The Root of the Matter - Hylore Ch. 01

"I don't have any more," Dielle said with some exasperation. "I found the one by accident, there aren't any others. You can't take what's not there."

Malas looked at Clearly who shrugged. "Maybe. They're gods-all hard to find." She looked at Dielle. "Any small ones? Dried out?"

"Oh, lots of them. They're not any good, though, they just clutter up the top of the dirt." Theris smiled helpfully.

The orc sagged, jaw slack, looking at Malas with wide eyes. The Dread Pirate looked back and turned to the pair of women. "Your garden is full of the things. I want them all. I'll make it worth your while."

"A quarter," Dielle said suddenly, feeling an odd sense of calm.

"Three quarters."

"A third."

"Half." Malas's voice and face were stern.

Dielle looked at Theris, seeing in her lover's eyes that the bargaining was over. She looked back at the Dread Pirate. "I pick which half."

"Done." Malas held out her hand and the two women touched their knuckles.

"I have a woman, calls herself a gardener. She's going to look over your garden. You'll be nice to her." It wasn't a request. "And..." a strange look crossed Malas's face, "I understand you have some skill in the art of, what do you people call it... enlightenment." Reason chuckled but stifled the sound quickly when Malas glared at her. "If I send some women to see you... I'd appreciate it if... they're from the Lotus Dream and..."

Several things fell into place in Dielle's mind: the elegant woman who passed them on their way in, Mistress Night Blossom; her own ability to bargain for the calix--so that's what it's called--without losing her head; and, very importantly, why the House of the Saffron Lotus Dream was under the personal protection of the Dread Pirate. My, Leshar, you do work in curious ways. Thank you.

"I will be honored to welcome all you send me, Malas," Dielle said as formally as she could and then bowed. "May I assume Jade Dream and Sapphire Bliss will be among the visitors?"

"You should be so lucky," Malas said softly, without thinking. Then, aloud, "Whoever Mistress Night Blossom chooses." She lifted her head and scowled at Dielle and Theris. "Why are you two still here? Our business is done and I have other, more important, tasks this morning. Go away."

Reason inclined her head slightly at the stairs. Dielle took the hint and pulled Theris, who seemed to be about to speak, away with her. They'd reached the top step when Malas suddenly said, "Wait. You, the blonde..." she looked at Reason who mouthed a word, "Theris. You stay. I want to ask you about incentives. I'm sure..." Reason mouthed another word, "Dielle, the honored priestess of Leshar has duties in her temple--and garden."

Theris gave Dielle a wan smile and turned back to the Dread Pirate's table. The priestess hesitated, unsure of whether she should leave her lover alone, almost staying, when Clearly winked at her and cracked a very nice smile. She left.

The walk from The Prow to the temple was even more pleasant than the walk earlier in the morning. It was going to be another hot day and she longed for the cool embrace of the temple walls, even though there wouldn't be anyone to greet her, as usual, so she was surprised to find the temple doors open when she returned and the sound of people inside. Cautious, she slipped past one of the doors and stood to let her eyes adjust to the dim light. Two women embraced on the floor near the dais; they appeared to have been worshiping for some time by the way things were strewn around.

As she approached the tangle on the floor one of the women lifted her head and removed a slick hand from the pussy of the the feinen beneath her. Startling green eyes twinkled up at her.

Jade Dream said languidly, tunic in artificial disarray around her, "Oh. Good morning, Dielle. I am sent by my Mistress to learn and, perhaps, to teach." She glanced at the other woman, who lay back, eyes glassy, cum or drool, probably both, leaking from her mouth, a happily dazed expression on her face.

"Virilessa and I are exchanging techniques. Would you care to join us in worship?"

Unexpected Results

Dielle ties up loose ends. Theris confesses her sins. One story ends and another begins.

Ten years later...

Dielle watched with concern as the orc hoisted the statue of Leshar onto her shoulder. "You be careful, Clearly, it's heavy and I don't want you putting anything out of place."

The orc shifted the heavy mass easily and snorted in amusement. She walked down the path from the temple toward the docks, the statue swaying as if it weighed nothing at all. A child, not more than eight, ran from the temple into the garden, squealing in delight, and headed straight for the work table where she grabbed a calix in a tiny hand, putting it to her mouth.

Dielle snatched the root from the small hand and said as seriously as she could, "Wicked imp. That's not for you. You know better than to touch these. I should turn you up by your ankle and slap your bare bottom."

The child's eyes went wide and she ran to the other end of the table where she picked up a clear, slender tube from the table and blew into it. The tube expanded into a large bubble that shimmered in the morning light while the child held the end closed with her fingers. As Dielle watched, she let air from it, making a rude noise, which caused the girl to giggle uncontrollably.

"Hand it to me, you brat." Dielle grabbed the flaccid tube and raised her hand as if to strike. The child squealed again in mock fear and ran off into the large stand of bambobo that covered the entire back of the garden to play in the dirt. Dielle sighed.

"Giving you fits again, Dielle-de ny-Templestar?" Jade walked through the door, laughing. She wore the same robes as Dielle, those of a priestess of Leshar, but much finer in weave and cut; to be expected from someone who counted the Dread Pirate as a patron. She put a hand on the taller woman's shoulder.

"If your daughter wasn't so adorable, Jade-sa ny-Moonrise, I'd be at wit's end today," the senior priestess said, even though she was much younger than her companion. "I never get used to the formal names, Jade, love. I know Malas thinks it's an honor but, really, it's such a mouthful." The women laughed, knowing that the Dread Pirate had given them the names to please her consort, Myrna-sa de-Nightblossom.

Dielle stamped her foot in frustration. "I'm sure I've forgotten something and it's not as if I can simply walk back here and get it later. Then there's the trees. I'm sure several of them are sickly. Maybe if I add some more..."

"Reason has a list, she's got everything checked off. The only things left are your two bags here and the statue, which I see Clearly already has." Jade turned her friend around so they were face to face, though Dielle had to look down a bit. "As for the trees, they are fine, they are the pride of the temple, the pride of all Baywatch. Stop fretting and enjoy this day." She hugged the taller elf.

Dielle turned away, her face twisted in anguish. "I don't want to go, I've changed my mind." Then she sat on a small bench. "Oh, yes, I do want to go. I'm so confused."

Jade handed her a cup of tea in a battered wooden mug. They had cups now, made from the finest fired clay, but the gesture wasn't lost on Dielle. She sipped the hot liquid feeling its warmth spread through her. The former erotician, now priestess of Leshar, sat next to her and they passed the mug between them, drinking in companionable silence.

When the tea was done, Dielle stood, gazing first at the back of the temple then at the garden. "Is it a long voyage, do you think?"

"A few weeks, if the wind's good and your captain's worth her tar."

"Are you saying the captain's not any good? That's cruel, Jade." Theris stood in the doorway, her floppy hat tilted rakishly on her head. "I'll have you know that I've made the voyage safely, oh, at least once. But that's not important now." She stepped lightly into the garden and enfolded Dielle in her arms and they began fondling each other's ears. Jade stood watching them, shaking her head. "The magnificent Theris-he el-Risingtide, though how you managed to get Malas to give you the 'he,' I'll never know. Theris, supreme warrior of the Rising Tide. Ha."

"Nice to see you, too, Jade, beautiful wise woman of Moonrise, though it's odd you didn't get the "mystic" appellation, like Dielle. I always liked your last name; it gives me visions of you and the Dread Pirate in the... Oww." Theris winced in mock pain when Jade punched her in the arm. They touched each other on the earlobes, as very good friends and casual lovers were allowed to do, and the next priestess of Leshar in Baywatch swayed into her temple.

"The ship is ready for the next tide, Dielle, which is soon and we're waiting on you. Your new temple awaits."

"You've seen it? Is it nice? Is it large enough?"

"Well," Theris said offhandedly, "it's not exactly done, but I've seen the place where it will be and I think it will be magnificent. Malas wants to make an impression on the poor benighted locals along the coast of... Nortborg? Yes, I think it's back in Nortborg hands now. And got its name back: Farwater, instead of Fist on the River. I never have understood the Nerevarrian fondness for naming places after fighting. It's so uncivilized. The temple will help keep the amazons away, I hope, they've never been much for enlightenment."

"Keep them away so Malas can look for more calix, you mean. That's the only reason she's doing it. Well, and getting me out of the way so Jade can be the priestess. Should finally get her all the calix in the garden, the clever bitch."

Someone cleared her throat behind them. Reason stood by Dielle's two remaining bags, arms crossed. "Captain. Honored One. These the last? That's it then. Good thing you said, 'clever,' Dielle." The tall, elegant elf winked at her then picked up the two bags. "Waiting on you," Reason said over her shoulder as she left.

"I knew I forgot something." the priestess exclaimed. "Wait, it's just here." She pushed several garden tools out of the way on the table and held up a leather bag from which she withdrew something wrapped in silk and a couple of wooden rings. "See. I fixed it."

Dielle open the silk to reveal several clear, slender tubes identical to the one Jade's daughter had been playing with. "It was incredibly simple once I realized what I needed to do."

"Are those the fish bladders I gave you?" the blonde asked. The priestess nodded excitedly.

Theris had brought Dielle the tubes a year ago. She'd seen some of her crew using them to cover their cocks while they fucked, as part of some contest to see who could spurt the most cum. But the tubes kept slipping off and the cum leaked out from the open end, so the women threw them away in disgust. Theris found out the things were air bladders of a deepwater eel that fisherwomen routinely dredged up in their nets. They were incredibly flexible and tough but no one knew what to do with them except give them to children as bubble toys--until two of Theris's crew had their bright idea.

Theris collected all the bladders she could, which was a lot because no one believed they were any use, and brought them to Dielle, asking her if she might use them to help her virgins from getting unexpectedly pregnant, which was different from getting expectedly pregnant.

"Look," the priestess said, stretching the bladder, "they're flexible except down here at the opening, which is, I guess where it attached to the eel. And no matter how small the tube is, the open end doesn't close up around the base of a cock. But then I was cutting down a small bambobo that was growing too close to a big one and I cut it wrong, chopping off a ring. And, here, see?"

Dielle showed Theris one of the rings she'd taken from the leather bag, a thin circle of bambobo that sprang back to its original shape after she squeezed it.

"I'll show you. Give me your cock for a minute." The priestess took a bladder in one hand and the blonde's dick in the other. She slid the tube over the rapidly hardening shaft; it fit snugly everywhere except at the base. Dielle slipped the ring over Theris's cock but it got stuck halfway down so she removed it and used a bigger one that slid to the base of the now fully erect dick and pressed the tube tight against the engorged flesh.

"There." the priestess said proudly. "Nice and tight. It holds up well, too." She stroked her lover's cock expertly, concentrating on the sensitive tip. It was plain that Theris hadn't had sex in a while because she came almost immediately, the silky cum bulging out the tip of the bladder and trickling down the inside of the tube but also not leaking at the base. "My that's a lot of very nice essence. Can you do it again? Oh, yes, you can. And none of that's come out either. It works."

Theris pushed Dielle away and gently removed the ring and the tube, holding them up in the sunlight. "Goddess. What a sheath. Think of what can be done with these. I... we will make a fortune."

"I think the temples of Leshar will sell them, for a nominal fee, and give them to the less fortunate and the profits will go to spread the word of Leshar's gifts. Unless you object and only wish to sell them for mere money." Dielle's gaze was piercing and Theris wilted.

"But I can sell some, right? I did bring them to you, you know."

"I suppose something can be worked out, love." The priestess embraced the pirate captain. "Ah. Is that your cock poking me?" Dielle reached down between them. "Two climaxes and ready again. Honestly, you pick the oddest times."

"I'm excited about your discovery. But, you know, we do have a little time left. So..." The blonde reached down to stroke the priestess's cock.

Dielle nuzzled her lover's ears, feeling the heat rise in them, then pushed away and walked toward the temple. "No, no time. The ship's waiting." She stopped and turned to see Theris standing, deflated in more than one sense, in the middle of the garden. "Oh, come on, don't mope about. It's not seemly for one of the Dread Pirate's best captains to look so hang dog. But it's your own fault. You dance in and out of my life over the last ten years and each time you show up you expect me to just drop my clothes, raise my cock and fuck you blind. And all the while when you're away, terrorizing the coast of Nortborg, you keep your bed warm with an amazing assortment of women. Don't look so shocked, do you think your sailors won't tell me everything when I have them in the thrall of enlightenment?"

"Ah... well, see, it's sort of expected but I don't bed just any woman. I've got standards. They have to measure up to you." The blonde's eyes became dreamy. "There's this one woman, a fiery redhead, from around Three Rivers, she can drink like a fish and fuck like... that's not important now. But she reminds me of you, not that you drink like a fish... she's so... fecund... not that..." Theris finally managed to close her mouth.

"Fecund? How many children, then, my love?"

"Uh, two, maybe three. I'll have to check when I, uh, visit again. She does remind me of you, though. And... she likes calix, raw. Maybe she could travel down to Farwater and the three of us..."

"Theris," Dielle said, taking her lover's hand as they walked through the temple, near full with the morning's worshipers. "I don't begrudge you your pleasures. But if I find that this wench has touched your ears, I'll cut them both off with a rusty knife and do the same to her cock." She stopped and put her hips on her hands. "I do hope the voyage doesn't take very long. I managed to enlighten your crew, but the effects of my ministrations won't last forever."

"No one touches my ears but you. On my soul." Theris and Dielle kissed in the middle of the temple in front of the statue of Leshar Malas had donated years ago, her lower arms stroking her cock and pussy; the one Clearly carried to the ship was identical. The new tussle and fuck approach to enlightenment attracted worshipers from all across Corsair's Nest now. Jade and Virilessa stepped among the assembled mass, stopping to help or remind a worshiper or a virgin of the proper attitude.

"Perhaps you can use the sheaths of the goddess yourself, Theris. We don't want our extended family growing too large, do we?"

Outside the temple, the day was clear and hot. Reason waited with the bags, the child bouncing around her, crying, "attos, attos," until the tall elf reached down to tousle her hair. Then the child skipped off into the temple in search of mischief.

Dielle walked down the path toward the dock, Reason beside her. Theris stretched in the morning light, her broad smile suddenly disappearing as she ran to catch up with her lover.

"Dielle? Did you say you enlightened my crew? All of them? Dielle? Wait, not all at once did you? Dielle? That's not funny, Dielle."

------

It's always hard to tell the year because it depends on where you are. On the continent of Valterra in the north, it is Year 1 of Our Lady Tirashael Frostraven, new Queen of Nortborg. Queen Maricia Lindelhauf dreamed of a dynasty to continue her family's rule but died suddenly of something she ate. Frostraven, raised from the ranks of the army, vows stability. In the south of Valterra, among the amazons of Nerevar, it is summer--always summer, time for fighting and sex. Across the sea, on Drexthis--now Drokhan-Mar, the Drokhan Waste--the land has stopped smoking but none live there to count the time, though there are rumors of strange creatures roaming the interior swamps. North, on fair Mangelo, the arrogant, self-absorbed elves celebrate year 188 of the decadent, ineffectual, and laughable Silvermoon Accord. Across the channel in the town of Baywatch on the island of Corsair's Nest, it is 12; Malas el-Moonfall is firmly Dread Pirate of the Crimson Sails and scourge of Mangelo, as she planned.

On the island of Mäm, south of Nerevar, where a Najyiik scholar consults her texts, it is too late. All the portents and signs are aligned. A wind blows from the east and stirs the west. The rose on her table drops a petal.

She is very, very afraid...