The Toll

"Hah! Does your friend who was so against camp-followers have any idea what a whore you are?"

Ariel looked indignant. "I am not a whore!! I didn't have sex for money, I had sex because it was my job!" Agnok laughed uproariously, causing Ariel to blink in confusion. "Well you know what I mean!! Besides I didn't just do it for my job!!" Ariel clapped a hand over her mouth the moment she said these words then, looking down and reddening, quickly dropped her arm to cover her breasts again.

Agnok laughed. "Out with it!"

Ariel shook her head.

A wry smile on his face, Agnok stared at Ariel.

"...All right, fine! If it will make you finally do it so I can go!" Ariel frowned at him. "It was one time", she said, lifting a finger to gesture with a hand still clutched to her shoulder "one time, and it is really unfair that I got in trouble over it! I did not break any rules! And, and I didn't really do anything, I mean, I barely had his, his...it in my mouth for any time at all! He didn't, you know, um, 'finish'."

"Who never finished?"

Ariel sighed in resignation. "Ok, so there was this high elf who used to go through the woods near our river, sometimes he'd pass by a few times in a week, sometimes it would be months between. And he was gorgeous, I mean, you know those high elves, they're all just gorgeous, right? But he was so respectful, he always made sure to stay a polite distance from the water's edge, and he would say hello, and he would call me 'fair maiden', and, and he was just...nice. He made it very clear that he wasn't going to defile the river -- "

"Good thing, or you'd have drowned him" Agnok laughed.

Ariel pursed her lips in slight annoyance and carried on "But, you know, we'd been saying hello or waving for a while and he began to tarry, just to, to talk. And there was this pool? Which connected underground to the river so it was part of it, but wasn't really something that we had to protect? So Elimir and I -- that was his name, Elimir -- started meeting by that pool, because he could sit on the rocks that were back from the water's edge, and I could lean on the bank, you know that way you do where you lift yourself up enough out of the water and put your arms over the bank enough that it's obvious you aren't wearing anything but your chest is pressed against the edge so he can't actually see anything?"

Ariel relaxed her crossed arms enough to lower them and cover each breast with a cupped hand. "Except...except sometimes? I, I would, um, lift myself a little higher than that? So that, so that he..." Ariel blushed "...well, so that he could see. Because, because, well, I liked him, he told me stories about other places, and he made me laugh, and he couldn't come close to the edge, he wouldn't -- not just because he didn't want to get drowned, because he truly was respectful of the river! But that meant I had to, um...lean a little more out...if....I was going to kiss him. Which I was. I did, I mean. Sometimes, when we were sitting there talking."

Ariel paused for breath. "Ok, so, this one time, we were sitting there talking, and it turned out that he was going to be going on a trip, so he wouldn't be back for a few months. And, bad luck, this was the very same day that the Fluvial Priestess decided to come swanning by just to check how we were doing, boost morale, you know, that sort of thing. Clarissa tried to distract her, but after talking to the others the Fluvial Priestess decided she'd come see me as well, so she got off her swan and swam underwater to the pond and surfaced at, um, well...well, really just the wrong moment."

Agnok snorted with laughter. "Caught you sucking your boyfriend's cock, did she?"

Ariel pursed her lips, her voice tinged with remembered annoyance. "I wasn't doing anything against the rules! Technically I was still in the water -- I kept one of my feet almost completely in the pool! And I wasn't planning to drown him, so it wasn't lazy!! And he didn't even finish anyway!! I should not have been in trouble! Elimir tried to take the blame and explain it to the Fluvial Priestess, but she wasn't having any of it! So I ended up not doing Riverbank for a month."

"Ah, poor nymph, how did you stand it" Agnok said teasingly "no cocks to suck for a month!"

"I told you we didn't mostly do that! Only when we had to!"

A smile spread across Agnok's face. "So rather like now" he said.

Ariel shivered a little, dropping her eyes to the floor again. "That...that's what I've been trying to tell myself. It's no different from that, other than me not being at all in control, and being locked in your lodging rather than floating in my river where I could leave anytime, and you doing it to me instead of me doing it to them, and me not being the one who decided it would happen, and..." she looked up at Agnok's face, above hers, "...and you being..." then glanced down at his lap for a moment before looking in his eyes again "...you." She wriggled a little. "But, I, I'm sure I can get through it. I mean, you're pretty much human, right, so at least you'll taste no worse than the hunters, not like...". She stopped.

"Not like what?" said Agnok.

"Nothing, never mind. Do it so I can go."

"Not like what?" Agnok repeated.

Ariel sighed softly, eyes shut but looking down once more.

Agnok said once more "Not like what?" and Ariel mumbled "mmmtrr."

"What?"

"Mntrr" said Ariel, only slightly more audibly.

"Did you say...minotaur??!!"

Ariel, still looking at the ground, nodded almost imperceptibly.

"What? How the fuck do you know what minotaur cum tastes like?! No, wait, that's obvious - because you sucked off a minotaur. But how the fuck did that happen!?"

Ariel glared at Agnok, words rushing from her. "I knew you were going to make a big deal out of it, that's why I didn't want to say!! It, it's, just one of those things, that, that could happen to anyone."

Agnok raised an eyebrow, commenting "Sucking off a minotaur could happen to anyone".

"Ok, maybe not anyone, but, but it's not that weird! In context, I mean. So, um, yes, I did. Clarissa nearly did as well! And, and it tastes bitter. So, um -- there, yes, I know what it tastes like. Can you please do it now?" She looked up at him again. "Please?"

Agnok shook his head, smirking. "Ohhh, no!"

Ariel looked at him pleadingly, but he just sat there. She sighed heavily.

"Ok fine! But it's not that interesting a story. So, our river? There was this rivulet, and there was never actually a rule that you couldn't go down it, but it was just kind of understood you shouldn't? Well, so, naturally, as soon we were old enough to swim out on our own, even before we were old enough to have duties, that was exactly where Clarissa and I and the others would go, because it felt kind of -- naughty? -- but in an exciting way? To get out of the water down there, I mean. Ok, so, um, do minotaurs have ranges? Or, domains?"

"I am willing to assume that you know more about minotaurs than I do" Agnok said, smiling wryly.

Ariel looked disdainfully at him for a moment then carried on. "Anyway, whatever, it turned out the rivulet ran through this minotaur area, and, and so we got to know some minotaurs, they were, they weren't threatening at all, they were pretty much our age, and they were a lot of fun! And so we'd meet up all the time, it was perfectly innocent, I mean, we knew them for years, from before they had horns, even, we sort of grew up together. And then eventually we were old enough that we were sometimes assigned Riverbank, and it was around about this time that Clarissa discovered the...sucking thing, and she and I talked about, you know, maybe just doing it, um...for fun." Ariel reddened. "To Tavros and Jemain. Two of our minotaur friends. And this was after the thing with Elimir, and, and it just happened that it was me and Tavros first, this, this one time, we were hanging out, and, and, somehow, well, we ended up with his c...c...his thing in my m...mouth."

Agnok said contemplatively "You know, it has never before occurred to me to wonder what minotaur's cocks look like".

Ariel bit her lip to suppress a giggle. "Actually?" she said, and then lifted her right hand, closing her fist and then wiggling her little finger. "You'd think they'd be big, right? But they're not!!" Ariel flashed an amused grin at Agnok. "I've never said that to anyone before!"

Smiling, Ariel swung her head to the side, causing her long hair to drape across the breast she had left uncovered and dropping her right hand to her knee. "Ok, so obviously he was the first minotaur I'd done that to, but, but it wasn't the first time I'd done it so I knew what to do, and it was really obviously the first time he'd had it done! And it was really apparent that he liked it because I barely had it my mouth at all before I learned that minotaurs taste quite bitter!" Ariel giggled lightly at the memory.

"But that was ok, I guess, I mean I'd probably have done it for him again, even though he just conked out after and didn't even offer to return the favour, except of course that Tavros had to go and brag to all of his friends about it. And I guess I could have lived with that, even, except it became this whole, this whole, you know, thing". Ariel waved both hands in a gesture of exasperation before dropping her left hand to cup her right breast.

"'Thing'?" inquired Agnok, raising an eyebrow.

Ariel smiled ruefully. "Somehow some minotaur elder heard about what had happened? And it turns out the reason we were supposed to avoid that rivulet was that apparently there'd been some kind of dispute about the territory? There was a war, like, a hundred years ago, it wasn't really ongoing, but no treaty had ever been signed? So technically we were still at war, and as far as the minotaurs were concerned that meant that I was..." she lifted her hands to make air quotes with her fingers "...'spoils of war'. Well, not me personally, but the, the bl...blow...the thing I did with my mouth. And minotaurs turn out to have a very hierarchical society with rules about, um...who is supposed to get, the, um...spoils of war. So suddenly my, thing, with Tavros is some kind of diplomatic incident!! That was an awkward conversation with the Fluvial Priestess!" Ariel looked contemplative for a moment before returning her left hand to cover her breast. "Though to be fair, I think she was mostly annoyed that I didn't try to drown him after."

Agnok looked at her with interest. "What happened?"

Ariel let out a heavy sigh. "Well, for a while it looked as though I was going to have to, to give their chief a bl...." Ariel blushed "To put the chief's thing in my mouth the way I did with Tavros and, and let him...finish. But the Fluvial Priestess argued that there was no way to get back the...the..." Ariel paused to take a determined breath "...no way to get back the...blow job! You know, that there was no way to take the blow job from Tavros and give it to the chief, there was no way to award the spoil of war to the chief, that just didn't make sense!"

"So you didn't have to suck off the chief?" Agnok asked.

"No." replied Ariel primly. "Well...not exactly. Or, um.....I guess....more accurately....yes."

Agnok laughed. "You're going to have to explain that one!"

"Well, the minotaurs agreed that it would just be symbolic." Ariel sighed. "Which meant, they said, that there was no reason it should be just one blow job. And that was good from their point of view, because there was this kind of power struggle going on, so there were two claimants to be chief? I mean, nobody said I had to do it, the Fluvial Priestess said it was up to me, but she also said that she would really appreciate it if I could 'see my way clear to using my particular talents in this cause', which made it pretty obvious that she wasn't arguing really hard on my behalf!"

Ariel sniffed indignantly as Agnok chortled. "This wasn't all that long after the thing with Elimir, and I think she sort of figured it was mostly my fault?" Ariel sighed again. "So I said I would do it, and I ended up giving blow jobs to both claimants. Privately, at least, just in their own quarters, so at least there was no awkward conversation after!" Ariel grimaced slightly.

Agnok laughed. "So this will not be the first time you've used your mouth to pay a debt!"

Ariel looked at him anxiously. "You won't tell them, will you? My friends, I mean? They don't know about that, it would be terribly embarrassing!!"

Agnok shook his head, smiling. "I have no expectation of seeing your friends again, nymph. But on the chance that I do, I will spare you that shame." The corner of his mouth curled upward. "I'm starting to like you. Don't mistake me, I'm still intent on using your mouth, but you're entertaining. Not to mention that you are probably some kind of record-holder for minotaur blowjobs. You've sucked off three of them."

Ariel bit her lip. "Ummmmmmmm, yes, more or less."

"More or less?" Agnok raised an eyebrow.

"Yes" she replied, not quite meeting his glance.

Agnok smirked. "Stop being evasive."

".....Technically, more." Ariel blushed more deeply. "After it was all over I, I, I found Jemain and, and...." Ariel looked up in embarrassment at Agnok, who was grinning. "I, I was just kind of annoyed at Tavros, who had been NO help, and it was the same day as the two chiefs anyway, so I just sort of thought, I can't really explain it, it's just I felt, so, so -- alive, that's the best I can say, just, filled with, with something..." Agnok snorted, causing Ariel to cast him a disdainful glance "...no, not that! I just, I, I just felt -- powerful. Confident." She looked questioningly at Agnok. "You know? And I knew Tavros and Jemain had plans for later, and I wanted to, you know, mess that up. Which was kind of petty, I know, I regret it now, but by then it wasn't going to be an incident any more, and, um...." Ariel trailed off.

Agnok shook his head slowly, sneering "You really are a cocksucker!"

Ariel turned an even deeper red. "And the worst part was that after, the Fluvial Priestess took me permanently off Riverbank and put me on Glades! She insisted it wasn't punishment -- "we all have to swim our own stream, young one" -- but I know it was!"

"Glades?" Agnok raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you know" Ariel said, waving a hand airily "wearing a diaphanous gown, being half-glimpsed mysteriously disappearing between trees, looking fetching and leading hunters in the direction of the river, never quite being seen clearly, that sort of thing."

"So you didn't get to suck them off?" laughed Agnok.

"Stop that!" cried Ariel in annoyance. "No, of course not! But I told you, we hardly ever did that anyway!"

"I suspect that claim to be a lie, nymph. Since you are already lying to me."

"Sir?"

"You claimed to have sucked only one cock for, let's call them "non-work" reasons, but already you have told me of, let's see, five." Agnok smiled knowingly at her.

"Oh, um...yes sir. I had meant that at the riverbank I only sucked one for, um, fun." She bit her lower lip, and tossed her head back, eyes drifting across the ceiling as her hair flowed down her back once more. "I did Glades for a few years and it, it's possible that away from the riverbank there ...might...have been...somewhat...more." Her eyes dropped down to meet his, a hint of a half-smile in them.

The Guardian shook his head, smiling broadly. "So you did suck off hunters while in the Glade?"

Ariel looked shocked. "Oh, no sir, that would have been against the rules! No, no, no hunters, sir." She sat there primly, hands crossed on her lap.

Agnok looked at her, head cocked to one side. "No hunters. I have to ask the right question, is that the game, then?" He smiled at her.

Ariel sat up straight, shoulders pressed back, her small breasts pushed forward, and smiled brightly at him. "It's been fun so far hasn't it, sir?"

Agnok laughed. "You should just tell me." He shifted his weight forward, as though about to stand. "Or I can come and fuck your mouth right now, if you'd prefer."

"Satyrs!" she cried. "They lived in the Glade, sir, though mostly they just came out in the evening, and usually I had gone back to the riverbank by then. But sometimes I stayed in the Glade overnight, there were lots of sleeping areas, and sometimes Clarissa came out there too, you know, to, um, party. The satyrs like partying, sir. A lot."

Agnok looked contemplative. "Satyrs. Never met one. They have a reputation for being a bit -- rape-y."

Ariel grinned at him. "Oh, that's overblown, sir. I mean, they are very straightforward, yes sir, if they are interested they are not going to show any hesitation in letting you know exactly what they want. And they are interested!" She laughed lightly. "But if it really comes to it, they would take no for an answer. I'm pretty sure."

Agnok narrowed his eyes at her. "Explain to me again how it is that you are a virgin?"

"Well, sir, there aren't any male naiads, and..." Agnok raised an eyebrow disdainfully at her "...oh, um, yes, I see what you mean." She grinned. "Virginity actually is important to naiads, sir, I don't know whether it's really true, but what we always whispered to each other growing up was that if you lost your virginity you would lose your powers. Which never really made sense to me? It's not like we're, you know, sirens or gorgons or something -- we don't have powers! But anyway everybody knows..." she adopted a sing-songy voice "...'naiads are virgins' but actually very few people know much about naiad culture."

"And those who learn about it don't have the knowledge for very long" Agnok replied drily.

Ariel laughed lightly, smiling. "Well, yes, I suppose that's true, sir. But my point is, we do stay virgins, mostly, but that doesn't mean we can't, you know, do anything."

"Then why did your Priestess have a problem with you sucking your elf boyfriend's cock?"

"She didn't, sir, I mean not with that part of it, as I said, it's that I was out of the water while on duty -- and I wasn't out of the water! That's why it was so unfair!"

"But you were sucking off your boyfriend while supposed to be on duty."

Ariel's eyes opened wide. "Oh! Oh dear!" She turned red, looking flustered. "I, I never thought of it that way! That's...right, I guess."

Agnok made an amused grunting sound. "So returning to my question, the answer to 'how are you a virgin' is 'blowjobs'?"

Ariel composed herself, and said "Well....yes, exactly sir. I'd be at a party, and a conversation with a satyr would usually go something like..." She raised her hands to either side of her face, using fingers and thumb to imitate mouths moving. "'Wanna fuck?', 'I'm a virgin', 'Does that mean you can't use your mouth?', 'No', 'Wanna use your mouth?' and, um, well..." Ariel looked at Agnok with a twinkle in her eye as she dropped her hands back to her lap "me answering 'Ok'." She was only half able to suppress a broad smile as she looked at him.

Agnok grinned back. "That's how it 'usually' went." He laughed. "So how many satyrs are we talking about?"

Ariel bobbed her head from side to side, looking upward. "I wasn't exactly counting, sir, probably...five? Maybe six?"

Agnok cocked his head to the side, nodding slightly. "Not an outrageous number for a couple of years."

"Oh! You meant over the whole time?? I meant at that party!"

Agnok laughed loudly. "You slut!"

Ariel turned red again, but smiled broadly through it. "No but, sir, satyrs, they're all braggy about their prowess and everything, but they're all practically on hair triggers! I mean, my gods, you barely get started and suddenly whoosh, there's a mouthful!!" Ariel giggled again. "I mean, I say six of them, that sounds like a lot, but honestly, you could probably do that in, like, fifteen minutes! AND they're no use for a second round, you suck them, they go 'pop!' in your mouth and they just fall asleep -- though that did make it handy for staying a virgin, I have to admit, you say yes to the blowjob and they're done for the evening!" Ariel beamed.