Tales of Alavern 05 (Non-Canon)

Tales of Alavern: Long Live the Queen

Prologue

The Great Mother sat alone in her realm, sulking. After having a small portion of her power and the right to act freely on behalf of her daughters taken from her, she could not even bare to gaze upon her isle. She felt unworthy, that she had failed all of her children. Though Cyrus and Megara had been working on trying to get the pool to work for her daughters again, she felt that a lost venture. Without her, what chance would her daughters have? All bringing a single man to Alavern would accomplish is buying time before her daughters all died out again. She was certain of it, and the weight of her certainty had her flooding her realm with tears.

Three days had passed in her realm, much less than had passed on the Alavern Isles. She knew that soon, Cyrus's time as king would be up. His influence would likely die as Naomi reclaimed the throne, since none would dare oppose her return. Once he no longer held sway, her daughters would no longer listen to him and the protection the crown once offered would be null. He and his son would likely be in great danger, despite the efforts their friends would surely make. She wanted desperately to be free from her terrible thoughts, but there was no respite to be found in her realm now that the Nameless One had left the realm of gods to wander a mortal world for some time. She could think of no one else who could ease her suffering.

When she suddenly felt a presence intrude into her realm, she could certainly think of a few who could easily increase it though. Anger coursed through her, allowing her the strength to finally stand again after remaining still for days without rest. Strength she used to storm towards the presence she felt intrude on her realm. She expected Ulfric, barging in once again in what would surely be no small portion of gloating on his part. She had not expected the softly smiling face that greeted her upon confronting her intruder, the sun god Urthet.

"Greetings, Great Mother. I hope you will forgive my intrusion, but none of my messages asking for an audience seem to have reached you." he said with a voice that washed over her like the soft sunlight of a cool Spring day. At least that feeling assured her that this was truly Urthet and not some trickster god simply wearing his face.

"I...have not allowed messages into my realm. I am in mourning." she said, turning away from the tanned, handsome face of the last man she had allowed herself intimacy with. "If you have no urgent news or business from the council, then I ask that you respect me and leave."

"I am here on my own business, not the council's." Urthet explained, carefully and slowly gravitating closer to her. "I had hoped you would allow me the chance to console you. I feel confident that I am much closer to you than any of the others. You have allowed me to be close to you, after all."

"Of course that is why you are here." the Great Mother said under her breath, before deciding to speak to Urthet directly, "Urthet, I laid with you because I felt an urge and you are one of the few I would trust with my body. I know what you truly hoped for when you agreed and the answer to both of your questions is still no."

"And yet," Urthet answered cautiously, "by your own admission, you trust me."

"With my body, Urthet. Not my heart and certainly not to be a father to any child I may choose to bear one day." she answered him sharply. "I have no interest in bearing a son with you and certainly no interest in being your first wife, let alone...how many is it now? Seven mortal women you have asked your people to sacrifice to you?" Urthet winced at the harsh tone in her words and the unspoken accusation of abuse that came with them. While he wanted to argue, he knew it would be unfair to those he had wronged to do so.

"Sacrifice is a strong word, Great Mother. They all live long, healthy lives. They are free from the abuse of others..." he tried to defend himself, only to be cut off.

"I know how your mortal chosen wives live, Urthet. Isolated from the rest of their people, including their families. Not allowed to speak with anyone save your priests, each other and you. How you have managed to get away with this for so long while I am punished for bringing a good man to my island to help secure the future of my daughters, I will never be able to fathom." The Great Mother said harshly, glaring down Urthet with an icy chill that cooled even his passions.

"Because they all had a choice." Urthet answered meekly, gathering the warmth of the fire of his soul to stand tall again. "They all could have said no, to go seek out their own destinies, with no repercussion. At least, not any longer. They choose to be my brides. They choose to lay with me when I ask them, and I do ask them! I do not force myself upon them, and I never have!"

Urthet grew bolder with each word, standing straight and bringing himself mere inches from the Great Mother. He would be lying if he said that her accusations were false. He had laid with her in the hopes that their union would bear him a son, a gift that none of his mortal wives had been able to give him. He had also hoped that she would become his first divine wife, gifting him with a companion whom death could not take from him. He could not and would not, however, allow his current self to be judged for the poor decisions of his past. Not even by the goddess of all women.

"That is why I trusted you with my body, Urthet." she said softly, finally allowing her fury to cool again. Urthet stood there stunned, completely taken aback by the sudden shift in her treatment of him until he finally realized that she had been testing him. "It is also why I know I cannot trust you with my heart. You are respectful to those women, and you do allow them better lives than they would have if they did not accept your offer but you do not love them. You cannot, and yet some of them come to truly love you. Women who will only have a short while with you, before death claims them and they are separated from you forever. It is cruel...to the both of you."

"I..." Urthet stuttered, trying to sort through the feelings her words had stirred within him. "I apologize for the anger I direct towards you just now. I misunderstood your intentions, and completely forgot the true purpose of my visit to you."

"Which is?" The Great Mother asked, stepping back away from him as his momentary distraction from her grief began to fade.

"I knew that you would be hurting. To be unable to help your people without permission of all thing, especially now when you have gone to such extremes to do so. I just wished to offer my shoulder to cry upon, if you needed it." Urthet said softly, giving a small polite bow and turning. "I will leave you be, but my offer is always open to you. All you have to do is ask."

"Thank you, Urthet." she said, nodding to him as he left her realm. The warmth he had brought with him quickly faded away and her grief had settled back in. She tried not to worry, but it was no use. With Megara now Cyrus's lover, she would bare him only a single child and that would be nowhere near enough to save her daughters. Even if he did begin a harem as Ulfric had so rudely suggested, they would soon run into the same problem where there simply wasn't enough strong blood left to continue having children.

All she could do was put her faith that her daughters and new sons would be able to come across some miracle that would solve this problem she had unintentionally created so long ago. She could not help but to ask herself if it was better to abandon hope, or to try and remain positive by clinging to a false hope. She opened a window to gaze upon the Alavern Isles, trying not to let the cold feeling in her stomach fester and grow.

For just a moment, she felt the ironic need to pray to her mortals for deliverance from her pain.

Chapter 1

Cyrus stood in the preparation area with Megara and the two volunteers for their first experiment with the Mother's Pool. This permission to use the sacred pool in such a way is the only time he felt he truly took advantage of the power that comes with holding the crown of the Verni. Their two volunteer subjects, an older couple named Nina and Selene in their mid-90s, sat together on one of the benches cleaning each other's bodies according to long-held tradition. Well, mostly to tradition. After all, before today no more than one parent had ever prepared themselves to use the Mother's Pool at one time.

They both seemed very obviously nervous, glancing at both Megara and Cyrus from time to time as they prepared their bodies. Megara looked as excited as they did nervous, seeming almost half her actual age as she excitedly fidgeted and darted between her notes and some bizarre medical instrument she had cobbled together for today. She had explained to everyone that it was meant to measure how far the child developed in the Mother's Pool, but nobody except her understood how exactly it worked despite her attempts to explain.

"Thank you both for participating in this little experiment of ours and uh...sorry about the circumstances. I'm sure it's not very comfortable having a child in these conditions." Cyrus said to Nina and Selene. They glanced nervously at one another, nodded and turned back to him.

"It is not, but if it is how we can have our child at long last then we will tolerate what we have to." Nina replied.

"Though I must admit, the thought of our blood making a male child is certainly unnerving." Selene voiced her thoughts aloud unknowingly, made to realize she had spoken aloud only by her partner's gentle nudging. "Oh uh...I am so sorry! I meant no offense, King Cyrus!"

"Don't worry about it." Cyrus said calmly, giving them a smile he hoped was reassuring. "I completely understand that it's just about your expectations. You don't just ignore the way you've been brought up to think your entire life. At least not without some serious will power. I'm still trying to get used to taking a bath with other people due to the taboos around bathing with others in the culture I grew up in."

Both Selene and Nina seemed a bit relieved that he hadn't taken any offense, turning their attention back to each other and speaking about their hopes for their child. Cyrus left the two of them for a bit, walking over to Megara and having to physically put his hand on her just to get her attention as she flitted about. She had always been passionate about trying to solve the child issues of the Verni for as long as he had known her but ever since they'd found out she'd actually gotten pregnant that day that they first became lovers, her passion for helping others have children of their own had been overwhelming.

Not that they'd let anybody know about their relationship or the child they'd conceived together. At least not yet. They'd have to tell the truth at some point, especially when Megara started to really show but for now they agreed that they should probably try to build up Cyrus's accomplishments a bit more so that the Verni would be more likely to tolerate something they'd been brought up to dread. Helping the rest of the Verni have children without the need for sex with a man would certainly be a huge help.

"We are ready." Selene said, rising off the bench hand-in-hand with her love.

"Excellent." Megara said, seeming more like a hyper child itching to play a new game than a seasoned physic as she handed both of them a ceremonial knife. Cyrus attempted to make himself useful, carrying the hefty measuring device so he had a reason to be present other than just because he possessed a crown. He felt he needed to be there to see if his insane idea worked or not, especially since it was going to be his final act as Alavern's king.

"Your highness, if you could place the machine over there and place the line with the blue crystal into the water please." Megara said, managing to reign herself in enough to remain professional. "And if you two could stand here and...here. Perfect."

"Are we to cut our own hands or each other's?" Nina asked as she stood within arm's reach of her love in the Mother's Pool.

"Go with whatever feels right." Megara said, already leaving the pool so her body couldn't contaminate it once blood had been shed. "However, be sure that you are casting your blood into the pool at the same time. If my theory holds true, that should ensure our chances of success are as high as they can possibly be."

The two women nodded their understanding, facing each other and grabbing one another's hand. They pressed the knives to their open palms, waiting for a moment and taking a deep breath before they sliced their palms open. Cyrus winced a little, feeling oddly squeamish as he watched the blades tear open their flesh and their blood pool in their hands a brief moment before they turned their palms to let the blood drip down into the pool. Megara rushed immediately over, turning her machine on as we all awaited a reaction that no Verni had laid eyes on since Queen Jura sat on the throne.

The room was dead silent and tense as they all watched the blood drip into the pool, all of them waiting for any sort of reaction from the pool itself. Cyrus knew what was supposed to happen, having witnessed it with his last threads of consciousness back when Brian was born. Agonizing moments passed by as they all waited for blue light to shine, indicating their success but soon the pool began to softly glow. Everybody's breath hitched as the spilled blood started to slowly swirl towards the center of the pool, where the glow was brightest.

"It's working..." Nina whispered, watching with wide eyes. She and Selene held each other close, holding their breath and staring enraptured until Megara loudly coughed for attention.

"I know this is quite the spectacular event, but you both need to leave the pool now." she said softly to them. They both nodded, having heard from birth precisely why one didn't linger in the Mother's Pool while their child formed and left together to go clean and bandage their cuts. Cyrus approached Megara, who had her attention completely absorbed by her machine now that the mothers-to-be had left the room.

"Is everything looking good? I'm having trouble believing that my crazy idea actually worked." he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder as he tried to see what she was so focused on.

"I am cautiously optimistic." she answered, not looking away from her machine. "Though I will say that the blood seems to be gathering much more slowly than we anticipated. I am not sure if that is because we have used multiple donors or if it perhaps because of the blood's dilution. Sadly, we do not have recorded data on how long it has taken for children to form in the pool in the past. I intend to rectify that mistake, so we can be more prepared in the future should another issue like this arise."

"Well if this does work, then the population of the Alavern Isles should solve the issue we were facing of not having enough genetic diversity. At that point it's just a matter of making sure that the Verni are having kids." Cyrus said thoughtfully, looking around to make sure they were alone before kissing Megara on the cheek. "I'll go tell them that everything's looking promising so far. Let me know if anything interesting happens, hon."

Megara's cheeks reddened slightly after he had kissed her, though her eyes remained solely focused on her machine. She nodded her understanding and Cyrus walked away, happy to be able to give Nina and Selene some good news. Hopefully, his success on his last day as king will put him in the Verni's good graces enough that he and Brian won't have to worry about becoming outcasts on Alavern. At least he wouldn't have to worry about finding a place to live either way.

Chapter 2

"Are you mine?" Naomi whispered sweetly to Brianna, her fingers pressed tightly against the muscles inside her womanhood. Months of lovemaking, experimentation and the occasional good, hard fuck had taught them both well exactly how and where to touch each other for the greatest pleasure.

"Yeeessss..." Brianna hissed back, trying desperately not to squirm as her love's fingers stroked and pressed deep inside her. Her hands gripped the underside of the pillow her head was currently rested on and the fact of how difficult the sheets were going to be to clean later was the furthest thing from her mind as the puddle of pleasure beneath her grew and grew. She was close, so close.

"Tell me. I want to hear you say it, Brianna." Naomi teased, her lips lowering and pressing softly to Brianna's neck again and again. She was so sensitive there in so many delightful ways. Exploring it with lips and fingers, teeth and tongue never failed to be good for them both.

"I-I'm yours." Brianna whined, having trouble speaking as moans grew from her throat, "Always yours, Naomi. Forever yours. Make me yours, mark me. Pleeeaase!"

Naomi smiled wickedly, curving her fingers inside her love as she found her favorite spot on Naomi's neck, right where it met the shoulder, and sunk her teeth in. Brianna cried out, shuddering as she was brought to yet another orgasm under the sweet, sensual torture she'd been enduring for nearly two hours. They had both lost count at this point, though it's not as though it ever truly mattered to either of them.

Naomi slowly drew her fingers out, keeping her teeth where they were for a moment more as she finally allowed Brianna the mercy of breathing. She traced her cum-soaked fingers slowly up Brianna's belly, ceasing her biting to let her love watch as she tasted the womanly juices before sharing their flavor through a deep kiss. Brianna's submissiveness came to an end as she wrapped her trembling arms around Naomi's waist and drew her to lay on top of her own body, never letting their lips part for even a moment.

Brianna smiled as she felt Naomi adjust on top of her to be a little more comfortable, letting her know that her love wasn't going to go anywhere too quickly. This was heaven to them both, with the late afternoon sun beaming gently in through the window and warming their bodies as they both laid bare on top of Brianna's bed. Naomi was the first to break the kiss as she slipped her own arms underneath Brianna's body and wrapped them around her.

"Do you have any idea how happy you make me?" Naomi asked Brianna, breathing a content sigh as their chests pressed together.

"Hey, that's my line." Brianna replied playfully, leaning up and pecking Naomi's lips. "Though you do make a terrible mess of my bed."

"I help clean." Naomi said innocently, batting her eyes at the Captain beneath her until they were both forced to laugh. A calm settled over them as their laughter died down a moment later, a blissful silence falling between them that struck the once and future queen as the perfect opportunity to finally bring up an issue she'd been waiting to. She rolled gently off her lover, taking Brianna's hand in hers and lying at her side. Brianna turned to her, confusion evident on her face.