Drow's Dilemma Ep. 139: Wivesmoot

Author's Note:

A Drow's Dilemma began as a one-on-one roleplaying project and has been converted into a chapter-by-chapter format for weekly posting with the permission and assistance from my partner. It will contain a considerable amount of sexual themes such as femdom, lesbian, straight, 'reverse' rape, BDSM, group sex, romance, and other themes. The main goal of the story, however, is to tell an epic tale of adventures, gods and goddesses, fae, and nymphomaniacs. This episode and every episode to come will be available for free on Literotica for the foreseeable future. All characters that engage in sexual or suggestive situations are mentally and sexually mature: the human equivalent of 18 for their race.

*****

Episode 139: Wivesmoot

Dahlia was in the atrium below Fedwyn's - Birchborn's - laboratory. The monastery still hadn't settled completely; Dahlia would have been completely lost if she had put her anchor in the courtyard. Lost, or forced to walk a couple of miles to find where her tower had decided to put itself this time. Luckily, Fedwyn had agreed to let Dahlia put an anchor in what amounted to her front room.

"Fedwyn? Can you hear me?" Dahlia asked the room.

The Archmage did not immediately answer. Instead, an outline of a shapely, nude woman in silvery light around an unmoving background of a sea of stars manifested in the air. -Mother is upstairs,- Vinya stated softly. -She will allow you to ascend to her.-

The outline of the young goddess blinked away.

Dahlia raised her eyebrows. She did not know the newborn goddess well at all. Or Fedwyn, for that matter. It was interesting that the small archmage was being called 'Mother' by a goddess. Made sense, though. As she began the ascent to the lab, Dahlia idly wondered if Vinya called Caleldir 'father.'

The stairway ended in a vast, gloomy room. A room that was larger than there was room for in the tower it was situated in. Strange machines magical and mechanical hummed and whirred in the dim distances.

Fedwyn Birchborn stood at a console rapidly typing away, her green eyes darting across the readings in front of her. Vinya, in her proper form of silvery starlight and nude but undetailed, floated behind and above Fedwyn in a curled, seemingly sleeping posture.

"Welcome, Dahlia," Fedwyn said without looking up. "I see my mother has let her dress codes go lax. I will go naked in your house, but in my tower, you should wear something. A sexy, revealing something if you like, but something." Fedwyn herself wore flatteringly cut and mildly exposing green robes with a leaf motif and an oversized pointy green hat. And those two articles of clothing only.

Dahlia smirked. Fedwyn's 'daughter' was permitted to bounce around the laboratory without a scrap of clothing. Dahlia just needed to amend the slight difference between Vinya and herself; she shifted slightly, smoothing away her nipples and the cleft between her legs.

Fedwyn looked from Vinya to Dahlia and back. She laughed. "I suppose that will do. Anyway, what brings such a distinguished guest to my humble laboratory?" Her words were teasing rather than mocking, but given that there was an Intermediate Deity she had personally created floating next to her, the ancient wizard's affectations of humility carried a warning behind them.

"I have come to invite you to what we are calling the 'wivesmoot.' It has become clear that we need to have formal arrangements when it comes to getting time with Caleldir," Dahlia responded with a put-upon sigh. "I thought, as a sign of good faith, I would hold the function above my boudoir that I have kept hidden until now."

"Your boudoir is in the Lower Leafstone Ruins," Birchborn stated. "I know the location."

Dahlia let out a sighing chuckle. She was sneaky, but not sneaky enough for the Archmage who was probably older and definitely more powerful than she was. Luckily, they didn't see each other as enemies. Otherwise, Dahlia would be worried.

"Anyway, I will certainly go to this 'Wifesmoot'," Fedwyn said with a sideways smile that made it look like she was plotting something. "Do you have any sort of structure that we are meeting in?"

"There is a large chamber higher up that we have not fitted out yet."

"The Snowmoss Hall," Fedwyn said in a nostalgic tone. "That will work. I should dust the place off. Hmm..." A crafty, close-lipped smile grew over her whole face. "I think that Snowmoss Hall will be a good place for my mother's new Heartroot. With my technology she improved during my curse, I think that we can create a proper tree-tower fusion on Mount Yggdrasil. As befitting its name."

"Hmm..." Dahlia hummed thoughtfully. "It would certainly go smoother if all the 'wives' are more or less in one place. Perhaps we should petition to move Duskhaven headquarters... with some permanent portals, it wouldn't be too inconvenient."

"Risa will do as I order her to," Fedwyn said simply. "And she IS Duskhaven Manor." The Archmage turned her glittering eyes directly onto the succubus. "You have gotten rather daring lately, Dahlia," she began pleasantly. "But it would behoove you to remember that, no matter how powerful you become, no matter how many succubi you have under your control, and even if my oversexed apprentice Rubella Silverwisp has fallen in love with you and will give you whatever you want: you now walk among Gods. And you are no goddess: even if you have the beauty of one." Fedwyn's tone was pleasant, but it was also clear that she was annoyed.

Dahlia gave her a neutral look. "My ambition is young," she admitted. "I have not yet reached the level of goddess. But I am in the process of creating god-tier offspring." She glanced at Vinya. "I do it a little more conventionally, though."

The Archmage shrugged. "Just be sure your reach does not exceed your grasp." She was silent for a moment, then stopped working on the console, leaning back with a sigh. "I will confer with my mother about setting up Snowmoss Hall for the meeting. We will bring Nirza and Faraia with us. And two new I.D.A. units. We will be there whenever this 'Wivesmoot' begins."

With that, Fedwyn stretched, hopped off of the stool she was standing on, and waved Dahlia away.

---

"Everyone is in the process of gathering. Would you like me to teleport you there?" Dahlia asked Ashyr in a soft tone.

The drow lifted Uriel and held him to her shoulder while her garments - her casual standard of a white tunic and tan trousers - readjusted over her breasts. "Yeah, I'm all set. Did you get all of us?"

"All of them and two new I.D.As, apparently," Dahlia confirmed. She took Ashyr's hand and a gentle handful of Bard's golden fur and the world shifted. Then Ashyr stared up at the half-ruined structure that clung and mingled with the side of a mountain. The stone it was build from was mostly marbled white and blue with pale blue and green roofs and accents. It was difficult to tell just how large the castle was, but it must have housed a moderate surface village judging by what she could see on the outside.

The valley that it looked over could support a city's worth of people, by Ashyr's estimation. The waterfalls that burst from various rock walls supplied dozens of streams that danced down into a large river that watered the fertile soil. Left unchecked for so long, there were only vague hints of farming done a millennia ago amidst the overgrowth. The gentle breeze smelled green. Like prosperity and health. It was wild and wonderful. Full of more potential than Ashyr could have dreamed of. Gazing across it almost felt like falling in love.

Bard yipped in unadulterated delight and tore off into some shrubbery that must have been part of a well-maintained garden at some point.

"Right over there is the meeting place," Dahlia said, pointing. "Snowmoss Hall."

Ashyr looked up. And up. And up. Her eye followed the ridge of the mountain until it reached the highest peak. On it was a small tower topped with a large dome. It reminded her of an impressive version of the greenhouses the richer merchants had on their estates. The drow squinted; clinging to the cracks and corners of the foggy glass was a pale green moss, giving it a snowy appearance - if the snow had been green, for whatever reason. There were signs of new construction across the whole tower, and it looked as if it was in better repair than the rest of the castle. It had all its windows, for one thing.

"You struck it rich..." Ashyr commented in awe. Just looking at the place, she felt a sort of... melancholy longing. A connection that she'd never really felt before. "I envy your seduction."

"You can always join us!" Dahlia said brightly.

"I can't be a succubus. Duskhaven can't have a succubus matron. Besides, I don't even think becoming one of you would be the right thing for me."

"I meant you can move in here. As you see, there is plenty of room. Naliira and Fedwyn are already setting things up for themselves," Dahlia laughed. "We'll talk about that soon. Come, Selene is already there, helping the nymphkin renovate if I am not mistaken."

"We'd better start walking if we're going to make it up there today," Ashyr commented.

"Oh, there are short-range teleportation circles inside that still work," Dahlia assured Ashyr. "I put my anchor here because the hub is just inside. And I like the view."

They walked inside what Ashyr assumed to be the old servant's door and into a room with many doors. She, Uriel, and Bard (who hesitantly pulled himself away from exploration) followed Dahlia through one of the doors marked by text Ashyr could not read. Then they were walking through a grand set of doors to an even grander hall.

Inside, Caleldir, Fedwyn, Faraia, Nirza, Naliira, Risa, and Selene all scurried around a strange device that seemed to be made of wood and marble interwoven organically with each other and with adamantine, gold, and mithril that glowed and pulsed like a living heart. Long tendrils, some made of wood, some made of living marble, all interwoven with adamantine, gold, and mithril, were emerging root-like from the Heart and burrowing into the marble floor below.

Overlooking the activity was a large table where Marigold - dressed in her overly sensual nun's habit and holding Iondae - sat with the permanently nude Alycyrl, Aster, and Mirjana watching the others busily working. Two I.D.A. crystalline eggs and their sixteen small backup crystals sat in the middle of the table.

"Hello, everyone," Ashyr greeted them as Dahlia jumped in to assist her master.

"Come, sit with us," Aster welcomed the drow with a sweet smile.

Ashyr gladly did as she was asked, then handed Uriel to Aster, who seemed eager to hold the other cute baby. "Er... what's going on. Is that... Naliira's tree?"

"Yes," Aster said happily. "She's moving here."

Ashyr looked around herself and was immediately distracted by the view of the valley below. She could see everything through the windows - they appeared frosted when she looked at them from the outside, but from here they were clear and let in the perfect amount of light. From the high vantage, Ashyr could see ruins of impressive buildings and even more of the infrastructure of an ancient ruined city. Beyond were layers upon layers of mountains that would make invasion by land difficult if not impossible. The Great Potential unexpectedly struck her heart and gave her a longing to live and protect that little valley for the rest of her life.

"How long until we sit down to talk?" Ashyr asked as she tore herself away from the view.

"We can start once Althaia is here," Alycyrl said. "I invited Abanonda, but she said that two of the seven Dark Nymphs is enough."

"Althaia is here!" the nymph paladin swept into the room, dressed in her usual simple white gown.

Fedwyn, dressed in her usual flattering green robe and large pointy hat (and nothing else, of course), stepped back from her console and clapped her hands. "That is everyone. Mother, is the Heart prepared for a rest?"

"Yes, dear," Naliira said. Cradling her daughter - resting enclosed in her pod - the ancient, white-gowned dryad settled into a chair on the opposite side of Aster at the round table where there were many empty seats around her. "We will have quite a bit left to do afterward."

Selene, wearing her usual embroidered robe and silver sandals, took her place between Marigold and Ashyr. The Duskhavens exchanged a brief, fond greeting before turning their attention to the table.

"Where's Ylene?" Ashyr asked.

"She's napping. She spent more than her fair share of time watching Iondae while I was with Dahlia's seduction. Now, Caleldir, I believe this is called the wivesmoot," Selene reminded him gently but firmly.

"I don't see how that's fair, Selene," Ashyr said. "This does concern him far more than it does any of us."

"I think that I should be here for this meeting," Caleldir said suspiciously, taking his seat. "I am not sure I trust what you lot will decide if I am not."

"You can mostly trust some of us," Fedwyn said, sitting down next to her mother.

"Your input is unlikely to be helpful," Alycyrl added as she sat down next to the closest empty seat, which happened to be next to Mirjana.

"He is just going to complain about what needs to happen," Dahlia said, making a spot for herself between Mirjana and Aster.

Aster's eyebrows knitted together, but she did not object despite her concerns.

"I do not know why the male needs a say in this," Mirjana said. She seemed completely comfortable lounged between Dahlia and Alycyrl

"Does anyone else have anything to say on the matter? We will put it to a vote," Naliira said serenely. "We have one For staying and four Against so far."

"Against," Aster said hesitantly.

"If Caleldir is not here, I will not be here," Faraia declared as both she and Nirza sat between Fewyn and Alycyrl. The Half-Ghost wore the simple white dress that was so in fashion these days. "Instead, I will go with Caleldir," Faraia stated.

"The same goes for me," Nirza nodded. She had not put on a single stitch of clothing ever since becoming a Dark Nymph and was therefore very naked. She looked much more comfortable in her skin now than she had at the Monastery. Probably because she had gone from 'very pretty' to having the ability to blind those who saw her beauty without her faerie veil.

"Why would we want to miss his reactions?" Fedwyn added. "His input will be unhelpful, certainly, but amusing in the extreme."

"Archmage!" Caleldir complained.

"My name is Fedwyn, Cal," Birchborn corrected. "You are my fiance, not my apprentice anymore." She considered. "You can still be my apprentice, though. I guess you can call me Mistress if you so desire."

"I vote with the Archmage," Risa said, to no one's surprise.

All eyes turned to Althaia and Marigold, the two remaining votes. "Master Caleldir is unwilling to make the decisions he must," Marigold declared, looking next to her at Risa. It seemed as if she had changed her mind slightly. "He may witness, but until he decides to embrace the destiny he was created for his input will be counterproductive."

Althaia, sitting between Naliira and Marigold, hesitated for a while. Finally, she sighed, turning to Caleldir. "I have wanted you to save my race for a long time, Caleldir," she said morosely, looking down, her eyes blue. "And you have been breeding every drow, succubus, and rusalka who throws herself at you. If you were angry at them for forcing the issue, I would continue to wait for you to decide to help me of your own free will. But every time some wicked woman ravishes you, you just give them whatever they want. Selene is dear to you, you clearly love Mirjana, Ashyr's manipulations endear her to you, you adopted all of your gang-rapists from Dinoryn, and fu- freakin' Dahlia is your fu- freakin' familiar." Althaia clenched her fists. "And now you spend your time with drow and succubi. I need your cooperation for the Nymphs. I stopped having all sex with anyone, not even masturbating, for months, out of guilt and shame for what I wanted from you. And still, you have ignored me. Why, Caleldir? Why do you hate me and love drow and succubi? I am guilty of forcing you into bed with me too, I admit, but my crimes were lesser and I have done my best to make up for them. And you only have time for them. Never for me. Why?"

Caleldir, face ashen with guilt, opened his mouth to respond, but Althaia cut him off, turning and addressing Naliira. "Caleldir will only make one decision. We all know what it is. Whether here or not: we all know."

The nymph sat down, but Faraia immediately stood up with an indignant expression on her face. "You know that is not fair to Caleldir!" she sputtered. "He was forced by them, sure, but in each case, he just made the best of a bad situation! Sure, your goddess, who I gather is Caleldir's sister, wants you to breed him out to everyone and is prodding you to take action, but of course Caleldir does not want that! Besides, it has not even been a year yet! Do you know how long I waited for Caleldir? One thousand, two hundred five years! I spent four hundred ninety-one years attempting to rescue him and break his curse, then I spent seven hundred twelve years being tortured by the Ghost King until I was a mad shadow! So put your little year of waiting into some perspective. What do you want from Caleldir? His seed so you can breed your race back into existence. What do Nirza and I want? Him! His smile, his sense of humor, his tall tales. You know he never tells his silly stories anymore? That is because you lot raped all the joy out of his life! My Master does not know how to handle women. He never has. He cannot bring himself to fight them. He just stammers, blushes, and runs away. And when Nirza, Mistress Birchborn, and I flirted with him, that was all that happened. You feel aggrieved that he has ignored you ever since you stopped attacking him and grew up? Well, boohoo. Grow up the rest of the way, Nymph, and be fucking patient."

The angry half-ghost sat back down, glowering at Althaia.

"I am sorry, Althaia," Caleldir said softly. "I should have worked with you more. I will work with you more." He turned to Faraia. "I... do not know how I can ever-"

"Don't," Faraia said with a radiant smile. "It is over. We have the future. And I am very, very patient."

Ashyr frowned. She stared hard at the table to hide the sudden redness of her eyes. Selene noticed and held Ashyr's hand, though she didn't seem to be affected the same way her cousin was. Everyone else had neutral expressions.

Naliira stood and addressed the table, "That aside, it seems that the majority believes Caleldir may be present. If his presence becomes disruptive, I will ask him to leave," Naliira concluded. "As most senior member of this Wivesmoot, I will moderate the discussion. My personal desire is merely to retire here in the tower with my tree and unborn daughter. I would like to see Caleldir once in a while. Now, Fedwyn has a proposal to start us out with. I believe it will make logistics simpler going forward. Fedwyn, dear?"

Grinning, Fedwyn stood up. "Well! There is a very long and complex technical explanation, but the simple explanation is that we are fusing mother's Heartwood with marble and metal in order to create a new material: marble with the durability of adamantine that grows and heals itself like wood. The gold and mithril are there as artificial Leylines within the substance. Through this we are going to create a tree unlike any other: the greatest Mage Tower in the world. But more than that: we are building a new World Tree.

"Ancient myth has said that, when our world of Nuititana was pulled from Faerie by the Nylameia and the Titans, there was a great tree rooted here on Mount Yggdrasil that connected Nuititana with Faerie. That tree was long ago destroyed, but this Mountain remains a dormant nexus of magical power. We built Snowmoss Hall to study this Leyline Convergence."