The Lineage Ch. 08

Alexis' eyes bloomed with light and her mouth opened a bit, "then welcome to my palace, my fair elven princess," she said cheerfully, making Zenna giggle. Sylvaini had almost forgotten what it was like to have a normal, joyful conversation with someone up until a few weeks ago, and how heartful it was to make someone laugh with genuine sincerity.

"But, um..." Zenna cut in and let her eyes wander while her nose bounced, "is there any chance we could open some of these windows? There's a bit of a smell."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Alexis wandered over and threw open a pair of windows, and the elf could almost see vapors beginning to fling outside, "I guess living without someone to regulate my filth just means it gets out of hand," she chuckled, "and I've also gotten used to my own smell, I suppose."

She turned back to the elf and stared at her for a minute. Zenna stared back at her, even matching her stance so both women were on equal footing. Alexis squinted her eyes while a mischievous grin grew on her lips, followed by her waltzing forward and taking the elf's arm again, pulling her along. Zenna followed her through a doorway and the guard released her, wandering over to light a set of candles. As the room illuminated, it became clear they were in the guard's bathroom. There was a sink along with a Victorian-style bathtub, while an unremarkable latrine hung in the corner. Remarkably, this room smelled far better than Alexis' living room, and was disturbingly clean, save for some mismatched clothes sitting in a pile.

"What are we doing in here? I don't have to go to the bathroom," Zenna asked sheepishly.

Alexis wandered back over to the elf and put her hands on her hips and huffed worriedly, "w-well... you were mentioning how my apartment smelled a minute ago, right?"

Zenna glazed over her friend, "y-yes?"

"W-well..." Alexis took one hand up to rub her neck so she didn't have to stare into the elf's eyes, "gods I feel embarrassed to say it, but... you smell worse, Zenny."

The guard then watched as her entire pale face reddened and crinkled, as if vulnerabilities bloomed out of thin air, "w-what?"

"Even Katan seemed to notice it when we were on our way here. I've been avoiding it since I first started smelling it a few days ago, but you have serious odors coming off you. I just didn't want to embarrass you. Have you not been bathing at the shelter?"

The long-eared girl cocked her head to one side as she mouthed out the guard's words. Then she suddenly gasped and darted her eyes around a bit in an effort to stay out of eye contact, "n-no, I haven't been bathing there... o-or staying there, even..."

Alexis cocked her head in equal measure, "Huh? You've been staying at the homeless shelter since you ran away from the palace, right? I figured you had to be staying somewhere each day... that would be as good of a place as any. Where have you been sleeping, then? Have you been staying with someone else?"

The elf began to nervously rub her feet and hands together as her face was continually obscured by the blue hair falling over it, "I've just... f-found places here and there, I guess..."

Alexis felt her heartbeat quicken, her skin grow sweaty, and her pupils expand out towards her skin, "w-what do you mean? Here and there? Y-you've been staying with different people?"

Zenna shrunk down further, "n-no... not people... just... you know... corners... doorways... crates... bales of hay... stables..."

A gust of air the size of a gale was sucked through the guard's lips, pushing her heart down into her stomach, "y-you've been s-sleeping on the streets!? N-no! How!?" she leaned forward to better hear Zenna.

Instead of looking up at her, the elf shrunk further even down into her shoulders and spoke in barely a whisper, "Alexis, you know why. The whole city is looking for me... if I went to a shelter the guards would find me immediately... and if I just followed someone to their home I would..."

"ZENNY!!" the woman shrieked, lunging forward and taking both of the elf's arms in her palms and shoving Zenna backwards. Zenna, in her surprise, shot her head upwards while her lungs sucked down all the air they could. Alexis' weight and strength forced her to become flush with the bathroom door behind her while the guard banged their foreheads together, ensuring she had the elf's unnerving attention. Brown eyes watched red eyes tremor in terror.

"How could you do that!? How!? I would have taken you in the first night we were talking if you just asked!? How could you!? What if something happened to you!?"

"B-b-b-b-because I was scared! I thought you would have turned me in if you saw who I was! How could I have known if I could trust...!?"

"Bullshit!" Alexis interrupted, even yanking Zenna again by her arms and slamming her back against the wall, "don't you give me that bullshit! What if some scumbag came across you one night, all alone and defenseless and just stuffed you in a bag and took you away forever!? What if someone tried to hurt you!? What if you starved to death!? What if you froze to death!? Huh!? HUH!?" she shoved the elf against the door again, "then I would walk into the bar and find you not there at all!? Where the fuck would I be then!? I would have never known what had happened to you and blamed myself for not being there to protect you!"

Hydration began leaking out of the elf's eyes as her throat made endless gagging sounds. But really, it could just be the guard's own tears and battered throat, but she had difficulty discerning the difference.

"How could you have thought it was better to risk yourself every night, sleeping like a fucking rat than to ask for my help!? I care about you, you stupid little elf! I would never make you sleep on the streets just because you didn't trust me! Why would you think it better to just... just... just... fuck!" her head fell down into her chest as she could no longer stare Zenna in the face. She rasped heavily as her growly voice tore her throat like a sawblade. "Just... Zenny... what the fuck is wrong with you? No... no, no no, no, what is wrong with me? How could I let you do that to yourself..." she sobbed a bit, letting her tears splatter down the elf's cloak like rain, "now look at me... I'm just a mound of shit for not seeing you needed help... I was just so happy to have you as my friend... I got blinded by your light and couldn't see it... please forgive me... please..." she shook heavily, coughing on occasion as mucus ran back down her throat.

Minutes went by as she found it was easier to hide her face than to let the elf see her weak. Finally, a weak voice cut through her self-pity, "L-Lexie, p-please let go of my arms... you're hurting me..."

The guard snorted a bit as the simple sentence caused her to bring her head up, only to see Zenna's melting, anguished face. She had heard the elf speak, but did not quite hear what was said.

"H-huh? What? What did y-you say?"

"Y-your arms... please take them off me... it hurts..."

Although confused for a moment, Alexis began to think back through her previous actions. The guard's mind had been so preoccupied by emotion she had neglected to see her body was still fulfilling their most recent command -- hold the elf so tightly that nothing could ever tear her away.

Alexis shifted her vision down to her hands, seeing them coiled furiously into the elven arms. Her fingers had sunk so deeply she was nearly pressing into Zenna's bones, and her forearms were considerably paler than the rest of her body. Alexis screamed and took a few steps back, crossing her arms over her chest so they would be further away from the girl. "Oh! N-no! I'm so sorry... I didn't even realize I had grabbed you, Zenny... g-gods, I'm so sorry... I didn't... d-didn't m-mean to..."

Zenna's hands came up to rub her arms with a sniffle. It tore Alexis open to see the elf crying again, knowing she was the cause of the girl's anguish. She took her hands away from her own chest and glared down at them, furious that they had harmed her friend. Sylvaini then balled them up into fists and brought them up to her own forehead in admittance that she was the one who hurt Zenna -- and her fists were just the tools used to implement that.

As she continued to rub the blood back into her forearms, Zenna could nearly see Alexis' heart twisting in grief. She sighed, "it's not your responsibility to take care of me. If you put yourself in my shoes you can only imagine how terrified I was. How terrified I still am. Reaching out for someone to help me isn't a choice I can take lightly... how do I know who to trust?"

The guard shook her head even as her face was still hidden behind her hands, "I'm sorry, Zenny. I really am. There's no way I should have so blindly trusted your fate to chance," she pulled down her fists and let the elf see her tear-stricken face, "but you can trust me now, little elf. I'm still trying my best to prove that to you. You know I would never hurt... hurt you intentionally, right?"

Zenna wrapped her arms defensively around herself, "I don't know that."

Alexis walked forwards and delicately cupped the elf's face, "and I'm sorry you feel like that. I know people have treated you poorly before, but I promise that I'm not going to repeat their mistakes. You can't go the rest of your life expecting everyone to have it in for you. I want what's best for you. When you reached out to me, I was in the same position you are now. I hated just about everyone. My husband. My friends. Even my bartender seemed to only want me at arms-length. But you came up to me and refused to be part of that crowd. You wanted me in the same way I needed you. Don't you feel happy around me, little elf?"

As Alexis still held her head, Zenna only blinked, "yes... I do feel happy around you," she spoke in a tone that hid all emotions. Yet in her red eyes the guard saw she was genuine, making her smile.

"And just imagine if you open your heart to more people. You're such an amazing girl that all I want to do is hold you tight and never let go. Even thinking about going back to how I was before you walked into Sonol's bar terrifies me. How could I let myself fall so far down into that hole? I'm just lucky such a beautiful elf threw down a rope to get me out." The elf opened her mouth to speak, yet Alexis cut in, "but now imagine you do the same for others. This whole kingdom is full of people like me. Tired. Angry. Hopeless. We all need a savior, and I believe you are as good as any."

The elf bit her lip a bit and whimpered, "but that's so much for me to handle... how could I do all that? And what even makes you so sure that I'm the person everyone needs? Shouldn't it be someone who is strong? Someone who can face the world with open arms and stand tall as it pushes against them? That person exists, Lexie. It's just not me."

Alexis said nothing for a moment, allowing Zenna to explore her mud pits for hours on end. The guard then tilted her head a bit and closed her eyes, taking the elf by surprise when she slowly, tenderly laid her lips against her own plush red pair. She went deaf as the world sucked away all sound so they could embrace longer. Slowly, Alexis pulled herself off the elf's lips, but not before tasting them once more with her tongue. With her eyes back in the elf's vision, she softly spoke to her as if consoling her child, "I know you're not that person. Not yet. But she's in there somewhere. Buried inside that heart big as the sky. She's a woman more ferocious than the world has ever seen... and I'll be there when she finally breaks free from that prison of fear you've erected around her."

The elf's searchlights glowed and her mouth hung open in utter amazement. Under Alexis' palms her skin even seemed to heat up considerably, transmitting warmth straight down into the brown-haired woman's core. Finally she blinked, taking the last of her tears out of her eyes, "do... do you really think so?"

"I know so," the guard answered in a baritone voice that commanded the elf's fears to vacate the room, "I also know you desperately need a bath. Being this close to you is nauseating. A lady should take better care of herself, but luckily you have me here to help you." Alexis slid her hands down from the sides of Zenna's face and towards the neckline of her cloak, making the elf shudder.

"W-what are you doing?"

Alexis began to unwind the many layers of the elf's cloak, given how enormous it was, there were many to untangle, "what does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking your clothes off. Unless you want to bathe with the cloak on?"

"I can... do it myself, please... I know how to work a bath, you know..."

"Nope," the guard promptly swatted her comment out of the air and continued fighting around the elf's cloak, "my house, my bath, my rules. You just sit tight and let me take care of you, okay?"

To the elf, it was most certainly not okay. Just like everyone else in Underhill, Alexis seemed compelled to ignore what the elf wanted. The closer the guard came to undoing her armor, the more vulnerable she felt. So, two choices presented themselves to her. One -- say no. Be fierce and turn the guard, her friend away. Seal herself away again. Keep the armor up. Let the walls grow taller.

In the back of her mind, Zenna felt someone cackling away, knowing she was going to choose to stay inside.

To stay safe.

To stay alone.

To keep her heart closed forever.

Yet, another option seemed to glow just in the corner of her eyesight. As she turned to look at it, it bloomed brighter and brighter until her pupils shrank down to grains of sand. It was something so beautiful and clear it took her breath away. It was something that did not laugh at her or want to hold her down. It was not something that wanted her to run and hide. And most certainly, it did not want to hold her back. Instead, it asked her to do everything she had taught herself to never do.

To take risks.

To take a chance.

To take a step forward.

To open her heart, even just a little.

Even as that cackling, ugly voice in the back of her mind shouted endless threats, she ignored it and allowed herself to simply speak.

"Okay."

"Good girl," Alexis commented, oblivious to the war that had just waged between the elf's long ears. "Damn, why the hell do you have this so tightly wound?" she whispered as she dropped down to her knee, bringing her eye-level to the girl's chest. Zenna had brought the enormous cloak around her body in layers to keep it as dragging as much as possible, and so her form would be hidden from all eyes that dare dissect her. She watched Alexis pull endless strands of fabric out as she undid all the knots and folds that kept her armor in place, gulping as the last few layers began to fall apart and cascade rapidly down her chest.

Alexis beamed as she finally got the elf's clothes to come off, "ah that's more like it. Now we caaaaaaaannnnnnn...?" the guard's voice shattered and mouth fell open when her expanded eyeballs pushed her jaw downward. The valves in her heart seized shut, and she felt her mentality seeping out of her ears.

Something was wrong with this scene, yet Sylvaini couldn't figure it out at first. There were, however, a few hints. Zenna's chest was much closer to her face than it should have been. Alexis leaned back, yet it was still closer to her than it should be. The definition of her bosom was far greater than it should be, as evidenced by the mountainous cavern splitting it in half. Directly in front of each of Alexis' eyes was another pair staring right back at her -- pink, like candy or a flower blossom. But also little, so cute you just want to nibble, not bite them. Hanging high above them, Zenna could see the guard trying to piece together what her eyes saw, and gulped at what her reaction might be.

Alexis fought to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide in her lungs while her eyes continued twitching. No matter how many times she tried, Zenna's breasts were still directly in front of her face, occupying nearly all of her eyesight as they bobbed around. She did not believe it possible -- yet the elf had dumbfounded her yet again. No matter how many times she tried disassociating Zenna from the motherly pair before her, they pulled themselves together again.

A bell rang in Alexis Sylvaini's head as she figured out what was happening.

Minutes went by as the guardswoman was humbled down into nothing more threatening than a newborn babe in a manger. She swayed back and forth a bit as her mind dumbed down to her basic instincts. To Zenna, seeing the strong-willed woman so docile was disturbing. Clearly, she would need to start getting used to the range of reactions her chest elicited. When a line of drool began to run down Alexis' chin, the elf cleared her throat and pined, "are you okay?"

The guard's face twitched as she regained control over it. She craned her face up to look at Zenna, yet her disobedient eyes remained firmly locked on the nipples staring back at her. "O-of course... I'm okay... m-more than okay... but I think you can already tell what I'm thinking about, yeah?"

Despite her insecurity, the elf smiled a bit, "you mean, these?" Zenna pushed her arms together, making her immense orbs bob. A wave rolled across her flesh like surf rolling across a white sandy beach. Seeing not only the size of her breasts but their perkiness despite that, Alexis' disobedient tongue felt across her lips. In her mind, she made a wish that she would revert to a baby at any moment -- anything if it meant being cradled against that bosom so powerful it would protect her from everything.

"Y-yes... I had no idea... how the hell... you seem so tiny, yet you have these... your dwarf dad was a very lucky man if your mother blessed you with her genes... gods..." she began drooling more as her mind took flight.

Zenna laughed, making her breasts bob again, which only made them more appealing to Alexis, which only made her drool more, which resulted in a cycle that never seemed to end. "I'm actually not sure where these came from. My mom and my sisters were all normal. Even my brothers didn't look like me at all. Same with my hair, my eyes... my everything, really."

The guard gulped as she endlessly wished to de-age at any given moment, "w-wow... lucky you, I guess... gods, you keep getting more unbelievable all the time. I don't think I can take many more surprises... but I guess I can deal with one more," Alexis reached out to the elf's waist and lightly grabbed the fabric holding her cloak in place. This time, Zenna absolutely knew which choice to make and grabbed the guard's hands, telling her to stop.

Alexis looked up at her blushing face, "I'm scared, Lexie. I don't know if I can do this," Zenna pleaded.

The guard smiled warmingly, "I know you can do this. You trust me, right?"

The elf's vision fell until she looked at Alexis through the gap in her breasts, "I think I trust you... but I don't know if you're ready to know the real me."

Alexis shot her scarred eyebrow up in an exaggerated, almost joking manner, "are you saying I've been talking to the fake Zenny this whole..."

"Please, I'm being serious. I need to know you're not going to run away or scream at me. You can handle my chest, sure, but what about the other half of me? What about the thing that really sets me apart? The thing that makes everyone hate me, use me, hurt me? The thing that controlled my life from the moment I was born? The thing that I'm enslaved...?" the elf was interrupted when Alexis suddenly shot from her kneeling position and grabbed hold of Zenna's head, bringing her into a kiss far deeper than the two that came before. In her surprise, the little woman let go of her cloak and it fell down to the floor, leaving her completely exposed and naked in the guardswoman's dimly-lit bathroom in a house she was unfamiliar with, with a woman she had only just met, in a kingdom she failed to trust, in a world she never allowed herself to properly understand.