{"sf1_id":985614,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Feeding the Queen","author":"Palantean Writer","words":3046,"posted_at":"2016-04-13T20:23:00.000Z","tags":["Avian","Chubby","Fat furs","Feeding","Female","Male","Queen","Royalty","king","owl"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/985614-feeding-the-queen","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/985614","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=985614\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"Queen Nyra leads from the front and fights like the warrioress she is, her mate by her side. But in the evenings she loves to be fed. This is the story of her finding her first feeding assistants.","content":"Queen Nyra had always been known for her ferocity. As a younger owl\nqueen she had led her army from the front, her consort Kludd at her\nside, his great wings flashing white at the edge of her considerable\nrange of vision, his helmet glinting darkly in whatever light might be\navailable. Powerful he was and always had been, and dedicated to his\nqueen. Their silent flight had been their perennial opening gambit in\nwar, prior to the piercing of their sharp, predatory talons into the\nbacks of their enemies. They were as deadly as a fall of fresh snow, she\nhad often privately thought. Beautiful, silent and relentless.\nIt was a ferocity that did not need to be broadcast, so they did not,\nand Nyra had always believed they were stronger warriors for it. So\nmany ferocious leaders had war cries. Not so this army. Why screech when\nit might galvanize the opposition? It made no sense to her and the\nnatural owl talent for silence was one she was proud to possess.\nHowever, a leader who worked so hard deserved the downtime she most\ndesired, and Nyra's favourite past-time was to eat. No, not to eat - the\neating was the means by which she fulfilled her desire - but more\nspecifically to be fed. After a bloody and violent day in battle she and\nKludd would often bond over dinner. It reminded them of their mutual\ntenderness and together, they adored the ritual. Kludd would feed her, a\ntoken amount at first but over time it evolved. Later he would take to\nfeeding her a good portion from his own plate, picking up morsels with\nhis beak and delivering it to her own, her eyes half-closed in bliss,\nher beak half-open and ready to receive. Over time she became more and\nmore entranced by the act and made her adoration clear to Kludd with\nquiet squeaks of pleasure and lingering with him over their meals. It\nfulfilled a part of her that she would not have been able to explain\neven if she had felt inclined to explain herself in any capacity at all,\nfor a monarch had no need to explain herself. A mere smattering of\nmorsels was no longer enough, so he began to feed her the food from her\nown plate instead of leaving her to feed herself.\nSo tender. So blissful. The almost-inaudible clack of his beak\nagainst hers with each delivery. The taste of vole meat, so much more\ndelicious for being given to her. His gentle breath that sounded so\nintimate when he dipped close, and the occasional brush of his feathers,\nruffled from so many battle scars, against her own.\nHer love of being fed meant she ate more and more, and she began to\ngain weight. She knew this but did not mind, and neither did Kludd, for\nhe appeared to love feeding her too. She saw the warmth in his eyes as\nhe drew close, beakful by beakful, and she knew that he felt as much\nlove as she did. Such a contrast to his cold warrior-stare. She loved to\nbe privy to it. Perhaps Kludd loved to see her tenderness too, this\nlethal warrior queen.\nAnd then... and then they'd had a brief spell of awkwardness between\nthem, something the fearsome Queen Nyra had not experienced before.\nIt'd lasted around three weeks. Kludd had taken to feeding her so\nmuch from his and her plates that little was left over for him. In her\nbliss she had not spotted this at first, but a warrior had to eat and\nher special warrior was going without. Perhaps she was simply not used\nto nurturing another and revelling only in his nurturing of her, but the\nresult was that she had driven him to begin eating in secret before or\nafter their meals. \nTo do that, Kludd had had to steal away from her side. His sneaking\nabout had had a furtive quality much at odds with what she'd always\nknown of him. Nyra had never been prone to the sensation of a broken\nheart but his desertion had worried her. Finally it had flustered her\ntoo much and she brought it up in a conversation.\n xXxNyra and Kludd finished the night's meal in the dark and\nwoody-smelling confines of the ancient oak tree that served as their\nmeal-hall, she satiated and feeling plump with mouse meat, and he...\nvaguely distracted, somehow. She had seen it lately, this distraction,\nthis other-whereness, and it had to stop. He is my mate and I must solve the mystery. I will get to the bottom of this.\n\"Shall we retire, my love?\" she asked quietly, her eyes in deep contact with his own, a slight coo in her voice.\nHe cooed appreciatively in his love-softened yet always-rough voice,\nbut again it sounded... off, somehow. As if he was acting. Nyra knew\nfake emotion when she heard it - monarchs had to be aware of deception\nalways, especially monarchs who were their own generals. She listened\nfor his next words.\nHe groomed the corner of her beak, perhaps to tidy it of a streak of\nblood. \"Retire... Ah yes, perhaps we shall sit in the beech by the\nbarley field,\" he suggested.\nThe barley field. At this time of the high summer the barley was\ngrown to full height but not yet golden. It would sway in the night's\nbreeze and the field at large would ripple in a hypnotic rhythm, shining\na little in the moonlight and calming two owls who desired to relax.\nPerhaps they would talk together, perhaps sit in silence. It did not\nmatter; the time spent together in mute appreciation of beauty was the\ngoal.\n\"Yes,\" she whispered. Perhaps at some time in the evening Kludd would swoop down and catch prey and feed it to her.\nHe ducked so that he could nuzzle her developing chin. \"I will meet you there. I must first speak with Captain Rass.\"\nNyra almost asked 'Why?', but she stopped herself for she already\nknew the answer. On the face of it, Kludd would need to discuss Rass'\nrecent difficulties with managing a wayward yet promising new recruit.\nSince she had gained so much weight Nyra was no longer the\nleader-from-the-front she had been in her earliest youth. Now Kludd ran\nerrands for her that involved travel, and Rass' hollow was a\nsemi-distant flight from the royal feeding quarters.\nYes, on the face of it, Kludd had an errand to run. Underneath it\nhowever, Kludd wanted to leave her side for his own reasons. It broke\nNyra's enjoyment of the evening and if she had been the type to admit\nsuch things to herself, would have said it made her feel sad.\n\"Yes, my love,\" she answered, taking to a spot of acting herself to\nappear heedless of the lie. \"I will wait for you by the barley.\"\nHe had reserved one last look of love for her - Deceitful, she\naccused in her mind. And yet, how could she bear to call such\ntenderness deceitful? - and hopped up onto the edge of the great oak\nbough. She watched as he spread his pale wings and flapped away until he\nwas out of sight, and prepared to fly the short distance to the beech.\nFor she could still fly, albeit with difficulty.\nFinally, under the light of an almost-full moon that coloured\neverything blue and charcoal and silver, Nyra's mate joined her and\nlanded on the branch next to her, edging his talons along until the\nfolded shoulder of his wing brushed her own.\n\"Where did you go?\" she asked, settling her body against his but unable to make her mind follow suit.\nHe paused. \"You know where I went, my love.\"\nShe turned her head to look at him and deliberately refrained from making her gaze too piercing. \"Where did you really go?\"\nHe looked at her then, visibly taken aback. He fluffed up his\nfeathers but did not take flight. And then he sighed and allowed them to\nlay flat again. \"My love.\" There were more words in his meaning than\nhis choice of phrase. Nyra already knew it was his way of acknowledging\nher astuteness. Or perhaps the unspoken words were ones of regret.\n\"Tell me the truth,\" she stated, their eyes locked as if in battle. A loving yet sad and fearful battle. How is one to win this? How does one back down from it? She did not know.\n\"I had to eat,\" he said simply.\nAt first Nyra was confused. \"But we have eaten already.\" And then the reality of the situation dawned on her. \"Oh.\"\nHe looked at her with determination, perhaps as if he expected a battle, but he said nothing more.\n\"Kludd, you have not been eating. Not at our meal times,\" she\nbreathed, and bent close to groom the edge of his moon-like face, her\nway of offering apology. \"How could I not realise?\"\nKludd relaxed and she groomed him more deeply, relieved beyond measure to know the reason for his deceit.\n\"We must make amends,\" she continued.\n\"We must,\" he answered, turning to face her once again so that he\ncould look into her eyes with the greatest sincerity. \"And our rituals\nwill remain as they always have.\"\n\"There will be more mice?\" she asked, excited at first, for more food\nwould mean more feeding, but she quickly understood the ramifications.\nHe would feed her more and remain hungry once again. \"No, the solution\nmust be different.\"\n\"You are right, my love.\"\n\"Do you have a proposition?\" she asked.\n xXxThis was how they came to this point in time, to be looking at these\ncandidates. Nyra re-settled her talons on her perch as she tilted her\nhead and examined the pair of short-eared owls before her. They looked\nsuitably submissive - just as she liked her subjects - and seemed\nagreeable enough in personality. \nShe paced a little, eager to impress upon them a vision of her bulk,\nthe sinuous strength in her wings, her majesty. \"My senechal has told me\nyour names. Skitt and Han, you are welcome. You will have been informed\nof your duties, but I will reiterate them for you.\"\nKludd had offered her his suggestion. At first she had felt a sinking\nin her heart. Their feeding ritual had been an intimate one and she\nwished she had not unwittingly cornered herself into admitting strangers\nto take part. However, that was how events had turned, and Kludd had so\nbadly needed succour. She could not deny him so she, the queen of the\nbarn owls, had decided to give his suggestion a fair try. She took a\nbreath and continued. \"You will be domestics, employed only in the early\nevenings. You will be punctual, for you are required to be present at\nevery royal evening meal time.\n\"I require of you to feed me until I ask of you to stop, and then to\nleave my consort and I in peace. That is all.\" She turned to face them,\nher legs strong despite the great weight they supported these days. \"Do\nyou have any questions or concerns?\"\nSkitt glanced at Han, but Han apparently did not dare to return the\ngaze. \"I have no questions, my queen,\" he said with a respectful bow.\nShe nodded, and cast a subtly enquiring glance at Han.\nHe shifted his own talons uncomfortably. \"I have one question, your\nhighness. I understand you asked for non-barn owls for this task and I\nam happy - no, honoured - to serve you. Are we now subjects of yours,\nalong with the barn owl kin?\"\nThe question was a good one, but one of the complications of her and\nKludd's proposed new arrangement. Both had agreed that they did not want\nbarn owls for the task, and to have other, smaller species instead.\nHaving a different owl species would help keep a cultural barrier\nbetween Nyra and Kludd, and their assistants, and that would help keep\ntheir time together special. Smaller owls would offer no physical threat\nwhen the royal couple's battle defences were down. But it raised a\npolitical question: did the new owls have barn owl kinship for being in\nthe employ of the royal pair, or were they to be seen as foreigners in\nbarn owl territory? It would not be fair to insist that they remain\nlegal foreigners, even ones with diplomatic immunity. They had agreed to\nextend kinship to the assistants.\n\"You will become barn owl kin, and will be welcomed by my subjects,\" she said with a gracious bow.\n xXxNyra felt nervous as she entered her and Kludd's feeding quarters and\nwaited for her servants to bring in the first mice and voles or\nwhatever they had managed to catch, but she kept this a closely-guarded\nsecret. She kept her wings strong and still, her claws firm, not\nflapping, not fidgeting. However, she offered Kludd one warm look and\nsaw that he too was nervous. The scarred warrior had always been so good\nat hiding his nerves. But not from her, not from her...\nThe sound of barn owl talons on rotten wood sounded around the corner\nand Minchen, the most senior of her servants and a most excellent\nhunter, approached with a vole. Without a word he deposited it on the\nsmall dais from which Nyra and Kludd ate, bowed, and left, his\nfawn-and-grey mottled back straight.\nHis task, as always, was to hunt and retrieve. Not to feed.\nShe listened, but did not hear, the instruction that he must have\ngiven Skitt and Han in turn. Perhaps they had pre-agreed that he would\nsimply nod at them when it was time for them to enter, or they would\ntake his retreat from the royal feeding room as he passed by them in the\ntunnel as their signal.\nEither way they came humbly in, Skitt leading the less-confident Han.\nSkitt hesitated and then seemed to commit himself, then hopped up onto\nthe feeding dais. He pinned the vole down with one small foot, pulled a\nsection of fur off the little body and tore off a strip of meat. He\nstretched up and offered it to Nyra, his eyes lowered in deference.\nShe leaned forward and took it, aware of her every movement and how\nit might be interpreted. She did not want this process to have undue\nintimacy - that was something she treasured with Kludd only - but she\nwanted so very much to be fed. And... truly, this feeding process could\nnot be without intimacy, for that was precisely why she had taken to it\nin the first place. But she would not make eye contact unless necessary,\nshe would not coo or purr in appreciation of Skitt or Han's efforts,\nshe would not nibble fragments of meat off the corners of their beaks.\nShe would do these things only with Kludd - and the end of her feeding\nsession, when he took over, would be all the more loving for it.\nPerhaps she would develop a sense of mutual tenderness with Skitt and\nHan, but she would have to consider how to do that without making her\nrelationship with Kludd less precious.\nShe avoided catching Skitt's gaze also to avoid intimidating him, and\npaid no attention to Minchen as he returned with a second rodent for\nKludd. The warrior clamped his foot on it to tear off a piece for\nhimself, and in this way, ate it slowly as Skitt and Nyra became\nacquainted with the task of feeding.\nNyra's vole was soon reduced to nothing but a few hairs, and Skitt\nretreated to clean himself. Minchen, who had evidently been listening or\nwatching from the shadows, soon arrived with a mouse. He left it on the\ndais and retreated. This time it was Han who stepped up.\nHan had evidently watched his colleague's approach and decided to\nimprove on it. Or perhaps he'd fed others before at some point. His\ndelivery was smoother, more... loving, somehow, but in a way that seemed\nappropriate. He crowed very quietly at the back of his throat in\nresponse to some signal from her that she became abstractly aware of,\nand Nyra allowed this to continue for a few mouthfuls as she deliberated\nover whether or not it was acceptable. She found it difficult to decide\nso looked at Kludd to judge his opinion.\nKludd looked vaguely stern about this so on her next mouthful she\nlooked into Han's eyes. She paused, each of them holding an opposite end\nof this latest strip of meat. He stopped in response and looked at her\nlovingly - and then warily.\nI am not angry, was her message, but No.\nHe nodded - a tiny bow of acknowledgement - and let go of his end of the strip.\nThe mouse was nearly finished when Nyra decided to sit up and decide\nhow full she felt. She took the opportunity to verbalise some of the\nthoughts in her head. \"Han,\" she said with a little prim warmth - the\nway she'd often found worked when speaking semi-informally to her\nservants. \"You feed like you are used to it. Tell me - have you fed\nbefore?\"\nHe bowed before he spoke. \"Yes, my queen. I have had two clutches of\nowlets with a third on the way.\" He spoke with a kind of humble pride\nthat she found so endearing that she fluffed up her feathers before\nshe'd realized what she'd done.\nShe decided to go with the feeling. \"Oh, how charming! You feed very\nwell!\" Then, aware that Skitt may be fearing for his own prowess, she\nsought him out too. \"Skitt, will you approach please?\" She thought about\nhis performance as he approached so that she could compliment him too,\nalthough Han had been her favourite.\nHe stood on the far side of the dais, for Han already occupied the space.\n\"Your polite manner was very much appreciated, Skitt. Thank you for\nyour show of respect. Kludd and I will discuss taking you both on\npermanently this evening. Now, please excuse yourselves and I will speak\nto you on the morrow.\"\nTHE END."}