Akila and Leya

Akila wakes up late in the morning to the sound of Blue Tipped Indivars chirping in the canopy. Her head is groggy and her vision blurred. It takes her a moment to notice Leya smothered under her breasts. When she pushes herself up off him he rises with her. His sleeping body sticks to her for a moment before his back moistly peels off her abdomen and he falls back onto the bedroll. She sits up on her knees. Wiping the sleep from her eyes she looks down at him, his entire body covered in her damp, tacky cum and her limp cock sleeping lazily between his butt cheeks.

She thinks about waking him but decided against it. He needs the rest more than she does. She leaves the tent to wash up in the river and make breakfast.

Leya wakes up to the smell of cooking pork. He crawls up to the tent flap and peeks out.

"Morning, lazy. Sleep well enough?"

"Y-yeah, I did..."

"Me too." Akila winks coyly. "Go wash up in the river I'll finish cooking breakfast, we don't have too long to stay."

Leya desperately wants to talk about last night but can't seem to find the words to broach the subject. It feels almost like a dream.

He exits the tent and tries to stand up but his legs wobble beneath him and he collapses to his knees.

"Are your legs too weak to stand?"

"Yeah..."

"That's not surprising, you must not have eaten for two or three days now and last night was.... draining."

"....I really liked last night." Leya struggles to find words to truly convey how he feels about what happened but the experience was so wholly unique to him he can't seem to express it properly.

Akila walks over to him and helps him up.

"I liked last night too." She says warmly as she walks him over to the river. She places him in the cool water and helps him bathe himself, washing off the remnants of last nights sexual debauchery.

The water has a restorative effect on him and he regains enough strength to walk on his own. He wraps himself up in a blanket and they sit by the campfire eating the cooked saltpork.

"Hopefully this gives you enough strength to make the hike back to town. Otherwise I might have to carry you."

"I'm really worried about what will happen when we get there. And what I'm going to wear in the hike."

"You have nothing to worry about, Leya. Nothing will happen, I will make sure of it. And I'm going to cut that blanket your wearing into a poncho. It won't be pretty but.... you don't need any extra help being pretty, do you?" Akila teases and Leya blushes. A familiar back and forth.

"Thank you, Akila. You're.... I think you're amazing."

"Are you the one teasing me now?"

"No! I mean it!"

"Good, because if you were I might have to take you back into that tent and teach you a lesson." Leyas cheeks blush brightly and he looks away hiding a beaming smile across his face.

After they eat Akila packs up camp and they head out in the long hike to Til'Amin. During the hike Akila can't help but notice that Leya seems to be in high spirits, almost chipper, even. Every time she looks back to check on him she sees him gazing back at her with an adoring smile on his face.

'All he needed was a little loving and hes as bright as a sunbeam.' Akila shakes her head and laughs to herself.

The mood is high for the majority of the trip but begins to diminish as the surroundings become more and more familiar to Leya. As they get closer to Til'Amin anxiety builds in his chest. Once they reach the outskirts Akila notices his distress.

"Here." she says reaching her hand out towards him.

"Take my hand, we will go in together. I won't let anybody harm you, Leya."

Akila Taps the sword sheathed on her hip

"Even if they try."

Leya grabs Akilas hand and they walk into the village.

As they walk up the main road towards the village center The townsfolk peer out from their windows and doors looking up from their porches and gardens at the pair walking into town.

"Hey! It's the rat! Somebody caught the rat!" A young voice calls out from a window.

Leya squeezes Akilas hand tightly.

People begin to walk towards them and form a crowd. Akila keeps walking towards the center of town.

"It is the rat! Where'd you find it?" A young boy asks, Akila remains silent. The crowd gets tighter around them and begins to taunt Leya.

"The pigs are going to have a feast tonight. Caelyrion stew! Aha-haa-ha-ha!"

"You drown rats but you stick Caelyrions, what are we to do with him?

"We drown him and stick him!"

Akila is not entirely surprised by the violent, inhumane jeers. This part of Sumanita has suffered greatly during the Caelyrion campaigns, being near the border of the two nations. She thinks Leya likely save his own life leaving when he did. This was probably inevitable.

A stocky, rotund man waddles out from the crowd towards Akila. He has a bandage wrapped around his hand. Akila pulls Leya behind her for safety.

"Aaah, fine lady, what a prize you've brought us today! This little rat stole our food and tried to slit my throat then stole away into the dead of night! We are glad to have him back."

"I highly doubt that happened." Akila responds curtly.

"Doubt it all you want, it's the truth. What a fine Caelyrion payment for all the years of hospitality we showed it."

He looks behind Akila at Leya. "I'm going to take my time with you, boy." He threatens.

"That's strange, this town doesn't seem to be very hospitable so far."

"It is to Sumanitians!" A broad shouldered woman shouts from the crowd.

"And not to thieves and cutthroats!" The rotund man agrees "Now, if you'll just hand the lad to me I'm sure we can scrounge up a fair ratcatchers fee for you."

He walks forward and reaches behind Akila to grab Leya. Akila sticks her hand out and shoves him firmly in the chest. He stumbles backwards and is caught by the crowd.

"Nobody is going to lay a finger on him. He is in my care and will remain so."

The crowd erupts in a mixture of laughter and jeering.

"W-what?!" The rotund man exclaims incredulously. "He's a thief and an attempted murderer! We have a right to see justice!"

"This is not justice."

"And who are you to tell us what is and what isn't, huh!?"

Akila pulls out a signet ring from her pack and places it on her finger. A twisting combination of Damascus silver and pure gold glitter in the sun. The flat top bears the royal insignia of the Emperor of Sumanita. The rotund man is mesmerized by it.

"I am Akila Solamin, Sewseti, Conqueror of the White Plains, Slayer of Kaeden Ylian, Champion of Sumanita and Heir to the Cracked Throne."

Gasps spread across the crowd and then quickly fall silent. Akira looks back at Leya and sees his face looking up at her in stunned awe. She grins wryly at him before returning her attention to the rotund man staring at her ring.

"You are going to make us some hot stew. Then you are going to bring my companion here some warm, clean clothes. Do you understand?"

"Y-y-y-yes."

"We are going to rest in the tavern. Alone. You will bring us the stew and the clothes there. There will be a horse waiting outside for us when we are finished. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes, my P� tra." He says with respect and fear.

"Where is the inkeeper?"

"Right here, my P� tra!" A stout older woman rushes up to Akila from the crowd. She takes a small pile of silver coins from her bag and give it to the old woman.

"This will cover the expenses."

"Of course, my P� tra. Let me show you to the tavern right away." The old woman shoos the crowd away as she walks up the street making room for Akila and Leya to follow.

They sit in the empty, silent tavern. Akila wolfs down her stew hungrily. Leya, in his fresh clothes, stares at her in wonder.

"Akila.....Solamin? You're....Akila Solamin?!"

"So, you've heard of me?" Akila responds smugly, leaning back in her chair with an arrogant swagger.

"But why did you tell me you were a hunter?"

"Well, I was hunting, just not shival stags and kalain. I was tracking three escaped Caelyrion fugitives. Considering you were a Caelyrion fugitive yourself I think I made the right choice keeping it from you. Who knows how you would have reacted."

"You're probably right..." Leya concedes. "You weren't actually bit by anything were you?"

"Only an arrow. With a poisoned tip."

"You're a Sewseti... and your name is Akila... I can't believe I didn't reali-" Akila puts her hand on Leyas.

"Enough talk. Eat up. I don't want to stay here long, Leya." He obliges and soon Akila is pulling Leya up onto the horse that was tied up outside. Leya wraps her arms tightly around Akilas waist and rests his cheek on her back.

"Where are we going?"

"To Armath, hold on tight!"

Akila snaps the reigns and the horse rears up, neighing wildly before galloping off. Leya looks at the shabby town and the people in it as they ride past. The only place he has ever known. He watches it get smaller and smaller in the distance until it disappears from sight entirely. He turns his head to look forward and sees the orange glow of the setting sun highlighting the huge expanse of the horizon. He smiles brightly and a tear falls down his cheek, quickly dried by the wind.