Elf world the complete s.., p.151
Elf World : The Complete Series, page 151
She laughed and reached down to me, hoisting me to my feet with a mighty heave. With my arm draped across her shoulders, she helped me back through the crowd of fawnlings. They parted to either side to make room, many clapping me on the back while others just smiled their congratulations. It had been a long day, and I really needed some rest.
My eyes fluttered closed several times before we made it back to my personal crystal tree. Clio helped me inside and then helped me out of my clothes, even though I could have done that part myself.
After I muttered a thank you, I practically fell into the hammock. I was expecting Clio to let herself out when my eyes popped open to the feel of the hammock swinging a second time, and the natural dip at the center of the net had the two of us rolling up against each other.
“Hey, what are you—” I mumbled softly, too tired to even finish my sentence. With her back settled up against my half-naked front, her eyes were already closed. She wasn’t exactly snoring, but her deep breaths were already coming in a slow, steady rhythm.
“Aww.” She looked so cute. Fuck it, we’d both had a long day. If she wanted to curl up beside me and sleep here tonight, so be it.
I positioned my hand over her hip, careful not to touch any goodies. I closed my eyes, and that was all, she wrote. I was out in a matter of seconds.
My eyelids felt heavy, and the slow awakening was like coming out of a drug-induced coma. But the delicious smells of meat and eggs filling the room did wonders to help speed up the process.
“Oh, good morning,” I rasped. Holding some kind of skillet in one hand, a spatula in the other, Clio was over near the table, scraping the skillet’s contents onto two separate plates. She must have been up for a while, because she was already dressed and had found time to do a little cooking.
Well, she was sort of dressed.
Similar to what she had on when I first met her, from the back view I could see the strap of some sort of bikini top. Beneath that was a tiny little pair of blue shorts that hugged her shapely bottom in a way that had me wondering how she even got into those things.
“Good morning,” she replied, her cute little ass dancing side to side as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Annnnd there.” After one last scraping, she smacked the empty skillet with the spatula and set them both down near a glass pitcher. “I hope you’re hungry.”
“Famished.” I struggled to free myself from the deep, sunken net. How the hell did she get out of this thing without waking me? Man, I really must have been dead to the world.
“Good, because I made plenty.” She took a seat and pushed out the opposite chair with the bottom of her foot.
“Man, this looks good.” I took the seat, eyeing the plate full of sausage links and scrambled eggs. “Is this how you fawnlings always eat?”
“Sometimes,” she said, the first to take a bite of sausage. “But I admit, I had you in mind when I started making this breakfast.”
“Aw, you shouldn’t have.” I took a big bite of sausage, and the spices exploded in my mouth. I knew right away that it wasn’t any earth animal I was familiar with, and it was probably best not to ask. It was good, so why ruin the experience with too much knowledge? “But I am really glad you did,” I mumbled around a mouthful.
“I need you to eat up, Isaac,” she said, pouring me a cup of yellow liquid from the glass pitcher. “You and I have a big day ahead of us, the first of many.” The sight of the drink reminded me just how thirsty I was. I happily accepted the wooden cup and took a long gulp. The nectar was light and sweet, exactly what my parched throat needed. “And you’re feeling all right morning? No aftereffects or anything?”
“I feel better than I thought I would,” I admitted, rotating my plate and going for the fluffy eggs next. “Considering how exhausted I was last night, I wasn’t even sure I would wake up this week. But that comfortable net had me sleeping like a rock.”
“Oh,” she said, my comment suddenly reminding her of our unplanned sleeping arrangement. “Yes, I was exhausted too. I know you got the worst of it, but the process takes a toll on us as well. I didn’t feel like walking back, so I may have... Well, I did crowd you a bit last night. I know little of your customs, and if my forward behavior was in any way inappropriate—”
“Nonsense, we humans do that all the time.” I waved off her attempted apology. “That sort of thing is totally normal where I’m from.” Okay, that wasn’t true at all, but that world was a thing of the past to me. “Feel free to sleep with me any time you want. Hell, tonight again would be great.”
Okay, that might have been a step too much, but the invitation still earned me a sheepish grin.
“We’ll see,” she said shyly. Then she recomposed herself and pointed to a bag over in the corner. “Once you’re finished here, we’ll take a bath before we get the day started. I brought you some more clothes, among them a suit for bathing.”
“A bath?” I perked up. “We? As in both of us together?” The last thing I wanted to do was question it or give her a chance to back out. Baths were quite precious and rare here, from my experience, so it was a treat no matter how you sliced it. Being able to do it with her was just an added bonus.
“Yes.” She raised her white eyebrows. “And also yes,” she added, licking her fork one last time with a long, slow pass. “Now hurry up.” She tugged at her bikini-like top, the action causing her breasts to jiggle beneath the undersized cups. “We both need it.”
With no further encouragement needed, I began wolfing down what was left on my plate. Food, drink, and now a bath with this lovely lady? Bring it on!
When we reached the structure at the far end of their small community, this so-called bathhouse looked more like a giant teepee. Its assembled wood frame was tied at the joints using a natural fibrous twine. Squares of mismatched leather stretched across it, each piece a slightly different color than the one next to it.
“Um...” Now, I wasn’t expecting a Jacuzzi or anything like that, but I did sort of suspect there might be...you know...actual water. “Did I get all dressed up for nothing?”
I wasn’t sure the man thong with an undersized marble bag I was wearing constituted getting dressed up. Hell, this thing would make a male stripper blush, but I thought I still got my point across.
“I would hardly say that,” Clio said, pulling back the side flap for me. I took one step in and three steps back in quick succession.
“Whoa!” I grunted, waving away the heat blast. “What the actual fuck?”
“Did you want to get clean, or not?” She rolled her eyes and stepped in first. “It’s this or nothing. Should you choose nothing, I don’t imagine you’ll be having any more sleeping guests for the duration of your visit.”
I grumbled a string of bitchy complaints before taking a deep breath and following in after her.
It was hot. Like, walking-on-the-sun hot. Orange coals lined the center of the dirt floor with several flat rocks seated across the top of them. Clio lifted a ladle from a nearby bucket, then trickled some water across the hot stones with a sizzling hiss.
Hot became hell in the blink of an eye as a fresh cloud of billowy steam assaulted my senses. It was all I could do not to run out of that furnace.
“Sit down right here,” she said, spreading a brown cloth on the floor for me.
“Look, Clio,” I said in a labored huff. The steamy air was so thick, it was like trying to breathe through a wet rag. “Hey, I can’t take this. It’s too hot. Maybe fawnlings are better suited for this sort of thing, but humans—” She tugged the tied string on her back, and her plump breasts popped free of their prison with a yummy jiggle. “Humans... Er... Like I was saying, humans know when it’s time to man up and deal with it.” I flopped down on the cloth.
“I know this environment may seem a little extreme at first,” she said, stepping behind me with a smaller bucket in hand. “But give it a few minutes. I believe you’ll find it quite relaxing once you get used to it. Who knows, you may even come to enjoy it.”
I felt a damp sponge slide down the center of my back. From there, she began working it in wide circles. The water wasn’t exactly cool, but it was much cooler than the steamy air in this closed-off tent. And now that I was past the initial shock of the heat, it really wasn’t half bad.
“Oh, that’s great,” I moaned, enjoying the feel of her silky-soft sponge roaming all around my back. She dipped it back into the bucket again, this time bringing it around to my front. With one hand on my stomach, she worked the sponge around my chest. “Mmm,” I moaned again, tipping my head back while the trickles of warm water flowed across my stomach.
She leaned high against my back, her chin coming up to rest on my shoulder. “See? It’s not so bad after all, is it?” she said softly, her lips right next to my ear. I could feel her soft breasts rolling up against my bare back. They slipped and slid against my skin as she worked the damp sponge back down near my stomach.
“Not bad. Not bad at all,” I said. I basked in the feel of her breath against my cheek, her soft breasts slipping and sliding against my back. She wasn’t the least bit shy about it, and I could make out the small bumps of her nipples rubbing my skin like beads. “You’re right, I think I could actually get used to...” Uh-oh.
I might have been paying just a little too much attention to the feel of her breasts, because suddenly that already too-tight marble bag was lifting up and away as my cock started to swell.
Clio paused and gasped softly in my ear, her eyes flickering down to the event happening in real time. But her pause only lasted a moment before she moved her sponge downward. “Now might be a good time to take advantage and wash...this part,” she said casually.
With the marble bag propped up and the sides of my groin mostly exposed, she used one finger to carefully tip my hard cock to the side. She rolled her sponge down through the side of my crotch, digging deep with a few long, hard strokes.
Then she switched the sponge to her other hand, tipping my cock the other direction, and did the same thing on the other side. And voilà, she had successfully cleaned my nether region without ever needing to fully remove my man thong.
“There,” she said, squeezing the last few trickles from the sponge over my groin before rising off my back. I heard a soft glub as she dipped the sponge back in the bucket, and she came circling around to my front. She kneeled down in front of me, her large breasts on full display.
This was the longest and clearest view I had had of them so far, and it was a fight not to stare like a ghoul. They were firm and shapely, their skin silvery scaled just like the rest of her body. But instead of overlapping one another, the scales on her breasts spiraled in a circle before meeting at those savory, grayish buttons.
“Ahem,” she cleared her throat, shaking the sponge to get my attention. I got the feeling she may have been holding it in my face for much longer that I realized while I was staring at her tits. She tipped her head slightly, giving me a curious look before glancing down at her breasts.
She was merely following my gaze, and I got the impression that breasts might not be viewed as sexual among the fawnlings. She was probably wondering where my attention had gone, and what the hell I was staring at.
She shook the sponge in my face again, possibly the fourth or fifth time for all I knew. “Now do me. It’s my turn.” She suddenly dropped her hand as a look of mild alarm washed over her face. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I mean, only if you want to. I hadn’t considered that you might not be comfortable with—”
“No, no, of course,” I said, quickly reaching to take the sponge from her hand. “Sorry if my hesitation gave the impression that I didn’t want to. I mean, seriously, I can’t be the only man who’s ever been distracted by your beauty.”
Her eyes widened as she drew back, but the look of mild shock only lasted a moment before she dropped her chin and drew in on herself. The silver in her face darkened in what I could only assume was a deep blush. “As far as I know, you are,” she squeaked, her voice barely audible. “But... But thank you. That’s...that’s very sweet of you to say.”
“I said it because it’s true,” I added. Her face darkened even further, and I thought she was going to pop. I went over to her bag and pulled out two more cloths. “Here, lie down on these.” I lined them up to form a little beach towel. “Look, I’m not as skilled at this as you are, but if I can do this without causing you pain, then I’d say that’s a win for both of us.”
She giggled and lay down on her stomach, crossing her wrists beneath her chin. “I am not as delicate as you think,” she said. “Do your worst. Should I scream, assume it was a scream of pleasure.”
“Deal.” I laughed, positioning myself over the back of her hips. With my knees spread to either side, I leaned in and got to work.
What was supposed to be a quick rubdown went on for at least another hour. And despite being truly distracted by her perfect body, I stayed the course and mostly kept my hands in innocent territory. There wasn’t much I could do about my relentless boner, but I tried my best to keep it from rubbing her back too much.
I alternated between using the sponge and just going with a good old-fashioned bare-hands rubdown. Despite the rough look of her scaly skin, it was actually silky soft. She rolled over so I could work on her front, the action causing her large, soft breasts to sway about before settling.
She kept her eyes closed the whole time, which emboldened me to stare at them without the discomfort of her noticing. While I was rubbing her shoulders, I got brave and decided to test the waters a little. I brought my hands down and circled her breasts, rolling the soft flesh one time just to see how she might react.
Her eyes lazily opened halfway, and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Those luscious breasts of hers were even more fun to touch than I hoped, but I decided not to go there again. I got away with it once, best to not get too greedy.
“You are better at this than you give yourself credit for,” she said once I was done. She rose in a long, satisfied stretch. “A good way to start the morning, don’t you think?”
I couldn’t have agreed more, and felt very relaxed after the steamy rubdown. And on top of that, I had to admit I hadn’t felt this clean in a very long time. I didn’t know if the bucket water had been treated with something extra, but mixed with our sweat, it served as well as any soap.
“Everything was perfect, the whole morning, I mean,” I said, using one of the cloths to wipe my face. “A perfect breakfast, followed by a skilled steam room massage? It doesn’t get much better than that.”
“Perfect, you say?” She put her top back on, and I was a little sad to see her tits disappear beneath the fabric. “That is quite a compliment for something so simple as a meal and a bath.”
“Trust me, if you had done as much traveling across these wild lands and been sleeping in mud and rain as I have, a morning like this would seem downright luxurious to you too.” She tossed over a set of actual clothes from her bag, and I was somewhat relived to know I wouldn’t have to walk around in this man thong the rest of the day.
“I can’t wait to hear a story or two about your adventures.” She clapped her hands and looked back toward the entrance. “And now that you are fed and bathed, I think it’s high time we got to work.”
Chapter 29
Even though the weather was nice, leaving the bathhouse felt like stepping into a freezer. I immediately began hopping from one foot to the other, vigorously rubbing my arms and shoulders.
“Are you all right?” the fawnling asked. The question itself was sincere enough, but I could see she was trying her best not to laugh at me.
“Yes,” I lied, struggling to keep my teeth from chattering. “I’ll adjust, just give me a minute or two.”
“If you say so.” She started walking. “Come on, the walk will do you some good.” It was true, my shivering eased once we got moving. It was nice to walk in the sun for a change. If my time in the Shadow Delves taught me one thing, it was that I would never again take natural light for granted.
We made our way through the dark and silent globes. This section was neat and organized, but the field on the far side was surrounded by so much crap, it made it look like a junkyard. The heaps were filled with everything from broken weapons to dented cans and broken buckets. It really was a mess, but the center was clear enough for us to work.
“Let’s begin,” she said, and began pacing back and forth in front of me like a drill sergeant. “First, I want you to draw in the power.”
“Sure thing.” It came as easy as always, an instant stream of energy flowing through me. But in a matter of seconds I knew something was off. Not in a bad way, just different than the normal sensations I had grown accustomed to.
“How does it feel?” she asked, her knowing smile hinting that she already knew what was going on with me.
“It—It feels...” Most things were the same—the roaring power flowing through my veins, the crackling sweetness I could never get enough of—and yet... “There’s...so much of it,” I said, not knowing how else to describe the initial change.
“You do remember how we separated the power threads yesterday, hence forcing you to reabsorb them one at a time, correct?”
“Oh, you mean that horribly traumatic experience that permanently scarred me for the rest of my life?” That wasn’t the sort of thing I was likely to forget any time soon. “Yeah, it rings a bell.”
“The reason it seems like there is so much of it is because you’re feeling each thread individually. And now that the power strands are separated and freely flowing within you, I believe you’ll find that you have much more control than you did before.”
She stepped up close to me and rested her hands on my shoulders. “I want you to take a moment and play around with it a little. Get a feel for it. And if you can, try to concentrate on the individual threads themselves.” Her hands slid down off my shoulders as she stepped back to give me space. “Go on, take all the time you need. This will help you in reestablishing that connection.”
