11.2 Pairings (Cont.)

11.2.1 Nayeli and Kylan

"Whoa, your room is nice," Kylan remarked, taking in the humble, homey interior as he followed her through the door. "Is this where you used to live?"

Nayeli shook her head, letting go of his hand once the door was closed, and made for the fireplace instead of the bed. "I have never seen a house like this. It's what I always imagined the 'cottage in the woods' that all heroic stories begin or end in must be like. It is the house I hope to retire to someday, if I live that long and Oro can be saved." Taking the pot from the fire, she poured the contents into the two cups on the table and stirred them gently. "Do you like honey in your tea?"

"No," Kylan answered with a soft chuckle, "I like tea in my honey." Nayeli giggled, and was generous with the sweetening. "This might not be the time to ask, but...do you really think he can be saved? From the demon, I mean?"

The priestess sighed as she stirred their drinks. "Sometimes. Sometimes I all but despair. Then I read my scriptures, to remind myself that there have been many things in the world I thought were so and yet were not, or thought must not be and yet proved so. In the end, the honest answer is simply that what I think is irrelevant, and what I know is inadequate. What is, is." She handed him the little cup, taking a sampling from her own.

His head tilted, thoughts spinning, and couldn't decide if the declarations were simple or deep. Maybe both. "How...do you live like that?"

"Mmm...with difficulty," the Ferruda smiled, lowering her cup, "And by acknowledging that we must act on what we do think and do know and do think we know, regardless of relevance or truth. There is no other way to exist." Setting the cup aside, she laid her hands in her lap and tilted her own head. "Is philosophy your usual approach to foreplay?"

He almost choked on the mouthful of tea he'd just drawn from the cup. "Erk! Uh, no...I'm just curious about a lot of stuff, and you seem to know a lot, so..." He shrugged. "I guess that's not what we're really here for, though, huh?"

The priestess giggled behind her hand. "Please don't be offended," she begged with a warm, sincere smile, "I'm actually quite happy you didn't immediately jump at the bed, and I adore this kind of talk. I'm only nervous, and I've gotten in the habit of trying to quickly do things that I am nervous to do."

"You're nervous?" Kylan was genuinely dumbfounded now, "Why? You're beautiful, experienced, and we've already...I mean, you've already...uh..." His blush had taken over his cheeks, his neck, and made heavy conquests in the region of his ears before he could finish what he was trying to say.

"Sucked you off?" Nayeli finished for him...both the sentence and the conquest of his blush over the entirety of his head, "And fingered your tail-hole, too."

"Eh...it's really off-putting hearing those words from your mouth," he admitted, "But yes. I guess I don't see why you'd be worried. I think I'm going to have a much harder time making your 'happy-ending' than the other way around."

The priestess nodded her understanding. "Everything you have said is true...though I don't think being 'experienced' is generally considered a compliment...but that's part of what makes me nervous. The other night I was indulging Tuli, and then you and your sister when you joined us. It's easy for me to be concerned for others, and see to their needs. I have more difficulty with my own. I did come to orgasm that night, and it was something of a relief, but to say I was 'satisfied'...would be a stretch." She shrugged. "Perhaps I am over-thinking it...but I am worried that I am the key to getting all of you out of here, and turning me might not be so simple as a climax."

Kylan's head tilted again. "You keep a lot on your plate, don't you?"

"Yes," she admitted with a nod, "More than I ought, probably, but I had no choice for many years. Oro has never been very talkative, much less cooperative, so I've never had anyone to divest anything to. I'm still learning how to do that." Setting her cup down, she reached out to gently clasp one of his hands, running her thumb over his small fingers. "In that spirit...can I leave this to you? My head is so full right now that I don't think I can be properly seductive. I need to change my frame of mind, and to do that I need to stop thinking so hard for a little while."

"You really don't mind?" Kylan prompted, turning his hand over to return her caresses, "I'm not the wild type, but I also don't really have any idea what I'm doing, or how to tell if I'm being too rough."

She nodded, and smiled reassuringly. "I'm actually pretty submissive by nature, so don't be concerned with restraint. I'll tell you if it hurts...and if that pleases you, I'll submit to that as well, without complaint. But you don't seem the type who would push any limits I have anyway, so don't worry about it."

He met her eyes for a moment...warm, calm, and reassuring...before resolving himself with a subtle nod, and pulling her hand to his lips to kiss it gently. "I'll do as I like, then," he promised, getting to his feet. She started to do the same, obviously expecting to move to the bed, but Kylan caught her arm and pushed her gently back down into her seat. The little half-breed then stepped around behind her, spreading the bathrobe around her shoulders until it fell lightly around her elbows. With her entire bust exposed and her arms quasi-restrained, Kylan laid his hands gently on her shoulders.

"Your fur is always so soft," he told her in a quiet voice, his small hands rubbing and circling her muscles in his best effort at a massage. "Almost as soft as your touch. Even when you've been working hard, and the dust of the road is clinging to you, everything about you makes me want to hug you and never leg go. Part of that is the scent talking, I'm sure, but still..."

"Mmm...you may touch me anytime," she smiled, closing her eyes and tilting her head to the side as he leaned in to kiss her neck beside where his hands were working the tension out of her, "I'm fond of hugs, myself."

"Heh...well, I don't want to risk turning clingy, especially in front of Oro...but just for today..." He paused what he was doing to wrap both arms around her neck lightly, leaning against her back and nuzzling his cheek against hers affectionately. Nayeli patted his arm and returned the nuzzles, adding a kiss to his cheek.

Kylan wanted to give her some warning...wanted, actually, to ask her permission before he did anything improper...but she had already stated her position, and her desire not to have to think much, or make decisions. So Kylan bit his lip and steeled his nerves and let one hand trail down her front to rest lightly over her breast. She pretended not to notice, though it was impossible that she hadn't. He cupped his hand underneath it, marveling at the soft bounciness of her, and let her rest there while he breathed in her intoxicating aroma. "Your scent is beautiful...and strong," he noted quietly, earning a chuckle from the priestess.

"Breathe as deep as you can stand," she cooed, "There are no restraints today. You can't over-indulge."

Taking his hands off her for a moment, Kylan shrugged off his bathrobe, then reached around to untie the belt of hers before offering her a polite hand to help her up from the chair. She left the fluffy garment where she'd been seated, following his lead over to the bed, and crawled into it without a word. "Face down," Kylan instructed gently when she looked to him for guidance, and Nayeli immediately laid down on her belly, pillowing her cheek on her forearm.

Kylan climbed on and straddled her back, keeping his weight on his knees. From this position, he resumed massaging her shoulders, but now extended his work down the whole of her back, all to way to where his thighs stretched across her. Nayeli sighed contentedly. "You're pretty good at that," she complimented.

He chuckled at her kindness, though he suspected he didn't deserve it. Kylan was really just indulging himself, using the "massage" as an excuse to run hands over her. He didn't have a clue what he was doing when it came to actually soothing muscles, except to knead the tight ones. Scooting back over the rise of her rump, he straddled her knees and worked her lower back as best he could. Her tail lashed lazily from side to side, and she watched him over her shoulder with a smile even when his hands moved up onto her butt and abandoned any pretense. He squeezed her, and patted her gently, then shifted to the side and pulled her hips over, rolling her onto her back.

Crawling over her again, Kylan sealed his lips to hers in a deep, desperate kiss. "Sorry," he breathed lustfully, "Your scent is really starting to kick in, and I can't make up my mind what to do with you."

"Take your time," she suggested softly, "I am patient and forgiving."

He bent his head down and kissed her again on the lips, then crawled back to plant another between her breasts, then on her tummy. "I'm going to try to finish you first," he promised as he worked his way lower and lower down her body, "I might finish just from your scent. If I don't...I want to put it inside you."

The priestess nodded, spreading her thighs to present her intimate places to him shamelessly as he finished backing down between her knees. "Take me," she encouraged, "Use me. Fill me. I am yours, and willing, and happy to submit to your harshest desires."

An aroused shudder ran down his spine. He was a far cry from Oro. His "harshest desire" would probably amount to a good, hard thrust just before he climaxed. But the way she said it...the invitation of it...was absolutely enchanting. His stomach was tight with a perverse kind of hunger, and he bowed his face to the thick fur between her thighs, tongue reaching for the cup of sweet honey that would sate him.

He wasn't entirely sure how long he was down there, bathing the lips of her love-tunnel and polishing her pearl with his tongue. Her scent became overwhelming at some point, and Kylan changed positions without entirely realizing it. He couldn't even swear he'd gotten her off, but Nayeli cooed encouragement to him, trailing fingertips down his chest as he hugged her thigh against his shoulder and hammered her desperately with his hips. "Harder, if you can," the priestess urged, welcoming his every thrust with a clench of her walls, "I'm close. Just pour your seed into me, and I will follow you to the peak."

"Oh gods," he hissed with labored breath as his sense of self and space came back to him, "You're like sweet wine..." Releasing her thigh, Kylan pushed both her legs down and to the sides, dropping his full weight into her with each needy thrust now. Nayeli gasped with pleasure, pulling his hips against her encouragingly with her heels. "Nyah!" Kylan gasped as he finally broke, his throbbing cock erupting in pleasure inside her. He clung to her desperately, breathing hard between each body-rocking pulse, and was very nearly finished before a single, sane thought shot through his pleasure-fogged brain.

Nayeli seemed as much concerned as surprised when he suddenly kicked back with his knees, pulling out of her like he'd felt a snakebite. "I'm sorry," he apologized immediately, "About...inside. I forgot myself. I should've--"

She cut him off with a gentle nudge of her heel and a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about that," the Ferruda told him, "I've always assumed I would have children one day, if I ever have my way, and look forward to it. I'm not actually sure it's possible for me and Oro, but if it happens to be yours instead I will love it just the same," she promised, reaching down to pull him forward to lay on top of her where he could rest for a minute. "Though I am a little surprised it occurred to you, when the thought never seemed to cross Sarahi's mind last night," she chuckled, "Part of being raised as a woman, I guess. Maybe she's more concerned with whether or not she can get pregnant rather than getting someone else."

"All the same," Kylan sighed, enjoying the softness of her body beneath him as the euphoric heat died into a pleasant warmth, "I shouldn't put you at risk of that. Not with our lifestyle."

"Hmhm," Nayeli chuckled, combing her fingers through his hair while he caught his breath, "I would welcome it, even on this long road." She let the matter go at that, still being a purely speculative situation at this point. For a long minute they lay there, Kylan basking in the afterglow, Nayeli teasing his hair and ears and mulling over her own thoughts with a smile on her face. "Are you about ready to try again?" she asked softly.

Kylan's eyes blinked open. "Oh crap. I'm sorry, I--"

The priestess pressed a finger over his lips to shush him. "Don't be. I told you it was going to be hard. You'll probably have another, and maybe two, before I manage it." Her scent and sensibilities were a rough mix in that way. Honestly, she quietly pitied Kylan as having a harder time ahead than she would, if he felt this guilty about leading her by just one. "But it's time we try again, or we'll never get out of here."

The little halfbreed nodded his head, taking a different tactic this time. Still laying mostly on top of her, he kissed her breast and ran his tongue around her nipple, and gently sucked it between his lips. His hand slid down her belly and between her still-spread thighs to dip into the nectar inside. Then he gently trailed his fingers up through the channel of her labia to the sensitive nub hidden near the top. With a little distance between his nose and the strongest of her scent-factories, he hoped to last as a gentleman a bit longer this time.

"Please be gentle," Nayeli asked, laying an encouraging hand on the back of his head and relaxing her legs in a more comfortable spread, "I tend to be very sensitive there."

Nodding his head, Kylan took pains to make wide, light circles, frequently dipping back inside her to stay slick and comfortable to her. Nayeli hummed with pleasure, relaxing under him and letting him work her as he saw fit. Her fingers played in his hair, idly scratching at the back of his neck...then trailed down his shoulders and back, reaching all the was to his rump. She squeezed it gently, coaxing it loose, and let one fingertip slide down between the cheeks.

"Why do you do that?" Kylan asked sofly, gently releasing her from his lips as he did so.

Nayeli blinked, as if she hadn't quite realized what she was doing, then smiled apologetically. "Am I being too rough?" she asked, though Kylan had sounded more curious than uncomfortable.

"No," he answered easily, "And I'm not asking you to stop. I'm just curious, since you did it the other night, too. It's...weirdly pleasant, if that's not disgusting to say, but I always thought being into butts was kind of a guy thing."

"Well, I suppose that's true," the priestess giggled, "Mmm...to be honest, I'm doing it because, sooner or later, Oro is going to claim his rights with you. If you can get accustomed to it gently, in association with pleasure even, maybe it will be a little easier then. Easier than it was for Sarahi, at least," she confessed, fingertip circling his back door even as she explained.

Kylan grimaced slightly, at the thought rather than the touch, and nodded. His own fingers continued to carefully circle her pearl as he mulled over his own thoughts. "...You should probably add a second one, then," he suggested, and Nayeli arched a mildly surprised brow. "I haven't seen him often...just often enough to know he's bigger than one of your fingers," the little male acknowledged with a growing blush.

"Hmhm, that is quite true...though not as large as Sarahi," Nayeli winked. "And come to think of it, she could probably give you a better introduction than I can, if you are willing to submit to such. At the very least, her scent will ensure you are in the best mindset for it, and she will be considerate of your needs."

Simply swapping Sarahi for Oro in the mental picture he'd developed already made the idea more bearable...if not quite appealing. "I'll think about it," he promised, kissing the side of her breast under his cheek, "But this is turning counter-productive. Can we talk about something else?" His fingers had dipped down into her again, and found her beginning to dry, a sure sign she was not only distracted but losing whatever arousal she had felt.

The observation seemed to surprise her. "Ah...my apologies," the priestess answered, craning her neck down to kiss the top of his head, "I'm thinking too hard again. Playing and planning for someone else's sake."

Kylan nodded. It wasn't her fault. Her heart was genuinely set on only one man, and he knew it was not him. She hid it well -- took the shame well -- but Kylan felt his own intrusion keenly in that moment, and pitied her, and admired the endurance of her heart. It did, at least, give him an idea.

"I'm...about to say some things," he warned her quietly, "Rude things. Maybe mean things. Things I don't really believe...but just while we're here, try to forget I don't mean them. Do stop me if I make you mad, though," he added, "And please accept my apology in advance for the way I'm about to behave."

Nayeli quirked a brow, now unsure of what he had planned, but encouraged by the fact that he seemed to have a plan. All she had to do was submit. She could do that. She was good at that. She even liked that. "By the Authority, vested in me," she whispered to him quietly, "I will believe everything you say, until we leave this chamber."

A shudder ran through him. Maybe it was just because he had never known power or possessed authority of any kind over anyone...but the thought alone was highly arousing, even if it worried him for her sake. She could have pretended, easily enough, but this was a game of emotions, and those could not be moved so easily by obvious lies. That's why she had exercised her power to ensure she could play along to full effect. He would have to be careful what he said from this point forward. Taking a deep breath, Kylan steeled his nerves and committed to the role he'd taken...while desperately hoping he hadn't misread her.

Giving one more kiss to the side of her breast, Kylan crawled on top of her again, this time turned around to straddle her face with his knees. "...Suck my dick." His cheeks burned as he mustered up the firmest voice he could for her instructions. "And lick my balls," he continued, looking between their bellies to watch her face as he gave her orders, "Suck them like he's watching. Like you're showing him what you want to do to him. Because you know making you prove your desperation on another man is his idea of foreplay."

Her eyes lit up as she realized what he was suggesting. And he was right...or at least, she believe he was. With a grateful sigh, she lapped her tongue against his sac, gently bathing and sucking on each ball once before opening a little wider and taking his sheath between her lips. He could feel the tip of her tongue teasing the opening, inviting the sweet skin inside to come out and play again. It was plenty happy to oblige, especially as his nose filled with the fresh scent of lust wafting up from between her thighs. He licked the lips above her pearl briefly, spreading them with his fingers to run around the rim of her entrance.

"Finger me some more while you're back there," Kylan added, sliding one finger fully inside her as if to demonstrate, "Because you're right. Whether it's to punish me for displeasing him, or to punish you with guilt and envy, he's going to take me...probably hard. So get me good and ready for him. Use two fingers." He grit his teeth as he felt her hand slide up the curve of his rump, gently working between the cheeks. She didn't invade him immediately. She might believe him, at least for now, but that didn't make her blind to his actual needs or reluctance. "It's okay," he rocked back against her hand once, "I actually...kind of like it, too."

He could feel her lips quirk in a smile around his shaft, one fingertip circling his button before zeroing in on the sensitive center. Kylan opened his mouth wide with a slight gasp as she pressed through it, gently but insistently, then buries his nose in her muff and laid his tongue to work on her pearl again. The wet scent of her aroused him so much it actually did feel good to have her inside him, and he wondered if it was anything at all like what she felt when his manhood was thrust inside her.

Somehow, he doubted it.

"Oh fuck," he whispered into her nethers a few short minutes later, breathless and aching with the approach of a second orgasm. She was teasing his taint with her thumb, riding the line almost down to his sac in alternation with her carefully probing finger. Nayeli let him fall from her lips when she needed to breathe, applying her tongue to the soft, loose skin around his balls as she did, then loudly slurped him back in when she could hold him for another while. She hummed appreciatively whenever his fingers probed her depths in imitation of hers...and lifted one leg invitingly when he briefly spread the cheeks of her ass, tempted to follow her lead more closely. He decided against it, but appreciated the feel of her cheeks in his hands and her willingness to reciprocate. The halfbreed's hips were no longer holding passively still, but driving down into her open throat with twitchy little thrusts, trying not to push too deep despite his loins feeling like they'd taken on a life of their own.

"Erg...I'm about to...burst again," he groaned, and she nodded thanks at the warning, playing her tongue around the rim of his sheath with the rest of his shaft comfortably inside her mouth. As if to help drive it out of him, she finally slid a second finger alongside the first, spreading him carefully and rocking him forward and down into her mouth again. "Augh!" he cried out in pleasure, unable to hold back any longer.

"I'm so close," she remarked softly, letting him splash a few pulses of his pleasure against her face, "Please...just a little...more..."

Half unconscious in the throes of his passion, Kylan nevertheless pressed his face back into her muff, his tongue making desperately quick circles around her pearl. She laid her free hand on the back of his head, gently adding a bit more pressure and practically grinding his nose into her nethers. Her legs tensed, and her feet lifted off the bed, and she had to accept the last of his pouring seed into a wide-open mouth as she braced for her own climax.

It was nowhere near as intense as the last time he'd seen her like this, but genuine. Kylan rolled off of her breathlessly, turning around to lay beside her as they started to come back down from the peak, sucking air back into their hot bodies with some difficulty. She looked a mess with his milk all over her face, but strangely pleased.

"That was a good idea," she admitted, kissing his nose softly, "Thank you for understanding, and taking care of me."

"I love you," he answered before he could catch himself, and looked a little embarrassed.

She smiled again, and kissed his forehead. "Thank you for that, too. I am sorry I cannot say it back to you. Not like you'd want to hear it, anyway," the Lioness apologized softly, but honestly.

"That's okay," Kylan sighed, actually relieved she hadn't taken offense at his emotional slip, "Blame the scent for drawing that out of me. I know who you love." Nayeli nodded in sympathy. Many a man had "fallen in love" with her due to her scent...and regretted both his words and his actions moments after stepping beyond its influence.

Cupping a hand softly between his legs, she massaged his balls tenderly. "Do you want to go again? I am still yours to use for as long as you want to keep me here. If there are any other fantasies you'd like to act out, I will not refuse."

"Oooh, stop it," he groaned, closing his eyes with a smile, "We'll be here all week if you keep talking like that. As if your scent wasn't enough to turn me on..."

She giggled and nodded understandingly. "Well then, if you're content...I dare say I could use another bath," she observed, wiping some of his mess across her cheek.

"Yeah," Kylan chuckled with an apologetic grin, "Let me scrub you, to make it up to you."

"I would like that," she nodded, rising from the bed and donning her bathrobe once again.

11.2.2 Nayeli and Oro

The hall was quiet when they emerged, and the pair descended the stair leading to the baths, leaving their bathrobes unceremoniously on the floor and grabbing soap and cloths in passing.

The bathing area had changed. It now resembled a natural hot-spring, flowing down out of a mountain crevice and pouring into a deep, stone-lined pond. Several small off-shoots formed little waterfalls off to the side of the main pool, and it was under one of these that Nayeli crouched, letting the hot water pour around her shoulders and down her back while Kylan lathered up his hands.

He had just cupped them against her cheeks when they were startled by a small splash and faint gasp from the main basin. Diya swept her hair back from her face as she surfaced, kicked over to the side, and bent forward over the edge to lay on the warm stone. "Ah...so much better," she muttered to no one in particular, apparently not realizing she had company until Kylan spoke.

"You okay, sis?"

"Oh!" Diya's eyes flew open, taking the other pair in, "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you so...soon," she hesitated toward the end, realizing a little late that she might be saying something insulting, but all she got from the pair was chuckles.

"Your brother was quite the gentleman, and worked very hard for me," Nayeli cooed, patting one of the soapy hands on her cheeks. Taking the cue, Kylan got to work carefully scrubbing away the evidence of their love-making.

"Really?" Diya seemed both dubious and amused, "Either Tuli is a fantastic teacher, or you're a pretty sharp student, then. It took me at least a dozen clients before I could finish any of them in less than an hour."

"Ah...actually, Tuli and I...didn't touch each other," Kylan blushed as Nayeli tipped her head back to wash the soap from her face, "I was so embarrassed that night that she let me handle myself while she looked away. Her scent made it go faster, though," he admitted.

"Mmm...so if I'm hearing this right," Nayeli wiped the water back from her face and wrung it down her hair, "I was your first? I am very sorry to have put so much pressure on you, then," she smiled sincerely, "But you are a natural-born lover." She kissed his head...drawing double-dubious looks from Diya, who was trying not to allow too intimate a mental picture of her brother into her head at Nayeli's words.

"Are you sure he was a 'gentleman'?" the little female asked, having noted the mess on the priestess' face before she washed, and the generally messy state of the rest of their fur.

Stepping around behind the Lioness, Kylan let the warm water flow down his own back while he scrubbed Nayeli's thoroughly all the way to her tail. "Quite certain," the priestess affirmed with a smile, "And very thoughtful and creative on top of it...else we would have been quite a while longer," she promised. Then, to distract from any less comfortable questions, she asked, "Now, where is Oro?"

"In the dining room," Diya sighed, "We were the first ones done, apparently, and he swore up and down he didn't need to clean up because of the demon, so he went to 'chew on something'. I mean, we weren't very messy in the first place, but still..." She slid back into the water up to her cheeks, very appreciative of the abundant warmth and chance to smooth her own fur again.

Kylan finished Nayeli's back...and front. "Yes, what he says is true, though I make him bathe at least once a week anyway," she sighed, turning Kylan around so she could begin returning the favor to him, "I imagine even a demon appreciates having the equivalent of its teeth brushed, from time to time."

"Oh, gosh, are we the last ones?" Tuli's voice cut in as she and Sarahi entered the room, "Sorry. I was kind of...having fun...a lot," she giggled.

"Well, it's not like you were the only one," the Sha'khari beside her admitted with a slight blush. Padding over to the runoff beside Nayeli, she looked askance at Tuli to help with her hard-to-reach half...which was where the worst of the mess was, naturally.

"Not to worry," Nayeli assured them, "We were all just getting the evidence out of our fur. The bath here is wonderfully convenient." She and Kylan moved into the basin once all the suds were rinsed away, and had just settled into soaking comfortably at the water's edge when Oro appeared at the door.

"Fusking finally," he huffed, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed, "Can we get out of here now?"

"Yes, dear," Nayeli sighed with a patient smile, "Just as soon as Grik and Gaki are ready."

"Master," Host appeared at Oro's side, "While it is true everyone has enjoyed their happy ending...it would be a lie unbecoming of master to say that she is satisfied. You do not yet desire to leave."

Oro's face remained calm, even apathetic...but they could hear the bones pop as the Rabbit took a grip on the back of the Fox's neck, and smoothly and effortlessly drove her face through the wall. She evaporated in a mist of sparkles almost immediately, as if to remind her "honored guests" that she was still just a construct before any of them could become alarmed.

Nayeli looked...embarrassed, and almost pained. "Please don't think me dishonest," she said softly, eyes still closed as she reaching out to pat Kylan's thigh, "You did please me, very well."

He just shook his head. "I don't. I'd like to think love is more than an easy climax, too," he chuckled, patting her hand reassuringly. It concerned him far more that she looked on the verge of tears than that she still wanted Oro after having him.

Said Rabbit seemed to be satisfied with the dent he'd made in the wall and the fact that Host did not immediately return. "Fine," he sighed, sounding surprisingly weary instead of angry, "Come on, while your scent's still washed out from the bath." He started for the stairs back up to the rooms.

"Oh? Oh!" Nayeli's eyes flew open, and she could not seem to haul herself out of the water fast enough. Before she'd quite gotten out of the water, Diya caught her arm and reached up to whisper something quickly into her ear. Nayeli blinked, and nodded her understanding. "Thank you," she said quickly, before getting to her feet and dashing toward the dressing room. The Ferruda barely paused long enough to wring out her hair and run a towel over herself once to avoid soaking whatever they were going to lay on, then went running for the stairs in the least dignified stride they had ever seen her use.

Sarahi sighed as she watched the Lioness go. "We've been with them less than a week," she observed, "Yet it feels more like a month, and I am already traumatized." The Sha'khari gathered them all up with her eyes, looking askance of one and then the next. "I hold nothing but respect for our first-wife, and am loathe to speak an ill word of her...but she has endured this way of life for eight whole years now. Am I the only one concerned that she might be more broken than her stoic smile lets on? I would be happy to hear my fears are unjustified."

Sadly, none of them could bring themselves to argue with her...

He was waiting patiently beside her door, arching a brow at her as she came scrambling up the stairs. "I'm not so impatient you couldn't dry off first."

"I am," she answered, an uncanny and almost fearful excitement in her voice.

Oro sighed. "I'd have thought the first time would have warned you off for a while." Stepping back, he motioned for her to lead the way.

Nayeli took his hand and placed it against the door instead. "Your room," she insisted, "You're indulging me, and I know you hate it. The least I can do is let you take me where you're most comfortable. Have me wherever you like, however you like." He scowled at her, quietly gnashing his teeth thoughtfully...then shoved the door open and quickly stepped through. Nayeli followed without hesitation.

The scene on the other side caught them by surprise: an open field, rather than a room, with mountains vaguely perceptible in the distance and a crossroads marked with a sign. The paint indicating the destinations along each path had long faded into illegibility.

Perplexed, Nayeli began to ask, "Oro...what is--?" She was interrupted by a pillar of fire erupting from the ground between his feet. In less time than it took her to flinch, he had disappeared into the hole formed by the burst, dragged down by the tongue of flame itself. The hole closed behind him with a hiss, leaving only a space of charred earth. "Oro!" Nayeli pounced on the spot, scratching at the dirt as though she might discover a hidden tunnel beneath the spot.

"Please do not be alarmed," Host urged, suddenly standing in the room with her in his male form, "Honored Guest has merely been taken aside for a moment, so that I may explain this to you."

"Please do, and quickly," the priestess hissed in what might have been anger or mere exasperation. Even she was growing tired of the emotional roller-coaster this place had become, and her hallmark patience was starting to thin.

"Absolutely," Host nodded with his usual smile. He then gestured to the scene around them. "It is imperfect, I admit, but the best interpretation I could give to the wish that clenched his heart when he touched the door with your heartfelt words still ringing in his ears. From here, it is as though all the wide world is open to you. This road could take you anywhere you wish. You have only to pick a direction...and there is no demon to tie you down, or constrain your choices." He turned to her again, still smiling as always, but his eyes held something very close to pity. "Do not be mistaken, master: It is not that he does not want you. What he wants is you, free of him, to live the life he took from you." Host shook his head ruefully. "I have said it already, but it merits repeating: that guest is very strange and self-conflicted. I am not entirely sure it is possible for both of you to be satisfied at once, much less together. Forgive me for saying it, but you are a poor fit for one another."

"...That's true," she acknowledged at last, quietly. Getting to her feet, Nayeli rubbed her arms, feeling more than exposed out here, naked before all the world, even if it was just an illusion. "What you say...is true," she repeated, "But even so...please give us the best compromise you can make. Favor his wants, if you must choose between us. If only one of us can be happy, I would have it be him. He has not had so much in his life as I have been blessed with in a single day of my childhood."

"Absolutely, master," Host nodded and bowed. The illusion shifted around her, turning the open field into pillars with thick, heavy curtains of maroon velvet hung between them for walls. Her fur was dried, and looking down she found herself partially dressed in evocative underwear of white lace, such as she'd long imagined wearing to the wedding night she had never really gotten. Beneath her feet was a wide, plush bed, surrounded by a floor that seemed composed entirely of rose petals.

"You look pretty childish, standing on the bed like that." Nayeli turned to find Oro entering the room from behind one of the curtains. At least, she was pretty sure it was him. He was the same height and had the same face, though perhaps a bit scrawnier than her charge. But his scarlet fur was now white as fresh snow, with hints of healthy pink skin underneath. His bathrobe had been exchanged for a lighter nightgown, intricately embroidered, of the kind husbands ceremonially wore to their wedding bed on the first night of a new marriage.

"Oro," she sighed, sinking onto the bed with an appreciative smile, "Is that really you?"

The Rabbit looked down at his hands for a moment, as if he needed to verify it himself. "No," he answered gently after a moment, "Don't be fooled by the illusion: the demon is still here, though Host is covering it in that Rabbit's colors. He never grew to be this old. And even at his age he had more scars, I think."

"Well, if you're anything close, I think he would have grown up to be quite handsome," Nayeli smiled, patting the mattress beside her invitingly.

Oro quirked a brow at her, as though dubious of her concept of "handsome". "Maybe," he shrugged off his nightgown without a thought, baring himself completely. The Rabbit stretched his arms out, popping his back and shoulders as if loosening up for a battle, before relaxing with a long exhale and approaching the bed. "I don't waste much time in trying to imagine what might have been. But I do think, sometimes, that if he could have met you before I did...he might have come to a very different end."

"If I could help it, he would not have come to an end at all," she insisted softly, and he nodded his agreement, sitting on the edge of the bed while she crawled over to lean against him. "I do wish I could have known him."

"He would have liked you," Oro confided, surprising her a little, "He would have respected you...at least enough to try to fight through your scent, though I wouldn't hold out much hope of him succeeding. If it had come to that, though...he probably would have done his best to make it right, afterward, if you were willing."

"You mean marry me?" she grinned, rocking her shoulder against his encouragingly. Strangely, this line of thought seemed to be depressing him the further down it he went. "He sounds sweet. I might have accepted."

"Yeah. He was sweet, and soft, and stupid. But at least he would have treated you right, when all was said and done." Oro turned to look her squarely in the eye, a rare expression of sympathy softening his stern frown. "For your sake, I wish it could be so...but that boy died a long time ago. You're stuck with me. I could pretend for a few minutes that it was otherwise. But that would be a lie, and you know how I feel about liars."

The priestess nodded and kissed his furrowed brow. "I would not have you be so. I said before that if your touch is not brutal it would not be your touch, the touch of my husband. Thank you for caring enough to pity me, though." She kissed lower, on top of his muzzle, while their foreheads touched. Then she kissed lower still, and was surprised to find he did not resist or retreat from the touch of her lips to his.

One strong hand slid up the side of her arm and shoulder to grip her throat. She tilted her head back without resisting, his hold firm but not violent, not crushing, nor even threatening as he usually was. He simply used it to push her back from him, and back further still, and down onto her back with him looming over her. Nayeli laid her hands beside her head, exposed and submissive, and waited for him to do as he would.

"I am going to satisfy my spite, then," he told her in a soft voice, "And deny you that touch. Be disappointed, and defiled by the touch of a dead man, as I try my hand at necromancy."

She tried not to smile at his excuse, and tried not to worry that his effort to deny his usual habits might be counter-productive. She failed, just a little, and covered it by opening her mouth wide, pressing her tongue flat behind her teeth and presenting him with an unfettered view of the back of her throat.

Oro quirked a brow. "What are you doing?"

"A little kitten told me you enjoy the sight of an open mouth. Was it wrong?" she asked briefly, stretching her mouth wide again as soon as the question was asked.

Her husband rolled his eyes, sliding his hand beneath the lacy fabric of her bra. "I'll have to bite the little traitor's head off if I ever find it, then," he remarked with none of the usual venom. Nayeli was surprised, and very pleased, by this attempt at humor. She had never seen him so lighthearted before.

He pulled the cloth firmly, popping the little hook holding it together at her back, before she could begin thinking he had completely lost himself. "Roll over," he commanded, pulling one knee across to turn her onto her side before pushing her panties down her thighs and drawing her knees up into a half-curl. Nayeli obliged, rolling and tucking as his hands suggested, watching him over her shoulder the whole time and offering her open mouth to him continually. Oro tucked a finger under her chin to coax it a little closer to closed, then bowed his head to kiss it, stealing her breath and the rhythm of her heart all in one touch. It was brief, but her whole body felt warm and tingly just from the thought that he had initiated it. "Close that," he instructed, gently tapping her chin again, "Desperation does not become you."

"What of submission?" she asked in a breathy whisper, the hormonal heat beginning to overtake her mind and body, "Shall I lay quietly, like a doll for you to play with, or throw myself against your every motion with the passion of my need?"

One of his arms snaked beneath her, trapping her arm against her ribs and gathering her back against his chest. The hand returned to her throat, just tight enough to feel every reflexive swallow, every swell of breath, every pulse in her veins. His other arm reached over and across her, similarly binding her other arm and cupping a hand atop her breast. "You make it look good," he admitted, "But it is not who you are. Speak your mind. Do as you please. You know I will do the same, regardless." He kissed the side of her neck, taking a slow, deep draw of her scent...

"Be careful," she whispered, "If you fall asleep now, I will be heartbroken."

He licked the side of her neck, and she sighed happily and tilted her head against the pillow to offer her vulnerable places to him. Oro breathed again, twice as deep. "It's suppressing your scent, somehow," the Rabbit referred to Host, ever present as the spell in which they were trapped if not as a body to interact with, "I think I can take my time with you."

"Oh...sweet...saints," the priestess whispered, half in prayer and half in cry for joy. She lifted her leg slightly, offering the path to her intimate places to his growing arousal, every toe curled with the strain of the excitement. "Please begin, my husband, and take all the time you desire."

The hand on her breast moved to the back of her knee, lifting her leg higher and spreading her wider. His erection, already reaching between her thighs, nested comfortably in the spread of her lower lips, trailing down them as he drew back his hips, ever closer to her entrance. The first time he had been with her, her body had been unfamiliar, every moment was a war with her pheromonal scent, and his temper impatient. This, their second time, was as if he possessed her, carved her himself from the primordial life force. His sword found home in her sheath without aid and almost without effort.

"Ahhhh," Nayeli sighed deeply as he slowly penetrated her, "So gentle. So unlike you. Please don't hold back. I want so badly--"

"I will be exactly as firm as I desire, and no firmer," he gently interrupted with a rumble in her ear, "You be exactly as soft as you wish, and no softer." Having reached his full length inside her, he bucked against her once, firmly, eliciting an excited gasp from her. Everything inside her felt hot and tight, tense as a coiled spring, begging him, the latch, to release her. He bucked against her again, grinding his hips against her rump to press every possible inch of him inside her.

"You could go deeper from this side," she hummed, adoring the feel of him squirming against her, and patted the space in front of her.

"I can hold you closer from this side," he observed, his strong hands pulling her body back against his, forming her to him. His mouth settled on her neck, teeth teasing the fur and skin as if fighting the temptation to bite her outright...and that despite her foul taste. "I'll come to that side later, when I start to get tired and want to pound the sense back into you."

One of her hands reached to cover her heart, fluttering at the subtle promise that he would have her more than once. The other lightly rested fingertips against the back of his hand on her throat, which she kept stretched against his palm, where he could feel the subtle vibration of every happy whimper he evoked as he began to ride her in earnest. "I have begged men to be gentle," she moaned through the tightness in her chest, "Even when I had the strength to fight them off. Only you, whom I could not resist even if I wished to, do I beg not to. I am always denied..." She had to pause, to force herself to breathe, an act which seemed to be growing increasingly difficult for her. "So why...why...oh why does it...feel...so...good...?"

The last of her breath escaped in something like a whimper. Her walls clenched tight around him. Oro slowed his pace to avoid hurting her as the orgasm sent violent shudders through her whole body. Everything from her tail to her toes to her whiskers and ears twitched and flexed with the effort of expelling the physical and emotional eruption inside her. The Rabbit was just beginning to grow concerned for her actual safety when she gasped, gulped a deep and desperate lungful of air, and fell all but limp in his arms.

"Sweet...saints..." she panted breathlessly, clinging to his hand on her throat, though at this point is was being quite careful not to restrict the flow of air, "Oro...please...don't...stop..." She mustered up the energy to tense and then relax her walls around his shaft a couple of times, urging him to resume his thrusting. "I'm...so...empty...now. Need...you...to...fill...me..."

Her husband nodded silently, resuming his erotic grind. His thrust was fiercer now, but she didn't mind...hardly, in fact, seemed to notice. Were it not for the labored breathing (slowly but surely growing more steady) and the periodic clench of her walls as she tried to keep them tight for him, he might have thought she'd fallen asleep. The hand she'd held over her heart turned to reach down between her thighs, cupped over him as he invaded her. Her fingertips fondly caressed whatever stretch of him escaped her walls between each thrust, and gently scratched the sac around his balls each time they came within reach.

A few short minutes later, she felt his teeth clamp firmly on her shoulder, just light enough not to break the skin, and his grip on her firm up and draw her down as thick warmth spread through her insides. His climax was not nearly so violent as hers, not nearly so intense...but he was breathing hard, savoring the feel of her warm body as he filled her, awake and aware of each and every spurt.

It was the first time he had ever experience such intimacy and been conscious of its ending.

Her mouth was open wide again, this time with the effort of breathing. The hand on her throat slid up under her chin and hooked two fingers into it, running idly over the edges of her teeth. She welcomed them, closing her lips around them to suck gently. "That was it, wasn't it?" Oro growled softly in her ear, "The one you've been waiting for these last eight years."

She shook her head slowly before carefully expelling his fingers with a gentle push of her tongue. "My entire adult life," she corrected in a whisper, licking his fingers as they rested back on her lips instead. "Here next," Nayeli agreed, "I want to taste you. To taste myself on you. To drink you."

"If you're going to drink," he grumbled against her neck, kissing her cheek and patting her thigh lightly, "I intend to eat. And it's your responsibility to prepare the meal."

The priestess nodded, finding those terms agreeable, and with some effort pushed herself up and turned around to lay back on her side with her face between his legs. Pulling his hips a little closer, she closed her eyes and ran her tongue along the wet rim of his sheath, coaxing his retreating cock back into the open. She could feel his tongue similarly prying at the lips of her labia, gathering up the nectar collected there...

"Getting worried?" Diya asked Sarahi, noticing the Sha'khari glancing at the door more and more frequently as their game progressed. Host had introduced the group to the arcade while Nayeli and Oro were in their room, and supplied them with darts and dice and cards. He had also taught them a challenging game called "ping-pong", which Tuli and Kylan were clumsily attempting to master while Sarahi and Diya occupied themselves with the more familiar darts.

"I've been worried," the former princess reminded her, "It's hard to judge time in this place, but...it seems like they've been gone a long time. How many games have we finished?"

"I lost count," the little halfbreed admitted, "There were a couple of hands of cards before we started, too. And that's after embarrassing myself at that thing," she nodded to the ping-pong table, where Kylan was trying not to fall off the little platform he was playing from, to be a decent height for the table, in his effort to catch the wild ball.

"It has been not quite three hours since our honored guests entered the arcade," Host offered helpfully from his little station in the corner of the room. He had been offering refreshments from there ever since they arrived, and also suggesting new games as often as any of them seemed to be losing interest in whatever they were previously playing. The Fox had explained that he could produce any game from their memories or the memories of his previous masters...which made the inn's repertoire frankly staggering. Besides familiar pastimes, there were tables and boards for games from other lands, bizarre little devices called "consoles" which seemed to contain another entire arcade within themselves, and elaborate, arcane games whose rules they could barely understand.

"Three hours?!" Sarahi blinked, "Is he even trying to please her?"

"Magnificently," Host surprised her with an apparently informed answer, "And much to my surprise as well. I expected them to have more difficulty. It may please Honored Guest to know, however, that the master is just now on her way to the baths, and would not be disappointed for her guests to join her."

Sarahi dropped the darts into the floor where she stood, and went trotting off in the direction of the baths. Tuli giggled a little as she and Kylan laid down their paddles. "I guess another one isn't surprising. After three hours, who knows what kind of state they're in."

"I just hope he wasn't too rough with her," Diya sighed, "She'd already had one before they went off, after all. That could explain a lot by itself, if she's not...well, for him, she probably is," the little female cut off her own thoughts.

Her brother patted her back reassuringly. "Let's just go see," he suggested, and the three of them followed Sarahi's lead, though with a bit less haste.

The Sha'khari was the first to the bath...and surprised by that fact. Nayeli and Oro had still not arrived, though hers had been the longer path. The other spouses arrived in the dressing room about the same time she and Oro finished descending the steps from the bedrooms above. She was walking slowly, almost cautiously, each step careful and deliberate. She seemed to be walking with her eyes closed, which may explain the slow pace, but there was a smooth grace to each step that made her seem to float over the floor despite how carefully she placed each one. One hand slid lightly down the rail, and then along the edge of the shelves as they passed through the dressing room, while the other clung happily to Oro's scarlet arm.

"There you are," Sarahi sighed in some relief, "Are you al--?" Her question died in her throat. Nayeli's fur was practically aglow, a literal nimbus of light clinging to each and every strand. Her cheeks were warm and pink beneath the fur, her smile soft and contented. Even the way she leaned so easily against Oro as they entered the main bath, trusting him to guide her steps from here, declared to any eye that could see her that she was much, much better than "alright".

"The last time you asked me that after he'd taken me," the priestess giggled as they reached the edge of the pool, "I told you I was better than I'd been in more than eight years." She eased one foot down into the water, and carefully followed it with the other, working her way down until she could sit on the little shelf just below the surface. "Now I tell you every coupling of my life has been undone. I feel...absolved." Leaning against Oro's shoulder as he took a seat beside her, the priestess sighed contentedly and pointed one finger lazily back over her shoulder, more or less in the direction of the stairs. "That is the bed I've been searching for since the first time I was raped."

"You know it's useless to flatter me," Oro grumbled, cheek resting on his fist with his own eyes closed now. She answered with a smile and a nod, rubbing her cheek on his shoulder. The minute they'd stepped out the door from the room, her scent had come back in full force and apparently intent on avenging its failures in the bedroom. Or maybe he was just genuinely exhausted after all that effort.

"Soooo," Tuli asked playfully, "How many?" With another giggle, Nayeli let four fingers from one hand and two from the other peek above the waterline, half hiding her face against Oro's arm. "Wow!" the busty Ferruda giggled back, "No wonder you were gone so long."

"You had nearly that many in just over an hour," Sarahi reminded her with an arched brow.

"Yeah, but like I said, I'm easy," Tuli nodded, giving Nayeli a congratulatory pat on the head.

"Sure, sure, why don't all of you compare counts?" Oro growled, making a rude gesture with the hand under his cheek, "You can have a little competition among you. First to die from exhaustion or asphyxiation wins. Can we get the fusk out of here now?"

Diya giggled. "Can't we let her enjoy it for a few more minutes, master? I've never seen anyone look so satisfied." She was given looks all around for her choice of titles, and winced a little as she realized she hadn't explained their new relationship to anyone yet. Even Nayeli peeked one eye open to give her a quizzical look. But the Rabbit she had directed it at seemed not even to notice, and nobody wanted to break the mood by asking for explanations.

"Mmm...I'm of two minds about that," Nayeli mused, "One of them thinks I could stay here forever..."

"I would never forgive you," Oro huffed, though clearly did not take her seriously.

"The other thinks I should never come back," the priestess continued, "The experience is never going to be quite the same again. I am doomed to disappointment hereafter," she chuckled, seeming not exactly bothered by that.

"If I may add a thought between those extremes, master?" Host asked gently from where he could suddenly be found kneeling near the door, his back to the gathered family and face to the wall, "You are the first master I have ever had to caution thus...but master should not return here lightly. And absolutely not without him. Until his disposition or your sense of self undergo a substantial change, you run the very real risk of becoming trapped here." He actually sounded slightly ashamed at the suggestion, as though taking it as a deficiency in his own abilities.

"Thank you, Host," Nayeli nodded without looking at him, "I will keep that in mind. And in the meantime, know that I am genuinely grateful for today. Even if I never return, I will always remember this place fondly. But...it is time for us to go home."

"Absolutely, master," Host smiled, turning to face them now but keeping his eyes closed (or so they presumed, given how narrow his eyes were to start with), "Thank you for coming! We do hope your stay at Kits-Inn was a delightful one! We look forward to seeing you again soon!" He was cheerful enough in saying it, but something about the way it was intoned seemed uncharacteristically artificial...like he was only saying it as the incantation to send them home.