Elizabeth McCoy

Prompt by LJ's Tuftears

"You will look fabulous," the signal-flare crimson Kintaran promised.

His target, a svelte female with unfortunately common tabby markings, flicked her ears nervously. "But... you have a hairdresser's. I..." She gulped. "I don't want the 'popular' cut."

Flare put his own ears back in indignation. "You think I'd be k'eetha? Please! Have faith! Credits entirely refunded if k'eetha!"

"All right..."

Over an hour later, mane curled and galaxies nestled within every formerly-plain black stripe, the Kint fem purred happily while she handed over her cred-card.

Several hours afterward, both Kintarans purred happily, and no credits had been swapped at all.

(Inspired by drakemagi.)

---

Maternal Considerations

"Maaaaaaara!" Farafinleet collided with Coli-nfarin in a wet-nosed tackle-glomp involving arms, forelegs, and a flailing tail. "Kinahran won' lemme go wiiiiiiith her!"

Klarin-yal, Coli's sister and the clanship's captain, helped peel off Coli's younger daughter. "Well, go with one of the others. Kurah-ral, maybe?"

"She's wif Kinahran! An' Ta-Pera! An' Teecoli! An' Ravahcroy!"

That was nearly all the clanship's almost-adult females. The sisters exchanged glances over Farafinleet's outraged white ears. Coli-nfarin said, "Find your brother and say he has to take you for a half-hour."

"But he's boooooooring!" Farafinleet wailed, ears down, while skulking off down the corridor.

When she was out of even keen-eared Kintaran earshot, Klarin-yal muttered, "There's a privateer in dock, I hear. Mars Rainbow. The girls're probably off drooling. Little young, but yours is nearly as big as you now!" She grinned at her petite sibling.

Coli frowned. "I'm not sure I approve. They've only a few Kintarans. And your daughter is with Kinahran."

"Urm." Klarin-yal's ears went down. "Can't think what they'd want with bipeds, though."

"Well, if she takes up with an Mmsar, at least they've tails."

"Yours likes languages. Might pick a Human."

Their tails puffed, the sisters went to find their offspring.

Kinahran (Moonfur to humans) and her little sister Embereyes are on their own, determined to make their fortunes and not return to their clanship in defeat. But making fortunes requires jobs, and two Kintarans with little experience can't be picky. So even if the ship crew includes a certain sensor expert from their past... and even if it's a wild merfah chase... They'll just have to do their best.

And when they find something unexpected and Moonfur has to come up with a plan? For a Kintaran, uniqueness counts.

A 10,000 word short story, "Uniqueness Counts" originally appeared in the fanzine Pawprints. It is a science fiction short story suitable for all ages -- including adults!

Currently available for 99 cents at Smashwords, Amazon (and all the other versions of Amazon), Diesel, B&N (Nook), Sony, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Blio, Inktera, and Versent.

Coming Soon:
• Alphabetization of the stores.

Kinahran (Moonfur to humans) and her friends are growing up, becoming apprenticed to the adults on the ship, and getting drafted to help gather interesting Stuff when the clanship stops at an uninhabited terrestrial planet. But when their mentor winds up wounded and unconscious, it's time to call for help -- but their signal is being jammed! Five young Kintarans, alone in the wilderness, have to find out if this is the work of pirates, or if someone's claimed this planet as a homestead and thinks they're the pirates. (This isn't made any easier by personality clashes among the kids!)

This ebook is 99c in the US. It's about 15,000 words long, too. (I was thinking about pricing it at $1.99, but forgot that intention and made it 99 cents after all. Oops.)

Now available at
• Amazon (and all the other versions of Amazon)
• Apple iBooks
• B&N (Nook)
• Blio
• Diesel
• Inktera
• Kobo
• Smashwords
• Sony
• Versent

Introducing a free Kintaran story!

(Available from Smashwords, B&N, Apple iBooks, the Diesel eBook Store, Sony, Kobo, Blio, Inktera, and Versent.)

( Leaping Lizards )