A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 55

The meal was even better than the one the evening before -- though Darji swore that it was the very same thing, but none of them cared and they sat as two couples, sharing their food with each other.

"Bryth," Darji began, "I need to tell you something."

All of them were surprised when he didn't speak of mating or anything of that sort. He just began to speak about his mother. He did it slowly enough for the girls to translate for Theyl, who sat just as spellbound as the rest. He told of his times and a few of the adventures that they'd shared in their travels as mother and son and he was a little roundabout with it, but he gradually wound it to the last day that he'd seen her and how she'd died.

He left nothing out and he was careful to mention the figure that he'd come to believe had played some role in it all. "I have it here with me, Bryth. But I am afraid of the harm that it seems to be able to do. You're looking for something which sounds like what I have, but I don't want for it to harm anyone here. You're not looking for it out of personal gain of some sort, are you?"

She shook her head, "No, Darji. I care nothing for it or the one who wants it so badly. I am only looking for it because I was ordered to seek it by my father. What you have may not be what I am to seek. I won't know until I -- "

She stopped then as he turned back from his pack and unwrapped the little idol or whatever it was. They all stared at it until Bryth suddenly laughed, "This is what I was to seek. We can go home with no explanations now. There is no failure to have to explain. What must I do to purchase it from you? It is yours and ... perhaps if you were to come to the hall, the chancellor would pay you himself."

Shey Lann shook her head, "No, Bryth. Do not do it this way. We should find some way to pay Darji and then take it to the old land crab and give it over as he expects. The chancellor is not to be trusted."

Why?" the faun asked, "because he is a human? You seem to favor our friend here now and he is the same."

Shey Lann shook her head again, "No, it is not that. The two are different. Surely you can see it. Darji grasps at nothing -- the chancellor seizes everything which passes in front of him, from girls to gold -- especially gold."

"You can have it," Darji said, "I don't want anything for it. Just promise me that you won't shake it up or break it. There seems to be something inside of it and from the things that have happened since it came into my mother's possession, I'll admit to being a bit scared of it. I just hope that I'm not passing the misfortune that it seems to spread on to you. I don't even know if it will let me give it to you. I tried to walk away from it once and it opened another of the ... things that I told you about, right in front of me. When I picked it up again, the membrane or skin or whatever they are, disappeared."

He handed it over and nothing happened. Bryth put it in her pack carefully and the matter was forgotten, other than the way that they were all very happy to be able to leave with their quest completed with success.

"I must give something for it," Bryth said in a concerned and thoughtful way, but then she looked up as Shey Lann stepped over to her. "I think that I can see a way," she said.

The two stood together as the elf whispered and then the faun nodded, "You are right, of course," she giggled a little, we have missed at least three feast days and Darji has prepared us a feast once again.

So let it be," she said as she spoke to Theyl in their tongue.

Shey Lann smirked a little at Darji as she reached for a very surprised-looking Theyl. As Darji looked on, she pushed the young male faun onto his back and before long, She was riding him slowly, talking to him quietly and encouraging him as she sat with her hand on his chest.

"And so, Shey Lann?" Bryth smiled, "Does he compare with favor to my brothers?"

"Very favorably," the elf sighed, "and even better, since your fine ram's ears work and he can listen to what is said to him. Sad to tell of it, but they wanted nothing of rutting like this. It was all their way -- as nice as that could be most times, but you know that it is not all that a girl would want, even with two of them when she plays."

As she rose to it, she still spoke to him quietly, telling him what she wanted as her bliss came to her. She climaxed rapidly with him twice before she asked him to stop. When he did, she kissed him softly, thanking him with her whispers as she said that he really didn't need her help, that he was all that a girl could want, since he had a heart that could clearly act in the best way to love.

Shey Lann climbed off and left Theyl with a warm and heartfelt kiss. "This one needs only a few lessons, Bryth. Why not show him the rest yourself?"

Bryth came back to Theyl and pushed him back as he looked at her. She carefully crawled on top of him and after a few minutes of quiet kisses as Darji and Shey Lann sat whispering to each other and trying not to look, Bryth eased herself backward and upward until she was sitting on her knees with a little of her weight on Theyl's thighs.

She smiled at him softly and grasped him as though to caress him just as they had been doing lately, but then she lifted herself up and began to rub the tip of him along her vaginal lips. Theyl smiled then, thinking that this was to be like the other times when they'd gone this far, but before he could get too comfortable with it, Bryth rose higher and lined him up with her channel and sank down slowly in one long and slow go as the two of them groaned and Theyl's eyes widened.

Darji and Shey Lann heard their combined groan as it began and they smiled as they turned to see.

"Now we can say that you have had me," Bryth smiled to Theyl in their speech, "even though we only begin. I have my ram in me and you have your ewe and I love you so, Theyl." She pushed herself down all the way and leaned forward to grind their pubic bones together as Theyl reached for her breasts and they began. She was slow about it, dragging herself over him for a time.

"Hold my hips," Bryth said smiling, "but do not keep me in one place. I will make this a time for us to remember if I am able."

Theyl nodded as his chest rose with a deep breath and Bryth leaned lower, seeking to drag her breasts over him as much as she could while keeping them together.

Darji sat watching, spellbound with Shey Lann.

"They are so beautiful to see like this, no?" she whispered in his ear and he nodded as he felt her hand reach for him, lifting his swelling manhood to wrap her hand around it as much as she could.

"Bryth had no experience when we first met," she crooned into his ear as she nuzzled against his cheek, "She was a shy young faun girl who had never even been kissed by anyone. I did my best to teach her."

"And I was an eager student," Bryth hissed quietly, "I learned ... I learned never to be... ohh, never to be too shy." She was silent for a moment as she leaned down and kissed Theyl before leaning back again.

"A girl who is too shy will only have what she wants out of sheer luck, and in the worst case, ... she -- she might even go .. go unloved at all."

Bryth knew that Theyl likely wouldn't last long in a first coupling, so when she saw what she took as the signs that he was nearing his end, she suddenly began to buck, trying to get them off together if she could manage it. Theyl's reaction was to cry out and that helped her along in her own search, but Theyl was just too quick, being overwhelmed at what he felt and so Bryth just whimpered and changed her movements when he stiffened with another cry. As she watched his chest heave, Bryth used what she had to milk him into her, wanting everything from him and telling him so a little breathlessly.

"I am sorry to be so fast, Bryth, "he said, "I -- I ... "

She smiled down at him softly, "It could not be helped, my love. I had pleasure and it was only a first time. You did better than I think many would have and I found that you can give me what I want, have no fear. The next time will be better still and the next and the next.

But it is done now and we can be together as much as we want now. We do not need my father's blessing. To say how I feel, I want to love you because you are my ram and I can be patient while you learn more. I do not care if we ever stand before the king and the queen and the whole court to ask that we be wed."

Theyl smiled up and held her hand and one hip, "Our fathers sought to gain from us, Bryth, but there would be no gain if we do not wed. I am happy with you and if it is the same for you, then let us go on without them. If we wish it, I would wed you any time and any other way and NOT before your father's grand court. I felt shamed there, and I did nothing wrong."

"What are they saying?" Darji asked.

Shey Lann translated for a few moments and then she spoke up. "It is your choice, of course, but I think that it will see you disowned. I believe that the chancellor twists your father's will regardless. But no matter what might come, I am your girl and I will stand with you as I have always done."

"What does that mean, that you're her girl?" Darji wanted to know and the elf shrugged, "We have always been friends since we met. But that was as a pair of wanderers. When we returned to her home and ever since that time, as she came into her own, I have always stood in her defense, always.

Whatever Bryth needs from me, I would do gladly, and in that way, I stand as her girl, being willing to die for her as she would were our places reversed."

"I think that's the way that it ought to be, "Darji smiled, They're very young. I can see that you'll need help now an then, if they're together and we all seem to agree that there might not be anything to go back to, if they choose each other in a different way than just a political pairing.

If you want any help, Shey Lann, well I seem to be at liberty if what I think is correct. Theyl might need some uh, ... guidance now and then."

"He already seeks to learn from you," Shey Lann smiled, "and I would welcome it to have you along." She smirked, "Maybe we can teach each other as well."

"When we're not arguing," Darji laughed quietly and she joined him, chuckling as she hugged him.

He frowned after a moment of thought, "Will somebody please explain this chancellor guy to me?

You said that he's human. Are there any more around there?"

"None, I think," Bryth said, "there are none for many leagues around. I was told that once there were many of them but they died away somehow. What we are beset by now are some things like the ones down here, but they are up there and they fly. The town guard kills many of them quite often. Humans fare poorly against them."

Shey Lann leaned away from Darji then to sit near to him as he lay back and she began to tell of the chancellor, while Bryth and Theyl parted so that she could sit next to her ram. Bryth seemed uninterested in much of it when she was sitting with two males. She shrugged, "It is a tale that I have heard too many times."

"The chancellor was not always a mean-spirited old turd," Shey Lann said. "Once, when he was a young man, he lived on a croft-farm with his mother. His father had run off long before. The chancellor went by his name then of Bryce. One day, he was working in the yard when he saw a young and rather large male goat walk through the open gate. Bryce stared at the goat for a moment, wondering where he might have come from. His mother's croft was the farthest away of them all from their town. That was the reason that the tribute was so small and could be afforded by them in the first place -- no one wanted to live that far away.

Bryce and his mother were poor, owning only two cows and a few sheep and an old ram. The next nearest croft was over a league away."

"Three miles," Darji said, "depending on whose measurement you use."

Shey Lann nodded, "It made no sense to the boy, though it made perfect sense to the goat. You see, the goat was no dumb beast.

There is a thing about fauns," she smiled, "Many of them are shapeshifters of a kind. I know that our two friends here can do it, though they do it rarely."

"Except when the elf has some supplies or luggage which needs hauling into a cave to seek a statue," Bryth snickered.

"And, "Theyl began in a halting attempt, "that was ... lost."

"Well, you both had to change to fight the beasts when I told you that I could manage them." Shey Lann said, glaring little. "Three beasts," Theyl said, "one elf."

She looked down, "Thank you both all the same. I would have been fine alone. As it was, I cost us our food and a lot of clothing."

"Pots and pans," Bryth smiled, "we all lived. Go on with the tale."

The elf nodded, "So really, the goat was a faun and he was Bryth's father when he was young as well. He had watched the human for a few days and he found that the longer that he looked, the more that he fancied him. That was why he walked in through the gate in the first place. They both laugh about it now, but at the time, the faun was smitten with the young man, though he knew nothing of how to go further than long looks from the eaves of the forest.

The goat walked up to the boy slowly and stayed near to him, though never getting in the way of what he did. If the wood of the trough that was being built needed steadying, the goat stood on the other side pushing gently, trying to give aid to the work. The man noticed this and was even more surprised. When it was done, the goat began to walk away, through the gate and down the path from the farm.

Bryth had been toying with Theyl's shaft all the while and wasn't long before what she held began to swell for her again.

"What the faun did is one of the oldest tricks for our kind with humans. This has been done by us forever. Fauns love to rut with humans and always have. Oftentimes, a male faun can work his way between a young woman's thighs to enjoy her and she returns the want of it -- as long as no one can see them as they do it. I have watched from the forest myself as one of my servants went far one day to meet a human girl who sought for the gentle tongue of what she thought was a female goat. It is not difficult to tempt a human, man or woman into a little play. They all act the same way, looking around to see if anyone can see what they do and then, finally giving in to their urges.

Over many days, my father was able to bring them both to a way for him to carefully mount Bryce, but a few of the flying demons arrived not long afterward and the farm lay in ruins after that, their livestock dead and eaten.

But the people were safe, for as it began, the goat turned into a large and strong faun, since it couldn't be helped, and he protected Bryce and his mother.

She is dead now many years, but my father was able to bring them back to his home where Bryce lives still, though he has learned some magic in the time. What is wrong in my view is not anything that was done, but I am always a little unsettled whenever I am in the chancellor's presence. I do not trust him and I loathe the way that he seems to have gone from being a playful fancy to a faun to what he is now -- that Faun king's trusted advisor."

Bryth lay down then and drew her legs apart, raising her knees for her ram. Darji watched the way that her hooves hung in the air as they began again. He felt Shey Lann's hand caressing him and as he hardened, she moved over and began to fellate him.

It went on for a few minutes before she let go of him to smile up and suggest that they might like to do the same as the other couple.

Darji shook his head and instead, he moved her legs apart to kiss what lay between her thighs. Shey Lann hadn't expected it and she rolled onto her side then as she gently pressed Darji's head against her.

After they separated a long time later, finding themselves the objects of the other couple's attention, it settled down to a little more discussion as they finished the last of the stew and Bryth produced a wineskin -- which actually contained wine.

"I packed it so that we could share once we had found what we were sent for. I did not think that it would ever take as long as it has and I forgot about it. This is a very thick and strong wine, however, and gives excellent headaches the next day after only a little."

"We can water it down a little so it isn't that strong and it'll maybe last us the evening between us," Darji suggested and Bryth liked his idea, so they all now had something to share as they talked.

Theyl and Bryth spoke together and finalized their agreement between them. Neither of them would take two mates. They'd just pair and live that way and after bringing what had been asked, they planned to leave and not return.

"My land has too many kings now, I think," she said.

Shey Lann liked what she'd heard, telling them that they'd never see the throne anyway, so why not just see where their adventuring took them. The royal pair nodded, and then they all looked toward Darji, who shrugged, "Hell, I dunno. I haven't even gotten out of here yet.

But from our talking, I've been thinking that something has changed for me from when I wandered into the tombs. The way that none of you knew of firearms -- my weapons, and the way that you all talk about what you call my tales makes me think that something changed when I walked through one of the, uh, things that I kept seeing stretched across my path.

One time, I saw through it and what was there was just more long hallway, while behind me, there had just been a cave-in.

I went through what I saw there and on the other side, there was no hallway anymore, just another cave-in. Behind me when I looked back, the cave-in there looked like it had happened long before, the way that there were roots growing all through the rubble then. None of that had been there a second before.

So I don't know where I am -- or maybe, I don't know when I am, either. What year is it? Do you guys count the years?"

None of them knew for sure, the exact date rarely needing to be known with any certainty. "I know that it is more than two thousand, four hundred of the human count," Shey Lann said, "More certain than that, I know not."

Darji looked a little unsettled, "You're sure that it's that much? You couldn't be wrong somehow?"

The lovely elf shrugged then, "The year by the human count is not something that I have a need to know often within say, five years of anything, but I am sure that it is over what I said. In fact, I think that it must be more than that, nearing the next century. Elves do not need to mark the passage of time, Darji. Why must you know this?"

He sat there a moment in silence, "Because," he began, "Because when I left my home to look for the woman who I wanted to kill for what she'd done, it was the year two thousand and thirteen. There must be a mistake in the way that you reckon the human count, or whatever you call it."

They didn't flog it to death, since nothing could be determined with any accuracy where they sat, so Shey Lann just did what she thought best and kissed Darji after the last scrapings of stew had been shared out of the pot. "We will seek the right number for you soon," she smiled as they embraced, "For this night, I want no more wondering."

Darji agreed and they spread out what bedding they had between the two of them. A little while later, Shey Lann finally knew that she'd found one human male that she liked above all others. As she lay under him, feeling his slow and gentle way, juast as she'd always wanted, she knew that she'd want a lot more of it and told herself to be patient and see where this all led them.

They weren't frantic about any of it and it seemed to cement a few things, as both couples made love slowly there in the cavern.