Kaust, like his father, was a well built somewhat plain tan wolf. These days, he had a scar on his cheek. It was a hazard of their craft, even at his age. I remember when he got it, and later when it was healing, asking him about the scar, and he shrugged and said it would just make people take him more seriously. He had always been practical.

Kaust greeted us with a friendly smile, saying, "hello guys, we were not expecting a delivery today? I..." and then his voice tailed off as he saw the way we carried ourselves, the expression on our faces. His ears laid back and his eyes went wide, an expression I had never seen on our confident and strong friend.

Kaust said, "oh, I see." Then he called for his father.

His father stepped out of the back with a worried look, and quickly. He could hear the masked distress in his son's voice. One hand on the hilt at his side, ready. Then he stopped and looked at the two of us.

We both wilted under his gaze. In unison we grasped each other's hands and squeezed them, digging deep to find the strength to do what we knew we must.. It was not an unkind look he gave us, it was a sad one. He was fond of the only two boys in town that would treat his son as an equal, and he knew why we were here.

It was a long uneasy silence.

Kaust's father, Radam, was the one to break it. He said, "So, have you decided which one?"

I spoke first, saying, "no, does it matter?" and my brother finished my thought for me, "we will be apart, either way." I could feel his hand tremble in mine, and knew what he was feeling. I wanted to run away, cry, do anything but this. We were twins, we had been together our entire lives.

Kaust's eyes got wide, and he said, "father, you can't..." just to get cut off by the look Radam gave his son. I don't think I'd ever heard Kaust call him father before, just "sir".

Radam said, "you know as well as I do why they are here. Would you rather they and their family be cast out in the street?"

Our family, the Silverneedles, were well liked in town. Our father was friendly to all, honest in his trade, and as I have said, skilled. He raised us to be the same. Thus our misfortune was well known about town. People had tried to help where they could, but, it had been a bad few years. You see, when we were born, they were expecting a son or a daughter. Not two. Saddly, raising a child costs money, and while my brother and I shared everything, it wore on the family's finances. Our parents hid it from us as long as they could, they hoped that things would get better, that we would never have to know the burden that we had become. They loved us dearly, and would have spared us that. But it was not to be.

A long string of bad crops, a small border dispute, the causes were many, but everyone in the province was stretched thin. Our neighbors could not help us any more, and the gods know I am grateful for all that they had done. The Lord of the town had let our taxes fall behind longer than he should, but, there were limits. He had to maintain order. I did not even have the comfort of blaming him.

Where was I? Yes. Kaust. I had never seem him so distressed before that day, as the reality of this sunk in. It was sinking in for us too, we were scared out of our wits, but together we managed to maintain some semblance of composure. Barely.

Again with the long uncomfortable silence. There was to be a lot of that this day.

Radam got a thoughtful look as he looked us over. Two black leopards, identical in every way. We had a light build as we do now, slim but not thin. We both liked to wear our hair long, usually kept in a pony tail as it was this day. Once a traveler had remarked what many had thought: "you two are pretty." Not handsome, but pretty.

And we knew, it. I don't mean to be conceited, honestly. We just had it rubbed in our noses. I found my brother attractive, and he felt the same about me. And we both knew we looked exactly alike... so, well, it was unavoidable.

Yes, I suppose you could say we were lovers. Both in the romantic sense, and physical. We grew up and learned about pleasure with each other, as young boys will. First, learning to pleasure ourselves together, jerking off side by side. Then we found each other touching the other in the ways we knew we wanted to be touched ourselves. Then... well, you get the idea.

We kept it to ourselves, of course, and people wrote off the signs we failed to hide as 'eh, twins'. Even our parents didn't think much of the way we slept curled up against each other as we got older. It just seemed natural. We never thought of it that way until latter.

Anyway, I digress.

That silence again was broken by Radam, as he asked, "which is more important to you two, one of you staying free, or being together?"

Uncomfortable silence number three. For our part, we turned and looked at each other, into the other's emerald eyes. We didn't need to speak. We knew what the other was feeling. There was hope there, even if faint. Maybe...

I found myself saying, "being together", with my brother asking the question on my mind, "is that really possible, sir?"

Kaust, for his part, was gawking at his father like he had grown a second head. For a moment I was distracted by my own fear... ok, terror... by concern for my long time friend. This had to be unbelievably difficult for him. Selling your best friends off as slaves? I can't even imagine. Of course, I really can't imagine working in that business in the first place.

At least I had never seen them be unnecessarily harsh with property that passed through their hands. That thought lent some tiny amount of comfort.

Radam said, "yes, it's unusual, but possible. I've seen it done before. Such restrictions though limit your value..." and he paused, looking at us very carefully. For the first time I think in the guise of his profession. He continued "except for a few markets."

Kaust looked confused and he said questioningly, "Father?"

"Come son, you know what I'm talking about. They are not suited for labor, and really, would you want to do that to them? They are skilled, but there isn't a house in the land that calls for a pair of tailoring slaves. Prepared and sold in the right way, they would be well cared for." Radam's tone was... well, I'd never heard him speak so gently. He was a gruff man. Don't get me wrong, no one questioned that he loved his son.

Nor had I ever seen Kaust look like he was on the verge of tears. But there he was as he addressed his father with a hushed voice, saying, "there must be some other way."

As Radam spoke, saying, "if you can think of one, I'm all ears"... my brother said, "please, sir, what are you talking about?" Yea, we were terrified. Our hearts felt like they were going to burst out of our chests, it was hard to breath... had been all day. But... well, talking about something in front of a feline that they are clueless about. We can't help it.

Radam looked at us, and then said to Kaust, "put out the closed sign, and draw the blinds. The town does not need to see this." His son hesitated, and Radam commandingly barked, "Now." He did as he was told. Few could argue with Radam when he spoke like that.

After Kaust had locked the door, Radam's voice changed, showing that compassion that had been hidden to us. He said, "Son, perhaps you should take a few coin to the tavern and get a meal."

Kaust looked very tempted to take that offer, but when he looked at us, he bit his lip. Indecision. People I had known all my life acting in ways I had never seen. We really didn't need the reality driven home this hard. Finally he shook his head, and he said, "I'll stay, for them."

His father nodded, and looked approvingly at his son. He turned to us and he said, "strip, boys. Show me what I am working with."

The feeling this brought to the pit of my stomach. I mean, I had not been nude before anyone but my brother since I was a little boy. And now I was being ordered to strip in front of my best friend and his father. Our hands tightened together, not that I needed to feel that to know he was feeling the same.

Radam said, "being quick to obedience will save you a great deal of suffering, boys. If not at my hands, at the hands of others. I will teach you this for your own good." His son winced. Radam said, "strip, now" in that commanding voice. He had rarely spoken to us like that, like he would a slave.

Very reluctantly we let go of each other's hands, and pulled off our tunics. It was then as I was about to unlace my pants and pull them off that I realized I was noticeably hardening. That confused me, and a glance to my brother who met my gaze showed that he was just as confused as to why, not to mention embarrassed as I was about it. But... no, we had to go through with this. It was either this, or see our father and mother out on the street. Oddly, at the time, we never though about the fact this also meant we would be too.

So we pulled off our pants as the insides of our ears burned and we were both thankful that our dark fur did a good job hiding just how flushed we were. After tugging off our boots we both assumed the same posture, our hands clasped before us unintentionally hiding our privates.

Radam's voice was calm as he instructed us, saying, "hands at your side. I can't see through them. Straighten up, present yourselves.

I took a deep breath, as did my brother, and we glanced at each other before straightening up, close enough that when our hands moved to our sides the backs of them brushed together. It helped. As did the sight of how embarrassed our friend was by witnessing this. Somehow the feeling we were not alone in our discomfort made it a bit better. Maybe that's a bit selfish, I don't know, but at the time, I had other things on my mind.

The wolf walked around us, looking carefully at our exposed bodies. Why was this making me get hard? I struggled with that, just keeping my eyes forward, trying to will that down, but I knew I was poking a bit out of my sheath. I suspected we both were, but I didn't dare glance over to find out. I could at least hear the quickening of his breath, as if hearing my own.

He stopped before me, and touched under my chin. He was a good foot taller than I was, maybe it was the meager diet we had to get by on, but we were not the tallest leopards ever. So I had to look up as he lifted to meet his eyes. It was hard to look into them, but I somehow knew that is what he wanted. After a moment, he did the same to my brother. He remarked, "you two really are identical. I've seen brothers before, even twins, but the resemblance is perfect down to the spots." Most people didn't seem to realize we had spots in our black fur.

Radam then touched us. This time it was my brother first, he kinda patted/felt his way over his chest, stomach, his back and rear, and as I watched, his groin. His eyes stayed straight forward as he desperately fought not to move, and he made a soft mew as his genitals were touched. I'm the only other that had ever done that to him. I watched as he was instructed to open his mouth so his teeth could be inspected, and I wanted to stop it, make him safe again. But... we both knew this had to be done.

Radam was, to his credit, much more patient with us than I'd ever seen him be with a slave. Well, technically we were not then, we had not signed anything, but we all knew where this would end.

I was next, and the older wolf's hands checking out my body were at the same time humiliating and for some reason arousing. As he felt the weight of my sac and sheath, I knew that there was no hope for him not having noticed, either. Like my brother, I just kept my eyes straight ahead and tried not to move.

He stepped back and he said, "Well, your parents have taken good care of you both, not that I expected less of them. Are you scared, have any odd marks, or the like?" We shook our heads. "Any way to tell you apart?" Again, we shook our heads.

He sat back on the edge of his desk and rubbed under his muzzle thoughtfully. He said, "tell me, your not much for girls, are you two?"

And here I didn't think I could possibly be more embarrassed, a thought that started occurring to me with distressing regularity in the times to come.

Finally one of us admitted, "no". Honestly I don't remember which of us said it. Maybe we both did.

What he said next was surprising. He said, "Good. That works." His son sighed and put his face in his hand. Now, again, about that being embarrassed... "So, are you two lovers?"

I know my jaw dropped. I'm sure that my brother's did the same. I said "no" and he said "yes." At that time, it had been ages since we had ever disagreed with each other. We glanced at each other, and then said the opposite, I yes and he no. As I said, until that moment, we had never really thought of ourselves that way. Finally we both sighed in unison and said "yes" meekly.

He nodded, apparently expecting this answer. He again said, "That explains a lot." Kaust just gawked at us like he had seen us for the first time, and then shook his head saying softly, "how did I miss that" to himself.

"You are also both aroused by being made to strip in front of us. Don't bother to deny it. That is also a good thing for you" said the older wolf.

I just stared at him, and before I could ask the question my brother got it out, saying, "Why? What is it you are thinking of doing with us?"

Kaust got an uncomfortable look. Well, ok, more so. His father took a deep breath, and then said, "There is a, how shall I say, position as a slave that you two are well suited for. It would keep you both safe, cared for, and make your parents enough money to get out of the trouble they are in. Actually, a good deal more than that. You'll have made sure they will not have to scrape for money ever again if they use it wisely. They will be able to return to take back that spot as the best known tailoring shop in this province. And, you would be able to do so with a contract that stated you were not to be separated."

"However, in exchange, you will give up pride, privacy, control of the most intimate parts of your lives" and as the wolf spoke we just stared at him blankly. I'm sure the expressions on our faces were a perfect match from how Kaust came back to us with, "Comeon, I know you two are smarter than that. You know what he means. He is suggesting you be sold as sex slaves. Bedroom toys. Some rich man's bedwarmer." Then he sighed loudly and put his face in his hands, unable to look at us after getting it out in the open.

This seemed to be a sufficient explanation for his father, anyway, and he crossed his arms over his chest and waited to see what we would say.

Our green eyes met again, and we just looked at each other. Somehow we can read each other's faces so well, and know each other so well, that we can tell exactly what the other is thinking. In silence, we came to agreement. But still, it had to be asked.

"There is no other way we can stay together?" came from my lips. Some part of me could not believe that I was taking this seriously. Come to think of it, the fact that I was still nude had slipped my mind.

Radam shook his head, and he says, "the restriction is to much for a household to buy into, and only a big outfit would consider the discount worth while. For labor use. Either way, you'd not fetch enough to cover your needs. I have some idea how bad things are for you. As pleasure slaves, however, the entire thing becomes exotic, which actually improves your price dramatically." He took a deep breath, and says, "Or you could be separated, one staying, the other sold, for a decent price which would at least cover your back taxes, if not solve all your problems."

After a pause, he said, "I'm sorry boys. I really am."

You know, to this day, I'm glad my brother said it before I could. The words are burned into my mind, "then we will do it." Usually people would accept one of us speaking for the other, but in this case, the wolf looked at me until I nodded in agreement.

He started to say, "you may put your clothes over..." then he stopped, and shook his head, and said. "No. I won't do that. I probably should, but I can't. I can spare your parents that at least. Go ahead and get dressed while I prepare the papers." He then stepped into the back, and we both looked at Kaust, who explained to us, "usually in such cases, I mean, someone signing themselves off as a pleasure slave" and he twitched a bit as he said it, "we would try and adjust them to their new positions as quickly as we could. Marching a new slave down the street nude and collared tends to humble a person."

I swallowed hard at that, and then felt this rush of heat. Not just the idea of the same of what was suggested, but shame at the fact that I was again growing aroused by it. I wondered just what sort of person I was that I could. I got into my pants in a hurry to hide it, and I noticed that my brother was doing the same thing.

I'll spare you the details of what followed. There is a contract, papers of sale, ownership documents, all of which had to be modified, and they went over them in great detail with us, as well as the laws that govern a slave. It took several hours. I guess it was oddly relaxing, as if I was talking about someone else the entire time.

That was not to last. It had come to that point. "It's time to talk to your parents. Your old enough to do this with out their consent of course, but you'll want to give your goodbyes. I'll tell you the truth boys, you may never see them, or us, again after you are sold. It would be the best for your parents if they never had to see you in a collar."

Suddenly that brought the reality of it back, and I felt my eyes water as how very real this was sunk in again. My signature was on those papers, as was my brother's. His arm squeezed around me, and I leaned into him.

Kaust said softly, "you'll always have each other, at least." And his father said, "if anyone violates this contract, I will hear about it, and I promise you justice will be done." The look in his eye... well, you could not question the fact he would.

I felt somehow different as the four of us walked down the street. I was looking at my home knowing soon I would never see it again. Our expressions must have been pretty dire from some of the looks we got.

As if this situation was not difficult enough, the importance of it was driven home harshly by what we found when we got home. There outside were two of the lord's men at arms, the tax collector, the sheriff, and his Lordship himself. I cringed as I approached and saw my mother looking desperate, as my father pleaded for more time.

None of them looked happy to be doing what they were doing. As I mentioned, we were well liked. His Lordship was doing a good job of not showing it, but by itself the fact that he came personally showed he had respect for this simple tailor. One of the guards spotted us, and sighed with resignation as the drama just got worse. Little did he know how much worse.

My father saw us first, and I swear he was about to cry, then he saw who we were with. We are about the only people in town that consider slavers friends of the family, and he actually had a look of desperate hope as he said, "Radam, please." Radam shook his head, and he said, "Tan, you know we have done all we can for you." He sighed, and my father looked perplexed.

I think his Lordship figured it out before it was said. I'd seen royalty on occasion, but I'd never seen a look of regret like that on their face.

Radam spoke again, "I am here professionally, Tan. I would never have suggested it. But they came to me. Even then I would not have agreed if the situation was not so dire."

Yet again, the uncomfortable silence. Well for Radam, Kaust and us. For everyone else it was more of a stunned silence. Except perhaps his Lordship, as I mentioned before, who now just looked sad.

Before my father could collect his wits he turned to the noble and said, "Your Lordship, I give you my word that the sale will at least cover their taxes, if you will give your seal to the papers" bowing his head respectfully as he spoke.

It was a moment before the Lord said, "Your word has always been good Radam. Have the papers on my desk tomorrow." He then grabbed the sheriff by the shoulder, turned him around, and left. I guess I can't blame him. I didn't want to be here either.

You could have heard a needle drop.

Then there was the shreek as my mother ran into the house sobbing, and my father sputtering as he tried to form words and partial curses directed at Radam, who just stood there quietly and took the hateful looks and words and let him vent. I felt my brothers had squeeze mine, and I looked at him.

No, we could not let Radam take the blame for this. We both sighed, and I said, "Father, please. He is telling the truth. It was our idea."

At first, he tried to order us to our rooms. I don't think we have ever disobeyed him this way. We said no. He said he would not allow the sale, we pointed out that we were old enough to do it with out his consent. He demanded, pleaded, yelled, and cryed. He offered himself in our place, to which Radam apologized and said he was to old to sell for enough. It went on.

I thought walking into that office and signing those papers would be the most difficult thing in my life. I was wrong.

If it was not for the grip of my brothers hand, and his words alongside my own, I could never have gotten through it. I'm sure he felt the same. But together we made him understand he could not change our minds. Really, he knew there was no other way. So did my mother, which is why she was crying her eyes out inside.

We said our goodbyes. We looked around our room, but realize there was no point. None of it was ours any more. The clothes even would be sent back. It felt very strange for some reason. There was a lot of hugging, and crying.

Radam and his son waited outside for hours to give us our privacy with our family. We were grateful for that. I never found out if my parents eventually forgave them or not. I hope so.

Finally it was time for us to leave, it was getting dark out. We made our father promise us that the Silverneedle would be the name of tailoring. We also asked him to pass our love on to our future brothers and sisters, when they were old enough to understand.

Radam said to our father, "I'm sorry, Tan." He got a furious look in response, and he went in and slammed the door harder than I'd ever seen. We both remember the jingling of the door bell as the last sound of our old lives.

I'm glad it had gotten dark. If people had seen us going back with them to their office at this time of night, well, a lot of them would have put it together. Instead we quietly left behind everything and everyone we knew.

Except each other.