Were to Start

Part 4

Emily's parents were easy to talk into staying through the weekend. They loved invites whenever we offered, it wasn't far from West Palm, so they'd get here shortly after they left. We just hoped they wouldn't freak out. My folks, not so easy. Dad had a Saturday tee time and didn't want to cancel it. I had to pull my trump card and get my mother on the phone. When I told her it was necessary to come through the weekend, she wanted to know why. We are moving to Brazil got her motivated, and she told Dad he could golf any of the three hundred and sixty-four other days of the year. He tried using the four days that they'd be visiting from Delray Beach as four less, so only three hundred and sixty, it didn't work for him.

They showed up within minutes of each other, no idea how they timed that. Both fathers were oblivious, but both of our mothers commented on our eyes. We explained that it was the reason they were here. My mother gave me one of her reproachful looks, essentially telling me that if Dad cancelled his tee time because my eyes changed, she was going to be very disappointed that they were here under false pretences. What could I do, 'It's a lot more complicated Mother, but we'll get to that in a bit.' I thought to her. Emily heard it too, but I intended her to. She smiled as my mother's eyes grew in their sockets.

After we'd all eaten, and well I might add, with meat from the side of beef, we retired to the living room. All four parents wanted to know what was going on, and when we had decided we were moving to Brazil. I guess Emily's parents didn't get that much information before then, because they seemed really shocked at that part of it. It took a while to explain it to them, as they kept interrupting how we came to our decision.

Dad was mad that he had cancelled a tee time on a farfetched story, so we told them to sleep on it, and not be surprised if he woke up with a jaguar or a leopard staring at him. I didn't think I needed to say anything like that to mom, because she'd already heard me telepathically. We got funny looks from all four parents as Steve and I pulled a large amount of meat out of the freezer to put in the refrigerator to thaw. Steve informed them it was for lunch tomorrow. Dad was just shaking his head as they went to bed for the night. Mom passed the carpeted room and commented on it, so we told her that's where we sleep on nights that a change is likely.

Marcos and I woke before dawn, and slipped out back. We had some business to do that isn't something you'd want to see. Once we answered natures call, we went back inside. I guess the handicap triggers are noisier than we realized, because all of the parents were in the dining room when we walked back in. Fear was gripping them and holding on tightly.

'Moms, Dads, calm down, it's us, Jason and Emily,' I told them. 'Although in this form, we are Marcos and Bianca.' Our mothers recognized our Latin versions of our names. They calmed down much faster than the dads did.

We sat down in the pose you see many cats doing when they are preening, it really felt narcissistic. "Oh my! You two sure are beautiful like that," my mother said.

"They certainly are," Marcos' mother agreed.

"Which of you is Bianca?" my mother asked.

When I moved to her and resumed my sitting position, she reached to stroke my head. "That's rather daring Diane." Marcos mother said.

"Alice, it's wonderful, her coat is so soft and smooth," my mother told her.

That was about the time Steve and Leann came out of our bedroom. The dads were more shocked at that than our mothers, I guess they didn't realize the rooms were all in use, and we'd slept upstairs in the carpeted room.

Steve and Leann made breakfast for everyone except us, we'd eat a bit later. That got questioning looks until we explained they probably didn't want to watch us eat if they wanted to keep their appetites. After breakfast, Steve got a tee time for himself and our fathers, so they were gone most of the morning.

While they were gone, we sat with our mothers and explained more about the dreams and the draw to go back to Brazil. We wanted them to understand how we interpreted the dreams as essentially a calling from the rainforest. We also explained that we had some things that needed to be taken care of first, and that our goal was six to nine months that we'd aim for.

When they asked what we were planning to do, we went into greater detail. They agreed wholeheartedly that really concentrating on learning Portuguese was probably for the best. There was some mild concern as we let them know about the different kinds of combat training we wanted to get into, as well as archery. We had to tell them in-depth about the poachers, as the attackers on the tourists.

There were smiles and tears, and happiness and concern for us. The most emotional we saw them was when we told them of the cubs that we'd both seen. That alone was what I think settled it for them. We knew they'd be down to visit as often as possible. It was going to be one of those battles of wills with my father, but my mother-in-law ensured us that it wouldn't be that way with Marcos father.

While Leann was making lunch, Steve brought our fathers back. Steve took the remaining thawed meat, beyond what the rest of them were eating and put it in a turkey pan, setting that out on the patio deck for Marcos and I. The others ate inside, while we ate outside. We took the time to clean each other up before going back into the house.

"Those handicap switches are a great idea," Marcos father said. "What do you think Stan?"

"Lee, we have some pretty smart kids," Dad replied. "It's no wonder they thought of that, I saw one by the back gate too."

Leann laughed, turning all heads to her. "You didn't see the other one did you?" she asked. at the shaking of heads she said, "There's one for the um.... litter box" Steve, myself and Marcos thought it was hilarious, but our parents were shaking their heads.

"Still creepy," said Steve. "When they laugh in those predatory forms, it's kind of scary" he told our parents.

Saturday rolled around, we woke up in our Latin identities. If Dad was having trouble with our cat forms, he really had trouble seeing his other daughter. Mom, Alice and Lee were quite liking the change. It took most of the morning to get Dad to understand that the jaguar was my new natural form, and that natural was now female. So Bianca is the human form of my jaguar.

We spent Saturday and Sunday entertaining our parents, so they had as much time to get used to the new us as possible. We would be inviting them back over the next six to nine months to spend as much time as possible with Marcos and Bianca, while we were working on Portuguese, martial arts, archery, and anything else we felt we needed to learn before moving.

Over the next six months we had become proficient in the language, and archery, but we excelled in the martial arts. We hadn't decided if we were going to sell the house, so we made sure Leann had a current power of attorney. We had a real estate agent find us a piece of property that had some dwellings on it a couple hours west of Manaus. It was less than half an hour from the shrine by car, so as the jaguar and leopard, it wouldn't take long to make the trek.

We had Leann put anything over one hundred thousand into investments for us. We wanted access to money if we needed it, but it wouldn't be necessary to have all of our money free. Some of it may as well be working for us, and our kids when we had them. We could always let her know if we needed more available.

The new house was really no more than a hut. It had a couple of rooms, water was from a well, and no electricity. If we needed any modern comforts, we'd have to go to a motel, or at least spend some time in a nearby town. It wasn't something we were worried about, as we planned on spending most of our time as the cats.

We left most of our stuff in Stuart, and just took some luggage to Brazil. If we needed something shipped then Leann would send it to us once we got settled in. We left Jason and Emily's legal documents with her as well. It would be difficult to explain to customs officers why we had them in our possession. Mailing them at a later date would be much easier, as they could come in a package.

The Uber dropped us off at the hut, where we found a couple of dressers with some rudimentary drawers. As we mainly just brought active wear, we didn't need much else. That first night we fell asleep thinking of the cats.

Waking in the morning, the wanton desire to be mounted was stronger than it had ever been. Marcos was laying with his head on top of his crossed front paws. As much as we wanted to mate, we decided to put it on the back burner for the time being. We really needed to get to know the rainforests around us, and being pregnant wasn't the way I wanted to learn it.

First on the agenda was to visit the shrine. We had no problem finding it, we were essentially being called there. We kept alert of our surroundings, knowing that there were poachers, we didn't want to walk into one of their traps. Not being in a hurry, so that we could be careful, it took just over an hour and a half to get there, though with only the sun to indicate time, that could be a bit off.

Walking through the archway, we got a feeling that it was exactly where we should be. We walked past the statues of the cats that caused our transformations to The Altar. Putting our front paws on the altar, we got a intense sense that it was something we should have done all those months ago. All kinds of information was flooded into our minds, everything from the balance of life forms in the rainforest, to mating, to threats like poachers.

One of the more interesting things that we found out is we can now change to human on demand. We could instantly change into any of the cats in the Panthera genus now. If we wanted to, we could also change to several of the lesser cats, such as the cheetah, lynx, bobcats and wildcats. We decided that we needed to have our bows and quivers on us when we changed into any of the cat forms, so if we came out of the form, they'd be ready.

In about a month's time, we'd become very familiar with our rainforest. The last guardians of the rainforest, according to what we learned from The Altar, had been gone for twenty years, and humans were making themselves too comfortable. We spent a lot of time at The Altar, we were learning more of the rainforest, the ecology, and tactics we could use to help push out the poachers and other such trespasser.

Nearly two months after we'd returned and started learning what we needed as the protectors, we heard a car pulling up near the archway. This was the first time one had stopped while we were at the shrine. We could tell by the sounds that reached our exceptional hearing Luiz was taking clients around, and this was one of his stops. It seemed odd that we hadn't had our cubs yet, but the two of us were really all that was needed for this.

We knew what was going to happen, and started running towards the archway. The thugs were already getting out of their car and surrounding Luiz and his clients when we cleared the entrance to the shrine. The scene played out exactly as it had in our dream. The only noticeable difference was the stench of fear, and loss of bodily fluids of the robbers.

Luiz and his clients looked at us, our eyes put Luiz at ease. "Dear Lord, thank you two for coming when you did."

We decided to make a change, one that hadn't been an option in the dream at that point. We transformed into our Latin human forms. "Luiz, come inside, and bring your guests along. I would recommend not touching anything while you are here though." Luiz and his two clients, not dissimilar to Jason and Emily followed us into the shrine.

The awe on their faces was immediate and long lasting. "First time in Luiz?" Marcos asked him.

"Yes, I've driven many people here over the years, but have stayed out due to the reports of things happening," he replied. "Are you the couple from Florida, you don't look anything like them."

"We are," Marcos said. "But I was Emily, and Bianca was Jason. We took the spirit of the cats we were touching, and were drawn back after our first full change. We knew you would be bringing clients here, and that you would be attacked, so we have been here at The Altar, learning everything it has to teach it's protectors."

"We also knew you would not be harmed," I told him. "We had a dream, at the same time, the same exact dream, where we first saw these forms. Both of us got the sense or feeling that it was us being called back to protect the rainforests, and today just proves it to us."

"The fur looks so real," the female client said as she was inspecting a statue.

"It feels real too, but you don't want to touch it," I told her. "If you do, you'll have just enough time to make it home before you become a lynx, and that one will not allow you to change back."

There was some more small talk, and pictures with each of us in our cat forms. We taught Luiz to reach us telepathically, so he could give us a heads up if he was bringing someone this way. Apparently if we weren't going to be at the shrine, he would not get out of the car. If we were, he was invited to bring his clients as long as they agreed not to touch anything.

Six months after Luiz' first visit, we got to meet the poachers, this time we didn't try to deviate from what we saw in the dream. We wanted to make sure people knew poaching would be a death sentence. Luiz did bring clients quite often, many times he had to skip the shrine as he felt his clients couldn't be trusted. There were however, several that he brought to meet us, and were wonderful to talk to.

Just before the two year mark, we had our first litter. The Altar told us not to change forms at all until the cubs were not longer treating me as a vending machine. Marcos was great at hunting for the family. When I could finally change back to human, I was instructed to bring the cubs to The Altar. With all of us at The Altar I could change back to human and the young would change when I did, until they were old enough to be on their own. Two cubs in the first litter, and two more in the second.

Our parents visited fairly regularly, and Steve and Leann came along quite often. The kids were doted on, but our parents knew that they wouldn't be using toys or clothes much, so it really was just some goodies when they came to visit.

As cubs, they would snub just about anything that wasn't fresh meat or seafood. If they switched to human form, they absolutely loved cake.

We spent fifteen years in Brazil before Leann sold our house, and got something set up for the kids future, but I had a good idea that any fortune we had made from being lawyers, and later investors was going to go to Steve and Leann's two ruffians and their little princess. Our cubs were now full grown protectors of the rainforest.

The Alter had educated our children, and let them know it was time to switch to human form to find a mate. If they found someone worthy, The Alter would let them know, their mate would be enlightened and directed to the right statue to make the change. All four had found mates to help them protect the rainforest.

It wasn't long before The Altar let us know we would soon be grandparents. The rainforest was going to be well protected.

The End.