Bonds

Chapter 3


Castle Gallia's dinner hall had never been really built, but had been carved out of the mountain the castle rested against. The reason being that, should the castle ever come under siege, the inhabitants would still be able to prepare food, eat and drink in relative safety. It was a sensible decision, but it didn't make the dinner hall a very cheerful place. Without sunlight, the large room relied on torches all along the walls to provide light. It was a place where people came to eat and nothing more.

At the moment, however, it was also used by someone who had wanted a bit of privacy and had gone to one of the few places where she was certain she would not be disturbed. Her tongue poking ever so slightly out of her mouth, Lethe focused on writing her letter. She carefully wrote in beorc, Crimean to be exact, although she suspected that a few Daein expressions had made their way onto the paper as well. But it wasn't the fact that she was writing in an alien tongue that forced her to focus so badly. Writing was not something deemed important in Gallia and during the centuries of laguz slavery the written language of the beast laguz had been lost in any case. Anyone who wanted to write anything in the kingdom either had to resort to beorc or, if they were exceptionally intelligent, the old tongue of the Goldoans. So for Lethe, who was quite fluent in beorc anyway, writing wasn't such a challenge.

If only it wasn't for Jill.

There was nothing she could do about it, she was in heat after all. Her body burned with longing, her mind swam with visions of Jill, naked and in ectasy, of herself, pregnant, her breasts swollen with milk, of the two of them sharing each other's bodies throughout the night, sometimes as they were now, sometimes so large with pregnancy that it was a miracle they hadn't actually given birth yet.

For every word put on the paper, Lethe had to fight her own body and mind lest she put down her most lurid fantasies instead of the letter she was trying to write. But she could do it, if only she kept focused.

"Hey there Lethe."

Lethe screamed with rage and flung her quill away. She turned around sharply in her chair and glared at the newcomer. "Damn you Ranulf!"

"Came at a bad time, I take it?" said Ranulf, flopping down in the chair opposite of Lethe.

"I was trying to write a letter," said Lethe.

"Not a 'Dear Jill' letter, I hope," said Ranulf.

"Of course not, don't be foolish," said Lethe. "I'd never leave her. I'm writing a letter to my family."

"Good for you," said Ranulf. "I'm sure they'll be happy to hear of you again."

"I doubt it," said Lethe. "I haven't told them yet I'm living with a beorc."

"Ah, they won't mind," said Ranulf.

"Of course they will!" Lethe snapped. "Considering everything that might happen, that is happening, it's folly to be with a beorc!"

"I'm sure they'll understand," said Ranulf. "Of the litter, you were the only who really hated beorc, remember."

Lethe muttered something under her breath.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," said Ranulf. "Anyway, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What?" Lethe asked.

"Jill. Does she know?"

"About what?" Lethe tried.

"You know perfectly well," said Ranulf. "If everything goes as planned, she's going to impregnate you. You have told her how she's going to do that, right?"

"Not yet," said Lethe. "Chances are, the temple will reject me. She'll never need to know."

Ranulf raised an eyebrow. "You're gambling on the fact that everything will go wrong? That's not like you Lethe."

"Of course I'm not like myself!" Lethe yelled. "I've been in heat for over two weeks, Ranulf! Two weeks! I'm beside myself with lust and I can't even look at my wife without wanting her take me long and hard!"

"OK, OK, calm down," said Ranulf. "Look, I know full well I don't know what you're going through and I get that you're scared, but... Lethe, this isn't fair to her, either."

"Ranulf, I can't tell her! She'll be freaked out and disgusted and I can't say I'll blame her. I know I'm losing myself already, but losing her as well... I won't be able to take that."

Ranulf reached across the wooden table and took Lethe's hand. "Lethe, look at me."

Lethe did so, reluctantly.

"Heat isn't a one-sided thing," he said calmly. "You know that. Just being madly in love with Jill isn't enough, she needs to feel the same about you, too."

"Perhaps..." Lethe admitted reluctantly.

"Come on, Lethe, we both know she loves you. And we both know she'll do anything to help you."

"Even deform her own body?"

"Temporarily," said Ranulf. "And you know she will even if it wasn't for a single night."

"But she's beorc," said Lethe. "They're not a shapeshifting species. Maybe it won't work, maybe she'll get stuck and then what?"

"If you're scared about that, you get her pregnant," said Ranulf. "That'll work too, won't it?"

"With ordinary laguz couples, yes," said Lethe. "In our case? I don't know."

Ranulf shifted uncomfortably. "I guess you have a point. Still..."

"Fine. I'll tell her," said Lethe. "But if she leaves me Ranulf, I'll throw you down the face of this mountain before jumping myself."

Ranulf smiled. "Hah. And there you were, fearing you were losing yourself. You women and your melodrama."

-----

Lethe looked at the simple wooden door in front of her and took a deep breath. She knew that behind that door there would be a bed, as well as Jill. There would be other things there as well, but in her current state, these were not important. Lethe took another breath, closed her eyes and put a hand on the door. All she needed was a bit of resolve. She could handle this, she really could.

"Alright then," Lethe said to the empty air.

Lethe opened the door, stepped inside and became frozen on the spot. Dressed in a simple yellow dress, Jill sat on a chair near the window, sunlight giving her an almost angelic aura, her face peaceful. Where other women might be knitting or sewing, Jill was calmly polishing her armour. She'd always taken good care of it, and even though it had gained a few small dents and scratches, it was still free of rust and could still shine. It was a peaceful scene of breathtaking beauty. And it was made all the more beautiful by the fact that Jill had let her hair down.

By Ashera, she'd let her hair down. It was one of the dirtiest tricks Jill could possibly pull. With her hair up in its usual ponytail, Jill looked young and spunky and a bit tomboyish. But with her red hair down, flowing across her shoulders, she looked like an awakening young love goddess emerging from the waves.

Jill looked up and smiled. A small whimper escaped Lethe's throat.

"There you are," she said. "Where were you?"

"Just... writing a letter," said Lethe. Without consciously noticing it, her tail wrapped around her legs and started moving up and down.

Jill put down her armour. "Well, I'm glad you're back."

In one fluent movement, she stood up, walked to Lethe, put her arms around her shoulders and pulled her close for a kiss. Lethe closed her eyes and let herself melt into Jill's embrace, relishing the softness of her lips. She put her hands on Jill's back in an almost impossible attempt to get the girl's body even closer to her own.

"No... no, wait," Lethe panted, breaking free. "We need to talk."

"Can't it wait?" Jill asked, placing another little kiss on Lethe's lips.

Ever fiber of Lethe's body yelled at her that it could wait for as long as Jill wanted it to. She tried to resist it.

"It's very important," Lethe managed.

Jill nuzzled Lethe's neck. "Well... if it's that important," she whispered.

Lethe whimpered quietly. "I guess... it could wait."

Jill kissed her again. "I was hoping you'd say that."

The girl took Lethe's hand and guided her to the bed. Once Lethe was lying down on her back, Jill took off her dress. Lethe eyes widened when she saw Jill had been completely naked underneath. The redhead lay down next to her, pulled her close and kissed her neck.

"I really missed you," she whispered.

"I wasn't gone that long," said Lethe, grinning.

"Maybe," said Jill, her hand travelling down to the hem of Lethe's shirt. "But sometimes I really need you."

Lethe wanted to say something, but when she felt Jill's hand slipping underneath her shirt and reaching her breasts, she found she couldn't. There was nothing she could do, except enjoy Jill's body, feel her hand playing with her breasts or her lips touching her neck. Jill put a leg over Lethe's and pressed her pussy against Lethe's skirt, leaving a soaked stain almost instantly. Jill started gyrating against her and it occurred to Lethe that the redhead was doing everything, while she just lay there and enjoyed it.

With one swift movement, Lethe was on top of Jill, holding her girl's wrists in her hands, lying on the pillow above the redhead's head. She looked at the girl's body, naked lust shining in her eyes, and wondered what to do first. She wanted to kiss all of it, touch all of it, see it writhe with pleasure. Her tail wagged slowly from side to side, then curled, reached down and circled Jill's belly-button. Jill gasped and giggled.

"Ticklish?" said Lethe.

"You know I am."

"Hmm," said Lethe, her tail moving up to stroke Jill's breasts. "You know, we never tried this before, have we?"

Jill's eyes widened. "You're not really going to..."

"I might," said Lethe. "If you like it."

"I'm not..." Jill's sentence stopped with a gasp as Lethe teased one of her nipples with the tip of her tail. "... sure."

"I think I have a pretty good idea, though."

Enjoying the sound of Jill's gasps filling her ears, Lethe let her tail move slowly down Jill body until it reached the girl's wet slit. She moved it slowly up and down her folds. Much to her intense delight, Lethe saw Jill closing her eyes and arching her back ever so slightly.

"Not ticklish here, are you?" she purred.

Jill bit her bottom lip and shook her head.

"Good," said Lethe.

Lethe curved the tip of her tail ever so slightly and pushed inwards.

Jill groaned. "C-careful."

"Always," said Lethe.

Lethe carefully pushed her tail further into the girl. Jill wasn't used to taking anything larger than a tongue or a few fingers and Lethe's tail was defintely bigger and thicker than that. Jill groaned and tensed.

"Should I pull out?"

Jill shook her head. "D-deeper."

"Deeper?" Lethe said, surprised.

Jill nodded. "Feels weird, but..." she moaned. "Good."

Lethe grinned and leaned down to kiss her. "I love you."

After going as far in as she dared, Lethe started moving her tail in and out in a careful pumping motion. She felt Jill's pussy clench and unclench around her, but eventually she relaxed enough for Lethe to move smoothly. The tension... the painful tension drained from Jill's face. Her nose wrinkled in the cutest way possible and her breasts started heaving as she moaned ever more lustfully. Lethe looked her and her own pussy went quickly from quite moist to practically soaked. The tail was not a particularly erogonous zone and it felt weird to have its fur getting wet with her lover's juices, but seeing, feeling, hearing Jill's blissful reaction to it aroused her and filled her with pleasure all the same.

Without slowing down her moving tail, Lethe took one of Jill's breasts and leaned down to flick its nipple with her tongue, causing Jill to groan loudly again. Lethe suckled on it, her tongue relishing in the taste of Jill's sweat-covered flesh. She snarled quietly when Jill suddenly grabbed her hair and yanked at it, but glancing up at her face, Lethe realised she was barely aware of what she was doing. Ignoring the pain, Lethe continued to kiss and suck Jill's breasts as her tail drove her ever closer to the edge.

Jill's whole body froze for a fraction of a second, before exploding with orgasm, screaming her pleasure at the world.

-----

Moonlight fell in through the window, turning the room into silver shades of grey. Lying on the bed, Jill pulled Lethe's now naked body closer to her, her breasts pressing against her back.

"So, what was so important?" she asked.

"Hmm?" said Lethe.

"This afternoon," said Jill. "Before we..."

"Oh. That." Lethe squirmed uncomfortably. "It's about the temple."

"Yes?"

"It's... I mean... When we..." She stopped and took a deep breath. "We're going there for you to make me pregnant."

"I know," said Jill.

"Of course, in order for you to do that, you would have to be..."

"Male?"

Lethe sighed. "Partly, yes. Just the... essential bits." Much to her embarrassment, she found herself blushing.

"So?' said Jill. "It won't be permanent, will it?"

"Well... no, it shouldn't," said Lethe. "But why are you so calm about it?"

Jill kissed the back of her neck. "With the way you didn't want to talk about it, I figured something like this would happen. But if it'll help you, I really don't mind."

"You don't?" Lethe whispered.

"Of course not," said Jill. "Why should it?"

"I think I could probably come up with dozens of reasons," said Lethe.

"And all of them selfish," said Jill. "And besides..."

"Yes?"

Even though she couldn't see her face, Lethe could hear from Jill's tone of voice that she had started to blush as well. "This might be our only chance to... you know... and... well... when the time comes and everything, I..."

"Yes?"

"I'd like to carry your child as well, Lethe."

Lethe stared silently into the dark for a while. Then she took Jil''s hand and kissed it.

"I love you," she said. "So much."

"I love you too."