The mellow sound of the chime resounded through The Tower House. It echoed down from the upper floors through the atrium, the library, the sitting rooms, the kitchen, and the foyers on the ground floor. Sarah roused quickly from her slumber. Reverberations of footsteps and voices rose faintly upwards through their suite.
"Cliff, we should get ready now," she yawned but when she rolled out of the bed he was already up, showered and dressed, seated in the chair by the window waiting for her.
She entered the bath for a quick shower, drying herself and blowing her hair dry, observing in the mirror the resilience of her breasts, her belly flat, her limbs more curvaceous than Vivienne's who still had that girlish delicacy to her curves. Vi looked sweet sixteen but for sure she was closer to twenty and Cliff was really smitten with her. The girl's parting kiss on The Passion-Flower painting with that subtle knowing glance back at them still reverberated in Sarah's senses.
That Cliff was already up, ready, and waiting for whatever might happen next despite the fabulous fuck they just had was mute testimony to the girl's charms. Normally he fell into a deep slumber after such a session. And it had been a 'fabulous fuck', his well endowed organ rigid through the three orgasms he had given her until she had mounted his fantastic erection and brought him off with that fourth frantic climax. As cocks went his in full erection was the best she had ever seen and it had always without fail served her abundant appetite for sucking and fucking.
Glancing at her crumpled dress Sarah knew it would have to do; they had traveled light. Not a night for hose she decided her hands moving over the smooth firm swell of her calves. Should she wear her camisole or a bra maybe? Vivienne certainly hadn't been wearing either; she was naked under that gauzy little shift.
Obviously they dressed altogether differently here in The Court than they did in the world she had just left. Sarah opted for nudity under the shapeless summer frock except for her plain panties, and when she pulled the frock on it seemed outrageously ugly in hiding her bosom.
A quick brush of her hair was all it took to arrange the natural fluff of her curls before gathering them in the large gold clasp at her nape and her toilette was finished. "Ready," she announced breathlessly as Cliff rose from his chair and followed her out of their suite. Sounds of the gathering below carried up the curved stone stairwell. They descended, Sarah staring down into magically soft glimmers of light on the walls leading into the foyer.
The atrium beyond buzzed with conversation, with light, music, motion, and the festivity of the denizens of The Court. There was a long curving buffet on the wall to the left loaded with food and flowers. An elegant grand piano gleamed beside the doorway to a sitting room on the right. Everyone had bloomed in fantastic fantasies of dress. Pucks and fairies and elves of all ages and descriptions mingled with tinkers, tailors, and weavers. Coverly, as 'Master Of The Revels', turned in the center of the room to greet Sarah and Cliff when they entered this midsummer night's dream.
Together Coverly and Eva introduced them to the inhabitants of The Court accompanied by luscious golden chords from the piano. Writers, musicians, artists, dancers, craftsmen all greeted them warmly, welcoming them to this gathering. And then to the strains of 'Happy Birthday' Vivienne entered the atrium.
Applause and murmurs of appreciation greeted her as she made her way through the crowd clad in nothing but a filmy drape of transparent veils, that left little to the imagination when she placed herself between Cliff and Sarah so that her warmth embraced them both.
"Titania, Queen of the Fairies, Your hostess for the evening!" Coverly announced grandly.
"I think this must be MY birthday!" Cliff muttered rapturously, his eyes devouring the lovely lithe beauty snuggled between them so barely disguised by her transparent costume.
"I'll bet you're ravenous aren't you?" Vivienne purred up at him. "Here it is nearly midnight and you haven't had a bite of supper." Taking their arms she drew them both to the banquet table, her slim curvaceous figure filling all Cliff's hungering senses with her charms, while Sarah read the knowing amusement in the girl's lovely features. Turning to Cliff Vi put a plate into his hands and drawing him from one dish to the next spooned it full of savories, topping everything off at last with a delicacy that she carefully slipped between his lips. Leaning back she watched him draw the morsel into his mouth, her eyes rolling with appreciation, her body undulating with pleasure, and then they looked at each other and laughed.
Sarah observed that Cliff was completely captivated, and the emotion that arose in her was to her surprise admiration rather than jealously. She found herself studying Vivienne's face with that artistic intensity that a painter feels for the model.
There was a luminosity there particularly about Vi's eyes, which were large and bright and widely spaced. The definition of her dark irises against her clear whites was striking. Her dark brows were long, set well above her orbits, and carefully shaped from an inner fullness to graceful arches at the outer margins.
Her neat little nose had a classic cast in its delicate descent from her brows. Her mouth matched her eyes in its attractiveness and mobility, her lips full of sumptuously inviting curves, her smile broad and open, revealing the perfection of her even white teeth and at the outer corners of her laugh lines her cheeks dimpled delightfully.
Vivienne was a beautiful girl to be sure but the essence of her charm lay elsewhere. For Sarah the girl's power lay in the alchemy of her presence and Sarah felt its effect again as she had felt it when they had first met before 'The Passion Flower' and in the garden this afternoon. Vi's presence was transforming, a golden light into which Sarah felt herself drawn.
The craving for some sort of expanding realization filled Sarah. She wanted to reach out, to touch, to feel, to know, to understand this girl/woman beside her. And so it was that a particular sense of delight filled Sarah when Vivienne, having settled Cliff in an easy-chair with his supper, turned at last to her.
A sonorous chord of music from the piano filled the atrium. Sarah recognized a lilting Chopin waltz flowing from under the player's fingers as Vivienne beckoned to her with two little glasses in her hands. "A toast to the solstice," she smiled handing Sarah the glasses.
Carefully Vivienne dipped a ladle into a small crystal bowl holding a golden brew and poured small portions into the two tiny glasses. "What is it?" Sarah queried.
"It's mead. It's mostly honey and malt... among other things," Vivienne added with an amused tilt of her brows. "You mean like the mead in the Greek myths, the nectar of the gods?"
"Yes." Vivienne said, her intriguing eyes upon Sarah's. "It's special for tonight. This full moon is the Mead Moon, and its confluence with the Solstice is the most propitious time for new beginnings. Shall we drink to one?"
"Of course!?" Sarah consented raising her glass, "Happy Birthday, Vivienne. Here's to the future." "And to the best that it may bring," Vivienne responded her dark eyes capturing Sarah's and holding them meaningfully. "I think this is going to be the best birthday I ever had...!"
