“Oh, shit. Here let me help.” I apologized, scooping her up with ease. The poor she-elf must have only weighed around fifty pounds. “Sorry, I’d love to stay and chat, but I need to get her home. She probably needs to rest after that.”
The elven maidens parted wordlessly to let me pass.
I carried her in silence out of the temple and towards my home.
“I can hardly believe it.” Ki’Amura murmured.
“It’s okay, I’m sure it’ll be an adjustment. But I’d love to do anything I can to help you. As I said earlier, I think Lymarith could help make you clothes more to your preferences.” I assured her.
“I… I’d like that.” She admitted.
“And Ki’Amura, you-” I started but she cut me off.
“No, that’s not right.” She insisted. “The Great Ones didn’t call me that. They called me Amura. They know that’s my name. We should use it.”
“Okay. Amura, you can talk to me about anything you need to, or want to. I know you’ve been through a lot, and I want to help you however I can.” I told her.
She nodded, but fell silent as she settled into my arms.
I became very aware of her bare legs on my arm and how my arm was over the fabric tied across her back, touching her bare skin. My member got a little excited by that.
I’d tried not to press my matrons into anything, and none of them had shown any interest in sex since our first times, thus far. I remembered Driveal talking about how a she-elf’s body will hold onto semen for about a week, and given that no matter how much I had done during sex with them, they weren’t sated until they received my sperm, I figured that satisfaction might last as long as my seed remained inside them. I was starting to get the itch again. It had been great getting to get it on with my matrons, and I’d been content for a few days, but it was starting to come back. It was something that would fade if ignored. I’d had to deal with that before, when I went from on leave with a few interested women willing to take a ride in my bed to deployed with women unavailable even if they were around.
I’d have to talk to Diamiutar and Tavorwen about it. I didn’t know if Narusil would even be able to get aroused. Elven arousal seemed to be centered around reproduction. If they were humans I’d say they had a breeding kink, or something like that. I wondered if that meant that Narusil wouldn’t even desire sex again until after she gave birth.
It was pointless speculation for now, but it helped keep my mind off the attractive, scantily clad young she-elf in my arms.
Finally, I reached my home. Amura had fallen asleep in my arms. I carefully opened the door and found all my matrons, now dressed, waiting in the sitting room. I indicated the sleeping elf in my arms, and walked her to her room and put her in her bed, before returning to the entryway to talk to the rest of my household.
“You said you were going to the temple… What in heaven’s name happened?” Tavorwen pressed when I leaned my weapons against a chair and sat.
“Let me start at the beginning here.” I suggested. I related my understanding of everything that had happened that morning. Ending with the events in the temple.
“… and then I offered again to have Lymarith make Amura some clothes that were more to her liking. Is that something you’d be willing to do?” I finished, turning to Lymarith.
My matrons sat wide eyed and with a jumble of emotions it was impossible to pick through coursing through our bond. They sat in silence, and I could see them trying to process everything.
“… I think I could work with her on that, but you said how many of the Enlightened Host appeared to you?” Lymarith questioned.
“Well, like I said, X’Thallion didn’t come this time, but the rest did.” I reiterated.
Several of the elves sat back in astonishment.
“What?” I asked, “I mean, X’Thallion came earlier yesterday to chat with me. I figured that if the gods were willing to come and talk to you, wouldn’t it just be smart to take them up on that?”
A few of the matrons exchanged a glance, but Heilantu was the one to speak up.
“Because for most anyone that would have been an exercise in futility!” Heilantu exclaimed. “The gods have better things to do than answer at the beck and call of mortals! You just casually asked for a miracle!”
I pinched my lips together in a grimace.
“Do you treat your god that way?” Heilantu demanded.
I met her gaze, “Well, in all fairness, on my world it has been thousands of years since anyone has even claimed to see our God and not been treated as a kook. I’m not really sure what the protocols are for working with gods that actually show up.”
“In all fairness, neither do we.” Tavorwen admitted, “The only one who has been given permission to even request a meeting with the gods is the Senior Elder. Even then she rarely draws on that privilege, as it is exhausting and she needs time to recover before invoking it again. And that is just meeting with one member of the host, usually either X’Thallion or Abarith, the First Mother. You however visited with almost the entire host and seem unaffected! No wonder Ki’Am- Amura, was exhausted.”
“Well, I’ll try to be more careful in the future.” I stated.
“So, let me get this straight,” Creadean groaned, “Amura came into your room, fully intent on murdering you, but decided against it, and the gods said she is important to their divine politics, so we should just ignore her intent to kill our master?”
“Yes, a young elf who has spent her entire life among a people who believe we are evil usurpers, and who has spent who knows how long enslaved by them, and I can tell you she was at least beaten, and it sounds like lived on the border of starvation, only to be handed over to these ‘evil’ people almost did just what she was raised to do, but recognized that something wasn’t right and made the right choice.” I tried to reframe. “Can you imagine if I gave you up to the shadow elves, naked and alone and they fed you, treated you nicely and then left you alone? You’d be confused and conflicted too, if you didn’t just start trying to fight your way out immediately. So I think she deserves a bit of credit.”
Creadean seemed to give that some thought. “Alright. I don’t like it, but I guess I can see where you’re coming from. But if she harms you, I won’t hesitate to protect you.”
I shrugged, “That’s good enough for me.”
The rest of the household seemed to agree.
“By the way, where are the maidens?” I asked.
“We decided not to wake Savourn and Valentrine.” Diamiutar admitted.
“Risavis is on the terrace keeping watch, and Zanantha has been watching the halls.” Tavorwen explained. “The rest have been allowed to sleep.”
I nodded. I felt bad that everyone else was losing sleep. I had gone to bed hours before I normally would, probably around six in the afternoon, just after dinner. In all reality, I’d probably gotten at least eight hours of rest before I woke to Amura being in my room.
“Did Mother Abarith really say ‘Welcome home’ to Amura?” Lymarith asked in wonder.
“I am pretty sure that’s who she was.” I answered hesitantly.
“Long chestnut hair, piercing green eyes, usually wearing a gown as green as the leaves of midsummer, and carrying her scrying crystal?” Lymarith pressed.
“Yes, that would be her.” I agreed. “Assuming the scrying crystal is a clear sphere.”
“Magnificent… the mother of the first High Elves herself, welcoming Amura to live among her children…” Lymarith sighed dreamily, like some girls I’ve known staring at a poster of Ryan Gosling.
Flendreir emerged from the hall, rubbing her eyes, though she had dressed.
“What is everyone doing awake at this hour? Oh, there you are Master Thomas. I was going to suggest we do your daily blade drills, I usually do them in the morning before everyone is awake, but… seems like I was slow this morning.” The tallish elf murmured.
“No, it’s… it’s been a morning.” I noted. I stood and grabbed my weapons, “I’ll join you. The workout will be good before breakfast.”
That seemed to break the unspoken agreement that had kept my matrons seated, and they began to disperse to their various activities.
Flendreir and I ascended to the terrace where Risavis was pacing with her bow. She gave us an acknowledging salute, then resumed her patrol, watching the roads down below and the skies above. The beginnings of the lights of dawn touched the eastern sky.
The yellow moon had set, but the other two remained in the sky, providing enough light to see enough that I wasn’t stumbling. Flendreir rolled out a scroll on one of the shelves, and placed small stone or metal weights on the ends to keep it open, I was shocked she could read in this light, but realized that just how Amura could seemingly see in complete darkness, my elven family could likely see much better than I did in the darkness.
“Alright, now that I actually have a reference, let’s really get to work with that monster on your back.” Flendreir instructed.
My grip was slightly adjusted, my stance corrected, and we began actual drills of attacks on the dummy. It was still amazing to me how easily I could swing and maneuver the blade. Flendreir gave me those drills and practiced her own while I continued once I had learned the drills. We continued the attack drills for some time.