NOTE:  This story is incomplete, and thus may contain spoilers, errors, incomplete thoughts, and other bits of fictional residue.  Read at your own risk.

by Jacksomm Trifker

Gauyasha - a breed of amazon were-cow native to K'awandia, considered sacred. The gauyasha wander the streets of K'awandian cities and villages. It is very good luck to be eaten by a gauyasha and very bad luck to avoid being eaten by one.

Mortimer Sanders - Edouedian businessman with Vascotel arriving in Nigalnapur for contract negotiations with a K'awandian communications company

Sofia Gonzalo - Legal expert from Vascotel accompanying Mort

Ralph Muncie - Young tech engineer at Vascotel, also on trip to hash out tech details, though not really sure why.

Katha Avishkaara - Employee of Alappa Inc. assigned as fixer for Mort & co. Explains the details of K'awandian life to them

Thanga Nabaro

Mort, Sofia, and Ralph arrive in Nigalnapur after 16 hours of travel on two dragonflights. Exhausted and dragon-lagged, they are met at the dragonport by Katha, who shows them to their lodging. They travel via pedicab to their hotel, a journey made difficult by the multitude of tigers and elephants and other animals dozing in the streets. Along the way, they pass a type of creature none of the Edouedians have ever seen before - an 18-foot-tall half-amazon/ogre/cow creature. The creature is sprawled lazily on the pavement, her belly full and moving. She is staring quite unnervingly at Ralph as they pass. This, explains Katha, is the Gauyasha. The protector of success and prosperity. The Gauyasha are cherished by K'awandians, above all other things. And, it seems, the Gauyasha also cherish the K'awandians, as they see a Gauyasha down one of the side streets doing something utterly obscene with a terrified K'awandian man. "Ah, yes - he will have much fortune indeed," says Katha. The first day of negotiations doesn't go very well. The K'awandian hosts are quite friendly and hospitable, but refuse to talk business. They instead prefer to talk about sightseeing and art and music and food and the weather in Edouedia and hiking in the countryside. Every time Mort tries to bring the conversation to the details of the contract, he is thwarted by his hosts, who quite literally perform a song-and-dance number on the virtues of friendship. They return to the hotel bar that evening frustrated by the negotiations. The next day, after another frustrating morning of non-negotiating, the hosts take them to lunch at a well-regarded restaurant several blocks away. After losing a few of their party to tiger attacks on the way, they are stopped by a Gauyasha, who takes a liking to Ralph, sniffing and nuzzling him brazenly. "Oh this is good fortune indeed," says Katha. "It is unusual for a Gauyasha to take such a liking to a tourist."

The following morning as not much more successful than the previous. Mort and Sofia attempted many times, over many cups of tea, to pin their hosts down for some detailed discussion about the terms of the contract, but each time one of their K'awandian hosts took the conversation off on a tangent about the wondrous nature of telephony or the fundamental oneness of beings or the curious mathematical properties of nature or their daughter's upcoming appearance in a grade-school play. As mid-day approached, they were no closer to agreeing on the terms of the technology licensing and fee structure and profit-sharing than they had been when they arrived two days ago.

When Thanga announced that the teams would be celebrating their growing partnership with a luncheon at the best restaurant in the city, Mort regarded it with a sarcastic sense of relief. Finally, he thought, we get to stop talking shop, he thought to himself.

Thanga and Katha seemed to invite most of the upper management office staff with them, and together they strode down the crowded sidewalk in a comfortable pack of a dozen or so. Surrounding the Edouedians on all sides. Annoyed that the wall of K'awandians was interrupting his sightseeing, Ralph tried to separate himself from the pack a bit, but was quickly drawn back in by the office staff.

"I'm sorry, sir," said one of the staffers, "but the tigers are out in force today."

"Yes," said another. "We cannot risk losing one of our honored guests."

"Tigers?," asked Mort. "Where? I don't see any-"

Just then, quite in accordance with the laws of irony, a large orange and black tiger leapt out from behind a large vegetable cart and pounced onto one of the Alappa staff, a young recepionist in a bright yellow sari. The poor woman shrieked as the snarling animal threw her to the ground and began biting her head and chest. The rest of the staffers walked quickly, dodging her flailing arms and kicking legs as they passed.

"Shouldn't we try to help her?," Ralph asked, baffled by the rather callous display.

"Of course not," said Katha politely, "she is only a receptionist. Her duty is to allow herself to be attacked in order to protect our guests."

"Ah," said Ralph, guiltily looking back. The young woman's sari had been ripped to shreds and her top half was already stuffed inside the tiger's maw. "Maybe we'll get her a thank-you gift tomorrow," he said quietly.

As they continued on throgh the winding blocks, a few more Alappa staffers were snatched up - two by tigers and one by a rather foul-tempered elephant. Ralph made a mental note to get them all gifts tomorow as well. "How much further is it," asked Ralph, noting the dwindling number of Alappa staff surrounding them..

"Just one more block," said Katha as they rounded a corner, passing a few threadbare young children selling fruits and trinkets on the pavement. Ralh looked into their pleading eyes and gaunt faces, saw the blanket filled ith broken, worn-out gadgets and toys and overripe fruits, and wondered when it was these children last made a sale. When they last ate. Distracted by the heartwrenching sight, he nearly ran smack into Thanfa and Katha, who had stopped short.

All of the K'awandians had - they stood still, silent, heads bowed deferentially. Then Ralph noticed the reason for their stopping.

It was a Gauyasha. Standing a good eighteen feet tall, its bulbous belly and oversized chest blocking out most of the street ahead, topped by a gigantic bovine head. It stood silently, not moving, staring right at Ralph.

"I think she has taken a liking to you, Mr. Ralph," said Katha. "This is most fortunate indeed."

It didn't seem all that fortunate to Ralph as he shuddered under the creature's gaze. The hairs stood up on the back of his neck as it gently squatted down in front of him. He watched the giant nostrils, each the size of his fist, hover over his face, his chest, his abdomen, powerfully sucking in the air around him and exhaling it in hot blasts. He whimpered just slightly as the terrifying but oddly beautiful creature began nuzzling him, rubbing her warm snout on his torso, grabbing at his hands with her lips, and finally planting a wet, slimy lick on the side of his face.

"W-what do I do?" said the terrified Ralph as the Gauyasha licked one of his hands into her mouth and began sucking on it. The K'awandians were all watching in an almost gleeful silence, as if taking pleasure in his plight.

"You do whatever the Gauyasha wants you to do," Katha said, smiling. Somewhere in the distance, a tabla drum began tapping out a soft polyrhythm. The droning twang of an indescribable stringed instrument emerged inexplicably from a nearby window.

"B-but what if I don't want to do... what it wants me to do?" asked Ralph, noting that the Gauyasha had moved on from his hands and was taking a rather keen interest in his groin area.

"Oh, but you must," said Katha. 'It is most impolite to refuse a Gauyasha." The music grew louder, joined by some sort of flute and another, tinnier drum somewhere nearby. Katha then began to sing, in a high-pitched slightly nasal K'awandi that almost sounded as if it were coming from another singer entirely. Her arms and legs swept around in fluid, graceful motions as she sang.

One of the Alappa staffers began to whisper to Ralph, translating her words for him. The basic gist was that he the Gauyasha were the harbingers of prosperity in K'awandia and that all humans were duty-bound to serve them. She continued to add that this encounter was a strong endorsement for the Vascotel deal and that Ralph would be well-advised to do exactly as the Gauyasha commanded or it would not bode well for his team's affairs here.

She was then joined by the rest of the K'awandian staff, as well as many random passersby, a few local shopkeepers, even the two children whose wares had distracted Ralph a moment ago. All inexiplicably knew the words to the song, singing them in rich four-part harmonies while dancing to the music in perfectly-choreographed synchronization with Katha. Even the Gauyasha seemed to get into the act, bopping her bovine head in time to the music. As the song reached a climax, brightly-colored confetti rained down from the windows above, showering the scene in yet another layer of surrealism.

After the final chord echoed away and the street denizens resumed their normal activities, Ralph felt the Gauyasha's hoofed fingers wrap around him and hoist him high into the air. She draped him over her thick, slightly furry shoulder, then turned around and slowly carried him off. From the dizzying vantage point, he watched feebly as his coworkers and associates faded into the distance, gulping in fear as he pondered just what the Gauyasha had in store for him.

Mort and Sofia watched wide-eyed as their colleague was carried off, wide-eyed with fear. Words choked in Mort's mouth as he tried to collect his thoughts.

"Do not fear," said Katha, as if to head the thoughts off at the pass. "Mr. Ralph will be most well-cared for. The Gauyasha are quite gentle with the ones they love."

"But- but-," stammered Mort.

"We will send one of our staff to collect him when the Gauyasha has finished," said Katha somewhat curtly. "In the mean time, I believe there is much business to discuss. Come!" Katha nodded, quickly urging the party into the restaurant.

For several hours they sat, discussing price points and licensing fees and subsidiary rights while downing plate after plate of elegantly-spiced dishes of nanos and potatoes and peppers and eggplant. The encounter with the Gauyasha seemed to have greatly affected the K'awandian hosts. The mood was vibrant, personable, almost giddy as they discussed point after point. Even the nanos on their plates seemed to be enjoying themselves as they frolicked in their bowls of creamy sauces and wriggled their way into the very full stomachs around the table.

Still, Mort couldn't help but wonder about poor Ralph as he stared at the dark-skinned nano girl on his spoon, covered in a thick yellowish sauce. She smiled politely as she stared at the mouth that was about to engulf her. She must be terrified inside, thought Mort, but it doesn't show. He imagined that Ralph was probably encountering much the same terror this poor nano here is feeling.

Oh, well, Mort thought as he shoved the nano into his mouth and gently chewed her deliciously writhing body. I'll buy him a drink whenever he gets out - it's the least I can do.

Ralph wasn't sure what disturbed him most about his situation as he was carried through the winding, nameless streets of the city. The fact that he was resting on the bouncy, slightly soft shoulder of a giant bipedal cow-creature was perhaps the first layer of discomfort. It was made worse by the fact that he seemed to be attracting a lot of attention. Men, women, and children stopped to stare as he was carried by - some laughing, some waving, others bowing their heads respectfully, as if he had been chosen for some sort of human sacrifice. In a way, he had been chosen for a sort of human sacrifice, and the fact that he had no idea what this large creature intended to do with him didn't help.

And then, of course, there was the smell of the Gauyasha - a distinctly agricultural smell. He could only imagine that it would be far worse ont he inside, in whichever orifice she eventually chose to put him.

After an uncountable number of blocks, they reached a clearing - a large patch of rather dry grass ringed by lush floral gardens. As he was carried across the expansive lawn and he saw the groups of people feverishly scooping large piles of brown muck into carts, he realized what this was. This was the Gauyasha toilet.

Furthermore, Ralph noted as they passed a quite fragrantly fresh pile from which the shovelers were helping extract a few dazed but rather happy-looking people, this is most likely where he'd be ending up

Lovely.

Eventually they traversed the lawn and made their way up a gently sloping marble walkway. Craning his neck to see where they were going, he saw that they were headed to a set of large, rather opulently-colored concrete bunkers, filled with piles and piles of hay. Several other Gauyasha were lounging around in and around them, many looking quite stuffed and extremely satisfied. This, he quite correctly guessed, was the Gauyasha's home.

After entering the shaded structure, Ralph was relieved when the Gauyasha finally set him down atop a pile of hay. He looked at the wide-open entrance and considered for just a moment making a run for it. Then he looked at the Gauyasha sillhouetted in the doorway, estimated her stride at roughly three times his and her weight at well over a ton, and concluded that escape would probably not work out all that well for him.

The creature stared at him for a good moment, a look in her eyes he couldn't quite place. It was part keen interest, part urgency, and part pure animal lust. He felt his skin crawl as the creature crouched down and slowly approached him, examining him from head to toe.

Without warning, the Gauyasha then sat up, turned her head toward the entrance, and let out a deafening moo. Almost immediately, two young, attactive, and slightly-plump women in bright yellow attire rushed in and, after a momentary but noticable look of surprise at their first glimpse of him, surrounded him and began quickly relieving him of his clothing.

"W-who are you?" he asked, incredulous. "What are you doing? D-do you speak Edouedish?"

The young woman on his right merely giggled, but the one on his left spoke up. "A little," she said, smiling sincerely. "I am Priyanka, and this is Heema. We are the... the assistance of the Gauyasha." Priyanka's voice was a honey-sweet sound, all lilting tones and retroflex consonants. It would've been far more soothing had she not been quite dilligently stripping him down at the time while the gigantic cow-creature looked on hungrily.

"What are you doing with me?," asked Ralph, squirming just a little as the delicate brown hands undid his zippers and buttons.

"We are preparing you for Mamata, the Gauyasha who has brought you here." The Gauyasha seemed to nod affirmatively at this.

"I see," said Ralph, now almost fully naked. "And what is she going to do with me?," he asked, almost afraid to know the answer.

Priyanka smiled gently, a rather reassuring gesture. "She is going to show you love, Mr. Ralph."

Ralph's jaw dropped. 'How does she- how did you know my--?"

"Do not trouble yourself with such questions," said Priyanka, "The Gauyasha are wise beyond our understandings. And she knows that you have not known love in your time."

Ralph was about to dispute this, but a quick mental inventory of his failed relationships, missed opportunities, and poor choices of dating partners, revealed Priyanka's statement to be rather accurate.

Now fully naked and quite humiliated, he felt even more self-conscious as the two women began rubbing a rather fruity-smelling oil onto his skin, covering every inch of his body. "So- she's... she's not going to eat me, then?"

Priyanka smiled the unnervingly reassuring smile again. "Oh yes," she said. "There is no greater love than to eat and be eaten."

"Really," said Ralph, raising a skeptical eyebrow. In his lifetime he'd been eaten a few dozen times and probably eaten a few thousand other creatures, and he sure didn't remember feeling any great love in any of those instances. Maybe that's how it works in K'awandia, but not in Vasco. "So are you talking from experience, or is that just what you say to all the tourists who come in here?"

Priyanka smiled poilitely at this, then spoke something in Wandi to Heema, who giggled and quickly stepped out of her brightly colored wrap. She had taken no more than a few steps toward Mamata before the creature attacked, forcing Heema to the ground and The Gauyasha then picks up Heema and begins chewing on her feet, unwrapping the woman with her other hand. Heema giggles ecstatically as she is slowly pulled into the mouth. Ralph reacts in horror, asking why Mamata is eating her own servant. Priyanka, rubbing Ralph's shoulders, explains that Heema's duty is to serve as appetizer. "I shall be the main course," she adds. "And me?" said Ralph. "You shall be dessert," says Priyanka. Once Heema had been swallowed up to her waist, the Gauyasha picked up Priyanka and Ralph and pressed them to her chest, forcing them to watch as Heema is cheerfully swallowed. Ralph is too horrified to speak, but Heema and Priyanka are having a giggly conversation. As the Gauyasha swallows, she slides Priyanka and Ralph down to her very soft, very large belly so they can feel Heema sliding in. The Gauyasha then rolls onto her side, letting the big belly spill out onto the floor, Heema laughing inside. The cow beckons Priyanka, who eagerly approaches. "Do not be afraid," Priyanka said before climbing into the mouth headfirst. "Remember that all that is done here is done in love." Priyanka then is swallowed, leaving Ralph alone with the giant cow. The Gauyasha smothers Ralph with her belly and massive chest, licks him furiously, then begins to rub him against herself. He struggles at first, but realizes it's hopeless, realizing that there are worse things than being a toy for a massive and oddly beautiful creature like this. Ralph can see the lumps of Heema and Priyanka moving rhythmically inside the stomach, stimulating the Gauyasha from within. A massive moo rocks the barn, and the Gauyasha collapses into the pile of hay, clutching Ralph to her chest. She holds him there for a long time, licking his face, then rolls on top of him and begins to eat. He feels the mouth engulf his legs and slowly pull him in. Soon he is in her stomach, where Heema and Priyanka are resting. He is squeezed into the tight, soft space with them. He asks if they are eaten like this every day - they say no, just once or twice a week. Most days they just clean her and groom her and prepare her meals. They can hear from the glorping sounds around them that the Gauyasha is digesting hay in some of her other stomachs. He asks if it is true that being eaten brings people fortune. They say yes - it brought them the fortune to serve the Gauyasha. The glorping becomes rather rhythmic and musical, and Priyanka explains in song that her family as very poor and that her parents could not afford to send her to school and that her father was abusive to her, and while she was despairing this Gauyasha took pity on her and adopted her and raised her. Heema, too, grew up uner terrible conditions, orphaned at a young age and picking pockets to sustain herself. Mamata adopted her too, raising her and teaching her how to make an honest living. Now both are at university and bettering their lives. The Gauyasha, Priyanka explains in the final verse, chooses not only those who need her, but those whose lives she can better. "And that's why she chose me to be her sex toy? Because it will better my life?" "Oh yes. The Gauyasha work in mysterious ways." "Yeah right, thought Ralph as he drifted off to sleep. In his dreams, he sees visions of wires and signals and K'awandian faces and signal switching. He realizes that the deal Vascotel is trying to sell would be a huge blow to the industry already growing in Nigalnapur, and would crowd out better local technology. The domino effect would make much of the country subservient to Vascotel for licensing - a boon for Vascotel but a bust for K'awandians. Perhaps there was some symbolism to the Gauyasha's actions after all. If this deal goes through, her people get fucked. A loud groan woke them all up and they are splatted out onto a patch of dirty grass near the Gauyasha shelters. It is now nighttime, and Priyanka shows Ralph to the showers where he cleans off. When he emerges, he finds Priyanka holding his cleaned and pressed clothes for him. After he dresses, she guides him back to the hotel. When he arrives, Mort and Sofia are celebrating in the hotel bar, waiting to congratulate him. His getting picked up by that ugly cow was the breakthrough they needed, Mort says. We're this close to signing the deal. They're about to corner the K'awandian mediaphone market. The next day at negotiations, Ralph is asked to brief the K'awandians on the impact of the new technology. He realizes that his presentation is full of false promises and deceptions. He begins straying from the prepared presentation and giving an honest assessment of the state of K'awandian telecom. Mort is furious, Sofia is embarrassed, and the K'awandians are stunned. After they return to the hotel, Mort demands Ralph's resignation, which Ralph gives him. He also rescinds Ralph's return ticket and hotel stay, since he's no longer a Vascotel employee. He hands him a cash severance in Rupis, since he may be stuck here a while. Ralph leaves the hotel in search of somewhere else to go. He walks a few blocks, finds an unoccupied bench, and sits down, dejected. This morning, he was the hero of his team. Now, he was jobless, all alone, and without a way home. A light rain began to fall. He took a deep sigh, then felt a blast of hot air by his ear. He turned to see Priyanka and Mamata behind him. "Oh, it's you," he said. "Well, thanks a whole lot. I lost my job cause of you." The cow licks his ear gently and moos sympathetically. "She says she understands, but that you know in your heart you did the right thing." "Yeah, yeah," said Ralph. Mamata nuzzled his neck and licked him again, another moo." "She offers her assistance in any way you need. You are welcome to spend the night with us, and we will help you find a job," said Priyanka. "And companionship." Ralph looked at them both, then at the increasing rainstorm. On balance, a night in a warm barn and possibly a warm belly was still better than a rickety bench in the rain. "Alright," he said. Epilogue

Ralph awoke as he usually did, sandwiched between Priyanka's back and Mamata's torso. The Gauyasha was licking his ear and mooing quietly. He kissed Priyanka's shoulder and gently stirred her. "I think Mamata needs to go. I can handle recovery if you like."

"Alright" smiled Priyanka, sitting up. "I'll go see what's for breakfast. Did Heena leave for class already?"

The Gauyasha mooed affirmatively, then stood up and walked out the open door. Ralph was amazed at how quickly he'd picked up Moo, he thought as he followed her to the pasture area. K'awandian was still giving him some difficulty, but he knew enough to get by - certainly enough to help people to the showers.

He looked away as Mamata squatted down and began relieving herself. Though she didn't seem to care either way, he preferred to give the Gauyasha her privacy. He was rather alone in this practice- a surprising number of K'awandians actually hung around the pasture to watch. It was one of many aspects of K'awandian culture And it wasn't just the attendants waiting to cart off the dung piles for fuel, or the relatives of one of the Gauyasha's meals waiting for their loved one to emerge. That he could understand. It was the ones who just stood around and watched for purely recreational purposes.

By the moving shadow on the ground, he could see that Mamata was getting up. She turned, gave a small moo of approval to the young couple embedded in the pile of dung by her feet, and walked off towards the shelter. Ralph directed the beaming couple towards the showers, in admittedly broken K'awandi, and supplied them each with a towel and what remained of their clothing. Mamata had cornered them the previous night exiting a restaurant at which the young man had just proposed marriage to the young woman, and they were understandably ecstatic to have their nuptials blessed by a Gauyasha. In their eagerness to, well, consummate the good fortune, they dropped most of their belongings where they lay, and Ralph had only been able to gather up her silk wrap, his tunic, her shoes, and one of his socks before the rest was scavenged by the local street urchins. The couple didn't seem to mind this, assured that their coming fortune would easily replace these items and more.

When he returned to the shelter, Priyanka was distributing the morning's donations - all the food and other offerings left for Mamata and her servants. It was quite a haul, as it was almost every morning. Much of the offering, Ralph learned, was intended for the servants rather than the Gauyasha. The aim was to fatten them up so the Gauyasha would not go hungry on days when there were no deserving residents of Nigalnapur to eat. This morning, the followers had left baskets of fruits, plates full of sweets, bundles of gourmet grasses, and piles of soft round bread loaves. One generous donor had even left a large bowl of nanos swimming happily in a honey-yogurt sauce.

That last one was all Priyanka's thought Ralph. He'd never really developed a taste for nanos, the two-inch humanlike species comprising a staple of many Aekallian diets. They were always a bit too salty for his tastes. Priyanka, however, adored them, and Ralph loved watching her eat them. There was something so sweet and beautiful about the way she'd coo at them and kiss them and nuzzle them and lick them before gently introducing them to her body. She seemed to have picked this affectation up from the way Mamata treated humans, and Ralph adored her for it.

"Pleased to give this to Mamata," said Priyanka, tossing the grass bundles over to Ralph. "And could you get us some milk?", she added sweetly.

Ah, yes. This had become one of his duties as well. Mamata's mammaries were extremely productive and needed to be milked on an almost daily basis. And since each of them were a bit larger than his entire torso, the only real way to accomplish this was to give each a very big hug.

To say Mamata enjoyed the experience would be an understatement. Her reactions, depending on her mood, ranged from amorous moos and bucking hips to outright molestation, and Ralph never quite knew what to expect as he positioned the gigantic steel bucket under her chest.

He gently squeezed the first udder, watching pint after pint of the yellowish-white liquid pour out into the bucket, steaming as it collected. Mamata moaned and murred as he hugged the soft mound of dangling fat and fur. Sliding the bucket under the right side and then ducking under her body to switch sides, he tried not to think about what it was he was actually squeezing into that bucket. The unnerving fact was that a portion of the milk was him.

Not him alone, of course, but him, Priyanka, Heena, and every other person she'd eaten in the last few days. While most of their nutrients had gone to power her giant body, it was a simple biological fact that some of them had gone right there, into the bucket. So whenever he drank Mamata's milk or ate Matmata's yogurt or paneer, he was eating and drinking himself.

The thought would have sworn him off the stuff for life if it wasn't so unbelievably good.

After a few soft, furry hugs, he finished squeezing her left side. He pulled away the bucket and was about to draw a few cupfuls for himself and Priyanka when Mamata pounced. The animal grabbed him in her jaws, shoved him to the ground, and began enthusiastically attacking him with playful nips. Ralph laughed and squirmed as he fought the giant bovine mouth for several minutes.

This was just her way of saying thank you, and Ralph was certainly appreciative. Still, he was relieved when the Gauyasha finished playing and let him go. It was a rather easy transition from "thank you" to breakfast, and Ralph couldn't afford that this morning. He had work to do.

Today was the day Alappa was launching their new messaging service. He'd been hired to head up the project soon after losing his job at Vascotel. Although the job was quite well-paying by K'awandian standards, he chose to live here with Mamata, Priyanka, and Heena instead of finding an apartment. There was something indescribably comforting about living with the Gauyasha, particularly one as affectionate as Mamata. Even when she was eating him, or pleasuring herself with him, or sharing him with other Gauyasha, or feeding him to tigers and elephants to watch him squirm, he couldn't help feeling that it was indeed an act of love.

And there was no doubt that she'd brought him success.