Chapter 44.1 - A Tree of Light

[Note:  This chapter will be broken up into 5 sub-chapters.  

Also, the astute among you may notice a couple of minor retcons.  

1.  I've decided Do-lilim was far too clunky, and that it looks much nicer without the dash.  It is now just Dolilim.  

2.  Lynnria is now wearing panties.  I will be editing the earlier chapter that said she didn't to reflect this.]

Lynnria’s gaze roved over my nakedness with abandon, snagging at seemingly random places.  My brow.  Down to my hands.  Then back up to my jawline.  Just the idea of what the next few minutes might contain was making her breath escape her like a dense fog, and I could see her tongue playing with one of her elongated canines through her parted lips.

“He’s a sight, ain’t he?” Jax whispered as she lightly traced up and down the girl’s arms with the backs of her claws.  “Every day, I think there ne’er could be a more beautiful man, and then he gains a Layer.  I envy ye, lassie.  Ye’d best be about this while I’m feeling generous.”

Lynnria nodded faintly, though whether she heard the red-head was debatable.  She seemed entranced.

Jax grinned before shooting me a knowing glance from the corner of her eye.  “I be thinking she’s ready, Master.”

I pursed my lips suspiciously.  “You didn’t do anything to her, did you?”

“Only a little,” she said as though hurt.  But from the way she was beginning to move, twisting and rubbing herself up against Lynnria’s side, I knew she was hardly contrite.  If anything, she was getting off on this.  “Just to settle her.  We all got a first time.  ‘Sides, I can nay push what ain’t already there.”

“Yes, I know.  But with my aura…” I paused.  “Wait.  Did you say first—?“

Whatever Jax had been doing, it had not been enough to bewitch the girl completely.  Before I could finish, Lynnria’s eyes suddenly cleared, and a strangled mewl of protest burbled out of her throat.

“No! She didn’t.  I’ve done it lots of times!  I—I mean… m-maybe never with a… with a uh…  But I have a tool!  At home.”

I stared at her, my left eyebrow slowly creeping upward.  Is this girl actually trying to argue that masturbation counts?

“Tool?  What kind of tool?” Arx asked with what I would normally describe as a slightly too-keen interest—in an ordinary woman.  But she quickly turned away, apparently having heard an inaudible reply.  It seemed my Faen had jumped heads again.  “They do?  Why didn’t anybody ever—?  Don’t be that way about it, Mia.  I can’t be expected to ask about things I’ve never even… Because it sounds fun, that’s why.  That’s exactly the kind of thing I was looking for when I came down to laoi territory in the first place!”  There was a brief pause and then she continued in a more sedate tone, “Hmm, no.  I suppose you’re right.”

She sighed heavily before starting up a restless pacing about the room.  Going from Arx’s slumped shoulders, her random nods, and the drained expression slowly creeping over her features, Mia had decided that now was a perfect time to start in with another of her lengthy skill-up announcements.  I pitied her.

Lynnria rubbed her palms down her hips apprehensively.  “Maybe we should wait.  Don’t we need her for this?”

That sounded reasonable enough to me, but Arx quickly shot us a thumbs up.  “She says you’re nut butter.  And good to go.  Just complete the ritual, and the rest will take care of its—”  She looked away, shrugging with feigned innocence.  “Because that’s what you said!”

Lynnria grimaced.  Her eyes darted about as though searching for an escape, but inevitably, they would catch on me again and hold for a long moment before liberating themselves.  And each time they were caught, it seemed to take more effort to tear them away.

Before long, Jax continued her delicate petting and, I had little doubt, her ethically ambiguous soothing efforts.  “That’s a way, lassie.  Lose yer ownself to it.  Let it settle ye.  No need to be skittish.”

As she talked, Jax began to loosen random buckles and unfasten buttons.

“Look, Lynnria,” I assured her, talking fast.  Jax was going to have the lesser Dolilim completely stripped before long.  “If this isn’t something you’re comfortable with, that’s perfectly fine.  We can wait as long as you like.  I’m already very satisfied as it is, so don’t think you need to do anything on my account.”

She shook her head.  “No, I want to!  It’s just… well, I’m not… I’m not pretty like your mates.”

Jax paused, the corners of her lips tugging down.  “I ain’t never heard of no laoi girl what was worried about their looks.”

“What does that have to do with anything?  I’m not a laoi,” Lynnria returned with a frown.

“Never mind that, Lynnria,” I said.  “You don’t have to be intimidated, either.  No one here started out pretty.”

“Aye,” Jax whispered affectionately, her hands beginning to move again.  “Me least of all.  Started from one, did I.”

Lynnria looked at her sharply, covering her mouth.  “Really?”

“Don’t be so happy as that, girlie,” Jax growled.  “I got better.”

“No, it’s just…”  She looked at me, firming her resolve.  “Okay, then.”

Jax smiled and began preparing to strip the girl in earnest, but once she got to her top, Lynnria stiffened and clutched the leather to herself.

“This stays on!” she said forcefully.

I nodded my understanding, recalling the pocket incident.  “If that makes you more comfortable.  But again, you don’t have to feel intimidated.”

Jax sent me a curious glance before focusing on the girl.  “Be a fear I ain’t tasted yet,” she murmured absently.

Her petting slowed, as though trying to discover the source of Lynnria’s disquiet through touch alone.  It did not take her long to find it.  Before I could even think of how I might save the girl from her shame, Jax’s hand paused, hovering near but not quite touching the lesser Dolilim’s breast.

I expected her to admonish the girl for being silly.  Neither of my other lilim had been particularly well—or at all—endowed, so it was not like this was unfamiliar territory for any of us.  However, to my surprise, Jax backed off.

“The top stays,” she agreed.

Then she met my eyes.  The look was brief but full of meaning.  She had sensed something.  Something that warranted a conversation.  But not now.  Later.  Away from the others.

I inclined my head, agreeing with both the spoken and the unspoken message.  I did not know what she could have discovered that I did not already know, but I trusted her instincts.

Lynnria sagged with relief.

“That’s enough talk, I think,” I said as I came to my feet.