact us and maybe do something from there."

Gentle leaned over and nuzzled his hair as she kept feeding Flitter's baby, "Sounds good and that is a very good idea. With Hands and his pack helping Toes we won't have to involve him." She really wasn't sure since she didn't know the dynamic of the other pack other than it was damaged. Gentle was still very upset with that pack but she was trying to keep it under control.

Ray leaned into the nuzzle before turning and pressing his muzzle against hers and giving her a soft kiss, "Love you lady. I will be back soon." He stood and went to take care of some things.

~~~

When Nose arrived at the property one of the pack showed her to the Den. When they walked in she had to stop, as best she could tell all the pack and pups were there. She gave Ray an odd look, "You had said you wanted to an interview?" It was obvious she was feeling rather confused.

Ray stood up and walked over. In his arm was Linc who was sleeping. After giving her a one-armed hug he grinned at her, "I did and I do. We decided a family meal and then an interview would be the best way to do it." He glanced at the camera woman, "Please feel free to film what you wish. All the women have agreed to be filmed." He kept his arm around Nose and led her towards the table he had been sitting at, "We are having a dish from earth which everyone seems to enjoy. Hands made it at one point and it went over quite well."

Dusty snorted at him, "Considering every time it is made it is the first dish finished I would say it went over beyond quite well. She leaned against Gerdal as she was speaking. One hand was playing with her mating necklace. He had asked her not long ago and she had been so pleased. They hadn't made a huge deal out of his asking but it had gotten around. All the females had quietly congratulated them. It had also given the pack more stability, which they still needed. It was far better than when Ray had initially arrived but they were still dealing with a few side effects.

Gerdal was holding her baby and he was smiling, "It is some very good food, I know I love it. I try to avoid it since I don't want to get fat and lose my manly figure." He grunted slightly when Dusty gently elbowed him in the side.

Ray rolled his eyes at them, "Ignore the lovebirds. Gerdal just recently asked Dusty to be his mate. They have been all gooey and mushy for the last couple days." He ended up grunting as well since Gentle elbowed him as well, "Not feeling the love woman. Just remember I have a box of dog bones now." He had sent for a small box just to tease the females.

Daisy snorted, "Not anymore. Those things weren't bad." She had actually hidden them and left the empty box sitting on the counter.

Nose glanced between the two and then sighed, "I am not sure I can deal with this. Jokes about dog bones from earth? What sort of dog are they from and what is a dog?" She hadn't seen the documentary.

Everyone stared at her in both shock and horror for a moment before they burst out laughing. Ray was trying not to laugh as well though it was hard, "Ah, dogs are what we call pets. Dog bones aren't from dogs but are fed to dogs as a treat." He was grinning as he was talking, "Now the food is ready so why don't we eat?"

Ray had Nose settle down next to him and Gentle. Once she was seated she gave him a confused look, "Can you please explain further about these dog bones? I have no idea what you even vaguely talking about." The people bones were still mostly a Dawn of Hope item and hadn't made it much further than one or two of the nearest cities.

Before Ray even spoke Gentle bopped him, "I will tell her since I know your humor." Just for good measure she clicked her teeth at him and growled. She called up and image of a wolf and one type of dog, "There is a documentary about earth which was done a while back. Humans have what they call pets. It is an animal which is used to living amongst humans. In this case, we have features which vaguely resemble dogs such as the muzzle, ears, and tail. We are not biologically similar at all though. For these dog pets, they have a treat called a dog bone." She called up another image of a box of dog bones, "They are designed to somewhat resemble a bone hence the name dog bone. When we came here at one point one of our pack member's mother came over. She brought with her some cookies which we started calling cookie-bones at first. They quickly became known as people bones since she said she had made them to look like dog bones. The people bit is simply to indicate the idea came from the people of earth."

Ray was snickering at Gentles rather acerbic tone as she was talking. As she was talking she noticed Birdy almost in stitches as well. They traded looks and they started snickering even harder. Once Gentle was done Ray had to make one comment, "I would like to say even the Goddess likes them. Once she was past the part of thinking Hands was offering her part of a human leg that is." Birdy collapsed on Breezy when he mentioned that.

Gentle growled at him even more before relaxing, "But anyways that is the story of People bones and they are very good. Now on to the important things, it is time to eat." She leaned over and nipped Ray's closest ear for good measure.

Nose could only stare at Gentle and then Ray before she sighed, "That... is a very interesting story. I am going to have to go and look that documentary up just to watch it now." She took a tray of food and dished some out, "Pack Father would you mind telling us about what you did on Earth? Hands talked some about it but mostly about where he and Misty grew up."

Ray took some food and handed the tray on, "Well I was what we called a Doctor for pets. I did look it up at one point and the closet here would be something along the lines of a wildlife specialist on Folicia. I worked with..." They talked for a while as they ate.

Towards the end of lunch one of the ladies came up with both Linc and Butterfly since they were starting to fuss. Ray took Butterfly and held her while Gentle started feeding Linc, "Before you even bother asking this beautiful little girl is Butterfly and Flitter and I are her parents. Gentle is feeding Linc who is also Flitter and my pup." He was holding her so that her face could be seen by the camera.

Nose tentatively reached over and after Ray nodded stroked her face, "She is beautiful and takes after both of you. I have seen images of Flitter and Butterfly is as pretty as Flitter." Nose chose not to mention anything about Flitter having been called back. When Ray offered to allow Nose hold Butterfly she was very pleased and carefully took her from him, "She is so darling and such beautiful eyes."

Ray helped her take the baby and leaned over so he was looking down at Butterfly, "She reminds me so much of her Dame. Linc has more of me in him I think." Talking about Flitter and their pups did make him sad but nothing like when she had first died. A few minutes later Gentle nudged him and swapped Linc for Butterfly. He let Nose hold Linc as well.

They talked for a while longer before Ray closed things up. He had considered contacting Toes and Hands but had decided not to. It simply wasn't a good idea since they were so stressed, "Thank you for coming over Nose and before you do the broadcast I would like to see the edited footage." After she agreed he showed her and her camera woman out of the house, *I am going to soak for a while. I am feeling tense from talking about Flitter and our pups. I am not upset but it brought back memories.* He felt Gentle and Vyra acknowledge his sending even as he stripped down and walked into the water. When Birdy and Breezy joined him he leaned against Birdy and felt Breezy leaning against his back.

~~~

By the end of the day Sees Clearly had been forced to call in even more of her priestesses. In this case, she hadn't had a choice. Between the Peace Forcers and the Priestesses and several of the Solicitors they had made good headway on the various data chips they had. There was at least another good day of work before they were done but she could almost see the end of the tunnel, "Goddess I have a headache. I am going to take a long bath and relax. Anyone want a drink and some relaxed commiseration?"

The others groaned as well, "The drink sounds great but not sure where we could all soak in some warm water with some salts in them." That was one of the Peace Forcers.

"I know of somewhere if we don't discuss this issue, we can head to my temple and soak our tails until they are almost limp with relaxation." Sees Clearly stood up and after a good stretch wrapped an arm around Cienna, "You and your other Liraque are invited as well." With a yawn, most of them walked out of the room in the warehouse and headed to the temple. As of now all the ones in custody were at the central jail in individual cells on a suicide watch. Since Dawn of Hope was the central city, her temple was located there. Dark Sky's was in a different city since his God hadn't wanted to move.

All the data chips were secured well before they walked out and one of the Peace Forcers had a heavy briefcase with the chips in it. She would be following the senior priestess until this was over. There were several others who were surrounding her as well. As of now nobody was taking chances of a rogue Zorg member doing something stupid. That wasn't what they needed.

~~~

It had taken close to two days to go through all the data they had recovered from the implants and interviews. Sees Clearly leaned back and she was glaring at the graphics on the wall. All the data had been processed by the Peace Forcer techs, the computers, and her priestesses. Now they had a much better idea of what had happened and how it had developed. What had happened wasn't completely documented. It was a conspiracy going back many decades. It had started when the last known pack father had grown senile. There hadn't been any young pack fathers sired and this had forced the Matriarchs and senior females to take over.

Originally it had been a necessity. They had to take over to keep the pack running. Several other packs had done much the same as the male population had declined including the number of pack fathers. In their case, they had chosen not to make this fact known. Several of the other packs had made it known and fallen on hard times. Not having a pack father to run a pack was damaging and even if the pack eventually recovered it was never quite the same. It would only make it better when a new pack father was born and grew into his powers.

Since they had hidden the fact they didn't have a pack father it slowly, over several decades, made the senior females feel one wasn't needed. There were a few hints of some of the oldest members objecting and being sent to a retirement pack house. Once there very little was ever heard of them again. As the ones in charge slowly started to enjoy the power to control the pack, the corruption started getting worse. It was only the top few females but that was all it had taken. As far as the Pack Father in the harem they didn't have any records of him ever having been one. It showed his birth date, sire and dam, and that he was male.

They had also recovered records which hinted at a deliberate narrowing of the access to the world for the harem. Without the records from the central offices of the pack so much was pure speculation. It was obvious to Sees Clearly that the females in charge had implemented a slow progression of limiting training and education for the harem. By the end of the two days Cienna had been forced to cycle several more Liraque through. All of Sees Clearly's priestess had been so worked up it had been a major job keeping their emotions in check. What was so frustrating to Sees Clearly was they were trained to control their emotions so they could do their job.

Now that she was done with the review she leaned back and rubbed her temples, *Dancer I need to come to the temple and update you on what we found. For the moment, I only want you, Golden, your personal Liraque, and Dark Skies. I am going to brief you on what we have found. Tomorrow we are going to need to call together the senior Peace Forcers, Investigators, and solicitors.* Then she was going to get drunk and pass out for the night.

Dancer was still not at her best but she was doing much better than when this happened. Having Golden there with her was really helping her, *I will have Melody organize a light meal for everyone. I have a feeling nobody is going to want anything heavy at the moment. We will be ready when you get here.* She sent Melody a quick note on what they were going to need before she went looking for Golden.

~~~

Misty and the rest of the section she was in staggered into the dining hall and collapsed at the tables. With all the energy as they were using for the time being food was being delivered to the table in large trays. It was to keep them from having to stand in line and falling asleep or dropping a tray. Brolyn was sitting on one side of Misty and stared at the food, "I am almost too tired to even think about eating." She yawned before slowly picking up a cup of warm strong tea. She knew it had plenty of honey in it which she hated. A tiny bit of honey was fine but anything more was to sweet. Brolyn knew she needed the energy so she picked it up, after checking the temp, she slugged it down in one long swallow.

Shadow was sitting across from Brolyn and had to roll her shoulders, "Tell me about it. Somehow even my whiskers are tired." Her ears were drooping down and her tail was hung low. She did much the same with the tea and shuddered. This tea was simply for energy and she found the flavor distasteful.

Misty and Skye simply flopped in the chairs and chugged down the tea. It would keep them awake long enough to eat and get back to the section. At night, all of them were being required to suck down a fair amount of the special tea. It pretty much turned off their senses while they were asleep. It gave them a chance to recover from the usage during the day, "If this keeps up for more than a few more days I don't know if I will be able to handle it. I can feel the strain on my talents. I don't know if it is the same for you or simply because I am still so new to them." As Misty was talking she was piling food on her tray.

Skye did much the same with her tea and piled food on. All of them were starving from the constant usage of their powers. Even though they weren't directly working with the supplicants their powers were still being used. Skye yawned before replying, "Believe me we are all feeling that way. For you some of it is because you are so new. I hope it starts to slow down as well. I am not going to be doing much better if this goes on for very long." All she could hope was that things would back off enough so they didn't have so many people on at one time. If they could start limiting the number of trainee's being used, they might start being able to work in a day off every few days.

Misty wanted to grumble at Skye for yawning since it made her yawn. Instead she simply focused on the food. By the time everyone was done eating they were barely awake. Making it back to their section was a struggle but they did. Once inside they found the special tea already brewed and served. All of them slugged the tea down before stumbling to the pillows scattered around and collapsed and fell asleep.

~~~

While Misty and her friends were trying to get the energy to eat Toes, Singer, Hands, and Savory were talking. Currently they were simply relaxing and the conversation was being held over their implants. Toes was sipping on an ale as they were talking, *Hands, Savory I would like to hear your thoughts on what we might do to help the pack start to recover.*

Hands had one arm wrapped around Savory while Nuzzle was curled up in his lap, *We have talked about this and one thing I would like to do would be to start getting the pups back into class. It is something they would be used to and would hopefully give them a sense of normalcy as much as possible.* He didn't even have the faintest idea what to do for the adults so didn't address that.

Savory was stroking Nuzzle's hair and ears as they were talking, *I agree with that though I think first we need to get someone from the temple over here to evaluate the training. See how it is compared to what is normal.* She could already tell what the pups, and especially the males, was somewhat educationally limited.

Toes took another small sip, *That is not a bad idea. It would also keep them occupied during a good portion of the day. I will contact the senior instructor for the temple. With a number of the classes currently on hold there should be a number of instructors who might be available. Having them tested first is a good idea.* He wanted to know just how bad the training had been.

Hands had to make a slight face at that, *They are going to have my sympathy. Starting the testing at kindergarten was annoying. I would have to say have Dancer and or Golden have a talk with the instructors. I don't want anyone here who is going to look down on the pack simply because the senior females were... Terms I will not use.* Considering he had been forced to talk to his Pack even knowing how gentle and wonderful they were made that very important.

Toes had to make a slight face as well, *Most definitely. The pups are complete innocents in this issue. They should not be and will not be treated as lowlifes or indirectly as criminals.* That idea didn't please him at all.

Singer had to speak, *I definitely agree with that. I know what it is like to be treated as less than a person. I will not see it happening to these pups.* She was forced to turn and tuck her head into Toes' shoulder for a few moments.

They discussed it for a while longer before Toes contacted Dancer and Golden about it. He was received a feeling they really liked that idea. Just for good measure he sent a copy of the conversation to them as well, *They said they