The Florist

Laileet moved towards me, holding eye contact as she drew me deeper. But as I neared the depths of her, I watched her lose focus. Her eyes rolled back, lidded fully, and she moaned. Her arms encircled my neck and she guided my head to the crook of her throat. I felt her shudder as I nestled myself at the depths of my reach.

"Oh, yes," she breathed. I suckled at her neck and along her shoulder until I thought she was ready. Then I set up a slow cadence and moved within her.

"Oh... oh, so... mmm, so... yes, there. Please..."

She pulled my hair and held me just before her face. I caught myself looking at her with a mix of surprise, wonder and lust. Her eyes blazed forth like a shore beacon and I thrust harder, off my rhythm, drawn once again into her irises' depths. I could not fathom what it was about Laileet's stares, her gazes, her eyes that held me under some spell. All I knew was the power of it.

She kissed me with hunger, her lips slick, her tongue curious, and her breath steamy. I noticed her nipples digging into my chest as our bodies pressed together. Only our hips moved apart before meeting again and again in rhythmic bliss.

Laileet rolled onto her back, taking me with her until my weight came to rest on her lush figure. I rose from her, still rocking my hips into hers, and reached beneath her until the ample curves of her bottom filled my hands. Now my languid assault bore two fronts; I was able to pull her to meet my hardness with every forward movement.

Her gasps and moans grew more intense and ragged. Her legs went around me and I felt her heels lock at my lower back. Her legs urged me, unspoken signals to coax me deeper and faster.

At the same time I bent to her chest and laved her nipples, tasting her skin as it swelled and wrinkled in arousal. Each time I switched from one rigid nub to the other, Laileet would press herself to me, pin my head to the soft smoothness of her bosom, pale hills punctuated by taut, rosy tips.

She flowed hot and liquid as quickfire, moving her hips to wantonly collide with mine. Her treasured pearl was equally hard, and I felt it dragging along the top of my length with each thrust. She began shuddering in earnest and I knew her peak grew closer.

Once more I looked into her glowing face, wondering what expression I would find there. And once more her eyes were upon me. She stared through a thick cloud of lust haze, gasping through parted lips that she wet with her pink tongue. I used my own tongue to circle her stiffened tip, batting it back and forth before surrounding it with my lips and sucking on her erect flesh.

"Oooh!" She cried out as her body gripped me. Her legs grabbed my waist until my hip bones ached. She clung to me so tightly that her hug threatened to expel the air from my lungs. My strong hands tugged her from the mattress and I held her as she arched into me.

The shudders became quakes, and the quakes became fitful spasms. Laileet climaxed beneath me. I felt warmth pulsing from her, coating me and pooling at our joining. With a final deep thrust I held myself still and shared my own warm pulses with my voluptuous lover.

Laileet continued with her ultimate fulfillment for many delicious beats longer. I rose, still awed by her waning orgasm, and kissed her. My thighs felt the cool of evaporation even as she held me a little longer within her squelching heat.

Her last shudder ebbed and I rolled beside her. Laileet cuddled against me, snuggling her face into the crook of my neck. I curled an arm around her and held her to my side.

My respite was short-lived. Laileet and I explored many positions and techniques. But after another powerful climax I slowed everything down and began teasing her. I played her body's responses, working her closer and closer before holding back. Once she cooled a little then the buildup resumed.

It took only a few cycles before she began staring at me with a wild, unfulfilled desire in her eyes. "Kelline," she gasped, "I need more than you are offering." Her hips moved towards my hand, seeking to draw my three fingers deeper as they thrust in and out of her. My opposite thumb and forefinger slipped her hood back and forth along the length of her swollen tip in the same rhythm. I kissed and nibbled on tender thighs. I looked up at her with a mischievous grin. She shoved her hips towards my mouth.

"Kelline, Please do not torture me," she ordered in a harsh whisper. Her fingers manipulated each erect nipple, twisting and pulling them in a merciless quest for release.

I spoke, though my hands continued their ministrations. "Please trust me in this. I want to prolong the pleasure while delaying your release--"

She interrupted with a moderate edge of frustration. "But why?"

It was almost pitiful. She was more aroused than she had been all session. Her excited aroma hung heavy on the air. Slickness glistened between her legs and ran downward, coating her flesh before reaching the bedding. I increased the pressure for a few heartbeats then eased up once more.

Her first reaction was a shudder at the precipice of bliss, followed instantly be a glare and a wrinkled brow that begged for more.

"You see how your body betrays its need."

"Kelline, please!"

"Just a little longer, I promise. And if you find a worthy reward at the end of this, I'll be happy to begin your climb again, and will take you--"

"Oh, there!" She growled when I denied her, again. Another wanton thrust of her hips as she pawed at my hands between her trebling thighs.

"I promise you will feel more than you have ever felt during lovemaking."

When she found her hands could not make my hands do her bidding, she resumed her nipple play. "I had better--this is killing me!"

"Killing you?" I teased. My free thumb slithered deeper into the split of her fleshy backside. Her private opening proved to be so wet and relaxed that the tip of my finger slipped inside without resistance.

In that moment her entire body clenched. Her grip on the fingers in her steamy core, and the thumb in her behind, clutched so tightly that I became immobilized. She pinched her breasts hard enough that I felt concerned. But when her body quaked, her gorgeous blue eyes rolled back an instant before her shoulders arched into the cushions, and she covered my hands in a wave of boiling nectar, I felt certain that she had not injured herself. Or at least if she had, she may not notice until morning....

Watching such an erotic display was truly a gift. Her legs remained taut, the gasps and moans went on and on as did the rise and fall of her spectacular breasts, and the entire expanse of her sex pulsed and poured rivulets of sexual energy. When her body began to settle it took the slightest intensification to launch her anew into another crest.

I slowed one more time before giving Laileet a final push over the bliss horizon's edge. She bent her head toward me, holding my face for a beat or two before her expression glazed. I could not be certain, but I would have been surprised if she could actually focus on anything visual. Her world had collapsed inward until all she knew was the glorious crush of her body's release.

Her hands reached for mine, uncertain and jerky in her aftermath. I stilled before letting my digits gently recede. With each small movement, even in retreat, Laileet shuddered like a leaf in a gale.

For quite a while the loudest sound was of a woman's slowing gasps. I leaned forward and placed the softest kiss on her hip. She giggled and her body shivered.

"My... dear... Kelline.... Oh... my..."

I kissed her hip again. "Yes, Laileet?" Then I kissed her again.

"Do you... really believe... you can make... that more, more...?"

A smile before my answer of, "Yes, if you wish it."

"Oooo, mmm." she giggled. It was a throaty, deeply resonant sound full of challenge, trepidation, longing and curiosity.

We rested and talked in soft tones. My fingers touched her, explored softly until she appeared to want more. We kissed and I followed the wakes of my fingertips with lips and tongue. Sometimes I would nip or nibble on interesting and sensitive spots and Laileet would shiver, or giggle, or wrap around me.

As timed passed I grew bolder. I knelt near her shoulder and offered myself to her. She smiled and took me between her lips. The caress of her tongue made me shiver this time and, once she wetted me, I withdrew to paint myself onto her nipple. She cupped a hand beneath the generous curve and pushed herself up into me.

The second time I offered, she took half my length before getting my skin even wetter than before. Then she rolled towards me so I could reach her other succulent breast. She seemed to enjoy the new game, and her nipple grew hard as it slithered along the sensitive underside of my erection.

The third time she stared into my eyes and pulled my hips to her. I felt her swallow more of me and my legs trembled. She moaned around my flesh and the shivers went straight to my core.

I lay beside her and lifted her left leg. Her cleft shone in the fading light and I plunged head first into her. She bobbed herself back and forth, varying the suction and keeping me drenched. I licked and suckled her wet skin, soft folds and throbbing nib. She held my hips and I gripped her bottom.

We soon became engaged in a contest, each urging the other while simultaneously holding back our building pleasures. I knew if I was to take Laileet higher than ever, I had to capitulate.

I slowed, focusing more and more on the pleasure she gave me. Soon my hips rolled back and forth as I became more active. Her hands urged me to continue, and she moaned, "Um hmm, um hmm, um hmm..."

She moved forward. The flare of my tip slipped past her tongue and into her throat. I groaned and held still, legs tight, and Laileet managed to take more of me. One of her hands stroked what little of me she could not devour.

"Oh!" I exclaimed into the heated flesh between her legs. My body fell into the deep rhythmic pulsations of climax. Her throat milked me as she repeatedly swallowed until I could not stand any more stimulation. I jerked from her with a soft, "pop" and lay back, panting. My face turned to her and she grinned back at me.

"I suppose," she told me, whipping her lip with a finger and sucking it, "Mmm, I suppose, I am not quite as good at the buildup-and-slow-down technique." Her blue irises glinted with teaming amusement, and we both laughed together.

"Laileet, Pillome is a very fortunate man!"

"Yes, yes, he is," she beamed. "And I am very fortunate woman. And now I have many ways to show him just how much he means to me."

"Well, my dear, would you like me to demonstrate how to keep you fortunate?"

"Oh, Kelline, that is so... awkward--and sweet--both at once."

"Forgive me. I seemed to have recovered only a small portion of my reason."

"Mmm, now that is much nicer to my ear."

"If I may illustrate..."

It took most of two bells to tease Laileet up the many tiers of plateau after plateau. When her time finally came it took nothing more than a soft puff of air across her womanhood to set the events in motion. Her climax proved even more enveloping and crushing than the last. Her fists dug into the bedding so hard that her right hand ripped a seam. Her heavy breasts undulated with each spasm of her abdomen. Both nipples turned an angry red and felt hard as pebbles under my tongue.

In the midst of what I think was her second crest, I slid myself fully into her in one urgent thrust. She grasped my shoulders and stared at me with an impatient and haunted look. My hips moved with hers and her glistening walls constricted on my length. Her body raged through a series of orgasms that seemed to blend together into endless bliss.

I could tell her body was growing exhausted, even as her eyes pleaded for more. I held myself above her on trembling arms, elbows locked, and thrust into her with increasing vigor. Her head thrashed from side to side as Laileet remained locked in her continuous, powerful climax.

My own rhythm slowed as my flesh swelled ever harder, and I knew I was practically spent. I willed myself to last a little longer, to wait for her, but she looked like such a sexual goddess, she felt so slick and hot, that I lost the struggle...

Or so I thought. When I buried myself as deeply as I could reach, when my body took over and my mind fogged, when I felt my essence jetting from my tip, Laileet stared one last time into my face. Her mouth formed a silent, "Oh!" Her brow wrinkled in concentration. Her body quivered beneath mine. Her nails bit into my shoulders. Her legs hooked behind my thighs. Her hips bucked up to meet my hips. I leaned down to kiss her hard on the mouth.

At last she seemed to begin her descent. She finally settled, abruptly, in what appeared to be unconsciousness. I withdrew, slowly, as some delightful aftershocks rippled through me. If the pebbleskin on her chest, nipples and arms was any indication, I think Laileet enjoyed a few aftershocks as well, conscious or not.

I cradled her and stroked her temples until her eyelids fluttered and she could focus on my face. She offered a weak smile, a beautiful, heart-wrenching smile. I whispered, "Close your eyes," and caressed her eyelids until her breathing deepened. Then I kissed her cheek before falling into a contented sleep alongside her.

* * * * *

I returned to Gatekey and my glassine works. My interlude with Laileet refreshed me... while it happened. But now, after just a short time, I experienced a shapeless yearning, something that defied definition, something that I could not quite put into words. My latest work helped distract me, even though it did not receive my full attention. But molten glassine tends to demand respect, even from the distracted.

"Now that's a promising piece," boomed a voice behind me. While a person has to speak up to be heard over the rumbling hiss of the kilns, I jumped nonetheless.

"Apologies, Dalian," Dactyon bowed. "But that work, it's inspired. Oh, don't let it sag. That's it. Yes, truly remarkable. I cannot wait to hold the finished work."

"Thank you," I mumbled. As I sought to focus on the piece once more it struck me. I looked at the glassine, glowing, cooling, shaping as I guided it, and saw... Weinotia! The curved surface mirrored the girl's curves. The color recalled the tone of her smooth skin. The texture on one side evoked the ripples of her tresses. I guffawed.

"I cannot wait, either," I exclaimed, unable to control my laughter at the private joke.

Dactyon watched me for a beat or two, shook his head and began to walk away. Over his shoulder he shouted, "Do not burn yourself, you maniacal imp!"

When my laughter increased Dactyon shook his head again but kept on walking.

That night, well after the birds dreamed and the bats fed, I wondered after Weinotia. I wondered who was holding her, whether she had a betrothed, if she was working, if she was eating, if she had found a home. And I wondered if she thought of me.

Sleep, when it came at last, was fitful and unsettled.

Chapter 4--Herlesh

The next trip back to Tsibili promised to be quiet. The break suited me just fine--it gave me time to nurse my burnt hand. Well, not really my entire hand but only a portion of it. I wish I could blame Dactyon for cursing me, but I supposed I shoulder some of the blame...

Fine. Truth be told it was the pads at the tips of my thumb and forefinger, and it was all my fault. Still, it hurt. And that is exactly as I told Semonte, the herbal merchant, when I procured my burn ointment.

But I did save the piece. The glasstern "Weinotia" came with me from Gatekey and now graced my mantle. I had a strong suspicion that it would accompany me back to the foundry when I returned, also.

The knock startled me. I rose to answer the door. Her presence was unexpected, to say the least.

"Hello, Kelline."

"Herlesh? Why, hello!"

"Surprised, Florist?" She wore a tiny smirk that I could not quite read.

"Not in the least," I fibbed smoothly, proud of myself for covering so well.

"Hmm, yes, you are a very poor liar."

I stood for a moment, noted the twinkle in her eye, and chuckled.

"Guilty as charged."

Herlesh laughed with me, then got to the point. "I heard from Semonte that you received a nasty burn."

"Yes, and-- Please forgive my ill manners. Will you come inside, please?"

"Thank you, yes."

I stood aside and Herlesh moved past me. My mind lingered on her scent. She continuing her explanation without noticing.

"Well, I asked what he gave you for it and he told me mud bee honey."

"He did, and at a good price, too."

"Yes, I am sure. You know mud bee honey does nothing for deep burns?"

"What?"

"It helps soothe some burns, like those caused by too much time under the summer sun. But not glasstern burns."

"Damn..."

"I assumed it was glasstern."

"It was." I motioned to a chair and she sat, while I took a place on the couch next to her seat. "I almost dropped a piece and, when I caught it, it missed the hand cloth and touched two of my fingers. It was only a beat, but..." I shrugged.

"Please let me see it."

I held out my hand to her and she unwrapped the dressing. Her light, sure touch impressed me.

"I hope you know I did not bear you any malice," she murmured.

"You mean at the gathering?"

She nodded, eyes averted.

"No, Herlesh. In fact, it was wearing on me. The wondering if--when--I would be exposed. This arrangement, though unusual, is actually better. At least I--"

"Is this all?" She sounded surprised.

"Er, yes."

"My goodness, how old are you? You look older than seven fourteen-moons."

"It hurts!"

"Babe."

"Am not." It sounded whiny, even to me.

"Are, too," she laughed. Herlesh rummaged in her hipsack and pulled out a small vial. She uncorked it and a pungent odor filled the room. It smelled of sweet ale and incense, not unpleasant at all.

She upended the vial and the liquid oozed down the side until a drop, then another fell onto my thumb. Before another dripped out she had moved it to my forefinger. Even before she had me rub my fingers together my skin tingled, cooled and went numb.

"What is that miracle cure agent?" I marveled.

"It is a little something I have developed over the fourteens--"

I opened my mouth but she silenced me with a raised hand.

"Do not ask me what is in it, how I make it, or what I call it."

I slumped. "All right."

"You may bandage it or leave it open. I prefer open, but you may find it more advantageous to cover it if you are doing chores or are otherwise busy with, your... hands." She began to laugh and, after I caught her meaning, I joined her.

She capped the vial and left it on the table for me.

"Thank you, Herlesh. You did not have to go to any trouble."

"It was no trouble, Kelline, believe me." She smiled warmly at me before her expression faded to something more serious.

"Herlesh, is there something on your mind?"

"No, Florist. Not really."

"Hmm, now who is the poor liar?" I chuckled, but she did not join in my mirth or show any sign of appreciating my wit. "Herlesh?"

"I, I have a..." she began. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and plunged ahead. "Kelline, I have been a midwife and healer for many fourteens. I have delivered babies, counselled women and couples, and have helped the lovelorn." She paused.

"And I have only heard good reports of you on all accounts," I added into the silence. I hoped it would encourage her.

Herlesh gave a small, perhaps appreciative smile, but her eyes still seemed sad to me. "I have seen many lovers, Kelline, but I have never been one." She folded her hands and looked at them. I did, too, and watched as her knuckled whitened in response to some internal struggle.