Elegy for a Star - Ch. 51 - 60

Chapter 51 - Echoes

The sight of the tormented, emaciated man suspended above gave Krahe chills. "This is so fucked," she muttered, watching the man's skin smoking from the magical, draining electrocution he'd just suffered, only to power some Wyrden's spell in the city. Still, he would live, until his soul was completely exhausted. Anger welled within Krahe.

"Ma'am," Krahe turned to see Amblecrown, a colorful minstrel under her command, "We're ready on our end."

Krahe smiled and nodded, "Good work. Will I see you inside?"

"Not my forte, ma'am," Amblecrown chuckled, "I'm but a humble musician."

Rolling her eyes, Krahe waved him away and chuckled, "Oh, fuck off." Amblecrown gave a sideways grin, waved and wandered off. No doubt to go con someone. Or fuck them. Or both.

Krahe's scarlet cloak billowed behind her as she ascended the stairs two at a time, bypassing the guards. Ever since the Empress' madness set in, the normal city guard had been replaced by the Wyrden Necrotic—Floating skeletal bodies, dressed in tattered robes, possessed by undeath and given magic. The old city guard had enough corruption in it already. She supposed they were only made to look the part now.

There were a few more magical vessels suspended in the cages above. One of them—a pretty young girl—was most certainly rendered soulless by now, waiting to be changed out like lantern oil.

A gust of wind threw Krahe's hood back, blowing her hair—dark as midnight—out behind her. One of the Necros turned and stared at her as she passed, moving on only after Krahe pulled her hood back up.

At the top of the stairs was the bridge to the Leyline Fortress, the foci of magical power in the region, the single point to receive most constellations' blessings on each of Thyr's passes. Magic was most powerful here, Krahe knew, which only made this coup more difficult than it already was. The Empress needed to be taken by surprise or she would turn Krahe into one of her little arcane batteries suspended all over the city. "I'd rather die," Krahe thought, "Than power her sorcery."

Krahe pulled the black, silk mask over her mouth and nose. She was planning to be wicked tonight.

As she crossed the bridge to the Leyline, a few of the Empress' Palace Guards—flesh and blood, this time—shifted to block her path. She'd be questioned, caught and killed, but a few deft sweeps of a fingertip beneath her cloak caused a tingle of sorcery to wash over Krahe's body. The Spinnerets. The Devil. The Red Poppy. She'd be invisible to the Necros for a few seconds, and that's all that she needed.

"Born from blood…" Krahe whispered.

Her gloves hissed back, "...To blood we return."

A pair of kukris appeared in Krahe's hands and in a furious rush—which the guards wouldn't have kept up with if they could even see her—she was upon one of the guards, repeatedly stabbing him in the stomach, through a gap in his armor plating. With a spin she sliced the throat of the next so deeply that her blade hit cervical bone.

A guard held out a hand, his gauntlet, but Krahe was already in the air, landing her knees upon his shoulders and jamming a sharp edge deep into the back of his neck and using it as leverage while she twisted her hips and turned his head in a sharper direction than it should ever go.

Seeing their comrade's head spin on a swivel and unable to see their opponent, the rest of the guards dropped their weapons and fled in fear. Surely one of them knew that Krahe's invisibility wouldn't last long, but even if they could see her, could they stop her? Shimmering into view once more, she continued her way to the gate. Dropping her kukris—which vanished before hitting the ground—she ran to the gate and took a leap up its side. A few hurried steps up the wall and she had to grab onto the nearest crack she could get her fingers into.

Krahe scrambled up the wall, nearing the first window of the Leyline Fortress.

"Tess…" A voice spoke behind her. Krahe held onto the wall with one hand and summoned a kukri into the other, twisting at the waist to attack whatever was behind her.

There was nothing. Only distant airships and the massive sprawl of Verdona. "Focus," she told herself.

A few more spinneret rituals and blood sprays later, Krahe made her way to the hallway outside the prison cells. Waiting by a pile of corpses was Missi. The blonde assassin was garbed in black from head to toe, except for a lock of hair that fell from beneath her hood. It was difficult to make out her emotions, especially with her mouth covered by a mask. Her blue eyes narrowed, "Here. She won't talk to me." Missi tossed a key into Krahe's hands.

"Good work. Get in place by the throne room," Krahe spoke softly, opening the door to the prisons, "Quickly. I don't think she's going to delay."

Once inside, Krahe looked around to see the state of the place. She'd heard stories, but never had to spend time here herself. Her chest hurt to think of the people she'd lost along the way, who must have spent nights here before their execution. If they even survived to be placed in jail, that is. She could feel the anti-sorcery field wash over her as she stepped through the entryway.

Within the very first cell was a woman, skin as pale as snow with a touch of purple. Her platinum-blonde hair was silver, long and braided, frayed and falling loose at the ends now after her time here. Her eyes were milky pools that hid her stare. Regal, Courtish tattoos adorned her cheeks, and her long ears denoted her as one of the Fey of the Winter Court.

Krahe looked her over and asked, "Can you fight?"

"Get me out of here. I am going to slaughter that worm."

Krahe took that for an answer, turning the key in the cell door and freeing her, "Chamberlain, we need to do this rationally. If the Empress…"

"Fuck off, Krahe," Chamberlain Harmia spat.

Krahe had never known Harmia for politeness or gratitude. She was often under scrutiny for being too crass for court. 

"She's being controlled by that short-dicked, bald, fuckfaced little cunt of a worm, Vuzun," Harmia sneered, "I'm going to skullfuck him right in his beady little eyes."

As they began to exit the prison, Krahe sighed, and Harmia added, "I have a spell for that, you know? It's pretty fucked up."

"I believe you, Chamberlain," Krahe replied.

Once they were out, the Chamberlain immediately began signing constellations as though she'd been practicing every day in her cell. Krahe couldn't have imagined her doing anything else but signing the spells she was going to use to butcher Vuzun.

"Take me too, Chamber-..." Krahe started, only to see Harmia vanish from sight. A teleportation to the throne room was outside of Krahe's wheelhouse, so she had to book it through the palace to try to get there before the Chamberlain was killed or—even worse—controlled.

She arrived to the throne room doors, only to see Missi, Rosie and Isaac waiting for her. Each of them had been speckled with blood. This is what Krahe trained them to do, and she trained them well.

Missi turned to her and with a straight face she said to Krahe, "Is she alive, Gwen?"

"What?" Krahe asked.

"I said 'Are you ready, Krahe?'"

"Oh," Krahe said, nodding, "Of course."

Isaac made a quick gesture of signs in front of him, and the lock on the door to the throne room clicked. Missi and Rosie pulled the doors open and Krahe went through.

A half dozen corpses of guards were scattered about. Some of them were nothing more than piles of armor, vacant of anything living inside of them, others were black and red, covered in char and ash.

Harmia had been busy. Busy and efficient.

While the Chancellor battled the old and withered—but a powerful Wyrden in his own right—Vuzun, the Empress decided to greet Krahe and her company. She appeared in an instant in front of Isaac. She was no older than sixteen. Short, black hair and dressed in a gown, covered in jewelry from head to toe. Krahe knew that just two years ago, she would have hated appearing so imperious.

With a pacifying expression on her face, the Empress reached out, pressing a hand to Isaac's stomach. He didn't even have a moment to scream before he was nothing but dust. Krahe hadn't even seen her signing.

"Isaac!" Rosie shouted. Krahe lunged at the Empress, a kukri flashing into her hand just before the strike. Krahe's vision blurred and she found herself elsewhere, jamming a kukri into the Chancellor's back.

"Fuck! Would you fucking mind?!" Harmia snapped at her, a blade still sticking out of her back. She didn't bleed, surely the effect of some protective spell she'd already cast upon herself.

The Empress would kill them at this rate. They needed Harmia free to fight with them. Krahe whipped her arm, sending a blade flying. It caught the distracted Vuzun in the gut, and with his spell failing, Harmia was able to gain the upper hand. In a flash, Vuzun shrunk down and was morphed into a simple worm. A hand outstretched, Harmia pulled the worm through the air and into her grasp.

"Fuck you, worm," she hissed, squeezing her hand and popping the thing through her fingers.

Krahe spun around, watching Missi and the Empress battle it out. The Empress obviously had the upper hand, but the fact that Missi wasn't dead yet boded well. She couldn't say the same about Rosie, whose upper half was inside a wall as though she slipped through it like air. Her lower half hung out of the wall, motionless.

Harmia put her hands together in the shape of a triangle, eyes glowing red. From the center of the triangle, a red light burst through the air, striking the Empress in the back. Missi, one arm bent in the wrong direction and covered in blood, stumbled backward.

"Tess!"

Krahe spun around, but saw no one.

"Who the fuck is there?!" She screamed. Krahe noticed a spider dangling from a web in front of her.

It spoke softly, "The first time is always the worst."

Chapter 52 - Accomplice

A patrol of the Corps' common guard moved down the hallway. Mairaela peered around the corner, watching them depart before she waved to Gwendolyn and Joyona and sneaking ahead. Slipping behind the patrol and into the adjacent hallway. A door was labeled "Echoshaping" stood in the way. Mairaela tested it, but it was locked, so she slipped a hand into her pocket for the key that Scirocca gave her.

Whispering, Gwendolyn asked, "Let's see if we can trust her."

Mairaela fit key to lock and gave it a slow turn, eventually hearing a sharp click. "Looks like it," Mairaela responded. Before she could open the door, Joyona rounded both of them and opened it up on her own. Mairaela and Gwendolyn followed the Evigkin through a rocky tunnel until they entered an equally rocky room ahead of it. There were bottles and books lying around, but most noticeable was a red ledger open upon the desk.

Joyona approached it first, then stepped aside. Mairaela saw the page had bloody marks upon it, smudged into the writing. The words were a scrawled, illegible mess, but there were a few words that Mairaela could make out.

It was Gwendolyn that put a voice to them, though. "It says 'demon.'" Mairaela bit her lip, and Gwendolyn took the ledger before slipping it into her belt. "Let's go," the knight said.

"Gwen," Mairaela said, reaching out for the knight's arm, "Gwen, what are you going to do?"

"She knows, Mairaela," Gwen tugged her arm away and trudged into the tunnel ahead. Joyona and Mairaela followed in after her.

Eventually they came to some narrow passages and though Mairaela and Gwen were able to slip through, Joyona had to bow out. "I'll watch behind us," she said, "Good luck."

By the time the passageway opened up into a larger room, Gwendolyn was already hurrying ahead, running down a staircase toward a hexagonal platform. Mairaela looked ahead and saw a woman in white standing over a raised slab. Tess was on that slab, unmoving. Mairaela's heart ached at the sight of her.

"What are you doing here?" The woman in white asked, pulling her hood back to unveil a writhing mass of yellow snakes atop her head.

There was a flash of steel in Gwendolyn's hand and the knight bull rushed the woman, jamming a knife into her flank. Mairaela gasped, hurrying down the stairs as quickly as possible. "Gwendolyn!" Mairaela shouted. She spotted Tess upon the slab, eyes, ears and nose bleeding in thin rivulets that ran down her face.

The woman screamed, the snakes on her head lashing out and biting Gwendolyn upon the face and neck. The knife was twisted and wrenched free, splattering red upon the woman's robes. When Mairaela got to the bottom, Gwendolyn was bleeding from a half-dozen punctures in her brow, cheeks and chin, but the woman—Mairaela assumed she must be Madame Pava—was bleeding all over her robes.

"What are you… what are you doing?" The snake-haired woman gasped, "Why-..?"

Gwendolyn stood over her, knife dripping red, "What did you do to her? Tell me and I'll get you a healer."

"Gwen…" Mairaela reached out to touch the knight's shoulder, but Gwendolyn pulled away.

"I was… unshackling her gift," Pava replied, coughing up blood.

Gwendolyn gripped the blade tightly. Her hand was shaking. "Not good enough," Gwen responded, "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Pava spat, "Get me a… a healer, you lunatic.."

Grabbing her by the collar, Gwendolyn raised the knife, pointed it at her, and shouted at her, "Tell me what you did!"

Pava looked past Gwendolyn and toward Mairaela, "Get her off of me, I haven't done anything!"

"She's been gone for seven weeks!" Gwendolyn screamed. Mairaela could see tears welling in the knight's eyes, "What did you do!?"

"Gwendolyn, stop!" Mairaela shouted, "You've already gone too far!"

"Look what she did to Tess!" Gwendolyn snapped. Mairaela looked back at Tess. She could only barely see the rise and fall of her chest, but it was extremely subtle. Mairaela backed down. 

Gwen brought the knife to Pava's neck and let the point dig into her semi-scaly flesh. Pava gave a shrill cry, writhing frantically to get away from Gwendolyn's blade. "Tell me, or your stupid, fucking lie is going to be the last thing you ever manage to hiss out," Gwendolyn jerked Pava's head to the side to keep her neck exposed. One of the snakes on her head lashed out to bite Gwen on the wrist, but the Dame sliced it clean off with her blade.

Pava's teeth were chattering, before she finally shouted, "I ran tests! I pushed her further than I needed to, but it was for her own good! She doesn't know who she is; She doesn't know who she carries in her mind!"

"And you do?" Gwen asked, calming somewhat. The knife pulled away from Pava's throat.

"I-.." Pava stammered, "I, I-.. yes, I just.. I need to run some more tests!"

Mairaela spoke softly, "We should just take her and-..."

She heard the squelch of a blade running through flesh and turned to Gwendolyn to see she'd rammed the knife across Pava's throat. Mairaela's eyes were wide as she muttered, "Gwen, what did you do?"

"She knew," Gwendolyn grumbled, "She knew and she would've told them." Gwendolyn took a deep breath, shoulders rising and falling, "And they would have done horrible things to Tess." She looked over Tess' bloody form and sobbed, "Worse things."

Gwendolyn rushed to Tess and held her by the shoulders, "Tess!"

"Is she alive, Gwen?" Mairaela asked.

"Tess!"

There was a skittering sound in the darkness, the sound of something scratching at the rocks. Whatever it was, it was large. Mairaela thought she could see beady eyes looking at her through the shadows.

"Let's bring her back," Mairaela urged Gwendolyn, "Quickly." Gwendolyn picked Tess up and Mairaela escorted her up the stairs and back into the tunnel, watching as the eyes receded into the dark.

As Gwendolyn carried Tess through the tunnel and into the room that held the ledger, Joyona met them with a frown on her face. "What happened?" She asked.

"Pava's dead," Mairaela responded with a whisper. Joyona just nodded her head. Mairaela sighed, wiped her brow and said, "There's no going back now." She patted Gwendolyn on the shoulder and said, "Stay here. I'm going to go get Scirocca."

Chapter 53 - The Sphinx' Riddle

Scirocca stood in the center of the hexagonal platform, watching Madame Pava's blood soak into the stones. Hands upon her hips, she examined the stone slab that Tess had been laid upon, looking at the blood that'd been splattered over one end. She looked back down at Pava, watching the snakes writhe about on her deceased scalp.

"Did you try to stop her?" Scirocca asked Mairaela, who stood behind her upon the stairs.

Mairaela softly said, "Yes, but…"

"But what?"

"...But I saw what she did to Tess."

"This would be much easier if we had Pava to admit to her wrongdoing," Scirocca sighed.

"But her ledger…"

"...Mentioned Miri," Scirocca added, "I know." When Gwen, Mairaela and Joyona approached Scirocca about Tess' disappearance (under the pretense that her education was being extended for another six weeks) they had to mention a few of Tess' secrets. Not all of them were new to Scirocca. Tess didn't hide things very well and Scirocca was quite perceptive.

"There was something else down here, before," Mairaela murmured.

Scirocca nodded, "That's Szachosh'te, the Echoshaper. She'll leave us be, so long as we pay her the same courtesy."

She let out a sigh, "They're going to invert this room." Scirocca explained, "They'll play back the events. Clear as day, they'll see what the Dame did. They'll see you and I talking like this."

Mairaela groaned, "Then we're fucked! Gods, Scirocca, I'm so sorry we roped you into this." She pushed a hand through her dark hair and shook it out behind her head. Scirocca could sense the thrumming of the Fey's pulse and the sweat upon her brow. She was frightened.

"Will you help me?" Scirocca asked.

Mairaela paused, "With what?"

"I can fix this with your help," Scirocca explained.

"Well, f-fuck, how?!" Mairaela sputtered.

"We need to rewrite what happened. Bend the truth a bit," Scirocca explained, "We can change what they'll see when they invert the room and look back at what happened."

"How can you do that?" Mairaela asked, "Sorcery cannot alter time."

"We aren't altering it," Scirocca explained, "Gwendolyn murdered Pava. That is what happened and that will always be the case. But sorcery can alter how others see it." Scirocca placed her fingers together and drew them apart. A thin, white line of light expanded between them, as though it were a string connecting her fingers together. She twirled one hand around the other until the line of light formed a coil. "Time is a spiral. It's cyclical, but its bands are parallel, not overlapping." Scirocca stretched the line out once more, "Being imperfect as we are, we perceive time in a straight line, even when we scry or invert rooms.

"So, when we perceive time as a straight line, we can do things like this…" With a shift of her hands, Scirocca folded a portion of the line upon itself, connecting two parts that were not adjacent a moment ago, "We can fold the perception of time, hiding events—such as the murder—beneath the fold and connecting two previously separate times together. The missing gap in our perception of time can be covered by stretching what remains of the line."

Mairaela nodded her head. She understood the concept, but the theory behind it all baffled her. "So we hide the murder beneath a fold?" Mairaela asked with a bit of hesitance.

"Well, if we only did that, then anyone but a complete novice would be able to see it had been edited," Scirocca sighed, "Especially if we just leave the body here. It would look as though it simply popped into existence."

"So," Scirocca explained, stepping toward Pava's body and patrolling the platform as a whole, "We'll hide the event beneath the fold, we'll use illusions to display the scenario that we want them to see. I can stretch and squeeze the perception of time to fill in the blanks and we fold over this conversation too. Then we let their inverting do the work for us."

Mairaela looked relieved, so Scirocca made sure to temper her expectations, "Well, assuming they don't look too closely." She didn't want Mairaela to think that Scirocca could just cover up any crime that she committed.

"So what do we make it look like?" Mairaela said, looking as though she didn't want to consider the alternative to this plan working.

Scirocca hummed and snapped a finger as she pondered Pava's corpse, "Well, it needs to be her fault, obviously. Gwendolyn has puncture wounds all over her face, and that can't be hidden for long, and we'll need to include it in our version of the events. We'll need to get her to report this as soon as we're done."

Mairaela looked around, "So Pava attacks Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn reacts in self-defense. Why would Pava do that?"

"Because Gwen was going to expose her. The signs of all of Pava's experiments on Tess are very real, which will only reinforce the story we're trying to sell," Scirocca responded, counting the paces from Pava's body to the bottom of the stairs.

"But how did Gwen learn about it in the first place?" Mairaela asked.

Scirocca clicked her tongue, "That is the part that I am struggling with."

"It was because I told her what the Madame was up to," chittered a voice within Scirocca's mind. There was a scratching of eight legs upon stone, before the massive, arachnid form of the Echoshaper appeared upon the wall. Its human face twitching as it twisted toward them.

"Oh, what the fuck is that," Mairaela blurted, turning to Scirocca, "Did you hear it talk in your head, too?"

Scirocca nodded and spoke aloud to Szachosh'te, "Your help is appreciated."

"Of course," came the echoing in their minds as Szachosh'te helped weave their web of lies, "The Madame had grown deranged, using the students sent to her as subjects for her experimentations. Someone had to stop her, and it couldn't have been I. She had control over me, after all." The Echoshaper chittered and clicked its feet upon the stone, "I saw the Dame in Tess' memories during my work and reached out to her for assistance in stopping the madwoman Pava."

"That will work," Scirocca said, inclining her head politely toward Szachosh'te, "Thank you."

"Wait," Mairaela paused, looking back and forth between Scirocca and the spider before she landed on the latter, "Why are you helping us? What's in it for you to be rid of Pava?"

"Nothing, but I do want to help Tess," it telegraphed directly into their minds, "She did not deserve the Madame's treatment and her rescuer should not be punished."

"We will ensure that she knows what you did for us," Scirocca explained, "And for her."

After their ruse was s they departed, Mairaela turned to ask Scirocca, "Will this work?"

Scirocca nodded her head, "It will."

"How do you know?"

"Because our lie is what they want to hear," Scirocca explained, "They would much rather the handler of the Echoshaper, a Yysh cultist, finally snap than to have their Librarian covering up a murder for the entirety of their new enlistees. And that one of them possesses a demon within her that somehow got past all of their checks. The lie is easier to swallow."

Chapter 54 - Recovery

"Run!" Tess gasped, heaving air as she lurched upward off of the bed. Her sight was blurry, the light in the room hurt and every part of her body ached. She closed her eyes once again, groaning as she tried to process the last thing she remembered.

A spider. That's the last thing she remembered. A gigantic, horrific spider. She wasn't able to move. That snake-headed bitch paralyzed her. Tess took a deep breath, letting it out calmly. The fear was welling up inside of her, tears building behind her eyes. She'd been so afraid and helpless. It made her want to give up on all of this Corps and Black Sun business. It was becoming too much. Maybe she could learn to be content with Miri, happy enough to move along without knowing who she was before, and build a life elsewhere.

"Tess?" Miri spoke softly to her, but it wasn't in her mind this time. Tess' eyes slowly fluttered open, still sensitive to the light, to see Miri floating at her bedside. It'd been so long since Miri manifested in front of her, Tess almost forgot that she could do it. She wondered if anyone else would see Miri right now, or not.

Tess tried to speak, but her voice was dry. She simply looked instead. Miri appeared afraid, sympathetic and kind in this moment. There was no sarcasm; no malice. She smiled softly. "I'm glad you're awake," she whispered, taking Tess' hand in her own, "How are you feeling?"

Unable to speak, Tess just slowly shook her head and Miri let out a soft chuckle, "That was a stupid question, huh?" One of the demoness' hands reached out to brush some of Tess' hair aside, "Gwendolyn is here too."

Miri gestured beyond Tess. Looking over, she could see the silver-haired knight sleeping beside her, fully dressed and facing Tess. She realized that she was in her dormitory, upon her own bed. Gwendolyn must've fallen asleep watching her. The thought brought warmth to her chest. She wished she could kiss her right now.

"What is wrong with me?" Tess asked in her mind.

Miri just shook her head, "You were a little cut up, but nothing major. Right now I figure it's just because you haven't moved in two months," Miri explained.

"Two mo-..!?" This time it came from her voice, hoarse and cracked. She coughed, which put a pain in her chest. What the fuck had happened?

"Pava found out about me. Wanted to experiment. Maybe pull me out," Miri explained, "I was conscious the whole time."

For a moment Tess was horrified and scared for Miri, but the demon joked it away, "Talk about boring, right? There's nothing to read in here." Tess couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Anything I can do to help?" Miri asked, "Want a blowjob?"

Tess chuckled dryly, holding her sore stomach, "I'll collect on that later, if you don't mind."

"Yeah, of course," Miri smiled. She perked up a bit and looked to the door, "Someone's coming." The demoness vanished from sight in an instant just as the door cracked open.

"...moment now," came a familiar voice as Calliope entered the room, her mechanical gauntlet clicking and whirring to maintain balance on certain components. Behind her was Mairaela, who spotted Gwen and alerted Calliope to keep the volume down. When Mairaela saw that Tess was awake, she gasped and rushed to the bedside. The Fey wasted no time and leaned in, pressing her lips to Tess'. It wasn't particularly harmless to the soreness in her body, but it didn't hurt that much. At least, it didn't hurt more than she desperately wanted to kiss Mairaela back.

It ended all too quickly, Mairaela drawing back with a little trail of spittle that she wiped away with a chuckle, "I'm so glad to see you awake. I was so worried."

Tess nodded her head, smiling back and whispering dryly, "Good to see-..koff!..–you too.."

"Tess," Calliope said, her gauntlet's mechanical pieces bringing up a glass cup beside a small vial, which sprayed a milky fluid into it, "I need you to drink this. It's medicine." She brought Edwyn—the name that Calliope gave the gauntlet—as it held out the cup on two brass prongs.

With a careful examination of the cup, Tess took it and swallowed it down. It didn't taste good, but it wasn't terrible either. Tess let out a little sigh and Edwyn politely recollected the cup from her hand. "You should be up and moving by tonight," Calliope said, "Just not very quickly. You'll take it slow until we can get a proper ritual to get you righted. A patrol got hit by a harpy attack on the mountains and triage has them taking precedence for healing, since your situation isn't as dire."

"Makes sense," Tess coughed, "Where's Joyona?"

Mairaela frowned and shook her head, "Not sure. She's been gone a couple of days."

"Who rescued me?"

Mairaela pursed her lips and glanced at Calliope, who was more focused on examining Edwyn's magical analysis of Tess' body, "Gwen did. The echoshaper warned her that Pava was up to something."

"They all helped you. Gwendolyn killed Pava and they had to cover it up," Miri whispered in Tess' mind. Tess was too tired to even be surprised. If she slept so long, why was she tired?!

After some time to be caught up, Mairaela and Calliope departed after half an hour or so. It was only then that Miri reappeared, lying down atop Tess. She was floating, weightless, so there wasn't any pain to it, but it was still nice to feel Miri's heat and softness upon her body.

"So, how about it, Tessy?" Miri purred, "I think I've got just the thing for you." She leaned forward and pecked Tess on the lips with a soft, quick kiss, "Let's get that princess wand all hard and ready to go, yeah? I really want to fuck you. Mairaela's gotten all the fun so far."

"I want to fuck you too," Tess replied sorely, "But I can't exactly move all that well. And Gwendolyn-..."

"Oh please. Gwendolyn has literally woken up three times now to find you fucking or getting a handjob from someone. It's kind of a theme by this point. Plus, maybe she'll join in again?" Miri smirked.

Tess felt her cock twitch at the thought. Not only was she excited to fuck Miri, but the idea that Gwendolyn would join in again was exhilarating.

"Besides," Miri whispered, "I'll take care of all of it. You just lie still. Or do whatever's comfortable. I have a feeling you'll start moving with the right inspiration." She gave a little laugh.

Tess debated it in her mind. It really wasn't much of a choice. She wanted it. She just didn't want to disappoint Miri if she wasn't able to move all that much. Still, the longer it took to decide, the hornier she got, and the easier the choice became.

"Let's do it," Tess whispered with a wicked grin, "Make me cum, Miri."

Chapter 55 - Why I Enjoy It

Miri gently pulled Tess' sleepwear down over her hips and in a very caring and gentle way, slipped them off of her feet. She tossed the clothes into a messy pile on the floor and laid down upon her stomach between Tess' thighs. Tess' cock was half hard from Miri's teasing words, and though it hung partly limp between her thighs, it was fat and heavy, swollen to its enormous, ten-inch size.

"I'm so excited to have this big thing stuffed inside of me," Miri purred, bringing her face close to Tess' cock and blowing a gentle stream of cold air across it. Tess shivered and let out a sore, soft laugh. She could feel MIri's hand envelop the base of her cock, lifting it upward and bringing her face in closely. She slapped that semi-hard meat upon her soft cheeks, nuzzling against it with a fond look on her face.

"Fuck, Miri, you're too cute," Tess groaned softly. Gwendolyn was still sleeping next to her, and she didn't want to wake her up yet again by having sex. Tess could feel her cock swelling under Miri's attention. The demoness' heavy breasts were squeezed between Tess' thighs, swelling against her legs with every slow breath.

Miri gave Tess' cock a slow stroke of her hand, leaning in and giving her cock a gentle peck on the crown. "Did you know Mairaela gave you a sponge bath while you were out?" Miri whispered, "She was quite thorough with this area, especially. For some reason. Didn't use a sponge for long either, before she resorted to other means." Her nose wiggled a bit as she sniffed at Tess' sex, much to Tess' embarrassment, but Miri seemed to enjoy whatever she sensed. "Do you know why I enjoy this so much?" Miri whispered, wrapping her lips around the head of Tess' cock and sliding them off with a firm suck. Tess could feel her cock pulled toward Miri's lips before they came off with a pop!

"Enjoy what? Sucking cock?" Tess panted.

"Mhmmm~.." Miri whispered back, "It's because it can be so intimate and sweet. It's so one-sided in a way." She repeated the action, suckling at Tess' cock. This time she let her tongue slip out to caress underneath Tess' crown. "I am devoting everything to your pleasure, so much so that I'm using my mouth to make you feel good. The center of intimacy," Miri whispered.

Tess' lip quivered until she bit down on it. Her toes were curling and uncurling and her breath was quickening. Miri's words were as exciting as her lips.

"I am ignoring my own pleasure to focus solely on you. To make you cum. How hot is that?" Miri guided Tess' cock into her mouth, smoothing her lips over the woman's crown and taking the first few inches into that hot little mouth. She swirled her tongue around Tess' shaft once, twice, and then molded it to the contour of her length while she pumped her head up and down for a moment. Tess huffed and whimpered, blinking her eyes dizzily.

"Miri, I'm-.. I'm close," Tess whispered worriedly. Gods, that was quick. Tess' cheeks reddened at the thought that she was such a quick shot. She didn't even have the excuse that this was new to her anymore, or her first time.

"I know, sweetheart," Miri cooed as she slipped her lips off of Tess' length and gave it a few intimate kisses, "It's been weeks and weeks for you. I can't imagine how backed up you must be. Aren't you just aching to empty those big balls of yours?" Miri's hand cupped those hefty orbs between Tess' legs, stroking and caressing them in her palm, "So let's get this one out of the way, and then you'll be ready for me to ride you.

"Anyway, I was saying," Miri continued, licking at the side of Tess' cock from root to tip, "I'm kissing your cock like I would your mouth. Like it's a lover. That's how much I enjoy this. How enthusiastic I am."

"That's so hot," Tess whimpered, voice catching in her throat and replaced with a soft moan.

Miri smiled at the sound, "That was hot. Keep making those noises for me, baby."

Tess couldn't get it out of her mind how much Miri loved a cock in her mouth. How desperate she was for it. How much she just wanted to have it filling her mouth again and again. Doubly so once the demoness took her back between her lips and began to bob her head. Miri was obviously desperate for Tess' cum, and the thought only drove Tess further along.

With a rising amount of panting and soft cries, Tess was at her limit. "Oh, gods, Miri," Tess whimpered, sorely arching her back to push deeper into the horned woman's mouth. Miri twisted her head back and forth, suckling and licking at new angles, moaning as she pleasured Tess. It was the moaning that set Tess off, and the woman gave out a cry.

Miri startled at the first spurt from Tess' cock, but she remained in place. She had that cock-drunk, blissed out expression on her face that she had the last time she was sucking Tess' cock. She really does love this, doesn't she? Miri tried to keep up with Tess' orgasm, but even with her rapid swallowing, a great deal of that cloying cream began to spill from the seal of Miri's lips and Tess' shaft, especially once Tess lifted a hand to push Miri's head down. The extra space taken by more inches of Tess' cock squeezed out more cum from her lips, and Miri's eyes grew half-lidded.

By the time it ended, her weeks-long celibacy blown into Miri's lovely mouth, Tess was panting dizzily. She heard a voice beside her. Gwendolyn, of course, said with a sigh, "I thought Mairaela snuck into our room tonight."

She gave a long stretch as Miri came up from Tess' dick, swallowing the last mouthful with a big helping of cum dripping down her chin and into her cleavage. "Hey, Miri," Gwendolyn said softly.

Miri fanned her fingers, "Hi there. Want a taste?"

Gwendolyn paused, looking back and forth between Miri and Tess. She whispered, "Hey, Tess. I'm glad you're up," before she rose to her knees. Miri turned to face her and Gwendolyn dipped her head, sticking out her tongue and licked a long line up Miri's cleavage. Tess couldn't believe her eyes. If she ever went even partially soft, she certainly wasn't anymore.

Miri cupped her breasts and held them out for Gwen, who kissed and suckled at the little droplets and lines of cum that fell onto them when Miri couldn't hold it all in her mouth. Gwendolyn sat back and licked her lips, nodding her head like she'd just sampled and approved of a fine wine. Her chin was messy with cum that was smeared onto it from Miri's tits.

Even Miri gave a laugh and said, "Damn, when did you take that stick out of your ass?"

"Fuck off," Gwendolyn grinned, "Tess has had it rough lately. I only did that for her."

Tess was smiling from ear to ear, so much that Gwendolyn burst out laughing when she saw her, holding a hand up to cover her cum-covered lips and chin.

"If you'll excuse me," Miri explained, shifting in front of Gwendolyn, "I've got a big dick to ride."

Chapter 56 - Tight

Miri positioned herself over Tess' hips. Given how short the demoness was and how tall Tess' cock stood, the head of her dick pressed against the soft, shaved mound of Miri's lips even though she hadn't lowered herself at all yet. Gwendolyn was lying on her side, snuggled up against Tess. Tess was, expectedly, in a state of bliss, knowing that she was going to get to feel herself stuffed into Miri's cunt, but also wondering how far Gwendolyn's charity was going to go.

Miri reached down to guide Tess' cock but Gwendolyn swatted her hand away. Gwen brought that same hand between Miri's legs and slid a couple fingers deep into her pussy. The horned one whimpered and rocked her head back, lips parting and hips rocking forward. Gwendolyn drew her hand back, her fingers slick with how wet MIri was after the blowjob she'd given Tess. Gwendolyn took that same hand and smeared Miri's arousal over the head of Tess' cock, holding it just beneath the head and urging it back and forth between Miri's labia.

Miri was shaking with pleasure. All of that composure she had a moment ago—teasing Tess, taunting Gwen—was long gone, replaced instead by this whimpering, panting mess. "Look at you," Gwendolyn said to Miri, "Where'd that cocksure little imp go? I only see a big-titted slut here, begging for dick." The knight kept massaging the crown of Tess' cock and Miri's slit as she taunted, "I think I like you better like this, Miri." Tess could hear the smile in Gwendolyn's voice, "Beg for it."

Trying to angle her hips and push herself down, Miri's attempt to avoid humiliation was thwarted when Gwen pulled Tess' length out of the way. The result only had Miri rubbing Tess' lengthy shaft across her lips. She whimpered and whined as Gwendolyn purred, "Tsk. Bad girl. Say sorry, or I'm going to take this dick all for myself."

The idea of them fighting over her thrilled Tess, and Gwendolyn's dirty talk was so unlike her that it had an extra effect. Tess' heart was positively thrumming against her chest, threatening to burst out of it, it felt. Miri looked defeated, biting her lip and quivering, "I'm sorry."

"Look at me and say it," Gwen insisted.

Miri struggled with the thought, but relented, "I'm sorry, Gwen."

"That isn't my name," Gwendolyn growled.

"Gwendolyn, I'm so sorry!"

Gwen slapped Tess' cock against Miri's sex, causing the demoness to squeak and shiver, "I have a title," Gwendolyn said, "You will use it."

"I'm so sorry, Dame Gwendolyn. I shouldn't have tried to take her dick without permission," Miri huffed and whined. Tess was amazed by how the demoness had been so easily cowed.

"Lift your hips," Gwen ordered, "If you can take her whole cock, I'll forgive you. But your body is so small, and that cock is so big, I don't think you can do it."

Miri brought her hips up hastily, inhaling with excitement. She had to lean forward, resting her hands on Tess' shoulders. Tess felt a little sore, but it was more her head and legs, and so she felt comfortable supporting Miri's weight. Miri didn't seem to recall Tess' pain when she did it; too distracted, Tess supposed.

Gwendolyn stroked Tess' cock once, twice, and then angled it, guiding it to the entrance of Miri's tight little cunt. "Go ahead," she told Miri.

Miri began to lower her hips and immediately whimpered as that too-thick cock began to squeeze into that too-tight pussy. The demoness had to cry and pant, wiggling her hips to squeeze Tess' cock inside of her. Tess herself was biting her lip, her body tensed, focused entirely on the feeling that Miri was imparting, the sight of her body, and the sound of Gwendolyn's taunting.

The demon's lips here pressed tightly together as she rolled her hips to fit Tess inside of her a quarter-inch at a time. Her thighs were shaking and she had to splay her knees out wider. Miri, panting, took a break in order to get her feet underneath her so that she was squatting over Tess' hips instead of kneeling.

"Tch.. Is that all you can do?" Gwen commented, "You don't even have half of it inside of you. That's pathetic."

Miri's whole body was shaking, her tongue hanging out, as she continued to press herself lower. A whine escaped her throat as another inch squeezed inside of her.

"That'a'girl," Gwendolyn purred, reaching up and cupping one of Tess' breasts. She squeezed the soft mound and brushed a thumb across her taut, perky nipple. She turned to Tess and said, "Let me get this slut pleasing you properly and then we can focus on each other."

Tess' lips parted as she looked at Gwendolyn, unable to keep from whimpering from the two-sided attack. She was bucking her hips, squeezing a little more of herself into Miri's body as the two of them timed their movements and worked together. She couldn't believe her ears. What had come over Gwendolyn? Tess wondered if she had always been this way just beneath the surface?

"What are you doing, Miri?" Gwendolyn slipped to her knees and knelt beside the poor demoness, "How do you expect her to breed you if you can't even take her deep enough?"

Miri squeezed her eyes shut and whined, "I'm sorry, Dame Gwendolyn!"

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Tess," Gwen ordered like a soldier, slipping around behind Miri.

"I'm s-sorry, Aahn~! Aah! I'm s-so sorry, Tess! I'm~..nnff-fuck! T-trying!" Miri whimpered.

Tess' instinct to say 'it's okay' nearly kicked in before she went along with the behavior they'd adopted, "Show me you're sorry and take me in. This is your body too, isnt it? It's your dick as well as mine, so shouldn't it be easy?"

Gwendolyn's hands appeared from behind Miri, wrapping around her waist and pressing down on the woman's wide hips. Miri gave a sharp cry and Tess gasped, but the rest of Tess' cock hit home, completely sheathing inside of her. "You just needed a little help," Gwendolyn said, her head beside Miri's canting and kissing at her neck. A hand came up, grabbing one of the demon's horns and holding it back to expose Miri's neck to her teasing lips and tongue.

"Th-hhnn… thank you, Dame G-Gwendolyn.." Miri whined.

With her free hand, Gwendolyn gave Miri a sharp slap on her ass, setting that plump, rounded flesh to bouncing. Tess could feel Miri's pussy clamping down on her, "Oh f-fuck..!" Those walls wrapped so snugly around Tess' length began to flutter and squeeze before Tess felt such warmth and slipperiness around her. Gwendolyn gave Miri another powerful spank, cranking back on that horn in her hand, and Miri cried out with a throaty rattle, eyes to the ceiling, cumming harder than she ever had before.

Chapter 57 - "Performance"

Miri had begun lifting and dropping her hips, squeezing Tess in and out of that tight pussy, which felt like it was sucking her in each time she pulled away. Gwendolyn had left Miri alone and was now resting halfway atop Tess' chest. Gwendolyn had removed her shirt, displaying her pale skin and her modest bust; the taper of her waist and the swell of her hips. Gwendolyn still had the best ass she'd ever seen, even if Mairaela was a near contender. Gods, so was Miri. How had she become so lucky?

Gwedolyn was beautiful. The thought came to Tess' mind even as Miri was bouncing up and down on her cock, a feeling that wasn't able to be ignored. The demoness kept her hands on Tess' sides, arching and bowing her back to raise and lower her hips and fill the room with those flesh-on-flesh sounds.

Meanwhile, Gwendolyn was looking at Tess like Miri looked at her cock a few minutes ago. The knight reached out to cup Tess' cheek and leaned in, pressing her lips to Tess' in what could only be a sensual, soft kiss. Given how she'd just been acting to Miri, the contrast in her behavior was sharp, and it made Tess feel warm. Gwendolyn's kisses were soft, but brief. She returned shortly after each one, gently kissing Tess' bottom lip.

Miri picked up her pace and Tess had to break a kiss to let out a soft moan. "How does it feel?" Gwendolyn asked, stroking Tess' cheek, giving her another kiss on the corner of her mouth.

"So, so good~.." Tess whimpered, raising her hips needfully. Miri was moaning like she was in heat, whimpering and crying out toward the ceiling, hands grabbing at her heavy breasts. Miri dropped back down to her knees and bucked her hips like an animal, quickening her pace.

Tess bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut as she choked back a moan. Gwendolyn brushed her cheek and kissed her on the temple, "Don't hold back, Tess. You can cum as much as you want in her. If you aren't satisfied after this, you can just fuck her again, okay?"

Miri and Tess both whimpered at the thought, and Gwendolyn smirked. Miri's cries built and built, those erotic notes filling the room. Gwendolyn grinned and spoke to Tess, "See how much she loves that big, perfect cock of yours? See how good it makes her feel? I think she's going to cum again."

Sure enough, Miri's cries reached a crescendo. The rhythm of her hips broke down into needy jerks as her whole body tensed and quivered and shook. She let out a sharp cry, grinding herself around the thick base of Tess' cock. Gwendolyn reached down and slapped Miri across the ass, causing the demoness to resume bouncing up and down on Tess' length, "Get going again. Tess hasn't cum yet."

"S-sorry-.. Aahn~! F-fuck, aah! Sorry, Tess!" Miri cried.

"Didn't you want me to take that stick out of my ass, Miri? Well, keep those hips moving or you'll find something up your ass. And it won't be a stick," Gwendolyn couldn't help but chuckle at her own comment. It brought a genuine smile to Tess' lips to see how much fun she was having with this.

Gwendolyn leaned in toward Tess again, one hand massaging Tess' breast while she kissed Tess along the jawline. "Are you gonna cum?" Gwendolyn whispered with a little purr to her voice. She brought her lips closer and nipped at Tess' ear, "I want to see that look on your face when you cum. I want to watch you fill her up. Can you do that for me?"

She whispered into Tess' ear, "Your cum tasted so good. Maybe someday I could be the one to get you off with my mouth… would you like that, Tess? Or maybe you could fuck me. I might let you…"

If Tess hadn't cum already, she'd be long done by the time Miri had squeezed her inside. As it was now, she was only barely holding on. Gwen's whispering in her ear made it impossible to last any longer, though. "I want to fuck you so badly," Tess gasped.

"Let's do it," Gwendolyn whispered, "Let's fuck. I can't wait to get that amazing cock inside of me. I can't wait to feel you cum. I can't wait to make you feel so, soo good."

Tess' body shook slightly, her toes curling, her hoarse voice crying out. She reached out and grabbed Miri's hips, holding the demon down against her own so that she remained as deep inside the woman as possible. She could feel the pulsing of her cock, feel the force of each gush of cum and after it had filled Miri's womb, she could feel the heat of it squeezing past her cock and spilling out between their bodies. Gwendolyn, as suggested, watched her face, stroking her cheeks and coaching her through her orgasm, "That's it. Just like that. You're so amazing, Tess. Thank you for doing that for me."

Miri collapsed in exhaustion, fading away from sight soon after. This left Tess with most of the mess along her hips and pelvis. Her softening cock was glistening with a mix of juices. She was panting, chest rising and falling in sharp, rapid breaths.

Gwendolyn watched and waited, continuing to stroke Tess' cheek as she recovered. There were a couple more kisses all throughout. Tess didn't know how long it took for her to open her eyes and focus again, but Gwendolyn was there, waiting. There were tears in her eyes.

"Gwen?" Tess asked, looking a little concerned. The knight sniffled, wiping at her eyes and giving a sad, short laugh.

She shook her head and explained, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't-... this isn't exactly helping the mood, is it?"

"That's not important, what is it?" Tess asked, leaning a little to the side and taking Gwendolyn's hand, "What happened?"

"I thought I was going to lose you," Gwendolyn's tears flowed freely now. She was sobbing and vulnerable. The Dame rested her forehead upon Tess' breast, hiding her teary eyes. 

Tess cradled her head, stroking at her hair and cooing sweet words, "It's okay. I'm okay. I'm not going anywhere. You saved me, remember? You saved me."

Chapter 58 - Mail

The group gathered around at the entrance to the Kravana Hall post office. It wasn't much of an office, really just a nook in the wall blocked by a desk. Behind it, a short woman with an ash blonde bob haircut saluted those that approached. She was dressed in fine military attire, adorned with a small beret atop her head. She seemed to take her job more seriously than others here. "It's only mail," Tess thought.

She quickly realized it was anything but "only mail." The post office lady, who she learned was named Bree. Rather, Corporal Tealeaf. The Corporal was thorough in her organization techniques. Everything was categorized from regiment all the way down to their handler. Tess hadn't even known she had a regiment, but she was apparently a part of the 4th regiment, 4th company, under Captain Maupoissant's handling. She, Gwen, Mairaela and Joyona all were.

A bundle of letters were brought out, wrapped in twine. Gwendolyn took the small stack, thanked Corporal Tealeaf—who saluted once more—and departed. "Want to open them over breakfast?" Mairaela asked the others, "I'm starving."

Breakfast today was a biscuit topped with a brown gravy and a bowl of kaufe. The thin, dark brown liquid sloshed in the bowl. They couldn't even give them a cup?! They were expected to drink slowly with a spoon, apparently. The biscuit was stale, but at least the gravy was good, even if it was a little bit cold by the time they got it.

Mairaela didn't seem to mind, happily digging into the meal with gusto! Joyona had her kaufe downed in seconds by lifting the bowl to her lips and tipping it back. Gwendolyn, with proper manners, slowly sipped at hers with the spoon, taking small, petite bites of the biscuit from time to time. Tess wasn't feeling particularly hungry, especially after seeing the state of the meal.

"So, Scirocca has been doing some digging into that ledger we found-..." Mairaela started eagerly.

Gwendolyn shut it down, "No work talk at the table. Let's just enjoy a meal together, open up some mail, and forget about all of the drama for a bit, alright?"

Mairaela was more than happy with the suggestion, nodding her head with a big smile. Even Joyona nodded her head in approval.

Gwendolyn cut through the twine and all but Tess began to dig through for their mail. Tess had been doing well about not feeling left out, but the thought that everyone would be reading their mail while she sat there staring at a plate of cold food. She spoke up, "How about we read one letter at a time? We can share anything we're willing to share." She suggested 'we,' but everyone knew what she meant.

"Alright," Gwendolyn said, slapping her letter upon her palm, "Who first?"

"Me!" Mairaela blurted, "Me, me!" She brought her hands up to cover her mouth, chuckling at her own urgency.

"Alright then, Mairaela," Gwendolyn said, gesturing to the Fey, "Have at it."

Mairaela—already holding her letter—tore it open and gave it a perusal. She checked over the first couple lines before she began to read aloud:

"Light upon you Mai-Mai,

We miss you! Birdy especially. I wanted to send a picture but we haven't had the time to pose for an artist. What are you learning about? We are excited for you to return with your newfound knowledge of medicine. Also, we haven't been getting mail from the College. Is that unusual? Please make sure to have them address their messages to the Amyvelanora post, not Mytenalenor. Round-ears always mess that up…"

Mairaela grimaced as she looked at the others, "Sorry, my mom's a little… you know." The others chuckled and nodded their heads.

She rambled through the next parts, "Like Mytenalenor is the only city to exist, um… ignorance… greed…" Mairaela shook her head, huffed and ran her eyes further down the paper, "Okay, here.

"Your father was elected as the Hellebore representative here in Amyvelanora, and has established a regular communique with Avourel Yllaven herself! How amazing is that? I, myself, am still sculpting. I sold the Arfroud last week. I was thinking a trip to Gaallenora would be a nice way to celebrate, but maybe we await your first visit? When does your first year end? What classes are you taking?

"Write back immediately, or I'll nip your ears. Sorscha watch you. Signed, mom."

Mairaela looked up and nodded her head, "That's all."

Tess smirked and rested her hand upon her palm and elbow on the table, "When does your first year end?" The College divided their lessons into years, most typically, but the Corps didn't make such distinctions. Only enlistment periods, in which a significant number of Corpsmen didn't even survive.

"So maybe I convinced them to let me come here under the pretense that I would be going to the College and not the Corps and that I was going to become a great doctor and…" Mairaela took in a deep breath of air, refilling her empty lungs, "...return to my home with the medical skills needed to become a Court politician and bring glory and prestige to the Aulidwuf name."

Gwen chuckled and shook her head, "Damn, Mairaela. Don't you think they'll find out eventually?"

"I'm forty-seven!" Mairaela insisted, a number that raised Tess' eyebrows. She did suppose that the Fey aged quite differently than humans, "I am allowed to make my own decisions!"

"And hide them from your parents," Gwendolyn teased, shaking her head, "Tsk."

"Ugh!" Mairaela groaned, "Fine, you read yours, then."

"Not yet, I want to see what's up with that package, Joyona, it looks like it'll be something big," Gwendolyn said, nudging the giantess' arm.

Joyona smirked.

There was a pause before Tess and Mairaela both burst into a fit of laughter. Gwendolyn looked surprised and must've thought back over her phrasing. Her face burnt red and she fumed, "You know what I meant!"

"Good dear, Tess, might I be allowed to bear witness upon yonder package?" Mairaela laughed, imitating Gwendolyn's boyish voice, even if she was greatly exaggerating the royalty in Gwendolyn's tongue. In fact, Gwendolyn didn't really have that sort of speech at all.

Tess smirked and replied in her own voice, "If you're good." The words caused Mairaela to grin mischievously.

"So what is it?" Gwendolyn huffed, diverting the conversation back to Joyona's envelope. It did look heavy, even if the Evigkin had no issues with lifting it. With a pull, the envelope came open and Joyona reached in to pull out a stone tablet.

Joyona's eyes worked over the circular rune and branching spirals laid out across the stones, smirking a moment at the end.

"Joy,

How are you? Mum good. I'm good. Cairn is good. Let us know if you're good.

Love,

Papa"

Joyona chuckled again, much to everyone's confusion. It seemed like a really short letter, and they couldn't tell if this was a happy moment for Joyona. The smile on the giantess' face made it all the more clear. There was something funny in it, apparently, but everyone was uncertain what. Still, they didn't want to ruin "Joy's" good mood.

"Your turn, Gwen," Tess said, turning her head toward the knight.

However, Gwendolyn looked more nervous than excited.

Chapter 59 - Parents

"Dame Gwendolyn Mirabenise,

"I hope this letter finds you in good health, and finds you swiftly. I am not concerned about your level of comfort at Kravana Hall, as I received word you were under a week's probation. It seems to me that you must have grown especially comfortable in your new surroundings to have already defied its rules. That sounds great for you. It is heartening to hear that you do not suffer the burden of honor and duty; that you live your life freely and without care for your family.

"I worked the skin off of our bones to get you that squireship with Sir Cormyn Strand, and I'll be damned if I let you ruin that. You were raised better than this, Gwendolyn.

"On top of all of that, I am told that you poisoned Jannette's mind as to her upcoming marriage. She has it in her head that she doesn't have to marry the prince of Wheldrake next month. You need to write to her immediately and correct that notion.

"It is time to grow up and do your duty. One would have-..."

Gwendolyn choked on her words, putting the letter down for a moment. She took a deep breath before lifting it up once more.

"One would have thought that you would have learned these lessons under Sir Strand, but I will need to notify him that you may be due for a review of your status as a knight.

"Do better.

"Your father, Sir Rhothomir Mirabenise."

Gwendolyn placed the letter down, interlaced her fingers, and said, "That's mine." Tess reached out to place a hand on top of Gwen's, but the knight drew them back, insisting, "I'm fine."

The group sat in silence for a moment before Mairaela spoke up, "Rhothomir is a Courtish name. Are you half-Fey?"

Gwendolyn shook her head, "Step-father, technically. But I never knew my birth father."

Mairaela nodded her head and gestured to the only remaining letter, "Is that yours too, Gwen?"

"Gwendolyn," she corrected, looking back at the letter, "No. I thought it was yours."

Joyona reached out and picked it up, looking it over before passing it to Tess, "It's yours."

Tess laughed and sarcastically said, "Sure." Upon a quick inspection though, she realized that this wasn't a joke. Sure enough, the letter was addressed simply: "Tess." On the top right it showed an image of a black bird.

"What are you waiting for?" Mairaela asked, nudging Tess along. Tess was frozen, however, holding the letter tightly.

"Who-... why am I getting letters?" Tess asked, "Who would know that I'm here? Who would even know who I am?"

Gwendolyn frowned in thought, but Mairaela insisted, "Only way to find out is to open it. Come on, I'm so curious!"

Tess shook her head and held the letter out, "Someone else read it. I can't."

Mairaela snagged the letter, split it open and unfolded it.

The Fey's eyes widened:

"Tess,

I hope that this letter reaches you and that you are doing well. I know that when we last spoke, tensions were high. I am sorry for the things that I said, but I am scared that you are going to do something extreme.

Please come home. I miss you. I love you.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Love, your mother."

Tess' lips parted. The whole group was sitting in silence for a moment, watching her. "Who sent it?" Tess asked, looking to Mairaela, then more forcefully, "Who sent it?"

Mairaela looked over the letter, then the back of it, then all over the envelope, "It doesn't say, Tess. I'm sorry."

"We need to go back to the post, then. Maybe Tealeaf knows," Gwendolyn suggested.

Tess stood up from her seat, snagged the letter, and bolted out of the room without waiting for the others. She hurried down the hallways, narrowly avoiding a pair of Fey that gave her a curious look as she slipped past.

She had wondered this since her appearance from the ritual. So she did have parents. Or at least one parent. A mother, specifically. Who was she? Where was she?! What was the argument about? What had Tess done? Did it somehow lead to her being a part of this ritual? It seemed more likely than being something completely random. What if Tess did this to herself? 

She needed to find out where the letter came from, and being as organized as Tealeaf was, she's sure to have all of that sorted out.

When she arrived to Tealeaf's desk, the shutter for the Post had been closed. Tess turned her head on a swivel to look for any sign of the short Corporal. It wouldn't be hard to make her out in the crowd, but Tess couldn't find her anywhere. She searched around the postage desk to try and find any idea of where the Corporal might be, or where her room could be. There was nothing, only a sign stating when the post was open.

When Tess whirled around, she was met with the sight of an ashy blue-skinned Winter Fey, her butt-length hair painted in a purple to pink to white gradient. Though her hair would normally be a smooth change in color, with it braided and tied in a decorative fashion, the colors danced and shifted chaotically. She was tall. Tall and beautiful, with pink eyes ringed in dark, black make-up. Tess was startled at first, not expecting anyone to be so close behind her. The Winter Fey struck a hand upon the wall beside Tess' head and leaned in close, face-to-face.

"Whaaaat is happening?" Tess murmured, glancing from side to side and avoiding eye contact with the very intense, sharp-eared Fey.

"Looking for the Corporal, little mouse?" She asked with a growl, "Late to pick up your mail?"

Tess could remember enough about Winter Fey. The Courts broke apart because of their disagreement on how to handle the appearance of humans on Auwra. The Summer Court planned a peaceful, cooperative existence. The Winter Court did not have such good intentions.

Tess nodded her head, holding up the letter in her hand, "I need to know where this ca-..."

The Fey snatched the letter from Tess' fingers, leaned back, and looked it over. She wasn't looking so closely as to read Tess' letter, but just turned it end to end. She was still standing so close to Tess that it would be a struggle for Tess to wedge herself out from being pinned against the wall.

"Foolish, little mouse," the Fey spoke with disappointment, smacking Tess lightly atop the head with the letter. She dipped down a little and pointed to the black bird on the corner of the letter, "It was sent with a raven spell. If they wanted you to know where it was sent from, they would've told you in the letter."

She passed the letter back to Tess and shifted her wide hips to the side, looking expectantly at the shorter woman.

Tess spoke up, "But it's from my mother and she didn't tell me how to get word back to her."

The Fey appeared unamused and in disbelief, "You don't know where to send a letter to your own mother?"

Tess shook her head.

"I thought human children were dependent upon their mothers for sustenance and care."

"I'm not a child."

"How old are you?" The Fey asked.

"Um.. I don't know, I think.. Twenty-two?"

"Like I said. Children."

Tess' brow furrowed, "Well, how could I figure out where the letter came from?"

"A capable person would invert it to see where it came from. Failing that, a resourceful person would find someone to do it for them," she explained, "Are you either of those?"

"I'm-..." Well, she couldn't really say capable. While she was supposed to be able to conduct sorcery, she hadn't been very consistent. She thought for a moment about who she could ask. She didn't have to think long before Scirocca came to mind, "Resourceful."

"Good luck, then," the Fey said, crossing her arms and taking a small step back from Tess so that she could comfortably escape from her place against the wall.

Tess began sliding to the side and asked, "What's your name?"

"I'm-..."

"Get your cold ass away from her, you Navethyr bitch!" Mairaela shouted from across the hall, tearing through the crowd toward Tess and the Winter Fey. Gwendolyn was following in her wake and Joyona calmly strode behind them, others in the hall parting ways for the giant.

The Winter Fey stepped back from Tess, holding up her hands for a moment before crossing arms again and replying with an obnoxious calm, "I was only helping."

"I know what you were doing!" Mairaela hissed, "And I won't let you hurt Tess."

"I have no idea what you mean," the ash-skinned woman replied.

Mairaela took hold of Tess' arm and turned to her, "Are you alright? Want to leave?" 

Tess nodded her head, murmuring, "Guess so. What's the problem?" 

Mairaela pulled her aside and said loudly enough for them to hear, "She's a manipulative spider. You can't trust her."

"Me?" The Winter Fey repeated, brow raising, "Why, because I'm from the Winter Court and you find us 'suspicious?' That is an awful generalization. You don't even know me."

Mairaela shot daggers with her eyes toward the Winter Fey, who looked content with the pacing of the conversation.

Tess followed Mairaela off to the side, where Gwen and Joyona met up with her. "Everything okay?" Gwen asked.

"Is now," Mairaela replied, rubbing Tess' back, "You alright?"

"I'm fine. Really, she was only helping," Tess replied, looking down at the letter, "She was just… really weird."

Chapter 60 - Howlcrag

"I don't know how this could have happened," Kofi, Tess' handler, explained in the briefing room. She'd been the one to assign Tess to the remedial class to try as a last ditch effort to get her a gift. It'd been her that put her in Madame Pava's clutches, where she lost two months of her life to the Yysh cultist's experimentation. They don't even know what she actually did, yet. Scirocca has been working with another Yysh to try and decipher the ledger that Pava left behind.

"I hope that you understand I take full responsibility for this, and I will make it up to you," Captain Maupoissant explained, "I had no idea about Pava, and I ate up everything she said about you having to take an extra week of the therapy."

"It's okay," Tess replied to her Captain. She was sore about it, but she tried to not blame Kofi. It was Pava that did the terrible things. Kofi was just doing her job.

"No, it isn't," Kofi said with a frown, "It absolutely isn't, but I do have something that I hope will be a good first step in making things right."

That caught Tess' attention. She tilted her head to the side a bit, "What is it, Captain?"

"He'll be here soon," she replied, "In the meantime, let's talk about what the next few weeks are going to look like for you, alright?"

"Okay," Tess agreed, sitting up a little straighter.

"Though the team got a lot of points toward getting some of the good assignments, we are still in a deficit compared to other groups because of the probation you were put under," Kofi explained with a small sigh, "Which, if you ask me, was entirely bullshit."

Tess smiled at that. She agreed, even if she did enjoy most of her time on probation. She wondered how the drakes were doing for a brief moment.

"So, in the upcoming weeks, I have a thought on your next class…" Maupoissant said, "Each of your teammates elected to continue to the advanced form of their current classes. Since Dame Gwendolyn is learning more about a component of combat, Joyona is learning more about the foes you'll face—though I'm worried about her; She only barely passed the last class—and Mairaela is learning about freeing the pockets from the Black Sun, we need to pick something for you that complements all of that.

"That seems like a pretty thorough list. What could we add to that?"

"Void Pocket Classification," Kofi replied with a nod of her head.

Tess raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

Kofi seemed prepared for that exact question, "No void pocket is the same. Depending on the god of that pocket, it will have a different aesthetic. A different theme, I suppose."

"Oh," Tess said, "I thought they were all like the one in the exercise. Barren, ruined, dismal."

Maupoissant shook her head, "No. And that one was only that way because it'd been separated from the Black Sun for so long. When we first cut it away, it was a thriving cityscape, but it seemed to deteriorate over time."

"So what are the 'classifications?'"

"Suppose you'll be learning all about that, won't you?" Kofi replied.

"Can I request a class? It's a night class, from what I saw," Tess explained, "It's one that I'm particularly interested in."

"You want two classes?"

"Yes, Captain," Tess replied, "I can handle it."

"You'll have training on top of it," Kofi reminded her with a worried frown, "That won't leave you with much time."

"It's only six weeks, right?" Tess responded.

"Six weeks of hardly any sleep," the Captain explained, "Six weeks of being exhausted from training but still having to go to a night class and avoid falling asleep." She sighed, "And don't get me started on final exams."

Tess understood the concern, but in her mind the main problem was that she wasn't going to have much time with her party. Maybe Kofi was right.

"I know that Void Classification is important," Tess replied, "But maybe I could take Sorcery and Ritualism instead, for now?"

Kofi looked worried still, "I don't think any of that would help you in the Void, Tess."

She couldn't tell the Captain about her ability to cast spells in the Void, so with the knowledge that Kofi had, Tess wasn't surprised that this was the answer. Still, it would be the most helpful, and with her special attunement to the Wyrd—according to Scirocca—she should be good at it.

"I, uh," Tess started, her mind racing for an excuse, "In case something happens, like with Pava? I want to be prepared. Maybe if I had a protection ritual placed on me before visiting her, that could've all been avoided."

Kofi frowned. Guilt wouldn't let her argue against it, so she nodded and replied, "Okay, Tess. Let's do that, then. I can't guarantee you'll be casting spells by the end of the class, but anyone can perform rituals with the right components and know-how. You're right that it could have helped, and I imagine having a protection ritual on yourself at all times may help you to heal after such an ordeal."

"Thank you, Captain," Tess replied with a soft smile, "I really appreciate it."

"Of course, Tess," Kofi replied, "Now, about training."

Tess nodded her head, sitting back for the next part of the discussion.

"Unfortunately due to those same events, you weren't able to participate in training over the last seven weeks, while your teammates have," she explained, "And there's nothing that I can do to fix that. Command won't let anyone skip levels of training, and it wouldn't be right or safe to have you skip the basics."

"So I'm going to be in a different class than the others?" Tess asked. The idea disappointed her greatly. She was looking forward to sparring with the others, even if she knew she would stand no chance. She couldn't imagine herself against any of them, and while it might be fun to spend time with them, maybe it would be more embarrassing than anything. So maybe it was a good thing?

Kofi nodded her head, "I'm sorry, but yes. I don't want to hold the others back. But this will give you a chance to meet others, however. Maybe you'll feel more comfortable at Kravana when you know more about the pop-..."

The door to the briefing room cracked open and in walked a tall, hairy man with a barrel chest. The red hair on his head was shaved just slightly along the sides, the rest of it spilling over his shoulders. His beard was full and neatly trimmed. A tattoo of a scorpion's tail curled around the outside of one of his blue eyes. He was dressed in plainclothes with a pair of brown, leather suspenders over a blue shirt and tan trousers. He looked like he was constantly sneering.

"Oh, perfect timing, Sergeant," the Captain spoke to the tall man. She then turned to Tess, extending a hand toward the man, "Tess, this is Sergeant Varon Howlcrag."

Tess only just realized that her eyes were widened and her lips were parted. She must've looked terrified by this man's natural state of anger. What was this guy here for?!

Howlcrag looked Tess over and then turned to Kofi, "This is the one, Captain?"

"She is."

Varon turned back to Tess and crossed his arms, "Alright."

Kofi turned to Tess and explained, "Since you're already a week behind on training, Sergeant Howlcrag is going to take over as your personal teacher. Instead of group training, you'll be doing independent study."

"I thought I was going to meet new people?" Tess asked, avoiding Howlcrags scrutinizing gaze.

Kofi nodded her head, "You will."

"You'll mingle enough with the others for spars," Howlcrag explained, "But I'm here to make sure you don't get your ass kicked too badly, despite being behind." He grunted, "Way behind."

Tess directed her attention to the Captain, staring at her with a face that relayed "help me." Kofi waved away Tess' concern and spoke, "The Sergeant is our best trainer. You'll be brought up to speed in no time."

What was the Captain doing?! First Tess is sent to Pava for what was essentially a kidnapping and torture and now she's "rewarded" with this monster of a trainer? An independent study? She can't even hide from his wrath behind others. Did the Captain hate her? Was it because she was giftless? A thought crossed her mind that maybe the Captain was trying to make her situation so miserable that Tess would leave, opening up a spot in the squad for someone with a gift.

Tess' brow furrowed. She'll show the Captain her determination; her grit. She looked back to Howlcrag, who was glaring at her. Suddenly all of that thought of determination and grit dissipated and the only thing going through Tess' mind was, "I am absolutely fucked."