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K'teshi's Trip

K'teshi soared among the peaks, enjoying the feeling of the wind in his feathers. His eagle eyes picked out others of his kind doing the same thing, or sunning themselves on the mountain plateaus. This was his homeland, after all - the heart of Griffon territories! Craning his neck, he could see the Great Aviary in the distance, rising above the rest of the peaks, the ancient ruins at its top hidden by the clouds that crowded around its precipitous sides. That wasn't his destination today, though - not that he didn't fly to and fro that place often enough, carrying messages or solving problems.

No, today he was heading for another peak, further out - the ancestral home of his family, and the domain of his noble father, Pinion K'pren. He'd grown up there, and first tested his wings among its green foothills... a simpler time, back when his future had seemed nice and predictable. He was the eldest son, the Remex, and would thus train at the Aviary, learning the way of the Great Wing so that he may one day succeed his father and take his place among them. Nice and simple. Then a random flight near the borders of the territory had thrown his entire life off course, like a sudden crosswind on a quiet day - as he spotted a pair of human lovers enjoying one another's company on an isolated plateau near a mountain village.

He'd found the sight... fetching. Those thin, agile bodies, so strangely naked without feathers or fur, gifted with eye-catching curves and capable of the most remarkable contortions. He'd found himself lingering, watching them - purely out of curiosity, or so he'd told himself despite the stirring in his sheath. He'd watched until the two young humans had thoroughly exhausted one another, and remained where he was - perched on a mountainside, mostly hidden behind some trees, all but invisible to mere human eyes - as they lay there sweaty and naked, embracing and talking in tones too hushed to hear.

Later, he'd found himself taking more flights along the borderlands - explaining it to himself and others as being simply a combination of exercise and patrol-flights, keeping an eye out for possible human incursions into the clan's territories. A very real threat - and thus, a very good excuse. But in truth, it was he who was violating foreign territories, carefully staying out of sight as he hoped to sneak another peek at the humans. Particularly human women. Preferably without those false hides they called 'clothes'. He succeeded, too, a few times - either catching another young couple sneaking some privacy on an isolated plateau, or perhaps just a woman bathing in one of the scenic mountain lakes. And every time, he found it harder to deny his own growing arousal - or ignore the fantasies that were starting to grow in his mind. Instead of dreaming of pretty hens bending their forelegs and lifting their tails for him, of wrapping his talons around the base of their wings and putting eggs in their bellies, he was imaging human women, naked and seductive, on all fours, inviting him to mount them...

Eventually, his father had caught him in his voyeuristic pleasures - not because he'd suspected, but purely out of concern. He'd been worried that his eldest son was flying solo patrols near the human lands during a time or rising tensions, fearing that he might catch a crossbow-bolt from a twitchy guardsman - so when he'd received word that a human prospector with several armed guards had made a brief foray into the clan's territory, he'd dashed off himself, fearing that K'teshi might have gotten caught up in the incursion. Frankly, he would've_preferred_ just being perforated by crossbow-bolts to the mortifying embarrassment of having his noble father catch him at his perverse hobby.

He'd feared the worse - disownment, or perhaps outright banishment - but of course, that was just adolescent paranoia. All that had _actually_happened was that his father had given him a few smacks around the beak with his wings for violating the borders and risking his own feathers in the process. K'pren hadn't even said anything about his perversion... not out loud, anyway. There'd just been a sort of... subtle disappointment in his eyes. A concern for the future of the clan. K'teshi, for his part, had resolved to chase off the foolish fantasies that dogged him, in his sleep and during idle moments alike, and focus on his duties - hoping to make it all up to his father.

Maybe it would've ended with that, and he might indeed have drowned his unnatural desires and one day taken a wife and produced a nest of eggs, carrying on the clan's legacy as a Pinion. Maybe. But then Cybra had arrived, that strange, unnatural being... and approached K'pren with a proposal. A human lord - a female human lord - of great power sought a consort from beyond the ranks of mankind.Their clan had done a better job than most of maintaining diplomatic ties with neighboring human realms, preventing losses on both sides - a wise course indeed. So surely, he could also see the wisdom of establishing closer ties with a human lord, particularly one who commanded such fearsome ground-troops? It stood to benefit the entire Griffon race, after all - and might thus boost the profile of the clan... perhaps he knew of some likely young Griffon who would not be averse to joining with a human woman?

K'teshi still did not know if Cybra had somehow known about his own perverted desires... he was certain that his father had not told anyone, but even today he remained uncertain as to the limits of Cybra's strange perceptions. Then again, perhaps he had just lucked out, or perhaps he had approached several other clans before theirs and simply been told a no - If so, they certainly wouldn't be in a hurry to say as much, considering how beneficial that deal had ultimately proven. Either way, K'pren had immediately seen the potential of the offered bargain - a chance to draw some actual advantage from his eldest son's peculiarity, rather than simply leaving it as a worrisome secret.

And thus, he'd met Sayn, and found his dreams coming true... oh, what a night that had been! For the sake of his race's pride, he'd been forced to hide his eagerness behind a strictly-maintained front of carefully-cultivated arrogance, reminding himself always that as a Griffon, he was more than human, even a human lord with such strange powers as Sayn wielded... and seeing how eagerly she had responded to the false confidence he was projecting, well, that had only reinforced his determination not to let his true desires show.

He still thought of that night as his First Time. It hadn't been, of course - not really. He'd come of age several months prior, and as the Remex of the clan, he'd swiftly drawn the eye of several young hens. Eager to hide his shameful secret and distance himself from the concern in his father's eyes, he'd pursued them with all the traditional determination, going through the obligatory chase and persuasion - not that any of them bothered to put up more than the most basic of resistances, whether out of pure physical attraction or out of a hope that they may become his wife one day, rather than just another conquest.

Five hens he'd claimed, before he met Sayn - and he'd given good account of himself in every case! Of course, that had partially been because he'd found his own ardor rising only slowly as they joined - enabling him to easily delay his own gratification while pleasuring the hen, and ultimately only reaching his own climax when he allowed himself to imagine that the warm body gyrating and shuddering beneath him was that of a human woman. It had been enjoyable, to be sure, and provided him with a budding reputation as a masterful lover. But it had all paled before the real thing. The sensation of Sayn's naked skin brushing against his fur... her soft lips wrapping around his cock... her delicate moans, so much sweeter than the sharp cries of pleasure that a Griffon hen produced...

And then she had dismissed him. It had torn at him, though he hadn't dared show it. Of course, there was no point in trying to hide his shame as he returned in what was, ultimately, defeat - for all that Sayn had promised that a treaty would still be forthcoming - along with the possibility of future liaisons. Sharing his experience with his male peers had been murderously humiliating too, if not quite as bad as he'd feared. But the worst part was that he just couldn't forget her. He couldn't go back to chasing the females of his own kind - there was no stirring in his sheath when he saw a hen flick her tail invitingly at him as she passed by.

For months, he'd struggled with himself, and suffered under a growing number of whispers about his sudden lack of conquests. The general gist seemed to be that being rejected - by a human, even - had dealt a nasty blow to his confidence... with most of them concluding that he was being unnecessarily hard on himself. After all, a _dragon_had tried for the same position, and come up short as well - with the final 'winner' being one of the mystical and highly-revered Kirin! With such a high level of competition, a 'third place' finish wasn't half bad, really... or so they'd reasoned.

He'd been confused, uncertain, and unhappy in those days. The same predictable life still lay before him, but the brief moment during which a different life had been offered to him had soured it to his eyes. He found himself uncertain about whether he could do it at all, and contemplated simply running away from it all - going about his duties like a sleepwalker, dull and tired. Until she returned. Sayn - appearing at the Great Aviary to settle the treaty they had once discussed. And eager to renew their acquaintance, as it turned out!

From there, it had all been a blur. The settled treaty, binding the Griffons to Sayn's nascent empire. The war, all smoke and blood and screams. The despair and consternation that had spread with word of Sayn's capture - turning to raw, liquid rage when the image-crystals popped up, showing her execution. Then, the miracle of her return, the revelation of her Divine nature, the founding of her Empire, the building of her Palace... and her Seraglio, with a room set aside there for him. In the end, the five hens he'd claimed before meeting Sayn had remained the only ones. Since then, he'd sated his unnatural desires on Sayn herself... along with several others. Beastkin, Elf, Kirin, even Sirrush - each revealing unique pleasures.

He wasn't sure if Sayn was actually aware of how many other human lovers he had, though. He knew that, as a matter of policy, there was nothing wrong with it, but it was still something he wasn't in a hurry to bring up. While he'd certainly found enjoyment in other races, humans remained his... fetish. His main desire. There was such variety among them, too! And these days, well, it wasn't hard to find eager conquests, if he could even call them that with a straight face. As he'd learned from Sayn, humans weren't like Griffons. Human women did not always wait for a man to come along to chase and persuade her - sometimes, they simply took what they wanted.

And those who now worshiped Sayn as a Goddess-Made-Flesh, well, they wanted him. Or, more generally, they wanted to sample the love of other species, with one of the Empress' own consorts being the greatest prize. They almost literally threw themselves at him given half a chance. Any time he took a lengthy journey - like this one, for instance - he'd seek human settlements to spend the night in, rather than land in some isolated glade or clearing. Virtually all towns and most villages had at least a minor Church of the Beastmaker these days - and they were more than happy to let him sleep there. Not that he always got all that much sleep...

K'teshi quickly snapped himself out of his reverie. When flying though familiar territory, it was easy to let your mind wander - but flying with a raging hard-on was both awkward and embarrassing, so he had to be careful what direction he let it wander in. Besides, he was pretty much there. Cries of recognition and greeting rang out from several nearby Griffons as they saw him coming - clan-members. Well, members of his old clan, anyway. He had abandoned it, along with his title as Remex, when he became the Beastmaker's Consort. It had been an amicable parting, however - so he remained welcome and loved here. The guards that rode the air-currents near the peak, protecting his father's private den - more ceremonial than necessary in this time of peace - recognized him too, and quietly let him pass.

It was a rather nice perch - he'd always thought so, and dreamed of one day inheriting it. A rock shelf edged by craggy walls provided a lovely spot to catch the sun while staying out of the wind, and while it had originally been nothing but barren rock, a layer of dirt had been spread on it and hardy mountain-grass carefully cultivated on top to provide soft bedding. One side was given over to a plethora of pale flowers, the kind that prospered at high altitudes - selected and minded by K'pren himself, who considered gardening a highly worthwhile hobby.

Behind this landing, a natural cavern extended into the mountainside to provide a spacious den, which K'pren had tastefully decorated and furnished - with the later part coming mostly thanks to increased trade with mankind. He delighted in showing off the human-crafted furnishings, particularly the bits that had been specifically designed with Griffons in mind - the fruits of their alliance with mankind, and a not-so-subtle reminder that he had personally spearheaded the treaty... and, of course, that his son was the Griffon Consort to the Beastmaker, ambassador and voice for all of Griffonkind in the grand Palace that had become the center of the world.

As he fixed his wings to glide in for a smooth landing, K'teshi glanced down the mountainside to a far lower den - with a large 'garden' out front, featuring a number of trees as well as flower-beds. His mother's den. He'd have to swing by later to say hi, but of course, tradition and propriety commanded that he greet his father first. He had spent enough time living among the humans - and, indeed, interacting with other races - to know that the way a Griffon family worked was quite different from the way just about anyone else did things, but he'd grown up with it, so it still seemed perfectly ordinary to him.

That nice den down there had been his childhood home. That was where he'd grown up, alongside his brothers and sisters. K'pren had visited frequently, though rarely staying the night - except, of course, for those two weeks per year, the Mating-Times, where he and his wife were inseparable. Not that they were still trying for eggs, mind - by mutual agreement, they'd stopped after three clutches, producing three cockerels and seven hens in total. A respectable sort of a family, for a Pinion. However, it was right and proper for a husband to remain by his wife's side during the Mating-Times, that special period during which sex was more than just a sport, a game, a hunt that brought pleasure equally to hunter and prey.

It was only during this time that hens could become large with eggs - and as a result, the fabric of Griffon society shifted heavily. For those weeks the Great Sport was on hold, and any sexual relation outside of marriage was strictly forbidden. The fact that this left unmarried cocks and hens alike high and dry during a time where their urges peaked was considered a suitable encouragement for both to seek a good marriage early on - and if 'accidents' _did_happen, the unruly youngsters would find themselves swiftly corrected by the elders... and, fortunately, the young hen could usually avoid the shame of producing a clutch of bastards by virtue of certain potent herbs that grew wild at the higher altitudes.

He never discussed his family back at the Seraglio. He had known Sayn long enough to realize what sort of steely-eyed glare the mention of standard Griffon sexual culture would prompt. It wasn't that he was ashamed of his kind, as such, he was just... trying to be sensible. Sayn could learn how things worked among the Griffons by many other ways, had she had a mind to - and if she hadn't, then it was probably because she sensibly recognized that her refusal to institute a cultural hegemony in her empire would, inevitably, mean that some would carry on cultural practices that she'd find personally distasteful. And for the most part, she was wise enough to simply not look too closely at those cases. While Griffon Society certainly wasn't some kind of cruel tyranny, the way Sayn had cracked down on sexism and male privilege within human society strongly suggested to K'teshi that she wouldn't look too kindly on the Griffon's approach to gender-roles.

And he had to admit - with the advantage of the 'outside view' that his life in the Palace had granted him - that it didn't seem particularly_fair_. K'pren was a good father, and a good husband. He'd never neglected his wife, and had spent much time with his children, teaching them to hunt, to fly - and later, to speak and to listen. And if his wife had grown needy during the year, he had seen to her needs. But not all patriarchs were so conscientious. Some left child-rearing entirely to their wives, as was their right, and ignored their desires outside the Mating-Times where tradition demanded otherwise. Their wives, after all, had to remain faithful - while they were free to practice the Great Sport and hunt among the many unattached hens.

But, well, life wasn't fair, and that particular approach worked well enough for the Griffons. This culture, he had grown to realize, had probably grown out of their gender imbalance - neither as severe nor as crippling as the one that had threatened the Centaurs, but likely to leave its mark nonetheless! The ratio of cockerels to hens in his own family wasn't unusual. And though virtually every cock would eventually take a wife, that still tended to leave several hens who would not find a husband. Hens with needs and desires that required satiation - and thus, the Great Sport had grown, to the benefit of both.

Perhaps, in time, it would change, he reflected as he carefully folded his wings, straightened a few stray feathers, and stepped into his father's den. Griffonkind was growing closer and closer with humanity, with an increasing number of young Griffons outright moving to human cities. Human culture was likely to affect, or infect, them, and future generations might wind up with a very different attitude towards the relation between cock and hen. For now, though... things were as they were, and traditions reigned.

K'teshi dipped his beak as he stepped into the den. "Father. I greet you." K'pren rose from his nest with a chuckle and stepped closer, rubbing their beaks together in the Griffon equivalent of a firm hug. "K'teshi, my son! Always a joy to see you, though I am as ever surprised that you can find the time to visit your poor old parents, being such a busy and important cock these days..." his voice was warm and taunting, prompting K'teshi to grin in turn. "I can always find a moment for my family. Not that I actually flew all this way just to see you, Father - I had an errand nearby, and resolved it early, so I figured that a side-trip might be in order."

K'pren chuckled again, nodding. "Practical as ever! I can see no fault with that." He gestured with a flick of his beak towards a low table surrounded by colorful, comfortable-looking pillows. Wide cups suitable for drinking already stood upon it, along with a carafe of wine - one designed to be picked up and poured with a Griffon's beak, no doubt a gift custom-made for him by one of the merchant houses, seeking favor with a powerful Pinion in the hopes of getting preferential arrangements.

As they stepped towards the table, the hen that had been dozing in the nest beside K'pren stirred from the noise and groggily rose, blinking to clear her eyes. "Ah... you have a visitor, Sir? Should I make myself scarce?" She asked softly. K'pren nodded and flashed her a smile. "I'm afraid you might have to, my dear. This is my son, K'teshi, come for an unannounced visit - I fear we will be speaking of cock's business for some hours." Her eyes widened at this, and she quickly stumbled out of the nest to deliver a reasonably elegant curtsy. "Consort K'teshi! It is an honor."

K'teshi nodded with a suitably imperious mien. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance." His eyes automatically scanned her. She was young - no older than the oldest of his sisters. Pretty, with an eye-catching pattern to her plumage. Not of the clan, but from a neighboring one, if he was any judge. Hardly a surprise - his Father had always preferred to do his hunting abroad. "The local hens are no challenge!" He'd once declared with a booming laugh. "They all respect me too damn much. Can't stop seeing me as a Pinion long enough to see me as a cock. Outsiders at least put up_some_ resistance... it's more sporting that way, yes?" Well, that was the kind of Griffon he was. As with so many other things, K'teshi knew well that there were Pinions who had no compunction about using their position to their advantage, mating with essentially the entire unattached female population of their clan at one point or another.

Once she had left, K'pren poured wine for them both, and they began to talk. First about politics and such - rumors and news from the Palace, particularly anything that was of concern to the Griffons. K'teshi, in turn, questioned his father about any issues or problems that might have arisen, any subtle grumbles or complaints that a Consort might want to deal with before they became issues worthy of the Empress' ears. There wasn't much to talk about on either count. The Griffons were still prospering off the newfound alliance, and the only real concern was the same doomsaying grayfeathers that had been preaching about the disintegration of Griffon society since the first treaty with Sayn was signed.

Indeed, business was booming. The Griffons were not craftsmen, nor farmers, nor herdsmen, and certainly not miners - by and large, they had but_one_ thing to sell, but it was something that many would pay dearly for, and they had little in the way of competition. Their wings went for a premium, to anyone who wished to send messages, small amounts of lightweight goods, or even passengers across the continent in a quarter of the time it would've taken even the swiftest horse. The passenger-service was relatively new, and the quoted price for such a flight was exorbitant to say the least, but still there were those willing to pay - either because they really_needed to be somewhere else _right now, or just for the sheer experience of it... or so that they could show off their wealth to their equally-wealthy friends. It hardly mattered - what _did_matter was that it brought in vast wealth for the Griffons. Wealth that they then turned around and spent on goods that they could not, themselves, produce, making life easier and more pleasant.

"The mining is taking off too. Not a huge influx, but a reliable one, and there are more prospects being investigated. Really makes you wonder why we never thought to set something like that up ourselves, at some point over the past few centuries..." K'pren said, sighing at the foolishness of his ancestors as he shook his head. Griffons had been butting heads with human prospectors and miners since time immemorial, fighting them to maintain the integrity of their borders, protecting the mountains they called home. But it wasn't as if the Griffons had any need for whatever useful minerals might lie at the heart of those mountains - nor any way to extract them if they did. Now, with the Empire enforcing civility and honesty on both sides, prospectors were moving freely on Griffon territory, and mines were being dug, extracting the wealth from within the mountains - with a healthy percentage going to the Griffons. Both sides profited, and no further blood was shed.

"Hopefully, this new thing with the Dragons will prove just as beneficial, for all that it's got a lot of the grayfeathers in conniptions!" K'pren then chuckled, and K'teshi eagerly nodded. The fact that the hated Dragons were now part of the same empire as them had come as a bit of a shock. To say that there was bad blood between the two races was selling things tremendously short. But that bad blood had been_shed_, and in vast amounts. Now, as long as the Empire held, as long as Sayn's Peace held, there would be no more. Griffons would not rend dragon-wings, nor be scorched by dragon-breath and sent hurtling from the skies to the merciless ground beneath.

"You're not worried about the... competition?" K'teshi asked hesitantly, and his father shrugged, the very image of unconcern. "Not overly. We are faster than them, after all - and even if some of them begin to ape us, and offer themselves as transports for those able to pay, they will no doubt demand far more than we charge. At worst, they will create a new niche with their ability to ferry more and heavier cargo, or large groups of people - but I suspect it will be a long time before they even consider taking on passengers. It was a hard enough sell for my hard-beaked brethren! Although, is it true that the new Dragon-Consort lets the Empress ride on his back?"

K'teshi nodded, a slight smile on his beak. He hadn't exactly been overjoyed to find himself living in such close quarters with a dragon... but seeing how the beast, for all his obvious arrogance, clearly deferred to Sayn - same as he did, same as they all did - had softened the blow. "He does indeed, and quite frequently. His respect for the Empress if clear for all to see. Indeed, he has... fit himself more neatly into the Seraglio's dynamic than I would have expected. It is enough to make me wonder if he is an unusual sort of Dragon, or if perhaps they just aren't as bad as we have always thought. It is not as if any of us have had occasion to get to know any of them as_individuals_ before, after all..."

K'pren nodded, and for a short time, they discussed the subject of dragons, and the possible future that the two races now faced as fellow citizens of the same Empire. But once this had been exhausted, inevitably, the subject turned to the Great Sport. "What did you think of her, hmm?" K'pren asked, gesturing towards the now-empty nest. "Quite the fetching plumage, wouldn't you agree? And so young, and so tight, and with such a sweet cry when the climax rolls through her..." K'teshi nodded politely. "Aye, a nice catch indeed. It seems you haven't lost your touch yet!"

K'pren snorted. "Of course not! What I may have lost in stamina, I have more than made up for with skill and experience! Indeed, I have never yet failed to maintain my three-for-one standard." Three hen's orgasms for every one the cock allowed himself - a gold standard for those who pursued the Great Sport, and one which more claimed than could truly back it up. K'pren, though, was almost certainly being straight - he was a handsome and vigorous specimen, despite his advancing age, and would likely remain a contender until his twilight years.

"She claimed that I was the first one to guest her tail-hole, you know..." He continued conversationally, but then chuckled. "I have my doubts, there - she may have said as much to several cocks before me! But I do not begrudge her that fib, if indeed it was so - not all cocks respect the gift that an unattached hen gives them in offering up their tailholes, nor exercise suitable restraint in accepting it. Believing that you are the first, however, would naturally prompt you to be gentler, though... after all, you would hardly want to be known for making a hen scream in pain rather than pleasure as you took her!"

K'teshi nodded politely. Another peculiar facet, that. A wife was _expected_to put her tail-hole at her husband's disposal whenever he pleased. Conversely, she had the right to deny him her slit, once she had born him at least one healthy clutch of eggs. This was how they practiced birth-control, after all. On the other hand, unattached hens, seeking pure pleasure outside of the Mating-Time, would generally prefer vaginal intercourse - which, of course, simply made their tailholes more desirable prey. "Other than the cleverness thereof, why would you suspect her of dishonesty? You said she was tight, so that cannot be it..." He asked, not so much out of a desire to know, as because he knew it would seem strange if he did not.

K'pren nodded eagerly. "Oh yes, tight indeed - her sphincter gripped the base of my knot as if it never planned to let go! She simply seemed to enjoy it a bit... too much, yes? It usually takes hens a bit of time to get used to the pleasures of the tail-hole. An acquired taste, as it were. But this one, oh, she was bucking and begging me to go deeper and harder within minutes. It's not proof, not by a long shot, but enough to make me suspect! Not that it matters, as I said. We both had a splendid time, which is what's important, no?"

He nodded a few times, and then continued without waiting for a reply from K'teshi. It had clearly been a rhetorical question anyway. "She is quite the progressive, too! Comes with being young, I suppose. Our association with the humans must not seem so strange to those who have fewer years of prideful isolation behind them! She is a student of the oral arts, aye, as passed on from the humans. Not quite a first for me, but she is certainly the most skillful practitioner I have so far encountered! He tongue caressed the length and width of my shaft, tip to knot, without her beak ever giving it so much as a scratch. And she did so even after I had taken her tail-hole, which_was_ a first for me!"

K'teshi nodded, feeling that he was on somewhat firmer ground now. "Indeed? The humans call that 'ass-to-mouth', somewhat crudely - though I suppose it would be 'ass-to-beak' for our kind, no? There is a female in the Seraglio who is quite the aficionado of that particular art." K'pren chuckled, nodding eagerly. "Ah, I should not be surprised! Of course, you have plenty of experience with such things already, eh? Us Griffons are but new apprentices in the oral arts, and you share your nest with humans, who verily invented_those arts, and continue to be their master!" K'teshi had to chuckle at that - a sound of genuine amusement. "I do not know if they _invented it, in truth. It is a widespread practice among many other races, including the Beastkin, Elves, and even Kirin. And I'm sure that if asked, the Elves would eagerly lay claim to its invention! But certainly, mankind - with their habitual impetus and drive - have moved towards mastering it..."

This prompted a brief discourse on the subject of oral pleasures and their prevalence among races gifted with lips, followed by K'pren giving account of a few more recent conquests of his. "Not that I am neglecting your mother, of course!" He hastened to add, after the mentioning the third hen that had guested his nest recently. "I visit her at least on a weekly basis, and pleasure her as thoroughly as when I first married her. It may lack the challenge and adventure of the Great Sport, but there's a special comfort in seeking the embrace of a familiar lover whose needs and wants you know inside and out - well, I'm sure you understand what I mean. After all, 'consort' is basically just a fancy word for 'husband', right?"

He did, indeed, understand that, and nodded with a shy smile. Now, however, it was clearly his turn. Tradition demanded it; for all that he had never seen the appeal. "So, let me hear how you've fared recently!" His father asked, encouraging, waving a talon in the air and taking another sip of his wine. Taking a deep breath, K'teshi nodded. "Yes, Father. Well, in terms of most recent... that would be last night, when I sought shelter and rest in the Church of a mid-sized town. I had not visited this particular town before on my journeys, but was well-received - especially when the Deacon learned who I was. The Church never turned away a weary traveler, of course, but... well, you know how it is."

K'pren nodded, a mischievous smile in his eyes. "Oh yes. Rank hath its privilege. Respect comes to those who have earned it, whether they want it or not. Do go on..." K'teshi breathed again, letting the memories flow back to him. "The Deacon was a kind and emphatic man, a true believer in the power of love to break through walls and bridge gaps, bringing what was once different and alien together for mutual profit. A philosophical, rather than visceral believer in the Gospel of Love. However, three sisters served as his assistants, running most of the Church's practical matters and leading the Flock in the Gospel after every sermon. They, I believe, felt the Gospel more than believed it."

K'pren nodded again, more thoughtfully this time. Both of them were well aware that the Church of the Beastmaker played host to a variety of different spirits. From those who believed in the philosophy, to the true fanatic driven by unreasoning devotion... and somewhere in between were those who simply harbored strong desires, and relished the opportunity to indulge them in a socially acceptable fashion. The three sisters he had met the previous night had, as he had just so diplomatically suggested, been in the third category. They had looked at him with hungry eyes from the moment he appeared, and it had only intensified into something resembling predatory zeal when they learned that he was a chosen Consort of the Beastmaker herself.

"They were triplets, you know - a human thing, hard to really understand. Hatched from a single egg, although humans don't lay eggs of course... but the long and short of it is, they were perfectly identical and perfectly in sync, like three bodies sharing one mind. Pretty, by human standards, with luscious curves, and dressed to accentuate it... distinguishable from each other only by their different plumage, or 'haircuts' as they're called. One had her dark-brown hair mid-length and in a ponytail, another wore it short-cropped and boyish, and the third let her hair hang free and to her waist."

K'pren nodded eagerly along. The beauty of the human body and the artfulness of 'haircuts' was lost on him, but he was clearly fascinated by the idea of three identical females. "They led me to a suitable nest, and then I... convinced them to remain, to keep me company for the night." This was a bit of a fib, a white lie, just to fit the narrative into something his father would recognize and understand. In truth, the three women had rather openly offered to stay, and in fact been rather insistent about it - he'd had no chance to even try to seduce them.

"All three were quite hungry for the pleasure that a true Griffon could bring... and though I could mount only one at a time, the other two never sat idle and waited. Rather, they moved as if in a well-schooled dance. Whenever I mounted one, her two sisters would gather around her, heightening her pleasure in various ways - playing with and suckling on her nipples, kissing her deeply on the lips, even caressing and tonguing her pussy in the cases where I had taken the girl's asshole - all three were quite willing to let me pick whatever orifice I preferred, I might add!"

K'pren leaned forwards across the low table, attention rapt. Incestuous relations like what he had just described weren't unknown amongst the Griffons, but were just as taboo as they ultimately were among the humans. Lesbianism, meanwhile, was very nearly unheard of. "Then, when I knotted with my chosen mate and seized my thrusting, both of them would immediately refocus their attention on me. One would kiss, suck on and generally caress my sack, while the other lodged her face beneath my tail and tongued my tail-hole with both enthusiasm and skill. I have no idea how they chose who did what, but there was never any confusion about it that I could see!"

"Then, when my knot shrank and I pulled out, the other two would once again divide labors without a word between them - with one focusing on my cock, licking and sucking it clean, while the other wrapped her lips around her sister's freshly-fucked orifice and caressed it with her tongue, sucking my cum from it with obvious relish. So it went nine whole times - three rounds for each - before they were sated! I cannot say how many times they came - indeed, I entirely lost count - but I am confident I was on the safe side of the golden 3-to-1 ratio."

Once again, he wasn't being entirely honest. Whether he had actually sated them was an open question, for he had fallen asleep during the ninth round, driven to exhaustion by the long flight and the ongoing orgy, his shaft still knotted in place in the short-haired sister's asshole. He was also leaving out the perversions of the following morning, when he'd withdrawn his morning wood from its warm, pungent sheath to find two barely-awake sisters eagerly pouncing on the foul-smelling tool. And then begging him, along with the one who had spent the night wedged beneath his body, sweaty and mussed, to release his morning piss into their waiting mouths rather than the nearby lavatory. He was not entirely unfamiliar with such perversions, considering Thielwen's eager interest, but usually avoided it back in the Seraglio. Then and there, though - still groggy from sleep, besieged from three sides, he'd caved without much thought and ultimately watched the three perverse sisters swap mouthfuls of his strong-smelling morning urine with ecstatic expressions. There were some women who'd fit right in in the Seraglio, he'd thought tiredly, before bidding them a hasty farewell - excusing his early departure with the driving need of his not-really-that-urgent mission, but mostly just worried about what kind of depravity they might have dragged him into if given a few more hours.

All of this, he left out of his account. Not only was he embarrassed about what he'd wound up doing, he also didn't want to give his all-to-vigorous father any ideas he might try to persuade some innocent hen into trying with him. Once upon a time, the idea of lying or leaving out details about his conquests when discussing the Great Sport would've been anathema to him - it was too deeply entrenched in Griffon culture to be so cavalierly treated! But living among other races had helped him breed a more... practical attitude towards it - as well as many other things.

He then proceeded to give account of the last few encounters he'd had prior - back at the Seraglio - including his latest session with Sayn. "Nice to hear that the Empress still makes time for you, despite her growing number of available lovers!" His father chuckled. K'teshi lifted an eyebrow. "You know, father... if you're curious about what the love of a human woman feels like, you could easily sample it for yourself. The nearest Church is only a short flight from here, and you'd be a welcome addition to the Gospel, I'm sure."

K'pren froze at that, then sighed and shook his head. "A tempting idea... but I fear I am too old to entertain such notions. I am not a hidebound old coot like some of my peers - I understand well enough that the world of today is a very different one than then one I grew up in. And I like to think that I have adapted well to it! But even so, I cannot change who I am. I'm a relic of the past era, you know? And I'll probably keep going along, doing things as I always have, until the day I fall from the skies." He rustled his wings melancholically, and then flashed a faint smile. "Full adaption to this new era will come only with the new generation. Your younger brother, my new Remex, has embraced this world you helped usher in, you know. HE makes regular trips to nearby Churches, 'to promote cooperation with mankind'."

K'teshi chuckled at this. He wasn't terribly surprised. His younger brother, K'heta, had always looked up to him and tried to emulate him - or perhaps rather, emulate the public image he had so carefully projected. Seeing him step away from the title of Remex to become Consort to the newly-risen Empress had only deepened K'heta's admiration and determination to live up to the legacy he perceived he was following. So of course, the young cock had eagerly sought out 'closer relations' with human women, immediately accepting that this was no longer a terrible perversion but rather the mark of a new age - one that his splendid older brother had perceived earlier than most and led the way into!

K'pren answered the chuckle with a grudging snort. "Well, at least he's not letting his 'diplomatic pursuits' get in the way of starting an actual family. There's a few hens in the running to become his wife, you know... and I suppose these days, they don't much mind the human women he's surrounding himself with. I mean, if it was just those occasional church-visits, that would be one thing..." the old cock groused, sounding very much his age for once "...but these pilgrims! I would've expected them to dry up after a while, with more young Griffons living in human cities and giving them the chance to sample that particular verse of the Gospels without going anywhere. But nooo, they keep coming, and K'heta keeps welcoming them into his den..."

It had surprised K'teshi too, if he was to be honest. Even now, there was much about humans and their society that he could only observe, and not truly understand. Early on, the Pilgrims had been driven by the religious zeal of the fresh convert, as the Church of the Beastmaker rose to supremacy, drawing in ever-more adherents... many of whom were eager to demonstrate their devotion both to it, and to their newly-minted Empress. The Pilgrimage was, in a sense, a central tenet - learning the Gospel of Love by mastering each 'verse' in turn... meaning, in less religious terms, having sex with each of the other intelligent species of the world. But as K'pren so correctly pointed out, the growing intermingling of the once-isolated people of the continent meant that the larger human cities now had residents from every species short of the dragons - and perhaps, soon enough, them too! So you didn't really have to travel very far in order to learn the Gospel in its full length...

But then, somehow, it had turned into some kind of... status-symbol. Rather than being devoted converts packing up what little they had and throwing themselves into the world driven by sheer determination, the Pilgrims of today were upper-middle-class and beyond. People who had the means to put their life on hold for a few years while traveling around to the homeland of the other species and perform the_true_ Pilgrimage, as they often put it. Not so much to demonstrate greater devotion and holiness, but to demonstrate their means. Were you able to also cross the Great Current and visit the Southern Continent to sample the sexual culture of the two Sirrush-tribes? Did you swing by the Flower-Dragon Colony of Hope island, too? Well, then you clearly had greater means and status than those who had to stop at the original 5 races. (These Pilgrims, notably, tended to be too sensible to make attempts at adding Dragons to their Gospel - and even the true fanatics hadn't dared try to climb the Mountains of Xangri-Du where the Kirin dwelt. THAT particular Verse, everyone agreed, was reserved only for the true Goddess...)

After nodding along with a bit more of his Father's grousing about how these Pilgrims kept distracting cocks from the proper pursuit of the Great Sport, he made his farewells and they rubbed beaks one more time. He paused by the garden on the way out, admiring the delicate, white flowers that grew there and gathering his thoughts before he'd greet his mother. Their conversations were less... awkward, but also less predictable. Often, she asked to his work, and he found it difficult to decide how much to tell her. Much of what he did was secret, after all... and much of the rest would just needlessly worry her. Like this latest business of Sayn-impersonators popping up in the more remote corners of the Empire, using smoke and mirrors to perform false miracles and convince poorly-educated villagers of their Divine pedigree.

It wasn't really a major concern... even a cursory look at human history made it clear that they had been dogged by con-artists and snake-oil salesmen basically since they won their freedom from the Elves. The exact game played by these deceitful cads changed with the times, but every generation birthed a few such dishonest individuals who would rather leech off the hard work of others than lift a finger of their own. These impersonators, thus, were merely the latest incarnation of an old, unpleasant 'tradition'. They were also, however, treasonous and arguably heretical, and needed to be stamped out before Sayn herself was forced to take notice. The fact that they popped up in the most distant and remote corners of the Empire, meanwhile, kept K'teshi - who could reach said corners faster than anyone else - quite busy.

Well, those cons were living on borrowed time, he decided as he stretched his wings and prepared for the dive down the mountainside to his mother's den - hence, no reason to worry her about it. The Elves, while certainly busy repopulating their species and adapting their society to their newfound mortality, were also working steadily on producing more Ansibles. Unsurprisingly, between the complexity of the enchantments involved and the limited manpower they were working from, it wasn't happening particularly quickly, but it was_accelerating_. With their full integration into the Empire came assistance from the far-more-numerous human mages, who could at least handle the most basic, fundamental parts of the assembly, and even a small number of Kirin who had agreed to temporarily lend their incredible magical talents to the production. There was even talk that some of the Dragons might be added to the project, as an alternate way to serve their 'tax-time'. At this rate, in just a few years, there'd be Ansibles in every major city across the Empire, just as had been the case when the Elves ruled the world - eliminating the kind of distance and isolation that gave rise to these fakes.

Unless something ELSE went wrong anyway, he thought wryly to himself as he plummeted down through the cool air. Things had been almost_suspiciously_ smooth and peaceful since Sayn had finalized her all-encompassing empire by integrating the Elves and, shortly afterwards, the Dragons. The recent inclusion of the Muhuru-Ngoubou had gone so smoothly as to be entirely unnoticeable, with many already forgetting that they had not joined at the same time as their Sharptooth cousins. It was silly, of course, but a part of him felt like things were just going too well, and was waiting for - as the humans so strangely put it - 'the other shoe to drop'.

Chasing those unfounded worries from his mind, he spread his wings and landed in the garden of his childhood, putting a broad smile on his beak and in his eyes as he prepared to greet his mother - determined not to let any of his foolish concerns reach her...

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PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE

Name: K'teshi (The 'K' sound denotes his clan-affiliation)

Titles: Remex to Pinion K'pren of the Green Mountain Clan (formerly), Griffon Consort to the Beastmaker

Age: 27 (Life expectancy of a Griffon: Around 90 years.)

Sexual Profile: Straight, if bi-curious. Reasonably open-minded, but has a strong human-fetish. Likely to go along with things he wouldn't otherwise consider if it involves one or more human partners. Despite being a progressive thinker, much of his sexual attitudes are still colored by the Griffons' cultural pursuit of the 'Great Sport' - seeing any sexual pursuit that cannot result in offspring as being a game, where the goal is to bed the most attractive partners and induce as much pleasure as possible. However, the fact that many human women - namely, those who belong to the Church of the Beastmaker - are so eager to throw themselves at him as to remove any sense of challenge confuses these ingrained attitudes somewhat, making it difficult for him to refuse any outright offer of sex, regardless of his own mood.

Psychological Assessment: K'teshi is caught between the long-held pride and traditions of his race, and the flexible, liberal thinking required by his position as Consort in a vast, multicultural empire. This leaves him somewhat off-balance, and he appears to be trying to compensate for this with sheer determination and hard work. His upbringing - and the necessity of concealing his fetishistic attraction to humans for much of his adolescence - has left him with great skills at 'keeping up appearances', putting on the right face for whatever he needs to do. While not a brilliant mind, his former status as a Remex means that he received a thorough education in diplomatic, bureaucratic and governmental affairs growing up, which has served him as an excellent foundation - enabling him to adapt to his new duties with great competence.

Extrapolation: Underneath his carefully-maintained facade, he is highly devoted to Sayn on both a sexual and personal level. She was responsible for turning his fetish from a shameful secret into a splendid career, changing his life radically and - to his mind - for the better. He remains more attracted to her than to any other female, human or otherwise, and is possibly the only person in the Seraglio who harbors genuine feelings of jealousy - though, again, carefully concealed. While he still has a strong sense of obligation towards his clan and his people, he is ultimately a dreamer and a romantic - and if pressed, he would chose his love for Sayn over any other duty. Were she to lose her empire and be abandoned by all others, he would not merely stay by her side - but also likely, in the silence of his own heart, consider this an ideal outcome.

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_ END _