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Aishee's Birthday-Party

Aishee hummed quietly to herself as she reached the end of the long, narrow tunnel, her voice resonating through the water and echoing off the stone walls. Those of her sisters who had pursued singing as a serious career would no doubt scoff at the strange acoustics, but she rather liked them. The tunnel, of course, ended in what appeared to be a perfectly flat and smooth wall - but as she pushed against one side of it, it swung open, letting her pass from the tunnel's fresh water and into the salty waters of the Great Bay.

The tall sea-ivy plants that grew around the exit caressed her skin as she emerged, tickling her. To humans and many other creatures, their touch was toxic, however - not exactly deadly, unless you had a particularly bad reaction, but the itching, burning rashes that even the slightest touch caused was enough to ensure that even the most adventurous divers gave the bright-red subspecies of seaweed a wide berth. That was part of the plan, of course - the carefully-cultivated sea-ivy and strategically-positioned boulders were meant to ensure that no-one would simply stumble on the entrance to the secret tunnel. Of course, even if someone did find it, they'd be unlikely to actually see it - as soon as Aishee's tail had fully emerged, the hidden door swung shut again, joining seamlessly with the surrounding bedrock. On top of that, opening it from this side took a lot more than a simple push... the merfolk well recognized the trust that the Beastmaker had granted in allowing them to construct a hidden tunnel into the heart of her inner sanctum, and had pulled out all the stops to secure it.

From the hidden exit, it was a half-hour swim to the outskirts of Ukaryk, the Great Bay Tribe's main settlement and defacto capital, even if that didn't mean quite the same thing as it did for their human allies. The well-armed mermen who guarded the Coral Palace in its center saluted her as she approached, tail working steadily to propel her through the water with a speed no terrestrial species could have hoped to match. They wore breastplates of gleaming steel now, she noticed - yet more fruits of the mutually-beneficial trade-relationship they'd struck up with the drylanders. A good sign, undeniably - but she couldn't quite help but regret it a bit. Watching their bare chests as they patrolled, all chiseled muscle and pure, unblemished skin, had always been an enjoyable diversion...

Her Father received her in his study, where he'd been busy poring over stacks of waterproof paper made from pressed seaweed, steadily absorbing all of the data he would need in order to make his decisions - trade-figures, immigration-count, approval-numbers, the harvest and hunting-outcomes, and of course the progress of the new fish-farms they'd set up with help from the humans. He looked up with a smile as she entered. "Ooh, Aishee my dear... you should've sent word if you were going to visit! I could've used it as an excuse to foist all of this off on one of my perfectly able deputies!" She giggled and swam in to give him a hug, his beard tickling her face as she kissed his cheek. "And that is exactly why I didn't send word ahead! I'm not going to bother you for long, anyway..." she declared with a wagging finger.

The King of the Great Bay Tribe - as he styled himself these days, mostly for the sake of their human allies, shook his head with mock sadness. "So many ardent taskmasters..." he grumbled, but a smile still curved his lips. He was busy, certainly - but he also knew perfectly well why. The merfolk of the Great Bay Tribe trusted him implicitly, as did their allies in the deeper tribes. When he made a declaration, backed with in-depth study, they all knew that those numbers were solid and that the conclusion had been drawn based on all available data, not just wistful thinking and personal bias.

"So... what can I do for my darling daughter today?" he asked, pushing the stacks of paper aside for the moment. Aishee nodded and curled her tail as she sank down into one of the study's spongy chairs. "Well... two things, really. One professional, one personal." she replied. "Let's get the professional bits out of the way first, then! The sooner the better!" her father immediately declared, prompting yet another giggle. "The professional... right. I was just wondering - are you really sure it's okay to continue like this? Just... following the current?"

Some of the merriment left her father's face, and he ran his fingers through his impressive beard as he looked at her silently for a moment. Then he sighed. "Of course I'm not sure. There is nowhere near enough data to determine_anything_ with absolute certainty. All I can do is... make the best judgment possible based on what numbers we do have." He looked out his study's window for a bit, watching the merfolk swim along its grand avenues, carrying freshly-imported goods from the most recent shipment, smiling and chatting amicably. "Fighting the tides only tires you out. Instead, let it carry you, and wait for it to turn in your favor. Old wisdom - hardly precise, but true nonetheless."

His smile returned, and he shrugged. "Besides, what's the hurry? We merfolk enjoy long lives, compared to most of the drylanders, and our numbers are both high and growing steadily even without their help. Yes, the Beastmaker worked miracles for the Centaurs and the Elves, and I have no doubt she could do so for us too - but we have no need for miracles. The merfolk will survive and prosper no matter what happens. So... we wait. We let her call on us... and we rise eagerly to her summons. We let her accrue debt. Your own reports make it clear that she is a conscientious person who takes her debts seriously, and enjoys rewarding those who have stood by her, do they not?"

Aishee nodded, a smile curling her lips. She hadn't really known what to expect when she volunteered for the Beastmaker's Harem, but... what she'd got was more than she could have reasonably hoped for, and not just in terms of frequent, mind-blowing sexual gratification. She rather wished that Sayn could have truly been the Goddess that so many treated her as - her gentle yet iron-hard spirit, her dogged determination, and her gracious, generous nature would certainly make her a better deity than most of those that had once walked the world, before unceremoniously abandoning it.

Her father, unaware of her musings, shook his head dejectedly. "I'll admit, it's taking longer than I'd hoped. The trans-current messenger-service was an excellent idea - but alas, it became obsolete almost as soon as it started. One year! Just one year of being swift, secure, indispensable messengers, tying the northern and southern parts of the empire together... before we were once again outmaneuvered by our dear old 'friends' the Elves." Aishee hesitantly nodded. She kind of wanted to say something about how the Elves could hardly be blamed for capitalizing on their magical skills, especially considering their situation at the time - but it seemed rather pointless. Her father was far from an elfphobe - he simply resented the fact that they had, in this case, unknowingly 'spoked his wheels' as the drylanders would've put it. To consider everything with an eye towards the prosperity and advancement of the merfolk in general and the Great Bay Tribe in particular was his job - and her job was simply to ensure a continued, harmonious integration between merfolk-tribes and human ones.

"Well, I'll bow to your superior wisdom, father." she instead said. "Just know that I am ready to lodge requests with the Beastmaker at any time - and that I honestly believe that she'd happily give us most of what we'd be inclined to ask for purely out of generosity and a desire for the further integration of our species." Her father nodded severely, making it clear that he'd heard and accepted her recommendation, and would continue to keep it in mind as an important piece of data for his future decisions. Still, she rather doubted he'd change his mind - as a man of nearly 250 years of age, he was well used to biding his time, especially when it came to humans.

"So! With all that boring stuff out of the way, what was that personal matter you mentioned?" Her father asked, grinning eagerly as he waved their earlier debate aside with a swift gesture. Smiling tolerantly, she nodded. "Oh yes... that. Well, I've been thinking, and trying to remember - weren't I born around this season?" Her father blinked, scratched his head and narrowed his eyes for a moment. Then he nodded. "You were indeed. By the human calendar, I believe the exact date would be the 8th of Highsun - a week and change from now. Why do you ask, though?" Aishee couldn't help but grin. Of_course_ her dear father was able to flawlessly recall the exact time, and instantly apply the more-precise human calendar to it. This was, after all, the mind that had turned the Great Bay Tribe into the most powerful and prosperous of all the merfolk tribes!

"Well... you know that humans tend to celebrate the day of their births, right? A birthday-party, they call it." This, too, he nodded at. "Of course. The Beastkin and - to a lesser degree - the Centaurs have similar traditions, based on my research. The Elves, Kirin and probably_the Dragons - though it's devilishly hard to get any solid data on_them - have, like ourselves, no such thing. Presumably, it ties into having a shorter lifespan and a more fragile physique - making every year survived seem a turn of fortune, and thus worthy of celebration." Aishee nodded at this succinct analysis, but then grinned. "I used to think of it in the same way... but after interacting with both a Beastkin and a human - or, rather, half-human - on a regular basis, I've come to the conclusion that while those things are a factor, it's really just an excuse to throw a party every year."

Her father laughed out loud - a delightfully booming sound. "I see, I see! Well, that is certainly something we can relate to... so, should I assume that you're considering hosting a 'birthday-party' of your own, then?" Aishee nodded, quickly and eagerly. "Exactly - in the Seraglio, of course. I'll have to ask Sayn's permission and make some arrangements, but knowing her, she'll be more than happy to give me permission. I just wanted to talk to you about... handing out some invitations, you know." Her father grinned and made a grandiose gesture. "Come, now! You are an adult! You may invite whoever you like, and they've certainly got my permission to attend, even if it means leaving other duties behind for a day... though, alas, I fear I wouldn't be able to make time to attend..." He scowled at the nearby desk and its stacks of greenish paper.

As expected, Sayn proved delighted by the proposal, literally clapping her hands together with gleaming eyes. "A mermaid's birthday-party, right here in my pond? It'll be so much fun, especially with the way the weather's holding these days!" Certainly, the heat of the summer had arrived in full, making the cool waters of the Seraglio's centerpiece popular with more than just Aishee. She rarely swam alone during this kind of heatwave - nor was she ever short of titillating entertainment. With the possible exception of K'teshi's airy room, all of the private spaces were simply too damn hot for any kind of strenuous physical activity, after all...

Even now, as she discussed the birthday-party with Sayn by the poolside, two separate sessions of hot, sweaty sex were going on around them, frequently threatening her focus and concentration. Slira was up against a tree, being railed by Silas as usual - the jungle-adapted Sharpclaw was thoroughly unaffected by the current heat, and while the faun's more human-like parts looked rather flushed and sweaty, it seemingly couldn't deter his incredible virility and appetite. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Rubicundus was pleasuring Lutra and Thielwen simultaneously - he'd scaled down to the point where he could just barely fit inside the Otterkin's eager holes, and was now railing her forcefully while Thielwen kneeled behind him, head buried beneath his tail and hand buried between her legs.

With an effort of will, Aishee tore her eyes and attention away from the two groups and focused on Sayn again. "Well... there is one wrinkle..." she said, somewhat hesitantly. Sayn lifted an eyebrow, but otherwise remained silent, waiting for Aishee to explain. Sighing, she rubbed her gills. "Well... you know much about how us merfolk breed?" Sayn wrinkled her brow, seemingly trying to recall, and then shrugged. "Dunno about 'much'. I've read up about it, but there isn't much_to_ read, really. Your people don't seem too inclined to discuss such things with us drylanders, generally. I know that you bear live young and suckle them, same as we do, and that... umm... your women often seek relations with human men. Other than that, the books are filled with a lot of rumors and speculation, and not much else."

Aishee nodded. About as she expected. "Sorry about that... we've usually tried to avoid getting too close to our occasional human allies, you understand. Things are different now, though - I'll have to talk to my father about putting together a proper explanation of merfolk physiology, history and culture, so that your sages can replace some of that guesswork with firsthand accounts. For now, though, the pertinent bit is that... well... you remember who created us, right?" This, at least, Sayn could instantly nod an acknowledgment to. "Of course. Cerulec, God of the Seas! He had quite a following amongst us humans, too."

"Yes... I know he did..." Aishee replied, smiling wanly. "As for how that came about... apparently, old Cerulec was quite a lusty fellow. At least, that's the best explanation we can come up with for the way he created us. It's almost like the Centaurs, but in reverse - at least, in one important way..." She was struggling to find the right words - as far as she knew, she was the first one to ever try and explain their sexual culture to a drylander - but Sayn just sighed and reached forwards to stroke her silky-white hair. "C'mon, Aishee... there's no reason to beat about the bush. Just tell me what I need to know, and don't worry about me 'taking it the wrong way' or whatever..."

Smiling up at the woman who'd become her most regular lover, she slowly nodded. "Okay, fine... basically, we mermaids are always horny. Always. Not as bad as some of the other species get it during periods of heat, but... still. Mer_men_, meanwhile, have absolutely no sex-drive outside of the spawning-season. Our spawning-season, I might add, comes around only once every ten years, and lasts about a month." This was enough to make Sayn cover her face in her hands and groan. "I swear, those damned 'gods'... completely irresponsible, short-sighted horndogs the lot of them! I really hope the Heart of the Mountain was right, and that I'm not related to any of them..."

Then, though, she removed her hands and looked down at Aishee with obvious concern - enough to make the mermaid smile warmly. Just as she'd told her father - if the merfolk needed it, the Beastmaker would make miracles happen for them, too. Heading off this unnecessary concern, she quickly raised her hands. "But, don't worry! We're still way better off than the Centaurs. Sure, our fertile periods are short and far apart, but we're very_fertile during those periods, and both long-lived and hardy besides. Our species is doing quite well, indeed, and always have been. Still, that little twist is why mermaids have always been so eager to 'make friends' with human sailors and fishermen... even if we can find a merman who's willing to help us 'ease the pressure' outside of the rare spawning-seasons, well, you know yourself how much difference_passion makes in a relationship."

Sayn nodded slowly. "Yes... I can certainly see that. I don't think I'd want a husband or boyfriend who only had sex with me out of obligation. Still, what does that have to do with Cerulec's following among the humans?" Aishee quickly nodded, grateful that the segue she'd set up earlier had worked so well - preventing the noble Beastmaker from contemplating how the needs of so many mermaids could possibly be met by those occasional relations with sailors, fishermen and other humans... especially considering that many of their tribes lived in deeper waters and rarely even saw a human. The answer to that, after all, was generally 'they have lots and lots of really vigorous sex with male dolphins and the like on a daily basis, and mostly consider a meeting with a human man to be a rare treat' - something that Sayn wouldn't take well, considering her personal prejudices.

"Ah yes," she thus continued glibly "this was all well before my time, of course, but according to the stories, Cerulec used to swim among us... constantly surrounded by a bevy of eager mermaids, desperate to sate his every need. Eventually, though, with such an abundance about him, he apparently grew bored with us - and set out for the surface in search of some variety. Humans were making use of his seas already then, fishing and sailing, and they were easily converted to worship him... and even make suitable 'sacrifices' to his glory. The legends say that he basically approached Mother Beleh and told her that since her creations had bred and spread with such speed, she surely wouldn't mind if he took a few of the ones that lived on the shores of his kingdom under his wing? And rather than protest, she just grinned and declared that any human who wished to worship him instead of her was welcome to do so, and would suffer no punishment therefor. Perhaps she predicted, even then, that this would one day lead to trade and other good relations between her creations and the merfolk - to the benefit of both."

Sayn nodded, eagerly absorbing this ancient tale... well, she did obviously have a vested interest in the tales of the old gods, Aishee reflected as she circled the conversation back to the most pertinent bit. "But anyway, that's a bit of a side-track. The bit I was hoping to get to was this: Cerulec, for all his flaws, was not as cruel and ruthless as Thenares. Though he left us mermaids in a bit of a troublesome situation, he granted us one small mercy - our 'allowance', he supposedly called it back then, and the name has stuck since." Leaning back in the water a bit, she slipped one of her hands down to the part where her fish-like tail met her more human-like torso and rubbed a particular portion of her flat belly - almost imagining that she could feel the tiny organ that he knew rested in there.

"Your... 'allowance'?" Sayn prodded, and Aishee quickly continued her explanation. "Yes. It's a... gland, of some kind, basically. It produces a certain substance, quite slowly, filling a special bladder attached to it. When enough has been accumulated there - a process that generally takes upwards of a year - we can release the substance into the water. It is, in simple terms, a highly potent aphrodisiac that affects males of most species, but has a particularly potent effect on mermen. Gets them fired up way more than even the spawning-season!"

Sayn's eyes widened slightly, and she whistled appreciatively. "I see! So basically, even though your own men generally have no interest in you, just once per year you can get them fired up and have a really good time..." she then licked her lips slightly and got a faraway look in her eyes, as if she was remembering something, before snapping back to the present with a wrinkled brow. "So... wait, are you suggesting that you use this 'allowance' of yours for your birthday-party?" Aishee nodded, somewhat hesitantly. "I had... considered it, certainly. I'll be inviting a number of merfolk, after all, and I figure that at least some of my fellow Consorts might enjoy sampling it as well."

A smile spread across the Beastmaker's face, and she quickly nodded. "Well, you won't hear any objections from me! As long as everyone involved is a consenting adult and know what they're getting into, there's... nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of aphrodisiac-enhanced sexual play. And if anyone don't want to try it, all they have to do is stay out of the pond, right?" Aishee shot her Empress a suspicious look. Why did she have a feeling that Sayn had just realized that this would be a unique opportunity for her to sample the sexual skills of a merman? Well... that was fine too. "All right, then, it's a plan! Or, at least the start of one. We merfolk don't really celebrate our birthdays, you know, so this is going to be my FIRST birthday-party, and I want it to be PERFECT!" Sayn eagerly leaned forwards, and as they got down to some serious party-planning, Aishee found that for once, she was largely able to ignore the sexual games that were going on around her...

A week and change later, Aishee was swimming up the tunnel from the sea, leading a long train of merfolk - the spells that normally restricted anyone but her from passing through it having been disabled for the occasion. Since it had been created largely for her exclusive use, the tunnel was quite narrow - so there wasn't really room for two to swim abreast. It'd take a while for all of her guests to funnel through it, thusly, and that wasn't even half of the logistics involved! Everyone had, of course, eagerly answered her invitation, and it had been necessary to take additional steps in order to hide the tunnel-entrance - the regular, natural camouflage couldn't quite do the trick when more than two dozen merfolk had to gather there. She'd had to commission a Tidebreaker - one of the merfolk's rare shaman-slash-wizards - just to obfuscate the movements of her guests and ensure that the secret entrance stayed secret. Still, with any luck, it'd all be worth it!

As she swam past the side-corridor that led up to the dining-room, she couldn't help but feel a familiar twitch of humiliation. The dragon, Rubicundus, had crafted that tunnel almost literally with a single swipe of his claws. It would have taken her people's stonecarvers weeks to do it! And he'd already assured her that once the new meeting-room was finished, he'd provide a similar access-tunnel to that. Very gracious, certainly - and if she was to be honest, he really didn't act nearly as arrogant as she'd expected a dragon to do - but it still rankled somewhat. She'd never even seen a dragon before Sayn had landed right next to her pond on the back of one, and knowing that something existed that could wield so much power with such casual ease just... bothered her. She didn't let it show in front of her drylander friends - presumably, it wasn't so new to them. How on the world had Sayn managed to make such a terrifyingly powerful creature submit - nevermind the entire species? There had been many Scions among the merfolk in ancient times, according to the legends - indeed, most of the present Tidebreakers could trace their lineage back to one or more of them - but none had possessed such power, nor accomplished half as much in their centuries-long lives as Sayn had already done in a mere decade. She truly was something special...

Reaching the pond at last, she hit the surface at speed and arched into the air with an elegant, cartwheeling jump, taking in the garden in the few seconds she had before hitting the water again. Tables had been set out on the grass, with more attached to the shallow edges of the pond where they'd be easily-reached by the visiting merfolk, but unlikely to be a head-injury hazard. Colorful bunting hung between the trees, while the bushes had been decorated with flowers wrought from silver and gold. High above, thick wires had been strung across the enclosed garden itself, and from them hung several large glass globes, engraved with arcane symbols - when darkness eventually began to fall, they would light up, ensuring that the party wouldn't have to stop for something as pedestrian as the setting of the sun. All of the Consorts - her friends - were already gathered in the garden, some of them working on the last preparations alongside a few of Sayn's many-armed servitor-constructs.

Once her jump ended, returning her briefly to the cool, quiet underwater world, she quickly twisted her body around and returned to the surface at a more sedate pace so that she could look around and take it all in properly. There was Achidias, carrying a final table into position along with Silas. There was Thielwen and Slira, decking the tables already set by the poolside with drinks and snacks, taken from trays held by servitors. There was Lutra, balancing on K'teshi's back as she tied one end of a bright-yellow bunting to a branch. There was Orichaniel, the other end grasped in his beak as his petal-wings carried him into the air to attach it. There was Korlin, a glass orb hovering in the air above her as she levitated it towards the overhead wiring. There was Rubicundus, not working but arguably part of the decor, his crimson scales bedecked with golden jewelry from his hoard, sitting in the grass like a glorious centerpiece...

And there was Sayn, approaching her with a broad smile and a wave. "Hey, Aishee! Your guests are right behind you? Preparation's run a bit late, but everything should be ready within a couple of minutes!" She felt a strange fluttering in her chest. All these people... yes, even Rubicundus, for all that he was annoyingly overpowered and sometimes acted rather odd... they were all so very lovely, so very dear to her! The fact that she couldn't live in the same element as them, couldn't walk, couldn't breathe the air for long without her gills drying out... even the fact that her otherwise human-like mouth was lined with razor-sharp teeth, none of it bothered them. None of them looked down on her, or even looked at her askance. Heck, they didn't even seem to consider her strange for often preferring to just watch their frequent, sexual games rather than joining in. Mermaids often had flings with drylanders, that was true - be they sailors, fishermen, longshoremen, ocean-going merchants, or really anyone else they could get suitably close to - but actual, functional, long-term relationships was the stuff of legend and fairytales. Many a man had been eager to leap into the water with them for some quick fun and games, but once their needs were sated, they tended to quickly realize just how different mermaids really were from humans, and climbed back out again.

Sometimes, she felt like she was living in her own personal fairytale, and feared that suddenly, the story would end as someone closed the book declaring "And they all lived happily ever after..."

Around her, more mermaid and merman heads began to poke out of the water - arriving in slightly less dramatic fashion and looking around with expressions of mixed bemusement and wonderment. They'd all seen human structures from a distance, but they obviously hadn't ever had the chance to actually_visit_ a human building - let alone one as grand as the Beastmaker's Palace. Those who weren't too busy goggling at the decorations and the snack-tables were rising up in the water to balance on their tails, so that they could deliver human-style bows towards their host - who, of course, smiled and waved them down. "None of that, please - this is no throne-room. You're guests in my house, and welcome ones at that! Aishee, would you introduce me to your friends?"

With an eager nod, she swam up closer and gestured to them all to follow her into the shallows. More of them were still steadily popping up, one by one, as they emerged from the tunnel. The introductions would take a little while. Ah, there was an easy place to start! "Well, Sayn, I'm sure you remember Morayn here - he led the escort for your trip to the Southern Continent!" The merman in question delivered a severe nod as his name was mentioned, his arm vibrating as he restrained the apparent urge to salute. He always had been one extraordinarily straight-laced and serious fellow, even for a merman, but his skill with the spear was legendary - and it translated nicely into mastery of another kind of close-range weapon, too, when the mood was right.

Sayn nodded hesitantly, her brow wrinkling. "Uh... yes, I remember him, of course... your... brother, right?" Aishee quickly nodded as well. "Indeed - the third-eldest. Didn't I mention?" She made a sweeping gesture towards the still-growing mass of merfolk-heads bobbing in the water behind her. "These are all of my brothers and sisters! I mean, this is a birthday-party, and humans usually spend those with their families, right?" Sayn flinched and looked away, running a hand over her face as her eyes flickered around. "Oh... yes, indeed..." then she sighed and squared her shoulders, turning back towards them with a smile that looked only slightly_plastered-on. "Well, all the more reason for none of you to waste time bowing! You're not just guests, but _family!"

Aishee, however, wasn't about to forget or ignore such a strange reaction. "Sayn... is something wrong?" she prodded, pushing herself halfway out of the pond to get a better look at her dear friend's face. Sayn, however, shook her head with a smile that was, if rather wry, then at least genuine. "No, don't worry about me. I was just... remembering a conversation I had with Thielwen a while back. I guess humans really are the only ones who worry about things like incest..." Lutra, who'd been skipping towards them after finishing up with the last of the bunting, jumped in at this point, even as Aishee winced, a sudden blush spreading in her cheeks "Well, that's not entirely accurate..." the Otterkin commented merrily. "The degree varies somewhat from tribe to tribe among us Beastkin, and most have one or two 'special exemptions', but for the most part incest is just as taboo among our kind as it is among the humans."

"Indeed? I've heard some things about the Lizardkin tribe, is all..." Sayn replied, her attention apparently diverted for the moment. Aishee took advantage of this window of opportunity to fight off her urge to dive down to the bottom of the nearest ocean-trench and hide there for the next decade or so. How could she have been so stupid, committed such a serious faux-pas so casually! Granted, there was much of human society that remained a mystery to her despite years of study, but this part wasn't even really one of them. It made perfect sense that the humans, who both mated frequently and could get pregnant at virtually any time, and whose short generations made them so susceptible to the negative effects of inbreeding, would have strong, ingrained taboos about incestual relationships! And whatever else she was, Sayn had grown up within a human culture, and still lived within human society - so of course, she'd have internalized those very same taboos.

Somewhere behind her, several of her sisters were giggling - hopefully, she thought, just because they'd noticed her sudden discomfiture and found some very sister-like amusement in it, and not because they'd actually managed to overhear what the conversation was about and subsequently had fallen prey to that very human emotion of schadenfreude. Morayn, ever the soul of discretion, had long-since quietly disappeared - of course, a skilled soldier also knew when it was time to retreat, she reflected. Lutra, bless her heart, was still providing a splendid distraction with a somewhat long-winded explanation about how the reptilian beastkin-tribes - the Lizardkin and Gatorkin - both had the ability to 'ovulate selectively', essentially granting them a kind of highly effective built-in birth-control, which conversely had led to them taking a rather more relaxed view of casual incestual relations than most of the others.

"Indeed, the same variables apply to us!" Aishee interjected at an opportune moment, careful to keep her voice even. "During the spawning-season, any familial relations are banned - indeed, neighboring tribes with decent relations usually come together during those times specifically to ensure an influx of fresh blood to the tribe." Despite her best efforts, however, the look in Sayn's eyes made it clear that she had noticed the mermaid's discomfiture, and she quickly squatted down at the water's edge to run a hand caressingly through Aishee's silky-white hair. "Naturally. Look... don't worry about my delicate human sensibilities. If anything, _I'm_to blame for reacting like that to something I honestly should be used to by now. I mean, come on - my First Consort comes from a culture where virtually everyone have loads of inevitably-incestuous sex, in the middle of the streets, on a daily basis..."

Korlin, who had finished her own preparations, approached with a giggle. "Well, we Kirin are_a bit of a special case... but indeed, that is the point. Vastly different lifecycles and means of reproduction naturally means vastly different attitudes towards many aspects of sexuality, including incest. But as the Good Book says, we must be tolerant of such things, and see with our _hearts that all love is good, rather than being blinded by the false truths that past generations clung to..." The last part was spoken in reverential tones, her hands coming together prayerfully before her - prompting a flat glare from Sayn as the holy book of her own putative church was quoted, and suddenly reminding Aishee vividly of her erotically-charged first visit to one of the Beastmaker's Churches.

Regardless, the awkwardness had been effectively dissolved, and Aishee was able to resume introducing her numerous siblings without further mishaps. Her sisters all smiled winsomely up at Sayn as they greeted her, careful to float high enough in the water that their 'assets' bobbed on the surface... though, several of them seemed to be doing it mostly for the benefit of Achidias, K'teshi and Silas, who all hovered nearby, their preparations apparently finished. Her brothers, of course, were as serious and grave as ever - though with a barely-noticeable edge of nervousness underlying it. She'd shared her allowance with all of them before, be it once or several times, but this was a rather new context. Nevermind the drylanders, she - like most mermaids - normally elected to spend her allowance together with a handful or so of trustworthy mermen, and maybe one particularly favored female friend who'd thus get to partake of the resulting pleasures without having to spend their own allowance. Outside of the spawning-season, larger orgies like the one she'd planned here really wasn't the norm.

Still, that part of the party was yet to come. First, the guests were introduced to the snack-tables, where various light dishes made with merfolk dietary preferences in mind waited to meet them - many of them traditional merfolk dishes that had been given an original twist by way or dryland-grown ingredients. There was also pitchers of colorful fruit-juices, wines and ciders, though Aishee had to demonstrate their purpose to most of her siblings - the merfolk were used to simply drawing in the surrounding water on a constant basis, filtering it within their bodies as necessary... they had no concept of drinking as a specific activity. Aishee had learned, though, and found that there were a lot of things that were nicer to drink than seawater... some of them even gave you a nice, light buzz inside, though alas, experiments had proven that her body's ability to filter impurities from consumed water also extended to removing most of the alcohol-content from such drinks.

This, of course, was only the beginning. A traditional human birthday-party almost always involved a cake, after all - whether it was a simple creation of eggs, milk and flour, baked in a skillet over an open flame in a peasant's house, or the elaborate confectionary towers favored by the wealthy and decadent nobility. As part of the preparations, Aishee had met with the palace's Head Chef to discuss such a cake - a rather short fellow with a grandly-curled mustache that he often pulled on while contemplating new recipes or ingredients. He was an energetic, creative force - a literal artist in the kitchen, who had embraced the challenges inherent in cooking for so many different palates every day with outright eagerness. Palace rumors had it that he had_literally_ danced for joy when the first shipment of never-before-seen herbs, spices and vegetables from the Southern Continent arrived in his kitchen.

The outlined prospect of a suitably-majestic birthday-cake suitable for the merfolk palate had made his eyes gleam - like a master swordsman finally facing a challenger worthy of his skills. His assistants - or, perhaps more accurately, disciples - had swiftly been swept up in a hurricane of experimentation, and the result spoke for itself as it was wheeled into the garden on small trolley and deposited on a centrally-placed table at the poolside. As majestic and colorful as anything that might have graced a king's table, yet made entirely from ingredients suitable for merfolk - primarily various types of fish. Aishee could not restrain a grin as her siblings gathered around her, wide-eyed, oohing and aaahing as the first slice was cut - showing the internal layers of various kinds of fish, from melt-in-your-mouth fatty tuna, past beautifully rosy salmon, to the layer of fine-grained cod-roe shot through with mouth-watering veins of shiny black caviar.

The merfolk eagerly partook, even as another, more traditional cake was cut and served on the tables on the grass. Sugars, cream, eggs, grains... Aishee had tasted various kinds of human food since moving into the Seraglio, having made a point of sampling at least a morsel of anything unfamiliar that wound up on the communal dinner-table. Sometimes, she'd been pleasantly surprised to discover a new delicacy - and none of it had really been as unpleasant as she'd expected, considering the odd sources. More familiar ingredients served in unfamiliar way - such as fish that had been roast, fried or baked - also frequently provided excellent new experiences. Still, nothing could truly compare with the delicious flavor of fresh, succulent, raw fish...

She was well aware that her tastes - and by extension, the merfolk's preferences in general - were fairly unusual. An obvious adaption to their aquatic environment. So she was somewhat surprised when several of her fellow Consorts decided to sample the towering fish-cake for themselves, and made rather appreciative commentary. Lutra, of course, was the first to follow her nose there - the Otterkin were nearly as biased towards fish and other seafood as the merfolk, though they usually did cook their catches in various ways. Slira, of course, vastly preferred it over the human-style cake, commenting that "While I tend to prefer red meat, fish is a fine treat as well! I rarely had a chance to enjoy it back home..." Of course, her original tribe hadn't been particularly big on 'cooking' either, beyond that which was purely necessary in order to make something that was otherwise unpalatable edible. Somewhat more surprising was K'teshi's eagerness to sink his beak into a slice, despite having enjoyed the human-style cake as well - he offhandedly revealed that back home, young Griffons would often fish in mountain-streams with beak and talons, devouring their catch raw - a freshly-caught salmon was essentially considered a childish treat-food among them. "Such a nostalgic taste..." he commented, licking his beak.

This, of course, also brought the consorts into closer proximity of the merfolk visitors, sparking some light conversation that swiftly eased the sense of divide between the legged drylanders and their aquatic guests. A good thing too, considering the next, somewhat less traditional, part of the party. Aishee suddenly felt a bit self-conscious - she'd never spent her allowance in such a large group before, obviously, nevermind such varied company. She enjoyed watching, most of the time - hanging back, pleasuring herself as her eyes devoured the feast of delicious perversions laid out for her. Once she released her allowance into the water, though, she'd soon be at the very heart of a very_interactive_ orgy...

Still, she could hardly back out now - not that anyone would complain if she did, or anything, it'd just put a bit of a dampener on the party and be just... unbelievably awkward in general. Besides, several of her dear friends had expressed an interest in sampling the mermaids' home-brewed, waterborne aphrodisiac for themselves - notably Silas, who was eager to compare it to the similarly festive drugs used in the rituals surrounding his father, the Great Golden Ram Theokrios, and Slira. The Sharptooth had revealed, in that context, that the Sharptooth knew of certain herbal aphrodisiacs and sometimes used them for a bit of extra atmosphere during various feast-days and such. And of course, both Lutra and Sayn herself were looking quite ready to try it as well, just for the adventure of it...

Thus, after swimming to a point near the majestic fountain that rose from the center of the pond, Aishee dipped beneath the surface and focused her attention inwards. The 'allowance' wasn't really an annual thing, per se, as Sayn had seemingly assumed - it was a biological process, and thus highly variable depending on things like diet and bloodlines. Her family had apparently always had rather slow-building allowances, but also rather potent ones once released, and she was no exception - in the past, she'd rarely been able to manage a decent dose more than once every two years or so, but those experiences had been heady. Not that it mattered in this case - ever since she'd discovered her own love of voyeurism, she'd felt little need to use her allowance. Indeed, she hadn't touched it at all since moving into the Seraglio, so there was no doubt that she had a full dose waiting.

Focusing on those rarely-used muscles, she released the content of the specialized storage-bladder. It emerged from her urethra as a light-purple mist that rapidly spread into the surrounding water, turning invisible to the naked eye. This close to its source, she could actually taste it - a cloying, sickly-sweet flavor - but even that soon dissipated. As she rose back to the surface, she looked around and saw that the nearest merfolk were already starting to be affected - it didn't take much at all, especially for the men. Their usually stony, dispassionate faces were twisting into unfamiliar grimaces of predatory desire and insatiable hunger. For the mermaids, the effects were less pronounced but still noticeable - every pair of bounteous breasts floating in the waters were now sporting rock-hard nipples, poking eagerly out from the surrounding softness.

Once she was up in the air, she had just enough time to look around and spot her friends, her fellow Consorts, begin to dip their toes in the nascent merfolk-orgy - sometimes literally - before one of her elder brothers pounced on her. His neatly-cropped, lustrous beard marked him as a product of their father's vigorous youth - more than a century her senior - and his handsome, chiseled face had seen him partake in any number of mermaid's allowances, particularly when he was younger. By now, he had admirable skill and experience to back up his attractive appearance, and she greatly regretted the fact that he tended to be too busy to answer the call when it had come time for her to spend her own allowances in the past. Only once had he come - but that had been a most memorable session indeed!

Eagerly, she embraced him, reveling in the lustful energy that danced in his eyes. Since it was her_allowance, produced by _her body, it didn't have as strong an effect on her as it would be having on her various sisters - which conveniently left her free to fully appreciate the effect it was having on everybody else. She moaned as he entered her, his powerful tail pushing him forwards, deep inside her. It had really been rather a long time since she last felt one of those unique merman-cocks... so delightfully thick at the base, stretching her labia and teasing her clit, while deeper inside her the agile, narrow head began to dance, teasing and tickling, seeking and finding her cervix.

She let the pleasure carry her like the tide, arms wrapped around his powerful, muscular chest, her tail moving against his as he fucked her with short yet eminently impactful thrusts. There was only an inch or so of movement between them, but each of those movements strained her labia and rasped his groin-scales against the soft skin that covered her own tender bits. The thrusts were determined, insistent, more animal rutting than skilled lovemaking - albeit with far greater staying-power and a more suitable size than the flighty dolphins could hope to provide a lonely mermaid.

With her chin resting on his shoulder, she could see past him - into the air or the water, depending on where their thrashing tails took them at any given time. On the surface, she could spot the shallow portion of the pond, lined with mermaids reclining on their backs, being serviced by Achidias, K'teshi, Orichaniel and Silas - none of them particularly good swimmers, but more than happy to assist anyone willing to join them in the wading-section. Silas, in particular, was pounding mermaid after mermaid with feverish intensity, panting and sweating - presumably, he had sampled some of the pond's aphrodisiac-laced water already.

Down in the deeper waters, meanwhile, things were even more intense. There were, of course, several intertwined couples, her sisters and brothers, eagerly enjoying one another's bodies... but more interesting was Lutra, Sayn, and even Korlin, fully submerged and surrounded, their lithe bodies sandwiched between two muscular mermen each. Lutra was in her element, of course - able to hold her breath down there for long periods of time, grabbing a new lungful of air every time her lovers' tails brought them to the surface again. Korlin was freely moaning into the water, a brand-new set of gills moving along her flanks - courtesy of her shape-shifting powers. Only Sayn had no such advantages, and her lips were thus locked tightly to those of the merman in front of her, his gills flapping hungrily to draw more air from the water, enough for himself and to share. She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, Aishee thought absently - indeed, she'd noticed before that the 'Kiss of Life' never failed to arouse Sayn's desires, presumably due to the undertones of erotic domination it carried with it. Deep beneath the surface, she was completely at the mercy of the two powerful mermen, dependent on them for every breath she took, freely surrendering both of her orifices to them in return... heh. Yeah, that sounded like something that would get Sayn's blood pumping like nobody's business.

One last, surprising visitor to the underwater realm was Rubicundus - shrunk down a few notches and swimming through the pond as easily as he normally flew through the air. Was he using some kind of magic to breathe, or did he just have the ability to hold his breath for just as long as Lutra? It was impossible to tell, and perhaps also irrelevant - no doubt, a dragon had many ways to accomplish such a feat. He was surrounded by a bevy of mermaids, eyes feverish with desire - one of them constantly impaled on a cock that she knew, from experience, would be scaled up to the point where it only barely fit, stretching whatever hole it had entered right to the limit, dancing along the thin line between pleasure and pain. Another, meanwhile, was similarly impaled on his long, skillful tongue, her fish-like tail caught between his fangs in a way that probably added an exciting edge of perceived danger to the pleasure as he stimulated her orally. He certainly seemed to be applying himself to both of them enthusiastically - had the drug-laced water affected him too, or maybe just the festive atmosphere?

The next time they surfaced, she looked around and managed to spot the last two members of the harem. Slira was halfway submerged, a merman on his back between her legs, his cock exploring her cloaca. Her tongue was lolling out of her fang-filled maw, and her eyes were vague and unfocused - her hips, meanwhile, were moving forcefully, pushing down against the merman's undulating tail, riding him hungrily. Clearly, she too had sampled the water - and found, as expected, that the mermaid's allowance was rather more potent than the aphrodisiacs she knew from home.

Finally, Thielwen was kneeling in another part of the shallows, her tongue buried in the tight anus of a merman while she steadily stroked his heavily-erect cock, her nose nestled in his ballsack. Another merman was behind her, strong arms gripping her hips as he pounded her ass, almost out of the water - indeed, the majority of his not-insignificant weight had to be resting on Thielwen's back and knees, once again demonstrating that the wiry elf was far stronger than she appeared.

Down under the water again, a warmth spreading in her belly and a groan resounding in her ears. Her darling older brother had finally reached his climax. It always took a while, when the merman was under the effects of the allowance - far more so than during spawning-season. Another bit of generosity on old Cerulec's part, was the general belief. He kept moving against her as he emptied his balls, and only then flicked his tail to open distance between them, pulling out. His eyes remained hungry, already looking around for his next partner. She'd reached three orgasms during the ride - though, if she was to be honest, she wasn't certain how much of it had been due to his skillful fucking, and how much had been down to repeatedly spotting her friends in various sexual entanglements.

She didn't have much of a chance to speculate. Even as he swam away, another of her brothers pounced on her, his chest flattening her boobs, his cock seeking her pussy. She reached down and guided him in a different direction. She'd rarely done anal before coming to the Seraglio, but afterwards... seeing so many of her new friends enjoy the act so greatly, she'd decided to give it a chance herself, whenever the mood for some proper penetration struck her. It was, she thought, rather of an 'acquired taste' - it took time to build up the necessary elasticity in that region to properly enjoy the many well-hung lovers the Seraglio had to offer, without suffering distracting amounts of pain in the process. Her brother's cock certainly fit up there fairly easily by now - and he pounded the tight hole just as eagerly as his older brother had pounded the one above it a little bit earlier.

More waited after him. More brothers, older or younger by various numbers of decades. Tapered cocks stretching her labia, sphincter and lips, teasing her uterus, filling her gullet or tickling the depths of her intestines with their flexible tips. She felt almost feverish, filled with endless desire. She wanted more, more cocks, bigger cocks, more at a time... she saw her friends dance in the water, mermen on both sides, and cursed the fact that anatomy wouldn't allow her to be double-penetrated in the same fashion. Then she was beneath something big and crimson-red, a different kind of cock pushing into her, stretching her open, making her scream with pleasure. Was it in her pussy or her ass? She couldn't even tell, didn't care, as long as it stayed there and kept pumping, kept feeding her sweet, sweet pleasure.

Something was... wrong, she thought dimly. It was her allowance. It shouldn't be affecting her so much. She heard a giggle near her head and felt slender, powerful fingers encircle her breasts from behind, squeezing and teasing. "Are you enjoying your birthday-present, hmm?" a throaty voice whispered directly into her ear. It was... one of her older sisters, wasn't it? "Several of us pitched in for it... you're not the only one who can read up on human traditions, you know." Ah. So that was it. One of her sisters - or, apparently, several of them - had added their own stored allowance to the water as well. No wonder it was getting to her - and, for that matter, everyone else. The older mermaids would have an advantage, of course, having experienced the aphrodisiac many times before and thus built up a resistance of sorts.

"You shouldn't have done that... this isn't the open sea, where the currents keep spreading things around. The concentration of aphrodisiac in this pond must be insane..." she tried to say. She didn't get much past 'You' before her words were muffled by a set of soft lips pushing against her own. The huge, thick cock inside her was pulsating, cumming, filling her with its boiling-hot seed. As it pulled out - or rather, she vaguely realized, she was pulled off of it by the strong, feminine arms surrounding her - another hot, wet mouth took its place, lips caressing her labia, a powerful tongue digging into her. She still couldn't tell which orifice. Her groin was just a single, tremendous mass of pleasure, making it impossible to pick out the fine nuances. Another orgasm flashed through her mind, obliterating the sentence she had been so carefully constructing there.

More dicks, more tongues, more orgasms, but always the need for more, more! Here and there, her fellow Consorts broke through the endless succession of tapered merman-cocks as her brothers came for her again and again, railing her pussy and ass, filling her mind with orgasmic pleasure every time. She found herself floating in front of Sayn, looking at a freshly-fucked pussy leaking copious amounts of cum into the water. Above, Sayn's head was turned, neck twisted, to lock her lips to those of the merman behind her. He was still pounding her ass - Aishee could feel it through her tongue as she buried it in the cum-filled hole, eagerly sucking out the contents, savoring the feeling and the sheer quantity. Had to be five, maybe ten separate loads in there! As always, the Beastmaker was popular...

The next time she found herself on the surface, she could see that the frenetic, lust-crazed atmosphere had spread there too. Of course, with such concentration, even breathing in the many water-droplets that the constant, vigorous sex was generating would be enough, nevermind the contact-high that those who had elected to stick to the shallows would be getting off the mermaids and mermen they were having sex with. The mermaid who was currently mating with Achidias looked near-catatonic, eyes rolled back and limbs trembling as the vigorous young centaur rutted her with bone-shaking thrusts, emitting a steady stream of bestial grunts. The one underneath K'teshi was hardly better off, pinned by his powerful claws like a freshly-caught salmon as his hips blurred. Only Orichaniel seemed unaffected - whether because his strange physiology had blunted the aphrodisiac, or simply because his natural lack of a compelling sex-drive left it with nothing to boost. He was still going as he had from the start, fucking the mermaids whose tail was coiled around his with consummate skill, though _she_certainly seemed a lot more passionate about it than before.

And Silas, somehow, was on her, half-submerged. She hadn't had the chance to play with the vivacious Concubine very often, since he was generally unfond of water, but today he didn't much seem to care. From those few sessions she _had_enjoyed with him, she remembered a highly-skilled and responsive lover who grinned triumphantly with every orgasm he managed to induce in her. Not so right now. He was driving into her with pure, direct, animalistic force, grinding his furry haunches against her hips, his hands roughly squeezing her breasts, using them as handholds as he rammed her up against the rim of the pond. His mouth covered hers, his tongue invading aggressively, barely a trace of intelligence in his eyes. He came, filling her with his hot seed - but then simply kept going, pounding her, using her, cumming over and over until she was forced to realize that it was her asshole getting this rough treatment. Her womb, after all, could not possibly have contained such quantities of cum as he was now blasting into her - she could feel her belly straining under the pressure.

At some point, he apparently tired of her cum-packed holes and threw her aside to pursue some other, tighter mermaid - she was too dazed by the endless pleasure to really noticed. She did, however, notice when she found herself halfway on top of Thielwen - if only because the sensation of the elf's practiced tongue digging into her asshole was quite familiar. Of course, in this case, that also left the elf-maid with her nose lodged halfway inside the jizz-drooling pussy-hole above it, and the movements of her tongue were somehow even more forceful, more desperate than usual. Belatedly, Aishee realized that she'd apparently been slipped into Thielwen's own former perch in the shallows, and that she was looking right up at the towering, rock-hard cock of one of her younger brothers. Underneath the shaft and the dangling ballsack, his asshole winked - still stained by the hungry elf-girl's saliva.

Not really thinking, Aishee leaned in to resume where Thielwen had, apparently, left off in order to switch her attention to her own currently-gaping lower hole. She had never done anything like it before - not to her brothers, nor to any of her fellow Consorts - though she'd certainly _watched_it happen numerous times. Yes... again and again, she'd seen Thielwen dig her tongue hungrily into any asshole she could reach, ever since the early days when she'd first watched the girl transform from a frigid, withdrawn princess, to an eager hedonist who would happily tongue Achidias' equine rear right out in the open air of the park where Aishee could watch it.

She doubted that she could easily equal the tongue-skill that Thielwen's dedication had earned her... but she did her best to imitate what she had seen, digging her tongue into the tight little orifice, teasing the sphincter with her lips while her nose breathed in the thick, male musk found underneath the merman's ballsack. Her fingers sought the shaft above, pulling and milking it until finally, it exploded in a volcanic eruption of white slime that subsequently rained down upon her head, sticking in her hair. Groaning, her little brother pulled away, leaping into the deeper parts of the pond in search of something to stick his still painfully-hard cock into - and another merman, this one an older brother of hers, emerged from the waves nearby to take his place.

Apparently, this place had wound up an unofficially-designated rimjob-station, and she was subbing for Thielwen while the elf tried to suck every last of Silas' cumloads out of her aching, worn-raw asshole. Unable to think of any reason_not_ to, she doggedly carried on - rimming her way through half her brothers as they rotated there to, presumably, rest their dicks for a bit and enjoy a slightly different kind of pleasure for a bit. Throughout, orgasms continued to make their way up her shuddering spine at regular intervals - her pussy and ass alike were hypersensitive, making even the gentle stimulation of Thielwen's lips, tongue, nose and occasionally fingers almost more than she could handle.

Soon enough, however, the 'break' was over - strong hands pulled her back out to the deeper waters, and she once again found herself well under the surface with a thick merman-cock lodged deep in either end. One would inevitably find its way up her pussy or ass, both of them gaping eagerly at this point, while another was pushed down her throat, bringing her face-to-face with various colorful patterns of groin-scales. The mermen were even more ardent now than when things had started, the continued exposure to the strongly-concentrated allowance pushing them into a lustful daze - they no longer seemed concerned about her fangs at all, eagerly pushing deeper and deeper, unleashing their loads directly into her stomach even as her teeth scraped across their wide hilts.

With the rough treatment of her still highly-sensitive holes, the level of stimulation became almost too much for her to handle. She found herself slipping in and out of consciousness, drug-fueled orgasms pushing her steadily deeper into the darkness as her body continued to act on its own, eagerly welcoming every dick that drew near. Her sense of time, too, slipped away - and by the time she started to recover her senses, she found herself wondering if she had not, perhaps, just fallen asleep outright and was now dreaming.

Darkness had fallen. A golden half-moon hung high in the sky. The summer night was mild and pleasant. Above the garden, dozens of glass globes spread a strange, warm light that seemed to suffuse everything below it. She was lying at the edge of the pond, alone for the moment, but as she looked around she could easily spot both her siblings and her fellow Consorts. None of them had ever looked so beautiful before. The light seemed to accentuate all of their best features, hiding the sweat, stains and indubitable fatigue that she knew they had to be wearing at this point. The party had started a bit before noon... and the sun set late at this point of the season. The orgy must have carried on for, what, ten hours or so? Far longer than any allowance normally lasted, even if several mermaids combined theirs. As she'd briefly suspected, before the pleasure stole all thought from her mind, the contained circumstances had greatly magnified the effects.

By now, though, it had wound down. Most of her brothers were floating about somewhere beneath the surface, clearly exhausted, the drug having finally run its course - leaving them tired and sore in its wake. A couple remained at the surface - hanging out by the snack-table, tiredly munching on some by-then decidedly lukewarm dishes. Her sisters were doing better, it seemed - with most of them having largely recovered much like herself - and they'd clearly noticed the intriguing effects of the Kirin-made light-orbs, too. It wasn't that unusual for mermaids to entertain one another if no suitable males - be they mermen, humans or dolphins - could be found, but the sapphic embraces that were occurring on the surface of the pond now seemed far more passionate than such things usually were.

Looking at the Consorts, Achidias and K'teshi seemed to have tired themselves out, same as the mermen. Both were kneeling in the grass, munching on somewhat-dry pieces of cake from the human-style tables - and looking _incredibly_handsome and fetching doing it. Thielwen - who looked every bit the etheric, elven beauty in this light - clearly agreed. She was on her hands and knees behind them, regularly switching her tongue from one asshole to the other while the two tiredly held up their tails for her. It didn't seem likely that either would rise to perform again anytime soon, but... she also didn't seem to care much. Her fingers were working between her thighs, her elven stamina still strong, and she seemed quite happy to carry on the party all by her lonesome, as long as she still had some delicious assholes to snack on.

Silas was still on his feet - or, rather, hooves - but the manic, bestial drive that had possessed him earlier had clearly faded. Instead, the light seemed to invoke in him the image of his father - an ancient symbol of fertility, in its most pure and primal form. He was sitting on the edge of the pond, legs dangling in the water, as two mermaids worked together on his tackle - one deep-throating his majestic shaft while the other gently sucked on his hefty, dangling balls, managing to fit only one at a time in her mouth. His hands were tangled in their hair, setting a slow, steady pace - and much as he'd previously demonstrated with Slira, he clearly had no particular concern about the number of fangs contained within the mouths that were pleasuring him.

Speaking of Slira - who was looking far more elegant and beautiful than a pony-sized, scaly killing-machine had any right to - she had apparently tired of the mermen, and had climbed out of the water. Perhaps not surprising - while she enjoyed new experiences and wasn't unappreciative of true sexual skill, sheer size remained her first love, and in that department the mermen couldn't really measure up to Achidias... much less Rubicundus. And indeed, the crimson-scaled dragon was currently mounting her, looking - if possible - even more majestic than usual. Was he genuinely unwearied by the frantic attention he'd gotten from the mermaids earlier, or was the strange light merely hiding his fatigue? Who knew...

Rotating her neck, she finally spotted her gracious host nearby - Sayn herself, somehow looking equal parts divine beauty and erotically-charged sex-symbol, on her knees... in front of a vision of heart-stopping, almost _painful_perfection. Korlin was still naked, but from this angle, Aishee couldn't tell if the Kirin was in her female form, letting Sayn drink the dew from the flower between her legs... or in hermaphrodite-form, with her entire shaft hidden in Sayn's throat. Korlin, apparently noticing her attention, smiled down at Aishee - making the mermaid's heart skip a beat. "What do you think of the illumination I provided for your party?" She asked, her voice as melodious as ever - if, perhaps fortunately, unaffected by the strange lighting. "They're called love-lights - an old favorite spell of the Kirin. Everything beneath them is seen as through a lover's eyes..."

"It's marvelous..." she managed to croak out, her voice rough - possibly due to all the cock she'd been gargling over the past ten hours or so. She wanted to say something more, but movement in the water before her dragged her attention away - and as she turned her head, she watched a vision of wild, pure beauty rise from the pond before her. Lutra, her curves somehow accentuated rather than concealed by her wet fur, droplets rolling off her shoulders and breasts... the kind of sight that could drive a poet to write long, meandering verses about the marvelous sights and heart-rendering purity of nature. A river-spirit given flesh, not merely another Beastkin...

Aishee eagerly spread her arms to embrace her friend as the otterkin surged forwards, piling on top of her. Mouth met muzzle, and tongues intertwined while fingers roamed in search of sensitive spots. There was none of the primal, drug-fueled frenzy left anymore - this was soft, sweet lovemaking, more emotional than visceral. Still, the orgy had left its tracks, and both of them groaned in unison as their respective hands found still-raw, well-used holes. Tracing the otterkin's labia and sphincter with her fingers, she could tell that Lutra had been, if anything, even more popular than herself - both orifices were pulsating, swollen, slowly leaking cum and clearly _highly_sensitive. She adapted her technique to suit - applying featherlight strokes and caresses, rather than hungrily digging her fingers inside as she normally would. Lutra, meanwhile, was doing much the same to her own tender holes while moving her torso in little circles to rub their nipples together.

They lingered for some time at the water's edge like that, relishing each other's company, enjoying the sense of deep intimacy, and listening to the light moans and slow breaths of the many other couples who were doing the same. Neither of them reached any kind of climax - their minds too exhausted from the constant barrage of orgasms that the earlier orgy had brought to get there with such gentle stimulation. Neither one of them, however, minded at all. Rather than simply lose themselves in the surges of blinding pleasure, they lost themselves in each other - the smell of wet fur, the taste of the other's lips and tongue, the feeling of a warm body against your own...

With such an easy pace, they could easily have kept going for an hour or more - but soon, the sound of clinking porcelain and glass drew their attentions away. Orichaniel, the only partygoer who had remained entirely unaffected by the aphrodisiac haze, had apparently taken it upon himself to look after the rest of them - and now emerged into the garden leading a conga-line of servitors carrying trays of snacks and drinks. Cold_drinks and _fresh snacks, straight from the palace's every-busy kitchens, and a far cry from the dried-up cake and sun-warmed drinks that had lingered on the tables since noon.

Suddenly noticing the hunger and thirst that they'd all worked up earlier, Consorts and merfolk alike rallied around the various tables as the trays were unceremoniously deposited there, a far cry for the elegant table-settings that had been present earlier - but more than welcome nonetheless. There was light conversation and gentle kisses still being exchanged under the love-lights - and Aishee managed to comb through her older sister and, though some vigorous interrogation, find out who it was who'd decided to provide her with such a fine 'birthday-present'. All three of them. No wonder they'd all been outright maddened with pleasure!

Shortly afterwards, after having finally and emphatically given voice to the objection that had earlier been stolen from her mind and lips by the pleasure, she had them lined up in front of Sayn and apologizing profusely. The plan, after all, had been for those who desired to sample the aphrodisiac to do so by dipping themselves in the water or just drinking a mouthful of it, while those who didn't could easily avoid_it. This included Achidias and K'teshi, both of whom had decided to pass on it out of concern for the damage their large bodies (and cocks) could do to smaller partners if they were to lose control... only for them to wind up, as previously noticed, getting a serious contact-high just from being _near the pond, and indeed losing all self-control as feared. It was fortunate indeed that their thus unleashed passion had been monopolized purely by mermaids who, while struggling to handle the sheer sizes involved, were nonetheless sturdy enough to handle everything they'd received.

Regardless, the rules that Sayn had set for adding Aishee's 'allowance' to the party had been broken - and she gave the three quailing mermaids a rather severe talking-to for it. They were all swift to admit that they'd acted on their own, failing to consider how differently their allowance would act in a pond as opposed to the open ocean, and that Aishee hadn't known about it in advance. All three seemed prepared to shoulder any punishment the Beastmaker thought appropriate, and worried that their incautious actions might have harmed their dear sister's standing, or even soured relations with their whole species. Fortunately - as Aishee could have told them, though she didn't particularly feel like easing their minds right in that moment - Sayn was a merciful person, and she was willing to call 'no harm, no foul' after the three had also apologized to Achidias and K'teshi with suitable contrition.

"You mermaids have quite a gift there... your 'allowance' from old Cerulec. It would behoove you to spend it sensibly." The Beastmaker's words were serious, spoiled only slightly by the fact that she remained entirely naked, and seemed in a hurry to get everything straightened out as quickly as possible so that she could return to the arms of her beloved - and equally-naked - Korlin who was standing nearby and smiling lovingly.

Still, despite this 'minor hiccup', by the time the guests began to swim down the underwater tunnel towards the ocean, there was a general agreement that it had been a splendid party indeed. The cakes and snacks had been delicious, the 'entertainment' had been top-notch, and many new and interesting experiences had been had. Sayn had clearly enjoyed her first experience with a merman - or rather, a dozen mermen or so - and Aishee herself had gotten something to think about.

Enough so that, as Korlin turned off the love-lights with a casual gesture and the servitor-constructs began to clear the tables, she invited Lutra back to her own personal room for... just a little bit more fun before the belated bedtime caught up with them both. The otterkin was both surprised and delighted to find herself bent over the edge of one of the heated pools in there, while Aishee lodged her face between the muscular, furry ass-cheeks. Her sphincter had recovered somewhat since the end of the orgy, but it clearly remained sensitive, and easily parted before the mermaid's intruding tongue. It really did smell just like freshly-cut grass, Aishee marveled as she listened to Lutra's breathless moans...

---

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE

Name: Aishee A'lyra

Titles: 7th Princess of the Great Bay Tribe, Merfolk Consort to the Beastmaker (unlike several other Consorts, Aishee never abandoned her original title - and still holds both the duties, responsibilities and privileges thereof.)

Age: 73 (Life expectancy: up to 300 years)

Sexual Profile: Completely bisexual, as is common for mermaids. Dedicated voyeur - more often than not, she prefers watching to participating. As a secondary kink, she enjoys performing oral sex on females immediately after they've had sex, preferably while she watched - a.k.a. 'eating creampies'. Taught tolerance an openmindedness from an early age - with an eye towards smoother integration with human culture - she tends to be highly unprejudiced when it comes to the sexual interests, preferences and peculiarities of her fellow Consorts, even those she cannot relate to or understand herself.

Psychological Assessment: Aishee is a diplomat at heart - while many races are still adjusting to the idea of working closely with mankind, the Merfolk have been doing so for centuries, and she was born and raised as a princess in the tribe that has been at the vanguard of this integration since the start. While this has enabled her to integrate smoothly into the Seraglio, it also makes it hard to see her true intentions and plans - all that can be said with certainty is that she doesn't mean the Beastmaker, or any of her fellow Consorts, ill... after all, if she did, Korlin the Kirin would have immediately sensed as much and acted. As such, it can only be said that she seems to be happy with her position within the Harem, generally easygoing, and quite close with the otterkin Lutra.

Extrapolation: Difficult in this case. However, looking at the past actions of her father, the King of the Great Bay Tribe, it seems likely that her purpose in the Seraglio goes beyond just dealing the the rather rare incidents of friction between the merfolk and the seaside communities that they often conduct trade and 'cultural exchange' with. The Great Bay Tribe has prospered and expanded significantly throughout his reign, and he enjoys great respect from neighboring tribes as well - but many other merfolk tribes remain further out in the deeper waters, enjoying little to no contact with humanity. The fact that he has taken on the title of 'King' rather than 'Chieftain' as his predecessor is also noteworthy. If he truly plans to become King of the Merfolk, bringing ALL of the tribes under his dominion, there is little question that his daughter - so carefully positioned within the Palace and in the Beastmaker's good graces - will play a key role therein...