“This is absurd, and I won’t have any part of it.”  The delicate girl’s voice was firm but not strident.  It was simply unthinkable.  To get involved in something like this was positively obscene.  It was not quite scandalous; scandal required shame, and the Varanae were rarely ashamed.  It was not in the cultural makeup.

Auaei’s adoptive father did not frown, only glanced at her.  That was enough to cause a flush of heat to rise in the young girl’s cheeks and she looked at the table, embarrassed by her blatant show of emotion.  Tolerantly he gestured in negation of her embarrassment, and she looked up at him again.  She picked up the wire before her and began to wrap it about the unevenly grown crystal in her hand.

“Whether or not you wish to have a part in it is a moot point.  She is a Soulknife.  You are the one she desires.  The fact that you are of a caste means very little to one of the outer caste.”  His own work was significantly more complex than hers; he laid out the tiny beads of copper over the steel disk, pushing them into the tiny grooves with a lacquered leather brush tipped by a lock of his own hair.  “You are also an outlander and that makes you fair game by any of our laws as well, adopted or not.”

“I see.  What are the rules of this….”  She hesitated to say ‘game’.  There were no words in the Varanese language for ‘games’ or ‘play’.  “This contest?”  Her hands worked slowly, and she had to restart several times.  Her concentration was sent to the Darkness and back.  “Am I permitted to use any means at my disposal to defeat her?”

“Rules are meaningless in warfare.  This is a battle, treat it as such.  She will do no less.”  That was a sobering thought to the young scion of House Xerxes.  The Rule of Thirteen had laws and restrictions concerning formal combat of any sort.  The nomadic Varanae were a much more pragmatic people.  “That being said, it would be unbecoming if either of you were to die.  Life is more precious than youth tends to appreciate.”  

The girl glanced sharply at her elder, then she sighed.  He was right to remind her.  Life was cheap even among the commoners of the Rule of Thirteen; among the nobility a death was almost unnoticeable if one was not in power.  “Yes, mine father.”

That evening she dressed in the soft black leathers and bright jewelry of her adopted people, and walked out into the starlit darkness.  There was no moon; she sought the patterns of thought and memory, used them to augment her awareness, and the night became brighter.  There were a few people here and there; by and large the encampment was deserted.  She looked around at the desert and her eyes settled on the outcropping of rocks and boulders some distance away.  Her lips compressed into a tight, determined line.  

Though the encampment was an environment that provided more opportunities to avoid her stalker, it also provided too many places and ways for the other girl to hide.  The homogenous nature of the Varanae appearance was another drawback; Auaei’s pale hair and bright eye color was undoubtedly part of what had attracted the feral girl’s attentions.  Unfortunately, it was not as simple as simply stating she was already betrothed at her tender age; as she understood it, the mental disciplines that allowed for the creation of a mind-blade often opened up rather bizarre tendencies in the Varanae mindset.  It was considered perverse, the attraction of same sex, but among the Soulknives it was considered a rather innocuous quirk compared to some.  Add to that the fact that a Soulknife was considered outside the normally strict caste structure of the Varanae tribes, and Auaei was on her own.

It helped that she was of Noble Birth.  There was no ‘divine mandate’ to rule; it was simply a matter of better genetics.  She was smarter and more resilient than any Human outside the noble families; she retained more knowledge and could master mind and body far more efficiently.  It gave her a distinct edge over the Soulknife; the other girl had been forced to split her attentions between mastering her Wilder Talents, and the disciplines of the mind-blade.  Auaei had considered the spells she had in her books very carefully before selecting those she would utilize; while her mastery of the sciences as a Psion gave her far more versatility than the Wilder, she’d concentrated on the more militant applications of her metacreativity.  Wizardry was versatility enough in her hands.

The rocks of the hillock provided plenty of places to hide, and its distance from the encampment gave them a great deal of privacy.  One way or another there would be screams, Auaei was certain.  Who was doing what type of screaming was entirely dependent on who was able to disable or catch whom first.

Reaching into the heavily decorated pouch at her side she pulled out a tiny vial.  She tapped against the side with a fingertip as she peeled back the lead foil that sealed it, causing the spider to drop to the bottom of the delicate crystal.  “Podaios cun Arachnis ley ban aus sans Erdes,” she murmured before tipping the vial into her mouth and biting down quickly.  The bitter taste passed quickly, subsumed in the rippling sensation of energies in flux about and within her body.  The spell finished and the vial put away, she started climbing the rocks, and carefully so as to not reveal the potency of the Spell of Spider’s Climbing she’d used by moving too swiftly or over obviously unclimbable rocks.

The first hint that she wasn’t alone came in the form of the wind whistling through her mind.  It was not a true sound, but a sound in the silence of her mind, half sensation and half awareness.  She fell back against the cliff face and braced her mind, the assault culminating in a barrage of derogatory self recriminations and unfathomable self pity and disgust at her inclinations and stupidity for this folly.  The crashing force of the Ego Whip against her mind was much more potent than she’d imagined and she cursed her stupidity in believing the Wilder’s talents any less potent than her own.  

Throwing off the debilitating assault, Auaei steeled herself.  She was better than that, and she knew it.  Lingering doubts aside, she was perfectly capable of berating herself on her own time – certainly didn’t need anyone’s help to do so!  But the knowledge that her opponent had such a potent weapon in her arsenal was unsettling; most Wilders preferred more destructive powers.  But then, she was a Soulknife too; that would account for her choice.

Auaei’s glittering pupils, the energies of her own power shimmering in their depths, scanned the hillside.  She hadn’t expected to see anything out of the ordinary; her opponent was a stealthy sort to begin with, and the Ego Whip was a far reaching power.  She felt a second invasion of her mind, and she tried to blockade her thoughts.  She knew she’d failed when Solettra’s dulcet voice intruded upon her consciousness.  

~So willful.~  It was a surprise; another power less than fatal in her opponent’s arsenal.  But then, from Mindlink grew great power, so it was not unthinkable that this was a mere steppingstone for the assassin.  

~Why me, Solettra?~  The two way channel was established; while Auaei could possibly break the bond with a spell, she knew that her opponent had to be fairly close now in order to establish the link.  ~My own predilections aside, I’m an outsider and I will be leaving your encampment in a few months to return home.  You would not willingly come with me.~  

~Such large words.  Your mind is complex and deep; but elemental minds are just as deep.~  Forsaking the subterfuge, Auaei crawled directly up the side of a bolder and over it, her sense of balance adjusting itself as she crawled halfway down the side.  She glanced around and let the other girl speak to her as she moved to where the rock face became sheer.  ~You see far into the future, but you are not the only one capable of making far ranging plans.~

She paused in her climb to consider the accusation implicit in the thought.  Varanae speech was clear cut; their mental dialogues were far more expansive and tended towards the subtle.  ~I’m not someone you can manipulate, Solettra.  You are a mere babe compared to my sophistication.~  It was half a bluff – even now she felt the lingering doubts instilled by the vicious assault on her ego.  Her eyes caught movement in the lower right of her peripheral vision, and she slowly started to climb, making it look like an effort.  ~Did you think that if you caught me, made me yours I would stay?~  

The movement paused, and slowly Auaei turned, rolling onto her back, letting the spell largely suspend her in place, resting on bent legs with her back to the wall.  One hand came away and she gathered her thoughts, focusing on drawing the energies and material of the Astral Firmament to her.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the figure lifted her hand, a glassy blade of blue-green force slowly coalescing along hand and arm.  The figure slowly, carefully began scaling the boulder that Auaei had crawled over.  ~How will you face your people after having been taken by force by another girl?  You will be shamed in their eyes, unfit for wedding.  Your betrothal will be a farce.~  

~I will be wed to a man, but my heart and soul belong to another woman.  Our infidelities will matter not at all, my husband and my own, so long as those about us maintain the appearance of ignorance.~  That level of deceitful behavior was anathema to the cultural underpinnings of the Varanae and the shadowy figure halted, pale face raised and gleaming under the mass of black curls, confusion written across it.  Auaei waited, hardly daring to breathe before she drove the point home.  ~My female lover took my virginity before I left home.~  The lack of homosexual taboos in Auaei’s culture was outright blasphemy to the clannish Varanae.

The other girl pounced, leaping over the rock, her expression clouded with anger.  Auaei spun the crystal shard from ectoplasm and flung it with the sheer weight of her thought at the other girl.  

Though the lack of a target where she’d expected one hadn’t surprised the assassin, Solettra was definitely surprised when the shard of silvery crystal slit the tight leather along her calf and drew blood before shattering into motes of fading silver dust against the rocks.  She responded immediately and Auaei gasped as the weird blade was flung at her, driving straight and true rather than flipping end over end as a normal sword might have.  She jerked at the blade rang out against the rocks next to her shoulder, dust and pebbles exploding from the rock face.  

Scrambling, Auaei crawled away from the Soulknife, who ran along the base of the rock wall to follow.  She was forced to stop as the ledge dwindled to nothing and Solettra summoned up a second blade.  Too late; the noble had crawled around the edge of the cliff-side, and was out of immediate reach.  

~Clever Auaei.  You will make me a wonderful bride.~  Auaei wondered why every girl who desired her automatically gave her the feminine demarcation.  Most of the boys she knew thought her rather a tomboy.  She switched direction, clambering up the cliff side and climbing onto an isolated ledge.  ~But if you will not accept my advances, I must prove myself worthy to be your husband.~

~So you claim I brought this upon myself, because I did not accept your gifts?~  She lifted her hand and studied the cured leather bracelet, focusing on the symbols pressed into it.  ~I did not do anything to deserve them, so I refused.  It had nothing to do with your attempts to impress me.~  She cursed herself for not having realized that Solettra was interested earlier.  Stoic little bitch.  ~I’m not going to accept your advances at all.  If you want it this way, I will defeat you and send you home a broken woman.~  

“Investos au Kinesia Null ara magis….” She murmured, the power of the spell rippling over her skin in a glitter of bright blue before fading.  There was almost no warning this time, only a finger-thick wisp of silvery mist that lanced against her chest before it erupted into searing cold.  She cried out and threw herself to the side, her teeth chattering as the energy ray’s effects made themselves known.  The pain was intense, but she forced herself to hold still.  The angle of the bolt had been from below and away – but Solettra had to be close to have thrown the ectoplasmic line at her.  

~You are no warrior; you are a student, a gifted and intelligent student.  I am a warrior.~  Solettra’s voice was not gloating or cruel, only direct and matter of fact.  ~You will not win this.~  

Auaei gripped the cliff side and flung herself from it, just before a second bolt of ectoplasm touched the wall next to her and burst into a shimmering silver ray of icy death.  She crawled quickly down, angling towards a large split between two of the larger rocks that made up the hill.  She heard the soft, quick footsteps and she turned to look as Solettra leaped for her, the blue-green glassine blade glinting in the bright starlight.  

Solettra crashed into her and the blade glanced off of the Mage Armor she’d conjured.  Unfortunately she lost her grip on the cliff face and they both fell, crashing heavily into the rocks fifteen feet below them.  Shaking off the pain Auaei rolled to the side and shot quick words from her dust-covered lips.  “Faegild uus Anima eres!”  Solettra hissed, the other girl’s rapid and practiced enunciation not giving her an opening to assault Auaei.  

The shimmering golden motes exploded about Solettra and she cried out, startled.  It didn’t stop her from lashing out with her potent mind, hissing mental noise preceding another ego blasting series of thoughts inside Auaei’s mind.  Neither girl was foolish enough to open themselves to attack, but Auaei knew – intellectually anyways – that she needed to turn this fight to her advantage quickly.  Emotionally she was a wreck; her metal defenses had not been shored up and her self esteem was taking a beating.  

Solettra wasn’t blinded – that had been too much to hope for – but the motes that dusted her made her a clear target in the bright starlight of Auaei’s augmented vision.  Not that it was necessary now, but better safe than sorry.  ~I warned you,~ Auaei sent through the Mindlink, before she moved into a crouch and brought together several vertices of momentum and power from the Aether to bear upon the space Solettra occupied.  The resulting shockwave of Concussive Force erupted about the young girl, making her cry out in shock and pain.  She sank to her knees, then fell forward, unconscious.  

Auaei slowly stood once more, her hands shaking and knees weak.  She gingerly moved her left arm; not broken, but she would have a series of bruises along that shoulder and arm that would last for weeks, she was sure, even with the Body Adjustments she would make.  She’d only used minor vertices, at least; Solettra was unconscious, but actually not too badly injured.  Auaei sighed, and settled onto a rock, her mind already turning to the task of repairing her torn flesh.  Once that was done – as done as it could be, she was sorely depleted of mentalist energies – she considered the delicate girl crumpled on the ground before her, and made a decision.

Solettra woke to starlight and wisps of cloud, her head throbbing and her body a mass of aches and pains.  Her back was against a rock, and she could see she was still on the hillside, through there was a good amount of flat space between her and open air.  She started to rise and discovered her arms and legs would not obey; leather cords – her OWN leather cords, tightly braided and nearly unbreakable – held her fast.  Her arms were bound behind her, wrists to elbows, while her legs were spread wide, knees brought up and ankles and feet dangling freely.  She struggled, and found her upper arms had been tied as well; she studied her situation and found that the long loops of the cord bound her to the rock at the upper arms, knees, and thighs, leaving her obscenely vulnerable.

Especially since, other than her ruby Birthing Stone necklace, she was completely naked.  

A tiny clink of crystal against rock brought her attention to Auaei, who knelt a short distance away.  She too was bare, except for her ever-present jewelry, and her skin almost glowed in the starlight, oiled and slick.  Her short hair was also slicked back, and cleaner.  There were blankets underneath them both, covering the rock with something that at least gave some relief to soft skin.  Solettra ceased struggling, staring at Auaei.  

“Your mind link faded some time ago.  I wouldn’t recommend trying anything foolish; I gave you something interesting to help you sleep, and if you try and concentrate too hard you will make yourself terribly ill.”  Solettra simply looked at Auaei, who was used to the non-responses of the Varanae in general.  “I am learning to be a poisoner; your herbalists have given me many more interesting things to work with than they knew of.” She turned to face Solettra and poured a generous amount of oil from the crystal vial into her cupped hand.

“It isn’t that I do not sympathize, you know,” Auaei continued, rubbing her hands together as she turned to face the other girl.  Her small breasts were firm, the nipples peaked not merely from cold, for it was not very cold at all.  Her bare sex glistened with oils, the downy wisps above it as pale as the hair on her hair.  She slowly walked on her knees to sit between Solettra’s spread legs and her hands glistened with oil.  She was careful not to loose any of it to the blankets.  “I understand desire very well.  My lover is of a family enemy to mine, and were our affair to be discovered….well, our people are far more creative in their punishments than yours.”  

Her hands separated and she ran them both along the other girl’s bare chest, the oil spilling down her belly to pool in her naval and creep along her groin.  She rubbed the other girl’s small breasts, thumbs sliding over nipples that quickly firmed under her knowing touch.  Solettra blushed, staring at Auaei, who seemed to not notice, her eyes gliding over the smooth, unblemished skin.  “I’m envious.  Eventually, to appear as youthful as we are now, I will be forced to use depilatories and razors.  You will remain this lovely for all of your life.”  Her hands slid across the girl’s breasts again, down, massaging her belly.  Solettra’s skin began to tingle and her dark eyes widened.  

“What are you doing to me?”  

Auaei did not look up, more intent on using a fingertip to pull the oil from the other girl’s naval and slide it down, between her legs, then up along her thighs, barely pausing to run a thumb over the perfectly clean and bare slit of the Varana’s sex.  “I should do as I threatened and break you.  I could drug you and use you and leave you mad.  But I think….I want to leave you with at least a pleasant memory of me.”  Auaei leaned in and spoke softly.  “And I was curious: to know what loving you would be like.”  Her hand moved back down, along the warm, sleek legs and up the firm belly, to the swell of breasts and up along the delicate neck and to the elongated, lobeless ears, drawing a soft, shocked noise from the Varana.  

The kiss was slow and gentle, careful.  There was hesitancy in Auaei’s kiss, born from a need to be cautious.  She was by no means certain that Solettra wouldn’t try to bite.  Solettra did not try to bite and only gently returned the kiss.  She tasted warm and sweet; sweeter than Auaei’s lover had, so many months ago.  The noble’s fingers traced slick lines of shining oil down the other girl’s cheeks, moving to cup the small, firm breasts, thumbs sliding back and forth over the hard nipples.

Their kiss deepened and she shivered delicately, moving closer, letting her oiled body touch the other girl’s.  Finally she broke the kiss with a small noise, and laid several more quick, eager kisses along the soft, warm lips of the Varana.  Her body was warm and her heart beat quickly, and she smiled.  “It is strange, to feel such experience with someone who looks no older than I.”  Solettra’s blushing cheeks became more red, her upswept ears burning.  She struggled a little in the ropes, but Auaei was shaking her head. “I know a little about such things.  You will have to wait until I am done.”  

She leaned forward, her slick, warm hands sliding against the soft thighs of the assassin, sliding up and then over as she leaned into the girl, her nipples hard points against the other’s soft breasts.  Solettra watched, her lips parted, eager and excited.  Auaei leaned into her kissing the delicate curve of neck, causing her to lift her head….

And then the pale girl cried out, pulling away violently as the crush of self loathing and miserable worthlessness fell upon her.  The sleek elfin girl stared at her, eyes glittering and dangerous now.  Auaei pushed back, the Ego Whip of Solettra’s will vicious and potent.  Her breaths came quick and she struggled to hold onto her sense of self.  She swore in a language Solettra did not recognize, and brought both hands to her head, mussing her hair further.  

“You should have been felled by that,” murmured the darkling Varana, drawing her mind together for a second assault.  

“It is not only the body that heals quickly,” hissed the incensed Auaei, as she reached out with her own mind, the anger she sent spilling into Solettra’s mind refined and altered into something twisted and alive.  The air rang between them as Auaei’s concentrated thought tore into the Aether.

Crying out, Solettra struggled in the bonds as her id erupted into conflict with her consciousness, leaving her confused and writhing.  Quick to take advantage, the other girl leaned in, one hand sliding along Solettra’s calf, the other slipping to insinuate her fingers into the delicate folds between her thighs.  “You know you want this, you want me, so let it happen….” She hissed, her lips caressing the sensitive ear as she stroked the soft, wet heat of Solettra’s slit.  

The girl moaned and writhed, alternately viciously snapping with teeth and struggling for freedom and whimpering and writhing, trying to escape the gentle, intimate caresses.  Auaei’s oiled fingers gently explored the untried girl’s femininity, discovering only little differences between hers and the other girl’s.  She gently inserted a finger into that slick tightness as Solettra cried out in the throes of her temporary madness, unsure if the girl was actually a virgin or simply lacked the maidenhead of Auaei’s kind.  

The madness passed quickly, Auaei unwilling to expend the effort into maintaining her anger driven power.  Solettra panted softly, her body reacting to the gentle intrusion eagerly, her skin flushed with exertions and sensations alike.  Auaei rubbed her oil-slicked body along Solettra’s, and whispered to her.  “No more fighting now.  If you do that again I will light a brazier of Insanity Mist and drown you in hallucinatory pleasure.  I would rather enjoy you as you are.”  The finger gently turned, twisted inside to elicit a cry of shocked pleasure from the girl.  “You are not so different from us in this way.  Are you untouched?  You are certainly so tight.”

Solettra hissed between her teeth and then nodded slowly.  “I did not imagine my first would be tied so with an outlander between my legs.”  Her voice was husky and soft, her breaths uneven as Auaei moved a little closer, her thumb lightly exploring the outer folds of the girl’s virginity as she let her finger slide deeper.  “Ah!  C…carefully.”  The girl’s flushed face reddened further, as Auaei smiled, her free hand sliding warm and slick along the girl’s smooth back as she arched away from the boulder she was tied to.   

Auaei studied the soft, heart shaped face, the deep black eyes and fine featured framed in thick black curls.  Leaning in she rubbed her breasts along Solettra’s, nipples catching against each other as she ran her tongue along the other girl’s sensitive ear.  The elfin girl writhed and made a high pitched noise, the nature of which Auaei was uncertain of.  Still, she let her finger, her thumb stroke, tease the girl into greater wetness, enjoying the sensitivity of her body.  Her mouth drifted lower, gentle kisses, licks, and light nips with sharp teeth to tease and play on Solettra’s higher senses.  

Turning her finger again Auaei made the girl arch into her, the high breasts thrust forward.  Her mouth closed over the gentle swell of Solettra’s breast, and she suckled firmly, her tongue tracing the small aureole expertly, the hardened nipple slick with the sweet oils that coated the Varana.  Solettra moaned, unable to concentrate at all.  Auaei relaxed and kissed her way to the other apple-sized mound, and gently bit the proffered breast, not quite hard enough to bruise the delicate skin but nearly.  She was rewarded by a spasm of tightness about her finger, and she laughed softly.  “Your mind IS tuned to stranger pleasures!” she whispered before she suckled upon the erect nipple, gripping it gently between teeth and licking the sensitive nub with the tip of her tongue.  

The Soulknife whimpered, her legs trying to squeeze together, thighs straining against the cords that bound her as she was gently used by the noble.  The finger moved knowingly, familiar enough with the feminine pleasures of her own kind that she was able to give pleasure to the Varana with ease.  The assassin struggled harder, the cords biting into her wrists, her arms and ankles, her hands clutching at one another.  The finger, the thumb began to move even more slowly rather than faster, and she cried out in frustration as Auaei crawled back on all fours, looking up at her.  

“Not yet,” she whispered, and slowly lowered herself to the blankets.  Her hands slipped around Solettra’s hips, stroking the warm skin of the other girl’s lower back and she lowered her mouth to the heated slit of the girl’s cleft.  The taste was not so different than her lovers, musky, warm, and clean, sweetened by the oil she’d had on her hands.  She licked, slowly, exploring the shallower folds and more delicate flesh of the Varanese assassin with slow, intimate tracings of tongue and lips.  The hardened nub at the apex of the girl’s slit was just as sensitive and responsive to her soft manipulations as her lover’s had been.  Auaei laid her mouth against the warm slit and began pleasuring Solettra in earnest.

The assassin sang out, her cries desperate and both fearful and needy.  She had not expected it to end like this, at the mercy of an outlander who had no qualms or fears about her desires.  The Varana shuddered, her body tensing and relaxing as the knowing tongue, soft lips explored, teased, penetrated.  Her breaths started to become even more erratic and the warm eyes looked up from her belly, the small slit of her bare sex covered by the other girl’s heated mouth.  When she let go, her body arched and there was a spill of wetness into the other girl’s mouth, surprising her but not repulsing her.  Auaei continued her ministrations; not allowing the pleasure to be short lived.

When the cried of pleasure finally faded to shocked, tiny gasps and delicate whimpers once more, Auaei rose, licking her lips.  She leaned into the other girl, kissing her softly.  The returned kiss was more hesitant than Auaei’s first one had been.  Auaei spoke softly into the girl’s parted, panting breaths as she broke the kiss.  “I am going to let you go now.  You will not hurt me, will you?”  She searched the other girl’s eyes, looking for any sign of betrayal or anger.  There was none, but that meant little enough; Solettra’s tiny headshake would have to do.  

Slowly the oiled noble undid the knots that held Solettra in place, releasing her from the bondage.  The Varana rubbed her arms vigorously, their binding tighter than perhaps had been necessary.  Auaei made no apologies; Solettra asked for none.  

Once released the lithe young girl moved close and traced the oiled body of the noble girl, and was rewarded with a soft sigh.  She looked at the other girl, the strange pale hair and slightly more voluptuous curves – voluptuous compared only to her own, as they were both slender girls yet.  Auaei laid back as Solettra slowly moved over her, delivering a soft, deep kiss as her hands began to explore the soft, strange skin of the Human girl.  

Auaei was warmer than she herself was, both outside and inside; her tongue, gently suckled upon by the Varana, was hot and muscular, though very clever.  The delicate hands slid over the oiled skin easily, the breasts firmer, only a little larger than her own, the nipples thicker and aureoles larger but just as sensitive.  She hesitated as her hand traced the soft down that decorated the skin just above the soft vulva of the other girl, pale wisps that would one day be thicker.  “I am glad you are still young yet,” said the Varana, bringing a flush of embarrassment to the noble’s cheeks.  Then the fingers were dipping into the wet heat of Auaei’s sex, bringing a soft cry to her lips.

The cleft of the Human’s sex was longer and more complex than Solettra’s; she carefully explored the deeper folds, gently traced the hood of Auaei’s firm jewel of a clitoris.  She leaned in, her mouth closing over the soft lips of the Human, kissing her as she explored, her other hand cradling the back of Auaei’s neck.  The assassin was unsurprised to discover the unblocked opening to Auaei’s center; lacking a hymen at all she would have been confused and possibly alarmed if she had encountered Auaei’s.  The Psion-Wizardess was far more accommodating than she could be and two of her fingers slipped inside easily.  

“You are no less eager than I was,” murmured Solettra to the other girl, before Auaei pulled her into a second kiss.  Auaei’s hips moved, guiding Solettra’s fingers and she gasped softly when Solettra rotated her fingers within.  Mindful of how Auaei had treated her, Solettra’s thumb slipped up into the folds of her cleft, and she rocked her hand back and forth, running her thumb along the moistness as she pumped her fingers into the other girl.  

Auaei moaned heavily as Solettra’s mouth moved down her body, the tiny, sharp teeth nipping, warm kisses along her breasts and soft suckling.  She gripped the blankets when the dark-haired girl’s mouth finally reached her center and it was not long at all before she was screaming.

It was almost dawn as they lay in one another’s arms, still slick with oil and sweat, both sated several times over.  Auaei lay against Solettra’s body, her hair gently being stroked by the assassin.  “I cannot stay, you know.”  

“I know.”

Auaei hesitated, but decided not to lie.  “I do not think we should do this again.  It was beautiful, but….I do not wish to leave you.…”  She searched for words but Solettra interrupted.

“I will not become so deeply enamored of you that I cannot let you go, Auaei.  I think….I know you love another.  I could feel it even as you gave me pleasure.”  Solettra shifted and Auaei let the other girl slide down into her arms, and looked into the dark eyes.  “It is not unusual for my people to take lovers.  It is not….a scandal for those like myself to do so.  If I were of a Caste it would be different.”

Auaei ran her fingers against the swell of Solettra’s breast.  “If you were of a caste we would not have done this,” she pointed out.  Solettra nodded.  “I do not mind.”  Auaei smiled and closed her eyes, resting a little longer.  

Solettra, not needing to sleep, simply stroked the other girl’s hair, and thought back over their lovemaking.  It would remain with her of the rest of her long life, to be revisited in reverie again and again.  

Which was not a bad thing.

~End~