"Fuck you, Kal! I hope your fucking dick falls off! You are never, ever touching me again! Get the fuck away from me!" Perra screamed in the mage's face.
Kal was so shocked by the outburst he stood up from his place next to the large tub and turned towards the door, his expression blank as he automatically followed the laboring woman's orders.
"No, no, no, no," Elta said, jumping up and gently steering him by the shoulders back to the water-filled basin Perra was sitting in. "Any other time she tells you to go away, you do it. But not now, your place is here." The cleric put her hands on his shoulders and pushed, directing him to kneel and resume his position by the tub.
"Slow your breathing, girl, before you pass out," said Lulen. "You can't push when you're asleep." The old midwife had a hand on Perra's belly and was pressing in various places to be sure that the baby was aligned properly. "Boy," she commanded holding out a hand towards Kal. Taking it, he channeled some magic into her while she peered intently at the pregnant woman. Nodding at what she saw, she let go. "A few more contractions and she should be ready."
Elta was still amazed at the old woman's ability to see into the bodies of those she touched. It had been a bit of a shock the first time she helped Lulen, the midwife reaching out and demanding magic from her. The cleric didn't have the same kind of control as Kal and it took a few frustrating failures before Elta discovered that attempting to cast a healing spell where the central glyph was disrupted by the old woman's body had roughly the effect they needed. She sent news of her discovery back to the church in the capital not long after she arrived but the luke-warm response they sent back led her to believe that they hadn't taken her seriously.
In return, Lulen had been amazed by the large metal washtub that arrived strapped to the top of the cleric's carriage once Elta explained what it was for. The blacksmith had also taken a keen interest in it since the metal was so thin but quickly lost interest when the cleric explained that she had no idea how it was manufactured other than it was something that stemmed from a recently discovered way of making tough but light armor.
A new method of giving birth cropped up in the last couple of years where deliveries were happening in a pond, stream, or bath instead of a bed. The added buoyancy from the water seemed to make the process much easier on both mother and child and new mothers were quickly singing its praises. Unfortunately, it was discovered that doing this in a tub, where the dirty water couldn't circulate out, could lead to infections. Those that gave birth in a body of water didn't seem to have these issues, given that the water was clean to begin with. Since it was difficult to keep the water both warm and circulating in the average city home, the method was nearly abandoned until a few priests began purifying the water immediately after the woman delivered, even before the child was lifted out of the water. Seeing the clergy's relative success, washing the child and mother after a water birth became required, regardless of how clear the water was once finished. It was still recommended to have a cleric available as the spell purified any dirtied water that may have gotten into the baby's eyes, ears, and nose as well as anything that might have flowed back up into the mother. The purification spell was also far simpler than a healing spell and therefore cost much less than having a cleric come back a few days later to heal any infections that occurred.
All these things combined made the method accessible to the majority of the urban populace and quickly replaced delivering in bed or on a birthing stool.
Elta hated the idea of charging for bringing a child into the world. Unfortunately, the high priests and priestesses disagreed and expected reports of services rendered to the townsfolk and what she charged them. They weren't particularly callous about it in person but were very firm that it took gold to run an organization as large as the church and that they couldn't give away their time and abilities.
On paper, Telsin was filled with hardy folk who rarely got injured. The cleric took payment from the wealthier families for purifying the water in the tub after a delivery, but never made any mention of the extra healing she often supplied. Master Ellis stepped up if the family was unable to pay for her services, saying that Elta's new methods saved him a ton of time and effort washing the linens he continued to supply and claiming that he was just giving her that savings. She saw it for the lie it was but thanked him profusely for not having to explain to her superiors why the town's birth rate seemed unusually low.
With Kal there, Elta didn't need to worry about supplying the old midwife with the magic for her unusual ability, which allowed her to focus on the woman in the tub.
Perra visibly relaxed as the latest contraction began to ease up, but they all knew that it wouldn't be long before the next. She flashed a slightly apologetic smile at Kal as she realized what she had said.
"What's your problem, boy. You've helped me enough times this should be old hat. Yet, you're more nervous than with the barmaid's sister," grumped Lulen
Kal's face was still mostly blank as he gave her a weak smile, "Those ones weren't mine."
The look Perra gave him made her thoughts clear even without the bond: this wasn't his first child so why was he acting so odd?
He really didn't have an answer other than it was his first child with this kind of delivery. Aradelle giving birth to Eludora had been as anticlimactic as he believed bringing a child into the world could be. The alarune just leaned back and a moment later his first daughter's seed slid out of the plant girl, the simplicity of the process made more sense later when he found out she could change the shape of her avatar. Bea hadn't made a big deal of the delivery of her egg, not even informing him until after the fact. She was far more excited later when Adalena hatched.
Kal still occasionally had a difficult time wrapping his head around his first two daughters sprouting and hatching instead of being born. It made the fact that he was a father seem very surreal at times. In contrast, there was no strangeness in Perra's labor. Her ordeal was starkly human, which seemed appropriate as it would result in his first human child.
It frustrated him that this was his third time becoming a father, fourth if he believed what Ikuno said about Silma. Yet, in many ways, it felt like his first. He didn't like the idea that this child was somehow more important than the others.
'It is,' came the thought from Aradelle with a faint affirming echo from Bea. 'This is your first human baby, Kal. The first that will grow up to look just like you do and the first where there's the chance of having a son. You love Eludora and Adalena, we know you do. But Perra's baby is special and it's okay to see it that way.'
'It feels like I'm cheating my daughters,' he replied.
'Attention is divisible, love is not. Now focus on Perra,' sent back the alarune.
'You're sounding like Ikuno.'
He only received a laugh in response,
"Yeah, focus," Perra grumbled out loud, having 'heard' Kal and Aradelle's conversation. He had forgotten that she didn't need her necklace to hear them, though her ability to form a bond with him had been dependent on it.
The young woman had decided after her first contraction this morning that having the pendant on during labor might be a very bad idea.
"I'll be fine, just leave me alone," she told Kal earlier through clenched teeth during that initial period of pain and pressure. Refia's proclamation that her labor had started prompted them to move to the living room where the large basin was nearby, just in case. It may have been overly cautious, but no one was going to argue with the woman about to have a baby.
When it finally passed, she looked up and saw Kal, Refia and Kuto standing next to the far wall. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Leaving you alone," all three answered in eerie unison. Disturbed but immediately realizing what happened, Perra removed the necklace and asked Kal to take it into the bedroom. She'd heard stories from the women in town and didn't want to send Kal running for the hills, or worse, trying to cut off a particular body part of his that she was rather fond of.
Back in the present, Kal's reaction to Perra's tirade a few seconds ago made Elta check to be sure that she wasn't still wearing the bauble. But the area between the young woman's breasts, much like the rest of her, was naked.
When Perra's contractions got close enough together, Lulen instructed her to go put on the birthing gown Elta had brought and get into the warmed tub. The gown was little more than a sheet with holes for the arms that closed in the front and gave a woman in labor some semblance of modesty.
Perra looked around in annoyance. "I've bathed with you. You've seen half the pussies in town already. And you are the reason I'm like this," she said to Elta, Lulen, and Kal in turn. Moving over next to the metal bath, she mumbled, "Fuck it," before pulling her nightgown off and stepping in. She was in no mood to be dealing with shitty clothes that other women had worn.
Besides the contractions and all-around discomfort of labor, her bad mood was in part to Kuto not being there. After the last couple of weeks spending so much time with the harpy, she really felt the bird-girl deserved a place beside her for the birth of her child. Every time she spoke to Lulen, Perra had to consciously keep the resentment out of her voice, since the old midwife was the only reason Kuto or any of the others couldn't be there.
She had asked Elta yesterday if having the midwife was really necessary now that Kal was back. The cleric gave her a quick rundown of how the old woman's sight worked and reminded Perra that without her there was only one alternative for checking to be sure she was ready to safely push the baby out, complete with making a circle with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and pushing the other hand through up to the knuckles. Though Perra was becoming more fond of the woman, repeatedly having Elta shove her hand inside her while going through labor wasn't appealing at all.
Now, as her baby's birth was imminent, she was regretting taking the convenient way out. She tried not to be upset about it. Having Lulen there meant a lot to Kal even if it annoyed her at the moment.
"Kal," said Elta, getting everyone's attention, "we probably only have a few more minutes. Strip and get in behind her." Kal stared back at her in surprise, this hadn't been discussed beforehand.
Lulen chuckled. "Sneaky girl, I was curious why the water was so low, it was to have room for two." She ran a hand over Perra's belly but continued speaking to the cleric, "Don't make a habit of this until you are doing it without me. In my experience, men too often turn into fools during this time. Look at what just happened with this one," she said, tilting her head in Kal's direction. "Good man, grounded, loves his woman; turned into a complete idiot for a second." She turned her head enough to look at him out of the corner of her eye, "Good thing I like you or I would have run you off as well. Get in, but keep your cock out of her reach. Bad things might happen if she gets a hand on it."
Kal gave her a weak smile. He was finally starting to lose the blank look on his face as his mind got over the shock of Perra entering this last stage of labor.
"You'd better hurry before the next... too late," Perra said through gritted teeth as her lower abdomen tightened up. Reaching to the side, she sought out Kal's hand and nearly crushed his fingers as she channeled all the pain of the contraction into her grip. A full minute went by before her body relaxed again and Kal extricated his hand. After wiggling his fingers to be sure they were still working, he started pulling his clothes off.
Lulen laughed quietly as the mage slid into the metal bath behind Perra. "Good thing you're traveling, boy. I've little doubt I'd be back here in nine months if you weren't." Elta gasped, looking scandalized at the midwife's comment while Perra let out a giggle and Kal froze in the middle of lowering himself into the water. He had never expected the old midwife to be checking him out like that.
"I'm old, not dead, you three," the woman grumbled as she reached out for Kal's hand to check the baby once again.
Perra endured two more contractions before Lulen instructed Kal and Elta to warm the water again. Elta didn't see the need to tell her that Kal was most likely out of magic after powering the midwife's ability three times without a crystal. She was unable to hide the surprise on her face when he cast the simple cantrip and began warming that side of the tub. Looking over at his clothes she saw the small pouch that held his mana crystals. Turning back to Kal she saw him mouth 'later' at her questioning expression.
It wasn't long before Perra sat bolt upright, panting, "I've gotta push. I've gotta push. I've gotta push!"
"One moment, child," said Lulen, looking down and holding out her hand to Kal. A few seconds later she smiled, "It's time. On the next one help her sit up, so she can push properly," she told Kal.
In what felt like forever to the laboring woman but was actually only a few minutes, Lulen reached down and pulled the baby away from Perra's body, creating a murky cloud around the newborn. After a quick scrub with just her hands, she nodded to Elta who had her spell ready. The water turned crystal clear as soon as the cleric touched it.
The old midwife lifted the child out of the water, letting its lungs drain for a moment before placing it on Perra's chest.
"Say hello to your son."
------
Elta scowled, pacing back and forth in front of the new mother and her baby. "He could have let me take her back to town, he should be here with you."
"It's fine Elta, he won't be gone long and Talin is asleep so he's not missing anything," said Perra, smiling softly at the bundle in her arms.
Lulen stayed until the little one finished his first meal before deciding to head back home. Kal went to get the midwife that morning before the sun crested the trees. By the time he returned from taking her back, the sun would be starting to set.
"Would you please sit down, Elta? Your pacing is starting to make me nervous. Why are you doing that anyway?"
"Kal."
"What about him?"
"He confuses me, he shouldn't have been able to heat the water before Talin arrived. Not only that, but he offered to heal you before putting on his belt with the mana crystals. Mages as young as him don't have that kind of power to draw on. I didn't realize it until today, but he should never have been able to save himself during our duel. Assuming he was telling the truth about his fire resistance rune, the magic required to protect himself from my spell would have been immense, far beyond what someone so new to magic should be able to handle."
"You only have a few years more experience than him, yet you managed to cast your giant column of fire," Perra offered.
"That's different, I act as more of a conduit for the Goddess. Casting the flame strike yesterday is one of the few times I've felt Her power flowing through me."
"Kal will have to tell you about why he can do what he does, it's a long story and not my place to tell it."
"So, you know?"
"I was there when he finally learned the full tale. It was just before his mother passed away."
Elta's face fell, "I hated hearing about Mera. I can't say that I knew her very well, but she was always nice to me."
A sad smile crossed Perra's face at the praise for Kal's mother. She leaned forward in her chair, "Help me up, please. I was honestly hoping that you two could heal me right away. I didn't realize I had to wait until my proper milk came in."
The cleric gave her a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry, we haven't talked much about after the delivery. That's completely my fault, most women have at least witnessed a... human birth and have some idea of what goes on afterward." She was going to mention that most women had a motherly figure in their lives to tap for advice. But with both Mera and her own mother passing on, Elta felt it would cause the girl unneeded hurt during what is supposed to be a happy time. "I can still heal you if you want," she hurried on. "The instances where healing stopped a woman from producing milk are very few and far between."
The farmgirl shook her head as Elta helped her stand, "I'm not taking that chance. I can deal with some discomfort for a few days." Stifling a yawn, she blinked a few times before saying, "I'm exhausted, and I think Talin and I are going to head to bed. Let Kal know where we are when he gets back please... unless you are needing something from him first?"
The cleric gasped, blushing bright red.
"I saw how you were looking at him when he climbed in with me and I don't really blame you. On any other night, if you were in genuine need and asked him, I might say okay. But not tonight. Tonight, he's mine and Talin's." She sniffed the air in the direction of the cleric, "I don't mean this in a bad way, but you smell like a bitch in heat. There's something in my drawer that you can borrow to take the edge off. I don't expect I'll be needing it until after Kal leaves. Your other option would be to ask Ghoss and Ruce if they would be willing to share one of the boys for a quick romp. Any which way, you need some relief."
Elta's eyes flicked toward the bedroom door before she scowled at Perra. "Why would you think I would be interested in that right now?"
"First, as I said, I can smell how turned on you are, and I don't have a nose like Refia. Second, I'm a woman and I know perfectly damn well what it feels like to have your womb yelling at you to make a baby. Third, you've been around a man who has proven he's virile, loves his women, cares for his children, and has also been naked in front of you twice, so you know what he has to offer in that area. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what your body is telling you right now."
The cleric ground her teeth together in frustration, unable to refute anything the farmgirl just said. Once Talin was having his first meal and all of the cleaning up and busy work was complete, images came rushing into her head of Kal standing up and stepping out of the large bath before turning to help Perra do the same. Her undergarments had been soaked ever since.
She couldn't even argue about what the woman said about her body. Each time she looked at Talin, she got an inexplicable feeling in her lower abdomen. It was the same feeling she got when visiting her nephew, like something was missing down there. It didn't escape her that both Marda and Perra were younger than her and already had husbands and children. She used the word 'husband' loosely, Elta still didn't fully understand the intricacies of Kal's various relationships.
Despite being annoyed with the woman, the cleric helped her get up from the chair and hobble into the bedroom, even holding little Talin while she undressed.
"Where did you get the name from?" asked Elta, while indicating that Perra should get into bed.
"It was my father's name," she said as the cleric laid Talin next to her.
"I've never heard you speak of your parents." Seeing the sadness in Perra's eyes, she blurted out, "You don't have to tell me..."
As long-buried memories of her parents came to the surface, she smiled softly, "It's okay, it was many years ago now, not long after the first of my monthlies. Mother was a seamstress while Dad was a Jack-of-all-trades. He found a cave with a small vein of gold in it far out in the eastern wilderness and came back to get Mom to help him collect it, leaving us behind. They never returned.
"When they didn't come back after a few days, Emrick finally reported what happened to the town council. At the prospect of finding gold, they sent out a search party. The next day, they found the cave and their bodies. The worst part was that it wasn't even gold, but fool's gold instead. After Mom and Dad were buried, one of the councilmen sold what they collected from the cave to be used as fire-starters and gave the money to Emrick.
"Things continued downhill from there. Emrick made friends with Duma who was both dumb as hell and a bit older than my brother, giving him a source of ale until he got old enough to buy it for himself." A pained expression crossed Perra's face, "It wasn't long after he started coming home with alcohol on his breath that he started hitting me for every tiny mistake I made. Since I was completely dependent on him, I justified what he did. He was out getting jobs to keep us fed so I didn't blame him for being so hard on me. It wasn't until I had met Kal, his mother, and Ikuno that I discovered Emrick didn't care one whit about me."
She made a face like she just bit into something sour, "Enough talking about him. You asked me about my parents. Mom was soft-spoken and kind, often engrossed in her work because of her skill. She could sew an entire dress together while holding a conversation and never miss a stitch. Dad was more impulsive. He never picked up a steady trade of his own because he enjoyed the challenge and variety of helping the other tradesmen in town. If the blacksmith needed help, he might spend a week there then move over to help the carpenter with a set of shelves before manning the millstone so the miller could have a couple of day's rest."
"It sounds like you admire him."
"I admired them both, but each for very different reasons. I think my parents were about as opposite in personality as humanly possible." Smiling down at the little boy next to her, she said, "Now I have something to carry on his name even though it's a little different from my father's."
"How so?"
"My father's name was Tallon."
"Hmm, good choice in changing it. That sounds like the name of some far-off world full of bird people."
Perra stared at the cleric in confusion for a moment before they heard hoofbeats coming up the trail from town. Kal was home.
Elta's urges had cooled during Perra's story but now roared back to life at the thought of the wizard returning. She knew immediately there was no way she could face him without throwing herself at him. Not in this state at least.
Seeing the pleading look and near panic on the cleric's face, Perra rolled partway on her back and pointed at Kal's nightstand. With a whimper of defeat, Elta walked around the bed.
------
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around you offering me up to take care of her lust on the same day you gave birth," said Kal, looking more amused than dismayed as he stripped off his clothes for the second time that day. The cleric had been jogging toward the boys' bunkhouse on the back of the property as he was coming out of the barn from putting Bonn up.
Perra was lost in thought for a moment, "I think there's more to this Kal. I'd put her desire on par with Ikuno's, maybe even stronger. Yet, she acts like she's terrified to lay with a man. No. Not 'acts like.' She is terrified to sleep with a man."
"No guesses why?"
"I suggested she get together with the tanner's boy awhile back and she said something about being passed around town within a week. I'm guessing it's related. If she approaches you before you set back out, I don't think you should turn her down."
Kal crawled into bed behind Perra. "One, I can hardly believe I heard that from you. Two, after that week with Sera, I'm not terribly excited about sleeping with a woman I barely know."
"Even the mushroom girl?"
"She's different and you know it," he grumbled.
Perra chuckled, "I know, but that was too easy."
Her laughter shook Talin enough to wake him, which reminded the baby that his belly was empty. After a few seconds of loud complaining, he latched onto the nipple rubbing across his lips. Shortly after, he grabbed his father's pinky as it touched his hand, holding on tight as his mother fed him.
------
Elta waved and thanked Kuto for bringing her back to her tent but the harpy was already winging her way to the exit. It wasn't out of rudeness, she just wanted to be back to the bunkhouse before it got too dark to fly. On the way there, she and Elta were chasing the sunset. Now she was flying into the night. With the large fields at the farm to land in, it wasn't a huge deal to fly at night but still something she preferred to avoid.
In the dim light of the glowing stones scattered about the cavern, she reached into an inner pocket of her robe and pulled out the polished stone phallus she found in the nightstand. Thoughts of the mage stepping out of the bath coursed through her head as she stared at the toy in her hand. This was supposed to be around Kal's natural size, it was a short stretch of the imagination to place a similar-sized cock pointing proudly toward her in the image.
Tugging at the fasteners, she pulled frantically at her robes until they fell to the ground around her ankles in a heap. Sinking to her knees on the hard ground, she brought the phallus to her lips, taking the head between them and running her tongue around it, wetting it down with her saliva. The scene playing in her head was of him shoving his cock into her mouth, repeatedly making her gag. Back in the cavern, she continued to drag her tongue along the toy, readying it for the next phase. She imagined pulling him into her tent and having him lie down as she bunched her bedroll and blankets into the middle of the floor. Straddling the bundled-up fabric, she placed the stone cock on it and positioned herself over the top, one hand holding it in place.
"No," she whispered as a small part of her mind saw the danger in what she was doing. A moment later the head of Perra's toy pushed through the lips of her pussy and she threw her head back and shrieked in pleasure. By the time she had taken the cock fully, she was shaking on the edge of orgasm. Looking down, she saw Kal's face smiling back up at her instead of the rolled-up linens.
Her eyes were wild and a maniacal grin split the clerics' face as she began moving up and down.
"You're mine tonight, mage."
------
The next day, Kuto finally had the chance to fawn over Talin. She carefully cradled the child as she sat sideways on Perra's lounger while Refia and Daxas stood nearby. The harpy had already stated multiple times how she hated having wings instead of normal arms like most monster girls. She was also insanely jealous of the dog and wolf girl's ability to shapeshift their limbs, mentioning that it was sometimes hard to entice a man to sleep with her when lying on her back with her legs in the air. While not as pronounced as the other harpies, the swallow still had a mean-looking set of claws on her feet.
"What's wrong?" Kal asked Perra, getting the attention of the others in the room. He had noticed that she seemed distracted, catching her looking off to the west with a scowl more than once that morning. He could probably look into her mind and see for himself but decided long ago to allow his women their privacy unless necessary.
"Something doesn't feel right with Elta."
"You can sense her?"
"It's not like with you. I can tell what direction she's in and sometimes tell how she feels, but it's like she's on the far end of the room whispering at me." Perra closed her eyes, "Something feels wrong though." There was a pattern to the feelings she was getting, and she was almost certain that the cleric was masturbating. By itself, it wouldn't be a big deal, but this seemed to have been going on since Perra woke in the middle of the night to feed Talin. There was also a sharper feeling that only happened occasionally. If her observations were correct, it should happen again in this part of the cleric's pattern sometime soon.
"Shhh," said the farmgirl, holding up a hand for silence. Rising... rising... the crest... relaxation... then... Perra's eyes snapped open, "She's hurting! Give me Talin!" she said, nearly yelling at the harpy.
Kuto drew back from Perra's outstretched hands, "I would never--!"
"Not you! Elta! She's hurting herself then using her healing spells! You and Kal need to get to her, now!" Nodding, Kuto passed Talin off to Refia before hopping off the chair and heading toward the door. Perra looked up at Kal with tears in her eyes as Refia handed her son to her, "I'm sorry. I thought I was helping."
"Hush, you didn't know. We'll take care of her," he said, kissing her on the forehead before running out the door after the harpy.
Outside, Kuto was already in the air and looping back toward the farmhouse. Kal watched her for a second before activating the strength and speed runes and running away from her. Jumping high into the air he activated the feather fall spell to slow his descent while holding out his arms. A moment later the swallow grabbed him by the shoulders and winged off toward Felli's Peak, the harpy's wings beating furiously with the help of Kal's speed rune.
------
The Goddess's Agent flicked through the different places Mother might be with a worried look on her face. As an Agent, she had the ability to move about the Goddess's plane with a thought, something that she took for granted until now.
She finally found the deity in one of the rooms on her estate, nursing an older man who was a follower of hers and had recently passed. Nearby, a woman who looked to be barely of age watched on excitedly as the man became younger and younger with each mouthful of the Goddess's milk.
"Ardolan," the Goddess said with a smile that quickly vanished when she saw the expression on her Agent's face. "What's wrong?"
The woman knelt, looking down, "I've made a very big mistake Mother. I thought to bring the cleric you have me watching closer to the mage you spoke of and... something went wrong. I'm afraid we might lose her," she said, wincing in anticipation of the deity's rebuke.
"She's about to die?"
"No Mother, but something has snapped in her mind. When the mage arrives, it is likely he will form a bond with her in an attempt to help her."
"Which will sever her connection to me," she said, removing the man from her breast and setting him next to the younger woman, a feat that should have been impossible for a woman her size. "With everything else she is going through right now, that will destroy her." The Goddess thought for a moment, "Meet me at the scrying pool, Ardolan. We must keep that connection alive for my plans to come about."
She turned to the couple beside her, "My apologies. We will finish this later. You two have fun until I get back," she said as she stood up.
The younger woman brushed a gray hair from the man's face and ran a hand down his silver-streaked beard. Looking over at the deity, she smiled and said, "No hurries, Mother."
Once the Goddess and her Agent vanished, she dragged the man over to one of the other couches in the room. "I've been waiting six years for you to join me." Grabbing the simple robe he was wearing, she pulled it apart and pushed him back onto the soft cushions. Crawling on top of him, the woman grinned, "I was always curious what it would be like to be with an older man."
------
Kal thought for a second that Kuto was trying to rip his arms off. When they arrived at Felli's cave she flew straight inside, instead of stopping at the entrance. The harpy's wings pounded the air as she gained speed before gliding up the slope in the back of the cave. Kuto turned sharply as she reached the four-way intersection at the top, speeding down the tunnel leading to Elta's camp. The swallow's sudden direction change made Kal's legs swing out and forward, then jerked him back in line as she straightened out. He was sure he was going to have marks on his shoulders later.
Winging into the cavern, Kuto leveled out before chirping shrilly to let Kal know she was about to let go. Once she released him the mage sailed through the air toward the tent, the feather fall rune slowing his descent. Cutting the power to the spell he dropped to the ground and came to a skidding halt not far from the cleric's abode while Kuto banked away and circled around for a landing.
The rhythmic grunts and moans coming from the tent were unmistakable and for a moment Kal wondered if she hadn't somehow managed to get Rone or another man to take care of her. Perra quickly informed him that she had been doing this since early morning. Unless they had something like his rejuvenation spell, a male visitor was unlikely.
He pulled the flap back at the same time he was buffeted by the wind from Kuto landing next to him. Before him Elta bounced up and down frantically on the stone cock, her hair shimmering with wetness and plastering itself to her sweat-coated back. The air inside reeked of aroused female, which normally would have been a turn-on for Kal. The iron undertones indicating the presence of blood quashed the potential for any amorous feelings.
Kal dropped to his knees behind the woman. She seemed to be oblivious of his presence until his arms came around and pulled her backward. Even then the cleric grasped frantically for the phallus that had slipped out of her grip in her brief moment of surprise, instead of attempting to defend herself from an unknown attacker. Kal held her tight as she struggled against him, disregarding her own wellbeing in an attempt to continue masturbating.
"Kuto, come get Perra's toy out of her sight. It may help her calm down."
The harpy sidled alongside the mage and Elta inside the small tent, gingerly grasping the base of the stone cock. "There's blood on it, Kal. Not much, but it's there," she said after a quick inspection before retreating to the cavern again.
He was mistaken in thinking she would calm down. As Kuto backed out of the tent, the cleric began fighting to free herself from Kal's arms, her eyes locked on the toy the harpy was taking with her. The struggling stopped when her head turned far enough to catch a glimpse of Kal's face.
Her expression became one of beatific joy as she turned as far as she could to look up at him. "You came back," she croaked, her voice hoarse from lack of water. She began grinding her rear against his crotch. "Quick, put it back in. I need it."
Kal couldn't answer, he was looking in shock at the swirling of the binding magic radiating off of her.
'Perra! Help! She's trying to form a bond with me. You know her better than I do. Any suggestions?'
He felt Perra's surprise at the unexpected turn of events and it took her a couple of seconds to answer, 'Maybe you should do it, Kal. You might be able to fix what's wrong with her, then maybe you can release her once you are done.'
'Absolutely not,' he sent back. Feeling the farmgirl's objection welling up he hurried on, 'I'm not being chivalrous here. Doing that would be little more than rape, just mentally and not in a physical sense.'
There was another long pause before Perra answered, 'What if you could ask her mentally?' She sent a memory of them sitting on the farmhouse steps while she frowned at a flat stomach that was actually rounded with pregnancy in the real world.
"I'll take it," he said aloud. "Kuto," he called out, "I'm going to let her go and it will look like I've passed out, she should be doing the same soon after. Try to keep her from having sex with me in the time between."
Kuto popped through the tent flap shaking her head, "I can throw her around because of my power, but I can't hope to win a wrestling match with a human even if I do make her as light as me."
"I guess I'll just have to work fast. Do what you can to keep her off of me, please."
The harpy nodded and Kal closed his eyes in concentration. Going limp, he let go of the cleric and toppled backwards from the woman's gyrations. Kuto barely managed to get behind him and keep his head from bouncing off the warm stone below. Laying his head down gently, she looked up to see Elta had turned around and was frantically trying to undo Kal's belt. Any other time she would have flown away from a human with the cleric's maniacal expression, but Kal had given her a task. As the human woman squatted over the mage, preparing to impale herself on his half-hard prick, Kuto flung herself bodily at the cleric. Her ability to make whatever she grasped extremely light combined with the harpy's momentum was enough to knock Elta off balance. After a stumbling attempt to stay upright, the cleric sat down hard against the back wall of the tent.
Quickly pulling Kal's legs straight, Kuto laid down on top of him then grabbed ahold of his boots with her feet and tried to wrap her wings as far around him as possible.
The human shouted in rage at being denied her prize and took two large clumps of the harpy's back feathers in her hands, pulling viciously as she tried to remove the bird-girl.
Kuto screeched in pain until the cleric collapsed over top of her, unconscious. Whimpering, the harpy looked over to see a number of her feathers loosely grasped in the woman's hands. She pulled the bedroll soaked in Elta's fluids out into the cave and carefully arranged the humans in more comfortable positions for when they woke up. Stepping back outside, she frowned as the cavern's gentle wind blew across the spots of naked skin on her back.
------
Elta's image on the astral plane flickered between naked and filled with desire and clothed in her robes while wearing a look of complete despair. As the effects of the cleric's connection with her body receded, her look became more stable, finally settling on the depressed woman in robes.
Perra had told the cleric of how she became bonded to Kal and was well aware of how she had been thinking about the man just moments ago. "Just do it," she mumbled, refusing to look at him. "It solves all of your issues with trusting me and you get another cock-sleeve to do with as you please."
"You're an attractive woman, so the thought is tempting, but no," said Kal. "I'd rather fix you than smash you into something barely recognizable as a woman. First, what's going on here? Perra gave you that to take the edge off. What happened to make you like this?"
"You expect me to talk about these things with a man I only met a few days ago?"
"And that you don't even like? Yes, I do. We need solutions, and if you aren't willing to open up to me then I can bring Perra here as well."
For a moment, Elta looked like his offer to bring the farmgirl, but then a look of shame flickered across her face. "No, she's probably blaming herself for all of this right now. I don't think I can handle seeing her now."
Kal nodded, she wasn't far off the mark. "Then I need you to tell me what's going on."
The cleric began walking back and forth in front of the mage, her arms crossed tightly as she collected her thoughts. She noticed then that they were in front of the farmhouse, and a well-detailed one at that. She was aware of the mage's ability to dreamwalk. Daxas had spoken with Perra about Kal's studies while they were in the bathhouse after her first run-in with the pack of canines. Astral Studies was another requirement on the path to becoming a priestess and she had rarely seen an image so well defined. It spoke a lot of how important this place was to him.
She tried to imagine she was having the same conversation with Degen or Ondeh. Blushing bright red, she started to speak as she continued to pace, "Getting off is only part of what I need. I need to be filled, to feel my body stretch as it accepts a man. I need the feeling of his body against mine, covering me, pressing down on me, holding me. I need to feel him shooting inside me, filling me whatever way he chooses. Perra tried to help but instead of taking care of my desires it just made them worse."
"You didn't know this when you started?"
She shook her head, "I've never used something like that before. I've never felt the desire to use one."
"I can take care of your immediate problem, but we need something more long term. How did you deal with this before?"
"You're just going to casually fuck me once we get out of here?" she snarled.
"Don't read into it, cleric. I wouldn't touch you under normal circumstances."
"I'm not good enough for you? Maybe I need more feathers or fur to get you hard?"
Closing his eyes, Kal looked down and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I'm pretty sure my son was just born yesterday to a very human woman. Getting back on track, you haven't always been like this, how did you manage your urges before?"
Chastened by his words, Elta told him a quick version of her time with Priest Ondeh and his acolyte. "It'd be better if there were some way to fix my head than be a slave to my desires for the rest of my life," she said, her expression sour.
"You aren't broken, your lust is just a lot stronger than a normal woman's, and that needs to be addressed. Perra told me on the way here that the tanner's boy has been pursuing you, have you considered taking him up on the offer?"
"Absolutely not," the cleric answered with a fierce shake of her head. "I just told you how I was passed around among the initiates back in the capital, I won't go through that again."
"The boy owes me a favor, I can call it in to ensure his discretion."
Elta opened her mouth to refuse but hesitated. "Are you sure there's no way to fix me?"
"Of course not, but the other option is becoming bound to me so I can root around in your head and see what needs fixing. Even then there's no guarantee, it's not like I've done anything like that before. It's just as possible that I might make your situation worse."
"Perra?"
Kal winced, "She might be able to, but with as much as she hates what she's done to you already I don't think she would be okay with such a drastic and permanent change to your personality. It might hurt her more than it helps you. No offense Elta, but I love her, not you. I won't ask her to put herself through that for your sake."
"Damn you, Kal."
He looked at her in confusion.
"Why... Why can't you be like the High Priests and Priestesses tell us wizards and mages are supposed to be? Why do you have to be a boy who I watched grow up? Why don't you walk around like some arrogant god among men? Why do you have to be a farmer who happened to learn magic a couple of years ago? Why do you have to wave in my face how much you love Perra and Talin and Dax and all the rest? That was something I didn't believe a mage was even capable of until I met you. But most of all... why do you have to act like you give a damn about me?"
"You answered your own question. I grew up meeting you in town. I grew up as a farmer tending to the earth and have never thought of myself as better than those around me. I try to be a good person and though I won't be able to be there for those I love all the time, I never want them to imagine for a second that I no longer care about them. Caring about the things important to your loved ones is part of that, and you are a huge part of Perra's life right now. She worries about you incessantly. Besides doing it for Perra, I care because it's the thing a good man would do."
"Dammit Kal! Just let me hate you!" she screamed. "We are going to leave here and you are going to fuck me out of this insanity I'm trapped in! I've been fantasizing about having sex with you since I put that damn thing inside me last night and in a few minutes you are going to make all of my lust addled dreams come true! I will never be able to settle for the tanner's boy if you do that." Her voice dropped, "I need to hate you."
Kal stared blankly at her, "You need to hate me? Fine. You said you remembered my mother? I'm the reason she's dead."
Elta took a step back, "What? No! How?"
His face was cold as steel, "It doesn't matter how. Suffice to say that if it weren't for my actions, she might possibly be alive right now."
The cleric's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Possibly? Explain."
"No," his cold demeanor broke for a moment, "it doesn't matter anyway. Just understand what I'm saying is the truth."
"Nice try," she said, shaking her head. "Perra speaks too highly of your mother. If you killed her in cold blood, she would have nothing to do with you."
Kal's shoulder's slumped, "What do you want from me then? I try to be a good person, sometimes to a fault as Daxas reminded me with Kogen. You're a member of the church, isn't my having monster girls as lovers supposed to be enough reason to hate me?"
"When I first came to town it would have been, but not anymore." Elta sighed, casting a quick glance behind her as though she could see her naked and sweat covered body lying on the ground. "As messed up as my mind is, I really don't want to go back." Thinking for a moment she let out a sharp bark of laughter.
"What was that for?" asked Kal.
"Part of me expected you to try to sleep with me before our duel. Now here about to do just that, and you don't even want to."
"I said I wouldn't earlier, not that I don't want to. You're still attractive and desirable, I just don't like the idea of being with a woman who genuinely doesn't want to. I also don't enjoy the side effect of doing so."
The cleric gave him a half-smile, "That makes me feel a little better." She summoned a magic circle in front of her hand. The central sigil told him it was the spell to return to one's body without needing to wait for the person who pulled you into the astral realm. Months ago, he learned the drawn style of the same spell from Kelthor. As she activated the circle, she looked up at him in confusion. "Side effe--?" was as far as she got before disappearing.
Kal smiled as the farmhouse and surrounding area returned to the dull gray landscape of the astral plane. Focusing on returning to his body, he vanished a moment later.
------
The mage awoke fully expecting to be getting attacked by the cleric, or even having sex with her already if she had enough time before he came back. Instead, he found himself in the tent alone with voices coming from outside.
"Take this and get Kal away from me as soon as he wakes up," he heard the cleric say.
"Why? And when is he going to wake up? What's been going on?" asked the harpy, her voice taking on a panicked tone in her confusion.
"She or I will explain later," said Kal as he exited the cleric's tent. "It looks like she's come up with a different solution." As he spoke Elta turned toward him. At the sight of the mage her face flushed. An arm that hid her breasts from Kuto now became a hand furiously tugging at a nipple while the other one covering her sex now dove between her legs. "It apparently requires me to be gone. Kuto, help her however you can," he said, quickly taking Perra's toy from the harpy. "I'll be at Felli's or in the storage room." Kal's haste rune shone, making the glowing image of the rune appear above his bracer. He was already jogging toward the exit when the floating copy of the rune spun up enough to activate, sending him streaking across the remainder of the cavern to the ramp that would take him back outside. A few of the small glowing stones scattered about rocked for a moment from the wind created as he sped past.
Kuto looked over at the cleric, who was slowly starting to recover from Kal's momentary presence. "I'm not used to all of this chaos. I need some explanations before I help you do anything."
Elta almost laughed at the harpy's words. She still had yet to figure out what her next move was, asking for help wasn't even an option yet. "Kal took me on a dreamwalk. We discussed my options there. When I woke up, my body wasn't nearly as desperate as I had expected. Since I'm not on the brink of insanity anymore, I'm going to try to deal with this myself." She took a long shuddering breath, "If I can't do it then I hope you and Perra have room for another in your bed. Even if he doesn't bind me to him, I'll belong to him in a different way."
Kuto's eyes widened in wonder at what the woman could mean but decided not to press. "What are you needing?" she asked.
"Water and food, but I can make those," the cleric lifted an arm and took a quick whiff. Turning her head to the side she let out a small cough. "But first... a bath," she said looking over at the icy waters of the cavern's pond. It might be exactly what she needed right then, but it wasn't going to be pleasant.
Sighing, she beckoned the harpy to follow her to the water's edge.
------
The Goddess stood from where she had been watching the humans and harpy in her scrying pool. Her face made it plain that she was not happy, despite the favorable outcome.
"No more 'helping'," she told the woman next to her sternly.
"Yes Mother," replied Ardolan as the Goddess vanished. She looked back down the pool where the harpy was helping the cleric into the pond located off to one side of the cavern. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out how things had ended up this way without her or the Goddess lifting a finger.
------
Kal sat back in one of the chairs in the storeroom. While he was away, the harpies asked Perra if it would be okay to divvy up the storeroom and put in some living spaces for when they visited Felli and stayed overnight. Perra bought the lumber while the harpies transported everything and the farmhands then put it all together. There were now six rooms in what used to be the large storage area, with plenty of space to add more in the future if they wanted. One room was filled with dry goods for the times when Rone or Marda stayed up there. Of the rest, only three had furniture while the remaining two were empty for the time being, set aside to be furnished when Lada or any other children got older and needed them.
The room he claimed reminded him of those found at various inns he'd stayed at during his travels. A bed with a nightstand, shelves for one's belongings, and a small table with two chairs were the only things in the room. He wondered for a moment how they were preparing their food when staying up here before figuring they probably went over to Felli's and cooked on the magically heated slab of rock over there.
Kal had yet to figure out exactly how the original creators made the stone cooktop work. His own attempts to recreate it had ended with disastrous, and sometimes explosive, results as the stone he used cracked or shattered when heated. He felt he was getting closer when he ran out of time and left on his journey to retrieve Ikuno.
Sighing, he moved over to the bed and laid down. He was concerned for Elta but knew that he couldn't go check on her. Not that they really needed his help, Kuto had certainly proved herself to be a capable woman many times over since she came to the farm. Her recent infatuation with him and Perra was a refreshing change from her no-nonsense, regimented attitude from before he set out.
Having updated Perra on Elta's situation and having nothing pressing that he could work on without Ria, he let his eyes close as he relaxed from the day's stress.
------
The clicking of talons on the stone outside his door woke him, he gathered from the unhurried pace that there were no emergencies. Kal feigned sleep as the door to the room creaked open. It squeaked again as the harpy stepped in then closed it quietly behind her before coming over to the bed.
Stepping up onto the bed, she put one foot on either side of his waist and sat down on top of the mage. "I'm pretty sure most humans don't grin in their sleep," she deadpanned.
Kal wiped the smile from his face for a moment before breaking into another and chuckling. Opening his eyes, he looked up at the harpy. "How is she?"
"Slowly getting better," said Kuto, shuffling down onto his thighs and reaching for his belt. "She can't even think of you right now without starting to play with herself immediately. Before I left, she assured me that the feelings were fading though it might take a while."
"So, you think she will be okay without someone checking on her tonight?" He raised an eyebrow at her actions, "Now?"
Kuto finally got his belt undone and used her wing-claws to unfasten the front of his trousers. Tugging them down, she freed his cock which was already semi-hard and gradually getting bigger. "Yes, she'll be fine for tonight. The answer to your second question is, no," said the harpy moving up and over his prick before sitting down at his waist. "I'm waiting until we are with Perra for that. However, I've been helping out a highly aroused woman for the past couple of hours and being around her has gotten me going too." She scooted back and Kal felt the wetness of her sex on the top of his cock. Continuing to slide backward, she gradually bent his prick down until it pointed toward their feet. "I really need some relief at the moment," she said, smiling down at him. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you afterward."
"I wasn't worried. You don't come across as the type to play those kinds of games."
"Not at first," she said in a husky voice as she rubbed herself back and forth on his shaft, soaking the top without taking him inside her. Shifting her hips back, she brought her clit up against the top of his prick and began moving again with a long moan.
"This would be a lot more comfortable if you pushed it up instead of down."
Kuto shook her head, "If I slip you will go straight inside me. Much as I want that, I want our first time to be with Perra more."
Nodding in acceptance, Kal reached up and covered the harpy's breasts with his hands. They were little more than small bumps on her chest, reacting slowly to her arousal and Kal's proximity. As he ran his thumbs over her nipples they swelled significantly, filling his hands as the feathers on her chest pressed through the gaps in his fingers. The way a harpy's breasts stayed hidden until stimulated amazed him as much now as it did the first time he noticed the mysterious enlargement of Felli's chest.
With her eyes closed and a grin of ecstasy on her face, Kuto continued rubbing her clit along Kal's cock. After a few minutes, her hips started to stutter as she approached climax. Kal's hands left her bosom for a moment before going to her hips to steady her.
As she was about to come, Kal lifted her from his prick, getting an unhappy moan from the harpy. Setting her on his chest, he snaked his arms beneath her legs and took handfuls of her bottom as he brought her sex to his mouth. The bird-like anatomy of her legs brought her clawed feet up next to his head but Kuto reached out and grabbed a particularly thick and sturdy rail on the headboard, he didn't think it was coincidence that it left her in a perfect position for what he was about to do.
The mage only took a moment tasting her slick yet nearly flavorless juices before sucking her clit into his mouth and attacking it with his tongue. Kuto's feet gripped the rail fiercely as she drew in a deep breath, holding it as she came. Her body shook and shuddered above him as Kal continued flicking his tongue across the sensitive nubbin, not stopping until she started pushing away with her legs. Her breath exploded from her lungs and she panted for a couple of seconds before drawing in another lungful of air and holding that as well. A short time later she let out a ragged moan as her body started to relax.
Kal moved his hands to her hips as she lay back on top of him. Her change in position exposed another smaller target for his tongue.
"You'd better stop that, or we won't be waiting until we get back to Perra," said the harpy between pants.
Kal chuckled as he stopped teasing the sensitive skin around her pucker.
When Kuto's breathing slowed, she flipped over while still laying on top of him. Grasping the rail again in the new position, she cleaned him of her fluids with her narrow tongue before slowly sliding her lips all the way down to the base of his cock. He couldn't even tell when he slipped into her throat, something that Rone had warned him of some time back while describing his first night with Felli. Experiencing it for the first time, he had to say that Rone's praises of a harpy's mouth were warranted.
"Kuto? I'd like to watch you do that."
The bird-girl stopped for a moment, then pulled off of his cock with a popping noise. "Not this time Kal, we are just taking care of a need right now. After you've made love to me properly, I'll be happy to stare up at you while your friend here disappears down my throat," she said before taking him into her mouth again.
His hips gave an involuntary jerk as the image popped into his head, "Keep talking like that and I might put you on your knees and take away the option," he replied through gritted teeth.
She hummed around his cock in approval before bobbing up and down on it in earnest, working her tongue and throat muscles to try to get him off quickly.
Thoughts of shifting positions fled as he tilted his head back, letting out a small grunt from the intense sensations coming from his prick. Reaching down, he put his hands lightly on the back of her head. Kuto stopped for just a second to nod her acceptance. Bending his knees and putting his feet flat on the bed, he held the harpy in place as he began to roughly thrust into her mouth. Almost immediately, she reached up with her wing-hands and directed him to grab a fistful of her hair while taking his other hand and placing it on her bottom.
He wasn't sure what she wanted him to do down there but was unwilling to ask, getting an answer meant she would have to take his cock out of her mouth. He gathered some of her juices from her folds on a finger and pressed it against her rear entrance. As it slid through the ring of muscle, he gripped her hair and began shoving his cock into her throat again. If the noises Kuto was making were anything to go by, she was loving every second.
Kal quickly realized there was no way he could hold out for long doing this. The feeling of burying himself in her throat over and over coupled with the sight of her dripping pussy in front of him and his finger sawing in and out of her bottom was just too much. Shoving her head down, his prick erupted in her throat as he sunk his finger all the way into her ass. Shot after shot poured straight into her stomach until she began pressing back against his hand from the need for air. The last few spurts landed on her tongue as she breathed heavily through her nose, refusing to let him out of her mouth until he began to soften.
After carefully cleaning him up and allowing him to tuck his dick back in his pants, Kuto laid down next to him and snuggled in under his arm.
"That was a helluva warm-up," she said.
"I'll have to remember there's only one drawback to going down on a harpy."
Confused and slightly insulted, she looked up at him and asked, "What's that?"
Tilting his head back, he pursed his lips and let out a little puff of air.
Kuto's face reddened as a single small feather floated down.