A Long Time from Home Ch. 21

Then I poured some oil on Nahia's back and started to massage her. Gently at first, but as the muscles warmed up, I added more pressure and my fingers started to dig into the energy lines, leading to and from the 'dam'.

A moan escaped Nahia, causing Karen to look at me with a smile. "Well, it seems to work. At least she's awake now."

"Yes. How much time do we have left?"

She glanced at her watch. "Damn, only 10 minutes!"

I nodded. Just enough time. I looked at the Twins. "Girls, could you run out and see how far the current match is?"

Both girls nodded and ran out.

"Sorry about this." I said as soon as they were out of hearing range. "But I need to set your energy lines in your back straight and this is the fastest way to do that."

Karen looked at me as if to ask a question, but at the same time, Nahia moaned and shivered under my hands as I hit another pressure point. The Asian laughed softly as she understood what I meant and said "Fángzhōng Zhī Shù again?"

"Yeah... sorry."

Nahia gave a satisfied sigh. "Why do you keep saying you're sorry? This is awesome!"

"Yes, but it has a certain effect." stated Karen and leaned down to whispered something to Nahia.

Whatever it was, it caused the Spanish girl to laugh softly and look at me. "Give it your best shot, Ivan."

"Unbeliever!" snorted Karen and smiled knowingly. "I'll go intercept the twins, but I'll be back."

She walked out and I discovered that despite having my hands on a well-trained and well-formed woman, I couldn't help looking at Karen's butt as she walked away.

Nahia mumbled something in Spanish that I didn't get, but then moaned again as my hands continued their work.

It only took a short time before Karen returned, but by then Nahia was almost constantly moaning.

The Asian sat down in front of Nahia and gently took her hands. "Nahia, turn down the volume a bit. From the outside, it sounds like the two of you are having sex."

"Not... easy." The Spanish woman groaned. "It feels like... the greatest... foreplay... ever."

"Yeah, I know." Said Karen with a smile. "Just keep quiet." Her lovely, slanted eye looked up at me. "How much longer, Ivan?"

"Now."

I found the pleasure nerve center in the neck, pressed down and released the Vis. As when I had used it on Alice, Karen and Rita, the effect was spectacular. Nahia started to shiver as the wave travelled down her body and goose bumps formed on her skin.

Gripping Karen's hands hard enough to make her knuckles white, she burrowed her head in the towel to dampen her moans.

It did help, but a moment later, I had found the pleasure center on her lower back, released more Vis and started another wave.

Unlike the first, this wave could and did extend in both directions and Nahia mumbled. "Oh Fuck!" as the wave slowly travelled over her firm butt and down between legs, feeling like a dozen tongues licking her at the same time.

"Bite down!" I advised her in a whisper, and she did it just in time. The two waves met exactly where the 'dam' was and at the same time, I twisted her hips towards me, while holding her torso down.

The energy lines snapped into their right lanes, causing the dam to dissolve under the pressure of both waves. Nahia buckled under my hands as the energy flowed quickly and her skin heated up. Then all the muscles in her body tensed as she exploded in an almost silent orgasm.

I closed my eyes and allowed my body to absorb the Vis her orgasm had generated before I focused on the flow of Vis in her body, making sure that everything was as it should be.

While it wasn't perfect, it was as close as it could come right now, so I removed my senses from her body and opened my eyes again.

"Impressive as always." Said Karen and looked at me with a smile. "All done?"

"Yes." I answered as I stepped away from the sofa. "The back should be fine now."

Nahia turned her head to look at me with a wide smile. "That was awesome!" Glancing over at Karen, she added. "I'm a believer now... though I still don't understand how that can be done by only touching the back."

Karen laughed. "You and many others! Can you stand up?"

Nahia carefully tested her back by moving her hips from side to side, creating an enticing sight, before she swung her bikini-clad body over the edge of the sofa and stood up. "Yeah... My back a bit sore, but not more than I can play."

At the same time, Zena and Cyra came running into the tent, eagerly signalling the two bikini-clad women to come.

"Game time." Said Karen with a smile and gave me a quick hug. "Thanks Ivan."

As soon as she let go, Nahia stepped in and gave me a hug as well. Her body was still hot from the orgasm, and I could feel the lust emanating from her, sending small waves of desire through me and giving me a hard on. Feeling it, she hugged just a little bit harder and then stepped back.

"Thanks a lot." She said with a wink.

"You're welcome. Now go out and win."

She nodded and left the tent along with Karen.

Needing some air to cool me down, I said goodbye to the twins, took my bag and went for a walk.

------------------

Compared the beach, the streets were cooler, and I enjoyed the smell of fruits coming from the many small stands along the road.

One of them caught my eyes, mostly because I recognized the tenganuts that was stacked in front of it. It didn't take me long to find out that they were now called coconuts, but by then I had discovered that the stall had both dates and pine nuts.

That gave me a sudden craving for stuffed dates, so I bought both pine nuts and dates and went searching for the rest of the ingredients in the marked where Alice had shopped a few days before.

That turned out to be a great idea because the place had just about everything. In fact, it reminded me of one of the ancient marketplaces and I enjoyed walking around, looking at the wares, while reading their names and connecting them to the mental images in my head.

It was highly needed, since the fruit and berries had been cultivated a lot over the last two thousand years and few of them looked like the ones I knew from the past. Added to that, there were lots of fruits and berries that was totally new to me.

Going from stall to stall, I bought a few of each fruit, smelling and tasting them as I walked through the marked. Since I was going to make stuffed dates anyway, I decided that I might as well make dinner for all of us, so on my way I also brought some meat, melons, honey, grape juice, parsley and vinegar.

The fish sauce took a bit longer to locate, since I didn't know what it was called now, but I did manage to get some, after asking for it in a shop. I even managed to get some leather strips, so I could replace the ones time had rotten away on my scabbards.

Then I walked back to the beach and watched the rest of the games.

--------------------

When we came home, the women found the hammocks and lay down to relax, but it didn't take long before they were sound asleep. They looked so cute I considered doing some sketches, but then remembered Rita's camera, which would do the job a lot faster, giving me time to prepare the food. Finding the camera wasn't a problem, but there had to be a secret to it I didn't know, because when I tried to take a picture, the camera wouldn't start.

"Techno-magic." I mumbled to myself and reached out with my mind to the Twins. "< Girls, I need your help, because I'm an idiot with technology. Can you start a camera? >"

There was a disbelieving silence and then Cyra answered with a mental laugh. "< Yeah. Press the 'on' button. >

"< I already did. Nothing happens >"

Zena giggled in my head "< We'll be right there >"

As it turned out, the camera had run out of battery, so Cyra found Rita's spare battery, inserted it and turned the camera on. "< Here you go >"

"< Naaah. Since you already got the camera to work, just take the pictures >" I sent with a smile and leaned against the wall to watch, while they took the pictures. Then they gave me the camera, so I could take some pictures of them, making silly poses with the sleeping women.

"< That was fun >" commented Zena when we had placed the camera back in its bag.

Cyra looked me. "< Ivan, we have a question: Do you think we can use mental powers, like the Inquisitor in the story? I mean, we can mind-talk, but can we do more than that? >"

It was clearly something they had been talking about, but unfortunately, answering the question wasn't easy. "I honestly don't know, but if you really want to find out, I'll give it a try after I have started the food."

They both lit up in huge smiles and nodded.

In the kitchen, I placed a pot on the stove and poured half the grape juice in it, followed by two big spoons of honey. Since the grape juice needed time to reduce, I walked back to the table and sat down. The Twins were looking at me, eager to get started.

As I didn't have a Judex, there wasn't any fast and easy way to do it, but I remembered the mental exercises I had been doing in Schola Mentalis, when I had been around their age.

The exercises were designed to make any Mentat better in many different areas of the Ars Mentalis, but they would also give me a hint of the girls' abilities, since it was impossible to do them, if you didn't have the mental aptitude in that field.

Studying the Twins carefully with both eyes and mind, I ran them through the exercises, starting with those related to telepathy, since they could already mind-talk.

As it turned out, they were both quite gifted with telepathy and since that belonged to the Arte ex Alterationis (Baylon: Field of Alteration), I moved on to telekinesis, which belonged to the same field.

The difference between Baylon minds and human minds became strikingly apparent, when none of the girls had any aptitude with telekinesis, as far as I could see.

That made me throw out my plan of trying to follow the Baylon way of doing Ars Mentalis. Instead, I simply went with the old trial and error techniques and ran them through a lot of different mental exercises to see what they could do.

They showed aptitude for just about anything connected with Telepathy and the sending of thoughts, which included several Ars Mentalis attack fields. Something I didn't feel that the twins were ready for yet.

Fortunately, they also showed aptitude for more helpful fields, like Mentis Disciplinae (Baylon: Mental Discipline) and Scientiam (Baylon: 'Knowledge').

The Mentis Disciplinae techniques included the creation of a Mind Shield, so other Mentats had a harder time detecting and affecting them. Since there had to be others like them out there, they needed to learn that to be able to defend their minds.

The Scientiam techniques were even more useful, as they enhanced the mind's ability to absorb and retrieve knowledge and it would be immensely useful in their education. Just as it had been in mine.

The rest of the exercises didn't show any aptitudes in other fields, but that didn't mean the Twins couldn't develop into those fields when they grew older, though most Baylons would have shown signs of it at the age they had now.

On the other hand, that they were extremely gifted with Telepathy worried me. When the ability to send thoughts was strong enough, you could impose your will on others, making them do things. I have always been able to do that, but the difference between the Twins and I, was that my mother had been just as strong willed as I am, making it impossible for me to use it on her.

The Twins on the other hand were not as lucky and when or if they learned to use that ability, they could develop into some unpleasant persons. Small tyrants, that always got their will.

Unfortunately, short of implanting a mental command, I had no idea how to prevent that, as I couldn't be around them all the time, unless... I smiled to myself as an idea struck me. I could use the story as a way of stressing the importance of restraint. As a Baylon virtue, it was already in the story, and it wouldn't take much to stress the importance of it.

"< So we can only do... eh... telepathy? >" asked Zena, with a facial expression and mental tone of voice, that indicated she had been hoping for a lot more.

I went to mental communication since that eliminated the chance of being overheard. "< Only? What do you mean? >"

"< Well... we can do mind-talk and that's it >"

That comment reminded me, that I was talking with persons that knew as little about Ars Mentalis, as I knew about cameras.

"< Honey, telepathy is not just mind-talk. It's a field with many other techniques >" I sent with a reassuring smile. "< I'll show you how to do some of them >"

Cyra smiled widely. "< Now? >

"< Yeah... Just don't expect much right now. You're still beginners >" I sent. "< The most useful techniques right now are a Mind Shield and some Knowledge tricks. Especially the last one, as you can do them on a daily basis. >"

That made the Twins light up in smiles, so I showed them some exercises that they could use together, since that seemed to be the way they liked it. "< You'll need to focus more than you're used to, so hold each other's hand, while doing the exercise. The physical contact will make it easier for you >"

Cyra smiled, took Zena's hand, and started the exercises.

That left me with some time to spare, so when they had shown that they understood how to do it, I walked out to the grill. It took me a while to get it started, but eventually I got it going and walked back to the kitchen.

Seeing that the Twins were still following the instructions, I chopped the pine nuts and parsley, before I started to slice the dates halfway along their longer axis, so I could fill them with the chopped pine nuts later.

I had only made a few, when Cyra asked. "< Do you want any help with that? >"

Along with the mental question there was an impression of me being slow to cut the dates.

Deciding that they could use a break from the mental exercises, I nodded "< Sure >"

"< Cut the dates lengthwise and fill them with nuts, right? >" asked Zena as they both walked over to me.

"< Exactly right >" I answered and took a step back, so they had room to work.

Both looked at the knife I had been using, suppressed a smile, picked two smaller knives from the rack on the wall and went to work.

It soon became apparent that they were no novices in a kitchen, as the dates were slices and filled in record time. Much faster than I could have done.

"You girls are really good." I commented with a smile.

"< At home we cook several times a week >" Sent Zena, as she expertly sliced a date and sent it on to Cyra, who filled it with the chopped pine nuts and placed it on a plate, while she added "< Yeah and we always help mom and Alejandra when they cook >"

"< Who's Alejandra? >" I asked mentally.

"< Oh... She's our nanny and housekeeper >" explained Cyra. "< She's been with us for years, while mom was working >"

Along with the thoughts came a mind-image of a smiling slightly plum dark-haired woman.

Since Alice haven't said anything about working, that made me curious. "< What did she do? >"

"< A lot >" Cyra answered with pride "< She have worked as waitress, dancer, cook and volleyball coach... oh, she also works as a model for a magazine that sells clothes to tall people >"

"< Cyra! We're not supposed to tell people that! >" Protested Zena, while I wondered what a model did in this century. I doubted that they posed for painters or sculptures.

"< Ivan is not 'people' >" answered Cyra calmly.

"< Why aren't you supposed to tell that? >" I asked before an argument could break out.

"< She wants people to see her as sportswoman and not a model >" Explained Cyra and along with the thoughts came a series of mind-images of Alice, dressed in different clothes. She looked fantastic as usual.

"< Well, I won't tell anyone then >" I said with a mental chuckle and realized that both girls were looking at me and not the food.

"Done already?"

They both nodded and Cyra sent. "< Yeah... It's not like it's complicated... unlike the mental exercises you had us doing... They were really hard >"

"< As everything else, it gets easier with practice >"

"< Cool >" sent Zena and then added. "< Can you do more than we can? >"

"< Yes, but I'm also a lot older than you are and have much more practice >"

"< Can you show us something? >" asked Cyra and looked pleadingly at me.

"< I guess that is fair. Harden your minds, please. I might as well test your mind-shields, while I'm at it. Nod, when you're ready >"

They looked concentrated for a moment and then nodded.

Reaching out with my mind, I gently tested their shields. As with most beginners, the shields weren't focused enough, but it was a good effort.

"< You're impressive for beginners, >" I told them both. "< Keep training that and nobody will be able to do this >"

As I finished the thought, I started to project amusement into them. At first, their shields held, but after a few heartbeats, the shields crumbled and they both started to smile, as if I had tickled them.

I kept it going for a little longer before I stopped. "See what I mean?"

"< Yeah, that was awesome... and funny >" replied Cyra with a silent grin. "< I can't stop smiling >"

"< It's the same for me >" sent Zena "< Was that telepathy? >"

"< Not really, but it's related to that >"

"< Can we do it? >" Zena wanted to know. From her unspoken thoughts, I got the feeling that she wasn't talking about now, but at some later point in time.

I thought it over. Since I was born with it, the ability to project emotions was not a learned ability for me, and since they were the first humans I had met that could do telepathy, I had no idea when or if they would be able to send emotions instead of thoughts.

"< To be honest, I don't know, but only time can tell >" I sent. "< And now the two of you need to go through the exercises one more time, while I continue with the food. >"

They both nodded and walked back to the table. A moment later, they were concentrating again.

I turned around and checked on the grape juice. It wasn't quite there yet, so instead I poured some red wine into a pan, added honey and the stuffed dates and got it to a boil, before I sprinkled some salt over them and reduced the heat to the lowest possible.

The well-known aroma made me smile.

Dates stuffed with pine nuts had been a favourite of mine for as long as I could remember, and I looked forward to tasting it again. It was the only sweet dish I had ever learned how to make and that was mainly because it had been impossible to get outside Baylon, so if I wanted it, I had to make it myself.

That didn't stop me from teaching it to every cook I had encountered over the years, and it had actually been a great hit in Rome, where it had been known as Dulcia Domestica.

Seeing the Twins were starting to look tired, I stopped their exercise and had them dice the honey melon along with half the watermelon.

By then the dates were done, so I placed them in a bowl, where they could cool off.

"< Done >" reported Cyra. "< Shall we wake up mom and the others? >"

I took a quick look out of the kitchen window. Judging from the setting sun, they had been asleep for almost two hours.

"< Yes, please do that. Dinner is ready to be served in...>" I almost said, 'a glass', but managed to finish with, "< half an hour >"

"< Cool >"

The grape juice had reduced enough, so I added the diced melon to it along with the parsley, some salt and pepper, a dash of vinegar and a couple of tablespoons of the fish sauce.