**Giggles!**

With the incoming of this month of love and romance for most, it's more of a special time for me in the fact that not only is it the month with Valentine's Day within it, but also Kaitlynn's birthday. Even with her gone for so long now, I still celebrate it, doing my best to remember only the good times and forgetting the bad. My Kaitlynn was a gal without peer, from a family as old as mine and with the nobility that I hope is not as rare as it sometimes seems to be. I seriously doubt there's many who are stronger in both physical prowess and spiritual fortitude than she with the sharpest mind I can remember and the biggest heart within her bosom than most clergy. These days, I try to honor her memory by being the best I can be and doing my best to not forget my own failings and mistakes, but to learn from them and strive forward to be just like she. We used to do a double day celebration on both Valentine's Day and her birthday, which is the 18th of February, and she would always laugh with that booming laugh of hers! "Why?" she would ask. And I would tell her that every day with her was a celebration, but these two days ... oh, no! They were all about her!

One birthday back in 1990, I believe it was, Kaitlynn asked me, "Why am ah so important to ye, darlin'?" ... she often drooped that proper and polished speech when drinking, falling back on that brogue that I loved so much! Trying not to laugh or even squeal, I just shrugged. "My Big Sister used to tease me about just existing. No attachments, no commitments, and no complications. No vices, no disappointments, and nothing to show for life in the end." Kait narrowed her eyes. "Tis harsh, yer sis is," she growled. I giggled. "That's just her. Her life is a train wreck, at least that's what it seems like. The slow start of a third marriage and now with step-kids too. Mom and Pop are hard on her, but they undoubtedly love her." I took a sip of my drink and smiled. "You just mean the world to me."

No truer words could be spoken.

For Israfel Vincent, my original character who I like to think of as the who and what makes me my best self, those words are the defining thing about her: her love for Caitlynn Wildfire. This young lady who the copper top rescued from a hideous life of slavery on a mysterious and magical world, "The Flip Side" as Taffy calls it, means everything to her and nothing will change that. Among the changeling race, the slowly becoming extinct race of catlike beings in this world, there is something called The Bond, something that is more than friendship and more than love. It allows a sharing of essence of spirits and of minds, not quite a blending, but something very powerful. According to what Israfel has learned in her travels through the exploration of this realm, the copper top has discovered that this linking of two hearts, two minds is exceedingly rare, perhaps only done once before, and that would be with Tia Stormbringer and Shiao Bloodheart, whom Israfel has learned is the mother who gave birth to the first of the race of changelings after the Unseen Tyrant created them for the Demon Wars. Having learned of the dark side of the changelings and their infernal history, Israfel swore that she would not forsake a friend like that and did so much to not only free Caitlynn from the servitude of Master Gunther and Mistress Vextra, but stood by her love time and time again, no matter what.

This wonderful piece of work was done about seven years ago by the magnificent work of Deviant Artist known as Kimiri Ra who I cannot thank enough for such a groovy commission!