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Life Is A Beach

• Chapter 9 of the Legends of the DragonRider

Anitra sighed as she leaned back in the sinfully comfortable chair. Perhaps it was as much groan as sigh, though. The chair had been crafted specifically for her by some of the Utopia's finest craftsmen, and fitted specifically to her measurements. The back was heavily angled, distributing her weight widely, and making it entirely possible to comfortably sleep in it - as she'd done on a number of occasions. She wasn't actually sure what the surface of it was made from - it felt kind of like suede, but it was clearly enchanted so that it absorbed her sweat without ever getting sticky or grimy.

She'd been spending a lot of time in that chair lately, she thought grumpily, resting her head on the... headrest. Both metaphorically and literally. In the months since her return from Hell, via the now-defunct temple of the Bloody Dawn Cult, she'd been on a strict no-adventure diet. She understood why perfectly well, of course. It wasn't as if she was in any condition to do anything more dangerous than walk down the stairs right now... not that there WERE any stairs to walk down in the dragon-friendly Utopia, with all its smoothly-curved passages and whatnot. Her armor wouldn't fit, and it wasn't even just the chestplate, as she'd expected. Her limbs seemed to have swollen too, enough that her leg-guards had become difficult to strap on, and the bracers wouldn't fit over her hands at all. Her sandals still fit, but only after taking out the various leather straps to the limit.

Looking down her body, the cause of it all was painfully obvious - the large bump that now rose in place of the flat, muscular belly she'd once possessed. Her tits had grown with it - not that they'd exactly been small to begin with! Now they were even bigger, heavier, and softer. Working their way up so they'd be ready to produce the requisite milk, no doubt. The combined weight had left her with a permanently sore back and aching feet despite her draconic strength and constitution - hence spending more time in the comfy chair rather than make it worse by walking and standing.

The chair helped a lot. She was very fond of the chair. It did not, unfortunately, stop her from being bored outta her skull. At least when she'd just returned, she'd still had something to do, despite Blake's obvious desire to wrap her in cotton and then lock her in a vault for safe-keeping - as the 'injured party' in the cultist attack that had handed her a one-way ticket to the Nether Planes, she'd been in the perfect position to pull the dragons up short when she noticed how badly they'd overreacted to it. It seemed like it just hadn't ever occurred to them that anyone would dare to attack their Utopia in such an insidious fashion. Open assaults, marching armies and all that, they'd faced before, and probably had multiple plans in place to deal with. But a single man sneaking in to launch a deadly blow, without caring about his own survival? That was another matter altogether.

Once you started thinking along those lines, a lot of possibilities would pop into your increasingly-paranoid mind. What if, instead of a demonically-imbued sacrificial dagger, the cultist had smuggled in a compact magical or alchemical explosive? He could have caused serious damage to the castle itself, and killed dozens or even hundreds of visitors - and possibly even a dragon or two! Or what if his target had been Blake, rather than Anitra? There WERE arcane weapons powerful enough to kill a Black Dragon, after all, especially when used in ambush - and getting rid of the Utopia's Champion would certainly seem an inviting opening move for anyone contemplating an invasion...

So they'd started 'taking precautions'... meaning, they'd started treating every visitor, including those who'd already been living there for months or more, like potential assassins and infiltrators. Regular scans were made for 'dangerous magical items' and 'prohibited alchemical devices', interrogations under the influence of truth-saying spells were frequent, and any caravan that provided _any_reason to dub it 'suspicious' was turned away. Effective, no doubt... but as a result, an oppressive air of paranoia and mistrust had spread through the once-bright halls of the castle. The sages, craftsmen and mages no longer felt welcome, and the castle had started to seem more like a military fortification than a bastion of learning and philosophy. It wasn't doing the external trade any favors, either, with many previously-plentiful goods getting progressively scarcer.

She'd basically jumped up on the round table where the Elders gathered around to discuss matters to give them all a grand speech. She was still rather impressed with herself for how well she'd pulled it off, especially considering that she'd only really written 'bout half of it in advance, and made up the rest on the go, based on the changing atmosphere and the expressions of her audience. The gist of it had been that their eagerness to protect themselves was hurting everything the Utopia was supposed to stand for - how could they hope to spread peace and understanding throughout the world if they themselves were mired in xenophobia and mistrust?

There had been many sterling arguments in her speech (well, _she_thought so, anyway) but the one that had really hit home and made all the assembled dragons - except Blake, who was just grinning proudly at her performance - wince. "Well, if what you truly want is to be safe, then you should know perfectly well how to accomplish that!" She'd declared. "All you have to do is remove the Tablet of Lutan from its pedestal. Throw it in the lake! Crush it to powder! Let the mighty wall he built for you close around the Utopia again, permitting no passage. Then you'll be safe, as you wither and die - atrophying, like a limb cut off from the flow of blood."

Perhaps a bit cruel, and a shameless reminder of why they ought to pay attention to her, but it certainly worked. The tone of the Council's debate changed from trying to optimize security, to creating and enforcing reasonable precautions without overly impacting the lives of those who had come to call the Utopia 'home' - _without_disturbing the flow of trade. There was now general agreement that, while measures certainly should be taken to keep an eye out for future infiltrators, there was really no way to ever be completely safe - that was simply the price of doing business. Better to focus on how to handle any future incursions that may or may not happen, and go back to assuming that most of those who came to the Utopia's gates were honest - at least until proven otherwise.

As the security-measures were lifted or eased, the spirits of the Utopia's residents - both dragon and not - did the same. Their pervasiveness had failed to make anyone feel safe, and instead had merely created a general sense that, with such measures in place, another attack HAD to be imminent! Of course, things did not _entirely_return to normal - but the remaining measures were kept subtle and unintrusive, soon fading from notice to become part of the background. They even went so far as to send messages to some of the caravans that had been turned away, apologizing and offering additional payment if they should decide to return.

And so, the day had been saved thanks to the inestimable Anitra! ...but then, unfortunately, it had stubbornly remained saved ever since, denying her any chance to repeat the performance. Everything was coming up roses, basically. The Utopia had even initialized cautious contact with their 'downstairs neighbors' - the Renegades of Hell, who were, after all, based directly beneath the Utopia itself. If 'beneath' was really the correct word for it - planar physics were complicated - but just about EVERYBODY thought of it that way, so whatever. Nonetheless, trade was happening, if only a little.

Now, 'trafficking with demons' sounded rather sordid, but in this case, it was working out quite well. The Nether Planes were home to a number of resources that greatly interested the mages, sages, alchemists and craftsmen - while the Utopia hosted an abundance of a particular resource that the demons needed. No, not 'souls'... well, that too, obviously, but nobody was about to buy or sell those. 'Emotion', rather, was the coin in these exchanges. Or 'Sensation'. The line between the two was dim and, at times, wiggly. As long as they promised to be good - and moved under constant guard - small numbers of Kylaees' demonic cohorts were allowed to visit the Utopia and just drink in the various emotions and thrills permeating it, filling their metaphorical bellies and carrying some of it home with them.

At the moment, she knew, the next stage of the program was in the middle of a trial-run, after the initial demonic visitors had failed to maul anyone, or indeed act anything other than exquisitely polite. Most of them came by her chambers during their visit, to 'pay their respect' and remind her that Kylaees hadn't forgotten everything she'd done for them. Sometimes they carried news of the ongoing struggle in Hell, of battles, victories, plans and alliances! At first, she'd been delighted, but as of late she'd come to resent it - with her growing boredom, even the idea of fighting on the front lines of a war in Hell seemed strangely fetching.

Regardless, things were stepping up. Volunteer succubi - their training a far cry from what the established Hierarchy of Hell considered appropriate - were joining the ranks of the Utopia's 'Free Lovers', offering themselves up to anyone who needed an itch scratched... along with reassurances that they wouldn't attempt to steal their soul or anything like that. So far, it was working quite well - initial concerns that most men would be unwilling to risk it in the face of the Succubi's well-earned reputation had proven unfounded. Turned out, being seduced by a fire-eyed hell-fiend was a remarkably common fantasy! One that many a man in the Utopia now had the chance to safely act out...

Lust, pleasure and desire were potent emotions. The demons could draw quite a bit of strength just from being around them - but actually_participating_ was far more beneficial, allowed them to store more of the energy for 'export', and... well, it was just a lot more_fun_ for them, since it meant they didn't have to actively suppress the urges that these emotions awakened in them when devoured. So it all worked out well! No clashes or conflicts for her to resolve. No reason to get out of her chair.

Even her most reliable time-passer - blatant hedonism - had been thrashed by her condition. It wasn't that she didn't feel lusty anymore - if anything, the frequent hormonal swings sometimes made her feel absolutely on fire with desire! - but it had all just become... bothersome and awkward. Her swaying belly was heavy and constantly in the way, and had to be carefully guarded against any impacts. Possible positions were highly limited, and vaginal sex had become increasingly impractical - even when involving smaller cocks than what Blake was packing. Trying to work around it all kept souring the mood and tripping up her libido.

Feeling a twinge in her lower abdomen, she raised a hand and waved imperiously. "Direza... attend to me." The drow was there in a flash - she was never far away these days, always close at hand and ready to assist her mistress in any way, an expression of eager adoration on her face. Anitra barely even needed to gesture downwards before she took her customary position at the foot of the chair, leaning forwards to push her ash-gray face up between her spread thighs to seal her lips tightly around her pussy. With her belly in the way, she couldn't actually see her devoted servant at this point, but she could certainly feel the agile tongue that was now lightly caressing her clit, urethra, and upper labia.

With a sigh, she relaxed and let the contents of her bladder flow. Increasingly pressured and compacted by her growing womb, it required attention far more often than it had used to. Fortunately, thanks to the ever-attentive Direza, she didn't even need to get out of her chair to do so... which, unfortunately, meant that this once-erotic gesture of dominance and submission had become mundane and practical to her, losing a lot of its shine.

Direza gulped down her hot piss five, six times per day, and several more per night - heck, she could hardly remember the last time she'd made her way to the toilet for anything less than a bowel-movement - and so, it had stopped arousing her in the least. Direza herself, though, seemed to - if anything - enjoy it more. Well, that wasn't too strange, she supposed - after all, she was literally being treated as a portable toilet, not as part of some sex-game, but as part of her regular, everyday duties... naturally, that would hit just the right buttons with someone addicted to humiliation.

This, at last, brought a smile to her face as she once again remembered the first couple of weeks after the return to the Utopia. Both she and Blake had agreed that they needed to abundantly reward their two devoted servants for all the hard work they'd put in - and the indignities they'd suffered - during the infiltration of the Bloody Dawn Cult. Direza had been forced to play into the stereotype of the sadistic Dark Elf dominatrix, despite loathing her people's proclivities and wanting nothing more than to distance herself from them, while the masochistic Melora had been pushed into assisting in the torturous destruction of the Cult-Priestess Chabat's rear orifice. Certainly, some compensation seemed in order.

In retrospect, Anitra felt almost jealous of Melora, despite the fact that she'd never had quite as wide a masochistic streak as the pain-addicted mare. Blake's increasing reluctance to unleash anything approaching his full strength when he fucked her ass had been wearing on her - it was understandable, sure, but still galling. Neither she nor her unborn child were THAT fragile - she was a _DragonRider_after all. Meanwhile, despite the fact that Melora was increasingly pregnant as well, Blake had shown no reluctance in torturing her to within an inch of her life. While, of course, carefully avoiding any torment that might actually affect her pregnancy or unborn child.

Through prior experimentation, Blake knew exactly where Melora's 'perfect balance' between pain and pleasure went. A mix that rendered her virtually insensible, overwhelmed and empty-eyed, masochism and sexual ecstasy feeding into one another in an endless cycle of shuddering, agonized orgasms. That was not where he went this time. Instead, he pushed her limits - pushed her body and mind - to see how much she could really take. How much before even she_could no longer draw enjoyment from it? Quite, _quite far, as it turned out.

He spent days laying into her, leaving her in torture-devices overnight with no chance to sleep. Her normally light-brown coat was soon matted with sweat, criss-crossed by welts, and eventually blackened by clotting blood. Electric shocks, freezing cold and even burning heat were all fair game, adding the stench of burned hair to the dense cloud of sweat that surrounded her. She was accorded no pleasure save for what she could draw from the torment itself. There was no rest, no sleep, and both food and water were poured into her stomach via a hose pushed into her throat on a regular basis, denying her the chance to enjoy the taste, or even wet her lips.

Of course, her most sensitive areas bore the brunt of the torture. Pussy and clit, nipples and breasts, ass and sphincter... all were steadily reduced to bleeding, bruised, perforated masses of quivering flesh. Over a hundred needles had been driven into her flesh at various points and left there. A spiked tube had been thrust into her urethra, ensuring tearing agony every time she peed. Cruel hooks were lodged in her inner AND outer labia, with heavy weights dangling from them. Her ass had been whipped, spanked, flogged and caned so many times that it had been worn virtually hairless, and not an inch of it was free of bruises. Her nipples and clit had tiny metal collars forced down around them - where they had then been affixed with several tiny screws, driven mercilessly into the sensitive tissue. The rings alternately crackled with electricity, became covered in rime, and smoldered hot enough to make the flesh hiss. The less said about the condition of her anus, the better.

In short, the torments she endured could have made an experienced 'interrogator' blanch. She bore it for three days - just over 72 hours, nonstop - before she finally cried for mercy, her voice harsh and cracked from too many wordless screams. Instantly, with a single arcane word, Blake removed all the instruments of torture, and handed her a potent healing-potion. It was a high-quality draught, produced by the finest alchemist in the Utopia - who could probably lay claim to, at least, a top-three position, worldwide. It had barely passed her dry, cracked lips before the litany of injuries she had suffered began to fade away. Welts, scars, holes, burns... all disappeared, leaving her coat clean, healthy and unblemished.

Then, without a word, he'd bent her over and reamed out her freshly-healed asshole - like had been the case with Anitra for a while, Melora's advancing pregnancy made vaginal sex with someone Blake's size too unsafe. The horse-girl seemed to cum every other second, as if, after so long in torment, its mere absence was ecstasy... and the direct, pleasure-inducing attention of her Master pushed her beyond that into some kind of transcendental joy. It was frankly surprising that she remained conscious for as long as she did, especially considering her sleep-deprivation and general exhaustion - Anitra could only suspect that it was a matter of sheer willpower, an abject refusal to allow that perfect moment to end so soon.

Blake, however, simply kept going. Thrust after thrust, load after load he poured into her, occasionally bending his neck to whisper in her ear. It was unclear if she could hear him at all, while her mind and body convulsed in continuous pleasure, but something about the shudders that went through her every time it happened seemed to suggest at much. Finally, she could take no more, and collapsed with one last, orgasmic whinny. Afterwards, she slept for a night and a day, snuggled up to Blake as if he was a security-blanket or stuffed toy of some description, and he let her do so - one foreleg draped protectively across her sleeping form. He refused to leave her until she awakened on her own, necessitating a combined effort from Anitra and Direza when his bladder started to trouble him.

It had been a hard act for Anitra to follow, to say the least. After all, she needed to come up with a similarly-spectacular way to reward Direza - and heaping on the humiliations was a bit more cerebral than just stacking up pain and torture. Fortunately, there were a few new options available to her, what with the steadily-slackening standards of sexual behavior within the Utopia. The Free Lovers were mostly responsible for this - the very existence of what amounted to a publicly-sponsored group of free prostitutes effectively forced people to widen their ideas of what constituted proper behavior.

And, of course, they'd recently had a new recruit with a personal connection to Anitra - Tiffany, the World's Most Kidnappable Girl. Once she'd gotten over her initial awe at seeing the Dragon Utopia firsthand, and been reassured that she'd be able to pick and choose her 'clients', she'd happily accepted the extended offer to join their ranks. It really was a perfect match - she was easily able to commiserate with them about past enslavement, and the stories she could tell from her time among the Amazons and in Hell itself reminded them all that hey, it could have been worse!

They were also, by nature, open-minded - and thus disinclined to make any big deal of it when they learned about Tiffany's... proclivities. Much as Anitra had suspected, even once she had access to regular, safe, guilt-free human (and elf, and dwarf) lovers, she still couldn't help but to lust after the farm-animals. As had been the case after she'd been saved from the Amazons, it simply didn't take very long for the trauma of demonic enslavement to fade, and her old desires to reassert themselves. Fortunately, it just so happened that her very-most-favorite animal was the humble donkey - and what did most of the caravaneers use to transport their goods from the caravansary at the foot of the vast crater that housed the Utopia, up the winding path to the castle itself? Pack-donkeys, and lots of them. The stables in the main courtyard-turned-marketplace were constantly filled by a large number of the braying beasts, steadily rotating in and out with each group that came and went. Tiffany spent a fair amount of her free time there, and if anyone realized what she was doing in the back of the stables, nobody said anything.

Regardless, through Tiffany, Anitra was able to set up an arrangement with the Free Lovers. Then she informed Direza, with a pleasant smile, that she had decided it was time the Drow-maiden 'broadened her horizons' a bit. She needed to get out of the den some more, meet new people! And for that purpose, she'd arranged for her to join the Free Lovers on a temporary basis... not as a full member, of course, but as a 'Cleaner'. Considering Direza's general preference for female lovers, she looked rather relieved at this reassurance - at least, until Anitra explained what being a Cleaner meant.

Essentially, she'd be assigned to a different Lover every day, and shadow her in her work. Whenever she had been with a male client - nearly all of the Lovers were bisexual, by training if not natural inclination, but most of their customer-base was, unsurprisingly, male - Direza would provide post-coital cleaning and care. In other words, she would clean and massage the involved orifices with her mouth, lips and tongue. Oh, and it would be up to the customer in question whether she waited outside the room for the Lover to finish, or _inside_the room, followed by performing her duties in full view of said customer.

It was fairly clear from both her expression and the way she crossed her legs that Direza was close to creaming her complete-lack-of-panties just from having this arrangement outlined for her. Which was why Anitra then leaned forwards, let one hand lightly caress the point just above her crossed legs, and told her what her 'work-uniform' would look like - pushing her over the edge into an orgasm that barely involved any contact with erogenous zones. It would be a variation on her usual 'transforming' outfit, with a full-body cloak for walking around in public, and a more erotic appearance for private encounters...

A collar and leash, for the Lover to lead her around by. A pair of tight leather panties with three obvious, metallic circles along the crotch, making it clear at a glance that she had a trio of dildos currently lodged in her pussy, ass and even urethra. Thigh-high stockings and impractically tall heels. Elbow-length gloves of smoothest silk. Gold-and-ruby nipple-clamps that drew the eye irresistibly towards her fully exposed chest - except for that one splash of color, the whole ensemble was jet-black, making her gray skin seem lighter by contrast. And finally, a very elegant but completely pointless opera-mask - considering that she was the only drow in the entire Utopia, nobody who saw her skin was going to mistake her for anybody else.

The aftershocks of this purely humiliation-motivated orgasm were further enhanced when Anitra then made it absolutely clear to her that she would be expected to perform her duties with equal thoroughness and enthusiasm regardless of the nature of the customer. A fairly valid warning, if one considered what the Free Lovers' customer-base looked like! Well, it wasn't as if the Utopia didn't have a fair number of fit, handsome young men residing in it, per se - many of the craftsmen and sages had either brought their students and apprentices along, or found themselves pursued by ardent disciples eager to learn. And however devoted they may have been to their studies, well, they were still young. Adolescents, by and large. Hormones would have their say, whatever hungers of the mind had brought them to this remote spot.

These youngsters, however, tended to soon realize that the Utopia offered a fairly diverse dating-pool... just not a very human one. Female students weren't unknown, but they were definitely rare. On the other hand, in the Horse-People's enclave, fillies who had spent the exodus held in their mothers' arms were steadily coming of age. They were young, bright-eyed, and eager to learn more of the other people they were now neighbors of... but not quite ready to go looking for a draconic 'master' yet. Things developed in a predictable manner from there.

Even more desired were the young women of the Rakshasa-tribe, especially amongst the more vain and shallow of the castle's young men. After a brief, initial period of mistrust and fear, the realization had settled in that bagging a Rakshasi girlfriend meant being able to act out all of your wildest dreams in the bedroom. A girl who could become anyone you wanted, all the women you'd ever fantasized about but never had the nerve to approach! And the Rakshasi-girls, well, they were so unaccustomed to being able to date openly, without hiding their true nature - to be desired, rather than feared and hated - that they tended to eagerly embrace any advances. The results weren't terribly healthy relationships, but, well... everyone involved were terribly young. Getting involved in stupid relationships and learning from them was part of growing up! At least, that's what she'd heard.

Anitra also strongly suspected that, considering her own voluptuous form and high public profile, a fair number of those kittens were turning into_her_ in the bedroom, for the pleasure of their human boyfriends. She wasn't quite sure if she should feel flattered or creeped out by this, so she settled on shrugging it off.

Regardless, who did this leave for the Free Lovers? Largely, it left the middle-aged-and-older residents who had been too busy mastering their craft to ever find the time for serious relationships. Even some of the old white-beards among the philosophers and mages had turned out to retain surprising amounts of virility and stamina once the option was made available to them, in a fashion that wouldn't distract them from their studies. Some of the craftsmen remained quite fit, thanks to the physical labor involved in their job, but the rest had largely ignored exercise and proper diet just as readily as interpersonal relationships. Some were fat, while others were painfully skinny due to too many forgotten meals - few of them were in any way attractive prospects, in other words.

Fortunately, the Free Lovers were about as far removed from 'shallow' as one could get. They were, after all, former sex-slaves - so they'd seen worse. FAR worse. After all, those who could afford to obtain a sex-slave in the first place tended to be rather wealthy, and those who could do so safely despite essentially all civilized kingdoms forbidding the practice tended to be powerful and influential. Since wealth, power and influence were well-known magnets for women of a certain kind, it stood to reason that if they'd had any redeeming features whatsoever, they wouldn't have NEEDED to resort to such a purchase. From morbidly obese merchants, to nobles with such blood-curdling, sadistic tastes that they tended to buy their slaves by the lot, these girls had seen it all. The fact that their new 'customers' were decent people - the dragons generally did not extend invitations to the other kind - who were grateful for the services provided rather than treating them as disposable things made them eminently attractive in their eyes.

Of course, for Direza, all of that simply meant that she would not merely be cleaning up freshly-used pussies and assholes - she'd also be licking up the reeking cum of some fat old man, rather than a handsome young stud of some description. So, with the all-exposing costume magically transformed into one of her usual blue-black cloaks, Anitra handed Direza over to her first Free Lover boss the next morning, flashing both of them a naughty smile and a reminder to 'work hard'! By evening, the drow-girl was then returned to her, along with the Lover's frank account of her performance.

It had been, apparently, 'decent enough'. All of the 'customers' had been regulars, whatever insecurities they'd once had about their own bodies and performance long-since faded in the face of the Lovers' enthusiastic service. So, unsurprisingly, few of them had had any objection to Direza kneeling quietly by the bedside, watching the two of them get down and dirty... before they, in turn, got to watch her go about her duties. Also unsurprisingly, this had let to quite a few customers suddenly finding new reserves of energy and requesting another round... swiftly undoing all her hard work. Direza's noticeably-reduced enthusiasm when it came to cleaning up after round two (and occasionally three) was the main reason her grading had been merely 'decent' - otherwise, she had performed admirably, licking up and sucking out every trace of cum she could, while using her highly skillful tongue to gently massage and soothe the well-used orifices it came from.

Obviously, Direza wasn't going to get off lightly for returning with such a lackadaisical report. This realization was clear on her face, along with an obvious discomfort that probably had something to do with spending the whole day with her peehole and ass plugged. She'd dined and drunk alongside her boss during the day, but the minimalistic 'panties' that covered her groin were magically locked in place - so going to the bathroom hadn't been possible. Her bladder would be painfully swollen by now, and her guts not much better off.

Anitra considered several ways to incorporate this fact into the inevitable punishment, but discarded most of them as being, quite simply, too_disgusting. After a minute, she settled on one that would be_painfully humiliating for the submissive drow without actually crossing the line. As the Lover left, she grabbed a few necessities from the chamber's great wall-o-sextoys, and started things off by carefully binding Direza's arms behind her back - wrists to elbows. Then, a gag was applied - a hefty one that covered the mouth completely, except for a small hole in the middle. Most likely, she could guess what came next even before Anitra attached it - a thin, flexible tube that was plugged into the gag, while the other end was slotted into her dildo-harness in the hole that the urethra-dildo had just been removed from. The tube was made from a form of alchemical glass that was as subtle and sturdy as leather - handy stuff, and in this case, it provided the added benefit of being able to watch as the bright-yellow liquid traversed the length of it, abandoning the straining bladder to pour into Direza's waiting mouth.

The final touch was a nose-hook - something Anitra had acquired quite recently, and not found a good time to put to use until now. It was weakly enchanted - just a small cantrip that enhanced the wearer's sense of smell! Fortunately, Direza's mask wasn't the kind that covered the nose, or she would've had to find a different one. She was then informed that the hook would be a part of her 'uniform' from now on, and that the tube - along with the restraints and the rest of her outfit - would remain in place until she was collected by another member of the Free Lovers in the morning. And indeed, this would continue to be the case until she returned with a more rousing review than 'decent'!

Then, as a final indignity, she was marched into the bathroom, and the rear dildo removed from her harness. Hands still bound, piss pouring steadily into her mouth - pulled along by a minor enchantment on the tube itself - and nostrils held wide-open, she had little choice but to squat on the loo to empty her roiling guts under Anitra's watchful eye... and subsequently be wiped clean by her Mistress, as if she was an infant.

The dildo was then reinserted - uncleaned, for just a bit more degradation - and she was left largely to her own devices for the rest of the evening... bound and gagged as she was. Adding insult to, well, humiliation, she had to watch as Melora continued to benefit from Blake's undivided attention - he had decided that it would make sense to give her three days of pleasure, now that she'd come through the three days of torture, and was taking every opportunity to pound her ass. The increasingly worn and tender condition of the orifice served nicely to add just enough pain to the experience that she could enjoy it wholeheartedly...

It wasn't the first time Direza had been left to watch Melora be rewarded while she, herself, was punished. Anitra was actually a bit surprised that it hadn't created a rift of jealousy between the two, but not a trace of any such thing had ever appeared. Well, when it came to these kinds of submissive relationships, the line between reward and punishment DID tend to be rather thin and blurry... that much had long-since been made clear. Indeed, punishment could often be its own reward, while a traditional reward could... well, perhaps not quite count as punishment, but certainly it wouldn't have the kind of impact you'd see on a less masochistic subject!

When it came to Direza, though, Anitra had figured out just how to handle it. The drow had two fetishes, after all - humiliation, and_her_. Whether it was really something as nebulous and etheric as True Love, or just a kind of obsessive devotion - a form of monomania, perhaps - the fact remained that Direza was able to enjoy just about anything that directly involved Anitra. She'd used that before, when proper punishment had been required - being isolated from her beloved Mistress for a protracted period of time seemed to tear at her very soul, even if her physical needs were satisfied by humiliation at the hands - or talons, as it was - of others.

Thus, since this entire setup - including the 'punishment' for doing poorly - was designed to effectively be a reward, Anitra made sure to stay heavily involved. That night, Direza was allowed to sleep at the foot of her bed - just so she could make sure she didn't get tangled in the piss-tube and choke herself to death, of course! And in the morning, Anitra herself removed the gag and the tube after cautioning the tired-looking elf-girl to suck her bladder dry beforehand - the tiny urethral dildo would remain where it was, and she wouldn't get another chance to relieve herself until that evening.

Then, after taking the time to insult her 'toilet-breath', Anitra spoon-fed the still bound Direza at the breakfast-table. The bonds were only removed when the Free Lover she'd be serving today arrived at the door to pick her up. Anitra saw them off with a stern reminder that she expected nothing short of a perfect score this time, and a quick comment to the Lover that, naturally, her personal Cleaner could serve as a mobile lavatory too, if the need struck at an inconvenient time. All part of the service! The girl - a curvaceous brunette - rolled her eyes in reply. "Well, OBVIOUSLY. I would expect nothing less!" Like the rest of the Lovers who'd be escorting Direza over the course of the week, she was thoroughly in on the joke.

As expected, Direza returned with a rousing review that evening. Despite no doubt being tired and sore after a night in bondage, she'd thrown herself into her duties with single-minded determination. The addition of the nose-hook, which more than doubled the reek of the freshly-fucked pussy and asshole she spent her day buried in, did nothing to deter her. Neither did the fact that her obvious enthusiasm - and, perhaps, the added perviness of the nose-hook - motivated even more of the customers to request second and third rounds. Even when used for a pissoir - in front of one of the customers, no less - she performed admirably, licking the Lover's pussy clean of stray drops of urine afterwards.

So, lucky her, she was allowed to leave her uniform and duties behind for the evening - and Anitra ladled attention on her, hugging her and complimenting her on such fine performance, frequently reaching down to finger her to a quick orgasm just because. She was even allowed to sleep in Anitra's bed, wrapped in her arms! A permanent blush of delight colored the dark elf's cheeks crimson-red throughout the evening and night - she seemed to just about float on a pink cloud of ecstatic happiness. Indeed, she had little reason to feel jealous of Melora that night, for all that the mare spent it in the great nest Anitra and Blake so often shared - specifically, she spent it underneath Blake, with his cock lodged in her ass.

With both carrot and stick so thoroughly in place, Direza spent the remainder of the week enthusiastically tongue-cleaning the cum-stained pussies and assholes of a string of sex-slaves-turned-whores, drinking their piss with aplomb, and having her body and perversion beheld by dozens of men along the way... usually after kneeling quietly at the foot of a bed for twenty or thirty minutes, watching those same men vigorously pound the prostitute she would soon be tasked with cleaning up. All of which led up to the seventh day, of course...

For that last day - after 5 days of 'excellent' reports and resultant rewards - Direza was teamed with Tiffany. Everything had been set up ahead of time, and Tiffany had been more than happy to play along - she did not seem inclined to judge either Anitra or Direza for the nature of their relationship, whether out of general openmindedness, pure hero-worship, or just a very sensible decision not to throw stones while living in an elaborately-constructed, donkey-shaped glass house. So after spending the morning and early afternoon with some of her regular customers - her 'befreckled country-girl' look had made her quite popular and earned her a lot of eager clients very quickly and, no surprise, she stood out a lot from the more traditional 'sexy slave-girl' look that most of the other Lovers were sporting - she led Direza down to the stables with her...

That evening, Tiffany returned to Anitra's door with a beatific, post-orgasmic smile on her face, and yet another flawless report-card for the somewhat shaky-looking Direza. Anitra sent the girl off with a naughty smile and a knowing nod, and then pulled the slightly nauseous-looking drow into a tight embrace, followed by a deep kiss. Then she whispered in her ear "I like the scent on you... wild and virile... I wanna try it firsthand. Hey... show me to the last customer you helped service..." Direza stiffened, her breath catching in her throat... then her body relaxed against Anitra's, and with a submissive nod, she complied.

Down in the stables she faked surprise, without much conviction, and demanded a full explanation... forcing Direza to give a detailed account of how she'd spent hours sucking donkey-cum from Tiffany's gaping pussy and asshole, in between watching the girl moan and shudder under one beast after the other. "Well, now! Sounds like fun!" Anitra declared in response. "Now I just _have_to try it for myself!" And indeed she did. It wouldn't be the first time she'd done it with an animal, and she'd actually been thinking about doing exactly that weeks ago, just before she got thrown into Hell. Since then, after hearing Tiffany gush about the inherent sexual talents of the common pack-donkey, it had gone from a casually-perverted thought to a real desire.

Well, Tiffany - for all her misfortunes - did not quite have Anitra's breadth of experience to compare them to. Much like horses and, for that matter, unicorns, the donkeys had some pretty simple equipment - straight, smooth meat-poles, featuring a flat, slanted head and a radial ring near the base.

Being animals and all, though, their 'technique' was limited to just mindlessly pumping away. However, the size WAS very pleasing - far larger than what a human might be packing, but still smaller than what you'd find on a full stallion - and they turned out to possess both impressive stamina and nigh-bottomless virility. Better yet, at the time, Anitra's pregnancy was not so advanced that she couldn't offer them her pussy - which had, indeed, been the very reason she'd considered them in the first place.

So she let a handful of the horny beasts fuck her, mainly in the pussy, while a red-faced Direza carried on her regular 'duties', now with an enjoyment that bordered on the orgasmic. There was a certain thrill to being with a dumb animal, she decided - perhaps enough to make up for the lack of technique. They rutted into her with instinctive intensity, free of any constraining thought or consideration... not knowing or caring about her advancing pregnancy. And, well, it wasn't as if she was entirely immune to the masochistic enjoyment of humiliation that so thoroughly got Direza off, either...

The final step followed naturally. After letting the final donkey fuck her ass, Anitra ordered Direza to clean off the animal's still-hard cock once she was done rimming her gaping sphincter and sucking out the cum. Direza complied without noticeable hesitation, and soon the softening tool jumped back into full erection under her tender tongue's treatment. "Awww, it looks like he likes you..." Anitra had crooned. "You should give him a ride."

Direza hesitated for just a second, staring at the unwashed beast with disgust written across her face. It wasn't an elegant or noble animal, like a horse - it was a dull, stumpy thing with large, yellowed teeth and a messy, gray coat that had more than a few flies buzzing around it. He smelled rank - and she was still wearing her 'work-uniform', complete with the scent-enhancing nose-hook. And finally, while Direza HAD been with a few odd creatures in her time - including a rather hideous Umber Hulk and an actual god inhabiting the body of a bull - they'd all had human-level or higher intelligence. She'd never done it with an animal. So her hesitation was quite understandable - and exactly what Anitra had been waiting for.

Grabbing the slim elf, she pulled her in close. "Are you ignoring your Mistress?" she'd asked sweetly while Direza's eyes widened in sudden realization of her misstep. "Very well, then, I'll make it an order... you WILL let him fuck you, and when he's had his fill, you'll thank him for it... by cleaning his tailhole with your tongue. And you will do it all with enthusiasm and skill, or I will have you spend the next week in this stable, fucking and rimming every last donkey that comes through here! Is that clear?!" It had, of course, been perfectly clear.

Just to twist the knife an extra notch, she arranged for Direza to enjoy the ride in a somewhat different way than what both Tiffany and she herself had done - that was, just kneeling and letting them mount her doggystyle. Or donkeystyle, as it were. Unlike Tiffany's sturdy arms - hardened by years of labor - and Anitra's inhumanly-strong ones, Direza's spindly limbs would find it difficult to bear the weight of a horny donkey on her back. Which, of course, nicely justified her instead spending the ride on a haybale... on her back, ensuring that she was looking directly up at the dumb, equine face of her lover during the whole thing. No chance for her to just bury her head in her hands and pretend it wasn't happening. She got to watch as well as hear the donkey bray in orgasm as he filled her pussy with plenty of thick, hot cum...

True to her orders, she wrapped her legs around his broad hindquarters, as if pulling him in. She hugged him, sluttily egging him on, begging him to fill her with his donkey-cum and make her his mare. She even lifted her head to kiss his muzzle passionately, running her tongue over his uneven, squared-off teeth. And, after he'd finished and she'd rolled off the haybale, cum oozing from her still-gaping, ash-gray pussy to stain her slender thighs, she went to kneel behind him and gave him one of the deepest, sloppiest, most enthusiastic rimjobs Anitra had ever seen, mashing her nose flat against his ass and spreading her jaws wide-open in order to push her tongue as deep inside his unwashed asshole as it would go.

After all that, Anitra pulled the sweaty, shuddering Direza backwards into an embrace, kneeling behind her. With her hands roaming up the drow-girl's flat belly and heaving chest she could feel the retching she was so effectively suppressing. Indeed, Direza's iron-cast self-control had always been a marvel. "Nicely done..." she'd whispered into her ear. "You're truly a cum-guzzling, ass-eating donkey-fucker... and more importantly, you're my cum-guzzling, ass-eating donkey-fucker. When we get back to the den, I'll show you just how much I mean that..."

Waiting back there was one final present... one that she hadn't _originally_planned, but come up with after she saw the extra gift Blake gave Melora at the end of her 'three days of pleasure', a couple of days earlier. Fortunately, it had taken one of the expert metalcrafters operating in the Utopia's Hall of Crafts less than an hour to make it. It was a brand - one that spelled out "Property of DragonRider Anitra" in neat, little, highly-readable letters. Blake's breath heated it to white-hot while Direza, breathing hard and shuddering, face feverish, bent over before her...

Returning from the memories to the present, Anitra grinned and glanced down. Her swollen belly prevented her from seeing Direza's head as she finished up her job, licking up the last few stray drops of urine - but as the drow kneeled before her, she COULD see her bare ass, and the upside-down brand imprinted on her right butt-cheek. It wasn't nearly as permanent as it looked, of course - in that sense, it was more symbolic than anything. While the fact that the iron had been heated with a black dragon's flame made the resulting burn a good deal more resistant to magical healing, a sufficiently-powerful spell could still erase it without a trace. And Direza just so happened to be a powerful Priestess of Lolth, with access to several such healing-spells. Which was why the branding iron was now hanging prominently over on the Wall-o-Sextoys now - Anitra had put it there after sweetly reassuring Direza that, should the brand ever 'disappear' for any reason, it would simply be reapplied...

Well, symbols had quite a bit of power, and that was the honest truth. This one had certainly had an impact. If possible, Direza had become even_more_ devoted to Anitra in the aftermath, and she had a sneaking suspicion that the presence of the brand and the reassurance that went with it might have been extremely necessary. Otherwise, Direza might very well have refused to use a life-saving healing-spell on herself, knowing that it would erase the brand in the process... certainly, there was no doubt in Anitra's mind that Direza would gleefully leap into the very jaws of death for her.

Speaking of symbols, the mask Direza had worn during her 'apprenticeship' with the Free Lovers had been another meaningful one. Naturally, every last 'customer' she had helped service knew exactly who she was. And, gossip being what it was, so did probably everybody else over the age of 12 currently residing in the Utopia and its surroundings. But because of the mask, everyone also knew that they weren't 'supposed' to know, or bring it up. So they acted like nothing was different when they saw her in the hallways... and eyed her as she departed, wondering just what - if anything - she was wearing under her robes. It was essentially a sort of ongoing, low-intensity public humiliation, which ensured that Direza often returned from errands and shopping-trips breathless and with juice-stained thighs.

Somehow, though, all of that just circled back to her current situation. Direza was overjoyed to help her with her compressed bladder, but _she_wasn't getting much out of it. And that round with the donkeys had been the last hurrah of her vagina - by now, with her belly swelling, anything bigger than a regular, human-sized cock was out of the question... and something like that just wasn't going to _satisfy_her. Well, that was just a small part of it, after all. Awkwardness, discomfort, general grumpiness... and some very real jealousy towards Melora.

Not for the fact that Blake still seemed quite willing to roughly ream_her_ ass, while increasingly treating Anitra like she was made out of porcelain - but for the fact that she was handling her pregnancy so much better. At the moment, the two of them were roughly in the same state - Melora had started later but advanced much faster - and, unlike her, Melora had a body that seemed perfectly designed for the process. It was mostly about the hips, she suspected - the sturdily-built mare certainly had what the old women tended to refer to as 'child-bearing hips'. But really, it was her whole body. Strong, yet curvy - solid, durable, and thoroughly mature. She was at the very height of her youth and fertility.

Meanwhile, Anitra's body was... somewhat of a paradox. She'd been sixteen when an injection of black-dragon-cum awakened her hidden DragonRider blood and instantly kicked her into physical maturity. Her bust had grown several sizes literally overnight, and she'd just generally put on curves; her hips had reshaped themselves to accommodate dragon-cock - which had been quite the unpleasant experience - also providing her with a more womanly shape in that department. But in many ways, her body was still that of a teenager - and it hadn't grown in any way, shape or form since then. She was a DragonRider now, her life linked to Blake's - looking at a lifespan of centuries if not more. And if what she'd heard was true, she wasn't going to age a day at any point during that time. So despite her generous boobs - now temporarily swollen to an even greater size, and highly sensitive - her body wasn't really built to handle a pregnancy. Her draconic strength and toughness prevented it from being outright crippling, but did not extend to making it actually comfortable.

While thinking all of that, her eyes had naturally gravitated towards where the placid-looking mare was sitting - on the edge of the main nest, leaning against Blake's flank, practically glowing as she knitted a baby-blanket while humming quietly. An iconic depiction of the beauty of expectant motherhood if ever there was one! And apparently quite comfortable in a position that would've had Anitra's legs, ass, and lower back crying bloody murder within minutes. Melora, apparently noticing her glance - or, more accurately, glare - looked up from her knitting to flash a beaming smile - which Anitra could only answer with a vague grimace.

Regarding her thoughtfully, Melora put aside the half-finished blanket to lean forwards - yet another thing she could somehow still do and Anitra most definitely couldn't - and started talking. "You know... back in my tribe, the mares who were too much bothered by their pregnancies..." she did not mention that those pregnancies probably were a lot bigger and more advanced than what Anitra was currently carrying, but then, she didn't need to either. "...would often go down to the lake to bathe. Letting the water carry their burdens for them for a while did wonders to ease sore muscles and lift careworn spirits."

Anitra sighed. "Yeah, that IS nice... I dunno if you've noticed, but I spend a fair amount of time in the pool." She gestured towards the dragon-sized bath in one corner of the cavernous chambers, where she did, indeed, spend time daily. "But the water won't keep me from being bored outta my skull - and I can't read books there... and after a while my skin starts to get all weird and prune-y..."

Reading had become Anitra's main pass-time mostly by the method of elimination. She'd resumed the studies that had originally been motivated by her desire to learn the truth about the Black Dragons and the DragonRiders - and while she had arguably accomplished that goal, many questions still remained unanswered. Plus, there were a great many highly entertaining books from Drake's Library of the Perverse that she had yet to examine - you never knew what kind of gems you might find in those! But reading rare, valuable, magical books in the bath were a big no-no, to say the least. However, her grumpy reply somehow failed to deter Melora...

"Perhaps you just need a somewhat larger body of water to bathe in. And I'm sure that there is some magical or alchemical way to counter this... pruning you speak of." Anitra thought it over for a moment. "Well, I guess we DO have quite a large lake directly underneath us. But... it's a CRATER-lake. It doesn't exactly have a wading-section. I'm not sure how good a swimmer I'll be in my current... condition. But I suppose if I got, like, a Ring of Water-Breathing or something..." An interruption came, then, from a rather unexpected corner - namely, by her side, where Direza was kneeling, her piss-drinking job completed, eagerly awaiting another chance to be useful to her Mistress and seemingly just enjoying the proximity.

"I'm sorry, but there is no such thing, Mistress..." she said with clear confidence, if a touch of hesitancy at speaking without bidden to. Lifting a surprised eyebrow, Anitra looked down at her. "Huh... I assume that what you mean isn't just that none have been made yet, but that it is actually impossible to make one? Even here, with all the great enchanters we've got?" Direza nodded, again seeming perfectly sure. "Indeed, Mistress. No enchanter can produce a Ring of Water-Breathing, or any other object enchanted with that particular effect. If anyone ever tries to sell you one, you may be perfectly certain that he is a charlatan."

"Intriguing..." Sometimes, it was dangerously easy to forget that Direza already had a century or more of life behind her, and a thorough education in everything the ecclesiastical leader or a nation of backstabbing, murderous torturers and raiders was expected to need knowing. She'd gotten so accustomed to the life of the submissive and the servant that her self-effacing nature could cause this to fade from even minds that ought to know better. "Please, explain."

Direza explained. Apparently, there was a set of effects that Arcane Magic simply couldn't perform - they seemed somewhat arbitrary, but all were related to reshaping the body in some way. The most notable point on the list was healing - the act of directly closing wounds and replenishing lost blood. A wizard or mage could promote_healing and accelerate the body's natural regeneration - but he could not cause a wound to simply knit itself closed. However, _clerics- those whose magic came from the gods - were not bound by those restrictions. On the other hand, they also couldn't imbue their power into dead objects, the way enchanters did. Alchemists, likewise, had no problems in that regard. So if you were wounded, a cleric could heal your wounds, or an alchemical healing-potion could do so for you - a wizard, for all the many and varied spells at his disposal, could not.

Other points on the list of arcane impossibilities included altering the elasticity of the body, altering size, and water-breathing. In retrospect, this explained a lot - namely why Lezard Valeth's notes had sent her and Blake out on a rather long side-trip before their visit to the Forest of the Fairies. A Ring of Shrinking, had such a thing been possible, would have been far easier to acquire than the extra-strength shrinking-potion she'd used, and would have worked well enough despite her magical resistance. Of course, that memory also brought up the other side of the issue - while it wouldn't be hard to get a Potion of Water-Breathing from one of the Utopia's many skilled alchemists, her draconic constitution would render it mostly impotent. It would have a weak, short-lived effect at best... which was less than ideal for something that was liable to kill you if it ran out prematurely.

Anitra sighed and nodded, shifting in her chair to get more comfortable. "Well, that was informative... I'm guessing you originally learned all this so that you might know the reach of your priestly powers, and where they exceeded those of arcane spellcasters?" Direza nodded silently, a shadow moving over her face as tended to happen when she was reminded of her past and the life she once had. Reaching out a hand to tussle the girl's usually-neat, ivory-white hair, she flashed her a lopsided grin. "And I don't suppose there's any point in asking you if you can cast Water-Breathing?" Direza smiled beatifically and pushed against Anitra's hand like and over-eager puppy. "I'm afraid not, Mistress. It is... a bit outside the purview of Lolth."

"It is rather outside the purview of the vast majority of gods, actually..." a rumbling voice interjected as Blake joined the conversation. Anitra raised an eyebrow in his direction, and he looked up from the book he'd been reading. It was a huge tome, though in his hands it rather resembled a travel-sized handbook. While he was as spry as ever, the advancing pregnancies of both Anitra and Melora - the two most frequent recipients of his ardor - had left _him_with a bit of extra time on his hands as well, and he seemed to have been spending it in much the same way as her... raiding the extensive and eclectic collection of the Utopia's sprawling library.

Responding to her unspoken question, he flashed her a fang-filled grin and lifted up his book to show her that the front of it read 'Tha Maeny Taels and Legeants yf Tha Gawds' - clearly, an ancient tome from before spelling had been invented. "Well, since I discovered that I am, apparently, some kind of God-slaying, living superweapon - and that some of them still carry a grudge about that - I thought it wise to read up on the Gods a bit." He put the book back down, but twisted his long, snake-like neck to put his head down on the level of the other debaters. "And based on that, I can tell you that precious few Gods seem to have any connection to the waters, and thus a way to grant something like a Water-Breathing Blessing to their priesthood. There's a Goddess of Rivers down in some southern jungles not far from Ganarãjya, and a God of Lakes in a northern territory far to the west... supposedly. That's about it, though."

Anitra blinked. "What, isn't there a God of the Ocean? I could swear I've heard one mentioned..." Melora nodded along with this. "As have I - during my travels, I visited a few port-towns, and the sailors tended to quite literally swear by a God of the Oceans... Triton, I believe?" Blake nodded and shrugged at the same time, slightly jostling Melora in the process. "Well, yeah... sailors, pirates and fishermen alike talk about the God of the Oceans, Triton, quite often. Many an old salt or famed captain have claimed nightly visitations from him, or credit him with whispering in their ear to help them avoid an oncoming storm, steer clear of reefs in the dark, or even find their way back to shore after being blown off course. But... that's pretty much it. The popular story is that the sea itself is his temple, and every true sailor part of his clergy... but the simple fact is that he doesn't HAVE any temples, nor any clerics. And even if some old sailor sometimes receive divine guidance from him, that certainly doesn't seem to imbue them with the kind of holy power that most priesthoods wield."

Anitra considered this for a moment, then threw up a hand, palm up. "Well, that's all quite interesting, and entirely irrelevant to me... even if we had a suitable cleric on hand, the spell wouldn't work on me, what with my resistance. Meanwhile, my draconic constitution makes potions useless, and the only reliable ways to get around my resistance are solely available to the Arcane disciplines, which cannot actually do so. So we're back where we started, and I'm still stuck in my chair instead of going for a swim..."

Even as her voice started to trail off into generalized moping, however, Blake interjected. "Not so fast!", prompting her to raise an inquisitive eyebrow at him. "You're kinda' jumping the gun, saying that potions are useless. Or have you forgotten about all the trouble we went through to get that special shrinking-potion for your visit to the Forest of Fairies?" he asked in response. Anitra snorted in reply. "Even if I had forgotten about that, Direza's recent mention of size-changing magic would have reminded me. But, well... getting that potion was a huge deal. A near-forgotten formula held by one of the last members of a dying tribe. An obscure ingredient harvestable only from an extremely rare animal. And it was only thanks to Lezard Valeth - Rune-Mage, Alchemist, Prodigy, and all-round arrogant little bastard - that we knew about any of that. Even if we could find similar hints about a super-strength Water Breathing Potion, powerful enough to overcome my resistance, it seems like a lot of hassle to go to, just to enable me to take a dip."

Blake chuckled, conceding the point. "Certainly, certainly... but had you considered the possibility that the answer could be a lot closer at hand? We do, after all, have an expansive source of ancient, near-forgotten magical and alchemical knowledge already in residence... and you know how thorough that guy was!" Blinking, Anitra caught the hint and nodded with sudden understanding. "You know, when you put it that way, I can think of several reasons he would've added such a formula to his collection if he could find it... Direza! I need you to go fetch a number of books from the library. From ol' Drake's collection, to be specific..."

Direza, as usual, went straight from resting to immediate obedience in the blink of an eye, and had no trouble retrieving what she'd requested - the drow had run any number of similar errands since Anitra's pregnancy started advancing and, in recognition of her decreased mobility, the draconic librarian had relaxed some of his usual policies on borrowing books. What Direza returned with were a handful of titles from the Library of the Perverse, quoted from memory, that seemed most likely to contain something like an alchemical formula for a high-strength Water Breathing Potion. Direza and herself immediately got started on a pair, and Blake too put aside the book he'd been working his way through to help look.

Only Melora was left out of the spontaneous study-group, and quietly returned to her knitting. The horse-people hadn't been real big on stuff like reading, writing and numbers when she was growing up amongst them - Darcian, the current ruler of the freshly-united Kingdom of Equus, had been quite the aberration in his bookishness and, based on recent reports, he was now working towards spreading greater literacy in his new Kingdom. None of which helped Melora, who upon joining Blake's retinue had possessed only the most rudimentary reading-skills, even more basic writing, and numbers only in the fundamental add-and-subtract fashion necessary for dealing with traders and claiming payments and bounties. Since then, she'd learned quite a bit - but no-one was going to mistake her for a Sage yet.

Any lingering insecurity she might have felt about this, though, had long-since been exorcised - early on, when she had angsted about her inability to aid her beloved Master with letters or numbers, Blake had brought her up short by remarking "I did not invite you to be my secretary. I invited you to be my personal sex-toy and loyal servant. You are here to serve me, body and soul, and you have managed splendidly so far - so what if there's something you can't do? If I need numbers and letters done, there are many others I can ask." Then he'd pushed her to the ground and pounded her pussy with particular brutality, leaving her bruised for days afterwards. Ever since, she'd shown herself to be entirely unbothered by this gap in her education. She was still working steadily to correct it, though, Anitra had noticed.

Regardless, with three people poring over the books, it didn't take long before they got a hit. "I think I've got something..." Blake rumbled, gesturing towards the crisp parchment pages with a careful talon. "There's a whole chapter on underwater sex here... quite thorough! Enchantments to prevent skin-pruning, enchantments for added mobility, enchantments for... ah, here we go! An alchemical recipe for a Potion of Water-Breathing, confirmed to 'not impede the oral arts'. And right next to it... a recipe for an 'extra-strength' Potion of Water-Breathing, 'for use by those possessing strong resistance to alchemical substances, including but not limited to the mighty Dragons'!

Anitra was about halfway to leveraging herself out of the chair - no easy feat - when Blake handed the book over to Melora, who slipped off the nest and took it over to her... seemingly unimpeded by her advancing pregnancy, as per usual. Quashing yet another surge of jealousy, Anitra looked over the relevant alchemical formula and its description, and nodded eagerly. "This certainly looks like just the thing! Long-lasting, reliable... even specifically mentions that it's safe for use by pregnant women. I'd say something about how ol' Drake must have predicted that women in that state might enjoy floating about, but I've noticed that virtually all of the draughts described in his books specifically mention whether or not they're safe for pregnant women. The guy may have been a grade-A perv, but clearly he had a healthy respect for the likely consequences of having lots of sex!"

Turning a few pages, she found herself nodding repeatedly. Like Blake had mentioned, it was an entire chapter dedicated to undersea exploration... or, more precisely, undersea sex. It detailed all the enchantments and potions one could possibly need for a safe journey to the darkest depths of the seas, including stuff like lube that would work underwater... and lists of the sexual features of various ocean- and lake-dwelling animals, monsters and creatures. Licking her lips, she looked up with a grin. "Well, that was easy... assuming none of the ingredients required for the extra-strength potion are derived from some super-rare animal or whatever."

Blake returned the grin, nodding. "Indeed. Seems like you'll be able to safely enjoy the dark-blue depths of the lake! I've heard from some of my Silver acquaintances that the bottom of the lake is quite beautiful, filled with outcroppings of gemstones and precious metals." Most dragons enjoyed swimming, but the Silvers were the most water-adapted of the lot - with the Swamp-dragons, who preferred shallow, muckier waters, a close second. Not only could they swim with almost as much speed and agility as they demonstrated in the air, they could also hold their breaths for impressive periods of time. There were always a fair number of them playing in the sapphire-blue crater-lake, resembling nothing so much as schools of silvery fish when viewed from a distance.

Anitra, however, shook her head, a triumphant smile creasing her lips. "Oh no... with all THESE possibilities spread out before us, I'm not settling for a dip in the lake! Start packing, girls - we're going to the beach!"

Of course, it wasn't quite that simple. Not even close. First, they had to show the recipe to one of the top-tier alchemists in the Utopia, who was able to confirm that while the process of distilling it would be a lengthy and complex affair, he actually had all of the necessary ingredients available to him. This was, of course, mostly thanks to the increasingly extensive trade-network that had grown up around the Utopia, and Anitra had to admit that pleasant though the currency-free culture of the Utopia was, there was something to be said for the sheer, greed-motivated drive and determination displayed by the merchants who had created that network.

More and more of them made the long, perilous journey there, following whispered rumors and tall tales - though obviously, those hints were becoming less and less vague as more and more travelers and merchants came to know the truth. Despite everyone - dragons and merchants alike - doing their best to keep things on the down-low, the truth was steadily filtering out. Regardless, save for a few notable missteps - like the slave-trader whose liberated wares had formed the core of the Free Lovers - most were showing up with genuinely desirable goods by now. Books and parchment, fine tools and rare crafting-ingredients, magically preserved delicacies from around the world and yes - obscure alchemical ingredients of every stripe. She honestly wouldn't be surprised if there was a vial of carefully-preserved white tiger cum sitting on a shelf somewhere at this point.

Regardless, it would take nearly a week for the Alchemist to actually produce the draught. That, however, DID mean that they had enough time to prepare everything ELSE they'd need for their beachside holiday. Starting with the actual transportation. Much as she'd love to pretend otherwise, Anitra was in no condition to sit in the saddle anymore... though, mercifully, she was saved from having to actually admit as much by Blake's insistence that they arrange for a safer alternative. Fortunately, one was already available!

While the merchants were left to make their own way to the Utopia, those who came there on the dragons' express invitation didn't have to walk. Sages, philosophers, craftsmen and mages alike were transported there on dragonback - and for the more ancient, decrepit or infirm of them, an alternative to saddles had long-since been created: The palanquins. Well, that's what they called it, anyway. It was basically just a tiny, enclosed room strapped to the back of a dragon, filled with comfortable pillows for reclining. When they were needed, they were usually applied by the largest races - Reds, Bronzes, even Golds - but Blake was strong for his size, and with one of the smaller palanquins modified for the purpose, stripping it down and lightening its weight, it was quite possible for him to carry it around.

But of course, there were many other things that needed preparing, too. Basic supplies, tents, enchantments and other potions... the special, extra-strength draught of Water-Breathing was just for Anitra, after all, and only provided the ability to breathe under water. Regular potions would be needed for Melora and Direza, and a variety of enchanted gear would supply other effects necessary for safely and comfortably exploring the deep seas. Resistance to pressure, immunity from skin-pruning, buoyancy-modification and general mobility... there was a lot to take care of. The book from Drake's Library had everything they needed, but really, most of the described enchantments were perfectly ordinary ones, already known by any experienced enchanter.

All in all, it took nearly a week before they were ready to depart. And it wouldn't be a short trip - part of the prepwork had also included poring over a few maps to find a suitable isolated and warm beach within easy reach... the last bit being the sticky point. The Dragon Utopia was well inland, after all. Even with Blake's impressive airspeed, it would take more than ten hours to reach their chosen goal. Naturally, most of the flight would be by night - since Blake required less sleep than his three passengers and blended into the night sky far better than a daylit one, that just made sense - but none of them were likely to be able to snore for quite _that_long.

Thus, they set out in the early evening, with plans to arrive in time to watch the sun rise over the sea. Bags packed and snacks loaded, they climbed into the palanquin while Blake shifted in the new harness to get used to it. They said goodbye to a few friends, and reassured everyone that they'd be back soon - in about a week, or maybe a few days later depending on how much fun they had. Argila, the silver dragon who managed most of the Council's affairs, seemed particularly keen to have this reassurance, which struck Anitra as a bit interesting. Sure, back in the old days, black dragons were invaluable to the Utopia since they alone could come and go as they pleased - but that wasn't true anymore, leaving the position of Champion as a fairly symbolic one. Perhaps Blake's growing engagement with the Council had turned him into a genuinely important voice there?

Regardless, they were soon in the air, reclining in the palanquin's pillows while Blake's wings beat strongly outside the windows, bringing them up towards the higher altitudes where he could more easily cruise long-distance. They had at least a few hours to spend before they could try to get some sleep, and plenty of snacks and drinks to pass the time with. The palanquin was truly luxurious - when Anitra had asked the resident craftsmen to strip it down and make it lighter for Blake's use, she'd expected to wind up with something fairly basic... just the bare necessities! But she'd once again failed to account for the high regard she and Blake were held in by so much of the Utopia's population.

Originally, the various non-draconic residents of the Utopia had treated her with a kind of vague respect, founded mostly in the fact that the Dragons_were acting like she was important. To them, she was no different than the nobles they'd no doubt often interacted with back home - important because... they were important, and that was all there was to it so best be polite, bucko! But by now, the various visitors had increasingly absorbed the backstory of the Utopia - and learned how it had gone from being a well-hidden, magically-isolated fortress, as much prison as sanctuary, to being a truly utopic bastion of learning and progressiveness. Whether heroic or selfish, the deeds she had wrought alongside Blake had _created the Utopia as it now stood - and those who had come to love the place thus held great gratitude for her.

So when she'd requested a lightened palanquin for her personal conveyance, they'd spared no effort. A large number of craftsmen had collaborated on it, combining their skills and labors to both get it done quickly and to the highest standards of quality. Rather than stripping it down and dropping features in order to achieve the requisite weight, they'd replaced large parts of it with rare, hard-to-get materials that were lighter and stronger than the basic woods that had gone into the original construction. Various other minor features were added on top, with an eye towards compact, lightweight design. Like holders for drinks and snacks set into the wall, as a precaution against turbulence. Heck, even the pillows that covered the floor were extraordinarily light, fluffy and comfortable!

The setting promoted a relaxed, decadent atmosphere, and the three of them fell to chatting as they snacked and watched the sky slowly darken outside the alchemically-treated windows. There was time to think, too, though - and it was Direza that accidentally sent Anitra's mind wandering when she complimented Melora on her chest-adornments. They were still fairly new, and Anitra had to admit that the rings had a unique look to them. They'd been Blake's final gift to her - after three days of torture and three days of pleasure - and the very thing that had inspired Anitra to cook up Direza's brand.

They weren't nipple-rings in the traditional sense. Rather than piercing the nipples, they encircled them - thickly-wrought bands of gleaming metal with a square cross-section that left only the tip of the teats exposed. Well, they pierced them too, but that wasn't immediately obvious. Certainly, the simple fact that sharp-edged rings were twisted so that the angles dug into both the sensitive nipple and the surrounding areola was enough to turn them into a painful adornment all by itself, but they went a lot deeper than that - quite literally. Several tiny diamonds lined the outside edge of the squared-off ring, and Anitra knew that these weren't simple decorations - rather, they were the heads of a series of nails which had been driven into her breasts at an angle, spearing several sensitive nerve-clusters along the way and nearly meeting in the middle.

After the six days of pain and pleasure, Blake had asked Melora which part of the tortures he had piled on her she'd found most appealing - and her answer had been the special rings he'd had made for the occasion. She'd worn the three of them throughout the experience, tormented not just by the numerous, cruel spikes, but also the the enchantment they each carried: The ability to heat up, cool down, or electrify. In response, he'd gifted her the nipple-rings as a permanent adornment - denying her the third and final ring with a waved talon and a sadistic grin. "If you wore that all the time, it would leave your clit exposed to the air... causing it to desensitize with time. I want you to stay nice and sensitive for the next time I decide to torment you for my own amusement."

Needless to say, that kind of message had only served to further arouse the masochistic mare, who was overjoyed with her new adornments. Their sheer weight caused them to sway with her every movement, pulling her nipples along by the eight spikes rammed into them to a depth of at least a solid inch. And they did look good too - the metal was some form of gold-and-steel alloy, and the tiny diamonds lining the outer edge gleamed beautifully. They weren't just for looks, of course - rather, these ingredients were necessary in order to provide the rings with enough of a magical charge to power the added features. Even then, Blake had found it necessary to modify them a bit before handing them over.

Even with the gold and diamonds involved, the rings were simply too small to carry any significant charge - when he'd used them during the three-day torture-session, he'd been steadily recharging them with his own power to keep them active. Now that Melora was to wear them long-term, he'd rebalanced the elemental enchantments to make them weaker, but thus also less draining, so that the rings would last longer on a charge. Of course, they were still quite potent - with a thought, he could turn the rings burning hot, ice-cold, or painfully electric... just not to the point of doing real damage - which, Anitra suspected, had been the real reason for the rebalance.

While Melora did seem quite delighted with the rings, though, the relaxed atmosphere within the palanquin seemed to have lowered some of the horse-girl's defenses, causing her to admit - with a sigh and a glance towards Anitra's own chest - that however nice they were, she would happily trade them for Anitra's nipple-rings, if given the choice. This prompted her to look down and consider the golden, sculpted rings dangling heavily from her nipples for the first time in a while. She'd grown so accustomed to them being there that she didn't really think about them - they might as well be a part of her, really. And thus, it was also easy to forget about the reason why Melora likely would be willing to sacrifice her right arm - heck, every limb she had, if it came to that - to have those rings for her own: Her ability to communicate mentally with Blake wasn't due to some intrinsic part of her DragonRider powers, but because of those enchanted rings.

Which, of course, made her grimace even worse than Melora when Direza then mentioned that it was a bit of a shame she'd soon have to remove those nice rings again... after all, she could hardly suckle an infant while wearing them. Anitra was, after all, in the same boat. Sure, Melora would be available to function as a wetnurse as needed, but she had no intention of leaving that particular duty _entirely_to the motherly mare. If she was to be a mother - bearing Blake's child - she would feed the boy from her own body whenever possible. That meant removing the golden rings for a time - and with it, her telepathic bond with Blake.

Really made you think about the things you took for granted... so she quickly made use of it to inform Blake that his loyal servant seemed to be unappreciative about his gift, and maybe he should remind her about some of the many handy features they came with? The atmosphere in the palanquin took a turn for the more lustful, then, as she and Direza watched Melora writhe among the pillows, moaning throatily while her nipple-rings glowed red with heat. Things escalated pleasantly from there - they'd brought the Ring of Priap along for the ride too, after all, and with Anitra speaking Blake's mental commands out loud, he was able to convey to Melora that the nipple-torture would continue until she had made both Anitra and_Direza cum three times each... with one being added to both those numbers every time _she had an orgasm.

It took a couple of hours for her to accomplish this feat, not helped by the tight confines of the palanquin and the awkward positions they were forced to assume to accommodate it, and through it all Melora's nipples were alternately heated, frozen and electrified. The final tally was five orgasms each for Anitra and Direza, and two for Melora. Fortunately, the palanquin also included the necessary supplies for cleaning up the resulting mess, and the pillows proved capable of rejecting the various sexual juices instead of absorbing them. It had certainly passed the time, too - by then, it was completely black outside the windows, with the inside of the palanquin pleasantly lit by a magical glow-orb attached to the ceiling. Exhausted by their sexual acrobatics, the three sweaty travelers fell asleep one by one, jumbled together and halfway on top of each other. Soon, the glow-crystal automatically responded to their resting states by dimming its light and eventually going out.

Eventually, they were jostled awake - resulting in a bit of undignified flailing as all three of them clawed their way out of the confusion that inevitably followed such a rude awakening in so unfamiliar surroundings. After a few seconds to let their brains spin up to full speed, they found themselves looking out the window at a breathtaking sight - and soon opened the door to get a better look. The jostling had been from Blake landing on the beach, and before them the sea was painted in the nuances of fire and blood by the rising sun.

It was a starkly beautiful view. The sea stretched out before them, disappearing over the horizon. Here and there, white crests could be seen as the waves caressed invisible, undersea reefs. Seabirds whirled in the air above, crying harshly, perhaps confused by the recent arrival of a massive predator to their territory. The beach stretched out in both directions, the sand almost achingly white, darkening where the waves quietly lapped over it. Meanwhile, all around them, sheer limestone walls rose, high as a castle tower.

They'd picked the location with careful thought. They did not want to run into other bathing tourists, nor sailors, nor smugglers. So a cove sufficiently isolated to make approach by anything but air impractical was ideal. Fortunately, the Utopia had an extensive collection of maps, some of them created through laborious, magical scrying, and thus painfully detailed. This beach had it all - the surrounding cliffs meant that reaching it on foot would require extensive mountain-climbing skills, appropriate equipment, and a lot of guts. The seaside approach, meanwhile, was guarded by numerous undersea reefs, as earlier noted - not impossible to navigate for a skilled sailor, but certainly nothing anyone would want to attempt without a very good reason. Essentially, while the cove wasn't inaccessible in the strictest sense, there just wasn't anything there to justify the hassle - unless you happened to be capable of casual flight.

They all spent several minutes just enjoying the view and the silence, with Anitra leaning on and lovingly caressing Blake's head. Then he broke the spell with a yawn, prompting Direza and Melora to get to work. The plan was that Blake would take a much-needed nap while the three of them went out to sea to explore the surrounding waters for the first time - though Blake hastened to remind Anitra that he would be able to hear her telepathic voice even in his sleep, and that she shouldn't hesitate to awaken him if she wound up needing help. While water-breathing was beyond his arcane power, he could create a spherical, waterproof shield in a pinch, which would allow him to pursue them into the dark depths... though clearly, he was hoping not to need it.

It had occurred to her, even as they made their preparations for the trip, that she'd never known Blake to willingly dip himself in anything deeper than an, admittedly dragon-sized, bathtub. He was never among the dragons who frolicked in the great crater-lake beneath the Castle, and whenever they had run across bodies of water during their earlier adventures - lakes, rivers, whatever - she_had eagerly seized the opportunity to bathe, and he... hadn't. He clearly wasn't interested in the sea either, having specifically said that there was no reason to try and produce enough of the Extra-Strength Water-Breathing Potion for his use - after all,_somebody would need to stay behind on the beach to look after all their stuff, and besides, he could go underwater temporarily by using a magical shield if he had to...

So it seemed more than likely that Blake, for whatever reason, was afraid of water... or at least uncomfortable with submerging himself in it. Well, he had grown up near her own hometown of Caristad, which was not only far inland but also lacked any other large bodies of water nearby. There were a number of rivers running through the region, providing plenty of water for the local farmers, but none of them were wide enough to accommodate even a very young dragon. Same thing went for the shallow ponds that could be found here and there. So maybe it was simply a matter of never having had the chance to get used to the thought... regardless, it made his willingness to embark on this whole trip all the more heartwarming, since not only was he clearly doing it purely for her, there was also no doubt that he really WOULD sheathe himself in magic and leap into the sea to come to her assistance if she wound up in real danger.

It was with such thoughts in mind that she remained by his side, kneeling by his head and lightly caressing it as he drifted off to sleep, nestled in the shadow of a towering limestone outcropping - away from the increasingly intense sun that was even now rising to heat up the beach's fine sand. Melora and Direza gave them space for it as whey worked to unpack the supplies they had brought along - tents and other necessities, which would enable them to camp out in a great deal more comfort than Anitra had enjoyed during her earlier adventures - and set up camp. Driftwood was also collected from the beach and stacked in the sun to dry out, ready for the bonfire they would need later.

With all that done and Blake slumbering peacefully, they filled their bellies with the rest of the snacks they had brought for the trip - eating would be severely limited once they were underwater - and checked their gear. All of them would be skinny-dipping, though wearing a variety of waterproofed harnesses in order to bring certain necessities with them into the deeps. Anitra herself would be bringing her trusty sword along, with the sheath now tied to a simple leather strap that went diagonally across her chest, bisecting her boobage - rather than having it magically affixed to the back of her no-longer-feasible breastplate. After all, it might still come in handy down there... and that aside, she wasn't about to let such a potent weapon just lie around on the beach, even with the lightly-sleeping Blake watching over it.

Other than the carrying-harnesses, they were also all wearing a pair of odd sandals - fairly comfortable, and enchanted with a spell that would let them function as fins while underwater. Finally, each of them was wearing a sparkling, golden bangle, locked safely around the left wrist and inset with a variety of gems. A large variety of spells had been imbued into these, providing all the little enchantments that would be necessary in order to safely and comfortably explore the deep seas - they were standardized for the sake of convenience, which meant that they also included some fairly unnecessary additions, like low-light vision for the lightless depths... which only Melora really needed, since both the Dark Elf Direza and the part-dragon Anitra already possessed this gift naturally. The enchanter who had crafted them had decided to make a full production-run, in order to provide for any locals who wanted to explore the great lake beneath the Castle - and they had proven, unsurprisingly, popular.

Finally, it was time to step into the waves.

The water was pleasantly warm - they were a good bit north of the equator, but it was the height of summer so, even away from the unnaturally hot region surrounding the Utopia, temperatures were high. Gradually they left the shallow beach-region, and soon their heads were barely above the water. The buoyancy-modifying magic of the bracelets was already active, preventing them from floating as easily as they normally would have, and a few more steps would see them dip beneath the waves. Each of them had downed a Potion of Water-Breathing already, which should last for nearly 12 hours - way longer than they were planning to spend down there, at least today - and they were each carrying an extra bottle of it in case it started to run out after all. There was nothing to worry about, really, except for the instinctive reluctance of an air-breathing organism facing the prospect of complete submersion.

So yes, it took a bit of willpower and some deep breaths - but in the end, all three of them stepped beneath the shimmering surface and forced themselves to keep breathing, ignoring the little voice in their heads insisting that trying any such thing would be deadly. Warm salt-water flooded their lungs... and flowed back out again, as smoothly and easily as air. It didn't feel like they were breathing water - heck, it didn't even feel like they were breathing particularly thick and moist air. The only real difference was that it was just a little bit harder to draw breath, and a salty taste in the back of the mouth. The magic and alchemy were all working as intended.

From there, it was just a matter of continuing forwards and down, steering around the ragged, undersea reefs, and enjoying the wondrous sights. The reefs were rich in life, with aquatic plants clinging to the rough surfaces and various species of small fish feeding on them. Crabs danced across the seafloor, causing flatfish to spook from their hiding-places in great clouds of sand. Sleek predators darted through shimmering schools of smaller fish. There was something to see, something to talk about, everywhere! Their voices were somewhat distorted - deeper and more resonant than on the surface - but still perfectly understandable.

And, best of all, none of them weighed a thing. Once fully underwater they could float easily, their enchanted sandals providing plenty of propulsion when they waved them back and forth - the water was lifting Anitra and Melora's heavy, pregnant bellies with ease, rendering them entirely unnoticeable. It was everything Anitra had hoped for, and the other two were clearly enjoying themselves too! Still, that was only the shallow water - they were loaded down with enchantments designed to handle even the crushing depth of the great oceans, and it'd be a shame not to at least give them a try, right?

So they continued forwards and downwards, floating above the sloping seafloor and spotting increasingly large sea-creatures. Most of them gave the three swimmers a wide berth - they were unfamiliar intruders in this undersea land, after all, and thus a potential danger. A few fish, however, did dare to dart close, and peer at them with their bulbous, unblinking eyes before dashing away again in a cloud of bubbles. Eventually, as the surrounding water grew progressively darker, something else rose to inspect them curiously... in a somewhat more direct fashion.

Suddenly, Direza shrieked in surprise, causing the other two to automatically whirl in her direction fast enough to throw their balances off and leave them momentarily floundering to keep their heads pointed upwards. By the time they were seeing straight again, the drow had already been immobilized. Something that they had swum over, thinking it nothing more than another chunk of undersea rock, had suddenly raised itself from the seafloor and extended several long, strong, flexible tentacles. Four of them were now gripping Direza's limbs, easily holding them immobile against her, admittedly unimpressive, strength. Others were roaming across her naked body, pulling, prodding and poking, clearly trying to make sense of this strange, soft thing that had floated into its territory.

The tentacles brought some dark memories to Anitra's mind, and her hand tightly gripped the hilt of her sword... but following them down, she was relieved to see that they weren't attached to any kind of extradimensional horror or unnatural monster. It was just an ordinary octopus, albeit a rather large one. She'd never actually seen a live one before, but she was familiar with them, and not just from books - their tentacles were considered delicacies in some circles, so most well stocked fish-markets would have a few on hand for the noble, discerning palate with the big purse.

Of course, she had also read about them - including in the book on deep-sea sex that the extra-strength Water Breathing Potion had come from. So she quickly reassured Direza, using both reason and her iron-cast authority to calm down the panicking elf. "Stop struggling, Direza! It's just an octopus. It's not trying to eat you - they're not hostile to humans. It's just curious!" Indeed, the drow's panicked movements stopped as soon as the first words left her mouth - even in the grips of fear, the ardent submissive needed nothing more than her Mistress' orders to seize all resistance.

With his captive no longer fighting his powerful limbs, the octopus seemed to redouble its investigative focus, running its suction-cup-lined tentacles all over her body - leaving red, perfectly-round marks in a several places. Eventually, as Anitra looked on with a mixture of amusement and arousal, it found the orifices hidden between the girl's legs, tapered tentacle-tips prodding curiously at her labia and pushing into the crack between her ashen ass-cheeks. Direza groaned as two tentacles pushed inside of her simultaneously. "They're all slick and slimy..." she said with a shudder, her body still unresisting in keeping with Anitra's orders.

Anitra just grinned. "Well, that's a good thing, right? Lubrication is important, and saltwater isn't great for that by itself. Now... relax your holes. Let him explore as deeply and thoroughly as he likes..." She wasn't sure why she'd decided that the octopus was a male. Heck, she had no way of knowing. But considering the displayed interest in female sexual characteristics, it seemed appropriate! Even now, while he seemed mostly focused on the two odd holes he'd discovered, two other tentacles were playing with Direza's modest tits - squeezing and pulling on them, testing their elasticity and softness.

Ever obedient, Direza let the curious animal freely explore and violate her body - pushing his steadily-thickening tentacles into her now deliberately relaxed holes until their girth reached something similar to Melora's magically-induced horse-cock. The elf moaned, her body shifting involuntarily, and Anitra could all too easily imagine what she was feeling... the tip of one tentacle, penetrating and curling in on itself inside her shattered womb, long-since ruined by the brutal attentions of the bull-god Sargonnas, teasing the scars that covered it. The other, penetrating her ass deeper than she'd ever been penetrated before, easily curving around the sharp corners of her intestine to explore areas no solid rod could hope to reach.

And of course, she'd also be feeling the humiliation of being so thoroughly violated by the appendages of a curious animal, right in front of her beloved Mistress and her best friend... which probably explained the lustful timbre of those moans more than the direct stimulation her breasts, ass and genitals were getting from the strong, slick tentacles. It even fed into itself - the fact that she was so clearly enjoying the violation only added to the humiliation, after all. The sight of Direza's skinny body beginning to tremble in preparation for a soon-to-arrive orgasm was quite arousing all by itself, making the heat build up in Anitra's own naked and exposed slit.

While this prompted her to reach down and start playing with herself without much thought, Direza would ultimately be the only one who got an orgasm out of that particularly random encounter. The octopus' exploration of her body - with the fact that she was being watched by Anitra through the whole thing probably being an even bigger factor - eventually pushed her over the edge into a shuddering, groaning orgasm, pulling against the firm grip of the tentacles again... but due to involuntary muscular contractions rather than sudden panic and fear, this time. Afterwards, she sagged in the octopus' grip, but only for a few minutes before the mollusk apparently decided that his curiosity had been sated. Two tentacles were smoothly pulled from her overstimulated holes, two others freed her mauled tits, and finally the remaining four released her limbs even as the octopus jetted away - moving far faster than you'd expect from something so shapeless and finless.

Direza was left floating by herself for a couple of minutes as she panted, drawing in large lungfuls of seawater and gradually recovering. Anitra exchanged a look with Melora in the meantime, ascertaining from the mare's expression that she had rather enjoyed the sight too, albeit for very different reasons. While Anitra had gained a dominant thrill from seeing her submissive surrender her body to an animal's embrace on her orders - again - Melora was clearly just happy to see her friend enjoy herself. It really was a beautiful friendship, she thought as she swam over to give Direza a pat on the shoulder and quickly check that the octopus really hadn't hurt her at all. Sure, the book from Drake's library had called it highly unlikely, but that wasn't the same thing as impossible...

Sure enough, Direza was entirely unhurt, and blushingly admitted - when prompted by Anitra's direct question - that feeling those tentacles move around inside her, flexing and shifting, had been decidedly pleasurable. After some jostling and joking on her expense, it was thus time to keep swimming downwards - with Anitra feeling just a touch morose. She kind of wished that the octopus had nabbed her_instead - tentacles sounded like a lot of fun, and she'd yet to experience them outside of some... really negative circumstances. And yet, at the same time, she knew that if it _had, she'd have had to fight it off rather than let it freely explore her body. After all, that curious investigation would have stood a very real chance of harming her unborn child, however malice-free...

Still, it was hard to stay depressed for long while floating down through the increasingly alien fairyland of the world aquatic. Strange, tall plants rose to suck in the increasingly dim sunlight. Bigger and stranger fish swam by, along with banks of jellyfish and the odd mollusks. The temperature of the water was dropping as they descended, but their diving-bangles also included heat-shields that prevented their skins from going lower than 'pleasantly temperate', so they hardly noticed. Ultimately, though, they were moving more forwards than down - following the ocean-floor wasn't really practical anymore, since it had dropped away steeply beneath them, disappearing down into the truly lightless depths. And while they were certainly equipped for going there, for now they were happy to just float where they were, midway beneath the bright surface and the shady deeps.

It felt rather like flying, Anitra thought - only without Blake between her legs, and surrounded by strange, fishy birds. Relaxing, yet stimulating. She could certainly get used to this! Then Melora's voice pulled her attention away from a huge, strangely-shaped fish that was currently floating past them at a stately pace, and she immediately refocused. "Hey... something strange is rising towards us." Tipping herself forwards, she looked down into the shadows of the deep sea to try and spot what Melora was talking about. It wasn't hard. There were many shadows down there, moving and shifting - fish and whatnot, adapted to the deep waters, presumably. Their hides, at least on the back, dark so as not to stand out as obvious meals for predators floating above them. Except for a splodge of bright red, catching the diminishing rays of the sun with growing ease as it rose vertically towards them.

What could it be? The distance was still great, the shadows still deep... it was hard to tell. Some kind of jellyfish? They'd seen a few of those, and she knew from warnings in Drake's book on underwater sex that many of the red species had painful, toxic stingers, some of them potentially enjoyable for the suitably masochistic and others quite, quite deadly. But no, it was too clear and bright, and didn't have any of the pale, jelly-ish bits that a... well..._jelly_fish would have had. It looked more like a clump of red seaweed, but those weren't known for their rapid locomotion.

Speculation was meaningless, she rapidly decided. Unless they moved very quickly out of the way, they were going to find out for sure in a minute or less. And while the red blob certainly seemed strange, it didn't really look too threatening - so she wasn't about to arbitrarily run away. Or, rather, swim away.

Still, better safe than sorry. "Okay, girls, look sharp - just in case it turns out to be something dangerous." She pulled her sword from the sheath on her back, wondering as she did how effectively she'd really be able to use it while floating freely in the water like this. Certainly, using its hidden power - lighting the blade on fire - seemed like it would probably be a suicidally poor idea down here. Melora hadn't brought a weapon - her favorite glaive was a bit too heavy for swimming around with it - but her impressive muscles were coiled, and she was clearly ready to dart out of the way if necessary. Direza, meanwhile, was the only one of them operating at undiminished power - the arcane Foci was still around her neck, her hand now covering it, and many a potent prayer ready to be unleashed.

As Anitra narrowed her eyes, however, she became increasingly certain that she wasn't looking at a threat. Her sharp, draconic eyes did a fine job of penetrating the gloom of the deeps, even without the low-light vision granted by the diving-bangles, and she was starting to notice flashes of something pale beyond the splodge of red... and something shiny beyond that. Now, during the past week, she'd spent a fair bit of her downtime reading up on the ocean life she was likely to encounter, and not just Drake's book on underwater sex... but, well, mostly Drake's book on underwater sex, with its list of interesting creatures that the adventurous pervert might encounter. If she was right, this 'red blob' had been on that list... right near the top.

Making a quick decision, she quickly slid her sword back into its sheath and attempted to look nonthreatening - just in time for the mermaid to look up from underneath her mop of long, bright-red hair to spot them. Surprise written across her perfectly human-like face, she slowed the pace of her ascent, coming to a stop near their depth as she scanned the misplaced trio with wide eyes. "Are you... humans?" she gasped, head swiveling. Her voice was incredibly melodious, more like song than speech, but still perfectly understandable - clearly designed to take advantage of the undersea conditions. Anitra raised an eyebrow and glanced at her companions. One drow, one horse-person... or equus, these days, if Darcian had his way... and of course, one half-dragon. Or, well, one-third-dragon, more or less. She shrugged. "Not quite, but... something like that, I guess." The mermaid blinked in confusion, while Anitra took the time to have a better look at the elusive creature she was facing.

She looked pretty much as the stories suggested - the upper body of a beautiful woman, shifting at the waist into a powerful fish-tail. She wore no clothes save for a bra of sorts, made from a pair of light-purple seashells tied to her chest with seaweed-based string... and those didn't do much to conceal her rather generous assets. Her hair, the first thing they'd noticed, streamed out behind her like a curtain, intensely red, and her lips - whether naturally or due to some kind of local cosmetic - were much the same shade. Her eyes, meanwhile, were large and wide - no doubt adapted to the deep sea's low-light conditions, but also giving her a rather innocent, childlike appearance. They were a clear, deep blue and sparkled with curiosity at the moment. All in all, perhaps it wasn't so surprising that the occasional lonely sailor had been said to leap overboard in pursuit of a mermaid, without taking the time to consider that their human-ness very definitively stopped at the waist.

According to what she'd read, though, the merfolk were mostly shy and elusive, avoiding contact with humans and other land-dwelling species whenever possible. Stories of them saving drowning sailors from shipwrecks and such were rare exceptions, and often claimed to be a sign of particular favor from Triton, the God of the Seas. This girl, however, seemed downright happy to see them... until she suddenly snapped out of it and glanced down, then waved her arms urgently. "That doesn't matter! You need to get away, fast! There are sharks following me! But don't worry, I'll be sure to lead them away from you..."

She was already curling her tail and getting ready to shoot away again when Anitra made a quick gesture and Melora responded by instantly reaching out and grabbing the mermaid by her rather thin and delicate arm, causing her tail-wave to instead spin her upwards to float sideways over the Horse-girl's head. She looked rather surprised - and afraid - but Anitra quickly raised her hands. "Please, calm yourself... we mean you no harm. But if you are pursued by sharks, this is the safest place to be - we didn't come down here unprepared." Hesitantly, the mermaid stopped pulling against Melora's iron grip, and floated back down to eye-level with them. On a quick nod from Anitra, the grip was then released. A shudder went through the mermaid as she glanced back down - and Anitra, too, could see the fast-moving, steel-gray shapes heading up towards them all. But she did not attempt to dash away again.

"You are... certain that you can handle the sharks? They are rather large..." she piped in, her voice beautiful even as it trembled with fear. She was wringing her hands worriedly in front of her, and Anitra couldn't really blame her. They were, indeed, rather large, and there were several of them. "I'm confident they won't even get close to us." She said that, hoping to calm the frazzled nerves of the flighty mermaid, but inwards she was a tad concerned herself. All she could really do, after all, was hope that the shark-repelling enchantment set into the diving-bangle would work as advertised.

She'd read up on sharks. Apparently, there were several kinds, of varying sizes and shapes, but all of them were fierce, razor-toothed predators. Even the small ones could tear bleeding lumps of flesh from the hide of an unwary diver, and the largest specimens could easily eat you whole. They were fast, agile, and extremely keen hunters who could smell blood in the water from miles away, and sense the presence of prey in even the darkest reaches of the deep sea. She didn't really understand how that worked - apparently, it wasn't down to the kind of darkvision that many cave-dwelling monsters employed, but a different sort of sense. What mattered was that an enchantment found in Drake's book had claimed to be able to effectively repel sharks of any size simply by creating a wide field, invisible and undetectable to most creatures but painful to them. Like a blindingly bright light or an overpowering stench, it would drive them away without actually hurting them... or so the book said. It was one of the few enchantments built into the bangles that weren't in common use, being news to the experienced enchanter who had created it. So they really only had that one book's word that they worked as advertised.

There was maybe half a dozen of the hungry beasts, and the biggest of them was easily in the 'eat you whole' category. More white than gray and sporting a nose covered in old scars, it rose from the deeps like the monster it was, jaws spread wide, ready to devour them all... but as it drew near, it shied away, slamming its broad maw shut. The other, slightly smaller sharks that had been swimming alongside it swiftly followed suit, darting to the sides... but they did not run away. Instead, they rose higher, circling around the foursome and occasionally swimming closer only to shy away again. Clearly, the field WAS working, but just as clearly the sharks were disinclined to give up entirely in the face of four large meals hanging so temptingly before them.

The mermaid was shivering, hugging herself while her tail twitched, showcasing a clear struggle between the instinctive desire to run away from the fierce predators, and the logical realization that doing any such thing would get her swiftly killed. Anitra kind of wanted to give her a hug... but they had only just met, and she didn't want to spook the shy creature any further. Also, she didn't really have the leisure to comfort others, considering the current situation. The sharks seemed to be testing the limits of the repulsing field, swimming over and under them as well as around, describing a sphere - but also steadily pushing closer, ever-so-slowly.

Perhaps they were developing a tolerance, the same way your eyes would gradually adapt to even the brightest light. Perhaps they were just hungry enough to keep pushing closer despite the discomfort. Either way, while they were safe for now, it seemed like they were still in danger in the long term. "Perhaps we should get out of here?" Direza mentioned, eyes nervously following the biggest of the sharks as it tried to push down towards them from above and veered off uncomfortably close by. Melora, however, tsk'd. "Even if we can make it back to shore before they manage to force their way through the field, we won't be able to take our new friend here with us up onto dry land... and frankly, at the rate they're drawing closer, I don't think we could." Anitra nodded along with this and reached for her sword again. Sharks weren't supposed to be this stubborn! From what the book had said, they should've just tested the field a couple of times and then swum away in search of easier prey. Instead, they were basically drawing up a siege.

The mermaid's eyes darted between them as they talked - then she quickly swallowed and spoke again. "Umm... I'm not sure how you're keeping the sharks at bay, but if it can hold out for just a few more minutes, we should be fine. Flounder went to get help while I led the sharks away - it shouldn't take long for them to catch up." Anitra raised an eyebrow, but nodded. She wasn't sure who Flounder was or what kind of help he might be fetching, but if the mermaid was confident that it was someone who could handle the sharks, she was willing to go along with it. "Well, it should certainly last that long... guess we wait, then."

Then she gestured towards the other two. "Since we're waiting, perhaps a round of introductions are in order. Like I said earlier, none of us are exactly human, but we're all from the surface, sure enough. I am Anitra the DragonRider, this is my personal servant, Direza the Drow, and over there is Melora the Equus, who serves my... husband." The two of them nodded as they were introduced, with Melora flashing a raised eyebrow at the designation. Anitra just returned it with a shrug. As Blake had so correctly said when they visited the Herdlands not long ago, 'Horse-people' was the kind of moniker that humans would have given to their equine slaves. Whatever name their creator had bestowed upon them originally might have been lost to the ages, but the term that Darcian and Artemis had settled on together was still a definite improvement.

The mermaid nodded, looking relieved to have something else to focus on, other than the circling sharks. "Oh, yes! I am very happy to meet you all! My name is Ariel - a Mermaid! It is so wonderful to meet someone from the surface again!" The excitement and fascination she'd demonstrated when she first spotted them was bubbling to the surface again, and her large, dark-blue eyes were once again roaming over their bodies, taking in everything... which was quite a bit considering that none of them were wearing anything more than sandals and a few straps of leather.

Perhaps it wasn't too surprising that the mermaid - Ariel - seemed to focus her eyes so intently on the lower parts of their bodies. After all, their torsos weren't so different from her own - save from the metallic decorations, perhaps. Their legs, though, seemed to fascinate her - as did what was between them. It was enough to make Anitra feel a touch self-conscious, and she wondered if the others felt the same way about the intensity of Ariel's scrutiny. On the other hand, it was kind of interesting to consider how wide a spectrum the three of them covered in terms of genital appearance...

Her own pussy was nice and neat, symmetrical and hairless. Thanks to the supernatural elasticity and flexibility of her body, there was no way to tell that it had been stretched to the limit and then some on so many different occasions. By comparison, Direza's slit was a bit less mint, her pussy-lips noticeably more elongated and dangly - both due to the occasional games involving clamps and weights that the two of them played together, and the fact that she had sex with the Ring-of-Priap-wearing Melora on a regular basis. She also had a neatly kept, short-cropped triangle of ivory-white hair decorating her mons, on Anitra's recommendation.

Finally, Melora's groin bore painfully clear signs of the kind of activities she engaged in on a regular basis - or at least, had engaged in before her advancing pregnancy had forced her to stop. Or, rather, forced her to refocus those activities a bit further back. Healing-potions and Direza's spells had removed the scars of the more masochistic games, but being pounded by something Blake's size on a regular basis had consequences - as did the large dildos and even-larger dragons she'd also frequently accommodated. Her labia had grown long, thin and wrinkled from the extreme stretching they'd undergone, and never really closed - giving her a minor, but still noticeable, permanent gape. Above it, a healthy tuft of blond fur emerged from the surrounding, chocolate-brown coat - same color as her mane and tail.

However, it seemed like Ariel's eyes were looking a bit higher than Anitra had, perhaps, first assumed. "My, there must be a lot of food on the surface for you both to eat so well!" she suddenly remarked, sounding downright admiring about it as she looked from Melora to Anitra. Direza immediately collapsed into helpless giggles despite the otherwise tense situation, covering her mouth with a hand. Anitra, however, just stared at the mermaid for a moment, trying to figure out if it was really possible for the girl to be that_sheltered... and then hitting upon an alternative explanation. "Ah... actually, Melora and I are _pregnant. Perhaps that isn't something that happens to merfolk?" She ventured, prompting Ariel's cherry-red lips to part in an 'O' of surprise, and a blush to creep up her pale cheeks.

"Oh, I am so sorry, I hadn't thought of that... I know about 'pregnancy', I really do! I mean, dolphins have children that way too... I just... umm... it doesn't work quite that way for us merfolk... like you said..." she was looking down now, looking adorably shamefaced, and Anitra had to carefully maintain a straight face in order to avoid joining Direza in her giggling. Instead, she got her voice under careful control and answered. "Don't worry about it - perfectly understandable, really, and I take no offense. I just didn't want you to think that I was the sort to starve my servants!" She gestured towards the perpetually-skinny Direza. "Believe me, she gets all the food she likes, and yet she still never seems to put on any curves to speak of!" This sparked a whinny of laughter from the thoroughly-curvaceous Melora, while Direza's giggles were stopped dead by a sad-faced pout. "I can't help it!" she protested "I'm a drow! We just don't put on weight like humans do... or horse-people do, for that matter."

Ariel opened her mouth at that point, but her thoughts on the subject would remain a mystery - for just then, a sort of loud, squeeing noise followed by several rapid-fire clicks cut through the water, ending the conversation and causing all of them to automatically spin around and look in the direction of the sound - including the still-circling sharks that they had so blissfully managed to forget for a couple of minutes while they bantered. Sleek, light-gray shapes were coming into view - and lots of them. They were no less swift than the sharks when it came to cutting through the water, but the shapes were clearly different, and even at that initial distance, Anitra could tell what they were at a glance. Dolphins! She'd never seen one before, but the book had described them extensively for... several reasons.

Moments later, the water around their little, shark-repelling bubble turned into a warzone. The sharks looked quite nasty, sure, with their wide maws filled with multiple rows of triangular, serrated teeth and their rough, scar-marred hide - but the dolphins, for all that their narrow snouts seemed far less intimidating, were swift, agile, and merciless. They danced through the water like living rapiers, darting out of the way to let the sharks' mighty maws close on nothing but a mouthful of seawater, while ramming their snouts into every sensitive spot that these charges exposed - eyes and gills being particularly heavily targeted.

Oh, and the sharks were also rather badly outnumbered. It was hard to get an exact count in the chaos of the unfolding battle, but it looked like there were at least three dolphins for every shark. Ariel had noticed that too, and she was now staring at the undersea struggle with wide eyes, lightly biting her lower lip. "Oh, there's so many of them... must be a whole pod! My jaw is going to be so sore..." she said, seemingly to herself, but Anitra heard it just fine - and her curiosity was immediately ignited. "Indeed? And why is your jaw going to be sore?" She asked lightly, doing her best to act as if being in the center of an ongoing battle between two factions of sleek, ocean-going predators was an everyday thing for her.

Ariel spun around to face her, and immediately blushed again. "Ah! I'm sorry, I forgot... you wouldn't be familiar with our... ways, I suppose. Well, basically, the dolphins help us out with various things, including patrolling out waters and keeping sharks and such at bay, and in return we help them with... other things." Needless to say, Anitra wasn't going to leave it at that. "What 'other things' exactly?" She asked, prompting the mermaid to look away as she answered. "Well... you see... dolphins are very often... aroused. They're very... passionate, basically. We... help them with that."

"...using your mouths?" Anitra finished, eyebrow lifted. "Well, I'm starting to get the feeling that you don't have a lot of other ways available to you..." Indeed, she had by now managed to fill in a few blanks from the book on undersea sexuality. It had been remarkably thin on information on mermaids - enough to make her think that they must have been even more rare and elusive back when it was written, hundreds of years ago, than they were today. But it certainly seemed that, based on the earlier misunderstanding about pregnancy, mermaids bred the same way most fish did... which was to say, in the most boring way possible.

The book had mentioned this in passing, as a way to explain why virtually no fish were worth talking about when it came to undersea perversion. Fish basically did not have anything that could be recognized as 'sex', at all - heck, they barely had genitalia. Instead, female fish simply ejected their eggs - usually into a suitable 'nest' on the seafloor - and the males then spread their jizz over them. External fertilization. Highly efficient, only really practical underwater, and one tremendously uninvolved way to produce offspring. If the merfolk did it the same way, well, she could only pity them... but of course, they were still human from the waist up, which left them with at least a couple of options fish didn't have.

And, apparently, they'd developed a symbiotic relationship with the dolphins - which the book had, indeed, mentioned to be extraordinarily lusty animals, and not at all disinclined to making passes on other species. The tome had even mentioned that roving gangs of young male dolphins were known to sometimes hunt down and corner the females of smaller species of sea-mammals, such as porpoises, in order to essentially gang-rape them. Definitely a creature with a 'healthy' sexual appetite... aaand they were currently surrounded by well over a dozen of them, all apparently conditioned to expect sexual favors in return for assistance.

Certainly, they were earning it. The sharks, for all their biting and gnashing, were being forced back. It still seemed mighty strange that they were that determined, and did not just give up and look for a meal elsewhere, but it wasn't helping them much. Two of the smaller sharks were floating towards the surface already, tails twitching randomly as blood streamed from their shattered gills - fish, drowning in the sea. Truly, nature was ruthless. Another was pumping out clouds of blood from an empty eyesocket. Still they fought on, even managing to deliver a few shallow cuts as their fangs scratched across the smooth skin of dolphins that were just a split second too slow to get out of the way.

Looking around at this, Anitra grinned. It was really too long since she'd last enjoyed the fury and excitement of combat! And even if she wasn't actually fighting, being able to float in the middle of such a furious battle, even tasting the blood on her tongue, was still a rush and a half. "Well, don't worry, Ariel..." she finally said. "These noble creatures are saving us too, after all, even if they came here specifically for you. I'm sure if we all pitch in, no-one will have to wind up with a sore jaw." Melora agreed with a shrug, seeming quite unconcerned with the prospect of pleasuring a bunch of animals, however clever and pretty - which struck Anitra as a bit strange, since she could not recall Blake ever getting animals involved in his little games with Melora. Perhaps she had prior experience from before entering his service... or maybe she just didn't see it as a big deal.

Direza was slower to agree, but still stammered out a half-hearted "Well, of course...", her sharp eyes following the sleek dolphins as they performed their deadly dance all around her. Anitra could almost hear her think "At least they're nicer-looking and less smelly than the donkey..." A quick push against the water sent her floating over next to the drow, where she put a hand on one of her bare shoulders and pushed herself in close, putting her mouth next to the surprised elf-girl's ear. "I noticed you having some fun at my expense earlier, with that little pregnancy-misunderstanding..." she whispered, powerful fingers closing painfully on the thin shoulder in her hand and a sadistic smile on her face. "Now, I know it was just the surprise that made you laugh without really thinking about who you were laughing at, but that's hardly an excuse... such disrespect deserves punishment.

Direza's slim body trembled, her face equal parts scared and excited. She nodded, acknowledging her guilt, and Anitra's smile widened. "Still, since the moods are so high at the moment, I'm willing to let it slide... if you perform well at a little game I've just thought of. It seems we'll all be working together to pleasure a bunch of dolphins in a few minutes, once the sharks finally give up and make a run for it - including Ariel, who has rather a home-field advantage. Nonetheless, I'll be keeping track of how many dolphins each of us manages to satisfy. If you want to avoid punishment, you will need to place first - if below that point, your position in the rankings will determine the severity of your punishment. Should you wind up dead last... well, that would demonstrate a severe lack of skill in that particular area. Something that I think could be rectified by having you take up residence in the donkey-stables for a week or so once we get home, laboring ten hours per day on pleasuring and satisfying as many donkeys as possible."

A tremor shook Direza's body, and her cheeks flushed with shame and humiliation just from imagining the scenario Anitra had just set forth. It would separate them for a solid week, just for starters, making it a proper punishment - and it'd be virtually impossible for her to hide the fact that she was literally living out of the stables from the merchants who used them every day to quarter their animals. And while sneaking in there for a couple of hours and banging a donkey... or a handful, perhaps... on the down-low was perfectly possible, especially if you had an understanding with the stablehands - as Tiffany did - spending that much time there would essentially ensure that she'd be caught in the act several times. Thus giving her a Utopia-wide reputation as an inveterate donkey-fucker.

Not that it was a particularly likely scenario - she mostly just wanted to get Direza thinking about it. To begin with, losing her most devoted servant for a week would be damnably inconvenient for her once she was back on the surface and thus feeling the full weight of her condition once more. Also, while she had been whispering, Melora was floating blithely nearby, and her tall, equine ears were quite sharp. She didn't have a horse in the race - so to speak - and she cared a lot about her friend and colleague. Thus, she could almost certainly be counted upon to deliberately tank her own performance if it seemed like Direza was lagging behind.

Having delivered her message, she released her grip on the now highly-tense Direza and paddled back to Ariel, who seemed blissfully unaware of what had just transpired. She was still watching the battle with rapt attention - not that there was much left of it. Another shark was flailing in the water, streaming blood from the gills, and only the biggest and meanest of the lot seemed to be entirely unscathed - his sheer size and furious aggression forced the dolphins to play it a lot safer around him than with the rest of them. Meanwhile, the dolphins had sustained only the most cursory of damage. The fight was just too one-sided - and, in the end, the surviving sharks admitted as much. In unison, as if by an unheard signal, they all turned tail and darted away at maximum speed, closely pursued by several chittering dolphins.

They didn't pursue far - rather, they merely seemed determined to make sure that the sharks were running all the way away - and soon, the whole pod instead arched upwards, in the direction of the gleaming surface above. Seeing them crest the surface and jump from below, replenishing their supplies of air after the exhausting fight, was a strange, surreal sight. Moments later, they were back down to their depth, swimming around the four surface-dwellers and the mermaid, making happy clicking noises and squees. Most of them were dancing around Ariel, who laughed and fondly touched their bulbous foreheads as they rubbed affectionately against them. "Yes, I'm_very_ grateful that you all rushed here to quickly to help me!" she proclaimed, seemingly in answer to the strange noises produced by the dolphins - thus confirming one of the facts about mermaids that Drake's book had contained: That they had the ability to communicate with ocean-dwelling animals.

And clearly, somehow, the dolphins understood her, too - at least, judging by the way several of them then proceeded to rear up on their tails before her, showing off their groin where something pale and pink was emerging from a previously-unseen slit in their blubbery hide. Anitra swam a bit closer, hoping for a better look - she'd seen diagrams of what dolphins could be expected to be packing in the book, sure, but reality was a different dish. So far, though, all that she could see was the narrow, conical tips... but her motion also served to remind Ariel of their earlier conversation, prompting the mermaid to awkwardly gesture towards her. "Oh, uh... and, these land-dwellers have offered to help with your rewards! Just, um... two of them are pregnant, so you need to be gentle with them."

Several dolphins pivoted to gaze at her with renewed interest. Their small eyes seemed to host a sparkling, if still rather animalistic, intelligence, and the intensity of their scrutiny made her shiver... especially as she watched more of their tools emerge from the containment of their sheaths. Their entire cocks were essentially elongated cones, widening steadily towards a base thicker than her wrist, and displaying incredible flexibility. While dragons had a single controllable 'hinge' at the base of an otherwise rock-hard cock, these lucky animals possessed fully prehensile cocks! Licking her lips, she quickly interjected an addition to Ariel's statement, uncertain of whether or not these animals would be able to understand her or if a 'translation' would be required. "Indeed... the dark-skinned one back there is the one who isn't pregnant. So you can be as rough with her as you like..."

Behind her, Direza seemed to swallow nervously - and judging from the way the dolphins clicked in reply, it seemed likely that they had, indeed, somehow understood her. With many of them sporting fully-emerged hard-ons by then, they also didn't seem too interested in further conversation. No doubt still hooped up on adrenaline from the fight, the horny dolphins surged forwards, cocks at the ready, eager to explore the fascinating new partners that had just offered themselves up...

Anitra barely had time to grab a small jar of waterproof lube from one of the pouches attached to her sword-belt and apply the slick substance to her ass, before she was surrounded by at least four curious, eagerly-chittering dolphins. They were rubbing their smooth bodies - and hard cocks - all over her skin as they swam around her, inspecting her body - and, true to requests, being careful of her swollen belly. As foreplay went, it was certainly effective at getting her hot - not that it took much. She'd been kind of aroused since watching the octopus explore Direza's body earlier, and ever since reading about them in the book from Drake's library, she'd wanted to try a dolphin or two out for size.

Of course, just being underwater added spice of its own. There was no need to lie down, bend over or get down on all fours. Simply floating there, her body was perfectly accessible to the agile dolphins, as one of them demonstrated by swimming up close behind her from below and maneuvering his prehensile cock up between her ass-cheeks. The narrow, conical head slipped easily into her lubed-up asshole, and as soon as the heat and tightness of her rear squeezed down on it, the dolphin reacted appropriately. She gasped as the slick dolphin-body glued itself to her back while the cock wiggled its way deep inside her, steadily widening until her ass was stretched around the wide base. Even at that girth, it wasn't exactly the biggest cock she'd ever taken up there - but this far from Blake, her elasticity wasn't at its best, so it still managed to give her a delicious stretching sensation.

It was, on reflection, kind of impressive that the dolphin had found her asshole, especially so quickly. Did dolphins have anal sex with each other? She couldn't even tell where their assholes were. Maybe he'd had experience with it from some other land-dwelling lover at some point? Or perhaps he was just particularly clever, creative and/or adventurous. What was less impressive was the second dolphin aiming for a far more familiar hole - her eagerly-moaning mouth. Though, the way he did it - swimming down from above, head-first, to effectively maneuver his cock into place for a classic 'spit-roast' turned on the side - was kind of neat.

Not that she cared particularly for the details. She was horny, the pleasure was flowing, and a big, pink cock was heading towards her lips. She eagerly enveloped it and felt it slide across her tongue to the back of her throat - and then just keep going. Her jaws opened and her lips stretched as this cock, too, steadily widened - until the had her lips up against the fatty folds of the dolphin's sheath-slit, her jaw stretched to just shy of the point where it would unhinge. It still fit, though - just barely - making her mouth and throat feel even more severely stretched than her ass. The conical cock, now writhing in her throat as the internal muscles flexed, tasted salty-sweet... combining the everpresent seawater with some kind of odd sheath-lubricant, presumably. His chest was rubbing across her belly as he hung upside down, but only lightly.

Then, having so thoroughly impaled her from both ends, they began moving in unison, using their powerful tails and flippers to thrust themselves up and down in the water. She could've tried to grab onto either one of her two smooth-skinned lovers, with her arms or her legs - but she decided not to, preferring the way that the thrusts of each pushed her whole body freely against the cock of the other. It was truly a sensation one could only experience while floating freely! So instead, she used her free hands to reach down around her pregnant belly and begin playing with herself, rubbing her clit with one hand and pushing an increasing number of fingers from the other into her wet, hungry cunt.

Even as she was bounced up and down between the two horny dolphins, pleasure radiating from three different points and pushing her rapidly towards her first orgasm of the day, she was keeping an eye to the sides. Between the two bodies that enclosed her front and back, she could see a couple of other dolphins circling, impatiently waiting their turn - and, beyond them, she could see how the others were doing. After all, she needed to at least partially keep track of how everyone was performing, for the 'game' she had pushed Direza into. And from the looks of it, the drow was unsurprisingly off to a strong start!

After all, she was the only one there with three fully operational orifices - hence explaining why she was virtually invisible between the same quantity of enclosing bodies. The dexterous dolphin-dicks lodged up her pussy and ass had to be stretching her to the limit - at the base, they were easily as thick as Melora's ring-induced horsecock, the biggest thing Direza regularly had inside her body. Meanwhile, just like with the octopus earlier, the cockheads had to be taking full advantage of their prehensile nature in order to fully penetrate her, twisting their way into her wrecked womb and around the bend of her large intestine alike. Only, instead of simply a curious exploration, she was enduring a whole-hearted pounding this time... while, simultaneously, poking her head out from between the two dolphins to blow the third. She obviously couldn't deepthroat him the same way Anitra was handling her oral suitor, but she was enthusiastically doing everything she could.

Melora, meanwhile, seemed to be taking it fairly easily by now - she was in roughly the same position as Anitra, except she had her powerful arms wrapped around the dolphin in front of her, controlling his pace as she deepthroated him to ensure that she was able to draw in the occasional mouthful of... well, seawater rather than air. The dolphins' girth obviously wasn't going to trouble her, orally_or_ anally - but she didn't have Anitra's modified airways, so she couldn't breathe through her nose when her throat was blocked. Glancing at her, however, Anitra noticed that the equus was letting her own eyes wander even as she pleasured the two dolphins, seemingly looking more at their still-unattached pod-mates circling the unfolding orgy than on her fellow land-walkers. What was she up to?

Regardless, it didn't look like she'd need to handicap herself to ensure that Direza wouldn't wind up dead last. After all, Ariel was in the running too, and with only her mouth to rely on, she was at a severe handicap, for all that Anitra had expounded on her home-field advantage when priming the drow. Still, glancing at the red-haired mermaid, Anitra could easily tell that she had both finely-honed technique and oodles of enthusiasm. Indeed, she could barely recall ever seeing anyone suck a cock with such obvious pleasure and eagerness, especially with the way her fish-tailed body undulated - as if she was being vigorously fucked rather than just doling out a blowjob. The dolphin certainly appeared to be enjoying himself - but he also didn't have a lot of fellows impatiently waiting in line behind him. With three new and exciting figures available for multi-orifice violation, a plain old mermaid seemingly didn't hold much charm for the lusty beasts...

The orgy wound on. Even with eight available orifices between them, there were more dolphins than could fit into two 'shifts' - and none of them seemed inclined to swim away satisfied after a single orgasm. The dolphins certainly came voluminously, though, pouring thin, salty cum into their orifice of choice - providing Anitra with plenty of fuel for an aquatic Quickening... and Direza with gaping holes that oozed clouds of diluted cum every time her orifices were briefly unoccupied. Melora, meanwhile, quickly revealed what she had been planning - suddenly turning herself into a strong contender.

She'd apparently been looking for some very specific targets amongst the circling dolphins - specifically, the tiny number of females that had been mixed in with the horny males. Somehow, she'd managed to beckon them closer - and revealed the power of the Ring of Priap, which she had taken with her even to the undersea realm. Now, she was pounding a squeaking dolphin female with her ever-hard horse-cock, even as two of the more-numerous males continued to avail themselves of her mouth and ass. The female dolphin seemed to be enjoying it at least as much as the males were, her tail creating noticeable cavitation as it twisted in pleasure.

Direza had, of course, seen this too - it was right in front of her whenever her field of view wasn't being blocked by a horny dolphin's groin. So now, she was no longer the only one capable of pleasuring three of them at a time... pushing her to apply herself to the orgy with greater desperation. Rather than just floating there while twin dolphins pounded her holes, focusing most of her attention on doling out oral pleasures to a third, she was moving her whole body in the water, pushing back against the thick invaders. Her overstretched holes were being rammed with their combined strength, sinking all the way in on every thrust, leaving her to just about disappear between the two enclosing bodies.

Of course, the sight of Anitra's own efforts might have contributed a bit to her desperation, too. While she still only had two proper orifices available, her Quickening had - as usual - provided her with a few advantages. Fewer than usual, mind - after all, the diving-bangle already granted her full underwater capabilities, and her specialized airways rendered the ability to hold her breath for a really long time rather meaningless. However, it HAD provided her with a much-enhanced sense of spatial awareness, an instinctive understanding of the dolphins' strange click-and-squee based language, and a boost in underwater mobility... in addition to the baseline increase in strength and stamina.

And so, after her first couple of orgasms - assisted by clit-frigging and fisting - had taken care of her more immediate needs, she'd made a new use of her hands by calling the previously-circling dolphins in closer with a few clicks of her tongue, and providing them both with a firm and vigorous handjob. Thus, she was currently pleasuring _four_dolphins at the same time, though perhaps two of those with reduced efficiency. Add to that the fact that the distribution of the orgy ensured that Direza couldn't see Ariel - Anitra and her little mob of undersea lovers were in the way - and the Drow had effectively no way of knowing for sure that she wasn't in last place.

Of course, Ariel was blissfully unaware of the ongoing competition, and merely seemed focused on pleasuring whatever dolphin-cocks her mouth could reach as thoroughly and masterfully as possible... and, apparently, enjoying it a lot herself. Well, there certainly was something to be said for the quality-over-quantity approach, especially when it came to sex! With that in mind, she allowed herself to float away on the waves of pleasure, assisted by the sense of weightlessness brought on by the underwater environment and the increasingly overpowering stench of raw sex.

That was an aspect of doin' it under the seas that she hadn't immediately considered, actually. This little dolphin gangbang was producing just as many sexual fluids as any terrestrial orgy - cum and pussy-juice leaking from all the genitals being so busily ground together. The salty tang of sweat was not as present as she might have expected, though - the body seemed to be sensible to waste too much time sweating while completely submerged in water - but meanwhile, those other sexual fluids didn't just drip down to pool on the floor. Instead, they just mixed with the water, and got whirled around by the motions of the orgy's participants. Which meant that you weren't really smelling the sex, so much as literally breathing in a watery dilution of cum and vaginal secretions. It was a heady and intoxicating sensation, to say the least.

Only a small corner of her increasingly pleasure-soaked brain continued to keep an eye on the rest of the orgy, just to check if there were any other interesting developments. There weren't, really, other than the way the dolphins responded to Direza's increasingly frantic attempts to draw them in and rapidly pleasure them by pounding her slim body with escalating brutality. Their sleek bodies were tremendously muscular, below the protective layer of blubber that waited directly underneath their skin, and it seemed like they had grown used to holding back with their regular mermaid lovers - wouldn't do to choke anyone, after all. Direza's desperate eagerness, however, was breaking down those restraints - leading to their undulating bodies squeezing her tightly between them as they mercilessly rammed their twitching cocks into her pussy and ass. Add to that the fact that those of the dolphins more disposed towards rough sex would have naturally gravitated towards her from the start - since the other two newcomers required additional care due to their pregnancies - and Direza was probably lucky that her ash-gray skin didn't show bruises too clearly.

It was only in the aftermath of the orgy, as more and more satisfied dolphins floated away from the group, prehensile cocks shrinking back into their bodies, that she pondered whether she had, perhaps, gone a bit too far. Direza's masochism was, after all, largely contained to the mental and psychological arena - she enjoyed being humiliated, denigrated, tied up, ordered around, and generally treated as property. Actual, physical pain... not so much. So the bruising and wear-and-tear that this dolphin gang-bang would have inflicted on her wasn't going to be much fun...

However, when the last dolphin pulled out of her cum-oozing asshole with a satisfied series of clicks and languidly swam away, giving her a free view of the similarly-abandoned Direza, she could tell from the vague, unfocused look in the drow's eyes that she had, indeed, enjoyed herself - to the tune of several orgasms. She had plenty of experience watching Direza's mental state gradually deteriorate under the stress of repeated climaxes and constant pleasure, after all! With a grin, she realized that, bodily aches aside, the elf-girl had been essentially throwing herself at the dolphins - a pack of animals - encouraging them to not merely fuck but brutalize her, all to avoid disappointing her Mistress and avoid a dreadful punishment. And that aspect would definitely have kept the pleasure flowing freely.

Still, she did look somewhat bedraggled as the three of them floated closer to one another... certainly more so than Melora, who seemed almost unaffected by the whole affair. Drops of thick cum were still clinging to the flared cockhead of her magically-summoned rod - she hadn't taken off the ring yet - so she had clearly reached at least a couple of orgasms, but apparently such mere, physical pleasure didn't mean much to her without the presence of her beloved Blake or the sting of masochistic torment. Looking from one to the other, Anitra grinned and worked her muscles - marginally stiff after what had to have been a good hour of solid fucking. The rush of the Quickening was still flowing through her, making her feel enlivened and invincible.

"Well, girls, it's time to deliver the results of our contest!" she declared, making Direza wince. Melora just nodded, a faint smile on her face - she had, indeed, heard Anitra's whispers earlier. Of course, she hadn't really managed to keep an accurate count on the number of dolphins each of them had managed to satisfy, but in her current state, that mattered even less than usual. She knew what she wanted the results to be, and that nobody was going to contradict her. "Coming in first... Melora! Congratulations! Using the Ring of Priap to so thoroughly satisfy the _female_dolphins that the rest of us were ignoring was truly inspired. I'll pass word of your performance on to Blake - I'm sure he'll be able to come up with a suitable reward."

Melora nodded, an eager grin suddenly spreading across her face. She clearly hadn't expected that - indeed, her strong performance seemed to have been motivated by a combination of sheer conscientiousness and a desire to increase the pressure on her friend, Direza - and thus the depths of enjoyable humiliation she'd sink to in order to fight back. She, after all, had been perfectly capable of seeing Ariels' performance from where she had been floating. "And second... myself!" she continued, making Direza twitch noticeably. "Jacking off two dolphins at once wasn't easy, but it ensured that they were already primed and ready to fire by the time they got a go at my mouth or ass. Very efficient!"

"Third... Direza! Using sheer dedication and hard work to pleasure three dolphins with three orifices as enthusiastically as she could." The battered drow seemed to draw a sigh of relief, then suddenly turn nervous and flash a glance towards Ariel, who had floated closer with a curious look on her face. Well, it wasn't as if Anitra had actually made it clear that Ariel was part of the 'game' too. Releasing that pressure, she waved towards the mermaid. "And last but certainly not least - Ariel, who made the most of her mouth and put in a wholehearted effort at pleasuring every dolphin who wasn't lured away by the exotic appeal of us land-walkers!"

The mermaid tipped her head a bit, eyes large and innocent. "Oh, you turned it into some kind of contest? I did not know that..." Anitra just shrugged. "Well, we're a competitive lot, is all. It's just a bit of fun, though. Honestly, the techniques you used were really impressive... and you certainly seemed to be enjoying yourself a great deal. Kind of makes me feel sorry for intruding - perhaps you would've preferred to keep all the dolphins to yourself, hmm?" She lifted an eyebrow, grinning mischievously while the mermaid blushed and coquettishly looked away. "Oh, no... I mean, I was just trying to show the dolphins my gratitude for the timely rescue, that's all!"

Anitra was not convinced. She knew what she'd seen during the orgy, and now swam closer to the red-headed mermaid with a flip of her enchanted sandals. "Hmm... is that really true? Well, allow me to nonetheless give you a little something as an apology for intruding on your local rituals..." As Ariel turned her face to assure her that that really wasn't necessary, Anitra quickly grabbed her by the head, digging her fingers into those long, crimson locks and pulling herself nearer yet - instantly closing the distance and pressing a kiss on the little mermaid's lips.

Now, Anitra considered herself a fairly competent kisser. She had a lot of experience, after all, whether involving scaly snouts and long, serpentine tongues or something a bit closer to a human. She had, indeed, managed to induce orgasms with a kiss before... specifically on Direza, after long periods of orgasm-denial, and obviously drawing mostly on the drow's monomaniacal adoration for her. This was... different. As she mashed her eager lips against the blood-red bow of the mermaid's and pushed her tongue into a mouth already slightly-parted in protest, she felt the girl's body stiffen against her own, thin arms rising to her shoulders to push her away.

But then, as lips slid smoothly against each other and her tongue danced, exploring the insides of the mermaid's mouth, Ariel's girlish body seemed to relax and soften in a very familiar way, and the fingers that closed on her arms weren't pushing her away anymore, but pulling her forwards. The red-head's tongue rose to meet her own, wrestling and twisting against it, pushing into her own mouth alongside it. From those movements, Anitra would generally have termed Ariel an enthusiastic but inexperienced kisser - but there was definitely something else at work there.

Ariel's subtle and youthful body bent easily around her pregnant belly as the mermaid enfolded her in a strange embrace, arms gripping her shoulders even as the long, fishlike tail curved up between her legs and wrapped around her hips - smooth scales and weaving fins caressing her buttocks and lower back. Even though she had been the one to - rather forcefully - initiate the kiss, she was now firmly caught, trapped against Ariel's undulating body while the movement of the mermaid's tongue grew steadily more frenzied. Not to be outdone, she redoubled the intensity of her own side of the kiss, attacking lips, tongue and palate with erotically-charged force - even as she patted herself on the back for figuring it out.

This wasn't a 'kiss-reaction'... at least, not from someone who wasn't already thoroughly in love and sexually deprived to boot. This was closer to the reaction she'd expect from burying her tongue in another girl's pussy and applying her extensive cunnilingus-skills. The merfolk, stuck with a fish's painfully impersonal and pleasure-free methods of breeding but a lust-filled human mind, had clearly developed their mouths into a primary erogenous zone. Without pussies, cocks or clits, a kiss was basically the most intimate act they were capable of. Which meant that, to them, sucking cock was just as pleasurable as it was to the recipient, or nearly so...

Confirming this, Ariel suddenly stiffened against her again, fingers digging into her back, groaning into her mouth.... cumming, and hard. She continued the oral assault until the mermaid's body grew limp and subtle in her hands and only then pulled her head back, ungluing their lips so that she could look into those huge, dark-blue, pleasure-dazed eyes. The girl was panting heavily, drawing in huge mouthfuls of water, winded by the kiss and the orgasm - and both her hands and her tail had relaxed enough that Anitra could push away from her without much resistance.

Still riding high on the Quickening, charged with lust and confidence, she ran a finger up the innocent-seeming Ariel's chin, tipping her head back. "You seemed to enjoy that a lot more than I did..." she said throatily, prompting a languid nod. "Well, how would you like to take it to the next level? As you know, we land-dwellers have a few more options than you do..." The dazed-looking mermaid's breathing quickened anew and her eyes focused on Anitra, though they still seemed a bit vague. "Oh... please, yes... I love humans... that whole thing with legs and genitals, it's just so... magical! I once rescued a prince from a shipwreck, and he let me suck on his penis, and it was the best thing ever, but I've never had a chance to see a vagina before!"

Anitra hid a snort of laughter. A prince, was it? A random sailor trying to impress a naive mermaid, more like it. "Well, here's your chance, then..." she said out loud, gesturing downwards. "Why don't you get down there and give me a different sort of kiss, hmm?" She underlined this suggestion by moving her sandaled feet a bit, propelling herself higher in the water and thus bringing Ariel to eye-level with her hairless pussy, tingling with desire after being mostly neglected during the dolphin-orgy. With an eager gasp, the mermaid threw herself forwards, burrowing her head underneath Anitra's distended belly so that she might begin exploring the vertical smile that hid there with her hypersensitive lips and tongue.

As she felt the first tremors of pleasure run up her spine, courtesy of the red-headed mermaid's clumsy explorations, she took the time to glance over her shoulder at her two travel-mates. Melora was just floating there, a tolerant smile on her equine face, patiently waiting for Anitra to have her fun. Direza, however, was regarding the scene with envy leaking out of every pore of her body, hugging herself tightly and staring wide-eyed as Ariel partook in her own favorite feast. Taking pity on the drow-girl, she made a beckoning gesture towards her and then pointed towards her rear. With a gasp of delight, Direza immediately took up the invitation by throwing herself forwards through the water, lodging her face on the opposite side of Anitra's hips from Ariel, hungry as ever to taste her Mistress' asshole.

With two eager mouths digging into her two main orifices, and a hand on each head - fingers entangled in free-flowing hair, be it ivory-white or crimson - pleasure soon soared through her system once again. Direza and Ariel, meanwhile, were both firmly clinging to her hips, pulling themselves in, rather than making any attempt to resist Anitra's grip. Being sandwiched between two so enthusiastic lesbian lovers was a new experience - not that she hadn't been part of a sapphic triangle before, mind. She had, back in the Forest of the Fairies when she had spent a leisurely afternoon sharing sweet pleasures with the Fairy Hunters, Pfil and Pamila. But there, she'd been dishing out and receiving pleasure in equal measure, and neither of her two partners had been inclined towards rimjobs. Here, though, she was the center of attention, and Direza was doing her level best to ram her entire tongue up Anitra' asshole, hunting for traces of dolphin-cum left behind from the earlier orgy.

Indeed, there was a powerful contrast between what was happening to her ass and what was happening to her pussy, and it somehow seemed to further accelerate her enjoyment. Direza's skills were masterful, of course. Ever since she'd entered Anitra's service, she had been training herself to better serve and service her Mistress, in whatever way she may be required - or allowed - to do. Her rimjobs were a masterclass of polished technique mixed with abundant motivation, fully applying tongue and lips, suction and friction, to stimulate every reachable inch of the subject's rectum. The devoted drow was literally licking the slimy secretions off the bottom couple of inches of her large intestine - and doing so with every sign of enjoyment, stimulating the sensitive tissue as she went.

Meanwhile, Ariel was exploring her pussy with clumsy, inexperienced wonderment. Her tongue, lips and even nose wandered around Anitra's groin, poking and stimulating here and there as the curious mermaid tried to familiarize herself with the female sexual organs she so blatantly lacked. There was a purity and innocence to it, a shade of the kind of virginal fumbling she might have eventually experienced with a handsome young lad from the town, had her life taken a very different path. She was actually providing this eager mermaid with her first taste of pussy - and that, by itself, made the situation infinitely hotter, regardless of the actual level of genital stimulation that resulted.

With her body and mind thus stimulated, the orgasms weren't slow in coming. She felt Direza's tongue eagerly twitch and rotate as her sphincter reflexively squeezed down on it, and Ariel thirstily breathing down the gush of juices that flooded her pussy, lapping it up like a dog. A seadog, maybe? she thought with a silent giggle as her mind flooded with ecstasy, lifting her to those ever-familiar peaks of orgasmic pleasure that she just never got tired of visiting. Neither of the two girls currently wrapped around her hips seemed inclined to call it quits with that, however, and Ariel was proving herself to be an admirably fast learner - her initial investigation seemingly drawing swift dividends as she started to deliberately prod and suck on the most sensitive bits she could find.

Floating weightless in the water, gasping and breathing heavily, she let them both continue until they had lifted her to a muscle-tensing climax thrice more. With no more sperm pouring into her system to reinforce her Quickening, and the fatigue of lengthy sexual escapades beginning to catch up to her, she at long last started to feel satisfied- and so, with a gentle yet insistent nudge, she pushed both of her sapphic suitors away from her tingling orifices. "Well, this has been delightful, but we can't hang around here all day..." she declared, grinning naughtily.

Ariel floated up to be eye-level with her, her movements somewhat jerky and her expression dazed. It seemed clear that she'd gotten off once or twice herself, just from rubbing her hypersensitive lips over Anitra's juicy cunt. "Awww... can't you stay a bit longer? I wanted to introduce you to my father - he'd want to thank you for saving me, I'm sure! And I also wanted to ask about her - how did she turn male and then back to female again? I mean, partly, anyway?" The mermaid's beautiful voice was wheedling at first, but as she talked she seemed to shake off the post-orgasmic fog - letting a bubbling curiosity come to the surface. She was gesturing towards Melora, of course, who had removed the Ring of Priap again while the other three were occupied, and was now merely floating languidly in place, relaxing and looking around at the ocean-life that had been steadily returning to the area after the sharks and dolphins departed.

Seeing as Melora seemed content to let Anitra do the talking, she gave the mermaid a chuckle. "That's a long story... well, not that_long, but you'd probably want to see how it works for yourself, and_that would likely drag on. As for meeting your father... actually, that sounds interesting! I'd love to visit a Merfolk city. Your people are considered quite a mystery on the surface, you know... but..." Reaching into one of the pouches attached to her sword-harness she pulled out a small hourglass, which had been weakly enchanted to ensure that it continued to run steadily no matter how it was turned or shaken. A glance at the lines on the glass confirmed her suspicion. "... it'll have to be another day. We're land-walkers, after all - so we do need to get back to dry land every once in a while."

Indeed, time had been slipping away rapidly while they explored the undersea kingdom. The lengthy dolphin-orgy hadn't helped either. Not that their water-breathing potions were in any immediate danger of expiring or anything - but they did have needs other than air, after all, and hunger had begun to gnaw. Enchanted bottles of clean, pure water and small snacks from their pouches had sustained them so far, but now that Anitra had brought it up, all three of them found themselves longing for a solid meal - which meant that it was time to return to the beach.

On Ariel's insistence, they gave her precise directions to the beach where they'd encamped, and she promised to turn up there the next morning to guide them to her home - New Atlantica, which sounded to be a major Merfolk metropolis. Then they waved goodbye and swam back towards the shore - a bit faster than the trip outwards, since they didn't stop to sightsee quite so much, but even on a second pass there was the occasional distraction. A curious fish or undersea creature, an intriguing interaction between two or more... the way they hunted, fed, and occasionally cooperated was endlessly surprising. Breathtaking dioramas also abounded - the sun was high in the sky now, and as they approached the shallower waters, it lit the reefs and seafloor in a far different way than when they'd been heading out.

But despite occasional delays, they managed to return to the beach by midafternoon - where they found Blake snoring peacefully, and their campsite untouched by man and beast alike. Well, humans would be hard-pressed to approach the site at all, and animals knew better than to poke a sleeping dragon, so that was hardly surprising. The bonfire was lit, and food was pulled from magically-chilled boxes - it was time to prepare a delicious meal over the open flame! All three of them had adventuring experience and thus were no strangers to outdoors cuisine, but this would be a bit different - they'd brought fine ingredients from the Utopia, and would be supplementing them with fresh-caught fish, shellfish, and other fruits of the sea. Direza would be handling most of the cooking - eager to leave her Mistress wanting for nothing, SHE had spent most of the past week sharpening her cooking-skills, ensuring that she'd be able to create something far beyond the average adventuring fare.

With Melora fishing and scouting for crabs and crawfish in the shallows while Direza carefully adjusted the firepit to get it juuuust so, Anitra leaned languidly against Blake's steadily-heaving flanks and looked out across the sea with a smile on her face. She'd proposed the trip originally in order to get away from her chambers in the Utopia for a bit, and take a literal load off in the sea - but now, it looked like she'd get a genuine adventure to boot! A chance to visit a city of the elusive and mysterious Merfolk! Well, it DID mean that her vacation was turning into a bit of a Coachdriver's Holiday, but really, she didn't mind... at all.

THE END

The vacation is just getting started - tune in next time for the exciting conclusion: Down Where It's Wetter!