The Sighs of the Priestess Ch. 06

"After that, when she came by to drop her coppers, I found something very different. She looked me in my eyes for just an instant, and she made sure to place the coins in my hand so that she might touch me. She couldn't smile, and I could still only say my thanks, but it was as if we shared something. It wasn't much, but it gave me warm thoughts over many nights."

He decided then that if there was something possible for them, then he had to tell her what he'd put together from her story earlier. It had been a shock to him. He prayed that it would not be too much of one for her. He looked down.

"She was thin and not tall, this beautiful woman, more than a man like me could ever dream to hold," he said softly as he repeated it and looked up, "but, she was a beautiful woman then and free, and not a beautiful cat-girl who held my hand through the bars of her cage."

Yanna had tears running down her face an instant later, "Did you know me in the cage there?"

"I knew only that the one girl that I cared about was gone, "he said, "I didn't think that it might be you there in the cage. I was sad, and wondered where the girl might have gone, and one day, it just came to me that she must have found a man that she liked and that she could be seen with, so I wished her well in my prayers at night."

"Maybe a month later, I saw how the dark cat-girl in the cage grew slowly worse and it began to break my heart for I cared for her from the first moment. Out of all of the ones that I had seen and looked after because no one else would, that one reached me deeper than any of them. It was a crime what was going on there, but the thought of that one giving up hurt so much worse."

"So I tried to take more care of her. I worked harder to try to get her better food, and I tried hard to talk with her, so that she might not begin to starve herself. I do not know what I would have done then if that one had died, but no, I did not know that it was you. The next thing that I knew, I realized that I just loved you somehow, and it was as if I had no say in it. As much as you were a prisoner inside that cruel cage, I was one on the outside, bound to do whatever I could to keep you alive, because I needed you to be. It was impossible, Yanna, but I knew that I had to keep you alive."

He looked at her, wondering if this changed anything between them. "Why did you say before that you laughed at me? I never saw you laugh."

She shook her head, "I never laughed at you. My friends did often. I laughed at others before I saw you one day, and since that time, I thought about it and I never laughed at anyone again."

She looked at the bracelet and then at his eyes. "I was in love with you then, when you were a beggar boy and I was a fine rich girl. It was a lusting woman's thing that I carried in my heart but my love was there too. It was a daydream, because daydreams do not have to live by any rules. To say the truth, I wanted you to see me. I only wanted for you to see me and maybe know that I cared for you. I wanted so much to take off my clothes and come to you with clean water so that I could wash you and then love you right there in the courtyard. To say the truth of it, I wanted to love with you and then we would go away where we could be together, not rich and not poor. But I didn't dare to do any of these things. I didn't even know how. But I knew that I wanted you. How was it with you?"

He shrugged, "I was hopelessly in love, Yanna. But for me, hopeless is every day."

She made her decision and snapped the bracelet closed on him. "Well I think the ghost was a little wrong when she said that we were not for each other at the outset. I now think that if anyone could be, then it is we two. All that has happened is that we are now where there are no walls, Illya, and I live in my fur."

She looked up and smiled, "I think I know what is meant here with these things as I said. There are two questions that go with these gifts. I do not know if you know the custom of this, but I know it. This is to declare the love between two people. If it were the other way around, I know that I would ask you, so if you ask me to be yours, my answer is yes."

She threw her arms around him and chuckled, "and even if that is not quite what you would ask, my answer is STILL yes!"

His mouth fell open. "You – you say that you would be mine, Yanna?"

She nodded, wiping a tear with her hand, "Yes, if you will be mine."

"Look at me, Illya. I am some cat-thing now. Yet you love me and you show me that you want me. I was a fool once, but I am not anymore, and in my heart, I still lust for your touch. If there were no army camped here and it was only us two there in the river, I would have welcomed you and we would have begun between us right there in the water. Maybe I can be a girl again and maybe not. I don't think it is important anymore what I am. The man that I wanted so much loves me still. The girl that you wanted loves you. I am an animal on the outside, but you don't care. We are both poor now and I don't care a fig. So do we ask, or is it plain between us?"

He smiled, "I do not think it can be any more plain, Yanna."

She threw back her head and really laughed for the first time in a year. "Now I know that this really is all a dream, Illya. If I must wake from something like this, then I wish that it is only to die. Nothing can be as good as this."

A few minutes later, she looked at him just a little differently as the oil lamp began to sputter. He'd given her the oils and she put a little on herself here and there as she knelt before him, enjoying the feel and the smell of the scented oil. Yanna stretched herself out on the bedding and Illya began to kiss her as he'd dreamed of doing for so long. He dragged his body gently along hers as he began to work his way down slowly until Yanna stopped him.

"What are you doing, Illya? My tits are covered in fur like the rest of me."

He looked up "Do you enjoy what I do here?"

"Well yes," she said, "but-"

"Then just enjoy it, Yanna. I am happy, and besides, it means that I must use my hands more, and when I get to here-"

Yanna threw her head back and gasped as he squeezed one hard nipple with his thumb and forefinger and sucked the other one into his mouth a second after. He ran his free hand along her side and they both groaned. Eventually, he stared at that single lovely pearl as it shone for him in the failing light of the lamp.

"Why did you gasp?" she asked, sitting up to lean on her elbow and watch him.

He smirked, "It is just a stupid man's thought, and I am sorry now that I made a sound."

"Well, I must know now," she smiled.

"It is just ... I have not seen many of these here, but I am sure that this one is the most wondrous one possible. If you think about it, you might see why I feel stupid to say it."

She reached for his head and tousled his hair, "Do not feel stupid, Illya. From you, it is high praise for me to hear it."

It didn't take long after that for Yanna to give up her watching, though she did admit to herself that she'd enjoyed it. But now he was doing wondrous things to her with his tongue and his lips and there was just no way that she could watch anymore. She writhed a little onto her side and pulled up one leg to place it on his shoulder.

When the first wave hit her, she threw back her head and only just held back the heavy feline wail with effort. She clutched Illya's head to her and caressed it with her thumbs as she shuddered.

"I love you!" she hissed through her teeth near to the end of it.

She apologized to him later for the sound of it, but he only laughed, "I love the sounds that you make, Yanna, every one." He kissed her and she tasted herself on his lips. "There is only one that I wish to be unchanged, but I do not think that it can be anymore. Your voice is a little deeper than it was when I cleaned out your father's stable. I would love to hear that same soft little cry once more."

He found himself on his back suddenly as she pinned him down with her paw on his chest. "Well that is good, Illya," she purred as she licked his throat, mindful that her tongue was a lot rougher than his, "because I still can make that little sound, my beautiful one." She pulled her head up a little to begin sucking at his ear. "It has been my little secret for a year, but I made that sound most often when there was no one awake near to me in the cage."

He hissed and his hands held her head as she carefully licked one of his nipples and then moved lower. She opened her mouth wide and he saw it as she lowered her teeth to his abdomen in her delight as she chewed on him so carefully. She moved herself around so that she faced him looking from between his legs.

By the gods, she thought, what a lucky girl she was. She couldn't tell one of these things from another and didn't know what made one better than the rest, but she really liked what she was looking at. She moved herself a little so that she could help herself with her hand while she played.

Her tongue flashed out and back, and Yanna was thrilled by his reaction. She'd only just thought of it and did it again. She chose different places on him to attack like this, and he writhed, but could do nothing because her pawed hand was on his stomach, holding him down. She didn't plan to let him up for a while now.

"I didn't do it often," she growled as she thought back, "and it was mostly because I was always so unhappy, but I needed it sometimes and I couldn't help it."

Her tongue moved forward and he raised his hips to follow along when she'd lifted his scrotum with it. It was easy, she thought, and so much fun to do. All that she needed was to curl her tongue in the middle under his sac and lift. The roughness would do the rest. Illya was helpless, but he was in heaven, once she'd done it three times and he'd gotten the idea. She reminded herself to go slower. She didn't want her rough tongue to hurt him, not Illya.

"You would come and feed us and then we could talk, you and I, "she said, "but you would have to leave at some time, because you had to get up to get more money." Yanna sucked his balls into her mouth slowly, just because she wanted to. She let him know that his testicles were there between those long wicked teeth that he loved to feel on him. She let him go gently and on a whim, she slid her tongue lower, far lower and to her delight, she thought that he'd jump right off the ground. She decided to save that little idea for later and now moved to take him into her mouth.

She stopped every now and then to squeeze it gently and then she began again. "When you were gone, and there was no one around, I would make sure that the others slept, and then, my Illya, then I would dream of you that day while I watched you with my dress pulled up high so that you could see if you wanted to as I played." He moaned and bucked feebly, but she had an idea that soon it would get more urgent for him. She didn't mind. She'd decided there on the river bank when she'd tasted him that this was something that she planned to do to him often.

"Oh by the heavens, Illya, I wanted you to fuck me that day," she said dragging her lips on his manhood for a moment before she began to suck again. She stopped again after a few minutes. "I have ached for you to fuck me every single day since, but I was in the cage where I would die, wasn't I? There was no way out and one day I was going to give up. But I am free now Illya, and you are the biggest reason that I am still alive because you came to see me every day, even though there was no hope." She looked up and met his eyes.

"Can you imagine how I feel? It has taken me most of this night to believe that it is no dream, and now I have you before me." She used her hand to help a little, since she now wanted to finish telling him what she had to say. "So I will finish you in a moment, Illya, and taste what you have here for me, and then we will lie for a time until you are ready again, and by then, Illya, the cat-girl will want her boy."

The lamp sputtered out and Yanna chuckled, "But I promise you, my dear friend, that one day soon, you will see me just as I was that day, though I am a cat now, and I will play just for you. That is when I make that sound that you love, so I will be sure to make it for you and then we can fuck in the sunshine as often as we want to."

Her statements had gotten to him and he began to moan and buck. Yanna was very inexperienced, but she made up for that with her desire and a lot of love. She finished Illya with her mouth and moaned as he came. When there was no more for her, she slid up and he felt himself being pulled to her tightly so that she could wrap herself around him as much as she could. She kissed his lips softly.

"Was I good?"

"I have never – Yanna that was ... like no one else has ever done for me."

He felt her nod. "It is a start, "she chuckled, "so that you know that I love you."

It didn't take very long for Illya to respond, especially once she began to rub her body against him as he had done earlier. If there was one thing that might be said about Yanna now, it was that once she was alone with Illya, she wasn't at all shy. Before they knew it, they were joined and racing to find what might be between them.

Yanna gasped that she was afraid to make much noise, and Illya knew that she really needed to, so he pulled her head against him and encouraged her. In the time that they fucked only this one time tonight, Yanna felt her throat tighten three times – along with various other muscle groups.

Each time, it was all that Illya could do to try to hold off his own orgasm for just a little longer. Yanna was having so much fun and he could feel so much of her passion that he wanted for her to feel her freedom and the pounding of his heart for just a little while longer. It wasn't much, he thought, but if Yanna wanted his heart, then it was hers.

Yanna could feel his heart plainly as it beat against her chest, but at the same time, she could hear her own pulse pounding in her ears. She wondered if she'd made a mistake starting this. She was tired, and so she knew that Illya must be as well, but neither of them wanted to stop. They needed this now.

Suddenly, she felt him swell inside her and somehow she knew that there was some meaning to this and tried to think and guess for a moment. Her guessing came to an end when she felt him grow as hard as a club, and she felt every detail on that wonderful piece of Illya. Her own crash was coming, she could feel the walls beginning to fall. Yanna whispered to him desperately and he pulled her head to his shoulder tightly as he told her what to do.

When Yana's world began to shudder and shake, she clamped her mouth to his skin so that her noises might come out of her a little quieter through her nose. Even so, she yowled and shrieked, and was glad for his idea because she felt much better this way.

She didn't mean to, and she certainly didn't intend it, but she bit him slightly. The coppery taste of his blood pushed her last wave through her and the small pain that he felt caused him to gush harder than he'd ever thought that he could into Yanna, but once it was done, they smiled at each other in the darkness.

She apologized and licked the tiny wounds and he told her not to think about it, but to use his other shoulder the next time, if she felt that she had to.

In the morning, Nisi-ini-su came with Smyrna and Daggat to take them to the morning meal. They asked quietly, and Yanna thought about things with a smirk. If they were going to have their legend, she thought, then it was as good a time as any to begin. She invited them in and they stood and stared.

Illya was asleep on his back and Yanna purred softly as she nuzzled her face under his jaw. She'd done it this way on purpose. When they were there in front of her she raised her head to give them a very pleased and serene expression as she lay on her side with her leg over most of his tackle. She nudged Illya gently. His eyes opened and he smiled at her.

"We have guests, my love" she told him, and he tilted his head backwards to regard them all upside down.

The priestess grinned, but then cleared her throat looking down, "The morning meal," she said, "I leave your two friends outside so that you might dress. They will bring you where you need to go. The Ba'al asks that Illya brings his bow."

After choosing some clothes to wear, Yanna walked with Illya into the large tent, but she wasn't shy this morning. She met and held any gaze that was directed to her as the leaders of the clans stared at them. After the meal, Lugalbanda invited Illya to shoot some targets with him to see where he might need a little help and Illya was happy to accept. The morning was a warm one and both men took off their singlets after a while.

Until then, Yanna had stayed near to the priestess as she'd been introduced to many of the female chieftains and the wives of the other leaders. It often happened that she was asked some rather personal questions, but Nisi-ini-su usually steered Yanna's answer for her or sometimes, she smiled a little mischievously at Yanna and made up some wild tale in fun. The one that Yanna liked the most was that she was the last princess of a cat-people out of the dunes.

Whispers flew through the people from one to the next as they stared at the marks on Illya. Besides the marks of her bite, there were deep scratches on his back that shocked even Yanna. She didn't remember doing that to him.

"Did – did you bite him too? "Smyrna asked, a little too loudly.

Mindful that many others hung on her words, Yanna nodded with a prideful look. "Yes. I did not hurt him much, and he is man enough to sleep with one like me, knowing what it would bring to him, since I am no meek little maid, am I?" She held up her hand and they could see the long claws which, just like a cheetah's, could only be retracted partially.

She strained to keep a straight face for the way that she stretched the truth now. Then again, she thought, there was more than a little truth to it. "Illya loves me and I love him, but it grows a little ... rough between us sometimes."

"I must know this, Yanna," Nisi-ini-su smiled, "besides maybe passion, is there some purpose for it among your people?"

Yanna looked down and smiled for a moment. She didn't know if she could hold the illusion of her confidence for much longer, but she did her best.

She looked over across the table at the priestess and knew that she'd asked the question for her own reasons, and one of them was for the legend of it.

"Yes, there is a purpose, Nisi-ini-su. It is to hold him still while we love. I wear the marks of his teeth on me as well for the same reason and also there is another purpose..." she said as she looked around.

"I did it to mark what is mine."