Chapter 100: Champion, Chapter 33: Light Through the Leaves of Love

Zurai

Aidan

The Realms

Seventhday, 3rd week of the 9th month, Age of the Chosen 1

Early Afternoon

Ceallach Macht, Mistvale Highlands

Aidan led Ailis into the gardens surrounding the entrance to Caer Macht. "How adventurous are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Adventurous?" Ailis's voice was caught between confusion and curiosity. "That is something I prefer to leave to the younger generations."

Aidan snorted. "Oh, come now, you didn't earn a Prestige Class by sitting in your home reading books all day. Besides, the adventure I had in mind shouldn't be the dangerous or thrilling sort."

"Oh, well, with that reassurance, lead on!" She laughed back. They picked their way through the flowers for a few minutes until they reached the edge of the garden. From there, Aidan guided Ailis up onto the slope of Caer Macht's hill.

"It's such a beautiful day out," he said. Indeed, the late autumn air was crisp, helped by a light breeze that swept the ground-hugging mist into swirls and eddies. The sun shone down on them from a sky containing only a handful of fluffy white clouds. "This has always been my favorite time of year; not so hot that I get sweaty just walking from place to place, but not so cold that I feel the need to bundle up."

"I confess that summer is a bit much for me," Ailis agreed.

"So, since I'll be leaving tomorrow and won't see you for a while, and the weather is so nice, I decided to take you on a picnic."

"A... pick-nick?" Ailis stumbled over the unfamiliar word. "I am afraid I do not know what that is."

"Ah, that's a shame," Aidan mused. "I thought the concept would translate, at least. No matter. A picnic is a term from my homeland. In essence, it's a short trip into a park or other natural setting in which the participants—usually a pair who are interested in each other—eat a prepared meal with just each other for company. The meal is usually what we call finger food, which is to say something that one eats with their hands and can be easily fed to a partner. Of course, like explaining a joke, the explanation robs it of its romanticism."

Ailis squeezed his hand in reassurance and stepped closer to him. "No, I understand. It does sound rather pleasant. Where are we headed, then?"

Aidan picked his way around an outcropping of white rock. This hill wasn't as difficult to climb as some of the others in the Highlands, but the gentlest trail switched back and forth as it rose along the slope. "Not far, as the crow flies. The back end of this hill ends in a small cliff overlooking the river. It'll take us an hour or so to get there, which is why I asked how adventurous you were feeling, but it's almost directly above the Throne, and with the elementals around, we're as safe as we can be. If you really didn't want to go anywhere, I had a backup plan."

His Chancellor made an amused sound. "I see." She stopped, then, and tugged on Aidan's hand. He turned around to face her just in time for her lips to find his. While welcome, the kiss surprised him long enough for Ailis to bring her other hand up to the back of his neck and slip her fingers into his hair. She kept the kiss chaste, but her lips lingered for several seconds before she withdrew an inch.

Unlike Brighid, who stood almost a foot taller than he did, or Sunnild, whose head (when her crest lay flat) came up just under his nose, Ailis was only about an inch taller than him. Neither of them had to bend their neck to gaze into the other's eyes from this close, and Aidan took advantage of that. The eyes are the windows of the soul, it's said, he thought as he peered into the bright, light blue examples before him. He'd seen more than his share of disdain and icy rage in them before, but now he could practically feel the warmth they emitted. With a small smile, Aidan slipped his arms around Ailis's waist and closed the gap between them.

Ailis leaned into his embrace and pulled him into another kiss. Her eyes slid closed as he probed with the tip of his tongue, then her lips parted in welcome. This, too, was different from his lovers. Brighid's kisses were fiery things, equal parts desperately submissive and frantically lustful. Sunnild, meanwhile, was still learning to show affection without embarrassment; she tended to go get lost in a kiss until something else happened, at which point she grew flustered. Both of them leaned towards rapid escalation, with deep kisses being a match tossed into a pool of gasoline.

However, Ailis had firm control of her actions and emotions, and she seemed in no hurry to escalate. She met his tongue with her own, but instead of wrestling for dominance, she teased him and drew him deeper into her mouth with light touches. Meanwhile, she slid her free hand under the back of his shirt and traced her fingertips along his spine; Aidan followed suit, drawing a soft, pleased sound from Ailis's throat. With gentle, insistent pressure, her tongue began to oppose his invasion, chasing Aidan out of her mouth and into his. They spent a few moments longer like that, trading exploratory expeditions, before Ailis broke the kiss.

"We will do more of that later, but I grow hungry. If there is still an hour of walking ahead of us, we should continue." She disentangled her fingers from Aidan's hair but left her other hand against the small of his back.

"Well, if you're in a hurry..." Aidan trailed off as Ailis shot him a look.

"I know my daughter enjoys acting like a beast of burden for you, but that is too far for me to go right now."

"I wasn't going to suggest it. I know that's an insult to you. I have a spell to summon a mount."

Ailis had the grace to look abashed. "I apologize. I should not have assumed. Regardless, it is not needed; I am enjoying walking with you, so there is no rush."

Aidan's smile returned. "Well then, let us walk."

Aidan

Mid-Afternoon

An hour and a half later—Ailis stopped him twice more along the way—Aidan and Ailis reached their destination. Calling it a cliff was a bit of an exaggeration on Aidan's part; the drop from the hilltop to the river below wasn't sheer, though it was far too steep to easily ascend. Strips of stubborn grass clung to the slope where it could, but most of the hillside was bare white rock. A hundred or so feet below, the river flowed fast enough to throw up sprays of white foam.

On top of the hill, a handful of low, leafy trees provided shelter from the sun. They looked something like a cross between a baobab and an oak, with broad trunks that quickly divided into a horde of branches that reached farther outward than upward. Despite the season, green leaves clung to their stems with determination. Aidan guided Ailis to a spot clear of protruding roots or rocks and gestured for her to wait. He pulled a tablecloth from his Handy Haversack and laid it out on the ground for them to sit on.

Ailis knocked her hooves against a nearby rock outcropping to clean the dirt from them and then settled onto the cloth. Aidan sat beside her, close but not touching, and reached into the Haversack again for the food. Ailis shifted closer and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "You were right," she said, "it is beautiful here. It will be a shame if the Phoenix's Nest disrupts this place."

"You don't have to humor me," Aidan teased. "I know you'd still rather be in a library with your cup of tea. Speaking of which..." he produced a teakettle from storage, a wisp of steam immediately emerging from its spout.

"Oh, you did plan this well," Ailis praised, raising her head and reaching for the kettle. Aidan handed her a cup and waited while she poured, smelled, and tasted the tea. "Mm. My favorite. How did you—no, nevermind. Brighid told you?"

"Who else? She's so happy that we're getting along now that she insisted on helping."

A slight smile tugged at Ailis's lips. She took another sip, then set the cup down and looked at Aidan. "I have been blessed with a wonderful daughter, and she chose well for her mate."

"I can agree with one of those, at least. As far as her choice in men goes, I can only assume divine intervention on my behalf." Aidan busied himself setting out containers of food. Within seconds, bowls of fruit, a plate of sandwiches, and a platter of flaky pastries covered the cloth in front of them.

Ailis plucked a slice of apple from one of the bowls and held it up to Aidan's lips. "I believe this is the intent of these 'finger foods,' yes?" Aidan ate it from her fingers and nodded. "You should not be so self-effacing," she continued. "Humility is good, but only to a point, after which it turns to either poor self-esteem or thinly-veiled pride. You have a good heart and, more importantly, the will to translate that into positive actions. By all means, give credit to others where it is due, but do not fail to take credit for the value you bring."

Instead of making an immediate response, Aidan peeled a measuaine—a native Highlands fruit with a thick green rind that protected an interior full of seed pods the size of shelled peanuts—and fed its contents to Ailis. Her eyes locked onto Aidan's as her lips closed over each proferred seed and swept it from his fingertips onto her waiting tongue-tip.

"The problem is that I don't feel like I've done much to earn such praise yet," Aidan said, trying and failing to ignore the obvious symbolism of Ailis's lips against and around his finger. "I'm getting there; maybe once I prove to everyone that working together is the best choice, I'll believe it more. But so far, I really haven't done much. Killing the Taig was more the Brighaid's doing than mine, and Karsarrym wouldn't even have come if I hadn't claimed Caer Macht."

"Aidan," Ailis sighed, "unless there is something your Patron told you that you did not pass on, you have no way of knowing that. Perhaps it felt the death of the Taig and came to fill the power vacuum. Maybe it came to fight the Wildlord for its Throne and just found you there instead. Only the dragon knows. What matters is that you drove it off. No, Aidan," she snapped when he opened his mouth to protest, "even Ysbail would not have been able to chase it off with so little damage. She might have slain it if everything went perfectly for her, but I would not give her even one-in-a-thousand odds of it."

"How can you call a hundred and fifty dead Starchasers 'so little damage'?" Aidan exclaimed. "Ailis, in the two battles I have been a part of, the tribe lost almost four hundred people out of less than a thousand to start with. How can you praise me for that?" Tears stung the corners of his eyes.

"Oh, my poor Sovereign, so eroded by guilt," Ailis sighed. She reached up and brushed a thumb across his cheek. "We do not praise you for the deaths in battle, but rather for the hundreds of lives you saved. Either the Wildlord or the dragon would have wiped us out—or worse. Many contributed to preventing those fates, but none more so than you. If I accomplish no other good deed for the rest of my life, I will make you see this. Were those words you spoke earlier fabrications? Do you truly not believe that you earned your place among us?"

"I do, but..." Aidan turned his head and kissed Ailis's fingers. "How do you do it? How do you make peace with the ghosts of the slain? How would you have made peace with mine if your original scheme went as planned?"

Ailis shook her head. "You ask a question that every leader must find their own answer to. In this world, some people die so that others may live. That is a simple fact of nature. You must decide for yourself which costs are acceptable, but if you are to be our leader, you must find a way to pay those prices when needed. I told myself that you were a runty puppy that needed to be culled from the litter so that the others could grow strong."

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Despite himself, Aidan snorted out a laugh at that. Ailis gave him a sad smile and continued, "Alas, you have rather effectively dismantled my illusions of superiority, so I have found myself in similar distress." She slid her hand around to the back of his head and drew him down against her chest. "That is my burden to bear. The only advice I can give you is to listen to those who love you. We will not let you slide into villainy without a fight."

Aidan nodded and lifted his head, scrubbing away tears. "Thank you. I'm sorry for ruining the mood."

Ailis clicked her tongue and gave him a smirk. "Well, let me restore it, then. You soaked my shirt with your tears, and it is far too cool out to wear wet clothes." In truth, there was hardly even a damp spot, but nonetheless, Ailis pulled her blouse off over her head and tossed it to the side. Aidan's eyes were drawn with inexorable weight to her pale breasts. Her nipples hardened as a chilly breeze blew past them. Ailis grabbed a handful of grapes and bit into them, letting the juice spill down her chin and onto her chest.

"Oops! What a mess I made. Aidan, would you be a dear and—mmm." She cut off with a soft moan as Aidan kissed the corner of her lip, then followed the sticky trail down her chin, across her neck, and onto her torso. Pink bloomed across her skin in the wake of his lips. As he continued downward, Aidan felt Ailis's fingers slide through his hair to cup the back of his head and guide him along her skin.

Ailis's other hand dragged down his chest, tugging at laces as it went. When Aidan's shirt hung loose, her hand continued down. She ran her fingers across his skin along the top hem of his pants, then, when his lips found her stiff nipple, slid underneath and between his legs. Then it was his turn to make a pleasured sound. He moaned against her breast as Ailis's fingers traced his stiffening length. "Hmm," she husked, "I seem to recall that we made a deal not so long ago. A kiss for knowledge of your homeland. Would you perhaps be willing to negotiate for more along those lines, my King?"

"What did you have in mind?" Aidan asked, breath blowing across saliva-wetted skin.

"Mmm." Ailis's hand worked its way around to Aidan's hip and began tugging at his pants, pulling them down. "What would another kiss buy me?"

Aidan lifted his head from the arousal-flushed breasts presented to him and shrugged out of his shirt, then lifted his hips and helped Ailis pull his pants off. He barely noticed the chill in the air as his companion's hand dived back after its prey. He, in turn, cupped his hands over Ailis's enticing pink-capped hills. "I'm afraid that a kiss is worth little by now; why should I buy what you already freely give?"

"A fair point," she hummed. Her hand stroked along Aidan's hard length, gentle and unhurried. "But I did not say where the kiss might be." She ran a fingertip up the underside of his shaft and teased, "Some places are worth more than others, and I fear you are quite mistaken if you think I give those away."

"Indeed?" Aidan asked, thumbs rubbing across Ailis's stiff nipples. He created a Magic Mouth and set it to nibbling along the upper ridge of Ailis's right ear, drawing a gasp, a shudder, and a breathy moan from her. "And how much value do you assign to this extra-lingual kiss? Keep in mind, you won't find the information I have anywhere else, and I have little incentive to sell it cheaply."

"I should be offended," Ailis rebutted, "that you would suggest that what I offer is cheap. I should stop now and let you realize what you are missing." Her hand left his hardness, though she did not pull away from him.

"Perhaps I have judged you too hastily," Aidan admitted, playing along, "but without a sample of the wares you offer, you can hardly blame me for being conservative."

"No sample? My, you do presume. What do you think your hands are doing now but taking a sample? Have you not tasted my lips before and found them to your liking? Here, let me remind you." Ailis leaned in and kissed him, lips parted and ready. Their tongues tangled together, each seeking to exert dominance over the other. Ailis pressed Aidan onto his back and followed him down until his hands were all that kept her breasts from flattening against his chest.

"Does that jog your memory, Lord Aidan?" Ailis asked, lips brushing his.

Instead of answering right away, Aidan created a Magic Hand and set it to stroking down Ailis's equine back and then down over her rump. When he saw her eyelids flutter, he responded, "Hmm, perhaps. But I find myself still somewhat dubious that a kiss, no matter how exquisite, would be worth such unique lore."

Aidan could feel Ailis's muscles flexing under his conjured fingers. Ailis let out a soft sound—pleasure? Frustration?—then took his lower lip between her teeth. She bit hard enough to cause a faint stab of pain, then released him. "Dare not drive too hard a bargain, my Lord, lest you chase your customer away."

"Hmm, let me sweeten the deal, then," he said while dragging his fingers up directly between Ailis's hind legs. She stifled a moan but could not keep the red from blooming across her cheeks or stop her eyes from closing.

"Go on," she breathed, "I am listening."

"I have a project that is very near and dear to my heart. Unfortunately, at the moment, I have no idea how to complete it, and the deadline is fast approaching." While Aidan spoke, Ailis's hand returned to his manhood, her fingers trailing up and down his length. "You owe me a debt, sworn and witnessed by the Realms themselves. Give me your kiss and your whole-hearted help with my project. In return, I will grant you the same release you give me here and now, consider your debt paid, and share twenty-four hours' worth of lore with you."

Ailis's eyes opened halfway. "Mmn, that sounds agreeable. What is this project you would have me assist you in?"

Aidan smiled. "You are the foremost expert on Beast Magic that I know, and I require that expertise to find a way for Brighid and me to have a child." Ailis's eyes flew wide, and she reared back off his chest. Aidan let her pull away from his real hands but kept the Magic Hand on her rump.

"You would have me help you—ah!—impregnate my own daughter?" The heat in Ailis's voice dissolved into a pleasure-filled moan halfway through when Aidan stroked insubstantial digits alongside her swollen labia.

"I would," Aidan confirmed. "If I don't do it now, it will be years before we have another chance. She wants children so much that she intentionally had me spill my seed in Sunnild that first night. I know she'll never go to anyone else to fill that need, despite her throwing other women my way, so it has to be me."

"I should leave you here," Ailis hissed.

"And yet you're making no move to stand up, and your hand is still stroking me," Aidan observed in return. "Besides, if you want grandchildren, this is the only way you're going to get them. Still, I won't force you. I understand that it's an awkward request; I can find some other way for you to pay back that debt. I just thought it would be poetic for you to help bring new life into the world as penance for being too cavalier with my death."

Ailis bowed her head, her silver hair cascading forward off her shoulders. "You drive a hard bargain, my Lord, but your arguments are convincing." She looked down at him through the shimmering waterfall of her hair. Ailis's face showed a mixture of emotions: red-cheeked arousal, eyebrows arched in surprise and slight reproach, and two piercing, pale blue eyes reflecting a growing love. "I accept your proposal. Let me show you the value of my kisses, my King."

Ailis shifted and bent down over Aidan's waist. She tucked her hair behind her long ears, then extended her tongue and touched it to Aidan's tip. A hum of pleasure escaped her as Aidan formed a Magic Mouth behind her and mirrored her action. When he reached up to rest a hand on her head, however, she batted it away.

"You just lie there, my Lord, and let me do this my way. Mmm, but you can keep using your Talent." Her lips moved against the underside of his shaft, causing her words to come out slightly muffled. "It is good to know that you are not shy about returning the favor." Her tongue flicked out, lapping at the bundle of nerves just below his tip. Aidan let out a sharp breath at the sensation.

"I promised to give you the same pleasure you're—ah!—giving me, after all."

"Then we will both enjoy this," Ailis responded before guiding his tip to her lips and pressing down. Aidan groaned in pleasure, rolling his head back and lifting his hips off the cloth. It took him a moment to collect his wits enough to reciprocate, sending two incorporeal fingers sliding into Ailis's wetness and laving her clit with a phantom tongue. All Of Your Love transmitted the heat of Ailis's arousal and the clean, almost minty taste of her lubrication back to him.

It quickly became clear that Ailis was no amateur at her assigned task. While Brighid was enthusiastic about worshipping Aidan's manhood from the start, he had to teach her every step of the way. Ailis needed no such instruction. Her movements were confident and calculated. She sought out Aidan's hotspots and memorized them, experimenting with different combinations of lips, teeth, tongue, vibration, and suction until she had a complete map of his sexual responses. She then played him like an instrument, orchestrating a steady, inevitable climb to orgasm.

Aidan did his best to match her as the pleasure washed over him. He called on the full complement of magical appendages granted by his Talents and set them to explore her entire body, a necessary handicap if he was to keep up. He already knew her ears were sensitive, just like Brighid's, but found that Ailis's belly, just past her equine ribcage, brought her similar pleasure. Of course, rubbing her breasts and nipples induced approving responses from her, but unlike Brighid, she didn't like him touching her tail.

It only took a few minutes of Ailis's head bobbing up and down his erection before Aidan felt his peak approaching. Ailis flattened her tongue along the base of his shaft. He clenched his hands and arched his back, preparing for his release—only for Ailis to let his manhood escape her mouth with a wet popping sound.

"Ailis?" he asked, hips still thrust skyward.

"Hmm? Oh, were you close?" she teased. "When you doubted whether a kiss from me would be worth anything, well, I decided that I had to prove myself to you." One finger traced across his manhood, carefully avoiding anything that might push him over. "Mmm, besides, I wanted to draw things out a little more. You are doing such a wonderful job on me; it would be a shame if things ended so early. And, after all, it is so much less of a pain to do this with you than a centaur; I find myself quite enjoying it."

"I recant!" Aidan panted. "Your kisses are the second-best after Brighid!"

"Oh? Still behind my formerly-virgin daughter, who has never been with any other man? Maybe I need to show you the error of your thoughts." Ailis blew a puff of air across Aidan's groin. "I propose an alteration of our bargain. I will prove to you that you have never had better than me. In exchange, you bring me to release as many times as you can until you reach your peak. Agreed?"

"Deal! Just please—oh, yes." The wet, sucking heat of Ailis's mouth descended upon him again. Her tongue sought out his weak points while she traveled down, down, all the way down his shaft until her nose met his pubic hair and his tip slid into her throat. Aidan groaned and redoubled his efforts upon her body, adding a tongue alongside the fingers probing inside her and sending mouths and fingers to every erogenous zone he managed to identify.

Ailis swiftly brought him back to the edge and then kept him there, always managing to raise her head off of him seconds before he reached the point of no return, but never letting him travel far from the peak. Her lips and tongue molded against his shaft while her hands stroked his thighs and caressed his balls. Somehow, she even managed to work her shuddering, moaning climaxes into the edging, timing things so that the vibrations brought him to the very brink without quite giving him enough to tumble into freefall.

Finally, Aidan's willpower broke, and he reached up to grab Ailis by the head. Unlike the first time, she kept her hands on his thighs, allowing him to take control of the blowjob. Her eyes rose to his for the first time, sending a spark down his spine as he saw the raw lust raging within. He groaned and held Ailis's head in place, thrusting up into her mouth. Her hands slid from Aidan's thighs around to his ass, digging in and urging him upward. Her tongue lashed out at him as he plunged past it, somehow still managing to slither against every sensitive bundle of nerves in his dick. Aidan's breaths came hard and fast as he found his peak again then flung himself over the edge. He yanked down on Ailis's head, roughly forcing himself down her throat as his balls contracted and his manhood pulsed and jerked. She moaned around him and pushed back against his hands and fingers, her inner walls clenching tight as she came as well.

A minute later, Aidan blinked away the stars in his eyes and looked down. Ailis tucked her hair behind her ears again and lifted her head from Aidan's groin. Her tongue flicked across her lips, catching a stray white droplet and sweeping it back into her mouth. "Have you changed your mind as the value of my goods, my King?" At his nod, she smiled and patted his trembling thigh. "Now that I've had my appetizer, let us turn to our meal, hmm?"

Zurai

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