Cards Reshuffled

It’s really amazing the kind of things you can learn from books, if you’re interested enough. However, certain things really need to be experienced in the flesh, for you to fully appreciate every wonderful aspect of them.

Excerpt from ‘Ruminations Of A Master Bard’

There was…singing? Zaerini shifted about in bed, unwilling to open her eyes just yet. She was someplace very soft, and very warm, and…what was that song? It sounded familiar.

Once I thought myself so strong,
Always right and never wrong
Now I feel my legs go weak,
Every time I hear you speak

Felt lost and confused, about what to do
But meeting your eyes, is when I know
Who I want is you

The voice singing was practically whispering, as if the singer was afraid to disturb her, but she could hear the words clearly all the same. Now and then the voice warbled a little out of tune too, but despite her normally sensitive ears she didn’t care one bit. Now she definitely recognized it, and she wouldn’t mind listening to it forever, despite the fact that the singer wasn’t nearly as talented as she thought herself.

Felt lost and confused, about what to do
But meeting your eyes, is when I know
Who I love is you

Who I love…is you

Yes. Now she knew exactly where she was, and who was singing to her. She was in her bed in the Trademeet inn, and there was another body next to her, a warm, curvy and definitely female body. And there were strands of long hair tickling her bare throat as the singer leaned in towards her, and hot breath against her skin as a slow kiss was planted on her ear, and she couldn’t help shivering a little with delight.

“I know you are awake,” Edwina said, sounding very satisfied. “And while watching you sleep is very pleasant, I think that having you conscious would improve your enjoyment of the next few minutes. (No, not minutes. Let’s aim for hours.)”

Zaerini opened her eyes, smiling as she noticed the satisfied smirk on the wizard’s face. I really think she’s as happy about this as I am. They had spent a long time in that fountain yesterday, it was all coming back to her now. Eventually…yes, eventually she had suggested that her bed offered a far dryer and more comfortable spot for cuddling, and Edwina had been perfectly happy to take her up on her suggestion. Well, at least up to a certain point. Edwina had looked pretty embarrassed as she explained that she had been spending many a long hour planning what their first proper night together would be like, and that she wanted to be in her own body for that occasion, because otherwise she’d feel that they were both missing something. It simply wouldn’t feel right. But that didn’t mean that there weren’t plenty of other ways they could still find pleasure together. And we did. Oh boy, did we ever. She could feel her own smile turning very naughty as she remembered some of the pastimes of the past night, and from the way a faint flush was spreading across Edwina’s face and down her neck it seemed that the other woman did too. “Good morning, Dread Wizard,” Zaerini said, reaching her hand out to entwine her fingers with some strands of glossy dark hair. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Hm?” Edwina frowned. She was reclining on her elbows now, and the sheets had slid back enough to offer Rini a magnificent view of her impressive physique. Ah, she’s so beautiful…I don’t think she even knows how beautiful. Well, lucky her, because I’m about to teach her! “Forgetting? What would that be?”

“To wake the swooning woman up with a kiss, silly!” Rini said, and then she tugged gently on the hair she was caressing in order to pull the wizard’s head down. Things proceeded very satisfactorily from there, and it was a good few minutes before either of them was capable of speaking a single word.

“Edwina?” Zaerini asked once she was finally able to think straight again. She was lying on her belly now, her head resting on her crossed arms, and enjoying the extremely pleasurable sensation of the wizard’s hands slowly stroking her back, now and then rubbing and massaging a tense spot. It was enough to make her feel as if she was floating on a warm pink cloud and she had to make a real effort to remember what she had been meaning to ask. “That song you sang…when did you hear that?” It was our song. Well, it was meant to be. I only sang it that once, and she wasn’t there to hear it. She had already…left me. Hadn’t she?

The hands paused, and though they soon returned to their soothing rhythm she thought she could feel them tremble a little. “I heard you sing it,” Edwina said, her voice a little strained. “On the night when I left. Walking out that door was one of the two hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. (And I had to do them both in the space of just a couple of weeks. How lucky I am.)”

“Because of the Red Wizards?” Rini asked, turning over so that she could see Edwina’s face. The wizard looked rather miserable. Well, we can’t have that. Oh no. “Edwina, I forgave you about that long ago, don’t worry.” She reached her hand out, slowly trailing it along the other woman’s hip, with the very satisfying result of seeing her nearly forget to breathe. “I love you. And I know you were trying to be protective of me because the Red Wizards were mad at you for some reason, which was rather silly of you, but still very sweet. I’m not angry with you…I’m just very happy that you at least heard the song.” She laughed. “Perhaps I should write us a few new ones though, with happier memories to go with them. And no more secrets between us, right?”

“Right!” Edwina said, and if Zaerini had been in a slightly less blissful state she probably would have noticed that the wizard answered far too quickly, and that there was a nervous twitch in her left eyebrow. “No more secrets, right. Of course not.”

“Good.” The half-elf edged a little closer, into the arms of the other woman, rubbing herself against the delightful body next to her. “Mmmm…you’re very cuddly, did anybody ever tell you that?”

“Cuddly? Certainly not! I am charming, seductive, attractive, erotically skilled and passionate. Red Wizards aren’t ‘cuddly’. (The things I put up with from her…)”

“This one is,” Rini said in a decisive voice, and planted a light kiss on Edwina’s lips. “Very…very…very cuddly.” With each repetition of the word, she administered another kiss, working herself downwards along the throat, to the collarbone, and then…

“Hellkitten, what are you…oooooh!” Edwina’s comment broke off with a brief gasp, and she shuddered a little. “I’m going to…pay you back for that…you know!”

“I should certainly hope so! In fact, I can’t wait…” Oh…her skin is so soft. So warm…just being this close to her makes me want to tear all her clothes off and ravage her and…hang on. Her clothes already are off. Oh well. On to the ravaging then…at least as far as she will let me. We have to turn her back to a man soon, or I think we’ll both go nuts. Well, at least there’s plenty we can do while we’re waiting. Let’s see what happens if I do this…

Edwina sucked in breath sharply, her fingers clutching the half-elf’s shoulder so tightly that it hurt, and let out a small moan. “Please…” she whispered. “Please…”

Rini paused, giving her lover a sly look through her red hair. “Liked that, did you? Are you sure? You don’t feel like you need a break or something, because in that case I can always pause and…” Then she gave a small scream of delight as the other woman pounced on her, pinning her down with her greater weight.

“Little tease…” Edwina purred. Her eyes were half closed, and she had red spots in her cheeks. “Annoying, aggravating, infuriating little tease.” She bent down, administering a slow kiss on the redhead’s lips.

Oh yessss…how I adore her insults! “Vain, arrogant, irritating, boastful wizard…” she replied, the words sounding a little strained. She raised her legs, using them to lock the other woman’s body tightly against hers.

“Ignorant, willful barbarian…” Those lovely hands were exploring her body now, touching it in ways that made her feel as if her skin was slowly catching fire.

“Oh my…spoilt…brat!” Her pink tongue quickly darted out, teasing and prodding.

“Ah…er…reckless pest!” Lips against her ear now, driving her half mad with desire as they sucked lightly on the earlobe, nibbling a little bit. Edwina was breathing really heavily by now, and her eyes looked more than a little glazed.

“Silly, foolish, adorable braggart,” Rini whispered, her smallest finger toying with her lover’s bellybutton.

“Wild, disorderly, utterly perfect succubus…”

That did it. A good while of very pleasant activity followed, and afterwards the two women were both rather sweaty and breathless. Rini sighed happily, feeling more than a little sleepy again, and pressed a little closer to her lover. She was tightly snuggled into Edwina’s arms, her head resting quite comfortably against the other woman’s chest, and with their legs twined tightly together. She yawned a little. “Wanna go back to sleep for a while?” she asked. “I know the others may be waiting by now, but waiting a little longer won’t hurt them…it’s not as if we haven’t waited far too long already to do this.”

“Mmmm…” Edwina said, and the half-elf could feel a hand gently stroking her hair. “Hellkitten? I was just wondering…”

“Yes?”

“Well…I was wondering…how did you manage to get so good at this?” Edwina was speaking very rapidly by now, the words practically tumbling over each other. “Did you…I mean…did you ever…how much practice have you…(If it was Anomen, then I will kill him! Slowly…and then I will resurrect him and kill him again and again.)”

Zaerini finally took pity on her lover. “Edwina…” she said. “I grew up in a library, remember? Both I and Immy have very inquisitive minds, and Candlekeep has all sorts of interesting books. Detailed books. Some of them even containing pictures. For some reason Gorion never put them on our curriculum, but we managed to learn quite a few interesting things on our own.”

“Oh. That makes sense. (Perhaps I should tell her about those magical concubines I attempted to summon when I was a teenager…but no. Some things are better left unknown.)”

“Mmm. But Gorion also always told me that a scholar is never done. There is always more stuff to learn. Actually, I think the two of us should arrange for another…study session very soon. Just as soon as I have a short nap to recover a little.”

Well FINALLY! The voice inside her head made Rini practically fall out of bed, and her eyes went very wide.

SOFTY? What are you…where are you…how long have you been…

For ages, kitten. I must say, as long as it took you to get about your mating, you certainly seem very enthusiastic about it. I’m very proud of you. Could you try not to make the bed sag quite so much the next time though? It almost hit me on the head right now. And try to explain to Insufferable that you don’t need him to dance about on the pillow, jumping up and down and doing acrobatic tricks in order to ‘cheer you on’. You seem to be doing fine on your own. But since I am tactful, unlike certain monkeys, I will offer discreet advice, if you like.

“Insufferable?” Zaerini said, her mouth gaping open. “Are you both hiding under the bed?”

Edwina sat bolt upright, a look of horror on her face.

Of course. As slow as you two were we wouldn’t dream of not keeping an eye on things, or ear as it were. You could have messed it up again. Now, try to get your mate back to normal so that you can proceed to complete the mating. A litter of kittens might be just the thing to…

Approximately half a minute later, a black cat and a tiny fluffy monkey were both sitting on the floor outside a closed door, staring at each other in bemusement.

Why d’you suppose they got so upset? Insufferable asked. My person can use some advice, nobody humps like a monkey, oh yeeeeah baby! And I’m the most magnificent monkey of them all, I’m totally humpy-humpy!

No idea, Softpaws replied, sounding more than a little testy. Two-legs…sometimes I really don’t understand them at all. They get worked up about the silliest little things. And telling us not to ‘peek’ through our links…how can we possibly ignore the things they’re doing? It’s like having somebody waving a fire beneath your nose.

You’re telling me, pretty kitty. My human’s excited enough that I need to hump something, right now!

Monkey?

Yeah, pretty kitty?

Let go of my leg or I’ll bite your head off.

That’s what you call ‘tough love’ is it?

No. That’s what I call ‘tough’.