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Nib-Roc sipped some tea and set the saucer down on his calf, using his lower leg as a table resting upon his opposite knee to ensure he didn't spill anything. He was being treated to a lovely dinner with a long-time friend of his and dignity was an important part of his image.

The donkey stallion was at Ilorek and Valencia's ranch, a rather sizable establishment north of his own home that dealt in steeds for all purposes. Ilorek - a black, red, and gold colored bipedal hippogryph - ran a business where he bought and sold feral horses, dragons, gryphons, and ulokar that were meant to be used as mounts or workers. He also sold a special breed of ulokar, cows and pigs for meat if the buyer was interested. The business was booming but that wasn't why Nib-Roc was visiting.

While Ilorek and his wife Valencia - a petite biped bat with red braids and a canine tail - lived as traders of livestock on the surface, they dealt with the arcane arts on the side. Unbeknownst to many of their clients, Ilorek was a master of alchemical magic and there weren't any greater psychics than Valencia in all the land. Both studied and researched magical artifacts, sold potions to the Guild, and had connections to powerful mages around the world. They were the kind of partners one would desire if they were looking to break into the realm of the mage.

That was why Nib was visiting. He owned a ranch of his own, where he grew his own crops and raised his own livestock so it made sense to be a client of Ilorek's but his real motivation was magic. As an apprentice sorcerer, Nib-Roc was still learning how to best utilize the magic contained within him. As a donkey stallion, he was a part of the errov species and therefore not naturally gifted with the most powerful of magic so he had to work harder than others for any progress in the field. One thing he knew for sure was that there were no greater teachers than Ilorek and Valencia.

Nib-Roc, Ilorek, and Valencia were in the rustic, log-cabin-styled living room of his ranch home, all in their own seats around a crackling fireplace and sipping tea. An entire wall of the room was nothing but books on magic and ledgers for the buying and selling of livestock on the ranch. On the opposite side of them was a bar filled with various alcohols and some materials to make snacks and other small styles of meals like chicken wings or battered veggies in case they got hungry.

Ilorek leaned back and set his tea on the end table between he and Valencia. "So tell me again what it is you hope to get out of this?" He asked Nib as he interlocked his fingers from both hands on his lap. "Why did you tell the Potions Guild about the gemstone ore deposits north of Rhybute?"

Nib took another sip of his tea and laid it back down on his raised calf. This subject had become a bit of a sticking point since it was the impetus for the rapid expansion of Rhybute Pass and for some of the natives that was somewhat egregious. "I lack the equipment to excavate the materials myself and in exchange for the help in locating and harvesting it, I get dozens of kilograms of the stuff to experiment with. I think it's a pretty good trade-off and it's not like anyone else was claiming the vein."

Valencia glanced over to Ilorek with a shrug. The two of them made a few subtle head motions towards one another as though they were conversing telepathically before Ilorek responded.

"That makes sense, yes. Did you think about the potential ramifications of that?" Though his words came across as accusatory, the hippogryph's tone remained neutral but curious. He had no plans to lecture Nib but had an investment in the region due to his history dealing with gem enchantment.

Nib nodded. "I did, yes. And I assumed you would want a harvest of pure, untainted gemstone so I brought you a veritable harvest in exchange of your services." He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small fabric bag about the size of his fist and tossed it to Valencia. "One hundred unrefined gemstones. Each one worth fifty gold at least; I'll leave it up to you to test their purity."

She used her thumb and forefinger to dig out a sample of what he offered, revealing a ragged and rough but mostly spherical gemstone that was translucent and tinged with a faint teal colouration. "Looks good to me." She said before slipping the gem back in the pouch. "High quality, too. Not as good as the ones Luero sells us but for the price we're getting a hell of a deal."

"I told you." Nib declared with a smile before he took another sip. "We've worked together plenty in the past, you know I'd never stiff you or cut you out of my dealings."

"Indeed; you have certainly proved your loyalty." Ilorek concurred. "But you do know I can't gift you the power of magic. I can only help you hone in on the skills you already have. Your ademane is not as strong as that of an avian or even a dragon. Errov aren't exactly known for their magical prowess, as I'm sure you understand."

Nib nodded, almost bowing in respect before looking back up at Ilorek. "Indeed I do. I've done plenty of research, I've travelled to Klyneth to spend weeks in their libraries and I've even had some limited success with utilizing physical magic. You know, remote manipulation and object control."

This declaration made both Valencia and Ilorek pause to glance at one another, impressed.

Valencia was the one to speak as she leaned in close on the edge of her relatively small chair. "That is truly impressive. Anyone can manipulate the elements but controlling matter? That's a whole other story. When did you discover this and what did you do? Tell us everything!" Her lips curled up in an almost sinister grin, revealing her fang-like canines as her tapered tongue slipped out in delight.

"I know it's impressive, that's why I'm so willing to part with such valuable material in exchange of your services aiding me to refine my skills." He stood up and bowed to them once more. "I would be happy to give a demonstration, if I can muster the energy."

Ilorek leaned back and laid his ankle on his knee as he watched with vested interest. "Go on, I'd love to see what you can do. Your last visit was pretty impressive but taking the leap to physical magic in your own time is the sort of feat I'd love to play a role in developing."

In the world of mages and sorcerers, the hierarchy of magical disciplines from simplest to most complicated started with elemental magic and increased in challenge with restorative magic, physical magic, telepathic magic, alchemical magic, and finally transformation magic. Most anyone had at least a weak ability to harness elemental magic with about one quarter of the population fluent enough in restorative magic to apply medical aid to others even if most people could heal their own minor cuts or abrasions. Physical magic and anything more complicated than that were considered to be pretty rare.

Less than five percent of the population was capable of utilizing physical magic, and almost all of them were avian or saurossin in nature - the two most powerful species when it came to magic. For an errov - the weakest species of mage in all of Dalon - to have learned how to use physical magic at all was incredibly impressive and showed to Valencia and Ilorek that Nib was no slouch.

Nib-Roc was a dedicated mage in training, and while he was still fairly new to the advanced techniques, he had showed promise. He was even the one who conjured the heat and flame that cooked the tea the three of them were drinking.

Given his interest in showing off and proving to Ilorek and Valencia how far he'd come in the months since their last visit, Nib walked over to the wall that was comprised almost entirely by bookshelves and kept himself just out of arm's reach of any books. He turned to his hosts with his back to the wall and took in a deep breath, one hand up and eyes closed as he concentrated. "Sometimes it takes me a minute to conjure up the energy." He cautioned.

"Take your time, as much as you need if you can get this to work." Ilorek assured him. Though he was a staunch alchemical mage who took magic very seriously, the hippogryph absolutely loved to help others out and despite coming across as judgmental in regards to the Rhybute Pass ademane mine situation, he and Nib were still loosely friends and partners in many ways.

With this encouragement in mind, Nib took in a deep breath and focused as much of his energy and concentration on his raised hand. By imagining what he wanted to happen in his mind - to pull out a single book and spin it to open to a random page - he was able to envision the path of magical activity with relative ease while applying increased energy to the region.

Nothing happened at first, but both Ilorek and Valencia understood that sometimes conjuring energy for higher level spells took a moment so they waited with bated breath for something to happen.

Much to their delight, both hosts caught a glimpse of one of their tomes struggling to move, the binding of its spine tugging outward as an invisible force strained against it. This was already quite impressive but they could tell by the look of concentration on Nib's face that he wasn't content with that level of object manipulation, so they patiently waited to see what was next.

Internally, Nib could feel his remote magics working as they tugged on his flesh and fur from inside. The ademane gland in his wrist was heating up as he focused as much energy as he could on energizing it so that it may influence the books behind him. After a minute of concentration and gradual control over the object, he felt confident enough to slowly push his hand forward and away from the bookshelf, an act that was supposed to gradually tug the tome from it's spot but ended up backfiring.

As he shifted his hand, his concentration wavered just a bit and the energy from his spell exploded, forcing every book on that particular shelf to burst forward like shrapnel next to a stick of mining dynamite! The sudden and intense concussive blast of energy made him relinquish control and duck down, arms covering his head as he anticipated the shelf to fall on top of him!

However, none of that happened and he didn't even hear any of the books land around him.

When he tentatively opened his eyes to see what had happened, he saw that Ilorek had gotten to his talons and had outstretched his hand, each and every one of the dozen books impacted by the magical blast hovering in the air, suspended in place by his own reactionary physical magic.

One by one, the hippogryph manipulated each book to return to its proper spot on the shelf. He could have been angry, furious that Nib may have ruined his books, but he was smiling and so was Valencia. The two shared a few brief glances before returning to their spots on each of their chairs, expressions having completely shifted from that of concern to that of interest.

With caution in his heart, Nib stood tall once again and made a face as if to show off his skills. "Ta da?" He spoke with an upward inflection, unsure if he'd impressed or annoyed.

"Very good work." Valencia applauded as she folded her wing-arms on her lap. "Very, very impressive if I must say so myself." Once again she grinned, baring her fangs and poking the tip of her tapered, tendril-like tongue out in the process.

Nib gulped. "You're not upset? I mean, I may have damaged some of your books."

Ilorek waved and shook his head dismissively. "Books can be remade, I can commission them to be fixed or whatever. I'm not too worried about it; besides, it was only physical magic and not fire or anything that'd damage the pages. No worries. However, it's not often I get to see pure unfiltered, unrefined skill from a donkey. That's priceless." His expression was that of pride, not concern.

Part of Nib still wanted to be bashful and borderline worried about what had happened but it was hard for him to not swell with pride hearing that. After his last visit he had doubled down on his studies and had worked hard to make the progress he had, resulting in skills that apparently impressed the most competent magic users he had ever met or heard of up to this point in his life.

"No need to be bashful, Nib. That's not your style." Valencia teased before hopping up from her seat and over to him. "You should be proud, even if you fucked up a bit." She finished with a coy wink.

Ilorek leaned back and reclined in his chair, foot-talons up on the coffee table next to all three of them, claws gently tapping on the rim of his own teacup. "So, I was always eager to help you from the day we met, I like your spirit. I could feel your desire and so could Vel - and we both know she's an expert at reading people. I feel bad taking these gemstones from you as payment for training, so I'm not going to do that. I'm still keeping them, though. Not as payment but so that I can help train you how to enchant them. Learning materials, as it were."

"Wait, what do you mean? If you're keeping them, how are they not payment?" Nib did hate being pedantic but Ilorek's choice of words had confused him.

"Simple! You'll be getting them back once you're done!" Ilorek explained. "They're part of the curriculum, I imagine. What might start as simple concentration exercises meant to help you focus your ability and control it better should eventually turn into potion and gemstone enchanting sessions. I can't guarantee you'll get there in good time - it does look like we have a lot of work to do before that - but I do feel that enchanting is the best way to hone one's skills. It's kind of like teaching, once you've learned what you need to do to share that knowledge, that power, with another, you better understand it yourself. Same basic principle, and I think that, if you do this right, you could learn a lot."

Nib stood in place and rubbed his chin goatee. "You really think I have what it takes to make an impact, to learn? You changed your tone pretty quickly. If I didn't know you to be sincere I'd wonder if you were being disingenuous."

This coaxed a chuckle from Valencia. "I'm psychic but I don't need it with him. Ilorek doesn't lie and he doesn't try to hide the truth. If he says something, you can believe it."

"She's right." Ilorek joked. "And at this point I have to clarify that I was always happy to help you out; pretty sure I already said that. However, what might not be evident to you is that you just displayed a rather impressive burst of magical power, and while it wasn't focused it told me all I needed to know. You've got moxie, you've got unrealized potential, you've got heart that I already knew was there but just witnessed for myself. If I can teach you to focus and concentrate, it'll take a lot out of you but it will give you strength beyond even your impressive physical stature."

The compliment made Nib flex his thigh muscles to show off his physical strength; not what he needed to do since Ilorek was even larger and better build than he was, but it still felt nice to do. "I appreciate the compliments. So, uh, when do we start? Are we starting?"

Ilorek nodded and offered a thumbs-up from his spot on the chair, an almost nonchalant approval of Nib's inquiry. "You're damn right we're starting, but I think we'd best do so tomorrow. I've got a client coming in from up north to buy a horse and I think I know exactly what mare I wanna sell him. In the meantime, I think we can hang out, discuss what you like, relax a bit, have something to eat, and generally chill until tomorrow. Sound good?"

"It does, yeah." Nib agreed. "So just chatting, sharing stories and meals today?"

"And company, of course." Valencia added, slyly grinning with a seductive look. "If you're into that, I mean." She shifted in place and licked her one fang, flirting with Nib as she did so.

Of course, Nib wasn't familiar with this sort of behaviour from her. Sure, he was used to Ilorek making casual passes at him, flirtations that the donkey often rebuffed since that wasn't what he came to the ranch to get, but this was different. He'd casually fantasized about Valencia in the past but never dared make a move because he wasn't the type to break up a relationship due to infidelity.

He also wasn't the kind of person to rat someone out based on his own interpretations of their actions, so he kept his mouth shut about her sensual motions and glances as he returned his focus to his studies and the next step in his training. "Sounds like a plan! Let's have some fun!"

From there, the trio of them casually made their way to the kitchen while discussing the plans Ilorek had for Nib and the training the two of them would be commencing over the course of the next month or so. The whole situation seemed awfully convenient to Nib since it all felt like Ilorek was making up the plan on the spot but upon asking he got the clarification he needed that the hippogryph and his wife were always planning on training him regardless. The display of unfocused but raw power in the form of physical magic simply excited them, changing their tone but not their plans.

That made him happy and it wasn't very long at all before he comfortably settled into a state of mind that allowed him to relax around the two of them.

Nib's relationship with Ilorek and Valencia was an odd one. While they did consider one another to be friends, Nib always harboured a feeling of awe around Ilorek ever since he first found out just how talented the hippogryph was when it came to magic. To any outsider, a hippogryph owning and operating a ranch that dealt with livestock both for riding and for eating didn't sound like the sort of person who would be one of the world's foremost experts on alchemical magic.

Their first experience together was the same sort of business transaction a rancher and a new home owner would have shared any other day as Nib was getting a consultation on how he could go about starting his own farm, what cattle he needed, and what creatures would best work the fields. Then, during the course of that day, Nib heard Ilorek conversing with Rex - his feline ranch hand - using advanced terminology that only adept mages would have understood.

Curious, Nib asked and was educated on the matter by Ilorek after the hippogryph revealed how many books he'd written in the past on the topic. With a bit of research and cross referencing his own memories, Nib came to realize just how ubiquitous Ilorek was among the magic-using community. He thought at first that Ilorek was just a common name for Hippogryphs - named after the god of alchemy himself - but as it turned out the Ilorek that ran the ranch was the same one who had contributed to the schools of magic that best interested Nib.

Ilorek and his wife, Valencia, spent their early years as scholars and professors at the Klyneth Academy of Science and Magic but then retired and used the money they made selling potions to start the Ranch in the SoSemma frontier. They still dabbled in magic but mostly focused on their livestock.

While Nib's primary concern had been that of a buyer looking to populate his own homestead, his interest in Ilorek and Valencia shifted to that of an apprentice seeking guidance an his focus had rejuvenated their interest in their old lives. Ever since establishing that mutual interest, they had kept in contact with Nib and had invited him to their ranch multiple times.

It wasn't until news got around that Nib had found and sold off the information about the ademane crystal mine next to Rhybute Pass that Ilorek had basically demanded Nib's company.

There was a hint of resentment towards Nib for not keeping the knowledge of the ademane crystals to himself, but doing so had been what gave him the time and money to settle down and focus more on his magical studies so it balanced out in the end. He was also gifted a sort of permanent compensation in the form of being gifted the tiny bead-sized scraps of ademane crystal the potion's guild couldn't sell. In this case, it worked well for him and nobody was complaining. Not anymore.

Once everything had settled, the trio had enjoyed their meal, and they had concluded tea time, Ilorek decided to take Nib out to the barn to meet up with Oceras, the mare that Ilorek was planning on selling to some kirin folk from Port Sanri. As the three of them were walking from the house, Ilorek couldn't help but excitedly explain what made this particular equine so interesting to him.

"Ocerre is a bit of an anomaly. They seem to possess magics that not even I truly understand."

This was an odd thing to hear from Ilorek, a master of the second most complicated of all the magic types. Nib couldn't help but clarify. "What do you mean by that? Transformation is the only kind I know that's harder to understand and control than alchemy."

"You are correct." Valencia interjected. "I'm actually kind of surprised you know that."

Ilorek chuckled. "Yeah, that's not known by many. But yes, Ocerre came to us without gender, donated by some noble family from Arrenthen. I thought this was peculiar but not a deal breaker, it just meant they couldn't be used for breeding. However, after I had them for a while, I came in to notice that Ocerre was now a mare and was teasing all the stallions in the barn until she was taken care of!"

"Wait, can ferals even use magic?" Nib asked. As far as he knew, some plants and animals possessed ademane systems and thus had potential to use magic or be treated as though they were enchanted but he'd never heard of any non-sentient being using spells, especially not one as advanced and complicated as a gender shifting spell.

"Turns out they can! I didn't know that before, apparently the Arrenthens didn't either. But nope, I can say with certainty after having Ocerre for a year and doing a few tests to see what was going on, this horse can in fact become a stallion or a mare, though it appears to be either at random or inspired by hormonal shifts in their body. Today, and for the last few days, she's been a mare. I call her Oceras. When he's a stallion, I call him Oceris. Similar names, but it gets the point across." Ilorek then pushed open the door to the barn and invited both Nib and Valencia inside before shutting it behind them.

To Nib's surprise, the entire barn was devoid of any livestock aside from a peculiarly massive mare standing between two stalls with her head over the gate to eat from the bucket of oats handing off the stall wall. She was easily twenty hands or more, could have been as much as twenty-four, and had a golden-tipped mane and tail as well as feathers on her shoulders that traced her flank in the shape of wings but were patterns, not limbs. An absolutely gorgeous chestnut mare with black and gold highlights all over, a mare who's scent was so thick in the air it practically assaulted Nib's nostrils.

The donkey had to actively resist lifting his lip to sample her scents like some carnal feral. "Is that her?" He asked, deliberately focusing his thoughts away from the overwhelming cloud of her estrus aura that hung heavy in the barn. It was so thick, in fact,t hat he could already taste her.

Ilorek nodded and took the few steps needed to close the distance between himself and the mare. As he patted Oceras on the shoulder feathers, she lifted her head up and continued to chew on her oats while her tail swished back and forth. She was content, happy, and seemed to appreciate his company based on the way she stepped innto him and laid her chin on his shoulder from behind, an equine hug. "Yeah, this is her. Or him." He glanced back to check under the enigmatic equine. "Her."

Valencia hopped up onto a nearby bale of hay and used that to scale Nib's entire body before perching on his shoulder. She was considerably shorter than both Nib and Ilorek, about half the height of either of them and incredibly light as a result of the genetics that granted her bat-like wings and presumably bird-like hollow bones. From up on Nib's shoulder, she squatted and leaned against his head, elbow between his ears. "Not for long, though."

"You said you were selling her?" Nib asked, referring to what Ilorek had indicated prior.

Once again, Ilorek patted the mare on the shoulders and gave her flank a gentle caress from the neck to her haunches, the very touch of his hands coaxing her to widen her stance and lift her tail. "Yep! Been keeping her for myself over the last year so I could do some research on her, check and see if any of her body chemistry could explain the gender-shifting. Sadly couldn't figure out the secrets of her unique situation and haven't made any progress with the research for months so I think it's time to put her up for sale. My buddy Ceylon recommended this buyer by the name of Therris, so I set up a meeting with the guy for this afternoon!"

Nib cocked his head to the side and flopped an ear. "What's so special about this buyer? Why would you hold Oceras for him?"

"I don't actually know! I trust Ceylon and this is the first real thought I had about the whole situation. All I know is that this girl here is very loyal, very affectionate, and in need of only the best and most compassionate of riders. Ceylon tells me Therris is one of the best fits I'll ever find for a mare like this so I'm happy to do what I can to make it happen."

"This bloke sounds like a lucky fellow." Nib mused. "You gonna miss her?"

Valencia answered for Ilorek. "Oh, I think he will. Guy has been out here every night ever since she did her most recent mare transformation. She's insatiable and so is he!"

Naturally, Nib couldn't help but prod a bit deeper into that comment. He was certain he knew exactly what it meant but he still felt the need to clarify, to confirm his assumptions. "Wait, you mean Ilorek, uh, has relations with her?"

"Of course he does!" Valencia chirped. "I don't think he's been able to say no to her since the day she first revealed herself as female!"

This only brought up so many questions for Nib, but he didn't feel entirely comfortable just blurting them all out in quick succession so he kept his inquiries brisk. "And you're okay with that?"

Valencia Shrugged as Ilorek shot her a glare. "Okay with what? Ilorek fooling around with mares and not just being with me? Naw. When you're with someone as long as he and I have been together, you understand that sometimes you won't have what best suits his needs."

"Okay, now I'm even more confused. Ilorek, you mount your horses and Valencia's okay with that? Not only okay with it but encourages it?" The thought made Nib Roc pretty excited but didn't want to misread the situation so he needed clarification on the matter. He wanted it to be that simple and that straightforward but didn't presume.

Both Ilorek and Valencia paused to glance at one another before breaking out in laughter. In an odd twist, Oceras threw her head back and made a grunting, nickering noise as if to join in on the bellowing laughter. This put Nib at unease but he patiently waited for them to stop. When they did, Ilorek casually slipped his hand under the mare's tail as if to prove a point when she arched her back and hoisted it up to ensure he had no obstruction.

"You really are new to the farmland scene, aren't ya?" Ilorek teased. "Yes, I'm permitted to fool around with whomever and whatever I want when Val's not around and she's allowed to do the same."

"Psh, like I need your permission to get off." Valencia joked, then turned turned to hang off Nib's neck with her wings over his shoulders and her feet-paws on his waist band. "Did you not notice me flirting with you earlier? You think I'd be so brazen in front of my husband if he wasn't going to watch and join in later?"

Nib gulped and made a series of confused faces. "Uh, I guess not? I really don't know, to be honest. I just never imagined-"

"You need a better imagination." Valencia joked before hopping off his chest and then jumping back onto Ilorek, using him as a totem to make her way onto Oceras's back. "If you're gonna get into the magic arts, you really gotta be more creative! Now come here, I'm going to show you something." While she was on Oceras's back, she laid down on her belly with her head leaning over the mare's haunches, feet up in the air while Oceras kept her tail raised.

Nib didn't know what to do until Ilorek made a casual head motion to encourage him to go ahead and stand behind Oceras.

"You sure?" Nib asked. "Seems rather odd to, well, you know. I was here to learn."

Ilorek stepped away and made a hand motion. "You don't have to do anything, really. I'd still recommend maybe taking a look; you're a stallion so I doubt you'll mind the view."

"This must be pretty commonplace for you, isn't it?" Nib asked as he conceded the point and slipped between Ilorek and Oceras; the mare nipped and nuzzled at him as he walked past, the warmth of her cheek on his making him weak at the knees. The sweet aroma of her estrus got stronger the closer he got to her backside and it was so thick he could have sworn he saw a cloud of steam billowing up from under her tail, coaxing drool from him as he tasted it.

In an almost casual manner, Ilorek leaned back against the stable gate opposite where Oceras was standing as he continued. "Oh yeah, it's not exactly socially encouraged but 'round these parts there's no bond as tight as the one between a rider and their mount. Lots of my customers come in saying they expect to spend days at a time alone with just their horse or dragon or gryphon as they explore the vast Sosemman Frontier. I can't assume their intent but it's fair to say that most of those ladies and gentlemen want a partner with them as well as a mount."

"And it's best to at the very least check to make sure at least most of our stock are at least amicable to being given that kind of attention in particular." Valencia added, still swaying her feet as she massaged each of Oceras's rump cheeks to keep the mare engaged. "That's why I tend to stick around for every sale. I don't like using my psychic abilities for evil but I try to pair up our clients with the best stock that fits their needs. Some riders have no interest in physical intimacy with their mounts and some of our livestock hate being given that sort of attention, so I match them up accordingly."

All of that actually made a lot of sense to Nib, who hadn't really put much thought into such relations with horses or feral gryphons. He still wasn't sure he was completely comfortable casually discussing and potentially engaging in some sort of kinky threesome or foursome with the couple and their mare but knew that the pheromones in the air may have had something else to say on the matter.

From his vantage point behind Oceras he could see under the mare's tail while Valencia pulled it to the side. The equine's vulva were soaking wet and literally dripping with slimy arousal that soaked both of her inner thighs to the knees. He couldn't help but comment on this. "Girl seems to be easily excited." He joked, deliberately shifting so that neither Ilorek nor Valencia could see his growing bulge.

It didn't work. "You, too." Valencia observed. She was a psychic and had made it clear in prior discussions that even when she wasn't actively probing someone's mind she was still capable of reading their emotions and feeling their desires, so not only could he not hide his arousal from her but the sheer intensity of the mare's estrus scent ensured there was no angle at which he could hide his bulge.

Before Nib could respond to confirm or deny her accurate accusations, Ilorek paused and raised a finger as his ears went up. He had heard something. "I think Therris is here." He interrupted. "If you two are gonna fool around, do it quickly. I'm giving you about ten minutes before I bring him in." And with that, the hippogryph zipped out of the barn and locked the door behind him, leaving only Valencia and Nib in the barn with Oceras casually grunting and nickering to them both.

For some reason, this made Nib a touch bashful about the whole situation. When Ilorek was around everything had a casual, laid-back feeling to it. Even when they were talking about the intricacies of potions or joking about the differences between gryphons and horses from an anatomical perspective, it always felt like a group of like-minded magic users just having fun and being normal. However, with the knowledge that all those subtle flirtations from Valencia were sincere and that Ilorek was not only okay with it but encouraged him to act on it, being alone with her felt awkward.

He couldn't tell at first if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Valencia was so forthright with her behaviour. Mere seconds afte the barn door closed, she rolled over onto her back and dangled her foot-paws over the back of the mare's rump. "So what do you say? Interested at all?"

"Interested in what?" Nib asked, feigning ignorance. He knew what she meant but didn't want to say it, at least not first; she needed to make the offer.

She wiggled out of her shorts and tossed them over a nearby hangar meant to hold a horse bridle. "For me! We've got ten minutes if you're interested and as a stallion I figure that's plenty of time to finish up. Oh, and since I'm a hybrid myself you don't need no condom, partner." She finished by winking at him, still on Oceras's back with her legs parted and plump, triangular pussy exposed in all its moist goodness. The faint scent that mixed with Oceras's was nice but not as pleasant as the mare's.

By this point, Nib was pretty sure he knew exactly what he wanted to do but needed to clarify a few things first. He was a scholar, first and foremost. "You sure I'm gonna fit? I mean, I'm pretty thick."

Valencia let out a hearty but subdued laugh. "Yeah, I may be a bitch but Ilorek's my man and he's as thick as any stallion. I can handle you if I can handle him."

"But you're...uh, canine. Aren't you people like, super tight because of knots?" Despite his reservations, he was still idly unbuckling his belt to let his trousers slip past his thighs and expose his member. He was in fact a donkey stallion and came equipped with an appropriate member that was thick and long and unfolded from a meaty sheath that mostly kept it inside his groin when not in use. A moist, musky stench billowed up from his midsection the second he revealed himself, one that Oceras caught a whiff of and immediately responded by stomping her hind hoof and winking her clit at him.

All the while, Valencia remained on the mare's back with her legs spread and knees up. She rubbed her pussy lips and parted them to show the tender pink inside. "I may be a canine, yes, but I stretch. I'm still pretty tight compared to you stallion folk, but that doesn't mean I'm not a lot of fun." She then hoisted herself up into a sitting position and motioned for him to come in closer. When he did, she grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and pulled him so close she could whisper. "But why do you think Ilorek's got a thing for mares? Sometimes I'm too tight and he needs a partner that's roomier."

Nib immediately understood what she was getting at, so he pulled back and nodded. "I see. Well I guess we'll see, then, won't we? No real reason not to go ahead."

"None whatsoever. But be quick." Valencia concurred. "We've got maybe seven minutes left, which for a stallion should be plenty. Don't worry about foreplay." She then leaned over to see just how excited Oceras had grown ever since smelling Nib's musk. "And don't you dare ignore her."

"Aye." He said with a salute. And just like that he had shed much of his hesitation. Ilorek had left the barn, he was literally faced with both mare and bitch pussy and could have chosen between either of them and was happily invited to try out both, and the overwhelming scent of estrus had carved away any semblance of self control he may have expressed.

His cock unfurled fully from its depths and swelled to maximum girth as his tip inflated to its pre-flare position as a bead of precum dribbled down the underside of his shaft. It all happened quite quickly but that was very characteristic of any male equine, be it a horse or a zebra or a pegasus or even a donkey - even though donkeys like Nib had a bit more endurance than most stallions.

Valencia got a good look at what he had for equipment and deviously grinned, tongue sticking out and sensually rubbing each of her fangs as her fingers danced over her plump canine vulva. "Don't make either of us wait, Nib." She cautioned while slipping a pair of fingers into herself and spreading her loins apart to better entice him.

Though he was eager to dive right in - preferably into the tighter of the two ladies so that he may expedite his climax - he knew that his own fluids were not going to be enough to slip into Val's tiny little bitch pussy. Knowing this, he cautiously glanced over to the sliding door one last time before stepping up to Oceras and tugging over the bale of hay that Valencia had used to hop up earlier so he could get a bit extra height and leverage.

Once upon the bale, he grabbed the base of the mare's tail with one hand and the tip of his member with the other and brought the two together. Using his thumb to guide his length, he rubbed his cock head up and down the mare's plump lips to soak his flesh with her fluids before finding the right angle and easing every last bit of himself into her. He grunted loudly as her flesh swallowed his, the heat of her body permeating through his and making his loins tingle as his climax began to build.

Part of him was disappointed in the time constraints put upon him. By this point he had less than five minutes to please two women but all he wanted to do was get down on one knee and bury his muzzle under the mare's tail and eat her out for an hour. He wanted to taste her fluids, smell her scents, and feel her silken lips kissing his as he probed her depths with his tongue. As a stallion, he knew and understood that he could mount hard and fast and repeatedly but endurance wasn't his forte; the best way to alleviate that shortcoming was with a tonne of foreplay, something he absolutely loved.

With him in so close and distracted by his thoughts of how much he preferred using his tongue first, Valencia teased him a bit. "Aww, I was really hoping you'd fill me instead. I promise I don't take an hour to climax like most lady-canines." She deliberately avoided calling herself a bitch.

Nib nodded and wrapped one of his thick hands around her waist to pull her in close, ensuring her pussy was resting just above the base of Oceras's tail. With her that close to him, he grunted in her ear. "Don't worry, I don't plan on seeing the mare. I just need to collect some of her lubricant if I wanna fit." He then snorted as he bit down on her neck - a common stallion move of dominance - while bucking deep and hard into Oceras.

The mare grunted and nickered as she leaned back into him. Her walls squeezed in waves, her clit winked, and a steady flow of viscous equine fluid escaped her lips to dribble down the underside of Nib's shaft and onto his ball sack, eventually soaking into his pants. He knew that the scent would cling to him for hours but he didn't care; not only did that make him even more excited but it was eminently encouraging to know the mare was as into it as he was. That mattered to him.

Normally he would have slowed down or paced himself to get as much pleasure out of the ordeal as equinely possible but even lost in the cloud of arousal, his mind was able to tell he had three minutes or less to finish and pull out before Ilorek returned with this Therris fellow.

After giving a few particularly deep and powerful bucks into the mare's shockingly snug pussy, he gave her haunches an apologetic pat and pulled out of her with a gooey squelch, her pussy lubricant soaking his shaft and forming bridges and slimy drips all over the place as he repositioned himself. He grunted, she winked to spew more of her fluids down his front, and he wrapped his thick hand around Valencia's upper thigh to hold her in place as he used his free hand to aim his slimy member at her.

Valencia yipped in approval and grabbed his cock head to help guide him. "Here, you gotta get the right angle." She chirped as she leaned back and raised her hips to aid his invasion.

This did take him by surprise but he knew he had no time to waist. With her guiding his cock this gave his hands free reign to curl around her thighs and grip her hips. From that position he yanked her in as close as he could go and started grinding against her, testing every angle to see what worked.

Nothing felt quite right at first. Her lips were tender and her flesh felt like it could have opened up to swallow a cock twice as thick as his, but her inner muscle ring seemed too tight and only the crown of his head seemed to be able to tease it and loosen it up. This was almost disheartening until he heard her growling at him with a toothy grin at the same time he felt her depths open up for him.

The instant he noticed this, he flexed his arms, pulled her in tight, and did all he could to force himself in her! With any other partner he'd have been gentler - especially given how tiny she was compared to him - but Valencia had casually been chatting about how easily she healed all afternoon and her blunt explanation of how easily she handled Ilorek had convinced him that even if he was too rough she wouldn't mind. If nothing else, his cock was coated from tip to base in mare juices.

Knowing that while also giving in to his carnal desires, he forced himself on her until he felt her flesh twitch and relax. She dilated just enough for him to pop into her amidst an audible squelch of flesh in flesh, plump canine pussy lips stretching and distending as they struggled to swallow all he had to offer! Once he was in, he continued to ease himself in until he had gone as deep as he could, which turned out to be a little more than half of his length and just barely included the bulge of his median ring. This meant that all the most sensitive parts were squeezed tight inside her clamp-strong pussy!

"Come on, go ahead, don't waste a second; Ilorek will be back in a minute or two." She urged as she furiously rubbed her clit. "And you better finish in me; I wanna feel you all afternoon."

Nib flared his nostrils and peeled his lip back in typical equine fashion as he slammed himself into her as hard and as deep as he could go. No matter how rough he was, however, he couldn't go much deeper than that median ring of his. Which was fine for him, as his head was the part of him that was most sensitive and the mare lubricant that soaked him right to the base ensured every thrust was full and slick, hot and wet.

She was so tight, too. He was shocked he managed to fit inside her given their difference in size and anatomy, but he did and it was an incredibly intense feeling to have her depths squeezing so tight he felt like she could have force him out of her on a whim! Of course, the added friction and the intense sensation that came alongside her tightness ensured he couldn't hold back even if he tried!

After a few dozen thrusts - each one slamming Valencia and making her scoot a bit down the mare's spine - Nib's flare exploded inside her knot reservoir as the spongy tissue plugged her depths and started pumping stallion seed deep inside her. Given her anatomy, that was the only place his flare wouldn't have split her in half' of course, this also dictated that only the tip and a small portion of his shaft remained inside her as his length started pumping her full of stallion cum.

Valencia aggressively rubbed her clit as she continued to grind down on his shaft, using his expansive flare in much the same way she'd have enjoyed a knot tugging on her pussy lips. After a few seconds, she started to twitch as her depths constricted around him, the extra pressure threatening to coax a second round out of him before he started to go limp.

However, Nib knew well enough that he had mere seconds to pull out and pull his pants back up if Ilorek's promise of ten minutes was to be believed. With a pat on Valencia's belly, he yanked his softening cock out of her depths with an audible pop as his length folded itself back up into his sheath. A gooey slime of mare juices, bitch fluids, and his own seed soaked the front of his pants as he buckled up so he shifted his satchel to a position in front of him, hiding the wet spot.

The second he pulled out, Valencia pinched her vulva to seal herself up while reaching over to grab her shorts so that she could put them back on. Still, some of his essence escaped her and formed a bead on Oceras's back as Valencia jumped down and into her shorts.

Within seconds, both Nib and Valencia were standing tall next to a panting Oceras, which felt odd because mares were not known to pant. They were nonchalantly focusing on one another, struggling to think up casual banter that didn't discuss or address their brief tryst as the barn door opened to reveal Ilorek and a shorter mauve and magenta dragon-hybrid.

Nib and Therris casually acknowledged one another as the estrus aura of Oceras caught the newcomer and they shared a moment of mutual understanding that painted Therris's relationship with her. From that point forward, he knew that Oceras was a hell of a ride even if it may have taken him a while to learn that for himself.

"Whoo boy!" Therris commented as he waved his hand in front of his face. "Smells like sex in here! You didn't tell me the girl you were sellin' me was a slut!" He joked with Ilorek.

Nib snorted to himself as he was escorted out of the barn by Valencia, leaving Ilorek and Therris with Oceras. From there, Valencia took some time to get Nib acquainted with the grounds since he'd be around there a lot over the next few weeks. It was a journey he was all too excited to partake in.

Hours after Therris arrived he was already heading out on Oceras's back, content with his purchase and heading south to Rhybute Pass to go on an adventure with his new companion. It was clear from the way he walked with a spring in his step that Therris was happy with his decision and the mare felt the same way, acting playful and more like a dog than a horse.

Nib stuck around to get a tour from Valencia only to have Ilorek join them later and opine about how sad he was to let go of Oceras but that he knew it was the right choice because the mare had taken an instant liking to the fellow and they were inseparable from the moment they met. Nib did not see any of this but Ilorek was very descriptive when he told the story and made it sound like Therris and Oceras were long-lost lovers from a previous life or something.

After that, things on The Ranch slowed down a bit as Ilorek and Valencia took Nib as their apprentice in an attempt to help him learn the intricacies of advanced magic. Moving up from the basics of elemental and curative magic, they did all they could to help him out with his physical magic and eventually training him in the basics of telepathic and alchemical magic. It was all quite difficult for Nib, since his race wasn't known to be the most adept with even the most basic of magic, but his intelligence and diligence combined to make him an excellent student.

Of course, in exchange for this training he was expected to help out with the chores at The Ranch but he had no problems with this. He expected to help out regardless since he actually came to spend the majority of the following month in the loft above the stables.

His own home west of Rhybute hadn't been fully established for the spring yet so he had time to spare. The donkey stallion was free to roam, explore, foster relationships, and build friendships with locals and folks in the surrounding towns to his heart's content before he'd have to plant seeds and till the fields. He chose to use that time learning magic under the tutelage of Ilorek and Valencia.

Every single morning he'd wake up early from his room in the loft, feed as many of the horses and other livestock as he could while cleaning out stalls, then he'd practice on his own before enjoying a lesson from each of his hosts - one in the morning and one in the afternoon - before enjoying a group session after dinner before bed.

Without exception, this was the schedule for each of the twenty days he spent at The Ranch, and every day he learned something new or tried to learn a new spell. Fortunately for him, he was coming into his lessons with a fundamental understanding of how magic worked and he had a keen mind so he absorbed information about higher level skills and magic like a curious child.

In truth, he felt like a colt again. Everything was exciting and new to him when it came to high level magic and the intricacies of potion and gemstone enchantment were intellectually engaging. Of course, actually learning how to enchant was a whole different practice to the act of enchanting. All the academic knowledge in the world meant nothing if one was unwilling or unable to infuse a gemstone or a potion with all their energy.

There was one thing he learned from Valencia and Ilorek that he hadn't even considered before, something that he had never come across in any of his studies and never even heard tales of in the past so he hadn't considered it a possibility. Storing magical energy in gemstones or potions!

What everyone knew and understood about magic use was that ademane fueled one's ability to manipulate the arcane. Ademane stored energy to be used in the form of magic and could be extracted to create potions or crystallized to form gems, but there was a lot more to it than that. While the body could only hold so much at a given time, the ademane glands could potentially be creating a renewable supply of it! If ademane was extracted via a needle or a drip - preferably without being contaminated by blood - one could harvest their own supply and store it.

Not only could they do that, but they could enchant their own ademane to 'store' energy inside. By focusing on the enchanting process without triggering any elemental or alchemical magic, one could drain their own energy into a potion and save it for later, thus giving themselves a boost if they needed it during a fight or if they got exhausted. The key was to blend non-elemental magic and restorative or healing magic, that way when the potion was imbibed it wouldn't only give the one consuming it any one form of magic.

Gemstones and potions could be infused with specific spells and energies, so if Nib created a fire potion and gave it to a friend, that friend could better utilize fire magic without expending their own energy. The same thing could be said for specific effects like transformation or alchemy.

The main problem with this method of self-storage when it came to potion making was that it was far harder to infuse and extract energy from crystals, and for this particular purpose any sort of magic storage enchantment would drain the caster to a fatigue almost certain to make them pass out.

When Nib and Ilorek tried this for the first time on one of the small crystal shards Nib had used to 'pay' for his lessons, he passed out and didn't wake up until the following morning, curled up in a pile of hay with a feral horse standing over him. He was groggy and needed something to wake him back up but the euphoria of learning such an uncommon and rare skill gave him all the enthusiasm he needed to carry on. After that, he continued his studies until the day he had to depart and return to his homestead.

His time on Ilorek's ranch had seen him vastly expand his knowledge and understanding of the intricacies behind the various elemental magics as well as new elements he didn't even know were possible. Fire, Ice, Water, Shock, Earth, and Wind magic soon bent to his will, but it was the restorative magic he made the most progress with since that was what would give him extra energy, heal his wounds, and keep him from sickness. Of course, he also made great strides in physical magic, but even at the end of the month he was lucky to be able to magically move items as big as his physical body could move and could only do so within ten meters of his location.

Much practice would be needed to increase the strength of his physical magic as well as the distance at which he could utilize it. Just like physical muscles, magical strengths were best expanded upon with practice and repetition while being conscious of one's energy limitations.

Finally, he managed to be taught the very basics of telepathic and alchemical magic but conceded quickly that it would take him years to be able to do anything with those types of magic. At best he was capable of very faintly picking up on the emotions and feelings of those around him but was unable to read minds or communicate nonverbally. He didn't let this dissuade him, though; Valencia assured him that even being able to do that was remarkably rare and challenging even for high level mages. What did disappoint him was that he was unable to effectively utilize alchemical magic.

Ilorek tried his best to assure him this was nothing to be ashamed of. Only a handful of people worldwide were capable of altering the structure and form of the natural world and that Nib shouldn't feel bad about not being one of those few. While this certainly alleviated some of Nib's self critical attitudes, it still hurt him to think that he could fail in any one school of magic.

One recurring theme of Ilorek and Valencia's teachings was that they only had a month to help teach him all they knew. One month was not enough time to master anything, let alone high level, complicated spells and enchantments. The key lessons they hoped to convey to him was more about learning how to learn and understanding the fundamentals of practicing. Even after he left, he would need to keep trying to enhance his skills, flex his magic, and never stop getting better. Their goal was to teach him how to do that to best maximize his self-training sessions.

Fortunately for all parties involved, he took well to their lessons and combined his knowledge of magic with his own diligence to make great strides in three of the five main types of magic. Upon finally departing, he not only had a firm grasp upon even physical magic but also had all the info he needed to progress his studies in enchantment for those higher levels of magic.

Plus, as an added bonus, Nib quickly learned just how open Ilorek and Valencia were in regards to their relationship as well as how experimental they were both with each other on the side. Almost every day the three of them would find some time to be physical with one another or the livestock on The Ranch or maybe even with the ranch hands or customers if the situation called for it. Therris was by no means an outlier in their daily lives.

As it turned out, living together and travelling together for so long gave the two of them a very worldly outlook on intimacy and physical passion so the concept of shame and traditional dignity were non-factors to them. This worked for Nib, and even though the donkey stallion wasn't the type to focus on that sort of thing he still appreciated it and felt appreciated in return. He was a stallion, after all.

Throughout Nib's tenure on The Ranch, Ilorek kept assuring him that his progress would not go unnoticed and that one day he would be met by Ceylon, the only master of transformation magic in the area. Of course, the caveat to this was that he had no idea when the two would meet. Ceylon was notoriously busy and hard to get a hold of at the best of times so it might be days, months, or even years until Ilorek met up with him and told tales of Nib's meteoric advancement in magical arts.

With that knowledge in his mind and that assurance in his heart, Nib and Ilorek and Valencia parted ways, with Nib returning home with a small stable of work horses meant to help him with his homestead. He was gifted a few advanced tomes that taught new spells he'd only heard about as well as the bag of gemstones he'd used to pay for his lessons and practice on. They promised to meet again once a month until the gryphoness blessed them with their presence.

The understanding that Ceylon may have arrived at any time to continue his training ensured that no day passed without Nib training himself or practicing new spells. He worked on his physical magic the most, flexing those spells as best he could while maintaining his elemental and restorative skills via the daily chores on his homestead.

After spending a full month on The Ranch with Ilorek, Valencia, the various ranch hands, and the customers that'd buy and sell daily, returning to his own homestead in the frontier west of Rhybute felt lonely. Of course, this wasn't a bad thing. Nib, despite being social when times called for it, loved the spiritual purity of serenity that came with solitude.

This allowed him to focus most of his efforts on maintaining his property. This meant tending to the crops, building maintenance, and erecting fences to ensure that outside creatures such as rabbits didn't slip in and eat his veggies. One thing he did that was unlike what most people would do in the area was to make his house look a little dumpy on the outside while keeping the property pristine.

The goal, as far as he was concerned, was to appear like his property was devoid of any goods or valuables inside. He lived in the valley near a river surrounded on all sides by a thick forest, bandits were known to pass through quite frequently and if his house looked dumpy they wouldn't rob him. He was, after all, alone in the middle of nowhere and frequently had to leave home to stock up on supplies.

When he was home, however, his homestead was impenetrable. Between the spell-traps he'd set up via the crystal shards around the perimeter and the fact that he had a single ulokar mount patrolling the perimeter of the property ensured that no bandits would dare. No packs of wolves, no bear families, and no prides of irruns would dare cross those shock-gem-powered metal fences.

Flocks of birds could still dive in and steal the seeds, which was why he planted sunflowers around the gardens and fields to entice the birds to eat them instead of his carrots or broccoli.

Months passed without hearing a chirp from Ceylon. The entirety of spring came and went before Ilorek came for a visit and to check up on Nib's progress and to gift him with another book with more advanced spells and methods to amplify his enchantments. Ilorek and Valencia both assured Nib that Ceylon was coming but that they had no idea when that would be. The gryphon still hadn't visited them, which made them realize that Ceylon was even busier than usual.

Nib, ever the optimist, used this time to keep practicing and get better. As far as he was concerned, this gave him more time to test his skills, get better, and impress Ceylon when she did eventually show up. The hope was to make her so happy with the stallion's progress that she took him under wing and continued to help train him and maybe even help him complete his steps towards the higher level magic that he couldn't fully grasp under the tutelage of Ilorek in the brief twenty days he spent on the ranch.

Skilled or not, a month was not enough time to master anything, especially not advanced magic.

Time continued to pass after that and Nib's elemental and restorative magics seemed to hit their plateau. He didn't seem to be able to manipulate the elements any stronger or further away and he wasn't able to purposely injure himself to practice restorative magics on himself beyond the sorts of injuries one might sustain in a low-level farming accident. This meant that, for the majority of summer and right into the early days of autumn, Nib found himself focusing almost entirely on physical magic.

By the time the leaves turned to a lovely and warm orange and red, Nib was able to manipulate objects up to twenty-five meters away and at its strongest was able to lift things twice the weight his own physical form could handle but the further away the object was the less he could lift in terms of weight. So, right next to him, he could hoist barrels of water up with ease but he struggled to move tools for tilling the soil when on the opposite side of his field.

This all made perfect sense but it was a discovery he made that really made him realize the true potential of physical magic.

One day, only a week into autumn, he was harvesting many of his apples into a rather huge barrel so he could keep them for the winter and turn what he could into pies when one of his horses got loose and spooked due to a pack of wolves getting close one night. The horse, which was easily thrice the mass of Nib, barreled past him in an attempt to escape danger only to be stopped dead in its tracks!

This happened not by an electrified fence or by Nib's calm demeanour but the donkey's pure physical strength. The horse barreled right into Nib and Nib stood his ground and managed to overpower the panicked equine before eventually calming it and leading it back to its stall.

Such things were not meant to be possible. Nib was strong - most stallions regardless of form or shape were physically intimidating - but he didn't compare to the pure power of a scared, feral beast. After reflecting upon the situation he realized it was a reactionary use of physical magic that was augmenting his natural strength!

Not only was his physically body putting in the work, but his magic was focused on his arms and hands, reacting in much the same way a normal physical magic spell would work except it was so close to his body its strength was amplified.

A revelation, of course! Physical magic was stronger the closer to his body it was used, so using it adjacent to his skin and fur meant it basically functioned in a way that gave him super strength! Further research and testing proved this to be true, and with practice it proved to be intensely useful during the harvest of his veggies.

Much of this distracted him by the time the leaves began to fall, and by the time Ceylon finally arrived some six months after his departure from The Ranch, he was taken completely by surprise.

This was a good thing, though. Good for him and better for Ceylon, as it turned out.

It was early in the day when Nib had left the cabin to tend to his fields when he was greeted by the gryphoness known as Ceylon. He was kneeling next to the cauliflower, tilling the soil with one of his mares behind him munching on the grass. This field was nearest the entrance to his property, one of three fields in each of the four corners of the plot with the barn in the fourth corner.

He was whistling to himself, singing a ditty about a slutty mare he heard about at the Near and Dear in town when he heard his ulokar growling while pointing his snout towards the front gates. Curious, he glanced up and wiped his hands clean of the soil that had accumulated on his digits to see a mostly-obstructed black and white figure sitting patiently beyond the fence. His equine eyes were trained to movement, not detail, so the fact that whoever it was remained still confounded his vision.

Nib got to his hooves and wiped his knees off as he made his way down the pathway between the two front fields, gaze trained on the mysterious figure as their black and white form came into focus. It was a gryphon, one about as tall as he while on all fours. They were sitting down with their haunches on the ground, head up tall and beak angled upward. He didn't recognize this gryphon.

"Can I help you?" He asked as he met the gryphon while remaining on his side of the fence.

"That depends." The gryphon responded with a soft and sensual feminine voice. "Do you know who I am and what I represent?"

Nib narrowed his eyes. "I do not but I presume that I should." It had been so long since he'd been waiting to hear from Ceylon that he had no idea when she was coming and he had never seen her so he had no idea what she looked like. This should have been obvious to him but his mind was on his crops and his livestock, not magical lessons in the middle of the day.

She raised an eyebrow and smirked with a gape-grin. "Interesting. I was told you'd be waiting for me and have been for months. I assumed you'd be more excited to see me."

This was when Nib realized who he was talking to but didn't want to confess he had no idea what she looked like prior to now. "Oh, you must be Ceylon! Had no idea what to expect, with you being known for transformation magic and all."

Ceylon laughed and chirped at him. "Clever cover. Makes no sense but I like it. May I come in? Oh, and to be clear I am in fact Ceylon. Ilorek and Valencia tell me you're quite the apprentice!" She then leaned in closer to the fence, where she eased her ear up next to the metal wire while her eyes darted around excitedly. "And I would say based on the electric charge on this metal they are correct!"

The acknowledgment made Nib's eyes widen as he waved a hand past the metal wire, magically reducing its charge to remove the electricity from it. "Yes, I did that. Keeps the critters and the bandits out. Got a lot of valuables inside and can't always be here to defend them."

"Bolt-charged crystal shards tied with wire every eight...no, ten metres?" She asked.

"Exactly ten, yes. Every few posts I've got another shard. I could infuse the crystal with a lot of energy but I still needed to keep them fairly close and I need to charge them once a week." He was trying to explain away his added precaution but Ceylon seemed impressed so he couldn't help but puff out his chest in pride. "Got any pointers?"

She shook her head as she stepped up closer. "Nope, that's exactly what I would have done! Very good craftsmanship and I can feel the power inside you from here. I already like you!" She took yet another step and put her hand on the wire. "May I come in?"

Nib was so preoccupied with absorbing the compliment that he almost forgot to respond. Once he shook himself out of the daze, he nodded enthusiastically and split the connector to ensure the gate would open. "Yeah, for sure. Sorry. I'm just a little awestruck at your presence. I've looked up to Ilorek and Valencia for as long as I've known them and they've always told me that you're the most capable mage they've ever met. Also said you taught them much of what they know, so I'm excited."

Ceylon chuckled to herself with a casual roll of her eyes. "Hoo boy, I'm going to have to deal with this again? Alright, Nib, darling, you don't have to treat me with reverence. Respect, sure, but for the sake of the next few months I'm your teacher, not your idol."

"Few months?" Nib interjected. "Don't you have more important things to do?"

"Let me decide what is and isn't important for me to do. Ilorek has told me all about you, your impressive rise through the six levels of magic, and that you were one of his best students ever. He used to teach at a University, you know, so you being his best student says a lot."

Nib nodded excitedly as he and Ceylon walked down the pathway between the two fields closest to his front gate. He planned on inviting Ceylon into his abode. "I did know that, he had told me a few times, but he never told me I was his favourite. I knew I was advancing at a stunning pace but I didn't realize I'd done that well. Also, I apologize for not immediately recognizing you when you arrived; all I knew about you was that you were a gryphon mage and an expert on transformation."

"That's fine." Ceylon assured him as she kept pace behind him and to the side. "I change my colours, shape, form, and even gender at will to ensure I'm unrecognizable most of the time. Let's just say that my skills as a transformation expert get a lot of use."

Once the two of them reached his front porch, Nib motioned to Ceylon to usher her inside. She refused, however, and instead remained on the ground relaxed on her haunches. This made Nib cock his head to the side. "Not coming in?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I was hoping I could get a display of your various spells and skill levels on each of the types of magic. I wanna see some elemental, biological, physical, mental, and chemical spells before you mix them all up to make transformation spells. Have you got a place nearby that we can practice and test without worrying about damaging the ecosystem?"

"I think so." Nib answered as plainly as he could. "I mean, I practice in the clearing out back and there's some dried leaves but it's otherwise fine." He tried as hard as he could to not let his excitement get the better of him but was finding it quite difficult knowing that he was not only being trained by the most powerful mage he'd ever heard of but that she seemed so nice, or at least forthright. In a manner of speaking she was a bit blunt, a little too much to-the-point to be all that sociable, but Nib assumed that she'd warm up to him in much the same way Ilorek and Valencia had. They, too, were cold and distant but pleasant at first, only gaining warmth after a few visits.

Ceylon urged him to guide the way, so he closed his door and walked around the house with Ceylon in tow before passing through the electrified gate around back. This path led through the trees and into a clearing next to a stream where the ground was coated in orange, yellow, and red leaves. The early morning sun lanced through the trees, illuminating the misty fog that swirled around them to ive the grove a bit of an eerie feeling.

"What a lovely place." Ceylon marveled as she glanced around the clearing, blue eyes wide and beak partially agape. "I've seen a lot of lovely locales in my time but there's something crisp and pure about an autumn glade. I do worry that your more incendiary spells might ignite some of these dried leaves but I suppose that's why we do fire first, right?"

Nib nodded once again, stroking his long ears and mane as he did so. "Indeed. So you say this is meant to be a sort of test, right? Are you asking me to do all my spells just to show I can do them or do you want to see how strong I am?"

She seemed to remain a bit distracted as she glanced around the clearing before answering. "I figure we may as well start at the bottom and work our way up. Fire, then ice, then water and wind, then earth and bolt. Cover all the elements and go from there. Are you confident enough with your biological magic to sustain an injury?"

He couldn't help but gulp. "It depends on how damaging it is. I've been able to seal wounds and rapidly heal abrasions but I've not risked breaking a limb or anything too deep yet; not while I'm here alone most of the time." He rubbed his wrist and hoofed at the ground. "And I'm not used to calling it biological magic. Usually call it restorative."

"Right, right. I suppose people aren't used to using the scientifically accurate terms and instead refer to the various schools of magic as their more layman terms. Alchemy instead of chemical magic. Restoration instead of biological magic. Would you prefer I use your terms for the sake of simplicity?"

"Skies above, no." Nib countered with a shake of his head. "I want you to use whatever you feel is best. If I'm going to be training under you, I need to grasp the fundamentals first and foremost before I try to adapt it into my own thing. Call them whatever you wish and I'll follow your stead."

His answer drew a smile across her beak. "Glad to hear it. First test passed. Now let's see some elemental magic. Water and wind are probably the simplest so let's see what you can do."

It took Nib a few moments to muster up what he could to make the magic happen. He wasn't prepared prior to Ceylon's arrival and hadn't done the proper mid-morning exercises needed to flex his magical might but figured starting slow was about as good a start as he could go. Hopefully, it wouldn't drain him of all his energy.

He nodded and extended a hand, lightly waving it from side to side as he concentrated on utilizing his magic. Moments into his swaying dance a light gust picked up and swirled the loose leaves in front of him to form a twister that arose up to the canopy of the leaves above him. After maintaining that strength and height for a few seconds, he balled his hand up in a fist and the leaves burst out in all directions before easing their way back down to the leaf litter.

"Very good, a nice exercise to get us started. I liked your form, and you did it with minimal hand motions, very impressive." Ceylon complimented him, chest plumage puffed out in pride.

Nib remained in position and glanced over to the nearby stream where he once again concentrated his energies into his hand. As a subtle glow emanated from his fingertips, the stream temporarily redirected itself, parting in the middle to expose the rock bed below. He kept this up for only a few moments before redirecting the momentum of the water up into another spiral that made three revolutions before weaving back into itself and resuming further down the stream. This position of flowing water looked like a silly straw but lacked any container, thus showing his skills.

"Also very good work." Ceylon complimented, her approval encouraging Nib to relax his hold over the flowing water, thus having all of it land with a splash as the stream resumed its usual flow. "But I'm going to raise the stakes a bit. For your next spell, I want you to combine water and ice to create something. What you make is up to you."

While this didn't stump Nib, he did have to pause to think about what that meant before taking his next steps. "Can do. Give me a moment, the exact nature of what I have in mind is complicated."

"I can wait. I want to see your skill, not your speed. Speed comes with practice, but you can't teach creativity." She encouraged, still resting on her haunches with chest puffed out.

Naturally, Nib took this encouragement and used it to focus on the exact shape he wanted to create. He knew what Ceylon meant by her task, as ice sculpting was something Ilorek had taught him on The Ranch when he first learned about advanced ice skills. The key was to utilize a water spell to keep the liquid flowing within a certain shape, then use ice magic to freeze it in place. Ilorek was able to sculpt intricate statues with the precision and detail of marble, but Nib wasn't quite there.

Instead, he focused his mind on the water to pluck a small sphere of it from the stream. He used his magic to hoist some of it up so that it hovered in the air between them and from there he used his palms and fingers as though he were sculpting it as the water began to crystallize, hardening into ice a bit at a time. As the two of them watched, the amorphous blob of water turned into a tiny, fist-sized gryphon statue made of ice!

The moment the last bit of water froze, he lost control of it and it fell to the ground only to have Ceylon reach out and catch it, chirping as she did so.

"Careful there." She cautioned. "You could have used some physical magic to keep the solid object floating, you know. Didn't have to just let it go, it would be a shame if it melted." She held the figurine up as an orange glow emanated from her palm, turning the ice back into water with a burst of steam, melting it almost instantly.

Nib may have been upset that his work had been destroyed, but he was just practicing and could make another. Instead, he focused on what he had been told and explained himself. "I know I could have used physical magic, but I find switching between spells and styles of magic on a whim to be a bit more complicated than just doing one spell at a time. It's an area I need to work on."

Ceylon nodded. "You do, but don't be discouraged. Such a sudden shift between magic types is difficult for anyone; the key is to anticipate what might happen and keep yourself ready to react. Expect to need to shift to physical or biological magic at any time, be it to protect yourself or to heal."

Her guidance gave Nib cause to smile. "I will keep that in mind, thanks for the advice." He then bowed in respect before moving on. "Would you like for me to do a fire spell?"

"Naw, I don't think that's necessary. Fire's easier of the heat and cold spectrum. If you mastered ice enough to make a cute little bird figure I'm sure you can melt it. No, I wanna see you use some shock spells. I wanna see you create lightning from your fingertips!" She raised her talon as a few arcing sparks bridged from one claw to the other, illuminating the clearing before she shook her wrist and muted it. "Besides, fire with all this dry underbrush could be catastrophic."

That was a very good point and Nib knew that. "Very well. I will show you some shock magic. It won't be as intense as yours but it works well enough to keep the critters out."

The gryphoness tossed him a gem seemingly from nowhere, which he caught easily. "Here, enchant this with shock magic." She challenged him with a gape-grin. She knew this was no easy feat.

But Nib had actually practiced a lot with enchanting ademane gemstones so he not only was confident in his ability to do as she asked but felt this was the sort of thing he'd excel at! However, when he raised the gemstone to his eye to check it he was shocked to see just how pretty it was. The gemstone was about the size of an ear of corn, perfectly spherical, and was almost perfectly clear with only the faintest hint of teal coloration throughout. "Th-this is the purest gemstone I've ever seen, are you sure you want me to waste it on my low-level spells?" He asked, unsure how to proceed.

In truth, this gemstone was not only the purest in terms of ademane crystallization, but it looked to him like it was perfect. When he was first reading about purity in ademane gemstones, the image he always saw next to 'the perfect goal' was identical to what he now held in his hand. And not only that, but it was heavier than most gemstones, feeling like a ball of metal rather than crystallized ademane.

But Ceylon wasn't too fussed about that. "I can make another one any time I want." She said with a dismissive wave as a swirl of teal mist danced between her fingers and converged at a single point, solidifying into yet another tiny little perfectly shaped and nearly perfectly clear gemstone.

"Wait, you can just make...that's not...what?" Nib was dumbfounded, not realizing that it was even possible to conjure gemstones from one's own ademane like that. "How did you-"

She cut him off by doing the same with her other hand, waving her fingers as a ribbon of teal mist danced between her digits to curl up in a tighter and tighter ball and eventually solidifying into yet another perfectly formed crystal. "You know I'm one of the best mages in all the land, right? Why does it shock you that experts of my skill level are able to do something you can't even fathom?"

That wasn't enough of an explanation for the ever-curious Nib. "But that's so much more than just crafty spellcasting, you just...if this is a real gemstone and not just a trick, you just mimicked the pressure and heat and volume of ademane exposed to the depth for decades in a matter of seconds! Twice! That shouldn't even be possible and yet..."

"And yet here we are. Are we going to continue marveling at the wonders that magic can bestow upon us or are we going to learn. You saw it with your own eyes, now show me what you can do so I know where we're starting from when I take you under my wing."

"Yeah, I suppose that makes sense, when you put it like that. Still, that's really, really hard to do, isn't it? I mean, that must take so much more power and energy than I'll ever have!"

Ceylon chirped at him and patted his shoulder. "Don't put yourself down, but realistically probably not. The inherent inequality between races does indicate you may never be quite that strong with your magic but you're already leagues ahead of any other equine I know. Now, enchant that gem!"

He did as commanded with a nod and grin; it was lovely to be told he was the best of his kind especially by someone who was so far above his skill level.

The enchantment spell took action as he held the gemstone between his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger and manifested in the form of a set of thick arcs of lightning tracing all three of his digits and converging at one point on the surface of the gem. Each of the brilliant blue and white arcs danced and dilated in place, swirling and crossing over one another as more formed and others shrunk and disappeared. All in all, the magic formed a cage around his hand and the gemstone as he enchanted it.

Naturally, he kept his concentration as well-focused as he could, eyes staring at the gem as the electric magic flowed from his palm and fingertips into the gemstone. Enchantment naturally took a lot more energy than most other types of spells so he kept it up for nearly a full minute before relaxing and rescinding the spell back into him. This left a small little cloud of lightning inside the gemstone that perpetually swirled and pulsated within the crystal.

When he looked back up he saw Ceylon's big blue eyes staring directly into the gemstone opposite him. She was as impressed as he was!

"Very, very good work! Bravo, sir stud!" She actually clapped her front talons as her wings fluttered out behind her. "That was an almost perfect shock spell and you infused the crystal nearly flawlessly!" She leaned in and pecked his cheek. "Ilorek was right, you are a prodigy!"

Nib blushed due in part to the peck on his cheek but mostly the compliment. "Thanks! I have been training every day since Ilorek's training sessions concluded. Means a lot to hear you think I've done well! So what are we going to do with the gemstone? Sell it? Can I use it in my fence?"

Ceylon cooed at him and shook her head. "No, we're not going to do anything with it for now. Let's just move onto the next form of magic. Biological magic. Are you prepared to be cut? We have to do two kinds of healing, internal and external. I'll injure you first and you can heal yourself. Once you've recovered, I'll do the same to myself and you can use that magic to externally heal me!"

Oddly enough, this actually did excite Nib. He didn't enjoy being injured in any way - he wasn't a fan of the pain and biological healing took a lot out of him - but the encouragement he got from her was enough to overcome his concerns. "Go ahead! Where will you be administering the blade?"

"Ideally I want a place that has a lot of muscle and meat but few blood vessels. I don't wish to make too much of a mess prior to the restoration. I figure, on a stud like yourself, how's your outer thigh muscle sound?" She leaned in and slid her claws down his upper leg, starting at his waist and making its way down before roughly forcing his shorts up to his groin.

He gulped and snorted, not sure if she was being sensual or creepy. The touch on his leg - especially that high and close to his crotch - felt nice, but he was still concerned about what he knew would hurt. Still, he had to carry on with his studies; he knew that the pain would last mere seconds before he healed himself. "Go ahead, I suppose I'm about as ready as I'll be." He got down onto his other knee, keeping the one Ceylon had exposed hoisted up as he braced himself.

She literally conjured a blade from nothing, a cloudy, ethereal dagger that erupted from the ademane mist swirling around her talons to press it against his thigh. "Relax your muscle. It hurts a lot less if you're not tensing up when the blade slices through flesh."

Relaxing with the knowledge of imminent injury was not easy, but he took in a deep breath and exhaled as he waited for the cut.

Ceylon pulled her talon away from his leg as the blade slid across his flesh and fur, resulting in spurts of blood and severed hairs exploding from the gash that formed down his thigh. She immediately pulled away and let him work his magic.

A hot, searing pain shot through him as he nickered and snorted in agony. The sensation was intense, but he had to keep his mind focused on the task at hand. He wrapped both of his hands around his thigh, using his fingers to pinch the gash shut as his palm pressed against the red of his sliced-open flesh! Blood cascaded down his leg but it stopped within seconds as that teal mist of magic emanated from his hands to course through his own leg.

Before his eyes the massive gash pulled itself together, flesh pressed to flesh as it sealed itself shut. While some of the blood that escaped had soaked his leg, most of it had receded back inside him, literally sucked back into his vessels as the healing magic did its work.

While the gash sealed shut within seconds and the blood flow had been halted nearly instantly, he knew the healing process wasn't over. The muscle fibres needed to reattach and strengthen back to their base level and that would take a bit longer to work. Fortunately, the pain had already subsided entirely and he could focus the rest of his energy on the deeper restoration of his flesh.

All in all, from cut to curation, the whole ordeal lasted only a few minutes but left Nib panting and heaving, dizzy with exhaustion as he struggled to keep himself erect. Once he was confident with his restorative work he shakily got to his hooves and stood tall, flexing and bending his leg to make sure it was working properly before stumbling off to the side and nearly falling to his rump.

Ceylon dashed in and used her wing to keep him from falling. "Good work. Very good work. You continue to impress me but it's pretty clear that you need a bit of a break before we go onto other types of magic like physical magic or telepathic magic."

"You don't want me to heal you?" He asked, voice wavering a bit in exhaustion.

"I don't need you to. I saw and could feel that you were both internally and externally healing your own wound with the help of your hands there. You have displayed proficiency in both types just like how you did both ice and water magic with the sculpture and how you showed both electric and enchanting skills with the gemstone. You've done very well but I think it's time for a break." Ceylon guided him over next to the stream where he could sit on a log and restore himself. "And while I definitely will be requesting a demonstration - especially of your physical magic - I think it's safe to say you passed my tests with aplomb. Ilorek was right to suggest you as an apprentice."

In his weakened state, Nib couldn't help but flush red in the cheeks as he settled in place in front of her on the log. He remained loose and exhausted but was still able to properly appreciate what Ceylon had said and apparently what Ilorek had said, as well. Sure, he knew he was good and he knew he was an adept student but it was nice to hear it. Repeatedly. From multiple sources. Especially when it came from a source as revered as Ceylon or Ilorek.

In his basking glory, he lost a few moments of his time before being brought back to reality.

"Hey, you still with me? Do you need a pick-me-up?" Ceylon teased.

Nib shook his head and laughed. "Sorry, I'm fine. It's just all so overwhelming. You just show up out of nowhere like this, suddenly you're testing me without giving me time to prep, I'm tired and a little out of practice, that restoration took a lot out of me, and-" He paused to laugh at himself. "And you keep complimenting me and it feels so good to be praised. But it also feels like it means I have to work even hard to continue to impress you and that's both scary and exciting." He explained.

She paused and listened to his every word, waiting for him to stop before interjecting. "Well, you've earned it. You deserve the praise. And with me sticking around for a few months until winter to help train you and give you the advantages you need to overcome what's holding you back, you'll be even better. I don't want you to ever think little of yourself and I feel confident complimenting you because you seem humble and eager to learn so I don't think you'll grow complacent. Keep impressing me and I'll keep complimenting you and rewarding you."

"Rewarding me? Isn't knowledge and skill its own reward?" Nib was mostly joking but there was an air of sincerity to his comment since he had no idea what she meant by rewarding him.

"Yes, rewarding you. I suppose now is about as good a time as any to tell you that I'm not doing this for money and I expect nothing from you to pay for my services aside from your dedication to the craft." She sidled up next to him on the log, facing the opposite way with her talons on the bark. "As I'm sure you've noticed I don't need money. I can create and enchant pure gemstones from scratch so there's virtually nothing you could possibly do to make me more money. I do this to help people out, to spread the love of magic, and to ensure the next generation has that passion. I don't want money, I want you." She finished with a wink and a grin.

That sounded fair to Nib. "I can offer you that. I do still have to take care of my crops and my mounts, though. I can't give you all my waking hours but I can dedicate all my available time to you and to your teachings without issue. I can only hope it's enough."

Ceylon nodded and spun around to start pacing in front of him, tail up in a way that both gave her a regal stride and exposed herself to him. "I accept your terms with one caveat: While I'm here I expect you to tend to my needs. I would never demand you to be my slave, but I do feel it's a fair trade that you feed me and give me a place to sleep in exchange for my tutelage." As she spoke, she swayed her hips in a sensual, almost seductive way. "As well as other incidental needs."

Nib struggled to not focus on what he saw under her tail. While she was certainly an attractive gryphon, that was not what brought her here and he was trying to not objectify her. "I also agree to your terms. My home is yours, my crops are yours. My only concern is meat. I'm mostly an herbivore myself and I'm pretty sure gryphons are carnivores or at least omnivores. I can provide vegetables and grains and dairy if need be, but I don't buy or prep meat."

"That's fair." She stated, then turned around so her rump end was aimed towards him as she pressed her chest to the ground. "I think it might be time for a little rest and relaxation in between your testing sessions, what do you think?"

He had to pause for a moment to let that sink in as he remained as professional as he could. "I am comfortable continuing with our testing so you know what my starting point is. I'm not sure I understand your position at this time, if I'm being honest."

She swayed her hips again, this time being very blunt with how she pulled her tail to the side to reveal her plump, mare-like vulva. "I thought I was being quite straightforward, my apprentice. Ilorek and Valencia told me you're quite the stud and I figure if I'm going to be spending a few months here I might as well get to know you as well as I can. I wasn't expecting resistance on your part."

"It's not resistance, I just wasn't expecting you to be so brazen." Nib confessed as he felt his hesitation melting away and his pants grew tighter thanks to the swelling bulge that emerged there. "I would never deny a creature as fine-formed as you, but I certainly wouldn't have defaulted to expecting anything physical from a mage."

"We gryphons need affection, too, you know." She winked back at him over her shoulder then winked her clit at him as a single drip of arousal dribbled off the bottom of her lips. "And as a master of transformation magic I was able to emulate the shape and feel of a mare. Tell me, Nib, have I copied the scent of a mare, too? I've tried so very hard to capture the equine essence."

Still a touch reluctant, Nib sniffed the air and felt almost attacked by the sweetness of her aura. Like a cloud of estrus her aroma wafted over him, triggering another swell in his loins and an increase in his heart rate. He couldn't help but feel something was off, however. "Is this a test? Is this one of those situations where you're trying to distract me to see if I can keep my focus on my studies instead of the more carnal pleasures of life? If so, you won't best me. I have a will of iron or steel!" He balled up a fist and grinned, triumphant.

Ceylon turned and raised an eyebrow with both ears flattened. "Not a test, my donkey friend. You'll come to know and understand a lot about me the longer I stick around but I'm not really a sneaky person. I try to be as transparent as I can, you see. I'm also pretty casual so you should try to not default to assuming I'm trying to trick you." She then stepped up close with either of her talons on the log on either side of his haunches so that she was at his eye height. "So if you want to have some fun before we continue, now's the time. If not you, I'll find someone else to take care of me."

"Oh. Well, in that case it would be rude to deny you, master." He leaned back and idly began unbuttoning his shirt to expose his chest.

She used one of her front talons to push his hands down onto his lap. "No need to call me master, for now I'm just a companion of yours. The only time you'd need to call me master is when we're training or practicing, the rest of the time, I'm just a gryphon who wants to be friends." She slid her beak down and used the curved tip of it to part his shirt at the front, peeling buttons from their holes as she did so and ending up with her chin on his lap.

Nib gulped and leaned back to get a better look at her from that angle. "I confess I didn't expect such behaviour from you. I appreciate it, but with your reputation I assumed you'd be more reserved."

"And who may have perpetuated this lie? Was it Ilorek? I'll have to peck him for this indignity!" She chuckled to herself before using her front talons to lightly knead at his thighs. "All jokes aside, I'm somewhat surprised you felt that way. Ilorek and Valencia both are pretty open with their sexuality and are not shy about sharing partners at all so I don't know what would make you think of me as prudish."

He shook his head and shuddered at her touch while trying to keep himself from growing fully engorged in the process. "I didn't assume you prudish at all, I just didn't expect, uh-"

"Sluttiness?" She interjected with a smirk. "You can call me a slut, I don't mind. I'm about as shameless as they come and I find that I go into heat every time I transform my gender or body type, so you're in luck if you want to take advantage of that. If not, that's fine, too. I'm sure I can find a way to take care of my needs but I'm sure you understand why I'd prefer it be you." As she spoke, she used a claw to unbuckle his pants and tug on his waist band, slowly inching it down over his thick, equine thighs to expose his sheath in the process.

Nib squirmed and shifted in place to ensure his weight didn't pin the seat of his pants to the log.

Continuing with her undressing of the donkey stallion, she gave one final tug and tossed his pants to the side while he slipped out of his shirt, leaving the both of them completely devoid of any garments. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Not yet." He joked as his loins swelled and his member began to slowly unfurl from its depths.

She noticed he was keeping his responses curt and to-the-point, so she picked up the slack by being as chatty as she could in an attempt to act casual. "You know, it's actually pretty cute just how coy you're being. Most people literally jump at the opportunity to mount me and I turn most of them down. Not very often I openly present myself to someone." She hopped down off him and turned around again to take a few steps away, hips swaying with a sultry gait and tail up to show that her lips and her inner thighs were positively soaked in arousal. "And not like it matters, but despite being in heat, you don't need to wear a condom or anything. We're incompatible that way."

This revelation perked his ears up as his member throbbed to half mast, its length drooping down over his bulbous ball sack to rest between his legs. "Is that so?" He then pushed up off the log and stepped into her, carefully keeping himself from losing balance despite still staggering from the residual effects of the healing spell. As he got close to her, she hopped away.

"Yep, that is so. And you know what makes you special? Well, for starters I've got a soft spot for stallions, I won't lie. You won as far as genetics are concerned. But no, that's not what turns me on about you. It's your brain. Your spirit. You've got the physical attributes of a stud but the mind of a scholar. I can't fathom a better combination of character traits; in that way, you remind me a lot of Ilorek and I have to say there are few I adore more than that hippogryph." She turned back around and stepped past him, deliberately brushing shoulder to shoulder and finishing it up with a caress from her tail to his midsection, the feathered tip teasing his shaft as she curled around him.

In response, he turned around and stroked her down her spine between her folded up wings, eventually coming to cup her rump cheek next to the base of her tail, thick fingers slipping inward to tease her lips. "I'm honoured, and I'd hate to disappoint."

The moment she felt his digits kneading her vulva, she stopped in her tracks and dipped the small of her back, angling her rump up as her clit winked in a very equine manner, the inner pressure forcing a bead of thick fluid to trickle down over her lips and soak into the fur around her. "Glad to see you've warmed up. No harm in some casual fun between lessons, I say, and if you can keep up even when exhausted I imagine you'll only get better from there." She then leaned back into him, hind legs spread to ensure better posture as she curled her tail up over her back; she couldn't possibly have done a better job inviting him to do as he pleased.

Fortunately for both of them, what he pleased wasn't to get off and call it a day. Instead, he slid a pair of fingers into her and slid them up and down her slit to loosen her up while soaking his hand in her fluids. The gentle sounds of squelching flesh and fluids emanating from deep inside her sounded wonderful to him and the intense yet sweet scent of her estrus billowing up ensured he remained stiff as could be, his member raised high and hard as his own precum drooled out the tip.

As he played with her, teasing her vulva and parting her lips while his thumb rubbed her clit, Ceylon leaned back into her and whimpered a bit. "Come on, don't make me wait, darlin'. I could really use a release and like a mare I don't take much to gush."

"Sorry." He apologized while repositioning behind her, one hand on his cock and the other half dancing around half past her slit. He was actually quite shocked at how easily her flesh parted as if it was hungrily trying to suck his entire hand into her. The gryphon's lips were plump and tender, her passage flexible yet tight at the same time; it was clear that had he wanted to force more of himself into her he could have but she was still flexing enough to squeeze his fingers together. Most importantly, her silken walls were soaked in natural lubricant and her flesh was drenched in arousal.

Curious, he let go of his member and used both hands on either of her cheeks to pry her lips apart, gaping her open as her walls dilated from vulva to cervix! Her folds of inner flesh distended and stretched to accommodate his demanding tugging and her walls collapsed for a split second as her clit folded out in a wink only to dilate again and return to their gaping state.

Ceylon couldn't help but chuckle as she was kept gaping. "You going spelunking or what?" She joked, winking her clit a second time with far more strength and a much longer duration that sealed her up, natural lubricants slipping away from his fingertips to close her depths with a guttural squelch as fluids seeped out from her lips.

Her subtle jab made Nib realize he may have been holding off a bit too much; he knew all horse types were quick on the draw and easy to please so he should have realized she just wanted to be stuffed and move on. If she wanted foreplay and sensuality she'd go on a date, not lift her tail to a student of hers and inform him she was quick to gush. With that in mind, he gave her clit a peck of a kiss, slid his tongue deep into her for another, deeper kiss, then pulled away as the flavor of her depths stuck to his lips. He sidled up behind her and came to realize almost instantly that she was a bit too tall for him, as her pussy and plump rump was at his belly height.

Then, as though she was reading his mind, she lowered herself, bent her legs, spread her wings, and clawed at the leaves below her while anticipating his next move. She didn't need to say a word.

With her in this new position, Nib was able to raise his one knee onto her haunches for leverage while his other hoof remained firmly planted on the ground. He grabbed the end of his cock and guided it to her sex, rubbing her up and down before easing himself into her was a pleasured moan.

The heat of her flesh enveloped him with ease, her depths swallowing him up and clenching snug around his girth. He wasn't even thrusting into her of moving aside from the initial penetration and yet her rhythmic contractions felt to him like supple motions inside accentuated by a suckling sensation he thought only possible by a maw. He'd never felt a mare with quite so much self-control!

While propped up on her her couldn't help but idly thrust into her, each shallow movement tugging and pushing his length into her until his balls touched her clit. As his flesh touched hers, she winked and constricted his member with her depths time and again, her whole body twitching to accentuate every clench and push back as a flow of her fluids seeped out between her flesh and his to soak his balls and thighs.

More and more, Nib leaned into her with all his weight to bury as much of his length into her as he could muster. The sheer heat of her flesh was absolutely wonderful to the touch and he was shocked at just how much control she retained over her depths, so much so that he had to hold onto her tail and keep it pressed to his chest as he started to grind and gyrate against her.

The stallion kept his hand pressed against the small of her back as he snorted and brayed. He couldn't thrust too deep, because if he pulled out he may have lost balance and ruined the mood. Instead, he kept the majority of his length inside her, shifting it only a fraction of his length with each motion. He could feel the tip of his cock kissing her cervix deep inside, the soft sponge of his flare pressed tight against the firm flesh that kept him from penetrating her womb.

"You're longer than I expected." She complimented him with a coo and a curl of her talons. "Ilorek's a bit thicker but shorter. You know, if you're into the other hole you're welcome to deposit in there if you're at all worried about eggs."

He was only partially paying attention to her but was able to muster a response in the form of a grunt. "Here's fine." was all he was able to say as he slammed his hips up against hers with such force it knocked her off balance.

As the two fell forward, Nib's body weight pinned her to the ground with his cock still buried deep inside her, the angle almost forcing his length into an upwards bend, the swollen tip grinding against her most sensitive spots along the anterior of her cavernous pussy. The extra pressure seemed to trigger a button inside her, because as they struggled to get a better angle once more a veritable gush of maregasmic fluids burst out of her and soaked the leaves on the ground beneath them, soaking into the furrows of dirt her talons had left in their wake.

Having sensed what he did that made her squirt, he kept himself angled upwards with both hands on her hips and much of his body hovering over hers.

She went from the behaviour of a mare to that of a cat, with her belly and chest flush to the ground, both of her hind legs bent and paws hoisting her posterior upwards with her stance wide and tail up tall. She was displaying the most carnal of invitations and knew that it wouldn't be long at all before he finished up. In fact, she was so eager to feel his seed get deposited that she angled herself in such a way that her depths created a curve inside her, ensuring that it didn't matter what angle he entered her, he'd feel an extreme amount of pressure caressing his length from cock tip to base.

This became imminently evident by the time Nib had found a comfortable angle. Having left only his tip just inside her, plugging her depths and keeping her from gushing again, he finally stood above her with both legs outside of hers and his body forcing his length into her. He felt his flare part her depths and caress her walls from vulva to womb, lurching and sliding deeper with every shift and beat of their hearts.

Her canal was so tight and squeezed so hard that he could barely hold back. Part of him wanted to treat this like it was another part of his test, as though she was checking to see how long he could last or how much pleasure he could give her, but it became quickly evident that she just wanted to finish him off. Her passage clenched so tight he thought a snake was coiled around it, each one of her deep contractions tugged his length and coaxed pleasure from deep within him.

She clenched yet again, only this time she also leaned forward to trigger the explosion of his flare against her womb. His head blew apart, tripling in girth while forming a plug at the end of her canal while the heat of her flesh tickled him all the way to the base of his cock, her fluids trickling down his shaft and balls.

He couldn't hold off any more. With an audibly bray and a grunt, he slammed his hips to hers one last time as his entire length twitched and pulsated, his climactic pleasure trailing from his balls to his bowels and all the way down his shaft to deposit an explosive gush of his seed into her! With glorious aplomb, his flesh pulsated and his urethral ridge swelled as a series of hot equine loads splashed against her cervix and threatened to seep into her womb as they had nowhere else to go.

Spent and exhausted, the stallion collapsed on her back with his cock still leaking seed into her, the two of them plugged in together with her supporting all his weight. Her depths began to constrict in time with each of his pulsations, accenting the pleasure and milking him dry within a minute of passive relaxation. Neither of them moved from that position and yet her rhythmic squeezing made him feel like she was riding him with all her body.

Of course, nothing could last forever, and while donkeys had more stamina that horses Nib's pleasure slowly dissipated as his member softened and tugged out of her thanks to his length folding up and returning to his sheath. His engorged flare tugged at her walls until it burst from her with a glorious squelch and pop followed but a guttural whorl as her walls collapsed in his absence, churning his seed.

Still eager to please her, he slid off her back and got to his knees behind her, head at her pussy's height as he once again parted her lips using both hands. This time she was less pink and more a deep, cherry red, her walls swollen and tender looking as a stream of creamy equine seed dribbled out past her opening and over her clit in a little waterfall like milk cascading over flesh.

So much like milk, in fact, that Nib couldn't help but bury his snout in her! He pressed his lips to her gaping chasm, releasing her vulva from his fingers to caress her haunches as he passionately made out with her depths. His own seed soaked his chin and dribbled down his neck as her natural fluids sputtered out from between her distended lips and his muzzle. The air that was inside her from his gaping of her canal quickly forced itself past him and her depths collapsed around him, which in turn urged him to open his maw and caress her flesh with his tongue.

The two of them enjoyed one another with her lips wrapped around his snout almost to the crest between his eyes until she gave one final wink of her clit and stood straight up, pulling away from him and leaving him on his knees behind her and under her tail.

Despite having finished, the taste of her flesh and the aroma of her arousal had nearly gotten him hard a second time and he was ready for round two. Sadly, Ceylon seemed content.

She paced away from him while glancing over her shoulder, shaking her wings before folding them up on her back. "Thank ye kindly, mate." She complimented him. "But now it's time for us to get back to the testing. You've shown me your physical magic, now let's carry on with physical magic."

Arousal continued to percolate inside him but he was able to use this motivation to get back to his feet. "I can do that." He assured her as he reached over the log to retrieve his shirt.

Ceylon stopped him by wrapping the tip of her tail around his wrist and tugging. "No need for that. We're here alone and if I ask for more from you I don't want to wrestle with your garments to get to the prize inside." She then let his wrist go and turned around to nuzzle his groin and peck at the base of his member. "And I'm sure you've got enough in you to go again. But for now, we have work to do."

"Yes master." He affirmed. "As your apprentice I ask what you want me to do to show you my skills with physical magic."

Ceylon stepped back so she was between him and the stream as she glanced around. "See that rock? The one as big as your head? I want you to lift it up out of the ground without bringing any dirt with it, and I want you to make it dance a figure eight around those two trees."

Her instruction was precise and a little odd but Nib knew he could handle it.

"Yes, Master."

Those two words marked a contract between the two, one that would define the following seasons on Nib's homestead west of Rhybute Pass in the Sosemman Frontier. Ceylon remained there for the rest of autumn and some time into winter, teaching the donkey stallion all she could given his biological shortcomings in the form of his equine heritage.

In their time together, the two grew to be more than just an apprentice and a master, but friends that would always hold a place in each other's heart.

But of course, the next chapter in that relationship is another story.