A Long Time from Home Ch. 27

Author's notes:

Happy winter solstice and merry Christmas

I've been busy and the holidays are coming, so my initial plan of posting a chapter once per week might not succeed. Sorry about that.

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :)

That being said, I run everything I make through a text editor (Word) as well as reading it through several times. Now, being a non-native English speaker, that mean that there will be errors I wont catch no matter how many times I read it. Sorry about that and I hope for editor to show up at some point and give me a much needed hand.

P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 27 -- Flashback: Taking the initiative

Baylon Empire, ca. 1219 BCE

After Varro and I had delivered our report, he was checked into a hospital to have his arm reattached, and I had a few weeks on my own.

I would have visited my parents if I could, but they were still in Kemet, so that was out of the question. I also didn't want to go back to Arcem Discendi just yet, leaving me with an odd feeling of having nowhere to go. Everything I owned was either at Arcem or at my parent's house, and while I knew they wouldn't mind me sleeping in my old room, I had been away for so many years, that I felt like a visitor when I was there.

Instead, I had a mage gate me to the capitol. Last time I had been there, I hadn't taken the time to really enjoy the sights and it had been my intention to do it this time, but I hadn't taken the Disease into account, or rather the amount of damage insane mages had done to the city.

The outer circle, where my parents' house was located, was relatively unharmed, which I guessed was due to the relative few mages that had been living there, but when I came to the merchant and mage quarters, many of the buildings were heavily damaged. The damage also extended to the parks and many of them looked like a giant tornado had gone through them.

Several of the bridges were missing, forcing me to take several detours as I made my way towards the trade quarter, with its many small shops and cafés.

The area was in better shape than I had feared, as the damage was concentrated around the main road through the quarter, leaving the side streets alone and while most of the main street was closed off for repairs, the side streets were almost as busy as the last time I was here.

That cheered me up for a while until I realised, that before the Disease the popular shops on the main street were responsible for at least two thirds of the trading and that the side streets weren't more crowded now, was because the capitol had lost almost two thirds on the inhabitants in the first turbulent months after the Disease had arrived.

Naturally, that also meant fewer people walking in the parks and the amount of houses that were for sale was staggering. Buying a house in the capitol used to be a rare occasion, that only well-to-do families could afford. That the city was divided up in rings depending on the family's social rank and occupation, didn't make it easier.

As an example, you had to be a registered merchant to buy a house on the ring that contained the merchant quarter, and to buy a house on the Mage Ring, you had to be a Mage. While some found these laws restrictive, it worked both ways. Nobles couldn't just buy houses on the Merchant and Trade Ring, unless they personally had a shop there, and Mages couldn't buy a house in the Crafters Quarter on the Outer Ring, unless they were actively crafting something.

There were special cases, but that was the general principle, and it didn't take genius to figure out, that with all the deaths, there were many more houses for sale, than there were people buying them. Especially since the Disease had hit the cities hard and those living in the countryside wasn't keen on moving to any city before it was considered safe again.

It suddenly dawned on me, that if I ever were to get a house, now was the time to find and buy ones, since they had to be relatively cheap now.

I also had lots of money. Mostly because I was either at my parents' house or at Arcem when I was not on a mission, and I had been so busy, that I never had time to use the money I earned.

Liking the idea of having my own house, I found a café overlooking a park and sat down on the outdoor terrace with a glass of cider to relax a little and make a wish list of the things I wanted a house to have, for it to be perfect.

That didn't take long. I wasn't really used to luxury, at least not by Baylon standards, and what I really wanted was some of the things my parents' house had, like a bath with both hot and cold water, a nice garden to relax and train in, and room enough for servants. That last part was mostly due to me not really wanting to do housework in my spare time and after having been living either at home or at a training castle, I had never really learned how to cook, so a cook would be needed.

With a chuckle, I drank the last of my cider and left the café. Instead of making lists, it was a lot easier to just visit a real estate merchant and see what they had.

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Finding a real estate merchant took longer than I had thought it would. There was so little trade in houses, that most of it was done privately, causing most of the real estate merchants to close their business and try other venues in order to earn money.

However, when I mentioned it to Varro when I visited him at the hospital, he gave me the name of a merchant, who apparently knew just about everybody and could arrange for me to meet some of the people, who were looking to sell their houses.

To my amazement I knew one of them, as it was Lucia Evander Ultes, the guard I had meet, and subsequently had sex with, in Dilmun. As she told me at the time, she was related to Ambassador Ultes and it was the Ambassadors house she was selling on behalf of the family. The Disease had hit them hard, and they had more houses than they knew what to do with, so now they were selling some of them.

The Ambassadors house was smaller than I had expected for a high-ranking official, but the Ultes family had several other, and larger, houses in the city and as Ambassador Ultes had used most of her time in the human world, she hadn't needed that much room.

That was perfect for me, as I was in the exact same situation and the house not only had a pool with both hot and cold water, but also a garden to relax or train in, a master bedroom with a very large bed, and rooms for guests, as well as a few servants.

On top of that, the house was decorated with items from the Ambassadors postings, and many of those was easily recognizable to me, as I had been in the same places. The house even came equipped with runes for cleaning, heating, chilling, lights, soundproofing and just about everything else, that would make life more comfortable. It even had a small magical forge, as the Ambassadors first husband had been a crafter from Ordo Architectus.

The biggest surprise was the price. I had expected a house like that to be worth a lot of money, and before the Disease it certainly would have been way more expensive than I could afford, but now it only cost me a little more than half of my savings. Granted, with all the money I had made from trading, the gold I had received from Ramesses the Great, and years of unspent salaries from both Ordo Gladius and the Securitas, it was still a considerable sum of money, but it was only a fifth of what such a house would have been worth before.

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Half a year later, I had just returned to the house from a mission and was relaxing in the garden, when I got a long-distance communication from Varro and after the usual catching-up, he said, "< Ivah, I need a favour >"

His mental tone of voice told me it was serious, so I just sent. "< Do tell >"

"< Could you spend some time with Sabia Lartius? Loosing most of her power have really taken its toll on her and she could use someone to talk with that isn't part of the family... Especially now that Laura have gotten her kids back and doesn't have as much time to talk as she used to >"

I sighed. After having spent half a year hunting insane mage in the southern part of Baylon along with the Dragon Riders, a group of mounted knights riding the magical constructs known as Dragons, I was more than ready for two weeks of vacation. On the other hand, Varro sounded so worried, that it was hard for me to say no.

"< Well, good that they got the kids out, but why me? She must know lots of people >"

"< Because she asked for you. Everybody here knows her from before and she wants to talk with someone who doesn't >"

"< That's understandable >" I thought it over. "< I have some time off now. She can come here for some days to relax and think of something else for a change. Just make sure, that she has practical shoes and clothes with her >"

Varro didn't ask why, but simply said, "< Thank you. When can she arrive? >"

"< As soon as she can. I'm just relaxing here >"

"< She'll be there in a glass or so >"

"< Perfect >"

True to Varro's words, Sabia Lartius arrived within a glass along with two armsmen, and like the last time I saw her, the first thing I noticed was her strikingly blue eyes, which was a huge contrast to the black skin.

This time she had her long white hair set up in a ponytail, showing off her elegant neck. As I had asked Varro, she was in a practical knee-length dress. That it also showed off her curvy body was a bonus I was more than happy to accept.

However, despite her obvious beauty, I sensed that she was mentally exhausted and needed a serious break from whatever she had been doing so far.

"Welcome to my home." I greeted her and nodded to the two guards. Their duty done, they nodded back and walked away.

"Hello again, Ivah." Sabia said with a smile. "I didn't know you lived in Ambassador Ultes old house."

"Well, I wanted a house, and it was for sale." I said and walked her inside. "Have you been here before?"

"Several times. The Ambassador wasn't at home much, but when she was, she liked to be social."

"Excellent, then you can give me a hand with redecorating this place." I stated. "I haven't had time to do anything with the house, so its standing like it did when the Ambassador owned it and I want to change that."

That made her raise an eyebrow. "You want me to help you with that?"

I nodded. "Yes. I'm honestly not good at putting furniture and other stuff into a room and make it look like a home. Besides that, Varro said, that you wanted to talk and it's easier to talk when there's something to do. Otherwise, it quickly becomes awkward." Looking at her, I added. "I hope you don't have something better to do."

"No... It's just unexpected." She said with a chuckle. "But I'll be happy to help."

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Redecorating the house took almost a week. Mostly because I didn't have any servants yet and refused to use Ars Mentalis to move anything, so the two of us had to move the things and clean the rooms ourselves. Sabia didn't seem to mind, and we talked a lot, while we moved stuff from one room to another. Mostly about the redecorating the house, so that the main features were kept, but with enough changes to make it mine.

However, as the days went by, she started to talk about how she felt about the loss of her powers, her family's reaction to that, and how she was tired of everybody tiptoeing around her, afraid to say anything that might remind her about the trauma she had been through.

While trying to shield her was a natural reaction from the people that cared about her, it wasn't a healthy way to deal with mental traumas and I wondered why the family haven't sent her to a mind-healer, but on the other hand, I doubted that Sabia was ready to have anyone look into her mind just yet.

On the bonus side, my plan seemed to work well so far. With all the physical labour we did, Sabia was tired enough to sleep at night instead of laying awake thinking and when the end of the week arrived, she looked a lot less haunted than when she arrived.

I had made sure, that the food we had gotten during the week had been tasty, but simple, nutritious, and filling, but since we were more or less done with the redecorating, I felt that we needed to celebrate it. So when it was dinner time, I called off the work and after we had bathed and put on some other clothes, we found a nice restaurant and had our dinner there, sharing a bottle or two of red wine. The meal was excellent, the wine made her talkative and we stayed for almost six glass, before she started to yawn.

That signaled the end of the evening and we had a nice stroll through the city, before we reached my house where we went to separate beds. Not that I haven't toyed with the idea of seducing her, but it just didn't seem like the right thing to do. Not right now at least.

On the other hand, I wasn't ready to go to bed just yet, so when I thought she had fallen asleep, I walked into the garden with a cup of tea and a drawing pad for some hours of relaxation.

I had just finished a drawing when the sound of soft footsteps told me that she was awake.

Looking up, I studied her as she entered the garden, carrying a cup of tea in one hand. The hair was slightly messy from sleeping and she was dressed only in a thin white cotton dress, that clang to her body as she moved, showing off her curves.

The dress was thin enough to reveal that she had nothing on beneath except a pair of silk panties and her dark red nipples poked out against the cloth from a pair of good-sized and almost perfectly round tits.

The sight made me smile in appreciation.

She smiled back, showing her impossible white teeth against the black skin. "Yes, I know I look like a mess. I always do when I have been sleeping."

"Oh. I was smiling because you look both lovely and sexy." I said truthfully. "Not because you look like a mess."

Sabia glanced down on the ring on her right hand for a second, but then looked at me with an expression of surprise on her face. "Even without power?"

That made me snort. "I couldn't care less about power. You're sexy as well as beautiful and that's the end of that."

Again, the look to her hand, and I realized that the ring was most likely a magical item, that detected if people were lying to her. While that was normally a useful and helpful item, I couldn't think of a worse item to wear in her condition.

People tend to lie a little to comfort a person that had suffered. Sentences like 'You look great' or 'No worries, you'll find something else to do.' was not always completely truthful and for Sabia, it must have felt like people were lying to her all the time. Especially since such items and powers couldn't differ between a white lie, designed to make a person feel better, and an outright harmful lie.

Looking like she considered something, Sabia kept walking until she reached the table I was sitting by. Placing the cup of tea on the table, she looked at me, blue eyes sparkling. "Was that why you decided to give me pleasure instead of pain when you revived me in Sybaris?"

Slightly surprised that Varro have told her that she had been dead, I shook my head. "Not really. At least not as a conscious thought. The idea of using pain only came to me when I explained to Varro what I had done."

With a chuckle, she said, "It would had been so easy to say 'yes', wouldn't it? But then again, you and Decimus are the only ones that doesn't lie to me."

"Makes sense." I said. "We're educated the same place and taught not to lie, since a lot of mages and mentats can detect lies, so telling a version of the truth becomes a habit."

She lifted her eyebrows. "A version of the truth?"

"Yes. There're no reason to tell everybody everything all the time." I drank from the cup. "And you should let go of that ring. People will tell you white lies, so they don't risk hurting your feelings, but it just detects as a lie, and people who care about you will." I stressed the word. "lie to you in order to protect you from a harsh truth. However, their intentions are not wicked, and they do it for you."

Sabia sighed. "I know... It's just so useful."

I shook my head. "No. Right now it's hurtful and do you more harm than good. So, take it off until you're in a better state of mind."

"I'll take it off tomorrow then." She agreed. "I'll need it tonight."

I almost asked 'For what?' but caught myself. We weren't going anywhere, so it could only be for something she was going to ask me. "That's fair. What's your question?"

Sabia hesitated for a moment, but then asked. "Have you ever been with a woman without powers?"

"Yes." I sent her a grin. "Many times."

She widened her eyes in surprise but smiled a little. "That's unusual. What do you mean by many times?"

"Well, are you asking about how many times or how many different women?"

"Both, I guess." She said after a moment of hesitation.

I thought it over, pleasant memories flashing through my head. The most prominent being the maids at Arcem, Jia, Jia's sister Hao, Xue the Handmaiden, Shava, Vibhrama, Sevina the Cook, Nofret the Kemetian acolyte of Bastet, Xanthe of Azzi and Muza from Wilusa. "I'm not totally sure, but at least ten different women... which, now that I think about it, is almost twice as many as the number of Baylon women I have been with."

"Kinky." Sabia said with a giggle.

"Not really. I like women and have spent a lot of time in the human world." I shrugged. "It's more a matter of opportunity, than preference."

"So, what do you actually prefer?" She asked calmly.

"Beautiful, smart and independent women, who enter my bed willingly." I replied and stood to place the drawing pad on the table. "Baylon or human, light skinned or dark skinned, power or no power. I don't care as long as I find them desirable." Reaching out, I gently ran my fingers over her chin and down the soft skin of her neck. "Like you."

A quick intake of breath, coupled with a spike of desire, told me that I haven't read her wrong. The whole reason for the keeping the truth-ring on, was to determine if I was willing to go to bed with someone that had lost their power.

Had she been human, I would have told her to just look in a mirror, but as many Baylons found the mental connection to be the most important part of sharing pleasure, her worries were quite real and understandable.

I didn't have any such reservations and when my fingers had travelled to the back of her neck, I pulled her close, enjoying the feel of her shapely body against mine.

Sabia shivered and put her arms around my neck, pulling me in for a kiss. It seemed like her former hesitation had gone, and a shiver ran down my body as her full lips pressed against mine. The lips were wonderfully soft, but the kiss itself was firm and as we kissed, she leaned against me, almost purring when she felt my rapidly growing erection.

Letting go of her neck, I slid my hands around her waist and returned her embrace, pressing her a little harder against me.