TRC - Searching for the Sky Ch. 17

"I guess I can do that for you, but there still isn't anyone out there to say goodbye to." She dismounted him, pouting as he slipped free of her bottom, and stood next to the chair as her brown dress appeared near her shoulders and seemed to roll down her body. Moments later, Kal's clothes did the same after she helped him up.

Rowan closed her eyes in concentration. Kal was expecting some kind of widening of the house or other expansion to show that the woman's pocket was now open to the rest of his mind.

Instead there came a booming voice that shook the farmhouse, making the mage wince and the woman slap her hands over her ears.

"Kal! Kal!"

"Kuto?"

"Who else would it be?!" came the response in a much more manageable volume. "Listen! Sera and Ria are coming to rescue you!"

Kal looked over at Rowan, who at first seemed ecstatic to hear the news but her face fell as she came to the same conclusion as Kal.

"Kuto... it's not going to work. She's taken too much from me already... I- I won't be coming back."

Her shock was apparent, "No... we just... I just... dammit, Kal! You can't do this to me!"

The mage tried hard to keep the emotion from his thoughts after hearing the pain in the harpy's voice, feeling horrible that he was about to make it worse.

"Kuto... I can't feel Perra and the others."

"No... No... please..."

"Tell them all I love them and watch over my kids for me. Goodbye Kuto." Kal muted their connection leaving only enough that they would know when it happened. He turned to Rowan who was looking off in the distance.

"I think she's sensed your friends, she's feeding faster," said the olive-skinned woman with a frown. It took a moment for her eyes to focus when she looked at him again. "I'm sorry I doubted you. If it's any consolation, I'm glad you got to say goodbye."

Her image flickered, "Your friends are here."

---

Sera snarled as she dove at the woman on top of Kal, the orbs of light moving out of the way and letting her pass by. That she was sucking the life from the mage was bad enough, but that she was having sex with him while doing it made things somehow worse. Of course, it didn't help that earlier a tiny part of her had been looking forward to being pushed up against that tree now that she was outside.

That lasted until they entered the swamp proper and she had much more pressing concerns. With the water so cold, a misstep would give her precious little time to get out and get dry before her thoughts and movement would slow down drastically. Ria managed to get her to the copse of trees without getting even a drop of water in her boots, but the trek took an enormous amount of time because of the extra caution. With her damaged clothing, the gorgon was losing heat to the chilly night air and time wasn't a luxury they had.

Ria flew at one of the smaller glowing spheres but barely got close before a burst of rapid-fire pulses of electricity shot from the largest orb, impacting the sprite and making her shriek in pain until she backed off.

Sera tried many more times to get the orb woman away from Kal but each time the spheres let her pass through unscathed. Thankfully, the orbs were slightly warmer than the surrounding air, so seeing them with her serpents was easy enough. Only if she tried to stay in one place and defend him, the tiny arcs of lightning would force her away after a few seconds. Ria was met with the same kind of resistance as the first time, getting pelted with electricity until she retreated.

The sprite could also tell that Sera's movements were slowing even with the extra warmth from her exertion. She called the gorgon over to her.

"You can't touch her, and I can't get close."

Having come to the same conclusion, Sera nodded. The gorgon had even lifted the blindfold and tried to see if her gaze would have any effect, but it only made the creature stutter for a moment.

"Hold out your hand," Ria instructed.

Sera did as asked and the sprite laid down across her palm. "Punch the orbs with me."

"Will that work?"

"I don't know, but you can get close to them and I can't. We're saving Kal's life, so I'm willing to give it a try."

The gorgon took a deep breath and carefully wrapped her hand around the little avatar. She knew she was slowing down, in a short time she would become sleepy and be useless to Kal and sprite both.

Rushing in, Sera stood straddling Kal's legs, swinging wildly at the glowing spheres but they proved to be far too quick for her land a hit, or even come close.

At some point, the wisp seemed to recognize what was in the gorgon's hand. Instead of retreating or zapping the woman, one of its hands reached past the gorgon to Kal's head, removing a small orb and flinging it out into the swamp.

A moment later Sera lifted her blindfold, her eyes glowing as she met the eyes of the transparent woman. The will-o'-wisp froze for a fraction of a second. Just long enough for the gorgon to plunge Ria into the center of the largest sphere of light.

With a yell of pain and a hiss from her snakes, Sera jerked her hand away after letting the sprite go, stepping back quickly as the area immediately surrounding the orb filled with thin bolts of electricity.

Ria wanted to scream, wanted to cry, wanted to go back to her bag where she was safe and everything was simple. Right now, though, she needed to remove the thing that was attacking Kal. Energy poured into her from the will-o'-wisp and raced across her tiny form, causing pain everywhere it touched. Curling into a ball, she closed her eyes and endured the torment.

Love... what a stupid, moronic, irrational, idiotic thing the mortal races had come up with. She knew perfectly well how far she could go from her bag before disappearing, but after getting hit earlier, her only worry had been to get help for Kal. Irrational. She screamed at Sera earlier just because the woman didn't believe her about the danger Kal was in. Irrational. She was enduring the torture of thousands of tiny lightning bolts for the sake of saving this man. Irrational. For as much as she hated the nonsensical things this foolish emotion had made her do in the last few hours, the thought of living without this feeling ever again made her want to cry.

As the sparks dancing along her skin faded, Ria opened her eyes. The world seemed much smaller at first until she realized that she was the one who had grown. Looking down at her body, she figured she was about the size a dwarf, just without the stockiness.

She didn't know if it was out of confusion or if they were now drawn towards her, but the remaining orbs of light still floated nearby, with the exception of the one that had been thrown off into the swamp. Touching them one by one, they each shrank until they finally disappeared as her body absorbed them. The tiny bolts of lightning still hurt but were spread over a much larger area, reducing the sensation to being merely uncomfortable. When the final orb vanished, she looked to be only slightly shorter than Kuto now. That was also when she noticed movement coming from Kal.

Ria couldn't contain her elation and dropped down onto his lap, throwing her arms around his neck as he brought his head up.

"We thought we lost you!" she sobbed. Crying, there was another human thing she both hated, yet never wanted to lose the ability to do.

One of the mage's hands came up and patted her on the back. "I'm sorry Ria, but you've still lost me, the will-o'-wisp took too much. I've already said my farewells to Kuto and asked her to tell the others goodbye for me."

There was a choking noise that came from off to the side. Sera was peeking out from underneath the blindfold with one eye and had her other hand over her mouth in shock. Her hair was looking toward him and confirmed what he was saying, his body was getting colder by the second as he burned through what little life was left in him.

Ria's head whipped around. "What?" she said, looking about but couldn't see who had spoken.

"Ria?"

"I heard a voice, it told me to make love to you."

Kal wheezed out a weak laugh, "You must have gotten some of Rowan in you. She's a spirit of sorts who helped the will-o'-wisp's victims pass on in a pleasant manner. Sounds like she's still trying."

"You're hardly in shape for anything like that right now."

Kal smiled. "True. Between Rowan and the wisp, I think I'd be done even if I wasn't about to- "

"Wait!" the sprite's eyes were wide, "she just said 'make love, give back!'"

The mage managed another chuckle, "She was pretty single-minded. When she was telling me about-"

"Shut up you dense human! You said all I need to do is ask. Well... I'm asking."

Surprised by her outburst at first, Kal relented and cast the rejuvenation spell, though the magic was very weak. "If this is how you want to say goodbye then I guess I shouldn't complain."

The unusually large sprite reached down and lined him up before taking him inside her and sitting down on his lap, a tiny part of her was disappointed that she wasn't getting to savor this moment as she had always imagined. With an arm around the back of his neck, she pulled his face close to hers and stared into his eyes. "I'm not saying goodbye," she said before pressing her lips to his.

Kal was trying hard to stay awake as long as possible, he knew that when he closed his eyes he wouldn't open them again. After hours of understanding this was his fate, he had come to accept it. Part of him wanted to thrash and fight and scream against the unfairness of it all, but he didn't want those images to be Ria and Sera's last of him, so he decided on the more peaceful route. The slight quickening of his heartbeat from the rejuvenation spell didn't last long and the slow thudding in his chest was coming a few seconds apart when he closed his eyes as Ria kissed him.

Within moments, his heart was racing again as energy poured back into his body through his lips and groin. His eyes flew open to see Ria's face, her own eyes closed as she concentrated on giving him back the life that the will-o'-wisp had stolen. Off in the distance, he saw a tiny ball of light cavorting among the trees. He had a strange feeling that the speck of light was the explanation for Rowan's sudden disappearance just before he awoke. Closing his eyes again, he wrapped his arms around Ria and leaned into her.

Sera looked on in amazement as Kal's body returned to normal while the brightly glowing avatar pressed her lips to his. She knew that they were joined down below but that seemed somehow inconsequential.

Ria's lips came away from his and she leaned her forehead against Kal's. "That's everything that 'feels' like you. I can give you more if you want it."

He created a small flame in his upturned hand, holding it for a few seconds before letting it flicker out. "My magic is still a little weak, but not by much. I should be fine in a few weeks." He held out a hand to the tiny orb that had been dancing through the trees. "Come."

Ria wiggled in his lap reminding him of where his cock currently was. Grinning, she said, "Can't, we haven't done enough yet."

Stopping its play, the ball of light slowly floated toward them.

"This one's a friend," said Kal as the sprite turned to see who he was speaking to and tensed at the sight of the glowing orb. "I believe you have already met a part of her, she's the one that told you to make love to me." In response, the ball bounced up and down a few times as it came to rest on his hand.

"Are you happy with how things turned out?" he asked. The ball jumped up from his palm and vibrated for a moment before bouncing back and forth in a circle around his hand. "Would you like to come with us?"

"Kal..." said Ria, her tone wary.

The orb split into two above his palm while staying joined in the middle. Resembling a pair of eyes, it turned as though looking in Ria's direction before reforming into a ball and moving back and forth over his hand.

"I think I'm dangerous to it... her."

The orb bounced up and down in response.

Slowly, the tiny ball of light floated over to Kal's face and lightly touched his cheek before zooming off into the swamp.

Kal smiled as he looked in the direction it had disappeared. "I might have to visit her in the future."

"Um... Kal? Ria? Do you think you two could hurry it up and finish?" said the gorgon, casting a meaningful glance at his lap. They both turned and saw she had crossed her arms in front of herself and was rubbing her shoulders and upper arms vigorously in an attempt to keep warm. "I. Am. Freezing!"

---

Ria surprised Kal by not wanting to do anything else with him once they had returned to the tent and everyone had gotten some rest. She still hadn't returned to her bag out of fear that the excess energy she absorbed would disappear.

"I want to, Kal, and it felt wonderful, but this isn't me," she said looking up at him. She could still fly but it was easier with her new stature to just float a couple of inches off the ground. "If I'm perfectly honest, I'm kind of upset that our first time wasn't a special moment between us and was instead a necessity to save your life."

The mage chuckled, "That seems pretty special to me."

She glared at him, "You know what I mean."

"If that's the case then I wish Rowan had just told you to kiss me and give it back that way."

Ria shook her head. "That's not the impression she gave me. I needed to give it back both ways or it would have harmed you somehow."

"How so?"

"She seemed to think that giving all of that back to you only one way or the other instead of both would have 'burnt' you somehow, but not like burning with fire. I don't understand it, but she was insistent I do it that way. Since it worked, I have to assume she knew what she was talking about."

"I guess it's a good thing you wanted to do that with me anyway."

"Want. Not 'wanted.' Just not right now. Let these memories fade a bit and we can make some new ones later," she said with a smile.

Kal surprised her by giving her permission to store one thing that she could access at will. The avatar wasn't even sure he was supposed to be able to do that, but it seemed to work. She channeled the will-o'-wisp's energy into this storage space by putting a hand in her bag and releasing it inside, shrinking back down to her normal size while doing so. She still sported the flame-like glow since she kept a tiny amount to fuel her newfound emotions.

Soon after, the sprite happily discovered that the energy from the will-o'-wisp stayed with her even when she returned to her bag. She guessed it would still be a number of days before she needed to replenish her new look.

He also attempted to give her permission to get necessary items in cases of emergencies, but the bag of holding's avatar was certain that nothing had changed. A single spot just for her was one thing but giving the sprite broad access to her own contents was something Ria was certain was against the rules. With nothing going on at that moment that could be considered an emergency, there was no way to test it and they moved on with the assumption it hadn't worked.

Kuto managed to keep her anger under wraps until she finally recovered from the effects of Sera's gaze. Once she could move again she spent the next few minutes tearing into the mage for leaving her to take the bad news to Perra and the rest and for nearly dying in the first place. She finished by informing him that he was not allowed to die or even come close until he had given her a chick of her own. She reiterated this condition multiple times, both in bed and out, before leaving the next morning.

The harpy's hurried manner as she said her goodbyes caught Kal a little off guard and he briefly wondered if Kuto was actually glad to be rid of him. Once she was on the wing, she admonished him for being silly. Like Felli and all other harpies, she laid a small, unfertilized egg every few days then ate the contents to replenish what she had lost in making it. After hearing of Felli's experience with Rone, the harpies all kept this part of their life away from human eyes. Now it was time for the Kuto's next egg, and she didn't want to be around Kal when it happened.

Sera accompanied him on his next trip to speak with the dwarves. The crowd of people coming and going seemed to take more notice of her blindfold than of the serpents making up her hair. Once inside the gate to the underground kingdom, she was happy to take it off as they went to the market in search of some new travel clothes. Kal had mended the shirt she tore to come rescue him, but they decided to purchase a couple of extra suits for her to keep in the tent for when he would be away for extended periods of time.

She also asked one of the dwarven seamstresses to make a few ornate blindfolds for her.

"Don't you plan on eventually not needing it?" asked Kal.

Sera nodded. "Yes, but I don't know when that will be and I'd like to have something that looks nice. Also, you said that humans aren't as accepting of women like me. I thought maybe I should wear this around them to keep from accidentally stoning anyone for being hateful."

The mage conceded that she had a fair point. While the dwarves were quite tolerant of the gorgon, some of the human merchants and vassals had made some very rude comments around them. Especially once it became obvious from how he and Sera were acting toward one another that they had been intimate. So far, the loud hissing of Sera's snakes had been enough of a warning that none of them had escalated things further. Perhaps more effective than the gorgon's serpents were the dwarven guards patrolling the market who always seemed to be nearby when it looked like there might be trouble.

---

Olen was old even by dwarf standards with a beard that was completely gray done up into twin braids that nearly touched the floor and thick, bushy eyebrows over eyes that seemed skeptical of everything he saw. That didn't stop him from being ecstatic over Kal's plans for Felli's peak. Kal quickly got lost as the conversation devolved into Huldurn and the lead engineer's excited shop talk. When the mage asked them to bring things down to his level, Olen explained that they wanted to use the hot gas from the chamber below to create an elevator for personnel and small goods. Once that was completed, they would begin construction of a long spiraling tunnel that would exit behind the back wall of Felli's home, but far enough away that any traffic shouldn't disturb her too much.

"Those lines that run down beneath the mountain cannot be disturbed. If they are damaged, I have no idea if I could repair them," he said tapping the diagram.

"What are they?"

"The floors of the caves are heated, those lines supply the power."

"A giant cave in a mountain with magically heated floors and yer king just let you buy this? Ye must have paid a fortune!" said the old dwarf.

"Erm... the King doesn't know about that part and my little town is off in the middle of nowhere. As far as anyone in the capital is concerned, some rich guy wanted to pay good money to buy a mountain just to say it was his. For that reason, I'd appreciate it if this part didn't leave this room."

Huldurn and Olen exchanged a look. "We canna do that, lad," said Huldurn. "Before work starts we'll need to get permission to work in yer kingdom's lands. Keepin' things quiet won't be much of a problem, at that point. After that, the surveyors will need to go out and they'll go over every inch of that mountain. Even if we don't tell 'em, they'll find out about the caves. It isn't uncommon for a king's cartographers ta ask fer a copy of our surveys since they're often a lot more detailed than the ones humans make. I'm sorry lad, but yer pet project isn't worth harmin' our relations with our neighbors by tellin' 'em they can't have it."