Bonds

Chapter 1


"And that's seven," said the shopkeeper, giving Jill the last of her change.

"Thanks," said Jill, picking her groceries off the counter.

"Are you certain you won't accept my discount?"

Jill smiled. "Mr. Francis, please, not that again."

"Yes, but, you and your... you and Lethe, you have done quite a lot for our little village."

"Yes," said Jill. "And once we drove off those bandits, we got paid for it. So your debt's quite gone."

"Still..."

"Goodbye, Mr. Francis," said Jill. "Until next time."

"Yes, well, bye then."

Jill left the little store and stepped out onto the street, where her wyvern was waiting patiently for her. Loading her groceries onto its back, Jill noticed a couple of children admiring her mount from a safe distance. She smiled faintly, clambered into the saddle and gathered the reins. The green wyvern stepped into the middle of the road and launched itself into the air. Wings folded, it shot straight up until it covered the sun. Then it spread its wings to their full length and swooped down over the heads of the children, who responded by making appreciative 'ooh' and 'aah' sounds. Once the momentum of the dive was starting to run out, it flapped its wings and flew leisurely away from the village.

The house near the edge of the forest was little more than a cottage. But, Jill reflected as she set down, it was more than enough. After all, Lethe lived there. So what more could she want?

After making sure her wyvern's feeding trough was filled with enough raw meat to get it through the day, Jill opened the creaking door of the cottage and went inside.

"Lethe, I'm ho-"

Jill's sentence was abruptly cut off. The bag of groceries fell from her hands, spilling its contents all over the floor. Jill didn't notice it. She didn't notice anything except Lethe's body suddenly pressing against her own and the laguz' tongue frantically entering her mouth.

"Lethe..."

Lethe snarled something she couldn't understand. She'd tried her very best, but Jill just couldn't figure out how beast tribe language worked. The only thing she could tell about the snarl was that it was frustrated, but not particularly angry.

Lethe guided Jill down onto the floor, her speech still incomprehensable, but her intentions more than clear. Only now, as Lethe hovered above her, struggling desperately with the straps of Jill's clothes, did she notice that she was naked. Usually when Lethe was naked, she had an undefined air of elegant eroticism about her, but now...

Lethe roughly kissed her again, her body writhing on top of Jill's. Jill was vaguely aware that Lethe had started grinding her pussy against Jill's leg. Snarling, growling, Lethe started fingering herself in a desperate attempt to get off. Her juices stained Jill's pants as she shamelessly kept humping her. Then she threw her head back and screamed before collapsing on top of Jill.

The whole of it had taken less than a minute.

Panting, Lethe calmed down and got a hold of herself again. Then she opened her eyes and the way she looked at Jill sent cold, frightened shivers down her spine.

-----

It was half an hour later. Jill and Lethe sat on the only couch they possessed. Lethe seemed to try her hardest to keep away from Jill, but she kept reaching out to her and touching her arm or playing with her hair for a bit until she remembered herself again.

Jill was the first to speak. "So... what happened?"

"I am... I am very sorry," said Lethe. "I had no idea..."

"No idea about what?"

Lethe turned to face Jill and took her hands into her own. "I love you, you are my mate."

"I know," said Jill. "I love you too."

Lethe smiled. "The women of the beast tribe, when we find our mate... we go into heat. It's something we cannot help, cannot stop."

"Oh," said Jill. "Well, I guess that..."

"No," said Lethe. "I have been in heat for two weeks now."

Jill looked puzzled. "But for the last fortnight we haven't..."

"I thought I could overcome it if only I didn't give in to it. But obviously, it overcame me. Even just sitting here and talking to you, it takes most of my strength not to take you."

"You should have told me," said Jill. "I could have helped you out, somehow."

Lethe smiled. "There isn't much you could have done. When we go into heat, there are only two ways to get out of it again. The first is pregnancy."

"And the second?"

"Death," said Lethe.

Jill went pale. "But that's horrible."

"Not really," said Lethe. "Usually, a woman in heat becomes pregnant within three days."

"Does it... does it have to be my child?" Jill asked, realising how stupid the question must sound and not caring.

Lethe nodded. "You are my mate," she said simply.

"But that's impossible."

"Not quite," said Lethe. "I'm hardly the first female laguz with an interest in women. Centuries ago, we managed to find a way to work around the problem, so to speak."

"What? What is it?" Jill asked.

"I'd rather not say just yet," said Lethe. "It might upset you."

"Why? Surely we will..."

"We will be bringing a parentless into the world, a child who's half beorc and half laguz," said Lethe. "My kind still considers such... people... to be bad omens. The help I need may not be given."

"But that would mean..."

"That would mean I would have to consider the second option," said Lethe.