The Magic Shop

"So... what do you think?"

Bianca was taken aback. "I think you're amazing at this. And beautiful." Her hands had found their way to the girl's hips. "Definitely the prettiest boy I've ever met."

"What? No, silly girl." Zdenka failed to hide an enticing blush. "I meant my idea, for your problem."

Bianca was too distracted by the blush to answer. She kissed the elf's neck. "Please, I want to thank you."

"No need for that," Zdenka replied, smiling and closing her eyes at the kiss. "I had fun. Nights here are usually so boring."

Bianca kissed her a little higher, parting her lips slightly and just barely grazing her neck with the tip of her tongue. "But I want to return the favor." Her hand was wandering down the fold of the elf's thigh.

"Oh," Zdenka said distractedly, "you don't have to do that. I'm actually not allowed to cum." Bianca paused and gave her a quizzical look. "It's part of my training."

"Ah," Bianca said. She thought about it for a moment. "So don't cum then." She lightly bit the elf's earlobe and won a soft moan. Her hand slid down and found Zdenka's cock, small but rigid, barely half as long as her own. It felt like it would be pretty.

"I haven't done this in a long time, so be nice." She started stroking slowly, holding the elf's cock between her thumb and two fingers.

"Oh, that feels nice," the elf said breathily. She guided Bianca's middle finger to the base of her foreshaft, pressing it downward to simultaneously tighten her cock and tug on her balls. She demonstrated for a few thrusts and then let Bianca take over.

"Yeah, just like that." Her ass was grinding a bit on Bianca's lap.

Bianca leaned forward slightly, tracing her tongue down Zdenka's neck to her upper back. She bit and kissed her way down to the sensitive patch between the shoulder blades, and started slowly drawing butterflies with her tongue. She took advantage of the improved reach this position afforded by embracing the elf with her second hand. She cupped her balls and teased them with her fingertips. They were smooth, taut, and hairless.

Bianca suddenly felt a knot in her stomach. "You're, uh... of age, right?"

"Yes, of course," the elf said, sounding a little offended. "Magical grooming."

"And the balls?"

"What about them?" she asked indignantly. "You're the ones with weird balls. Like a pair of overripe potatoes in a worn-out sack."

Bianca laughed. Couldn't argue with that. She absent-mindedly lowered her hand below the elf's balls to rub her perineum, forgetting there was a vulva down there too. It took her confused brain a few seconds to work out what had happened when her fingers slipped unexpectedly between Zdenka's wet lips. The elf responded favorably. Bianca worked her fingers lazily upward, lightly stimulating the elf's lips on the way to her clit. She felt on firmer ground here, having acquired a great deal of experience with her peers during her first years in the order.

Her middle finger began tracing featherlight circles on Zdenka's clit. The elf was breathing a bit harder now. With each downward stroke of her cock she was now counter-thrusting. Emboldened by the signs of the elf's mounting arousal, Bianca became more aggressive in her clitoral stimulation, rubbing Zdenka's glans and rolling back and forth across the clitoral body. The elf grabbed Bianca's hand and led it down to her vaginal entrance.

"I've never..." Bianca started to object.

"Just put a finger in." Bianca obeyed, cautiously sliding a middle finger inside her. "Now curl it up toward me and rub in circles." She guided Bianca's hand to bring her fingertip to the desired location, a rugated spot behind her pubic bone.

"There, right there. And keep jerking me." Bianca realized she'd allowed her other hand to fall still and resumed stroking. The elf leaned back, hoisting herself with her hands on the paladin's thighs in order to improve her leverage.

"Put in another finger." Bianca slid out and teased the elf's clit with a dripping-wet finger. She re-entered with two, pressing in circles against the sensitive rough patch inside her. Zdenka fell still and allowed Bianca to carry on with her hands. The elf's eyes were closed, her lips slightly parted. Her arms were trembling. Her breaths came more slowly now, but in short, powerful bursts.

"Ok, I need you to stop now." This command didn't immediately register, and Bianca's fingers kept working. "No, no, no, I'm serious. I need you to stop right now!" This got through. The elf leaned forward with a pained expression. No longer concentrating on her own movements, Bianca noticed Zdenka tightening periodically around her fingers.

"Let go, I need to get up," the elf said, slipping off Bianca's fingers and sliding to the floor. She waddled off a few feet, slender thighs deliberately spread wide, hands on her knees, breathing heavily and biting her lip.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Just give me a minute!" The elf closed her eyes and stood silently for a while. At length, she relaxed and stood up. "Sorry, that was close," she said with relief. "Nicely done, my Lady."

Suddenly, Zdenka's ears twitched and she stared off with glazed eyes for several seconds. "Of course, mistress," she muttered as her eyes refocused. "My mistress is here. She wants me to bring you to her."

Zdenka helped Bianca resituate her garments and cleaned her fingers with a prestidigitation. "Come with me," she said, taking Bianca by the hand and leading her into the maze of shelves. "So, you never answered. What did you think of my idea to use the necklace for your problem?"

"Oh," Bianca said, looking down at the bulge in her tunic, still nontrivial despite her flaccidity. "Does it come in smaller sizes? I don't think I can hide this."

"Hmm. No, not directly. It just gives you the equipment you'd have had if you'd been born the other sex. Your mom or grandma is a very lucky woman by the way."

"Ugh."

"If it were a permanent polymorph, I could shrink or enlarge it. There's an elixir of gender change that's permanent, but it's pretty expensive."

"Oh?"

"About seven thousand gold pieces for components, depending on market prices. And if you want to change back, it's the same price for a second one."

"I definitely can't afford that," she said, unclasping the necklace one-handed and returning it to the elf. "It's ok. I wouldn't really be able to hide a small one either. I don't get that kind of privacy." Not wanting to hurt the elf's feelings, she added, "It was a good idea though."

Soon the pair emerged into a sub-chamber enclosed by bookshelves on all sides. Papers, sealed containers, and a jumble of objects sat piled haphazardly on every side. The space, such as it was, was dominated by a large, ornate wooden desk.

Perched atop it, between precarious stacks of papers, sat a tall, beautiful woman with dark brown skin. Her black hair, only a shade darker than her skin, fell freely in delightful loose curls. She was clothed in a fine red dress fit for the high nobility, intricately embroidered with gold thread in the shape of flowers, heroes, beasts, and divinities.

"Good evening, mistress," Zdenka said with a bow. "I hope you had a pleasant meal?"

"It was interrupted." The elf flinched almost imperceptibly. "But that's alright. Something unexpected came up. A lovely show I didn't want to miss." Bianca blushed. Had she been watching this whole time?

"Lady Bianca," she addressed her. That would be a yes. "I've considered your problem carefully, and I can offer two solutions."

"May the Lord on High grant you long life, my Lady," Bianca said with a slight bow. "I would be grateful to hear them."

"First I must ask. When your term with the order is finished, do you intend to have children?"

Bianca considered it. "I don't know. I haven't decided yet." She paused. "I think so."

"One solution then. Please come closer, my Lady."

Bianca approached and stood just before her. Zdenka padded to her mistress' side. The owner's eyes were dark and gleamed like onyx. Her lips were dark apart from a half-moon of alluring pink on her lower lip that opened upward into her mouth. A rich, earthy scent of flowers and aromatic wood surrounded her. Up close, she looked to be perhaps twenty-five years old. If not for her intimidating demeanor, she might be even lovelier than the elf. Bianca looked again with Asa's eyes, which revealed only the orange, thumbprint-like mark on her lower lip that the elf also bore.

"There is another option, one which would be highly effective. A good deal for you, but a high-risk proposition for me. A risk for which I would need to be appropriately compensated." She studied Bianca's eyes.

"Please tell me what you propose, my Lady."

"I can enchant you so that no one, no man or beast, no spirit or divinity, no thinking thing in any of the three worlds, not even you or I could violate your chastity, so long as I maintain my spell."

"That would be perfect."

"The procedure would involve a temporary transfer of merit, from me to you. If you were to permanently die, or successfully abscond, it would be lost to me forever."

"A transfer of merit, my Lady?"

"Yes, which even the deathless gods fear. It is by merit that the spirits of the land and petty divinities obtain their power. There are even some who assert that Asa himself obtained his post, when this world was young, from the merit of his sacrifices." She watched Bianca's eyes for a change of expression, but none came.

"This is of course a ridiculous hyperbole. But merit is the greatest of all powers accessible to mortals. You have a fair amount yourself, my Lady, for your age."

"Do I?"

"Let me see your palm," the woman said, holding out her own hand in expectation. Bianca gave her her right hand, which immediately burst into pale, painless flame at the woman's touch. Bianca started in surprise.

"Don't worry, I'll give it back," she said. She withdrew her hand with the flame hovering over her palm. The holy fire swirled into the form of a sphere and transformed into an orb of turquoise water.

"Merit can be acquired only slowly, and with difficulty. Through devotion or acceptance of devotion, through righteous conduct, or through austerities." The orb froze, cracked, and shattered into fragments of stone.

"The last method is the quickest and most reliable. In my homeland, the sages would immerse themselves in freezing water, or surround themselves with blazing fires while they meditated under the burning sun. Although," she added, tousling Zdenka's hair, "there are more entertaining methods."

The stone fragments sparked and leapt into the air, caught in a whistling breeze that carried them swirling back into the woman's palm. They coalesced and dulled, losing their electric luster, to form a tiny, ruby-red pebble.

"Here you are, my Lady."

She placed the pebble in Bianca's palm. No sooner had it touched her than it melded back into her skin. But she had recognized it. A tiny version of the egg the creature had left her in the grotto.

"What do you ask in return?"

"I have need of another assistant, for tasks outside the city. I myself can rarely get away. And I need my lovely apprentice here to manage the shop. When your term with the order is finished, I would dismiss the enchantment, and you would return my merit."

"Such a shame about the last girl," Zdenka said, shaking her head.

"At least she died doing what she loved."

"I have very little control over my own time, and even less over my physical location," Bianca objected.

"We can work around your obligations to the order," the woman said. "I maintain cordial relations with the Abbess." She put her hand to her breast. When she withdrew it, her palm and fingers were covered with a fragrant, light brown paste.

"If I were to ever require you to violate your oath," she began, and the paste turned a luminescent orange, "to kill unjustly, to perjure yourself, to disobey your superiors, or to in any way make yourself odious to the Gods," she paused for effect, "may my head burst asunder." She marked her own lower lip with a fresh thumbnail of the glowing paste.

"What do you say?"

This was clearly a terrible idea.

"I'll do it. On one condition." The woman arched an eyebrow and watched in silence. "You must help me kill the beast in the Valley of the Mills."

The woman tilted her head, her expression softening. "I can well understand your desire but I would counsel you strongly against consummating it. These elemental spirits have simple minds, hardly better than beasts. It would be like seeking revenge against a lightning bolt for striking you thoughtlessly. It cannot be reformed, and it will never repent. If you slay it, it will not understand this as punishment. You harm yourself and no one else by bearing hatred toward such a thing."

"Nevertheless, that is my condition."

She sighed. "You must promise to consider what I have said carefully. And you would need to become much stronger to stand a chance. But," she added, the fresh print on her lip glowing like an ember, "I swear upon my head that if, at the end of your term, you still insist, I will help you slay the beast."

"Then I accept." Bianca stood still as the woman reached out and pressed her thumb into her lower lip. It felt like being burned, though somehow without pain.

"Very well, drop your lower garments and get up on the table," the woman said, standing from her seat. She was even taller than Bianca, taller than most men.

"Wait, what?"

"You're going to want me to get the aim right. Please assist her, Zdenka."

"Of course, mistress." The elf helped Bianca loosen her clothing. Bianca sat her naked cheeks on the table, feeling remarkably silly.

"Now you're going to want your legs up over your head."

"Is that really necessary?"

"If you want it to go where it's supposed to go."

Zdenka helped her lay back against a stack of papers, raising her knees and exposing her vulva. She felt ridiculous.

"You're going to feel my touch." The woman gently spread Bianca's inner labia with one hand and, with each finger on the other in turn, smeared the burning orange paste around her vaginal entrance and on her hymen.

"All finished."

Zdenka helped her sit up and get dressed.

"Zdenka will show you how best to reach the monastery from here without drawing attention. I look forward to our time together, my Lady." She looked Bianca in the eyes. "You may call me mistress Aurelia."

"Thank you... mistress."

⁂

Zdenka left her near the infirmary supply door. She had promised a bundle of magical quality-of-life improvements to support Bianca in her new role but said she would need some time to collect the necessary equipment. She gave Bianca a sweet, closed-mouth kiss and ran off before the paladin could press for clarification.

Bianca made it through the supply door, left unlocked by prior arrangement with Doc, and entered the infirmary. She stole along the dimly lit loggia next to the herb garden, headed toward the paladin quarters.

"Interesting night?" came a low voice from an alcove.

"Gah!" She jumped. "What the fuck?!" She recognized the voice. Why did it have to be an officer? And why the worst possible one?

"Commander!" She turned toward him with a forced smile. Alessio sat shirtless in the warm night air, his feet propped on a stool. Contrasting patches of dim light and shadows on his abdomen and chest highlighted his fine musculature. His flank was still dark purple and yellow where a gnoll's javelin had struck him.

"How are the ribs?"

He took a puff from his pipe. "Alright. Doc says I should stop smoking while they're healing." He took another puff and blew a thick smoke ring.

"How was your night?"

Her mind flew through her file of excuses but returned nothing suited to purpose. "I went to the lower city to see if I could learn anything about that monster at the shrine."

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes."

He waited for elaboration that didn't come. "Well good." He produced a backup pipe and offered it wordlessly, which she politely declined in the same manner. "You should be proud."

"Sir?"

"It's not easy to face death alone. Eufemia tells me she tried to comfort you afterward, telling you that you saved all those people." Fucking Effie. "What she said is true. And not only them. Poor harvests are expected in the central plain again this year. We'll need all the grain we can get."

"Thank you, sir." She stood there awkwardly as he smoked his pipe, silently praying to be dismissed.

"I was supposed to be off to negotiate with the White Sheep before I got caught up in your mission. The abbess won't let me travel with my injury." He blew a smoke ring. "I've recommended that you be sent in my place." Huh?

"Uh, thank you, sir."

"Lady Adaleta has decided to retire at the end of her term this year at the summer solstice. The abbess will be looking for a new female diplomat on a permanent basis."

"Yes, sir."

"You should receive the details of your assignment tomorrow. Get your supplies together and leave within two days, or you'll look lazy. Or incompetent."

"... thank you, sir."

"You're dismissed."

Bianca, hardly able to believe her luck in escaping unscathed, started to leave.

"And Lady Bianca."

"Yes, sir?"

"Try not to kill any of them. Not like that time with the goblins."

"That was one time! I didn't know they were trying to parley!"

Alessio laughed and resumed smoking. Bianca began to leave, but she hesitated and turned back briefly.

"You know, sir, you're not nearly as much of an asshole as you used to be."

"Many people have told me that, yes."