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The Beastmaker's Quest

QUETZALCOATL

Sayn was engaging in some introspective self-examination when the letter arrived. Very literally, in this case. A surprising gift had arrived the other day, courtesy of a frighteningly skilled Elven craftsman: A set of small figurines sculpted in the image of herself and her Consorts. A gesture of thanks for her efforts to improve the Elves' circumstances, and further Elven/Human relations, according to the flowery note included with them. Well, of course, her two newest consorts weren't represented, since they'd only joined the Seraglio upon her recent return from the Southern Continent, but perhaps they'd be forthcoming...

Each of the statuettes were made from a different material, and they clearly hadn't been chosen at random. Aishee the Mermaid, for example, had been carved from a single lump of Aquamarine, which was pretty impressive even if that particular gemstone wasn't considered more than _semi-_precious by most merchants. Achidias the Centaur, meanwhile, had been carved from the same kind of flexible wood that his kind generally used for their bows, giving the intricate wood-carving a kind of lively vibrancy. Thielwen, their own representative, was carved from ivory - about the only material pale enough for her skin. And Sayn's own humble statue? Solid gold, of course.

It was thoroughly impressive craftsmanship, needless to say. The Elves never did anything to a 'good enough' standard. Each of the little statuettes were lifelike in the extreme, seemingly ready to jump right off their little, square bases and into action. Every fold of cloth, every hair and patch of fur, every wrinkle on a face, was represented so perfectly that she found herself wondering exactly what the craftsman had been using for a model. Had Thielwen been covertly recording some image-crystals to send home? Generally, such recordings required a large, carefully-tuned device managed by a skilled mage, but the Elves didn't work by the same rules as humans - maybe they had pocket-sized crystals that could record everything around it with the touch of a finger, who knew?

Well, however it had happened, they made a very nice present - though, honestly, she wasn't quite sure what she'd done to deserve this gift. Certainly she'd made it clear, back when she accepted Thielwen as her Consort, that she wasn't in favor of Elfphobic behavior. She'd specifically stated that yes, her stance on 'universal love' included the Elves, and that she didn't see any reason to hold the sins of their long-fallen empire against them. (Which had, frankly, been a bit hypocritical, since it had taken her quite a bit longer to actually stop doing so herself.)

And, yes, her faithful had lapped it up, as they did with everything that came out of her mouth. The movers and shakers, meanwhile, had gotten the message that picking on the Elves wouldn't be tolerated. But the main threat to them had never been either group - but rather the occasional drunken mob looking for someone to blame for their misery... a demographic nobody had much control over. Still, things had apparently improved significantly, and from the looks of it, Thielwen had made full use of her new-found position to interact with the new Imperial Government on a level that the slick Elven Ambassadors simply couldn't. Which had, frankly, surprised Sayn a bit, since she'd been of the impression that the slim-bodied elf-maid spent every spare minute feeding her new-found desires. That was silly, of course - her own sexual appetites were (literally) legendary, but she still found the time to get the work done, didn't she? Admittedly with some occasional prompting and prodding from Cybra and, less often, Korlin.

So, yes, for whatever reason, the Elves weren't getting as many dirty looks as they used to, and a few of them had responded by coming out of their shell a little bit - interacting with humans above and beyond the absolutely necessary, and even taking up temporary residence in human cities in order to 'better learn of the new Human Culture'. Which still carried the annoyingly arrogant tone of a sage or natural philosopher settling down in a forest to study some interesting new animal, but hey, it was progress! More amusingly, there'd been some unconfirmed reports of Elves popping up in her churches and getting caught up in the 'Gospel of Love' - subsequently becoming regulars there... and in several nearby brothels. Assuming they weren't just wistful thinking on the part of the rumormongers, that seemed to indicate that Lutra's earlier theory that the Elves, in general, were just bundles of pent-up sexual frustrations, accumulated over millennia, waiting for the right crowbar to let it out.

She was still chuckling at that thought, examining Achidias' statuette to see if the Elven craftsman had gotten the naughtier details right, when Cybra knocked on her door. He entered wordlessly when she opened it, and she felt a growing dread. The letter he carried was still sealed - which presumably meant that he already knew basically what was in it. "I'd tell you to sit down before reading it, but hey, you beat me to it. So I'll just go fetch Korlin while you look it over." So, that either meant that this was such a thorny, political issue that the Kirin's infinite wisdom would be needed to even START solving it or (more likely, given Cybra's uncharacteristic lack of wit) such terrible news that she'd shortly need comforting from her One True Love.

It proved to be both, and she found her arms and legs alike shaking as she read it. Yes, it was indeed a good thing she wasn't standing up, she thought wanly. The letter had been hastily written, and sealed with the Mayor of Twinharbor's personal signet. It gravely informed her that all of the other human colonies on the Southern Continent had risen in rebellion against the city-states who had founded them and, by extension, her Empire. They demanded independence, and they would take it by force if needs be. In settlements across the continent's northern shore, governors had been imprisoned, robbed, or even lynched. Only Twinharbor had refused to participate, mostly because both the Mayor and a majority of the citizenry (and, by extension, militia) were devoted to her Church - and thus saw the attempt to tear away from the Empire as religious heresy as much as treason.

The other colonies had clearly recognized that they couldn't just leave such a Loyalist settlement alone - especially not since it happened to have the best anchorage on the entire shoreline. If all the settlements had turned as one, any punitive force would have found it difficult to land, but such a major chink in their armor rendered that entire strategy all but suicidal. So they had, of course, rallied an 'army' and marched on Twinharbor to besiege and conquer it. It was under these troubled circumstances that the Mayor had sent a swift clipper north with the news - but, he hastened to add, she need not fear. The Faithful would stand firm, and before they were encircled, they had sent messengers south to others who could be counted on to follow the True Faith, and come to their assistance.

Her hands were shaking, now, and her vision blurred with tears. It couldn't really be as bad as it sounded, could it? Soft arms enfolded her from behind, and she smelled that peculiar perfume that was Korlin's natural scent. "We need to do something. Right away. Stop this." She whispered, twisting her head to look pleadingly up into the Kirin's wise, kind eyes. But what she saw there was a mirror of her own grief. "It's too late. You know that as well as I do." The words were soft and kind, but still struck like a hammer. She'd made that journey herself. A smaller, faster ship (with fewer shipwrecks on the way) could do it faster. But it would still have taken three weeks for it to cross the Great Current. Everything... would already be over. Everything but the crying.

So cry she did, on her bed, hugging Korlin hard. "They could've had their bloody independence... I don't give a damn... why didn't anyone _tell_me they wanted it?" her voice was muffled by Korlin's shoulder, but the Kirin, as always, knew what she was saying. "A fine question. One we will have to get to the bottom of. But I suspect that all we will find is some well-meaning officials who felt that the issue of some local bellyaching about taxes wasn't worth passing up the ladder." Her frosty tone made it clear that she had rather less sympathy for such a 'well-meaning' individual than her people's usually-benevolent attitude would suggest.

"How bad is it going to be? Really?" She had to ask. She wanted to get it all over with, right now, right here, so that she wasn't blindsided by more bad news later. "Bad enough. More than bad enough." Korlin's soft voice and softer hands took some of the edge off the blow, but the beautiful Kirin wasn't about to fail in her duty. She provided her best analysis, however unpalatable the result. "The Centaurs will have leaped at a chance for a good fight, especially after they were prevented from retaliating against the Muhuru-Ngoubou Sirrush. And the Sharptooth Tribes will have been, if possible, even more eager."

The Sharptooth Tribes. Ancient, reptilian predators, every last one of them a dedicated carnivore with no particular compunctions about taking their nourishment from thinking beings. Every male, female and hatchling a hunter and a killer. If they answered the call of the Empire they had so recently joined - as they would, sure enough, just for the chance to grab a hot meal - it wouldn't so much be an army taking the field, as a general migration of their entire civilization. From chicken-sized reptiles whose fearsome claws still held the potential of gouged eyes and slit throats for the unwary soldier thanks to their incredible speed, agility, and jumping-capacity... to towering monstrosities whose very presence would spread outright panic amongst all but the most thoroughly-disciplined soldiers.

With an escort of Centaur Skirmishers, they'd be able to cross the Southern Continent's monster-infested plains largely unmolested. And the army that besieged Twinharbor was the very definition of a soft target - a mashed-together mob of militiamen, city-guards and volunteers, led by revolutionary firebrands with little to no military experience. The Centaurs and the Sharptooth Tribes would tear into them like a meat-axe, and the predatory Sirrush would feed on the mountain of corpses that resulted. The beleaguered defenders of Twinharbor would cheer from the city walls as their erstwhile brethren were slaughtered - and her name would be on everybody's lips, as a curse or benediction.

It wasn't until the next day that she felt ready to face the world, or even just the rest of her Seraglio. Korlin had held her through the night, drying her tears and leeching away her nightmares as she contemplated the sheer, pointless slaughter and the fact that, for all her power and majesty, she had been entirely helpless to prevent it. Indeed, she hadn't even known that anything was happening until it was already over and done with. By morning, though, she was just about able to think straight, and ready to start doing something about this mess. Starting with sending a message in the opposite direction with orders. It was no doubt too late to prevent a bloody battle, but things could still escalate if left unattended. Like, say, if the improvised army of plunder-happy Centaurs and meat-hungry Sirrush were to decide that really, they could suppress the rebellious settlements all by themselves, no need to bother the Beastmaker for that...

Korlin was quick to give her a warning, though, and it was not what she'd expected to hear from the kindly, pacifist Kirin. "You cannot give them their independence. Not now, and not soon. Maybe eventually if they still want it at that point." Her voice was stern, and slowly Sayn nodded in understanding. It was what she wanted to do, certainly. She'd built her Empire out of necessity, not out of any grand ambition. If a few remote settlements wanted to go their own way, it was no skin off her nose. As long as she had Twinharbor, the Centaur Migration could continue, and that was really all she _needed_the southern settlements for.

But doing it now, after such a bloody battle... it would be too much of a slap in the face, too clear a message that the whole thing had been one giant fuck-up. "Oh, hey, sorry about all the people who just got killed and eaten, here's that Independence they died for, no charge. Shame it didn't get here earlier, huh?" No. Those who had died were dead, and liable to stay that way. Nothing she did at this point would make any difference to them. All she could do was try to somehow make the most of this mess. And it was, unfortunately, rather obvious how she could do that: By making an example of it all. And so she did.

The gist of the letter, thus, was that she very much regretted the senseless slaughter, but that the blame ultimately lay with those who had foolishly led such an unprepared army into the field without considering what their opposition would look like. Of course, she did_sympathize with the plight of the colonies and, in view of their demonstrated capacity to act _independently of their founding city-states, she would sever those connections by imperial decree. Their founders thus no longer had any claim on additional taxes... nor any obligation to assist them with internal matters. And, of course, they'd still need to pay imperial taxes. (The fact that they would thus also be entitled to imperial assistance and protection went unspoken - a juicy carrot dangling from the tip of a big, pointy stick.)

It pained her to put it so ruthlessly, to act as if the whole thing had been part of some 'plan'. But what choice did she have? Just like giving them their independence right after they had launched an outright, armed rebellion against her would send entirely the wrong message to the rest of her Empire - including the bits she couldn't afford to lose - so this line would serve to dull any lingering anti-imperial sentiments that remained on her home continent. To the uninitiated who didn't understand how well-meaning treaties could have unintended consequences, or the implications of a six-week communications-loop, the recent events would look less like the bloody, unnecessary mess it was, and more like a strict mother coolly slapping down a selfish child before it can even really get started on its temper-tantrum.

This letter would be disseminated across the rebellious colonies, making it clear that their bid for independence had failed, but that she wasn't going to hold a grudge. In essence, she'd be loudly assuming that they had no interest in fighting her further, and why would they? After all, she was removing the very root of their original complaints - the taxes collected by their founders across the sea - so they were hardly in a position to complain anymore! Meanwhile, another somewhat more direct letter was addressed to Parakemnon, the Centaur Chieftain and soon-to-be King, who would no doubt be leading his soldiers in the field if they were still mobilized. He wasn't great at reading, but at least he did know how to read, unlike the Sirrush - so he'd be able to pass her word on to them, as well. In that letter, she politely thanked them for acting on their alliance and assisting her people... while also making it clear that she'd prefer it if they didn't 'help' any further. In fact, it would be nice if they all just... went home, right about now. She'd take it from here.

Of course, it'd take another three weeks for those letters to reach their destination, assuming favorable winds. This communications-loop rankled her. There had to be a faster way! She had been making great strides with her flying beasts of late, but something capable of crossing the Great Current on the wing... reliably, and without her direct control? Not yet. So this issue was foremost on her mind when, after sending off the two letters, she called a general meeting of her advisers... that was, her Harem. They gathered in the Seraglio's central park, which springtime had made pleasant again, out of necessity - with the newly-swelled numbers, none of the individual rooms had enough space for everyone anymore, at least not without being severely cramped. She had mentioned this 'minor issue' to the Palace Architect, who had promptly altered his designs and redirected several hundred workmen. Whatever had been planned to be east of her Seraglio, there was now going to be a nicely-appointed round-table meeting-room there, once they got around to building it. Until then, meetings under the blue sky it was.

Her new Sirrush Consort, Slira, was quick to confirm her and Korlin's estimation of how the Sharptooth Tribes would have responded to a call to arms - and how any confrontation between the assembled Tribes and a poorly-trained mob of humans would've turned out. She was even able to share a few additional nuggets about how effective the smaller Tribes were at bringing down even significantly larger prey through speed and teamwork - as it turned out, there even was a small Tribe whose members were capable of spitting a nasty, corrosive poison with great accuracy. They usually used it to blind their prey so that their fellows could overwhelm and devour it on the spot. A cheery thought, when applied to some half-trained colonial militiaman... but Sayn was determined not to let her mood darken to the point where she was paralyzed again. Action! Action was needed, to take as much of the edge off these events as possible, and prevent future repeats.

A severe look from Orichaniel, her almost-as-new Flower-Dragon Consort, silenced Slira before she could continue her explanation of her various fellow tribes' impressive natural arsenal. She looked a mite shamefaced at the wordless rebuke - the idea that not everyone shared her predatory inclinations was something she was still adjusting it. She was working out swell otherwise, though - thanks to the small, rainbow-colored crystal-fragment hanging on a string around her slender neck (containing a copy of the complex Translator-enchantment, courtesy of the Heart of the Mountain), she was able to speak and understand the Divine Tongue, and she'd been rapidly learning both the written language and the numbers. It was very much starting from scratch in terms of schooling, but while the Sirrush apparently lacked any capacity for creativity and technological advancement, they certainly had no trouble learning- and quickly at that. Slira was catching up with remarkable speed, and if anything seemed to have a harder time wrapping her head around the rather alien social norms of the Northern Continent. No eating people, AND no sex in the middle of the streets? What a strange place indeed!

Sayn shot the slender Swift-Claw a smile, to show her that she wasn't holding her... enthusiasm against her. It was worth remembering, after all, that all she'd really expected of Slira was a basic knowledge of the Sharptooth Tribes, and an eagerness for sexual exploration. These had proven abundantly present, but the young Sirrush also turned out to have an infectious energy and a tireless appetite. Just, appetite in general. Meat, sex, learning and information - she took everything she could get and asked for more. Seeing her jump straight from a noisy session with Achidias, to a lengthy study-session, to a meal that seemed somewhat close to her body-weight, was enough to either make you utterly exhausted or fired up to try and match her pace. She hardly ever seemed to sleep.

Normally, she picked her Consorts with more care, but she hadn't really stayed among the Sharptooth Tribes long enough to make any deep acquaintances. So when one of the girls who had provided her with hospitality during the night she spent in the village volunteered to be her Consort, even though that meant leaving her homeland and indeed her home-continent for a strange, foreign world in the north, she took her up on it mainly because she at least kinda knew her. And while she didn't regret her choice, she did rather wonder how much of Slira's willingness to leave the jungle behind came from her desire to travel the world, meet interesting, well-equipped people, and then have sex with them.

In contrast, Orichaniel was proving to be every bit as formidable as she'd expected. He'd wasted no time deciphering her government, and by now probably understood its workings better than she did. His easy charisma and spectacular appearance made him a natural diplomat, and he was quickly making friends and allies throughout the Palace and beyond. The kind of people who'd be handy to know if he ever needed to get some information about something, without letting someone know that he had it... or whatever. Sayn had never had any patience for such intrigue, but Ori seemed to take to it with consummate flair. Already, he was just as effective at working the bureaucracy as Cybra was - but unlike the bitingly sarcastic little construct, he tended to leave those who had danced to his tune in a splendid mood afterwards.

Speaking of Cybra, it was the only member of her inner circle not present for this meeting. At the moment, it was busy digging down through the aforementioned bureaucracy to find out where the issue of the southern colonies' demand for independence had floundered. He'd find the exact desk those petitions had died on, sooner rather than later - and then heads would roll. Possibly literally, should the owner of said desk prove to be less of a well-meaning fool than Korlin had so generously assumed. Still, there was a lot of familiar faces around her - displaying concern, sorrow, uncertainty, thoughtfulness, and many other emotions that she could easily read despite the fact that only one of those faces was human. (That would be Achidias who, after all, could pass for a particularly tall man - if he was standing behind a suitably high fence.)

She put the key issue to them: The communications-loop, and the unsustainable size thereof. It was bad enough just on the home continent, with her empire reaching from the cold, northern wastes to the shores of the Great Current in the south, from the teeming jungles and deep forests of the Beastkin-lands in the west to the mountainous regions along the eastern shores where many of the Griffon-clans and solitary dragons dwelt. Indeed, it had only gotten worse recently, with the addition of an isolated, jungle-choked island south of the Grass Sea's shores to her empire - the first-ever Flower-Dragon Colony on solid land. From what she had heard, the Flower-Dragon settlers were making great headway, carving a new paradise out of an island that few others would willingly visit - but if something did go wrong, like a Thenarian raid too overwhelming for the colony's force of warlike males to handle, it could take days before word reached her. Meaning that such a thing could have already happening, or be happening right now, and she wouldn't know before it was too late to make any difference.

The Griffons had been a godsend, she was quick to mention with a grateful gesture towards K'teshi, who preened noticeably at the compliment. And certainly, if it wasn't for the steadily-growing number of Griffons who had stepped in to work as flying messengers and mail-carriers, the problem would be far more severe than it already was. But needless to say, the Griffons couldn't fly across the Great Current, so the problem remained. There had to be a faster way! She opened the floor for suggestions, and many soon appeared. Lutra, who had become quite the sailor during their trips across the Great Current, made the obvious suggestion - research into faster ships. A narrower hull, a different sail-plan, a lighter construction - there were various ways to make a fast ship faster. Potentially, this could shave days off the round-trip. Furthermore, she also suggested research into_sturdier_ ships, capable of weathering the violent winter-storms with at least a reasonable chance of survival - in order to ensure that the two continents weren't entirely cut off from one another during the stormy winter-months. It would probably never be a particularly good idea to cross the Great Current during the storm-season, but with the right ship-construction, it could at least become possible, in an emergency.

A solid, down-to-earth idea that Sayn wholeheartedly approved of, and fully intended to pursue. After all, even if they found a better way to pass messages and information, passing goods and people would probably always require ships, so it was a worthwhile field of research regardless. Of course, she'd thought of it already herself, and indeed sent messages to the Guild of Shipwrights concerning the matter already - but she saw no reason to tell Lutra that. Besides, the Otterkin did have one twist to add that she hadn't thought of - namely, that some of the amphibious Beastkin-tribes, like her own, might have insights into hull-shapes that humans lacked. Moving swiftly through water was a matter of instinct for them, after all. So it was agreed that Lutra would send word back to her tribe, requesting the assistance of any swift swimmers who had secrets to share.

Aishee, the mermaid, has another, even simpler suggestion. Why send swift courier-ships with merman escort, and not just a merman messenger? An eminently practical and simple idea, which was nonetheless very significant - seeing as the merfolk had, traditionally, refused to serve in such a regard. While the distinction might be difficult for landlubbers to get their heads around, they saw it as 'getting involved in landwalker conflicts', on a whole 'nother level than simply escorting a ship. If Aishee was making that suggestion, though, she undoubtedly had the backing of her father, suggesting that the Merfolk were starting to integrate more smoothly into her empire, setting aside their traditional aloofness (or perhaps rather deepdownness). So she could only thank Aishee eagerly for this offer.

In truth, however, it was more symbolical than anything else - merfolk were fast, but not much faster than the fastest human ships, in good weather. It could, perhaps, cut a bit more off the turn-around than Lutra's suggestion, and certainly do so faster - in fact, Aishee immediately departed through the undersea tunnel in the garden pond to set things into motion, sending a squad of swift Mermen to intercept the already-departed courier-ship and take over its duties, thus potentially getting Sayn's recently-written missives to the Southern Continent a day or two ahead of schedule. And it certainly _would_solve the issue of being cut off entirely during the winter, since the Mermen could swim deep enough that storms were no concern. But the fact remained that, even if such a system had already been implemented, it would've done nothing to prevent the recent massacre. The letter might have arrived a bit earlier, but it would still have been far, far too late.

Other ideas were bounced around. K'teshi himself brought up her recent experiments with flying constructs - any hope there? Not yet, she had to admit - while the insights she'd gleaned from watching the Sirrush fliers on the Southern Continent had provided her with new avenues to explore, and had produced at least one seriously useful new creation, no flier she was currently able to build would be able to reliably handle the rough airs of the Great Current - at least not reliably enough to be used for high-profile communiques.

Achidias, meanwhile, brought up another obvious possibility, directing it at Korlin - what about magic? The Centaurs had never mastered anything more complex than the basic, shamanistic applications of magic, and were somewhat in awe of what some of the other races were capable of. The Kirin, in particular, wielded immense magical power. Didn't they have a solution? Well, yes and no. They did have communication-spells, which allowed them to send word to one another over immense distance, but these spells relied on the Kirins' intrinsic, magical nature. They could not be taught to or used by other beings. And while that did open up a potential solution - Kirin, distributed across the empire, passing messages back and forth - nobody brought it up. Reducing the etheric, mystical Kirin to glorified postmen just seemed entirely too... vulgar. Korlin herself, however, mentioned the option - and then immediately discarded it, regretfully stating that too few of her peers would be willing to leave their mountaintop refuge to make it at all a practical solution.

Then, however, she glanced over at Thielwen. "You've been rather quiet, my dear. Fidgeting, too. Is there something you would like to share with us?" Sayn blinked and focused her own eyes on her Elven Consort. The tall, golden-haired girl in the green dress blended into the springtime garden remarkably well, and when she wasn't indulging her new-found desires or practicing her 'dirty-talk' underneath Achidias or K'teshi (or, more recently, Orichaniel), she was surprisingly easy to overlook. Of course, once you HAD seen her like that, wearing her pure-white corset and the rest of that eminently slutty outfit, it was hard to really see her as the Virginal Elven Princess anymore.

In this case, Sayn also knew that underneath the conservative, skin-concealing green dress, Thielwen was quite naked. At some point during Sayn's trip to the Southern Continent, the lusty elf-maid had made a perverted bargain with Ssinizz, the Lizardkin woman who had acted as Lutra's temporary replacement during that time. She had traded away every shred of underwear she owned, along with a solemn promise not to acquire any more. In return, she had entered Ssinizz' temporary chambers - and staggered out of there a solid week later, apparently at the limits of even her Elven stamina. Whatever 'lessons' she had received during that week, they'd had an obvious impact. Where before, the Elf had been mainly possessed of an abundant, if awkward, enthusiasm (and a surprising taste for certain surprisingly dirty deeds), she now possessed sexual skills easily equaling the more worldly Lutra. Her oral skills in particular had grown, much to Sayn's delight, seeing as the lithe elf seemingly still felt the need to 'repay her' for introducing her to the pleasures of wanton sexuality.

For now, though, she tried to put both that, and her own brief, but highly enjoyable liaison with Ssinizz out of her mind - and instead focused on Thielwen's body-language. Sure enough, it seemed rather reminiscent of a little girl trying her best to be unnoticeable while her parents discussed what had happened to the cookie-jar. "Thielwen?" She asked, adding her own voice to Korlin's. The elf-maiden winced in response. For some reason, she'd always held Sayn in higher respect than Korlin - perhaps ageless, magical beings like the Kirin did not seem so impressive to an ageless, magical elf, while she herself remained an unknown and rather intimidating quantity.

Finally, with a deep breath, Thielwen stopped wringing her hands and straightened up. "Yes, I... may have something. Do you know what an Ansible is?" Sayn didn't, as a matter of fact, but Korlin immediately leaned forwards eagerly, eyes intent. "Of course. A magical device that made the instantaneous transmission of both images and sound possible, even over great distance. Used extensively at the height of the Elven Empire - every major settlement had one. But as far as I know, all of the Ansibles were destroyed during the Elven Civil War or the slave-uprising that followed - and the secret of their creation is considered a Lost Art."

Lost Arts. Even today, the Elves were capable of exceptional feats of craftsmanship and magic, as the Amulet she had carried to the Southern Continent - and, more recently, the set of figurines she'd been gifted - had demonstrated. However, the cataclysmic events surrounding their fall from grace after the end of the Age of Gods had left them greatly diminished - artifacts had been destroyed, great mages and craftsmen had died before passing on their secrets, libraries had been burned... surviving artifacts from that era, like the magical dress she had been gifted by a remarkably generous dragon, were literally invaluable, and for good reason. The best contemporary magic of human artificers could strengthen an ordinary doublet into something like the defensive value of hard leather armor - enough to turn a dagger or an arrow at distance, but little more. The best contemporary _elven_magic could turn that same doublet into something resembling high-quality chainmail, capable of stopping or slowing most attacks. While wearing that millennia-old dress, though, she'd taken a bolt from a military-grade crossbow, designed to shoot through full plate armor, and the tip had failed to even draw blood.

Few (other than the elves) grieved for the loss of their oppressive empire - but sages of every stripe regularly found themselves tearing up at the thought of the sheer breadth and depth of knowledge, technique and skill that had been lost in its fall. Certainly, it came as no surprise that the perfect solution to her problem would be found amongst that body of forgotten knowledge. However... why bring it up at all, if it was_truly_ a Lost Art?

Sure enough, Thielwen hesitantly shook he head. "It is not, entirely. In truth, a single Ansible survived, and has been preserved in the Royal Vaults since the fall. It was little more of a curiosity - a single Ansible, on its own, is rather pointless after all... and it's not like our lands are so expansive that we have need of such a thing anymore, regardless." The final bit carried just a faint twist of age-old bitterness - the lingering memories of someone who had, thousands of years ago, watched an empire crumble and devour itself, reduced to a handful of well-hidden villages deep in the woods.

"However, since the formation of your empire a few years ago, the best remaining Elven Mages and Artificers have been studying it, seeking to unravel its mysteries - and, ultimately, duplicate it." Thielwen's voice grew firmer as she spoke, even as Korlin whistled quietly. "And they're making headway?" She asked. The elf-maid nodded, a smile finally appearing on her severe face. "Excellent headway. Enough that it has prompted discussion in the Conclave about the validity of attempting the same process on other surviving artifacts, once this project is over. As of the latest missive I have received from home, they are in the process of building a new Ansible as we speak - the first to grace this world since the fall of the old empire."

The thorny problem that had brought them together seemed to be unraveling before her eyes, but an obvious question remained. "So... why were you so cagey about mentioning that?" Thielwen fidgeted again. "Well... for starters, I had been ordered not to make any mention of it until the prototype had been completed, tested, and proven functional. It would be a terrible humiliation if we offered something that we could not, in fact, deliver. But under the circumstances, I thought you would want to know of it, even if it is not a sure thing yet."

Sayn nodded. Perfectly understandable. She knew from experience the pain of having made a promise, and only afterwards finding out that delivering on it would be more complicated than she'd anticipated. However, Thielwen had said 'for starters'. "...and?" More fidgeting and another deep breath, while the rest of the Consorts watched the unfolding drama eagerly. She was starting to halfway expect an enterprising merchant to suddenly appear just so he could start selling sweet-rolls and cold drinks to the rapt audience. "Well. They're not going to offer a gift as potent as the Ansibles for free. And it would be my role to convey their terms to you - something I have been dreading."

She just about knew what had to be coming. Indeed, she'd been wondering why the Elves had been maintaining such a relatively light touch, politically speaking - she had hoped that they were simply displaying the patience of an ageless race, but it seemed they'd just been waiting until they had a powerful, political trump-card in their hand. "Well, let's hear it. Don't bother with any flowery stuff, regardless of what those missives said. You know me better than that." Thielwen flinched again, even though she presumably knew that the bite in Sayn's tone wasn't directed at her personally. Well, it was directed at the Elves in general, and that was probably bad enough.

"They... want your word. That you will do everything you can to solve the problem of our... sterility. The same word you gave to the Centaurs, for_their_ aid." Sayn nodded. As expected, more or less. Presumably, those flowery turns she'd just asked to be spared had included an initial demand for an outright solution, meant to be negotiated down to a best-effort promise. With a sigh, she leaned back in her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose. The fact that she had somehow managed to save the Centaurs from the folly of their creator, altering their birth-rates permanently to bring more mares and fewer stallions into the world, had created numerous, wide-ranging consequences. Including the fact that many of the Elves apparently saw it as proof that she could help them, too, if she only bothered to really try.

Well, maybe they were right. In truth, while she had made inquiries, she hadn't been very thorough with them. The issue of the elves' sterility just seemed so much more esoteric and complicated than the Centaurs' painfully-obvious gender-imbalance, and had already been chewed over by countless brilliant minds - Elves, humans, and even Kirin had taken a shot at it, and failed to find any solution, or even a definitive answer to what the problem was in the first place. Of course... she DID have one possible resource to draw on, that didn't figure on that list. It was a place to start, at least.

Finally, she nodded. "Very well. As with the Centaurs, I can give no guarantees. Only my promise that I will do everything I can to find a solution. But let me be clear, here: I expect the Ansibles, if they work, as repayment for that promise..." In other words, even if she failed to do anything, they'd still have to cough up the artifacts, and thus provide a convenient solution for her present headache. "...and if I actually do manage to find a solution, there will be an additional charge: Their full entry into my Empire." This made Thielwen, who had been nodding at the first part (suggesting that her family back home had anticipated such a demand), flinch in a way that somehow seemed less personal and more political than usual.

And no wonder. The political status of the Elven Nations was, after all, a bit of a sore spot. Despite the fact that they had a representative in her Seraglio, they weren't actually subjects of hers, as such. Rather, they were allies, bound to her empire by a selection of elegantly-crafted treaties that secured them the protection of her might and authority without surrendering any of their own. Well, if she was going to give the Elves back their ability to breed, and thus make their numbers swell again... they'd be her responsibility, one way or another.

Thielwen, far more than any of her brethren back home, understood the way Sayn thought. And so, swallowing nervously, she nodded. "I understand. My King will not be happy, to say the least. But if you bring us a solution, a cure for this slow decline... the Elves will bow to you. That is _my_promise." Sayn's eyes widened as she parsed the implications of that statement. What Thielwen had just done was to implicitly guarantee the loyalty of the Elven Nations, should they be freed of their sterility - even if it meant launching a palace coup against her older brother and replacing him on the throne, either personally or with one of her other, more agreeable, siblings. It seemed like the past couple of years, spent in the Empire's political center, surrounded by the representatives of all the other races, had taught her a lot more than just some really impressive sex-moves. There was little left of the frightened girl who had first walked into her Seraglio back then, trying to hide her uncertainty behind a haughty facade...

With this dramatic conclusion, the meeting broke up - with a general agreement that Aishee and Lutra's suggestions would suffice for now, to be superseded by the Elven Ansibles when and if they could be delivered. Thielwen returned to her chambers to write a lengthy letter to her family, explaining what she had done, why she had done it, and what the price would be - a duty she probably didn't relish. And Sayn, well, she prepared for a journey. Which, for an Empress, meant getting a lot of paperwork done and talking to a lot of people to make sure everything would continue to run smoothly in her absence - such were the unfortunate consequences of wielding absolute power over a whole continent and then some. Of course, Cybra and Korlin would remain in the Palace during her absence, keeping the wheels turning and, if necessary, making the decisions they knew she would've made herself if she was around. Between them, the two probably knew her better than she knew herself, without shadow of hyperbole.

Eventually, though, she could get down to the actually interesting part of the preparations - packing her bags and preparing her conveyance. She was rather excited for that last part, in particular. So far, she'd only tested her newest creation on short flights around the Palace, and mostly at night in order to prevent causing a disruption in the nearby town. This would be her first long trip on her Great Winged Beast. The vast construct, loosely based on the equally-immense flying Sirrush she had observed on the Southern Continent, was fully capable of taking to the air while carrying her own weight and a reasonable amount of luggage - though, admittedly, not much more than that. With time, she'd build more of them - with a small flock, she could take her friends along on grand trips through the skies...

Well, of course, not ALL of her friends needed such constructs to fly. In fact, K'teshi had been a bit hurt when he'd first seen her new creation, commenting that if she needed wings, he was always happy to provide them. She'd had to quickly reassure him that she certainly appreciated him occasionally lending his back, but that she simply didn't want to inconvenience him more than necessary. Of all her Consorts, he was probably the most active, thanks to the rapid development of Griffon society these days. Their flying-skills were simply too useful - there were a hundred and one uses for them - and by the same token, their lack of proper hands left them interested in importing a broad variety of human-made goods. New treaties and trade-deals were springing up constantly, leading to a constant flow of new goods entering the Griffon-lands - even as more and more of the once-aloof creatures took work that brought them into close contact with the 'ground-walkers' they'd traditionally looked down upon.

All these new treaties and deals had to be carried back and forth, seen and signed. And the sheer inaccessibility of the Great Aviary meant that doing so required either a particularly skilled and courageous mountain-climber, or - far quicker - a Griffon. So K'teshi flew back and forth between the Palace and the Great Aviary on a depressingly regular basis. When he did have time to spend in the Seraglio, it was obvious that he needed a nice, pleasant ride on top of one of the many eager females populating it by now - not a request to go flying again. K'teshi accepted her consideration gracefully, though he of course also assured her that, regardless of other duties, she was always his first priority. If she needed a lift, she needed only ask!

She was quite happy he'd left it at that, since she didn't really want to tell him that flying on his back just wasn't particularly comfortable - especially not over any significant distance. Mostly because the obvious solution would be a saddle and bridle... and she couldn't do that to the proud young Griffon. (Besides, considering their frequent, sexual liaisons, saddling him up like that would have had some... strange, kinky undertones that she wasn't quite sure what to feel about.) Regardless, her Great Winged Beast had been designed from the ground up to carry her in safety and comfort, over great distances if need be - and putting it through its paces at last was something she was looking forwards to, almost as much as the thought of seeing an 'old friend' again...

A few days later, her construct neatly folded its wings as it landed at the mouth of Aterxeus' cave, narrowly avoiding scraping its wingtips against the basalt, and Sayn breathed a sigh of relief. She'd been MOSTLY sure it could pull it off, but... well, clearly she needed to have more faith in her creations! She guided the spindly beast deeper inside, where it would be safe from any errant magma-stream that might pass by, courtesy of the still-active volcano. She, herself, was feeling neither the oppressive heat of the lava, nor the biting chill of the arctic air she'd been flying through so far, thanks to the elegant, royal-purple, heavily-enchanted dress she wore. (She figured it could only help to show him how much she appreciated his gift.) And compared to the last time she came here, the journey had been an order of magnitude faster and easier. Well, it helped a lot that she knew exactly where to go, but mostly it was just the fact that she'd gone in a straight line instead of having to use mountain-passes and meandering roads.

Leaving the flying construct folded neatly inside the entrance, she took a deep breath and tried to prepare herself for the coming meeting. She had little doubt that she'd be welcomed. For whatever reason, Aterxeus seemed to have taken a liking for her, and had showered her with priceless gifts to a downright undraconic degree. Of course, his 'liking' for her largely expressed itself in the form of near-omniscient voyeurism and occasionally turning her into his panting, mindless sex-slave for a week or so. Well, just once, really, but it had been a very memorable occasion.

More importantly, it was he who had, with almost insulting casualness, solved the issue of the Centaurs' gender-imbalance - which literally no-one else had been able to help her with. Not the Elves, not the Kirin, and certainly not humanity's short-lived mages. As a Black Dragon, he was exploring realms of magic reserved for the gods themselves, toying with forces no other kind of being could reach for. The God of Mystery, perhaps deliberately and perhaps incautiously, had simply not set nearly as stringent restrictions on his creations, the Dragons, as most of the other gods. So, at the very least, he was an obvious place to start her quest to restore the Elves' lost fertility.

She walked through the basalt tunnel, shuddering with resurgent memories. There was the detection-spell instantly that recognized her, opening the seemingly-blank wall and letting her into his home proper. There, the great library with its ancient, priceless tomes locked behind shimmering curtains of magic - mere curiosities and collector's objects for a being who had long-since transcended any magic ever written down. Beyond... a room she could see just by closing her eyes. His true den, with the pile of golden treasure that she had spent endless hours polishing. The toilet-hole leading into the volcano's molten heart where she had eased her groaning stomach after having load after load of his hot cum pumped up her ass. And... the great, black beast lounging on top of the treasure, whose will alone seemed to grab her by the neck and pull her to her knees. Well, when he wasn't using an enchanted slave-collar to do the same.

Her breathing grew ragged as she sought to push the memories of that incredibly intense week in Aterxeus' 'tender care' aside, and focus on what was right in front of her eyes. The cave, yes, looked unchanged. Indeed, Aterxeus himself was posed in the same way he'd been when she first laid eyes on him - lounging casually on his bed of treasure, watching the faintly-shimmering scrying-orb hovering over one of his claws rather than paying attention to his guest. Forcing aside the familiar awe at the presence of such a magnificent beast, and the resulting surges of submissive desire, she waved up at him and said, with a carefully-casual tone. "Hey, Aterxeus! See anything you like?"

The great, black beast's reptilian eyes shifted from the orb to her, and he chuckled. "Always, my dear Beastmaker. I wouldn't be watching otherwise." With a flick of the wrist, he sent the orb soaring away to settle in its armature, and lowered his head to look at her more directly. "That dress really does suit you as well as I had thought..." he said, making her instantly blush. "And I know it has served you well! Good thing I gave it to you, or the world would be a lot less interesting by now." This turned the blush into a chill - she knew what he was referring to, the assassination-attempt foiled by that very dress. Had he somehow predicted this eventuality when he gifted her the priceless artifact? She knew that his research into Forbidden Magics had netted him near-omniscience in terms of scrying-ability, but could he also see the future?

No, probably not, she decided - if he could, he wouldn't find it nearly so interesting to watch the world... or her. So she simply forced a smile. "Yes, and I remain most grateful for such a splendid gift. Nonetheless, I fear I have come seeking yet another favor of you - as you no doubt already know." She glanced over at the now-dead scrying-orb with a lifted eyebrow, and he chuckled. "As it happens, I do know - but do keep in mind, I'm not always watching you. It is a... hobby, after all, nothing more, and my research occupies most of my hours. Not that taking the occasional vacation from it is such a bad thing, of course."

Heat grew in her cheeks - and between her legs - as he so subtly mentioned the week they had shared. Certainly, she felt sure that he hadn't gotten much 'research' done during that time. "Right. Well. Can you help me with this too?" she asked, somewhat lamely, feeling her fragile equilibrium shake under a renewed assault of lurid memories. Aterxeus shrugged, and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hrm. Yes and no. I fear I cannot simply hand you a solution on a silver platter, as I did when you came to me about the Centaur-issue. But I do know a thing or two about the Elves' plight that you would be hard-pressed to hear anywhere else. Such as, the reason they became sterile when their goddess disappeared along with all the rest."

This made Sayn's mind focus anew. Depressing though it was that even a being of Aterxeus colossal insight and magical power didn't have a ready-made solution, just finding out what the actual problem was would put her well ahead of everyone else who had sought to solve this issue. Then, at least, she'd have a solid starting-point. "Indeed?" she said breathlessly "I would be very interested to hear that." Aterxeus chuckled again, and lowered his head to the point where it was level with her - making her skin tingle with the touch of his breath. "I am sure you would. But we dragon hoard secrets as surely as gold, and are not easily parted from either. What do you suppose you could give me in return for such precious knowledge?"

She'd known it would come to this. That was why she'd worn no underwear, heading in. She could feel drops of warm pussy-juice running down her inner thighs, a clear sign that no matter how her mind struggled, her body just hungered to feel his touch again. And her mind, frankly, was rather divided too - a part of her did, after all, love to submit. And there was no submission more complete, more total, more... pleasurable, than to a dragon. She'd experienced many other things, before, after and between her draconic dalliances - and of all of them, only the sensation of being enfolded in Korlin's unconditional love stood higher in her esteem.

"Well... what would you like? I'm sure we could come to a... reasonable arrangement..." she finally managed to stammer out, her best attempts to stay professional disintegrating on their way out her mouth. Aterxeus' smile was very wide. "Oh, I'm sure we can. I have, after all, been watching you... on and off. Got a few new ideas from it. New... things to try..." Then suddenly, he lifted his head and yawned, rolling his eyes. "Oh, enough of this silly dance. Take off that pretty dress and surrender your body and soul to me again. Once I've had my fun, I'll tell you what I can."

She barely remembered tearing off the priceless, ancient dress, leaving it piled on the floor like a discarded rag. She only remembered the feeling of five familiar, metallic rings closing around her wrists, ankles and neck, a magical glow suffusing her body... and being on her hands and knees, naked, on the treasure-strewn floor as her Master's huge, magnificent body loomed over her. And she very clearly remembered feeling a cock too big, too enormous, for her body to possibly contain, invade first her pussy and then her ass with bone-shaking force. Perhaps the unbroken string of orgasms that resulted helped bind the event to her memory.

Afterwards, in a near-dreamlike state, she found her old cleaning-tools somehow ready at hand, so that she could carry out her usual post-coital duties - washing down the Master's groin, cleaning the detritus of her body off his huge shaft. She hesitated, then, for a second - then she heard his voice, sounding amused. "Oh, just go ahead. You know you want to." And she did. Eagerly, she buried her head at the base of his tail, cleaning his tail-hole not with a washcloth but with her lips and tongue. The intense, masculine musk was just as intoxicating as she remembered. The feeling of utter submission and depravity... just as delicious.

More importantly, the Master clearly enjoyed her ministrations, and his cock hardened anew. "Ah, you never disappoint..." he said, sending a warm glow of submissive delight through her body. "Time, then, to try one of those new things I was talking about!" Standing up to his full height, he began to speak arcane words in a deep, sonorous voice, drawing sigils in the air with his claws. Several things began to glow, including the scrying-orb. Then, there was a bright, blinding flash, forcing her eyes closed.

When she opened them, she wasn't in Aterxeus' cave anymore. Her new surroundings were not, however, unfamiliar - it was the Senate-hall in her unfinished Palace, where she regularly held court with the various nobles, diplomats and political animals who made up her central government. There even was a throne, there, for her - albeit a slightly less grand one than in her main throne-room. It was centrally placed, with the Senators seated in the style of an amphitheater around it, so as to remind everyone that she was the beating heart of the Empire.

Her throne also appeared to be the only seat currently left unoccupied. Every last seat on the tiers above was filled, which was a rare event indeed. Familiar faces could be seen on every level - dour, bearded old men, ambitious up-and-comers, keen-eyed operators looking for advantage... all sitting there, chatting and whispering, and looking down at her. Which wasn't really surprising, since she was naked, wearing a slave-collar and manacles, and bore large cum-stains on her groin and thighs.

"Well?" whispered the Master's voice in her ear. "Don't keep them waiting. Give them a proper show!" Looking around in confusion to try and see where the voice had come from - there wasn't a great number of places in the Senate-hall where a fully-grown dragon could hide - she suddenly noticed that an unfamiliar table had been placed next to her throne. Piled on top of it was a wide selection of exotic toys - dildos of every stripe. Specifically, she suddenly realized, dildos shaped after the equipment of just about every male she'd ever had sex with, save the dragons. From a mundane human-type cock, past the knotted equipment of canine Beastkin and Griffons, to towers of equine virility and reptilian brutality. All in their natural size, of course, and with realistic coloration.

The whispers from the gallery grew more intense. Above her, Senators were turning to pass messages to their neighbors behind their hands, glancing down on her all the while. Don't keep them waiting, her Master had said... and it seemed increasingly obvious what kind of show they were expecting. Shivering under their steely gazes, she climbed naked onto her throne, feeling the soft pillow stick to her cum-stained ass. Leaning back, she pulled her feet up on the seat as well, and parted her thighs - exposing her freshly-fucked pussy for them all to see. The feeling of their attention resting heavily on her body made her fumble as she reached for the table on her right, but she managed to grab one of the dildos - a long, floppy thing with a flat, slanted head that she realized had to belong to Wolayn, the massive Gatorkin who'd taken her body with such muscular vigor, oh so long ago. She started working it into her pussy, shivering as the ragged edges of the head scratched across her insides. The din above died out, and several Senators were now nodding approvingly. Others appeared to be taking notes.

One by one, she worked her way through the huge pile of toys that, essentially, represented the sum total of her sexual experience... with males, at least. She alternately rammed them up her pussy and ass, working her way to at least one climax on each, while her audience nodded and rumbled with approval every time a burst of orgasmic juices sprayed from he gaping and/or well-stuffed cunt. Once she got to the bigger ones, she simply threw the pillow aside and set them down on the throne's hard seat, so that she could impale herself on them.

This, of course, included the massive columns that had been gleaned from her recent experiences on the Southern Continent. The biggest of the lot - at least in terms of sheer mass - was one the tentatively identified as representing a Spineback... that immense, crocodile-faced monster. She groaned eagerly, momentarily caught in the memory of that day, as she sank her ass down over the long, thick shaft... only to find herself stopping several inches before the base. Assuming this was a true-to-life copy, the huge Sirrush back then had apparently never managed to reach full penetration on her. The thick, fleshy head was pushing as deep as it would go, bending with her intestine, and in a fit of pique she lifted her feet from the throne's seat, keeping her balance with her hands on the armrests but leaving virtually her entire body-weight to bear down on the oversized toy. It felt somewhat reminiscent of the way she'd been pounded back then, she thought - but only a somewhat.

Once she'd reacquainted herself with all the different dicks, she started picking out favorites to combine for a spot of double penetration, filling her pussy and ass simultaneously and moaning as they rubbed against each other inside her. A fierce orgasm rolled over her as she felt a Centaur's equine cock push past the bulging knot of a Griffon's exotic equipment - a combination she'd oft dreamed about, but never been able to accomplish due to the logistics of fitting two large, quadruped bodies together like that with her in the middle. But now she could finally feel what it would be like to have Achidias long, thick tool plunder her ass while K'teshi filled her pussy, locked into place behind her lust-swollen labia. Then, almost as an afterthought, she replaced the two toys with another set - representing Parakemnon's significantly-bigger Centaur-cock, and the most uncomfortably well-equipped of the Giffon Pinions she had seduced during her first trip to the Grand Aviary. Her hip-bones strained under their combined mass while she shuddered orgasmicly on top of the impaling pair.

Finally, panting after the countless, ecstatic climaxes she'd inflicted upon herself, she threw the last set of toys aside and leaned back in her throne, legs still pulled back to expose her now widely-gaping orifices to the Senate. There was a round of polite applause. Then, a shadow loomed over her, and her eyes blinked open to see her Master look down on her with lust in his eyes. He was a bit smaller than usual - had to be, really, to fit in the Senate-hall without knocking over a few pillars and flattening half the seating - but of course, his overwhelming presence was undiminished. "Time for the curtain-call, my dear..." he hissed, and she felt her overworked holes flex with desire.

His claws reached down and touched her slave-collar. "You won't need that. Not this time. I want you to feel it all." With his words, the collar fell away, along with the manacles - the electrum bands making a clear, tinkling sound as they bounced on the marble floor beneath her throne. Her pussy instinctively contracted. Those bands contained, among other things, the enchantments that somehow allowed her body to handle the Master's full-sized cock. He'd shrunk himself, yes, but... not THAT much. She remembered, indistinctly, another dragon... Praxinus... when he had tested the limits of her body, he had been pony-sized or maybe a bit bigger. Aterxeus, whom she knew was just as well-hung, was currently larger than a draft horse. And judging by the way his cock, in all its brutal simplicity, was beating against his belly - he was fiercely aroused.

Whimpering, she moved herself around to drape over one of the armrests - about the right height, from what she could judge. Aterxeus hungrily covered her body with his own, grasping the throne's tall back with one claw to steady himself while he guided his huge cock towards her pussy. The Senate watched and waited, mumbling and nodding. She panted rapidly as she felt his cockhead part her labia - so big, so thick, more like a leg than an arm. Then it was brutally rammed into her, driving the breath from her lungs.

He pounded her with such uncaring fierceness that she thought for sure she could feel her body break under the sheer brutality of the assault. Every inch of her pussy strained around the improbably-thick shaft, while her womb was battered by the blunt head. All of the dragons' earth-shaking might seemed to be pouring into her fragile self, making tears roll down her face as she gasped for breath. And somehow, she knew that it was only just beginning.

A slow applause began to build as the Senators watched their Empress get fucked almost literally to pieces by the towering, black-scaled dragon. When he came, filling her womb with dangerous, tissue-straining amounts of burning-hot cum, it rose louder and more eager. It reached a crescendo when he pulled out, revealing a no-doubt permanently ruined, torn-open hole to them, cum slowly oozing from it. She gasped for air, clutching the opposite armrest, digging her fingers into it.

When the Master pushed his punishing cock into her well-worn asshole, the applause became spotty and mixed with cheers and shouts of encouragement. She wasn't sure if they were cheering for her, or for the mighty dragon to tear her apart with his rampaging rod. She couldn't make sense of the words - she could barely make sense of the sensations rushing through her body, as the impossibly-wide shaft stretched her sphincter and ass beyond anything she had ever experienced before. Pain and fear coursed through her, of course... but somehow, with the dominant mass of her Master's body looming over her, it all seemed to just get rolled up in a ball with the shocking bursts of pleasure that were rocketing through her - as if the over-strained nerves of her nether orifices were trying desperately to make the most of this pillaging of her holes, before they were irreversibly destroyed. With one hole wrecked and the other soon to follow, she came - repeatedly and copiously.

Her ass got just as brutal a treatment as her pussy, sure enough - but deeper, of course. She felt him push inside her, reach the curve at the bottom of her ass - and then just keep pushing, with all his massive strength. Painfully, her insides rearranged themselves until her intestines had been suitably straightened, leaving his scaly groin resting against her ass and his cockhead nestled somewhere in her lower chest. There was thus nothing metaphorical about the way the air was forced from her lungs when he started thrusting again, smashing his hips into hers with violent intensity.

At last, after what seemed like an eternity of struggling to breathe as her body was violated on a level she had never thought possible before, a fresh flood of hot dragon-cum boiled into her tormented intestines, stretching and twisting them. She felt her asshole gape impossibly wide as he pulled out - surely a ruined, torn-open crater by now. Cum leaked from it to mingle with what was still oozing from her equally-wrecked pussy beneath.

She had no energy with which to move. She just lay there, feeling the waves of impossible sensation radiating from her throbbing groin. The shadow shifted, and now the Master was in front of her, his huge cock hanging right there - caked with cum, blood and ass-slime. "Now... for the final trick... lick it clean." His voice was clear and impossible to ignore. A hush had fallen over the Senate. She struggled to raise her head, nose wrinkling at the smell of it. It seemed... revolting, but... her body was ruined, broken. If she could not serve her Master with her mouth, now, what was she good for?

She pushed her head forwards, towards the slimy tip of his cock, opening her mouth to begin her work. But something made her pause - a sense of disgust that was for something far deeper than just the smell of shit, or the thought of feeling the warmth of her own ass on her tongue. Her jaw shuddered, and then clicked shut. Through clenched teeth, a single word crept out. "...no."

The Master looked down on her, kinking his head. He grinned. "Fair enough!" Then he snapped his claws, and in a flash, the world was different. She was back in the cave, draped over an old, golden throne she well remembered from her first visit there. She was still wearing the magical slave-collar and manacles. The pain-mixed pleasure that had pervaded her pussy and ass alike was fading rapidly, while the rest of her body recovered even faster. There still was a large, dirty cock in front of her, but it had no bloodstains.

"Do it the usual way, then..." its owner said casually, one claw pointing to a bucket and washcloth standing nearby, but a burning anger was welling up inside her, pushing back against the oppressive weight of Aterxeus' will. "Do it yourself." She said, through clenched teeth, as she pushed herself off the throne and stretched her body. It still ached, but only in the way it tended to if she'd spent an hour or two in a less-than-ergonomic position. The looming dragon - who had, it seemed, returned to his normal size by now... assuming he had ever really shrunk - did not seem to take offense. Instead, he laughed. "Such fierce will! Truly, the spirit of an Empress. Who am I to refuse such an emphatic order?"

He did a quick gesture with one claw, causing a ring of light to appear at the edge of his sheath and move up to the tip, where it disappeared. It left his tool utterly spotless, and it swiftly started shrinking back into its sheath. Hardly surprising, she thought - it was not as if the ancient dragon had ever actually needed a maid, for anything other than entertainment. He was still looking down at her with amusement in his eyes, too, and the fierce glare she was throwing back gradually softened as her mind began to catch up on recent events. It had all been an illusion, obviously - albeit an almost inconceivably complex and thorough one, as befitted the legendary magical skills of a black dragon. The Senate, the toys, the removal of the rings, the ruination of her body... all just an illusion. Well, it wasn't as if she hadn't known that, on some level, _during._It had simply been a matter of willing suspension of disbelief, in order to indulge in such a hilariously perverted scene as masturbating with a selection of nonhuman dildos in front of the entire, assembled Senate.

But still... "You went too far." She was still speaking through clenched teeth, her jaw shaking with tension. Aterxeus just shrugged. "Well, obviously. That was rather the point of the exercise." She blinked, feeling the tension begin to leave her as she tried to wrap her still-confused mind around the dragon's meaning. "...what are you talking about?" Aterxeus sighed and rolled his eyes, before explaining in the overly-patient tones of a teacher addressing a beloved, but sometimes slow-witted student.

"We dragons have a way of extending our will to lesser beings. A sense of overwhelming presence. I'm sure you've noticed, yes?" Despite the rather insulting tone, she automatically nodded. She certainly had. "Well, not everyone is equally affected by it. Some seem to find it difficult to enter the presence of a dragon without falling to their knees in worship. Others can mostly ignore it unless a powerful dragon turns his will directly on them. You always seemed to be heavily affected... but I realized, a while ago, that the keyword there is... 'seemed'. You bend like a reed before the might of a dragon's will, not because you must but because you _want_to. You desire that sense of domination, surrender... so you let it take you."

A fang-filled smile cracked his reptilian face again. "Now, if I'd just told_you that, you'd probably have nodded and gone along with it without really believing it. But now you know - don't you? Even when the will of a Black Dragon is resting directly on your neck, you still have the power to say 'no' - if you _want to." She nodded numbly. His presence and will, in that illusory Senate-hall, had been unrelenting. There had been no room for questions, disagreement, dissent. His voice carried the expectation of immediate obedience. And yet... somehow... when that deep revulsion had risen in the back of her throat, she'd still said that magic word.

"It's really quite impressive!" He continued, nodding approvingly. "Certainly, no normal human could do so. Resist the casual presence of a dragon, perhaps. The directly-applied will of a younger, less experienced specimen, even. But I have a lot more power than that - enough to drive any man to his knees with a glance! And you shrugged off my will like it was nothing, the moment I tried to push you into something you genuinely didn't want." She was still nodding, herself, mind reeling as she tried to think through the implications. Clearly, the voyeuristic dragon was aware of her particular... hangup, with regard to 'ass-to-mouth' action, and the reason for it. She'd done it voluntarily exactly once in her life, purely to prove to herself that she could. In such a high-stress situation, meanwhile, the request was far too reminiscent of her first such experience... at the hands of the late, unlamented, Lorrack the Black.

"So that was the 'point'? To prove to me that I can do that - ignore a dragon's will - under the right circumstances?" She finally asked. He looked at her for a moment before saying, rather sarcastically. "Well, yes, that IS what I've been SAYING for the last several minutes, isn't it? DO try to keep up, my dear." Then he sighed and went on with his somewhat long-winded explanation. "Look, even if it's because of your half-god status - and yes, I DID hear that you finally got solid confirmation on that count - the point remains that you have the power to resist any attempt to overwhelm your mind... as long as you remember to use it. I pushed you, deliberately, this time. I could just as easily have pulled you into the same pit of submissive ecstasy as last time, and left you there. I doubt you'd ever have broken out of it on your own."

That was uncomfortably true - and it had stuck with her for a while after her last experience in this cave, too. Now that she knew that she COULD push through it if she wanted to... would she have the will to do so, if it came to it? She honestly wasn't sure. Oh, and there also were the additional implication that everything that had gone BEFORE that abortive ass-to-mouth, in the illusion, had been things she actually wanted on some level. Including the bit where her body and orifices were pounded into hamburger-meat.

She wasn't sure if that had been intended to be part of the 'lesson', or just Aterxeus amusing himself... but it certainly made her think, and not JUST because it distracted her from the larger issue - namely, that on some level she apparently still wanted to abandon her headache-inducing Empire and become some suitably-powerful being's loyal fuckpuppy. Thinking on it now, it HAD been strangely pleasurable for such an objectively torturous (if imaginary) experience - the natural extreme of her recent fascination with adding a brush of danger and risk to her sex-life. But having said that, it was not an experience she had any desire to ever relive. If anything, it was making her realize that she needed to be more careful with her body, and avoid the kind of foolish risk-taking she'd been doing in the Southern Continent. A good Healer could repair a lot of damage, but not always perfectly - particularly when it came to something as sensitive as a vagina. And besides, word getting around that she'd needed such attention would just be nightmare on several different levels - from her detractors using it to mock her, to her fanatical adherents taking it as encouragement to go to all-new excesses.

Filing it all way for further consideration on the long flight home, she sighed and nodded. "All right. Consider the lesson learned, and then some. So... are we good? You had your fun?" She could still feel his will bearing down on her, albeit in a casual sort of way. She was still standing naked, and wearing the slave-collar and manacles that would make it laughably easy for him to enforce his will on her in a more direct manner. But somehow, just the new-found knowledge of what she was capable of when the chips were down enabled her to still stand proud, head held high, staring down the towering dragon.

He peered down at her for a moment, then sighed - sounding less exasperated and more discontent, for once. "Yes, I suppose I had my fun. Got to try a few new amusements... the audience was a nice touch, wouldn't you agree?" She would, normally, but she was in no mood to say so now, no matter how naughty his grin. He shook his head. "Perhaps I should've saved the lesson for later... I wouldn't have minded some more time to play with your delicious, pliable self, really. But now, I daresay the mood has been decisively ruined, so I suppose I'd best give you what you came for and let you be on your way. It's not terribly useful information, anyway, so I suppose it's just as well - I'd hate to overcharge you!"

With a curt gesture, he made the collar and manacles fall away once again - for real, this time. Well, presumably for real, she thought sarcastically as she collected and donned her dress, not wanting to show her nakedness to the dragon any longer than she had to. Once you accepted that he could make illusions so lifelike that they were distinguishable from reality only by the ludicrousness of their premise, you almost had to start questioning everything... but that way, madness lay.

She was glad that she'd gotten the dress back on, for all that it clung tightly to her curves. Now that the initial rush of adrenaline had worn off, she was finding it increasingly difficult to ignore Aterxeus' presence, with his tolerant, superior smile... maybe the atmosphere could still be salvaged? No, no, no, she had to keep resisting. She had a job to do, and she needed to do it with as much expedience as possible, not get caught up in her desires. Besides, if she surrendered to him again, he might have another 'lesson' to teach her, she reminded herself - and found it to have a suitably chilly effect on her mood.

Still, she needed to keep in mind that she was here as an Empress, seeking aid for her allies, not angling for the whole... submissive fuckpuppy-deal. So rather than stay standing, and without asking for permission, she seated herself on the golden throne that had played host to more than a couple of naughty games by now, willing herself to ignore the related memories, and just gazing up at Aterxeus - who was looking back with an inscrutable expression. "So..." she said, injecting frosty imperiousness into her voice. "Tell me what you know of the Elves, and their current... 'plight', as you put it."

He bobbed his head, face grave but amusement dancing in his eyes. "By your command, your Imperial Majesty. First, though, we're going to have to go through some background, if you are to understand the magnitude of the problem... you know, I presume that while we dragons can grow to great age, we do eventually die, yes?" She nodded. "I am aware. Only the Elves and the Kirin can live forever, from what I know..." A curt nod. He was slipping into 'patient teacher' mode again. "Well, this may sound like a bit of a side-track, but are you aware of what the Kirin's birthrates look like?"

She thought for a moment. Korlin had certainly mentioned that, at some point, long ago. "Very low, I believe. But still better than nothing." He chuckled, and tipped a clawed hand side-to-side. "Ah. True, in a sense, but not very accurate. The fact is that their birthrate is highly variable. At the moment, yes, it's very low, because the majority of their population is sticking to their impenetrable mountaintop paradise, and only a small number - like your own Korlin - are going abroad in the world to try and actually improve_it. You see... there is exactly 108 Kirin in the world at any one time. No more, no less. A Kirin cannot get pregnant unless another Kirin has recently died - through violence, inevitably, since neither age nor illness affects them, and they lack even the capacity to take their _own lives."

She blinked, leaning forwards in her borrowed throne, eyes intent. "Please, explain." He leaned in himself, the smile on his lips now less naughty or arrogant, and more of a gesture of encouragement for an eager student. "Ah, well, it is actually fairly simple. Immortality is an aberration, basically. This world, by its very nature, is one of cycles. As the sun and the moon rise and set, so does life spring forth, grow, and eventually wither. It is an inevitability. Only the gods themselves, in their nigh-infinite power, were beyond this rule. And this remains true! When Shigami created her chosen, her Kirin, she could not bear the thought of watching them die - so she gave to each of them a Spark of her own divine power, putting them beyond the reach of death. This meant that there could be no more Kirin, without her direct intervention - but because she was a wise and benevolent goddess, and did not wish for her children to be forever dependent on her, she accounted for this. Hence, the Sparks she gave them are... recycled, reincarnated as a new Kirin whenever one manages to die. And so their population stays entirely stable, never dropping for long even in times of trouble, and never growing even at peace."

Sayn nodded again and again, licking her dry lips as she absorbed the information - truths out of the mythical Age of the Gods. How had Aterxeus divined them? She wasn't sure she wanted to know. Korlin had never spoken much to her of the Kirin in general, always preferring to appear to her as a unique individual - as Korlin, her lover - and not as some mystical being out of a storybook. (Though she played that role aptly enough when she had to deal with others, particularly the kind of cynical individual who snorted dismissively at the stories of the Kirin's wondrous powers...)

Aterxeus paused for a moment in his tale, and looked introspectively down on his clawed hands. "That is not too far from the situation where us dragons are concerned, you know..." he said conversationally, and while this, too, sounded like a bit of a side-track relative to the actual purpose of her visit, she had no intention of interrupting him. Dragons were secretive in the extreme, as was to be expected from the creations of the God of Mystery, and the secrets of their own kind, their own nature, was guarded closer than most. But then, Aterxeus had always been uncharacteristically generous, at least around her. "Our birth-rate is frightfully low, you see... females lay large clutches of eggs, but never more than one or two hatch. Often, none at all do. The price for our long lives and great power. This, too, is the nature of our world - balance, in all things. Our numbers ARE growing, unlike the Kirin's, but only slowly. Very, very slowly. While many of my kind will proudly tell you that we stay uninvolved in human affairs because they are beneath us, the truth is that this glacial growth could quickly be reversed if we started throwing ourselves into wars on the regular. Only foolish youngsters, confident in their own immortality and desperate to build a hoard, ever engage in such folly. We, like the Kirin, are powerful... but not unkillable."

True, she thought to herself, but he was rather skating over the fact that they came closer than any other being in the world. The Kirin, whom he so eagerly compared himself to, were powerful, yes - but they had several fatal weaknesses. Age or illness could not harm them, sure, but a well-placed bucket of blood could do the trick just fine! The dragons had no such glaring weakness, and the very idea of 'dragonslaying' was a thing our of myth and legend. Though, now that she thought about it, modern crossbows would probably have far better luck penetrating that sleek, scaly armor than the bows and arrows of yesteryear... never mind what a well-tuned siege-ballista could do... so perhaps he did have a point after all.

Shaking his head, Aterxeus banished the subject and finally got around to the central matter. "Now, the Elves... immortal, yes? But quite capable of having children, and at a fair clip too, back in the day! Their numbers surged, they ruled the world... how do you suppose that worked?" She was tempted to say something along the lines of "Well, I'm sure you're about to tell me..." but in truth, she didn't mind the mental exercise. Keeping her head busy seemed to help keep the seductive qualities of the dragon's presence at bay. "Hmm... based on what you've said so far, Sie'leal must have provided a Divine Spark for each and every one of them, right?" And there, of course, was the answer. She grimaced, even as Aterxeus nodded.

"Exactly. She automated the process - essentially let the Elves themselves slice off another tiny portion of her power every time they got busy. She had power to spare, old Sie'leal... I suspect it was largely just another way for her to show off. But of course... she's not around anymore. And because she wasn't a particularly wise OR benevolent goddess, she very much wanted her children to be dependent on her. The Sparks she gave them returned to her when and if they died - though, I cannot say where they go now that she isn't around to collect them anymore. Either way, every Spark had to come from her, every time."

Sucking in air through her teeth, Sayn nodded. "So... no Sie'leal, no Divine Spark. No Divine Spark, no new Elves." Aterxeus returned the nod. "Succinctly put." She turned this new information over in her head a couple of times, then lifted an eyebrow at him. "And you have no solution in mind? Nothing your mighty, Forbidden Magics can do? I mean, meddling in the gods' domain is basically your signature move..." He flashed her a fang-filled grin in reply. "I'll take that as a compliment, my dear! And no, I can think of no workable solution. For all my studies, I am still only taking blind, shaky steps into a vast world of powers that lie beyond the reach of mortals. Meddling with a Divine Spark directly is orders of magnitude more complex than simply mucking around with the biological nature of a being."

He scratched his chin, then shrugged. "Well, I could probably manage to simply tear the Spark out of a living Elf. Theoretically, that would make him mortal. Theoretically, if I did it to a man and a woman, they could then go ahead and make more, non-immortal, Spark-free Elves between them." She narrowed her eyes, determined not to get her hopes up, knowing full-well that he wouldn't be bringing it up in such an offhanded way it if had any chance of actually working. "Theoretically, huh? And in practice?" Another shrug. "In practice, the Elves are perfectly capable of removing their own Divine Spark. It happens quite automatically, you see, if they trespass on the turf of their jealous goddess..." She grimaced, immediately knowing what he was getting at. She remembered it well from when she had sought the aid of the Elves on her quest to save the Centaurs. The 'Forbidden Magics' were rather viscerally closed to the elves...

"So what you're saying is, if you simply remove the Divine Spark from any Elf alive today, age would instantly catch up to him and reduce him to dust in a matter of minutes?" He sighed, whether out of sympathy with the Elves or out of annoyance at anything being beyond him. "Once again, succinctly put. As you can see, it is quite the thorny issue. The presence of the Divine Spark prevents the Elves from breeding, but if they were removed, they would immediately die." He hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "The only real advise I can give you, honestly, is to seek the counsel of the Kirin. Considering their nature, they may have a deeper understanding of the way the Divine Sparks work than even I do. I doubt they'd be able to DO anything about the problem regardless, but they could have some useful insights."

A wild exhilaration flowed through Sayn, and she had to pointedly resist the urge to hoot and shout out loud just to give voice to it. Being airborne was nothing new for her - she had flown on Griffonback, on a dragon (or, rather, beneath one), and most recently had crossed half the continent in a construct of her own making. But none of it compared to this - a ride out of a fantastic legend. An experience that most would not even dare to dream of. For her, though, it was the third time she had experienced it.

Well, sort of. The first time, she'd been mostly unconscious. And the second time, things had been rather tense, what with her heading towards her dramatic 'resurrection'. But this time, she was able to enjoy it in full - the sensation of riding a Kirin through the air. There were probably those who assumed that, with a Kirin has her official First Consort, she got to ride one around whenever she liked... so to speak. But she'd never dream of asking for such a favor from her beloved Korlin, and never had. This time, as before, Korlin had not so much offered, as simply shifted into her true form and told her to get on.

It really was tremendously different from any other method of flight - there was no wingbeat, nothing blocking her view of the ground, stretched out like a carpet beneath her feet. Someone watching from below might have assumed that it was no different from riding a horse, as long as you didn't look down - but such an assumption would be ignoring the fact that there was nothing of the horse about a Kirin. Rather, their body was that of a deer - sleek, slender and swift. So Korlin did not run or gallop across the sky - she bounded, each leap making butterflies flutter in the pit of Sayn's stomach.

Of course, however much she was enjoying the right, it wasn't exactly a leisure-trip. Nor had Korlin offered her back without good reason. Where they were going, no Griffon or Dragon could fly - and while it remained uncertain whether one of her own, flying constructs could, it would be unbearably rude to actually try. Xangri-Du was not a forbidden land, per se, but the rule for visitors was clear - only those whose worth and value was such that they might arrive upon a Kirin's back were welcome there. The visitor-list, thus, was predictably short - and all upon it were names out of myth and legend, conquerors and emperors, demigods and titans of history... like her. It was still hard for her to think of herself that way - she was too aware of her own shortcomings and all-too-human failings. But the Heart of the Mountain had spoken with authoritative certainly. The blood of the gods flowed in her veins. (Though, exactly WHICH god, and how precisely it had gotten there, remained unanswered questions.)

She knew the stories, of course. Of half-gods and Scions, wielding great powers - and living long lives, assuming they didn't get themselves killed doing something foolish in an effort to gain the recognition of their divine parents. Presumably, this meant that she could look forwards to a lifespan of a couple of centuries at least - which was good news for her empire, seeing as she wasn't likely to squeeze out an heir to the throne anytime soon. She was, after all, sterile herself... as all the half-gods had been, according to the legend. Not that she had any particular desire to have kids, unless perhaps it was with Korlin, and that seemed an even more ridiculous idea - but it was still a bit ironic that she was jumping through so many hoops in the hopes of curing the Elves of an affliction she, herself, was suffering from. (Maybe for the same reason? This 'Divine Spark' deal? It had only just occurred to her, but it made sense.)

Regardless, despite her presumably divine heritage, she felt very much the gawping farm-girl when they landed in Xangri-Du. Everything seemed perfect, every building was a soaring work of art, every tree was in full bloom and dripping with sweet-smelling flower. The mountain-peaks that surrounded this isolated plateau provided a breathtaking backdrop, the their snow-covered sides seeming to shimmer like gold in the sunlight. The temperature was pleasant, balmy like a spring day, neither too hot nor too cold. Truly, it was an earthly paradise, more of a dream made solid than anything else.

She silently followed Korlin, who still remained in her natural shape, along the winding footpaths between flowerbeds and open pavilions suitable for meditation, philosophy, or perhaps the pursuit of art. Over narrow, rippling streams that tinkled like silver bells, via gently-arched, intricately-carved bridges. Past a bush filled with pale-pink flowers which, as she brushed her arm against it, turned out to actually be a swarm of pale-pink butterflies, now whirling into the air around her like a pastel-colored dust-devil.

The sweet air - nowhere near as thin as it should have been, at these kinds of elevations - was intoxicating all by itself, making her feel slightly drunk. She kept a hand on Korlin's flank, reassuring herself of her beloved's solid presence, and once again reminding herself that she was really here, this... unreal place was real indeed, she was _not_actually dreaming. But, oh, it was hard to stay convinced when a simple paper lantern hanging over the path, ready to light it come nightfall, seemed to have more elegance and beauty in it than the fancy, expensive dress she was wearing for the occasion.

They had landed in a park, she perceived, still trying not to be too overwhelmed by the surrounding beauty, and were now moving into the city proper. The soaring buildings all had colorful roofs with upturned corners, from which lanterns and strange, tassel-like decorations hung. It was an architecture unique to this one, ancient place, lacking any peer in the world below. Ah, and now other Kirin began to appear in the street, resplendent with their golden scales and ivory-white hides, though none were as gorgeous as Korlin, she thought.

There were many in human form too, though - though still clearly too androgynously beautiful to actually be human, and with hair in a variety of pastel shades - engaging in various activities that hands were useful for, like drinking tea, sculpting or painting in the many pavilions that dotted the city. Outside of that, though, they appeared to mainly stick to their natural form, standing around in doorways or side-streets and discussing philosophy or ethics or... screwing furiously.

She blinked. The dreamlike gleam seemed a bit less blinding, all of a sudden. She'd heard about it from Korlin before, but she wasn't sure if she'd quite_believed_ it until she saw it with her own eyes. In a side-street, not far from a trio of Kirin who were debating the merits of several different variants of utilitarianism, whatever _that_was, one splendid, golden-scaled Kirin was openly mounting another. And rather than some kind of transcendental act of lovemaking, it sounded and looked exactly like the kind of simple, straightforwards pounding she so enjoyed receiving from her own, mostly four-legged, lovers. The Kirin on the bottom, playing the 'female' role in this case, was certainly moaning and panting in a way that suggested she was enjoying it on a purely visceral level.

She wanted to stay and watch, to see if they actually changed places afterwards like Korlin had said - though, of course, for all she knew this _was_the second round, and they'd already done it the other way around. Either way, Korlin kept moving, and Sayn had to follow along. Now that she was less hypnotized by the etheric beauty of the place and its residents, though, she spotted several other similar events - including a few that were a bit more advanced than just a good ol' mounting.

Yes, just as Korlin had said, it seemed that the Kirin were completely devoted to their philosophy of virtue. If something was enjoyed by all parties involved, then there was nothing sinful or dirty about it, and thus also no particular reason to hide it away. Shape-shifting powers were freely invoked, human forms mixing with their natural, quadruped frames in various configurations - from a currently-male Kirin in human form getting an impressive-sounding blowjob from one in their natural form, to a female human-form being sandwiched between a male human-form and male natural-form and clearly enjoying it wholeheartedly.

And, of course, there also were all the 'dirty, perverted' stuff, including things that made her wince, for all her worldliness and experience. Lots of assholes being massaged by gentle tongue, be they human or natural-form, suggesting it wasn't entirely random that Korlin had pulled out that particular act when seeking to demonstrate the Kirin's attitude towards 'virtue' - indeed, it seemed a popular diversion. So far, so fun - ass-licking still wasn't one of her favorite kinks, but she'd engaged in it a few times, with various creatures. In the corner of a small park, though, she spotted something else that she found it harder to digest.

A Kirin in male, natural form was standing there, while a Kirin in human hermaphrodite form was squatting underneath him, slowly working her cock with one hand while holding her natural-form partner's with the other. A steady, pale-golden stream was emerging from it and splashing into the hermaphrodite's open mouth, where it was eagerly swallowed. She'd_heard_ about such practices - specifically, Lutra had mentioned it one night when they were amusing themselves by swapping naughty stories. She had a remarkable number from back home - most of the Beastkin-tribes were fairly free-spirited, after all. But, she'd never seen it before, and certainly not practiced so... openly. Perhaps she wasn't quite ready for the Kirin's level of philosophical purity, she thought with a wince as she watched a human-female-form Kirin briefly flash her gaping asshole as she turned around between the hind-legs of her male natural-form lover, and started sucking on his cock without trace of hesitation or distaste.

"I did warn you..." Korlin whispered under her breath as she kept walking, making covert glances around at the various lovers. "Little to do but indulge in leisurely pursuits, and centuries in which to get bored with the regular flavors and seek out more variety." Sayn nodded, eyes still jumping around from scene to scene despite the occasional unpleasant sight. There was a humanform female on her back on a stone bench (elaborately carved but clearly also quite sturdy), while a natural-form Kirin pounded her pussy - and was, in turn, pounded by another Kirin who had mounted them from behind. There was no way to tell if the one in the middle was currently playing a hermaphrodite's role, or just a male one. It was probably a pointless distinction, anyway - homosexuality had no meaning for a race who could change genders at the drop of a hat.

Oh, they had advanced rope-bondage too, she thought, and remembered the arts of Mrresi and Lutra from the Beastkin Lands. The Kirin, however, seemed to favor ropes of what looked like woven gold, rather than silk. In this case, a female humanform was hung from the corner of a building's roof like a decoration, suspended in a complex network of interlocking roped that left her legs bend and pulled to the side - and fully exposed her pussy and ass to a succession of both human- and natural-form Kirin who had gathered underneath to stick their tongues up one or the other. Not long after, she saw further proof of their eagerness to use rope, when she spotted a pair of natural-form Kirin trotting down the street - each with a humanform tied to their bellies with equally-intricate ropework. Both were in hermaphroditic form, heavy tits and cocks alike dangling underneath them, with the ropes clearly being tight around both ballsacks and shaft-bases. One key difference between the two, though - only one of them was facing forwards, gagged and blindfolded, her male-form carrier's cock clearly buried in her ass. The other was facing backwards, with a similar-sized shaft making a clear outline one her throat, lips virtually touching the sheath. She thought she heard the two carriers laugh something about a lost bet as they passed by.

"Don't Kirin need to breathe?" she whispered, trying not to stare after the pair too obviously. Korlin did so far more openly, licking her lips. Were all these displays of wanton Kirin sexuality making her _horny?_It was an amusing thought - Korlin normally seemed highly in control of her desires, though obviously unafraid to express them whenever she had occasion for it. "Not up here..." she answered, tearing her eyes away from the three retreating asses (and one retreating, heavily-impaled, head). "The magic of this place sustains us. We don't actually need to eat or drink while we're here, either, though few choose to forgo such basic pleasures."

Then she quirked a golden eyebrow at Sayn. "Now, don't be getting any ideas. My fellows aren't going to hide their amusements away for your sake, but don't expect to join in. This isn't a tribe in the southern jungle - you won't be able to just slip out of your dress, slather on some body-paint, and be treated like a local." She nodded morosely, and walked onward with a sigh until Korlin playfully rubbed her head against her arm. "Oh, don't look so glum. If you're feeling some... pressure, I'll help you release it on the way home, have no fear. Just... hold out until then, please."

This did cheer her up immensely, and she found herself briefly wondering what Korlin might have in mind for the trip home. Maybe... taking a page from the book of that jolly, harness-carrying pair they'd passed earlier? But then, something more significant occurred to her. "Wait... why_couldn't I just join in, actually? By your philosophy, as long as everyone is having a good time, there's nothing wrong with it, right?" This actually made Korling wince slightly, and despite feeling a bit embarrassed that she'd put her lover on the spot like that, she also couldn't help but feel a surge of sudden elation. She'd scored a philosophical point over a _Kirin. Not a lot of people got to do that.

"Well, no philosophy is perfect or covers all eventualities..." she answered, clearly well aware that this was, in a sense, a surrender. "In this case, relationships between Kirin and non-Kirin are considered... special. Treasured. For any other Kirin to do anything with you - and that literally includes any physical contact, even a brush against your hand - would be seen as stepping on my toes... and worse, endangering something rare and precious. Even if we both were to insist that 'it's fine, really', as far as everyone here is concerned, it would be the equivalent of juggling with pieces of priceless art: Even if you are really, really sure that you can keep them in the air, no problem, you still shouldn't do it. In fact, to drag the metaphor even further on, you'd be better off just finding some nice, colorful balls for your juggling-sessions."

Sayn quirked an eyebrow. She'd seen a lot of different attitudes towards interspecies relationships by now. Ignored, don't-ask-don't-tell, socially ostracized, directly persecuted, harshly punished, even 'encouraged, under the right circumstances'. But treating it as some kind of precious jewel to be treasured and protected, that was a new one. She could kind of see the logic, though, once she considered the Kirin's general purpose and philosophical stance. "It's because of that old 'Voice of Compassion' thing, right? As long as I love you, you can strongly influence me in a suitably benevolent direction, so no sense shaking the boat..." she asked, lightheartedly. When she'd first met Korlin, she had been afraid that it was only this aspect - the Kirin's duty to try and improve the world, by attaching themselves to powerful figures as advisers... and lovers - that had drawn such a beautiful creature to boring old Sayn. But such concerns were long in the past - indeed, they had hardly survived their first night together.

Korlin's answer, however, made her ears perk up. "Well, something like that, sure." She knew her beloved quite well, by now, including how she could work around the Kirin's intrinsic inability to lie by couching statements in broad generalities and leaving her answers open to interpretation. This was one of those times. She was tempted to confront her immediately - but on the other side of the coin, she didn't like to take advantage of the Kirin's honest nature. If she was being evasive, the full answer had to be something she was embarrassed about, some aspect of the seemingly-perfect Kirin that she wasn't proud of. No point prodding a sore spot. So she just nodded. "Kind of silly in this case, but... fair enough!" The grateful glance she got in return suggested that Korlin was well aware of what she'd just been thinking.

It didn't take much longer before they reached their apparent goal - and a good thing too, considering the niggling feeling of being a pennyless kid in a candy-store. Though, they'd presumably have to walk the whole way_back_ to the park afterwards, she belatedly realized. It was, apparently, considered 'rude' to take to the skies from anywhere within the city proper. Well, regardless, for now she needed to focus on the business at hand. She was about to meet a group of Kirin sages and philosophers who had gathered specifically to aid and advise her on her quest - the most knowledgeable souls the Kirin had to offer on the subject of the Divine Spark and its various permutations.

It proved marginally less intimidating than she had expected - largely because the meeting-room apparently had been designed specifically for the use of those rare, humanoid visitors. Hence it was equipped with tables and chairs - and as a direct result, all the waiting Kirin had taken on human form. So instead of a roomful of mythical, impossibly-beautiful beings, she was just facing a roomful of androgynous, impossibly-beautiful people with a variety of improbable hair-colors. (By default, a Kirin in human form took its hair-color from its natural form's tail and mane - and those could be all the colors of the rainbow.) They were also wearing clothes (or rather, _manifesting_clothes), unlike many of the human-form Kirin she'd seen on the way - presumably in an effort to make her more comfortable. Well, she thought sarcastically to herself, if I want to try to imagine everyone naked to dispel my nervousness, I certainly got enough examples on the trip here to form a fairly solid mental image!

And so, with a deep breath, she took a seat at the (beautiful, elaborately carved) table, and did the wholly unnecessary introductions. The five Kirin facing her, all great scholars, introduced themselves as Liran, Kulun, Mairin, Seian and Tom. She couldn't help but stare a bit at the last one to introduce himself, and he returned her look with the weary resignation of someone who had answered the same question roughly 105 times. (He and his parents, presumably, already knew the answer.) Feeling diplomatic, she decided not to ask it after all. Well, maybe she'd ask Korlin later - she probably knew how he'd wound up with a name like that.

Before she could regain the initiative, the assembled Kirin launched into an impressive bout of ego-buffing, aimed at her - making sure that she knew how impressed they were with her enlightened and merciful rule, the way she had brought together the disparate species of the continent and broken down the walls that had once separated them, and so on and so forth. When one of them mentioned how impressive it was that she had even convinced so many of her people to put aside their traditional hatred of the Elves, however, it finally provided her with a chance to steer the conversation in a useful direction. "Yes, I believe that they have more than paid for their past sins - and that if their sterility is fate's punishment for their hubris, it is time for that, too, to end." She was rather proud of the way she had woven that in... though, alas, it turned out to have some unfortunate repercussions.

Namely, three of the five assembled Kirin quickly descended into a crime-and-punishment centered on the way the crimes of a culture applied to the people living within said culture (who often had little choice in the matter), considering that there was no way to punish a culture without punishing its people, and so on and so forth. The last two - including 'Tom' - managed to catch on to the fact that she was trying to get to the point, and asked her to please share what she had learned, so far, of the Elves' unfortunate situation. She did so, recounting Aterxeus' conclusion, and in the process managed to silence the three arguing philosophers, who listened with rapt attention.

When she was done, the five of them nodded in unison. "Sounds like a solid theory," Seian remarked, stroking his bare chin. (None of the Kirin, even those who had chosen clearly-male forms, seemed to have beards... she idly wondered why, and then swiftly chased the thought from her head as irrelevant.) "It certainly matches what I remember of Sie'leal. 'Arrogant' did not begin to describe her. Even for a goddess, she was vain and self-absorbed in the extreme. To leave her creations so utterly dependent on her, their lives immediately forfeit if they ever dared disobey her commands... yes, I can easily see her do so."

It was heady, hearing such words. She had spoken to beings who had lived since the Age of the Gods before, but the Leviathan hadn't been terribly chatty... or particularly eloquent. The Heart of the Mountain, meanwhile, had been more concerned with its wards, the Sirrush, than the gods who abandoned it so many 'orbits' ago. Seian, however, was apparently one of those Kirin who had avoided dying in the millenia following the end of the Age of Gods - presumably mostly by virtue of sticking to the safe haven of Xangri-Du, rather than go out into the world and risk his life in the pursuit of the Kirin's benevolent goals. While Kirin reincarnated upon death, as she had recently learned, they did not retain any memories of past incarnation - character-traits, sure, and sometimes the odd habit or similar trait, like a favorite food or oft-quoted saying, but no actual memories.

Korlin, she knew, was a relatively young Kirin, with only a few hundred years in her current incarnation. (She didn't know EXACTLY how old, since Korlin had teasingly deflected the question by remarking that it was rude to ask about a woman's age - growing her breasts larger to signify her current sanctuary in femininity. Kirin couldn't lie, but they most certainly could refuse to answer a question, if it suited them!) The thought made her eyes jump over to her beloved, who was sitting quietly by the wall - there to keep her company, not to be heard. Being so young, and having spent her time on practical pursuits rather than in-depth study, she had little to say in the company of sages and scholars of such age and pedigree.

While she'd been momentarily distracted, two of the Kirin had started debating whether it was justifiable for a mortal to judge the character of a god, while the other three tolerantly watched. Sayn cleared her throat, and the argument petered out. "Well, now you know what I have learned so far. I am here, then, to ask you - with your extensive knowledge of the 'Divine Spark' and its properties, can you see any solution to the problem?"

She had expected fresh arguments to break out on the spot, as each proposed a different solution and then argued its merits - but instead, all five grew silent and seemed to ponder her question deeply. She was starting to get the feeling that, as thousand-year-old academics, they weren't very used to delivering actionable specifics. Finally, it was Tom who spoke up. "It certainly won't be easy. I won't call it impossible, but it would be a complex procedure in the extreme. As your... friend, the dragon, pointed out, the key issue lies in the fact that removing the Divine Spark from an Elf will doom him or her to an immediate, excruciating death." Mairin, apparently inspired by this summation, suddenly leaned forwards - making the rather distracting set of tits she was carrying around bounce dangerously. "Ah! But why do so at all, then? Why not be inspired by our own, perfectly functional system? If every Elf killed during the Civil War and the slave-uprising had a Divine Spark... that is a lot of currently unused Divine Sparks. And since Sie'leal already then wasn't around to collect them, well, perhaps they're still floating around out there somewhere! If they could be located... collected..."

Kulun joined in then, nodding eagerly. "Yes! That should be a possibility. Short-circuit the system, set up a reincarnation-model like our own. All the lost souls could return home. Elven numbers would grow again, at least until they reached the population of their old empire again, which would likely never happen in today's world, anyway. Or at least not for centuries." It certainly sounded like a neat solution, but the debate she had been expecting from the outset was finally rearing its head, and both Tom and Liran were shaking their heads sadly, while Seian grimaced noncommittally. "I cannot directly disagree with anything you said..." Liran ventured, sounding a bit uncertain - perhaps relatively young for this august company? Though, of course, that could mean anything up to a solid millenia... "But I fear those Sparks will not be easily found. Indeed, I would theorize that they have tried to rejoin their point of origin regardless of circumstances - and either accomplished this, or been scattered across whatever lies between us and the long-lost gods."

This led to a bit of dizzyingly technical debate about the relative capabilities of an autonomous Spark, which eventually settled down into a polite state of 'agree to disagree'. Seian, meanwhile, seemed to have gotten a brainwave. "I've been turning it over in my head..." he said, brow wrinkling. "How to possibly remove the Divine Spark from an Elf without killing him. As the honored Tom pointed out, it would be extremely difficult - but not impossible. Several layers of magic would have to be at work simultaneously, and with great coordination - most of them operating within those Forbidden Realms that neither we, nor the Elves, can enter." Tom nodded glumly. "Yes... that was where I was at, too. The only beings I can think of, who possess even the potential to wield such power, are the Dragons... and even then, it would be hard to imagine finding enough dragons who possess the necessary level of insight and sophistication and are willing to help... and you'd need at least, what, three to pull it off?"

He directed the last bit at Seian, who nodded. "At a minimum, yes. One spell to remove the Divine Spark, another to maintain a steady infusion of life-force to prevent the resulting degradation, and a third to stabilize the now-mortal being at a suitable age. The last bit, in particular, would be finicky - they would basically be setting the Elves' new lifespan and fertility-rate." A glumness fell over the three who had nay'd the earlier suggestion for a reincarnation-system, prompting the two supporters to make quiet, lifted-eyebrow gestures that clearly spelled "Well, our idea doesn't look so bad now that you've considered the alternatives, does it?"

Then, Liran slowly raised her head and spoke up again. "I can see one... possibility. Admittedly, an uncertain one, but a possibility still." The others focused on her, and she blushed slightly before continuing. "Instead of thinking of beings, think of... creatures. The 'pets'. Some of them may be able to help, or at least provide further insights." Kulun seemed about to jump in with an objection, but then paused with a thoughtful look. The rest of the Kirin soon duplicated it, as they apparently ran through the idea in their heads. "It is... a possibility, all right." Tom was pulling on his lower lip now. "The one who could have been the greatest help by far is, of course, not an option anymore, but... out of those that remain, four have at least the potential to be of assistance, or at the very least provide further information."

Liran, looking increasingly energetic now that her idea was gaining support, turned to grin eagerly at Sayn. "There you have it, then... are you familiar with the stories surrounding the Divine Pets, your Imperial Highness?" Well, she was certainly intimately familiar with at least one of said pets, she thought - but decided not to say out loud. No sense bringing the tone down now that they were finally getting somewhere. "I have heard some mentioned in tales and legends, but... I do not have any comprehensive knowledge of them." she instead said, and Liran immediately launched into a thorough explanation.

Apparently, the gods - in their usual internal rivalry - had each wound up creating a 'Pet' - a unique, immortal creature, designed to represent them in some way or other. All had been abandoned, along with the rest of the world, when the gods subsequently disappeared. Not all of them had responded well to this abandonment. Thenares' pet monstrosity, the Chimera, had gone on a rampage, only to be eventually stopped and slain by a group of heroes - a popular story in taverns to this day, filled with blood and fury and mighty, sword-swinging men. Like most 'immortal' beings, the pets were, after all, not necessarily_unkillable_.

There was, however, one exception... from the usual corner. Sie'leal had created the Phoenix in the image of the sun, a great fiery bird - and when a desperate group of Elven wizards sought to sacrifice it in a ritual they hoped would restore their fertility, it had, indeed, died and turned to ash. The ritual (obviously) hadn't worked, though, and shortly afterwards the Phoenix had risen from its own ashes, reborn and furious. It had burned down the entire area, melted the castle within which the ritual had taken place into slag - and then flown away, into the setting sun. In other words, it had headed west, across the sea, and had never been seen again.

"It really was a deplorable incident... while their desperation was understandable, things would be much easier for us if those Elven Wizards had acted a bit more wisely." Seian sighed, probably recalling hearing word of those events when they had originally happened. Liran, meanwhile, carried on undeterred. The Rukh, a massive bird whose wings were said to blot out the sun, beloved pet of Djibahaad, God of the Skies, had apparently fallen into a depression after its master had disappeared. It had landed on a mountaintop, wrapped its wings around its head, and gone to sleep. There it had stayed ever since, while trees and moss took root on its wings and dust gathered between its feathers. It was, by now, nigh-indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain - "And I do not think anything short of the Return of the Gods would wake it up again."

Beyond that, there was Cerulec's Leviathan, which she already knew - still around, still alive, but unlikely to be helpful. This, though, still left four. Four Divine Pets who were still believed to be alive, and who might possess the power or insight to help in this situation. "Firstly, there is Vertanimis' Unicorn - a being of odd duality, serving as both hunter and hunted, bringer of life and of death... it is said to be far more intelligent than its bestial form would suggest, and its dominion over life may mean that it can manipulate the Divine Spark."

She nodded, safe in the knowledge that if she missed any details, Korlin would recall them perfectly. "Secondly and similarly, there is Mother Belah - humanity's creator - and her Kriotheos... or, the Golden Ram, as it is oftentimes called." This one, she knew of - she had heard the legends of Mother Belah as a child, the patient and clever Goddess of Fertility who had, while other gods competed to make the most magnificent beasts, made the simple, unassuming humans... but given them the creativity, flexibility, and indeed fertility to eventually eclipse all others. Included part and parcel were also the various, oft-comedic, legends about her pet - the great ram with the golden fleece. A shirt woven from its wool was said to grant a man invulnerability, or possibly endless virility - either way, many had hunted for it, mostly failing in various hilarious ways as the clever beast led them on a merry chase.

"Like the Unicorn, he has a beastly aspect, but a keen mind - as is to be expected of one of Mother Belah's creations. She was always a fan of hiding great potential behind a humble mien." It was Seian, piping in again with his personal impression of the gods - but this time, it was mostly in the form of a smile directed as Sayn, who was after all at least half human. And now that she thought about it, Seian's apparent age would mean that he had also watched mankind rise from being the downtrodden slaves of Elvenkind, to being the new rulers of the continent...

"Third, there is the Hydra - the seven-headed cousin of the dragons, 'pet' to the nameless God of Mystery... it is said that one of its heads never speaks because it is the only thing in this world that knows the true name of its creator. The other six, meanwhile, know every other secret worth knowing... or so the legends say. The truth is hard to divine - like its creator, the Hydra is an extremely enigmatic being. Finding it would be an epic task, but there is little doubt that it would, at the very least, possess some kind of useful knowledge for a situation such as this."

The thought of there existing an even bigger, even mightier, even wiser cousin to the already-overwhelming dragons made her body tingle. What would it be like to feel the will of such a being around her? Would that vaunted strength that Aterxeus had gone to such length to prove to her that the had be enough to stand against such a being? She shook off the wool-gathering, and refocused her attention on Liran as she reached the end of her list. "...and finally, there is our own benefactor. Quetzalcoatl, Shigami's remarkable and much-loved companion."

This caused a bit of a stir in the other Kirin, and Sayn narrowed her eyes. Like with the Hydra, she had never heard of this being. Were there stories about it out in the world that she had just never stumbled upon, or was its existence a secret kept by the Kirin? "I don't know about disturbing mighty Quetzalcoatl for this..." It was Mairin interjecting this, looking decidedly discomfited as she leaned back in her chair. "I mean, I'm all for helping the Elves, but..." A few other heads around the table were beginning to nod along - clearly, the Kirin held their creator's pet in extreme regard - but then Korlin's clear voice cut through the room like a dagger of ice. "Whose choice to make is that?"

Everyone seemed to freeze, eyes focused on Korlin, and a couple of them winced. Perhaps they had forgotten that, while they had studied esoteric matters of philosophy and magic, Korlin had been practicing the skills she would need to make a difference out in the world: Statecraft, leadership, diplomacy, and, yes, speechcraft. Sayn was well-familiar with her ability to quiet a roomful of quarreling nobles or obstreperous bureaucrats with a single word, without ever raising her voice. It was all about how you modulated your words, putting authority into your tone and demeanor. (She'd been giving Sayn lessons, early on.)

The five Kirin academics looked shamefacedly around at one another, and Liran finally nodded with a slight smile. "It is as our young sibling says. The choice of whether to grant the honorable Empress an audience, and whether to help her or not, must lie with Quetzalcoatl and no other." The others assented, though somewhat reluctantly in a few cases. After this, the meeting soon broke up, with Mairin and Kulun stating their intent to immediately begin research into where the Divine Spark of the many dead Elves might have wound up, and whether they could be corralled and retrieved. The other three, on their part, had apparently rallied behind Liran's idea, and said that they would scour Xangri-Du's extensive libraries for any information they could find about the three relevant Pets - Unicorn, Kriotheos and Hydra. Of course, as Liran airily put it, Quetzalcoatl might also know something of where to find her erstwhile peers...

Korlin was once more her guide as she left the meeting-hall behind, and moved through the clean, straight streets of the city once more. After this heady discussion, it was easier to ignore the occasional perverted display in the many small parks and pavilions. Her eyes lingered briefly on a hermaphrodite human-form Kirin who was busily fucking a female natural-form from behind on a street-corner, solely because - based on her own, extensive experience under the bellies of various four-legged males - it struck her as amusingly backwards.

They didn't have terribly far to go this time. The soaring city ended abruptly when the plateau ran out, a near-vertical mountainside rising as a natural city-wall. Set in that mountainside, though, was a gloriously-appointed entrance, with grandly-decorated pillars and a roof that gleamed like pure gold. Beyond it, a dark tunnel led into the mountain, and Sayn found herself immediately reminded of the cave that led to the Heart of the Mountain, so far to the south. As with that one, this tunnel was too smooth to have been carved with any kind of tools - it had, rather, been cut through the mountain by the will of a god. There were no glowing crystals here, though - instead, a bright light began to shine from the tip of the branching horn on Korlin's forehead as they descended.

It was a long walk - the path was not straight, but a descending spiral, leading them deep into the living rock of the ancient mountains, then back underneath the city of Xangri-Du itself. Away from the presence of her many peers, however, Korlin had gotten a bit chattier, and she used the time to fill Sayn in on everything she needed to know about Quetzalcoatl. Shigami, who was the wisest of all the ancient gods (at least, according to the Kirin), had not - like her peers - created a Pet which was simply a reflection of her own nature. Instead, she had sought to craft for herself a true companion - someone who was capable of doing things she couldn't. "Which is to say that mighty Quetzalcoatl is rather less... restrained than us Kirin." There was a note of caution in Korlin's voice, and Sayn had no trouble understanding what she was saying. Unlike the Kirin, Quetzalcoatl was capable of killing - and she probably could not be defeated by bleeding on her, either.

In more pleasant news, there was little doubt that Quetzalcoatl COULD help her, if she could be convinced to do so. "Quetzalcoatl is an endless wellspring of light and life. The power of this place - the barrier that keeps out all unwelcome guests, the eternal spring, the trees and orchards which are always covered in flowers or heavy with fruit, the sweet, warm air... it all comes from her. The process that Seian mentioned, the three-part spell that would be needed in order to turn an Elf mortal without killing him - you can see which of them a being like Quetzalcoatl might easily accomplish, yes?"

She could indeed. Removing the Divine Spark or setting the Elf's new lifespan and fertility - both of those were obviously in the realm of Forbidden Magic. But the third - maintaining the life-force of the Elf during the process, preventing him from immediately drying up into a mummified corpse - sounded like it was right up the alley of this enigmatic Quetzalcoatl. As for actually convincing her to help, though, Korlin could offer little advise. "I have not met her in this incarnation... but she is a being of light and love. Be honest, forthright and humble, and she will certainly hear you out."

That all sounded well and good, but she was still felt rather nervous when they reached the bottom of the winding path and Korlin paused before a grand portal made from red-lacquered wood and decorated with golden engravings of leaping, dancing Kirin. "Beyond this is the Throne-Room, where Quetzalcoatl rests. We Kirin cannot enter it unbidden. You'll have to take the final steps yourself - but I'll be waiting for you, here, when you return." Sayn winced internally. She had hoped to have the calming presence of her beloved by her side when facing this challenge. Well, nothing for it but to take a deep breath and jump in, as she always did. She had faced one of the Divine Pets before, she hurriedly reminded herself - and that encounter had worked out just fine!

As the huge, double doors silently swung open at her touch and she stepped inside, however, a voice in the back of her head reminded her that the Leviathan, for all its size and might, had been a rather simple creature. Quetzalcoatl, by all accounts, was anything but. Heartbeat rising steadily, she determinedly walked forwards, refusing to flinch as the doors quietly closed behind her again. The tunnel, now, opened up into a cave that seemed almost natural, lined with columns formed from the meeting of stalactites and stalagmites. The light from Korlin's horn had disappeared when the door closed, but she could still see just fine - the cave was lit by a bluish light that seemed to be rippling down from the ceiling.

Looking up, she saw that the roof of the cave was decorated with numerous spots of luminescent sapphire-blue, along with some longer, thinner lines of same that often connected the spots together... then, remembering her walk through the city above, realized with a start what she was seeing. All the ponds, lakes, canals and streams that dotted Xangri-Du could somehow be seen here - the motion of the water and the shadows of small, golden-scaled fish visible on closer examination. Did this mean that you could look into this chamber through any body of water in the city? Or was it a one-way view? Either way, a divine sight indeed.

Still, the ceiling could not long keep her eyes from being drawn to the center of the cave, which she was still steadily approaching, refusing to let her nervousness halt her thread. There, a throne rose from the living rock, seeming to have grown from it rather than been carved. It was far larger than any throne she had ever sat upon - indeed, the only reason she could see the seat was that the cave-floor slanted towards the center, leaving her currently elevated. On that throne, Shigami Herself would have sat during the Age of the Gods, holding court with Her beloved Kirin... and the beast that now filled the cave would have been curled around her feet like a loyal guard-dog.

It was a massive being indeed - not as big as the Leviathan, obviously, but bigger than any dragon she had seen. Quetzalcoatl's long, serpentine body encircled the base of the throne twice, and the head, alone seemed the size of a small building. She was beautiful, and terrible. Rippling feathers of gold covered the huge head, then descended down the long, snake-like body in steadily darkening shades, turning gradually to a cerulean blue, before lightening again towards a pure white that continued clear through to the tail - which was encircled by bands of beaten gold and platinum.

The head was dragonlike in its basic form, but with an elegant, feminine cast to it. Shigami's attempt to pretty up the design, or was it just what female dragons looked like? She had yet to meet one, after all. Her connection to the Kirin was obvious, meanwhile, from the two deer-like, branched antlers that rose from her brow. Finally, a pair of immense, pure-white feathery wings could be seen wrapped around the snakelike body a short way down - the only visible limbs on the huge body. So - equal parts snake, dragon and bird, with a touch of the deer? It really did seem like Shigami had shared her own fondness for mix-and-match creations... but, being an all-powerful goddess, she had done so with far greater elegance and smoothness than Sayn had ever been able to aspire to.

Quetzalcoatl was beautiful, like the Kirin were beautiful in their true form - it was the beauty of a shimmering fairy-tale creature, too perfect to be part of reality. Like the painting of a master, every stroke imbued with love and passion for the craft, creating an image more alive than the original model. A part of it, though, had to be the... presence. It was like a dragon's suffocating will, filtered through the grace, beauty and soul-warming compassion of a Kirin. It brought to mind her first meeting with Korlin, the symphony of love she had sought and found... indeed, in that moment, she felt as if she could hear those notes dancing on the whisper-still air of the cave - a sound previously only heard by her heart and soul.

Despite her resolution, she was momentarily awestruck, her steps faltering and legs shaking. It wasn't like with the dragons at all - she wasn't just feeling an urge to fall to her knees in worship. She was simply finding it difficult to stand against the flood of emotions that Quetzalcoatl's presence was waking in her. Not just Korlin, though that had been the first and fiercest memory that the sensation had brought to the forefront. Other meetings, too - with people who would go on to become friends, lovers and confidants. Her creation of Cybra, and the feeling of hugging its small, wool-covered body. Dim, foggy memories of her parents, and carefree days riding a colorful wagon across the endless fields of grass.

An eye opened, showing a rainbow iris with a vertically-slitted pupil, and the overwhelming flood of emotions dropped to a more endurable level. Nonetheless, Sayn couldn't move; she was transfixed by that gaze, one that - like the Eyes of Wisdom possessed by the Kirin - was clearly looking into her soul rather than concerning itself with her ultimately-unimportant body. "Hrrmmm... got a funny visitor here..." The voice was nothing like what she'd expected, nothing like the earth-shaking, headache-inducing words of the Leviathan. It sounded... bored, unconcerned, and rather sleepy. Clearly feminine... and otherwise unremarkable. It seemed like a voice that should have belonged to, perhaps, a rather languid noblewoman, and not such a massive, ancient creature. It dawned on her, though, that Quetzalcoatl's jaws hadn't moved. Apparently, like the Leviathan, she had different ways of talking - in this case, more elegant and natural-seeming ones than the strange, vibrant words emitted by that great sea-serpent's odd tendrils.

There was a rustle of feathers as Quetzalcoatl shifted her great body, lifting her head to look at Sayn more closely, making her feel even smaller than before. The words she had been preparing on the way had long-since disappeared from her mind without a trace. Fortunately, Quetzalcoatl seemed to have a bit more to say. "Hum... usually, when I get visitors, they're some kind of bearded and burly conqueror-types, usually asking me for immortality or some nonsense like that. Nice to see a little variety. Still, since my little cousins above let you in, you can't be an ordinary girl..."

Honest, forthright, humble. Right. "Well, I suppose I'm technically kind of a conqueror-type, what with being Empress and all... but it's honestly hard for me to think of myself that way. And I certainly haven't come to ask for immortality." If Quetzalcoatl wanted to keep things casual, well, she could follow suit. Her legs were still a bit shaky, but her mind was clearing. It got a little bit less clear when a silvery, tinkling sound that seemed to brush against her skin like a lover's touch echoed through the cave - a laugh, or perhaps just a chuckle, from Quetzalcoatl! As in, it had actually come from the now slightly-open maw of the huge, dragonlike head.

Uncoiling a bit more of her long and winding body, Quetzalcoatl pushed her head forwards until it was right in front of Sayn, seemingly looking her over with those huge, rainbow eyes. The nostrils vibrated too, taking in her scent. Would she be able to smell her earlier arousal, she suddenly wondered, feeling her cheeks heat up at the thought. "Heh... guess you wouldn't need it anyway. Smells like you have a bit of god-blood in you, so you're good for centuries without any help, eh? Though... you still seem rather young, and I think I would have heard if the gods had returned... so how does that work, exactly?" Sayn sighed. Apparently, unlike the Leviathan, Quetzalcoatl had no trouble remembering what a demigod smelled like. Looked like she could have gotten the answer to that question without traveling all the way to the Southern Continent! As for the other questions, well, all she could do was shrug and say "Wish I knew!"

Quetzalcoatl chuckled again, sending more strange, heady feelings through her, and nodded. "I'm sure you do. Well, I hope you haven't come to ask_me_ who your daddy is, 'cuz I've got no idea either." Sayn wasn't sure if that overtly-casual tone was some attempt on Quetzalcoatl's part to help make her more comfortable, or just her nature - but either way, it was working. It was hard to stay intimidated with someone who talked like that. "No worries... there was something else I wanted to talk to you about." She quickly outlined the situation - she was searching for a way to save the Elves from their slow decline, and was looking for any information or... help she could get. Quetzalacoatl's large head nodded, looking thoughtful. "And you figured someone who had sat at the feet of the gods themselves could maybe be of assistance, huh?"

"Well, a Kirin scholar named Liran thought of it, actually - and even narrowed it down to four." She carried on to explain both the proposed three-part process for making the Elves mortal, but thus also capable of procreation, and the short-list of four divine 'pets' who could, potentially, assist. Quetzalcoatl's long body shifted as she talked, lifting the head up higher, though when she spoke again the clarity of her voice remained unchanged. "Well, I don't know where to find the other three, so if you were hoping for directions, I'll have to disappoint... most of us never really got much of a chance to socialize, what with our masters' rivalries, y'know."

Sayn was waiting with bated breath for the rest of the reply when Quetzalcoatl sighed, sending a small gust of wind through the cave that carried with it feelings of sleepy laziness, warm summer days spent dazing in the sun and cold winter night that stayed pleasantly outside the window while you scrunched up under a warm rug in front of the fire with a cup of hot cocoa. "As for actually helping out... meh... I guess I could. But I dunno why I should bother. I remember what the Elves used to be like, and I certainly remember their creator. If she really screwed up that badly, maybe it'd be best to just let nature take its course."

Sayn winced. Not exactly an ideal response, but it didn't have a note of finality to it - Quetzalcoatl sounded, if anything, noncommittal. Briefly, she considered launching into a grandiose speech about the importance of forgiveness and mercy - they were usually quite a hit - but with an audience like that, it would have sounded rather tuneless. And besides, honesty and forthrightness and all that, right? "Oh, come on... I promised them that I'd do everything I could to get their asses out of the fire! They may be a bit stuck up sometimes - okay, most of the time, even - but they've been behaving themselves lately, and they're doing a lot to help my Empire." Well, Quetzalcoatl didn't seem offended by her wheedling tone, but on the other hand, she also didn't seem terribly convinced - the serpentine neck was waving back and forth a bit, suggesting a little bit of uncertainty, but that was about it.

"...and, well, there's an Elf-girl I really care about, and she's working really hard to save her people. I want to help her." It had come out a bit lamely, but she couldn't think of anything else to try. Besides, it WAS true. Korlin was the only person she truly loved with all her heart - but all the people in her Harem were precious to her, including Thielwen, once they'd gotten past some initial misunderstandings. The swaying of Quetzalcoatl's neck stopped, and the big head lowered itself again with another sigh - this one seeming to carry more feelings of nostalgia than laziness, somehow.

"Ah, well... I never could resist someone who works hard for her friends. Guess I could help out... hmm..." The head tilted a bit, and drew closer as if reassessing her in a new light. "Tell you what. You just... do one teeny-tiny thing for me, and I'll do what I can to help with that whole Elf-problem, okay?" This made Sayn hesitate, but only for a half-second. She wasn't sure what such an ancient and powerful being could possibly want from her, but there clearly wasn't an ounce of malice in her, and she did dearly need her help. "Um... sure. What can I do for you?"

Quetzalcoatl chuckled again, reinforcing the weakness in Sayn's knees. Then, her body began to glow - and shrink. A moment later, the great, feathered serpent was gone, and a woman stood before the throne instead. She was as unearthly-beautiful as the Kirin in their human forms, but there was nothing androgynous about her - her beauty was thoroughly feminine, expressed in wide hips, luscious curves, and a pair of breasts that no mortal spine could have supported. A waterfall of golden hair poured down her back, gradually turning to cerulean-blue, then white around the tips. Two antler-like horns, branching and golden-brown, rose from the sides of her head.

She was also entirely naked, showing her blinding beauty unabashedly before Sayn's staring eyes - right down to the neat little bush of platinum hair above the slit between her legs. There was quite a bit of space between them, now that Quetzalcoatl no longer took up most of the chamber with her sinuous body, but with a naughty grin, the woman took a single step forwards, and suddenly stood right in front of Sayn - well inside her personal space, so close that she could feel those gigantic tits flatten against the front of her dress. She could barely focus on the gorgeous, rainbow-eyed face right in front of her - those things were just ridiculous! So huge, so perfectly-shaped, so soft and bouncy... gravity itself should have denied their very existence, but clearly had little power over them.

"Surprised, huh? Dunno why - did you really think that my Mistress would leave such a convenient gift out of my creation, when my lesser cousins all have it, hmm?" That casual, drawling voice was actually coming from her mouth now, though blessedly without any of the emotional payloads that every sound out of Quetzalcoatl's maw had carried while she was in her true shape. "Umm... hadn't thought that far, I guess..." Sayn managed to stammer out, having listened to the question with half an ear. Quetzalcoatl chuckled - an ordinary, amused-sounding, human chuckle. "Heh. You look a bit distracted there, girl... but, hey, to answer your question... all I'm asking is that you have a bit of fun with me, 'kay?"

A perfectly-shaped hand was against her heated cheek now, and she swallowed, hard. "Umm... I... don't mind, but... are you sure you want... me? I mean..." She wasn't actually sure what she meant, or why she was stammering like a lovestruck teenager, but her eyes darted towards the big, red-lacquered door that led back to the winding tunnel and the city above - with all its incredibly-beautiful, shape-shifting, unabashedly-sexual Kirin. Quetzalcoatl followed her eyes and snorted dismissively.

"Hah. You asking why I don't just go carouse with all my cute little cousins, huh? Nah. They're all embarrassingly bowy-and-scrapy around me, 'cuz I'm all they've got left of old Shigami. Besides, she gave me... authority over them. Under most circumstances, they have to do whatever I say, which would make things like consent and stuff a bit dicey, you know?" Looking away from that impossibly-perfect face - and those impossibly-huge tits - had cleared her head just a touch, and enabled her tongue to function a bit more freely. "Um... but pressuring me for sex by... threatening to withhold your help is... fine?" She swallowed. It had mostly just flown out of her mouth, but it was fine, surely. Honesty, forthrightness... well, maybe not so humble, but two out of three wasn't bad, right?

Quetzalcoatl laughed, and took a step back, leaving her previously-squashed boobs to bound back to their normal, spherical shape, inexorably drawing Sayn's eyes back to them - and the rest of those amazing curves. "Oh, stop being so cagey... I'm only doing this because I know you want it. I could smell the horniness on you the moment you walked through my door. Got all hot and bothered from watching my little cousins have their fun up above, didn't you?" Her drawling voice had a teasing, seductive lilt to it now, and needless to say, Sayn couldn't deny any of it. The built-up pressure from what she'd seen on the walk hadn't gone away during the meeting with the Kirin scholars, or the walk down the tunnel, or the negotiations with Quetzalcoatl. It had just been pushed to the back of her mind - and come surging back the moment she saw her host's human form, in all its naked glory.

She got to see a new side of it now as Quetzalcoatl turned around with an exaggerated hip-twirl, flashing her perfectly-shaped, perfectly-bouncy ass before her long hair caught up and covered it. A hand waved dismissively over her shoulder "Buuuut, if I'm wrong... if you really don't wanna... well, that's fine, I guess. I'll help anyway, of course. So long, been splendid, have a nice trip home!" Sayn was stepping forwards, opening her mouth before she really knew what to say. "No, wait! That's not... I mean... I'm not... adverse to... showing my gratitude?" She was stammering again, but she couldn't help it. She wanted it, oh yes, she wanted that perfect body, a master sculptor's idea of idealized feminine beauty and sexuality made flesh. Wanted to run her hands all over it, taste every inch of it, see those huge tits heave and bounce when the orgasm hit!

Quetzalcoatl, however, took another step away, glancing playfully over her shoulder and wagging a finger. "Oh, no, that will never do... you need to be honest, girl. With yourself, and certainly with me! I cannot abide dishonesty." Right. Right. Honesty and... forthrightness, right? Already panting, she grabbed at her dress, trying to pull it off, but it was one of those complicated affairs that took ages to get into. Growling, she tore at the delicate fabric and felt it part satisfyingly between her shaking hands, leaving her dress as an expensive pile of silk and gossamer rags on the floor around her feet. Then she took two quick step, removing the distance between her and Quetzalacoatl - who was watching with a raised eyebrow - and simply grabbed her from behind, pressing her body against that long, golden hair while her hands grabbed and weighed those huge tits. They felt as heavy as their size suggested - for all that their shapeliness and bounciness would suggest they were filled with hot air.

Quetzalcoatl moaned as Sayn nuzzled her way through the hair and gently nibbled on her earlobe. "Oooh... that's more like it! Looks like we can have some fun after all..." "You're the sexiest woman I've ever seen. Like a wet dream come true." Sayn whispered hoarsely in reply. It was the truth, after all, and honesty was important. Korlin was her one true love, and in her androgynous, hermaphroditic form, her perfect sex-partner as well. When it came to casual sexual partners, though, she tended to mostly prefer men - dicks were fun to play with, after all. As for her notable female partners - Jazera and Jareza, Lutra, Aishee, Thielwen, and more recently Slira - none had anywhere near this level of sexual magnetism. No woman had ever aroused her like that just by standing naked before her.

"What a nice thing to say..." Quetzalcoatl mumbled, and twisted in her arms so that they were face-to-face again. Her own moderately-decent pair of tits (she was still a growing girl!) seemed to practically disappear into Quetzalcoatl's pillow-soft mounds as they were mashed together, closing the last of the distance between them. Lips met, slightly parted. An electric kiss, tongues darting to meet and dance. Sayn's eyes rolled back into her skull, and she felt her body go numb and lax in Quetzalcoatl's strong arms. One soft hand was on the back of her head, tangled in her hair, holding her in place to continue the kiss. The other was roaming down her spine, touching sensitive spots she'd never known she had, before finally grabbing and kneading one of her ass-cheeks.

Her own hands seemed to be moving of own accord, gliding across every bit of flesh they could reach - seeing those curves, that flawless skin, with fingertips rather than eyes. An irresistible gravity soon drew them down, however - to that firm, juicy ass, to knead and pull and marvel at the taut flexibility and smoothness of the skin. She was instinctively pulling it towards herself, and shuddered as she felt her pussy, dripping wet already, push against something warm and soft. Her clit - stiff, throbbing, and eagerly poking out of its hood - was suddenly brushed by the a touch of silk-soft, tickling hair... there and then, she came, moaning and shaking as her legs gave out under her.

Quetzalcoatl let her slide gently to the floor and there, on her knees, she saw that perfect pussy - every line and fold gleaming in lightly-moist symmetry, slightly open to show a winking gleam of delicious pink amidst the alabaster-white skin. Perfectly smooth, not a stubble of hair beyond that neat little bush at the very top, the clit a gleaming, hot-pink pearl beneath it. It made her mouth water like an elaborately-prepared confection on a silver platter. Eagerly, she dove in, and was immediately overwhelmed. The scent, so heady, yet fresh... the taste, sweet as honeyed fruit-juice... the sensation, like living velvet against her tongue...

She drank of it like a dying man in a desert who had finally found an oasis - and feared that it might turn out to be a mirage at any moment, and thus disappear. The firm hands on the back of her head, pushing her in, were entirely superfluous. Her tongue pushed as deep as she could get it, her lips flat against the surrounding labia, seeking to explore as much of this resplendent orifice as possible. And on and on, the juices flowed, tingling on her tongue, making her throat beg for more... until at last a high-pitched moan from above heralded the arrival of a warm gush of liquid, filling her mouth and running down the corners as she struggled to swallow and relish the heavenly taste all at the same time.

In the aftermath, she could only sit back on her ankles, dazed and staring, shoulders twitching, knocked back by the intoxicating draught. Before her, the heavenly vision shifted - from that gentle valley, to twin hills of bounteous fertility, a dark rift hidden between them. "Maybe you'd like a taste of this too, hmm?" Quetzalcoatl's voice purred, no longer sounding bored. Drawn in by this vision, she tumbled forwards and grabbed those wide, swaying hips to hold herself steady as she worshiped those sacred mountains. She rubbed her face against them, licking and kissing, teasing with featherlight bites, licking them up and down and sideways as she circled towards the forbidding cave they concealed.

When finally she pulled those luscious peaches apart and dove into the dark valley, she found herself overwhelmed by an even headier scent than before - darker and denser, filled with the promise of forbidden secrets. She ran her tongue up that neat, straight, chasm, tasting the traces of salty sweat, and only then plunged into the center. An earthy, mature taste hit her tongue as she began to massage the perfect, pink ring of the sphincter, like strong coffee or aged alcohol, or other things that only true adults knew how to enjoy. Under her tender treatment, the muscles gradually loosened and finally allowed the tip of her tongue entrance - grasping it as it pushed through, like the soft lips of a playful lover.

She happily returned the kiss, rubbing her lips against it as she pushed her tongue deeper, the dark flavor growing more dangerously intense the further inside she got. Burying her tongue to the root, she roughly massaged the surrounding cheeks with her hands as she flexed her oral muscles, sweet moans descending from above like lumps of sugar in the black coffee of the bitter, sophisticated taste. Drilling her tongue in and out, feeling the pliable sphincter shudder softly under her touch, she could have happily kept going until her tongue fell off - but eventually, a gentle hand on her forehead pushed her back, and a breathless voice commented "Oh... you're_good_... but it's time I turned the tables on you."

She just grinned, looking happily up at the shifting, curvaceous vision - somehow even more erotic when viewed from a low angle - as Quetzalcoatl turned around again. She could feel wetness covering the inside of her thighs, pooling between her knees, but it didn't matter. Just being able to see those grand, swaying tits as Quetzalcoatl bent over her was all she needed. Still, she made no resistance as slender arms and soft hands - so much stronger than they appeared - eased her down on her back on the smooth, stone floor. It felt pleasantly cool against her heated skin.

Those hands - as irresistible as the tides - then pushed her legs apart and clamped down on her thighs, locking them in place as surely as any steel chain. The golden-haired head with the wild, soaring antlers disappeared between them, and she felt a hot breath caress her groin. She could feel it, now that her attention had been directed there - her pussy, throbbing and aching with desire, labia swollen with blood and eagerly parted, clit pushed as far out of its hidey-hole as it could get, like an excited child trying to watch a passing parade from a second-floor window. Lubricating juices were running from the gently-gaping center in a steady stream, forming networks of tiny lakes, rivers and deltas on the floor beneath.

So eager, so sensitive, that breath alone seemed to lift her towards an orgasmic high. When it was followed by velvet-soft lips and strong, moist tongue that seemed to dance as swiftly as the tail of an angry rattlesnake, she reached it in an instant - and then seemingly went beyond. Her mind was blank with pleasure, her body seeming to fall away around her, leaving nothing but the waves of all-encompassing pleasure radiating out from her lust-frenzied groin. Her spine seemed to curl of its own accord, lifting her towards the source of this ecstatic sensation, quivering muscles supporting her on her heels and the top of her head.

But it just kept coming and coming, until those straining muscles collapsed, until her fingers could no longer claw at the smooth stone floor, until everything she was seemed to have been dissolved into a completely relaxed, pleasure-soaked mush. The only thought she was able to formulate was one of passing surprise that she was still able to breathe. The pleasure was too great, too total, to readily identify or nail down. Was it coming from her clit? Her sobbing-wet pussy? The puckered, twitching hole hiding beneath it? She could not tell. It was like trying to spot the position of a star at noon on a bright summer day.

Eventually, after an eon or so, she descended from that world of transcendental, orgasmic pleasure - the fall eased by a set of deft, powerful fingers dancing around her breasts, rubbing and teasing, pinching and tickling, making her nipples stand tall and sing. As her eyes began to focus, the normal, boring world rematerializing around her, she immediately focused on the gently-smiling vision of etheric beauty hanging above her, and saw it descend towards her. Panting, she eagerly parted her lips to welcome the kiss, tasting herself on those rose-petal-soft bows and that tireless, powerful tongue. Her breath caught in the back of her throat when they were, again, pulled away from her.

Her still-bleary eyes, though, were quickly drawn further down, to those titanic, dangling melons, so tantalizingly within reach. Driven by a sudden burst of motivation, she compelled her buzzing, shaking arms to cooperate, lifting her hands to grab at them, pulling them towards her hungry mouth. She only managed to suck on those thick, meaty nipples, so spongy yet firm, for a few moments, though, before they too were pulled away from her with a sigh. "Nooo... delightful company though you've been, my milk is not for you. Maybe if you come back in one or two hundred years, and your skills have grown apace, you will be able to earn a few mouthfuls..."

She whimpered, feeling very much of the starving infant right now, but she was too tired, to bone-deep exhausted, to resist or argue. All she could do was lay there, feeling her breath slowly stabilizing and the warmth of her overheated body slowly leeching into the rock beneath. Surely, no other joy or delight she could claim or be given could hope to compare to what she had just been through - the thought that she might never experience such ecstasy again once she left this room made her soul cry out in agony. Indeed, all of the sexual experiences she ever had - and they had, after all, been many and varied - seemed to fade into gray insignificance next to the enormity of what had just passed. Only the days and nights and stolen hours she had spent with Korlin still stood out, like diamonds sewn to a drab fabric - gleaming with a delight of a different dimension altogether, something that did not so much go beyond pleasure as stand beside it, complementing it.

Still hovering above her, Quetzalcoatl seemed to have an assessing cast to her rainbow-colored eyes. Then a loving smile somehow made her perfect face shine even brighter, and she shook her head. "You really are a rare one. You will take good care of my little cousin, won't you?" Blinking, she tried to get her mind, throat and lips moving in the same direction long enough to answer, and succeeded partially. "Kolin? 'course. I love her." Quetzalcoatl laughed delightedly, and there was something of the silver bells and the lover's touch to the sound. "Honest and forthright, if not humble... nicely said." Then the golden, branched antler-horns at the sides of her head began to glow, and everything became vague and washed-out, like a painting that had hung too long in the sun...

Korlin had clear concern in her eyes when she stumbled out the door in her fancy, impractical dress, and quickly caught her arm when she staggered. Apparently, she had shifted to her human form at some point while waiting - perhaps to have more room for pacing. "Are you all right? You were in there quite a while!" She said, eyes darting towards the doors which were, even now, silently swinging close. Perhaps she caught a glimpse of the great, feathered serpent, wound around that ancient throne of the Goddess Shigami, before they sealed themselves shut. "I'm fine... just a bit tired." She was slurring a bit, and quickly cleared her throat. "Just fine. Everything went well. Quetzalcoatl agreed to help."

Her friend and lover smiled brightly at that, and she returned it happily. Considering what kind of grand quest she had embarked upon, this first step had really been remarkably easy and simple. Quetzalcoatl had been a bit reluctant at first, but after a bit of persuasion, the ancient serpent had agreed to help and... uhh... turned human, hadn't she? Well, that made sense, of course she'd have the same capabilities as the Kirin and then some. And then they'd... had sex, hadn't they... of course. What was it with these god-pets and wanting human women? Was it going to be a general theme? Well, it made some kind of sense, she supposed - they were all unique beings, so they didn't have any natural mates - other arrangements had to be made.

She couldn't help but frown a bit as she walked back up the winding path towards Xangri-Du proper with Korlin (once again in her natural form) at her shoulder, however. It had been pleasant enough, she was fairly sure of that - at the very least, she'd managed to work off some of the pent-up horniness from walking through the city and seeing the Kirin at play. But it bothered her how hazy the whole thing seemed - every time she tried to remember anything specific, her mind just seemed to slide sideways, winding up somewhere around the point where Quetzalcoatl magically fixed up her dress, which had gotten damaged... somehow.

Finally, as they emerged from the tunnel to find Xangri-Du painted golden-red by the evening sunlight, she shrugged it off. Quetzalcoatl was clearly a thoroughly benevolent being, like the Kirin she watched over, so whatever had happened couldn't have been anything bad. Maybe it was just a side-effect of being near such an ancient and powerful being, or perhaps the site itself - who knew what kind of strange energies might still linger in the throne-room of a long-missing goddess? What mattered was that she had secured the cooperation of Quetzalcoatl, and thus taken the first step towards a possible solution for the Elves' plight.

---

The words of Korlin, wise and kind, shamed those Kirin who had, in their quest for knowledge and understanding, forgotten how to listen to the voice of the heart. So they stood aside, and said "Let the Beastmaker go to the Feathered Serpent, and let it judge her, for we cannot."

So the Beastmaker descended a path that wound in upon itself seven upon seven times, until it reached the very roots of the mountain, and there she found the throne of ancient Shigami, long-empty - and wound around its base was the great serpent, Quetzalcoatl, favored and beloved pet, but abandoned nonetheless.

The serpent rose with a great hiss and looked down upon the Beastmaker, asking "Who do I see standing before me? An Empress, or a Goddess?" But the Beastmaker said, "You see only Sayn, for that is who I am." And Quetzalcoatl nodded, pleased with her humility.

Then it lowered its great head to peer at her more closely, and said "Many have come to me, asking that I grant them life eternal - but you, I like. If that is what you want, you have but to ask!" But the Beastmaker shook her head. "I did not come here for immortality, but to seek your aid that I might end the plight of the Elves, cursed and forsaken by their goddess." And Quetzalcoatl smiled, pleased with her honesty.

"But why would you work to aid the Elves?" the great serpent then asked, and reared up to the cavern's roof. "In ancient times, they made great evil upon many, enslaving and abusing. Your own people, the humans, suffered beneath their yoke. Is their fate not justice, slow but fine?" But the Beastmaker just shrugged. "The past matters little to me. An Elf-Maid stands by my side, shares my table and my bed, and her heart burns to see her people restored. For her, as for any of those who are dear to me, I will go to the Four Corners of the World - and back!" And Quetzalcoatl laughed, pleased with her forthrightness.

Touched by her words and her virtue, the great serpent shimmered and became a beautiful woman, and she kneeled before the Beastmaker. "I cannot deny one who speaks with such purity. When you have need of me, call - I will answer." Remember, from this - if you have need of help, simply ask for it with humility, honesty and forthrightness... then your plea will surely be answered.

• From The Beastmaker's Storybook: Tales for Good Children. Chapter 4: 'The Beastmaker and the Journey to the Four Corners of the World.'

---

Rather than spend the night in Xangri-Du, they decided to set off for the Palace immediately - getting as far as they could before sunset, and then landing in a remote mountain glade to spend the night under the stars. It was not too different from the small plateau where the two of them had recovered from their respective suffering after the Battle of Great Bay Shores, and while Sayn no longer had the sense of pent-up desire that had made her squirm earlier, she wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to enjoy some quiet quality-time with her beloved Korlin.

There were no games of submission that night, no brutal poundings - Korlin stayed in her human form, and drew our her dick only rarely. Instead, they simply shared caresses with fingertips and tongues, seeking slow-building, languid orgasms rather than the overwhelming ecstasy of the climax. It was a pleasant change from the usual, though Sayn occasionally found the things they did strangely reminiscent - of what, she wasn't sure. Enough said, she was feeling both sleepy and very mellow as she looked up at the crystal-clear stars above, feeling Korlin's warmth by her side, and just generally savoring the moment.

"I noticed you letting me off the hook earlier, you know..." Korlin finally broke the silence, her hands still moving lazily over Sayn's body. "Thank you for not pressing me. And... sorry I evaded your question. It was an... instinctive reaction." Sayn nodded, letting one of her own hands wander down to catch Korlin's in a comforting grasp. "It's no big deal. We don't need to talk about things that make you uncomfortable." The usually self-assured Kirin seemed to hesitate, then sigh.

"I think we do, actually. I was wrong to try and hide it - you are no child, but a grown woman, and wise beyond your years at that. I should have faith in you, instead of worrying that you might take something the wrong way and resent me. So, please - allow me to be honest with you." Korlin's grip on her hand was firm and only a tiny bit shaky. Trying to steel herself, unsure of what to expect, she nodded. "Of course. And if I am to be honest, it _does_hurt a bit to think that you don't always feel comfortable with being honest around me. Especially considering your... nature."

A caught breath, then a slow release. "Oh, Sayn... I do love you, like nothing else in this world. Being hundreds of years older than you does not, it seems, stop my heart from leaping or shrinking at your words." There was a lump in Sayn's throat, and judging from the sound of Korlin's voice, she was not alone in this. She waited, there, in the starlit darkness, while her beloved took a deep breath, expelled it, and then finally began to explain.

"You know there are many different kinds of love, right? More than a few philosophers have spent years trying to nail down and differentiate exactly what kinds exist, which seems a bit of a fallow pursuit to me, honestly. But certainly, there are very different ways to love someone - like the love and devotion of a mother for her child, the love that exists between close friends or comrades, the worshipful love of a mortal towards a god, and of course, the 'romantic' love - that of a man for a woman, or any of the countless other possible permutations it can appear in." Sayn nodded, unseen in the darkness. Like, say, a half-goddess for a Kirin, for example.

"Now, we Kirin are devoted to love - it it one of the things that make the world better simply by existing, and we seek to encourage the growth of love in the world at every turn. Ideally, we would see every kind of love as being equal, and not show favorites... but in truth, we value the Romantic Love higher than any of the others, because... we so rarely get a chance to experience it." Her voice was growing uncertain, at last, and Sayn patiently waited for her to gather the energy to continue, and explain what she meant by that.

"Well... you have seen how freely my fellows express their love for one another. And, indeed, great bonds of love bind us together, for all that we occasionally squabble and argue about philosophy and morality. Most of us have a few fellows with whom we've developed particular rapport, be it as friends or rivals. Since all but a few of us have been reincarnated once or twice in the ages since our creations, many among us have experienced the love between parent and child. And of course, we all love our lost goddess, Shigami, and mighty Quetzalcoatl who remains among us in her memory."

"But consider, for a moment... all 108 of us, living together like we do... for all these centuries. Even a relatively young Kirin like myself carries an old soul - growing up, everyone around me seemed familiar even before I got to know them. We are brethren, all... brothers and sisters. Perhaps not in the sense of bloodlines, but in the mental and social sense. Even my parents felt as much like an elder sister and brother as anything else. You see? The sibling-love that exists between us all - it tinges everything else. And it makes that romantic love, that 'True Love', impossible. What I feel for you, and you for me, is something no Kirin has ever, _will_ever, feel for another Kirin."

Sayn blinked, trying to parse this information and apply it. "I guess I can see why you bailed right at first... you didn't want me to start thinking that you only fell in love with me because I was the first person outside your 107-strong 'immediate family' you met. And that's really sweet, if a bit silly - I'm not that insecure." Anymore, she added silently, remembering how torn she'd felt during the early days of their relationship, about the possibility that Korlin's presence might be driven by the Kirins' 'Voice of Compassion' creed - despite Korlin telling her straight-up that she loved her, and being entirely incapable of lying.

"But the thing I'm a bit caught on, here, is... all that crazy sex I saw back there, that was all basically incestuous?" There was incredulity in her voice, and Korlin answered with a rueful chuckle. "Well, yes, that particular sexual taboo crumbled to dust a long, long time ago. Since inbreeding really isn't an issue with us and the alternatives are unpalatable, nobody really concerns themselves much with that angle. All the sexual experiences of my formative years came from someone who was, for all intents and purposes, a sibling to me."

_That_would take a bit of digestion, but what really bugged Sayn was that she couldn't quite decide if it made the things she'd seen earlier grosser, or hotter. Or possibly both. "Anyway, there you have it - that is the real reason why a relationship between a Kirin and a non-Kirin is seen as an ideal: Because it either is, or at least carries the potential to be, the 'highest' form of Love... unlike our own, internal, pseudo-incestuous relationships." Korlin's summation was curt, and having finished saying her piece, she fell silent - as did Sayn, still mulling things over.

They lay like that for a while, hand in hand, for several long minutes. Then Sayn sighed and shifted her body, rolling over to hug Korlin and hold her tight, preferring to look at the Kirin's gorgeous face - currently wearing a troubled expression - rather than the eternal stars. "Well, that was all very interesting and informative..." she said dryly. "But I think it's important not to lose sight of the central facts in this case."

Korlin, responding to her movement, was turning over as well, putting them face to face and close together, their still-clutching hands now nestled between their faces. The growing smile on that beautifully-androgynous face indicated that she already knew Sayn was about to get soppy. "I love you. You love me. Everything else is just petty details." The pearling laugh this drew seemed to chase away any residual dark shadows that had lingered from the heavy subject. "Wise beyond your years indeed, my love... certainly, you know just what to say to a woman. And, for that matter, to a centuries-old, semi-immortal, shape-shifting, androgynous hermaphrodite." Sayn giggled at this over-long but accurate description of her beloved - and at the hot, poking sensation against her belly that told her just how accurate the last bit was...

Continued in UNICORN