Tauli

Author's Note:

For those following "Everyday Life with Bubbles", this chapter is about in sync with Bubbles' Chapter 10.

For those who followed "Glory of the Fall", this comes after the final chapter. Not every thread from that will be resolved immediately, but keep an eye out. They will be in the coming chapters.

---

"Reenhalla." Treichnor said softly, looking out the window. His scales raised as he let the evening breeze blow over his body. Nearby, the many-satisfied siren lay atop the water. Soaking it in and soothing her muscles in relaxation.

He had been right, she would empty his purse, if he wasn't careful. He felt a certain amount of affection towards the woman.

"You know them?" She asked curiously.

He gave a grunt and shook his head, "No. I never heard new king. No idea who they are. Only name. Name and challenge. They killed his bride. His Salmon... Neko? Do dragons bed cats, now?"

She laughed, "Sometimes? Rhoenlytara found it detestable. He always talked about how gross the new generations were. Thought that they were an insult to the death of Irrlichdan."

"Death." Treichnor whispered.

He should have been unsurprised to find that his hatchling was dead, with all the time that had passed. He had been buried beneath the mountain, right at the beginning of that one's rule. Attempted rule, over the slavers of humanity.

All the same, he had thought that Irrlichdan would be one to die by natural causes. He had fought his hatchling in the challenge. He had also been scarred and nearly killed. There was no equal to Irrlichdan, not in combat.

"He was killed by some cursed human." The siren rolled over in the water, "From what I heard, that is. Happened on north continent. We don't get a lot of news from there. The Three Kingdoms have done our best to remain just a legend to them. That was Rhoenlytara's choice, as well."

Treichnor gave a small laugh, "Of course it was. Rhoen always such coward. Always want protect egg."

"He gave birth, m'lord."

He turned around, looking over at her in surprise, "Rho'en'lytara? He actually deemed worthy of affection? There is tale. Speak."

"I don't know much of the bride." The siren shrugged, lying her head on her crossed arms, by the edge of the pool. "The child, is another matter. She... She runs around like she's a nobody. On purpose. Speaks like the northern street kids. She's not a... She's not a salamander, at least not on the surface. Not black, not red, or anything else. No scales."

Treichnor blinked in shock, "What know of bride? Species?"

"I'm afraid not." Terhi shook her head, "The child has pink strands that float around her head. And she's soft to the touch. Soft as a toxic. Tauenlytara. But she prefers to go by Tauli."

He sucked in his breath, "Tau? Oh, by grace gods. Mercies, preserve us."

The siren looked up at him curiously, "Oh. The naming is important, isn't it? I figured it tells your bloodline, but I've never really guessed more than that."

"Tau means something special." Treichnor rumbled, and glanced out the window again, "The first of us... The first black salamander to rise up, and become king... They called Tau. They make the taurans, by bedding god, according to legend. First king, she was... Violence. Made empire, by her name. Tau'en'lytara was her name."

"The dragon empire!?" The siren sat up with a splash, "You mean the one that came up with the gateways, and all that ancient magic!?"

He nodded sadly, "Those were days."

"You... Were alive...?"

Treichnor shrugged, "I old. Irrlichdan was young, when we become hatchling. He ancient history to you. Rhoenlytara, even moreso. Yet... If I say in Common? He child, compared. I not know first king, but knew her child. Hatchlings. I became king, beat child in challenge."

"You were not born a black salamander? Or not every black is a king?" Terhi asked in an apprehensive fascination.

He chuckled softly, "Born a white. I small dragon, when born. Small and weak. Power only light. Everything different for Tau'en'lyatara. She spoke with gods. Walked with gods. Until their stupid war."

"You... Saw the sealing of the betrayer gods?"

"I made the Gate. With others." He confessed sadly. "Chose wrong side, that war. Chose Luna, over Sunni. She'll not forget. She will make me pay."

"I... Um... I thought I knew the gods." The siren slipped out of the water, standing up to tiptoe over to him, and embrace him in her full nudity from behind. "I don't know Sunni's name."

"Good." He grunted, "Hope she dead. Bitch."

The siren pressed her warm, wet, and soft, flesh into his back, "You have seen so very much. At least, now, you get a moment or two to relax, m'lord. The dragons still rule, here. Or at least, Rhoenlytara does. Three Kingdoms, three kings."

He leaned back into her temptatious body, and sighed heavily, "Are all dragon treated?"

"Every black. It is the law, m'lord." She whispered, "Though, your kindness does make it easy."

He gave another rumbling laugh, "You're determined to eat his wealth, isn't?"

"... We could call this one a freebie." She whispered hesitantly, nervously.

He turned around and lifted her chin, kissing her gently. Terhi. She felt like something that fate had delivered to him. Not just a mortal woman, who would grace his path for a moment or two and then be forgotten.

He had always known to pay attention to the signs of the gods. One could not walk beside the divine, without respecting the decisions that they made. This was one particular decision that he was more than happy to fully embrace.

The tongue of the siren was as long as his own, but more lithe. Less muscular. She pulled their mouths together, even as she took one of his hands and lowered it to her chest. Her other hand traced playful arcs above his masculinity, enjoying the moment.

Two thoughts competed for his attention, as the beauty teased at him.

The first was, that though he was reasonably well off, he was not so well off that he could afford the price of a siren, every single night. He certainly couldn't afford all night, and all day, every time she smiled at him.

The second, was that going bankrupt to enjoy his time with her, might actually be worth the few fleeting moments.

She pulled back from his mouth, before silently and regally descending down onto her knees. The siren put her hands behind her back, before leaning her head forward and gracing him with a more creative use of her tongue.

The dragon had no choice but to groan, as he found himself at the back of her throat. His scales flared and lifted, trying to cool his skin, as her skilful ministrations got his hearts beating.

Treichnor took her by the shoulders, causing an audible pop as her mouth slid free of him. He lifted her into the air effortlessly, turning her over before lowering the woman to face the open window.

Terhi smiled back at him as her elbows leaned onto the surface and she braced herself. The ever-slick warmth of a siren embraced him, as he once more found himself pushing deep inside the smaller woman. Groaning out her tightly she seemed to fit around him, how she seemed to pulse and massage at him from the very first moment.

"Ooh, m'lord." She moaned happily, "Gentle. There's a limit to the number of times one can bed, even as a siren."

"How many been?" Treichnor chuckled as he began to slide back and forth, feeling his underside rubbing against all kinds of bumps and ribbing, that seemed to be changing and shifting, reshaping itself to try and find what was most sensitive for him.

"This is... The sixth." She shuddered, and then grinned at him, "Personal record."

Even when he was a ruling king, with his own brood, he had only managed twice within the same hour. This woman had a definite skill. If only he could find a way to make her a permanent part of his life.

Unfortunately, that could not be. This town was her home, and he planned to leave it.

He growled and grunted, feeling tingling from nethers to claws, as he quickly upped the pace. Knowing that he did have much of a chance within her. Not after so many times.

The silky smooth glide of himself in and out of her, continuously aided by a wetness that he doubted any other species would still be capable of generating. She moaned loudly, out into the open air of the desert town. Proclaiming their lovemaking to all, whether or not they wished to hear it.

Treichnor snarled and grunted, and a moment later a tiny and pathetic trickle dropped into the woman's depths. He gasped as he leaned back, slipping out of her with a painful sensitivity.

For her part, Terhi turned around, leaning back against the wall. One hand went down, fishing for his seed. She lifted up a finger and licked it playfully, "Who says that dragons aren't the fun kind?"

---

Kinslayer shoved the tauran backwards into her cabin, snarling and gripeing as she did. The blonde catgirl clenched and unclenched her fists, as the thoughts of her day spilled out of her in language unbecoming of neither a princess, which she was no longer, or a leader, which she seemed doomed to be.

"Fucked up pirates! Idiots with a fucking cursed summoning ground on their fucking ship, Kou!" She punched the post in the cabin, causing something overhead to squeal and shift in complaint.

She paced back and forth, wishing vaguely that her boots were heavier, noisier. As completely impractical as it was. She was a killer, and that was what she was in all of this. Nothing but a killer. Just a kinslayer.

"She saves her sister. Gets the stupid bitch out of racist empire, and what does Exilia go and do? She surrenders herself, so we can make our escape." Kinny punched the other post, leaving a deep impression of knuckles in the wood. "Fuck! Mother knew it, as much as Kinny. If one has to survive, then it has to be Exilia! She's the one with the magic! She might be a horny bitch, but... She... She's... She's a genius, Kou. Sister can't die! She... She can't..."

Kinny's shoulders collapsed and she dropped to her knees, as tears began to shake and rattle out of her chest. "Her sister... Could save the world... What the fuck can Kinslayer do? Kill people, as ordered. She's... Nothing. Just a captain of guard. Nothing but a guard. Not a hero, not a Companion. Not a lord's bride. Blind at the political game. Embarrassment to her mother. Why... Why does she live free, when her sister is prisoner?"

"She..." The neko sniffled and stared at her calloused hands, "Her sister played with gods, and demons, and shadowspawn that Kinny does not want to even imagine. But... Kinslayer? She's... Just... A guard."

The man crouched in front of her, slowly putting two enormous hands on her tiny shoulders. He spoke with his deep and rumbling voice, "You're an idiot."

Her eyes went wide in shock, and then narrowed, and she hissed at him, "You suck at cheering up. Ass."

"Wasn't trying to cheer you up." He shook his head slowly, "You're allowing yourself to be blinded by self-pity, woman who I adore. One who I would gladly wed, in an instant. I do love you, but damn if you are not too stupid to see what your mother has done, here and now."

"Fuck Toofy!" Kinny screamed, "She cursed my name! Sent me to fight against a navy! Fuck her in the -"

He covered her mouth lightly, and then leaned his head down to touch his forehead with hers. "Hush, hush. You haven't seen it yet. Though your mother has fallen, defeated by an enemy... She saw them coming. Set out to save you and your sister... If she did that, intended that, then she never would have intended your return."

The thought hadn't occurred to her.

She opened and closed her mouth several times, and stared at him, "Mother didn't... Want her... To come back?"

"Banished you. Cursed your name." He emphasised and shrugged, "She burned down the whole of your world. What world left do you have to return to? She sent you here, away from it all, not to become something stronger, to come back with vengeance for the Darkthorn. She sent you to build a new life. Forced you to prove that you're worthy of a new one first, by giving you a name to overcome. But your mother never did let anyone take an easy path."

She sniffed and wiped with irritation at a tear running down her cheek, dripping slowly from one invisible thread of fur to the next. "That's more like mother. Loves her Kinny enough that she try and save them from the Darkthorn. Bitch enough, that she make building new life hard as shit."

"Perhaps." He shrugged, and dropped backwards onto the wood, "Though, if I may suggest it... You've already taken command of two ships, m'lady."

Her mouth split into a shy smile, "Are you... Suggesting... That a neko without any magic... Might become a... Pirate queen?"

"Not like we owe the destination continent any loyalty. And you do wish to leave behind your obligations as a guard, serving on behalf of a government." He shrugged, and then allowed himself another smile, "Also... I like calling you, captain."

She laughed and pounced, knocking his broad shoulders into the floor, "She likes it when he calls her captain. Not sure she could stand lack of discipline... But she could make a new pirate, couldn't she? One that follows rule of law. Her law."

"I'd prefer not to be breaking any law." He confessed and cupped her cheek in one hand, "But I'd gladly end the world, if it meant I got to stay beside you, my captain."

Her face and tail fell, and then she winced, "They still got Exilia."

"Your sister can take care of herself. It's about time that the world realised you were shielding them from all her... Accidents." Her boyfriend said with an irritated snort.

"Exilia isn't like Kinny." She insisted, "Little sis might be fucked up horny, all the time, but she doesn't know what people are capable of. She always believes that there's some good in them, to be rescued. She's not willing to... Kill."

The tauran snorted in frustration, "Are you attempting to ruin our moment, captain?"

"Oh, she's going to fuck you." Her asymmetrical eyes lit up in amusement, "But... She's got a lot on her mind, Kou. Her twin... They've never been this far apart, before. She was always close enough to feel each other's thoughts. It's... Losing half her soul."

The bulge in his pants dropped noticeably, "Ink! Shit. Exilia, could tell when we were... Together?"

The woman laughed at his expression, and nodded, "Actually, even though she didn't tell Exilia, she knows that her sister watched them, once or twice. Not much different to Saia watching, and that happened all the time, so she didn't point it out."

He pushed her lightly backwards and sat up, "Your sister... Watched us!? And you said nothing!?"

"She's her twin! Get over it." Kinny snapped and rolled her eyes.

"Sex is private!" He insisted, "And when the void did Saia watch us?"

She blinked, looking at him in disbelief as her ears shuffled, "All... The time? Saia shadowed us, pretty much always. Gods. She forgot how uptight tauran bastards can be. She was a crown princess. Being alone, ain't ever going to happen."

"Did she..."

"Our first time? Probably."

He sighed heavily, and then shook his head, "To be yours, Kinslayer, has never been easy. How likely is it that you will, again, tie me up?"

"She's too mad to waste time on that." The halfneko grinned, and shoved his shoulders back down onto the deck of the ship. It took her a minute to kick off her boots and shimmy out of her pants. Enough that she knew that Saia would have laughed, had the crown princess been around.

Kinny never thought she'd miss the sound of the succubus sniggering quietly in the dark.

Was her aunt even still alive?

When her father had taken her to see the shrine to the fallen orcs, she hadn't understood. She knew that she had to be respectful, and she'd stomped on her sister's foot for showing her boredom. She'd thought she knew what it meant, the loss of so many people, expressed.

She hadn't understood that her father hadn't brought her there for everyone. He had been there for Khild, alone.

He wasn't grieving for his race, lost. It hadn't mattered that he had been raised by the orcs. His entire adoptive people had disappeared, but all the same, that pain paled by comparison to the loss of family. To his betrayed wife, her soul extinguished by the devious manipulations of the kitsune, who wanted him for herself.

Tammy's betrayal was unforgivable.

"Kinny?" Her boyfriend asked in concern, sensing her grief.

She shook it off, smiling up at him, as her hands removed his belt, before whipping it around to bind one of his wrists. She pretended to be okay as she ran the leather strip behind his head, and tied it loosely behind the other hand.

This was her whole world, all that she had left.

Just her loving Kou.

She put aside the memories, trying to relegate her past to nothing more than a story. She tried to forget the promises of her mother, promises that the dead can't keep. Putting aside the future, pretending to be happy with a future by Koustoff's side.

She shuffled down, and dragged aside his pants. As always, her eyes just about bugged when she saw him. His concern was keeping him from his full size, but he was tauran - hard or not. His tool was anything but little, in girth or length. Too big to be entirely comfortable, but love made up the difference.

Kinny's rough tongue tried to help him forget, just like she needed to. A moment to forget the storms of life, the grieving hearts of those left behind. She could pretend to be happy, just a little bit longer.

She dragged herself up him, slowly, as his skin stretched and he firmed up in front of her. Becoming thicker than her wrist, as she grinned excitedly. Knowing she was all he could focus on, as his deep and steady breathing began to rumble, on the verge of emerging into the air as a groan.

The ship pitched gently beneath them, as the waves rocked against the wood of her craft. Caressing them in its embrace. Kinny crept up him, bracing herself and reaching down to slide the head of his member back and forth across her entrance.

She bit her lip fearfully, and then spread herself wide with a deep grunt.

Just the head stretched her to her limits. She put one hand against his chest, and rocked herself against him. Koustoff looked up at her with his usual adoration, not shifting a muscle, not even flexing as she prepared herself. The two of them knowing exactly what the other was doing.

She smiled down at him, a single tear coming to one eye, "Gods, she loves him. Don't say it enough. He's not just her Kou. She does love the sex, but she loves him, too. Even when he calls her stupid. Especially when he calls her stupid."

"I adore you, my beautiful bri-"

"No." She rolled her eyes, "Gods, tauran are fixated on that. Still not going to marry you."

He chuckled, and she slipped a little deeper. Eyes wide as she shivered at the feeling of joining with him. She wasn't going to last very long, this time. Her hormones were everywhere, the crawling warmth between her legs already lighting up.

"I love you, my captain."

She let out a happy purr, before her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, and distracted Koustoff from commenting by pushing him down as deeply as she could. The neko grunting as her partner reached the halfway point. She flexed and rolled her hips, barely daring to breathe.

One of her hands fell beside his head as he lifted his hips, and began to slowly drive his width in and out of her. She all but collapsed onto his muscled chest, fighting not to caterwaul as the shaking waves of pleasure blew apart her thoughts with white light.

He bucked in time with the sea, showing his selfish love for her, above even the fate of the world.

Kinny's claws scratched the floor, and she tightened up. Chest heaving twice before she felt her moment. As she arrived, the tauran rod began to effortlessly glide back and forth. Piercing her and elevating her, showing her the bright colours of the gods.