Welcome back gentle reader
I have decided to move over all the Prologue events to a different story. It explains more of what's going on with the world but doesn't play a part in this story until later. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Once again the standard disclaimer, multiply ages by roughly two to get equivalent Earth ages. Everyone is a consenting adult.
-- Somewhen, Somewhere --
Comlain paced in the nothingness around him. He found himself pacing when he was coming to important decisions as some throwback to his time as a human. Some of the Dark, always rash and happy to once again take direct action on the material plane, had acted more quickly than the others had accounted for. Now Comlain needed something from one of the Light to correct the balance and he hated to deal with the Light.
Of the twenty divine there were seven Light and seven Dark and all of them Comlain found insufferable. He was one of the six Gray though he was probably the "lightest" of the Gray. He enjoyed a certain advantage over those others since he gave existence to and commanded the force that powered the Weave's function. The Weave gave most of the other Divine's followers their access to magic.
Comlain stopped his pacing when Aesis, Light of Truth, Logic, Endurance, and Justice, finally arrived. "It took you long enough to come." Comlain complained.
"I'm here now, so whatever it is, make it fast. Utyxx is on the move." Aesis answered.
"That is part of my concern that prompted this meeting." said Comlain. He made a motion and Jebidiah's sleeping form suddenly floated between them.
"This is your player?" Aesis asked.
"It is." Comalin said. "I require an adjustment."
Aesis raised an eyebrow. "What sort of adjustment? I thought you and Axteus had already set your marks."
"I require a finer touch to augment ours. You know of his logical nature already. He would be a prime follower for you. I wish for him to sharpen that logic, see the truth faster, and most importantly I need to heightened his sense of justice. True justice."
Aesis considered. "You are correct. I admire his mind. He is aligned to my spheres to a degree that your adjustments would be easy. If I do this, you must provide my player with an adjustment as well."
"Done." Comlain said immediately, not caring what level of adjustment Aesis had in mind.
"You must steer him to my followers as well. You already hold most of his companions." Aesis added.
"Agreed." Comlain said again.
Aesis nodded and stepped beside Jebidiah's sleeping head. He grabbed his head with both hands and a glow moved from his hands to Jebidiah's eyes then faded away.
-- Chapter 5: City of Tonstar --
-- Fourth Tenday of Antaen 813 AGR --
Safety measures are offset by increased risk-taking
- Peltzman
Jebidiah woke up with a start as if from a bad dream but he could not recall anything of the dream. He lay on his back for what felt like hours, staring at the ceiling, too keyed up to go back to sleep. If he had not had the nap in the guard room earlier he probably would have passed out from the exhaustion alone. Crystal lay in the bed next to him and when she repositioned herself he looked over at her. In the dim lighting he saw she was now laying facing him, her cover had moved down enough he could sort of see the top of her cleavage. He rolled to his side to fully face her and noticed her eyes were open as well. He pulled a hand out from under his covers and gave her a small wave. She smiled and waved back, causing her cover to move a little further down her body. Joy and Dana, sleeping in the other two beds in the room, were dead to the world.
"How are you?" he mouthed. She pointed to where her ear was hidden under her hair then shook her head. He tried it again, whispering this time. She frowned slightly, shook her head again. She propped herself up to look around. Her cover slid the whole way down and the thin white sleeping shift she wore did little to hide her dark skinned attributes underneath. Not seeing anyone else awake, she hopped out of her bed and quickly jumped under Jebidiah's covers to snuggle up facing him. "This is better," she whispered.
"How are you?" he tried successfully this time. "I'm sorry I haven't checked with you before now but our arrangements here make it hard to get privacy."
"I know," she chuckled softly "and it's not like we both haven't had a lot going on." He felt her sigh. "I'm scared, Jeb. Terrified really. I feel like I've lost the world except for the pod and even here I'm not sure. Henna won't look at me nor talk other than a brief hello. Charlene has really been aloof, even with you it seems. I am not sure I have a House or family anymore. I sent off messages explaining the Change and my position yesterday but have not heard anything back from mother."
Jebidiah gave her a reassuring hug. "You will always be family to me. You and the others are the only family I do have. I will never shut you out."
"But you tried." she whispered and he could feel her shake with a sob.
"Hey, hey." he leaned back a little and tilted her tear filled face to him. Wiping her cheeks with his thumb he continued "I have seen you cry more this day than over the last year. I think I need to explain more clearly. I wasn't rejecting you or the others. I was trying to do what was best for us all. I only want the best for you. I am who I am and one thing I know about me is I cannot change society. I would be a burden to all of you. Your Houses would be most upset. Imagine if you all produce Talentless heirs? Your social rankings will take a hit. That will impact our Group's ability to gain contracts. There are so many ramifications. And every time we run into one of those walls I will blame myself and eventually some or all of you will as well. That will drive a wedge between us all as people take sides. The only reason I would ever willingly give you up is because of the love I have for you, not because I don't."
"And do you truly? Truly love me? Even as I am now?" She asked.
"Time or circumstances may force us apart but I will never, ever, stop loving you." Jebidiah said as seriously as he could muster.
She leaned up some more to kiss him. "I don't want anyone else, never have. I can speak with confidence that Dana, Joy, and Tenner, never look at or think of other men." He brushed her hair back some, exposing her ear. "Whoah, I have not had a good look at these yet." As a goblin, her ears had elongated, now reaching several inches back from where they would normally end. He rubbed a finger light along the length causing her to squirm against him. "Does that hurt?" he asked.
In answer she reached up and kissed him again, with a lot more passion, taking his breath away. When they broke he said "I should probably rub your ears more often."
"You definitely should," she responded then reached down into his night shorts to stroke his now very awake cock. "It would lead to more of this. It feels bigger now. I wonder if it still fits."
"You've just grown smaller. Well, in some ways." He had slipped a hand under her shift to cup a breast and rubbed softly on her nipple till it hardened. Crystal gasped quietly then lay over unto her back to give him a better vantage to move his hands. She continued to stroke him while his hand moved between both of her breasts, alternating softly tweaking each nipple. She squirmed at the attention so he moved further south to brush her clit in an attempt to tease her. He misjudged her shorter height though and moved over her clit to find his fingers brushing along and between her lips. She was soaked. The motion also caused her to apply a solid grip to his cock.