The brunette leapt across the small space and onto the black haired girl quicker than the latter could react to the fiercely snapped ’restraint’. Pigeon-blue eyes opened wide as the small cultivator landed on her lap.
"El!"
Her knees dug into the fabric around Qatrand’s waist as she sat on the tall girl’s thighs. Forearms rested against the iron-muscled chest and small hands were placed with their fingers lightly touching the base of the ’older’ girl’s neck.
"Illusion. They can’t see. So I can kiss you?"
A dull expression was paired with the monotone words out of her lips - and made it so that only the layer of emotions on the surface of her ancient spirit told the truth. The shift from ’confidence’ to ’uncertainty’ made it clear that, while they were hidden from sight, the final part was more of a request than a demand or statent.
Qat nodded numbly and the cute girl’s soft lips t hers. A tilted head, a gentle peck, and then a small tongue that darted out and surprised the inexperienced kisser as it pried her lips further apart. The new sensation was a little odd, but she found that she didn’t mind it.
The shorter girl took the chance to deepen their kiss, locking their lips in more than the usual simple, chaste eting that the Yecine had been using since the wedding. Elua was far better at kissing than she was at hiding her intent.
The emotion roiling in the core of her spirit, flooding out through the fragnt, was so strong that the swordswoman felt like she was encountering that ’devastation’ in their small ho. For an instinctive mont, Qatrand er Yecine let it control her own emotions a little.
She let her arms move to tightly embrace her wife. However, the mont her palm brushed against the brunette’s back, her El suddenly broke off the new style of kiss.
"Too much. Sorry."
The reincarnator’s face was flushed and her eyes shook despite her continued monotone. Her spirit was an insoluble mix of ’satisfied’ and ’panicked’. She had proven she could stop herself... but she had also done it on too much of a whim!
The tall teenager felt her own face heat up at the sight of the glossy sheen left on the familiar lips still so near. With her arms wrapped softly around the petite heiress, Qat realized she could just pull her back in if she wanted to.
’And she might even let . But...’
The swordswoman took a breath and forced her mind to stop drowning in that feeling of ’imdiacy’ rippling across their connection. She had to think further than *now*.
Elua had been struggling with her feelings and trying to keep them in check. She dealt with urges to be more than just near her husband-wife. To only have a few kisses here and there was a heavy compromise... but she also repeatedly claid that it wasn’t a good idea to do more.
’Growing curious isn’t a good reason. Hidden or not, I’m not protecting her very well, am I? From herself. Maybe I’m the one who needs to be admonished?’
"It’s alright. We should take it slow."
Qat whispered softly while a soft hand moved up and cupped the side of her face. A small thumb brushed across her cheek as a plush and very warm face pressed into the other side. She felt the other hand snake across and touch the back of her head - its little fingers threading through her dark hair.
"Slow is okay."
She whispered to her wife again, trying to convince herself as much as the girl clinging to her. She didn’t have the sa level of experience the ancient cultivator did - *any* when it ca to this side of relationships. Which is why the whole experience just now almost felt... almost like tutoring to her.
That way of kissing had been a new experience - and one that part of her felt ended too soon. The other part tried to look at things more rationally. It would be too easy to lose herself in the mont and forget everything else.
"Mhm."
The slow reply was a tiny affirmative that barely left the illusionist’s mouth muffled by the Yecine’s hair. For the next minute or so, Qatrand just held the smaller girl as she nuzzled against her skin. Her arms had never felt a heavier ’weight’ than they did holding her young wife in that mont.
A flutter of wings startled a ’fortress’ as the Skydancer landed on her head. The bird seed to be treating her like a new perch. Elua pulled back just enough to see her prank - that ’sweet’ smile hiding ’mischief’ as she observed her companion atop her beloved.
"Even our new friend knows you make the perfect place to rest on."
Qat could feel how the playfulness was being used to mask the control her wife was maintaining over the stronger impulses. The reincarnator’s voice had regained so of its usual lilt with her facade in place, though her fingers still traced absent patterns in black hair. Her spirit had been gradually settling into sothing more stable.
Still as intense as always, but deliberately asured like ’normal’. Elua ordered her bird to move to her own head as she reluctantly pulled further away. She shifted and stood while using the very chivalrous arm holding itself out for leverage.
"They want to assist with competition ground preparation. Imagine that? Apparently my modifications to their standard rituals in the past have earned so responsibility."
The Yecine caught the unsubtle shift in topic. She appreciated how her wife was steering them toward ’safer’ discussions. They could always talk about their recent intimacy after dinner.
"That sounds like what you wanted. Are you unhappy with it?"
"Absolutely. Everything that gets in the way of the amount of ti I can see you is worth being truly miserable over."
Despite knowing she fully ant those words, the ’dramatic’ sigh and shake of her head with her hands held wide made it clear to Qat that it wasn’t going to be a problem. Even if it was... she’d already promised herself that she would trust the girl to handle her own loneliness.
’If it stays as a problem, then we can talk more together about ways to deal with it.’
"I’ll try to visit before the Yecine move to the grounds. At least once, if I can."
"No, it’s... fine. I also received another mission from them and I’m not sure when I’ll be leaving to take care of that, yet."
The Coiled Serpent had returned rather acceptive letters for all of her ’demands’. Alongside the construction of the branch being handled by the Goltbreds they had only added one more ’requirent’. If she was being honest, it was sothing she already wanted to go take a look at anyway.
"Oh?
"My ntor added a request from his husband. It seems soone suggested that I would have so insights into sothing they are working on."
A pair of pigeon-blues averted their gaze. She had told the girl absolutely everything about that last visit to the strange Gravity ritual. Including her almost instinctual recomndation.
"Ah. Will you be working with that anomaly team as well?"
"Why yes, dear. They’re particularly interested in my thoughts on the containnt they are trying to do."
The brunette took a few steps away and sat in the other chair. It was about ti for the servant to return with the tea she was making, so getting rid of the illusion hiding their private conversation felt necessary.
"I also suspect he hopes I might have so insights useful for their plan during the Descent. Especially now that he has been working on sothing where little things keep going wrong."
"You’re speaking about the tool ant to gather so kind of information about the Voidlings?"
Elua nodded at her as she finalized the touches on linking up with the illusory scene she had been maintaining with their current reality. She released the spiritual imagery from the mind of Dima after the bird on her head hopped down and onto the back of the chair.
Looking a little silly in front of her ’fortress’ was one thing - it was endearing! - but allowing the Whispering Skydancer to look even a little like it was in charge? The ancient cultivator was not going to give the forr liaison any avenues to make snide conversation.
"They seem insistent on it despite all the historical evidence of how bad an idea it is. I can’t exactly reveal why I know it will fail, so my only option is to help minimize the negative result."
The Yecine was partially relieved that her wife would be making so kind of move. She was also annoyed at herself for feeling that way, so thought to try and lower the responsibility the Goltbred might feel.
"The Void Defense Society and their attempts have always drawn stronger attacks. I doubt they fail to understand what they are risking."
Elua smiled at her weakly and her voice grew softer.
"The problem is they do fail to understand, because they’ve never properly succeeded. It’s not just about the imdiate danger to the ritual site."
She made sure that her personal servant wasn’t exiting the dormitory kitchen quite yet. Sending the woman into a little daydream still worked very well for buying ti!
"I’ve explained before that the Descent itself is a kind of trial. A test. One that cos with a set of counterasures against... cheating."
The brunette’s fingers traced patterns on her armrest as she chose her words carefully. The explanation she had to give would make lots of sense to soone that grew up in a lesser family and attended the Youth Guild exclusively. Affluent families were a little exempt from ’tests’...
"Imagine a teacher who caught students trying to steal the answers in the middle of it. Of course they would be reprimanded right there. The Hive Astralism doesn’t just blank out any rituals trying to study them - it marks the location for that concentrated assault they do afterwards."
Qatrand nodded her understanding. The records she was also made to study in her youth did indicate that research attempts in the middle of the invasion led to that sort of result.
"But you see, the Void Divinity... or at least the Descent process that was set up with his mandate, doesn’t just let things go. This is one of those things that determines if a given population is ready for a greater challenge."
For all their planning and bookkeeping, the Void Defense Society only thought they knew the whole process. Their accumulated knowledge was impressive - and led to much better survival rates for those under their watch on the continent - but being the top authority on sothing did not make you omniscient.
Even Elua didn’t think she knew everything... though she often felt she knew more than others. Sotis, she was even right.
"After all, we defended against the punishnt for cheating. Is the older teacher just going to let us fight back without showing they can hit us a little harder?"
The pair of mint eyes lecturing her beloved, in place of the people she couldn’t properly inform, showed that she was taking the matter quite seriously despite her flippant words and tone. She certainly didn’t want things to get worse for the region during the next cycle... whether the pair of them were going to be there at that ti or not.
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