The Balance Ch. 06-09

"I believe that we have to think about bringing in the stock early this year, Abiron. My heart foretells that the winter will be a harsh one, and I do not want any of the cattle dying in an early storm."

"Well, we have plenty of fodder for them. And I would rather they be safe in the barn than trying to round them up in the middle of a blizzard. It will make the milking easier as well. If you are willing, it should not take to long to bring them in."

They walked together out of the temple. The morning air was cool, but the sun was warm on their shoulders. They had both dressed for the task at hand. Abiron wore heavy trousers, tunic, and boots. He carried a walking stick that could double as a goad if any of the cows were feeling frisky. Ariana wore a thick wool dress, one that could be rolled and belted at the hips to bring the hem out of the high grass. Over this she wore a heavy cloak and hood.

Once in the south pasture, they went to gathering up the half-dozen milk cows and the lone bull. They both kept their eyes on the bull, for he could be a handful when the mood was on him. However, it was one of the cows that caused the most trouble. She was a clever roan with a nasty sense of humor. She hung back at the rear of the crowd, then made a sudden break back towards the pasture. Not wanting to start from scratch if the herd broke free, Abiron tried to block her path, but she merely drove her shoulder into his chest and sent him flying.

When he rose to his feet, he was liberally smeared with mud and wet grass, and the cows were fifty yards away and had settled back into their routine of converting grass to dung. He looked at Ariana, who was red-faced with the effort of trying to suppress her giggles.

"Not a word, mother. Not one single word."

Ariana merely raised her brows and smiled wider. She then took the walking stick, walked to the nearest cow, and prodded it sharply in the rump. It looked up at her, startled, and moved a few steps away. She then repeated the process with another beast, and another. Like a lump of honey flowing on a tilted plate, the cows slowly made their way to the barn. The roan tried to make another break for it, but got a stinging slap in the shoulder for her troubles. Dociley they were brought to the barn, and Ariana closed the gate on the last stall with a smirk of triumph.

"Show off."

The noon meal was delayed while Abiron washed and put on a different set of clothes, lighter than before, for the day had grown warmer. When he entered the dining area, he saw Ariana. She had a closed hamper in one arm and two large wicker baskets beside her.

"I thought that we might go up to the walnut grove and see if any of the walnuts had fallen. If we don't gather them soon the wild pigs will get them. I've packed a meal for us."

"That sounds like fun."

The walk to the grove was not a short one, and Ariana was flushed by the time they arrived. She was pleased to see that a goodly number of walnuts were laying on the ground. She handed one basket to Abiron, then set to work gathering the fallen nuts.

Her basket was nearly half full when a walnut dropped softly on her back. She frowned, since there were no trees directly overhead. She had no sooner lowered her head to pick up another nut than another one struck her, glancing off her shoulder. A glance from beneath lowered lids showed Abiron, with a walnut in his hand, waiting for her back to be turned. A smile curved her mouth.

How like a little boy. All he wants is some attention. Well, two can play that game.

Ignoring him resolutely, she bent down directly from the waist, making sure that the fabric of her dress was pulled taut against her bottom. After placing the walnut in the basket, she did the same thing again, fully aware of Aborn's eyes upon her.

"My, it is getting warm out here, wouldn't you agree, my husband?" Ariana pulled up several inches of the dress and quickly belted it at the waist. This allowed her to display her shapely calves to good advantage. Bending with her legs spread wide, she picked up another handful of nuts, her rear thrust provocatively towards Abiron.

"Yes, quite warm." The words sounded rather strangled to her ears.

Bending again, she stopped with her head near the ground, and this time flapped the hem of her skirt as if she was trying to cool her legs. "I don't know why I feel so...so hot, Abiron," she said, pitching her voice a little higher. "Maybe I should take this hot gown off. I know it isn't proper," she continued coquettishly, "But you won't mind, will you dear?"

Abiron mutely shook his head. Pretending that she didn't realize the effect she was having on him, she slowly peeled the gown over her head, leaving her wearing only her chemise. It was damp with sweat at the breasts and thighs. The cool breeze against the fabric made her shudder deliciously, but did nothing to stem the tide of warmth growing in her womanly core. She stole another quick look at Abiron. She could see his breeches were tented and his hands were opening and closing spasmodically.

She bent over yet again. This time, she flipped the hem of the chemise completely over her buttocks, exposing them to Abiron's view. She could hear his breath hiss between his teeth as he gasped. "Oh," she said, effecting a little-girl voice, "That is so much better."

Suddenly, she stumbled, nearly falling, bracing her hands against a nearby tree with a sharp cry.

"Ariana! Are you all right?" Abiron came running up to her, worry in his voice.

"I...I'm not sure. I've got a...a..." Ariana moaned with pain, "I have a cramp in my leg, the right one. Ow! By the Deity, that hurts!"

"How can I help?"

"Take your hands, both of them, and massage the top of my right thigh. No, don't come around to my front. Stay behind me. Use the thumbs against the back of the thigh, and the fingers against the front. Yes, that's it."

Abiron was ashamed of himself. He had been throwing walnuts at his wife to get her to pay attention to him while she worked, and now she could barely stand for the cramps in her legs. He could not believe what a callous fool he had been. Sure, the incident with her removing her gown had been strange, but perhaps cramps were presaged by flashes of heat? He would have to ask her later. He massaged her leg with his strong hands, trying to ignore the scent of her body.

Something seemed familiar, though. This scent, was it honest sweat, or was it the musk of arousal that he had grown so familiar with last night? The shaking in her belly and along her spine, was it pain, relief from pain, or could it be...

Laughter.

"Ariana!"

With the realization that Abiron had grown wise to her game, Ariana's laughter broke loose. She laughed in merry hoots until birds took flight from the trees overhead.

" "Oh Ariana, what can I do?" "she mocked, convulsing with laughter.

"I ought to paddle your rear for scaring me like that. I thought you were really hurt," he growled.

"Oh, yes, paddle my rear, my husband," Ariana shook her bottom at Abiron tauntingly, her hands still braced on the tree trunk in front of her.

"You asked for it," Abiron took a step forward and swung his hand into her bottom with a healthy smack. The sound and the sting made Ariana jump, and a small red marked glowed on her right buttock.

"Again," Ariana's voice had grown softer and deeper. She looked at Abiron over her shoulder, and there was a challenge in her eyes.

So, another thing for me to learn, thought Abiron. A game of power and violence, this time. He stepped forward again, using his left hand, and now her left buttock bore a mark to match the right.

"Again."

"Again."

"Again!"

"AGAIN!!"

Abiron spanked his wife until her rear glowed red, until the musk of her arousal overwhelmed his nostrils, until the clear fluid of her need ran down her thighs.

"Now, take me!" she commanded. She spread her legs wide and dropped her head.

Fumbling like a drunk, Abiron managed to undo his breeches. The sheer thought of having to remove his boots while his wife shook and moaned before him was unbearable. He instead grasped his phallus and plunged into Ariana in one swift thrust.

Gasping with the force of his invasion, Ariana braced herself against the trunk of the tree before her. Her toes curled in the damp loam under her feet. Gone was the gentle, considerate lover of the night before. In his place was a battering ram, pounding her into submission. She rocked in time with the force of his thrusts, her breasts swaying, the nipples engorged, taking pleasure from the friction with the chemise. She began to hurl her body back against her lover, hot and demanding, the muscles within her milking the hard hot length of him.

Abiron had no idea anything could be so pleasureable. His hands came up to Ariana's hips, and he drove himself into her over and over again, his thighs trembling. When he was on the verge of collapse, he withdrew himself from her. Before Ariana even had a chance to express her disappointment, he had stripped her of her chemise, thrown it down to protect his wife's fragile flesh, and pinned her on her hands and knees in the long grass. As he drove into her again, his hands reached around her body and cupped her breasts. Kneading them in time with his strokes. Her head twisted up and to the right, and he leaned down and kissed her long and deep. Never losing the rhythm of their love, their tongues danced around each other.

Abiron could feel himself approaching the brink. His testes drew up towards his groin. His phallus seemed to grow even larger, stretching his wife's lips wide. She shrieked in fullfillment, spasming around him. A few moments later, he spent himself within her in a thunderbolt of pleasure.

Chapter 9

After the session of love-making, Abiron gave voice to a question that had been nagging him since the night before.

"Ariana, was it like this with my...with my father?"

How like a man. Even when there isn't anyone else around, they still try to measure themselves, one against the other.

She sighed, "Abiron, I can't answer that question, and I won't. Aethon was the sire of my body, and I adored him from the moment I was born. I was never unhappy in his arms. You are the son of my loins. I adored you from the moment you emerged from my body, red-faced and squalling. Now you are my husband, and I won't cheapen his memory by comparing him unfavorably with you. And I won't make you feel inadequate by comparing you unfavorably with him."

She is far wiser than me. She knows when an answer will hurt me, or hurt herself, even if I am unaware when I ask the question. "I apologize, Ariana. It was a foolish question to ask. Are you ready to go home?"

"Indeed I am," rising to her feet, Ariana looked with distaste at the chemise laying on the ground. It was grass-stained and wrinkled and spotted with dirt. "I am not putting that back on."

"Your dress, my lady?" slipping into her sandals, Ariana looked at the heavy, sweaty dress with equal repugnance. "I am not a fat townswoman, to dress herself from head to tail in order to avoid offending her peers. Put the clothing in the basket, Abiron. We are walking back now."

Abiron looked up from where he was re-dressing himself. He had his trousers on and was pulling his tunic over his head. "Naked, my lady? If we are seen, there will be talk."

Ariana tossed her head. "Let them talk. And who is going to see us? We are on temple lands. If someone sees me, it is their fault for trespassing."

Abiron knew better than to try to dissuade Ariana when this mood was on her. He threw the dress and chemise into his basket, then picked it up and started down the path. Giggling with the illicit pleasure of cool air on her naked body, Ariana matched his stride.

"There would be some who would say that flaunting your body in such a fashion is immoral," Abiron suggested, as they made their way out of the woods and into the range of shallow hills that separated the temple from the walnut grove.

"And who would say that? Old sticks who never had a day of fun in their life. I am the High Priestess of the Deity. I decide what is moral and what is not. In fact," she said with a grin, "You might consider the question that as the representative of the Deity in this land if I am capable of acting immorally. Does not the fact that I hold such a high position give credence to my moral superiority?"

Abiron was about to agree with his mother, amused by her haughty tone and gift for language, when he sensed a trap in her words. It reminded him of those days of lessons, when she had sought to make him agree to an untenable philosophical position, and then turned the tables on him. He thought her position over carefully.

"I would have to disagree, my lady wife. Although you hold a high position in the hierarchy of our temple, this alone does not give you superior moral ability. Position can be gained through chance, through ambition, or through bribery. It alone does not confer moral superiority. Moral superiority is only proven through actions. The head of a temple, if he or she did not fear retribution by the Deity, could cheat a child from his inheritance, could demand payment from a mother in return for a prayer of healing, could goad a king toward war. Power does not confirm character. Rather, it reveals it. A man shows what he is when he can do what he wants."

Ariana cheered. "Bravo, my boy. You took the jump and didn't balk at the fence. I was afraid that you might be so besotted with me that you would agree to anything I said to stay in my good graces."She sobered momentarily, "Truly, my husband, power reveals character. It is when a man, or woman, can do as he or she wishes that they show their true mettle."

Abiron looked up at the warm afternoon sun. "Well, my lady wife, if I am any judge, the sun will be showing its mettle soon, and you will have a nice sunburn by the time we get back home."

"Piffle. It's October. No one gets a sunburn in October."

"OW!!"

"I tried to warn you."

"Shut up shut up shut up! Owwwww!!"

"Hold still, will you?"

Ariana looked daggers at her husband. "You are enjoying this far too much."

Abiron grinned. "Hmmm. Maybe my lady wife would like to apologize for scaring me to death earlier this afternoon?" He held the bowl of salve away from Ariana as she made a futile grab for it.

"You are a rotten little boy and I have no idea what I see in you."

Abiron made a rude noise. "I have a pretty good idea what you see in me, my lady wife. Too bad you're not going to get it with your skin as red as a cherry. Now, are you going to be a good girl and hold still, or do I go go back and make supper and let you fend for yourself?"

Ariana pouted, but did as she was told. The sun had burned her badly. While she worked out of doors for much of the year, even her skin was not used to several hours of exposure in the nude. Abiron massaged the healing ointment into her skin. All the while, he said a healing prayer to the Deity. If She answered, Ariana should be out of bed in a day or two, rather than the week that the state of her flesh demanded.

Even with her skin in torment, the touch of Abiron's hands on her body aroused Ariana. He was very gentle, rubbing the ointment in softly, but that only served to excite her further. Laying on her stomach, his hands caressing the length of her back, she wanted nothing more than to flip over and take him into her body. But she knew that do so with her skin in this condition would be foolish. Instead, she lay with her head pillowed on her arms as he massaged her.

First the long muscles of the back, up and down again, working the salve into her skin. Then the shoulders, neck, and upper arms. He moved down the bed, working on her buttocks, her thighs, and then on the tender skin of her calves, badly hurt by her neglect. As he did so, she gently ground her pubis into the mattress, enjoying the illicit thrill of arousal, since she knew she would find no other form of release at the present.

"Turn over, Ariana"

Half of her was now cool and comfortable, the other half still aflame. He started with the tops of her feet, then her shins and the sides of her calves. Another handful of salve, and now he was massaging her thighs. A secret smile played over his lips, and she knew that he was thinking of her joke on him earlier today. He avoided the juncture of her thighs and moved up to her belly, then to her breasts. They were burned badly, so despite his misgivings he spent some time on them, making sure that they were well-tended. Despite Ariana's attempt at control, the cool of the ointment combined with the warmth of his hands aroused her. Her nipples peaked and her thighs opened, inviting his entrance. Steadfastly ignoring her blatant arousal, he moved to her face, gently annointing her nose, her cheeks, and the tips of her ears.

When he was done, he set the ointment aside on a table near the bed. "Stay here and don't move. I am going to serve you supper in bed. There is water in the jug on the table. Drink up. You lost a lot of moisture today."

"Soup? You are going to serve me soup in bed?"

"Soup. And milk. And melon. Your body needs to recover the water it lost today. Healing demands balance, High Priestess, as you well know."

"You just want me to heal quickly so you can have your way with me, wicked boy."

Despite her complaining, Ariana was touched. She had known that Abiron was a good son, and his work as a priest had shown his compassion for those less well off than he was, but she had never thought that he would be so attentive to her as a husband. Nude in their bed, propped on pillows, she allowed her husband to feed her supper. She was so happy that she almost wept, despite the lingering pain in the skin of her neck and shoulders.

In the small hours of the night, Abiron woke. The breeze from the open windows had grown chill, and in deference to Ariana's tender skin, they had only a light blanket covering them in their bed. He rose and went to the far window and shuttered it. He then moved to the one closest to their bed. Riding high in the south, gibbous and past the full, the moon illuminated the meadows and trees around the temple.

"You're so beautiful."

Abiron turned around. His breath caught in his chest. Ariana's eyes were open. She had cast off the blanket. The moonlight silvered her body, casting dark shadows in her throat, the hollow of her knee, her groin. Her breasts were carved alabaster, the nipples rose-red, once again turgid with desire.

"Come to me, my husband. Love me once again."

"But your back..."

"Is fine, thanks to your prayer and the blessing of the Deity. Come to me."

His phallus rose, stiffening, as he walked to the bed. He lay on his left side, she on her right. With his right hand, he caressed her body. Knee, thigh, hip, the dip of her waist, the curve of her breast heavy in his palm. He bent his head and suckled and her hands came and wrapped around his head and she moaned into his ear. Her warm breath made him shudder, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Well, well, it looks like we've found another zone of pleasure, haven't we?"

Her hot breath came hard into his ear, and then her tongue ran in delicate swirls around the curves. A sharp nip on the lobe had him stiffening in surprise, but the new sensations had him aroused to an almost painful extent. To distract himself from her moist breath and now her tongue running playfully down his throat, he placed his hand against her nether lips, carefully sliding his had between their folds, until he had found the bud of her pleasure. Wetting his finger with the moisture within her, he slowly drew circles of desire around it. Her breath quickened and her legs spread wider.

"Yes," she said, her voice deep and husky with need. He looked up to her face. Her eyes were wide open, the pupils dilated, a hunger on her face that could not be denied or satiated. He rose to his knees between her legs, and she, anticipating his actions, let her thighs sag further apart, her pubis rising to accept him.