Subject: Grail: "Unexplored Spaces" - 'Leaving the Jungle'

Tifa sat up and gave Logan Castle an angry glare. He had beaten her

on her own turf. She wanted to rip out his throat. 'Relax Tifa,' an

inner voice told her, 'he beat you fair and square. You can only blame

yourself and you know it.' Tifa relaxed a little.

"By the way," said Castle, "What happened to your uniform?"

Tifa looked down at herself and remembered how she had ripped it off

in anger when Castle had ambushed her at the ditch. Her light brown fur

was matted and full of mud, leaves and small branches. She was a mess.

She then looked over at Logan. The Lt. was also covered in mud and sweat

and was breathing heavily. He was also a mess. Tifa laughed. She could

see what her mother had seen in him. He had a good-looking, bad-boy face

and, now that she saw him without his uniform shirt, a good-looking,

bad-boy body.

"I guess I lost it somewherrre..." she said, still smiling.

"What's so funny?" Castle asked, intrigued.

Tifa laughed again.

"You don't remember me, do you?" she said as she got up. She began

walking toward the nearby pool of water. "We met a long time ago..." she

added before diving in.

Logan Castle stood at the pools edge and watched the nude young

Caitan swim. She taunted his memory, but he was distracted by her

sensuality. She reminded him very much of the only other Caitan he had

ever known. In fact, he could say there was something of a family

resemb....

"You're the little girl.", Castle almost whispered in a shock of

remembrance. "You're the little girl that followed me around that

night."

"Not so little anymore.", she said before nosing down into the

water, her legs stretching straight up, then sliding after her into the

water with barely a ripple.

"Not so little anymore.", Castle whispered with a sigh.

His first impulse was to strip off the rest of his uniform and join

her. But, he stopped himself. On too many levels it seemed wrong. She

being a junior officer under him.... under his command, he corrected his

own lewd mind, not the least of them.

And there were other reasons.

"How is your mother, Tifa?", he asked. There was as much genuine

concern in his voice as there was relief that he could think of

something to say.

Tifa climbed out of the pool on the other side. What was she

thinking, flirting with him? Castle wasn't going to join her in the

water, as her superior he couldn't. Then why had she thought he might...

because of the childhood image she had of him with her mother? Because

of all the good things her mother had told her about him? Getting on all

four, she shook off the excess water from her fur. Over the years, she

had idealized that childhood image, and now that she had him before her,

she had wanted to fufill her childhood fantasies. 'Grow up Tifa,' she

told herself, 'He's just a man like any other.' However, the man that

had just beat her at her own game didn't seem that different than her

chilhood image.

"She is still one of the most popularrr hostesses on Rysa. You

know, she always hoped you'd come back for a few days. She verrry much

enjoyed your stay." she said.

Castle looked at the young woman and nodded with a sad smile. "I

wanted to go back one day, but... " It seemed as if he wanted to

continue, but something was holding him back.

"She liked the man I was before I left for the Galorndon Core.", he

looked away from her, to the trees. "The man I became was too ashamed to

look her in the eyes again." The silence that followed was a heavy and

dark thing.

"We should head back." Tifa finally said, breaking the silence, "I

need to get a new uniform and I still have some work to do before the

end of the shift." "Computerrr, end prrrogram."

The holographic jungle and pool disappeared, replaced by the black

tiles of the holodeck. A few steps from them, on the floor, laid the

remains of Tifa's Starfleet uniform. The Caitan picked up her commbadge

and the clothing shreds while Castle picked up his own uniform shirt.

Then they both left the holodeck in silence.