A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 24: Bonding

Author's Note:

A Drow's Dilemma began as a one-on-one roleplaying project and has been converted into a chapter-by-chapter format for weekly posting with the permission and assistance from my partner. It will contain a considerable amount of sexual themes such as femdom, lesbian, straight, 'reverse' rape, BDSM, group sex, romance, and other themes. The main goal of the story, however, is to tell an epic tale of adventures, gods and goddesses, fae, and nymphomaniacs. This episode and every episode to come will be available for free on Literotica for the foreseeable future. All characters that engage in sexual or suggestive situations are mentally and sexually mature: the human equivalent of 18 for their race.

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Episode 24: Party Bonding

The benefits of traveling through the forest with a drow ranger and a nymph with natural druidic magic soon became very apparent. For one thing, foraging was spectacularly easy; their supplies grew at the midday meal rather than shrank. Althaia had surreptitiously gathered fruits and mushrooms along the way. It bode well for the rest of their journey up to the Shifting Halls and their quest for powerful artifacts.

The day wore on. Caleldir pointed the group in the right direction, but Althaia led them through the forest. Minus Ashyr of course, as the ranger could find her own way fairly easily. The nymph was endlessly cheerful and chatty despite Selene's generally sullen demeanor or Caleldir's suspicious exhaustion. She spent the day prattling on about plants, trees, flowers, sex, forest animals, pretty jewelry, sensual baths, sex, and bloodthirsty tragedies of vengeance and justice. If the other two did not fill in a gap with conversation, she definitely would. Too beautiful for this world or not, Caleldir at least had begun to find her graceful prancing somewhat annoying, especially since she had seemingly infinite energy. Selene seemed to view the nymph with ambivalence. She could appreciate some of the more graphic stories that Althaia told, but just watching her bounce around like that was exhausting. Selene thought Ashyr had far too much energy. When it was finally time to make camp, she was no less bouncy (in more ways than one...) than she had been when the morning had first begun.

Leaning against a tree and breathing heavily, Caleldir greeted Ashyr as the ranger appeared back at the group. "You missed some truly interesting stories." He said with ironic amusement in his tone. Caleldir's tales were generally benignly imaginative with a spark of the ridiculous for humor's sake. Althaia's tales did not have the sadistic black glee of Drow stories, but generally featured incredibly graphic imagery of sex and violence and more sex. "Some of them were uncomfortable to listen to." He confessed. "At least for me. You might appreciate them more."

"I caught snippets of it." Amusement danced in Ashyr's crimson eyes. She leaned her shoulder against the tree Caleldir was leaning on, facing him, just being close to him. She didn't seem at all winded, though she had done quite a bit of running. "You know, I've been quite lax with your combat training. Let me know when you're ready to start up again."

Caleldir stood up. "Yes. I definitely need to resume my training. I need to stop relying on suicide attacks to win all my battles. I have no idea what the cost of my resurrection really is, and I am afraid that it is not as benign as it appears."

Althaia looked over at the two with interest. "Oh! A sparring match! I will leave you two to that for now, but sometime you must include me! I love fighting! Sadly, I have never had a chance to learn any good techniques." She sighed. "But I will let the lovers have their time alone."

The younger drow sat on the ground and massaged her feet with pained annoyance written across her features. She was not used to this much walking. According to Ashyr, they had two weeks of this to look forward to. Not for the first time that day, Selene cursed the Duskhaven males under her breath. Someone who knew undercommon and cared to listen would likely hear her. Mostly, she complained that if it wasn't for them, she would be sitting in the family library. Her daughter's name came up more than once.

The Nymph eyed Selene. A look of concern flowed over her lovely face. Sitting down next to the grouchy Drow, she put a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. She was undaunted by the narrowed eyes and increased aura of hostility. "You still seem so tense." She said very gently. "Perhaps I can help you to relax a little?" Now that she was clothed, her manner definitely seemed more gently maternal than sexual. "I also have books, if you would like to take a look at them." Her bag popped into existence, and she pulled a large tome out of it, before sending the bag back to whatever dimension she held it in. "This one may be of interest to you: Pleasure and Pain are All in the Mind: A Study on the Magical Manipulations of Sensory Information. It is by Grand Magister Dexonius Maziyallian." She handed Selene the tome.

It didn't seem to matter to Selene that the nymph had so helpfully calmed her nerves the day before. The title of the book, however, was enough to cause her tongue to dart out and briefly lick her lips. Yes. That did sound interesting. Very slowly, as if she expected the book to explode at any minute (or maybe the nymph, who knows?), the younger drow reached out to take the book from Althaia. Selene quickly became enraptured by the book she was given (which turned out not to be explosive) and completely ignored everyone else. Her quiet mutterings turned more towards the book's subject matter. She seemed not to feel the aches of traveling any more.

Ashyr, who had been distracted from the subject of training by that interaction, laughed aloud at her cousin. "Yes. I do believe you found the right thing for her." She nudged Caleldir in the ribs. "Isn't that right?" She asked him teasingly. She couldn't hide the wide, wicked grin on her face even if she tried.

Caleldir paled a little. "Yeah... I am not sure that you should be allowing that thing near Selene." He said with trepidation. "I am too certain that she will want to use me as a guinea pig for both aspects of its title." He shuddered, thinking about yesterday morning. Granted, after being with the nymphs, the sex part of it seemed pretty vanilla, but the pain part was still fresh in his mind. He had not been a particular fan of that, even if it helped Selene feel a little better.

Althaia, for her part, decided that she was no longer needed. So she turned into a tree. For whatever reason. It was probably some druidic spell.

That expression of wicked amusement was still plastered across Ashyr's features when her focus went back to the previous subject. "Think you can handle it tonight? I'd understand if you need a day to rest... of course, any foes would not be so understanding..." Suddenly, one of her curved blades appeared in her hand. It hadn't been summoned there, but the speed at which she could draw it was the next best thing. She tried to whack him lightly across the chest with the flat of the blade. "Arm yourself."

With that grin of hers, he could not shake the idea that she was talking about 'training' rather than training. He was not ready for that type of training, that was for certain. But though he was paying attention to her words, her sudden attack took him off guard. Forgetting that he did not have a weapon, he instinctively threw up his guard to ward off the attack. A rune glowed brightly on his hand, and a bastard sword that was eerily similar to his father's appeared between him and the Drow's weapon. He looked shocked at the weapon for a moment before dropping it and gripping his hand, tensing as if in great pain. The weapon vanished the moment it left his hand. When the pain was over, he stood back up. The rune glowed, and the blade was back. He raised his other hand, looking at it. Another blade, another bout of pain, and the process repeated itself. Then he was standing there, two swords at the ready. "Well." He said dryly. "I can do that now too."

"I had a feeling that was the case." Ashyr said with a pleased grin on her face. It was logical, considering that those runes he was given also gave him some armor. As she drew her other weapon and dropped into her fighting stance, she wondered if the rune she was given did something cool as well. It was a thought for later.

"You should probably move, Selene." The older drow warned the younger.

Selene looked up from her book as if she was surprised that someone was there with her. Then she looked around. Where had the nymph gone? Whatever. She did as Ashyr prescribed and stood to get out of the fighters' way. The mage settled down on the other side of a tree that may or may not have been the nymph. She didn't seem at all interested at watching Caleldir and Ashyr fight.

"Later on we should probably find a way to keep us from actually hurting each other - or me at least. But for now-" She surged at him with all her speed and grace. The difference between Caleldir's fighting style before and his fighting style now was night and day. Before, he had been slow, analytical, reactive: constantly leaping from one style to another, every move stiff and textbook perfect. He had fought not with his body but with his mind, countering and attacking logically. But now his moves were rapid and instinctual. Not one of his parries or counters had a formal name. Sloppy but unexpected, his blades moved not where he wished them to be but where they wished to be as if each sword had a mind of its own, working independently from its twin but still in conjunction with it. He still took blows, and could not yet land them, but his wild attacks and brutal counters showed a mad fighting spirit he had not had before. He had been all skill and no talent, now he was all talent and no skill.

Unfortunately, although his rapid, brutal style was potent, bereft of the intellect that normally sustained his style Caleldir rapidly tired. After launching another string of wild disconnected attack from every angle at once, he stumbled back and collapsed into Althaia's tree. The branches swung out to keep him from falling. He stood up uneasily, his blades falling from his hands and disappearing. "Well." He said. "I could not do that before. Not that it was any better this time. I should probably find a balance between instinct and intellect."

Ashyr put her blades away with unnecessary flourish. By the look on her face, one would accurately guess that she enjoyed this almost as much as she enjoyed sex. Almost. She panted, a wide grin on her face. "Yes. If you can balance those two things, I'm sure you'll actually hit me one of these days." She teased. "I did like that spirit." The grin on her face turned lecherous for a moment. Unlike the week before, she easily refrained from mauling him. Instead, she turned and began to set up their bed. She still sort of felt that she wasn't quite ready for more sex. And if she felt that way, then the thought of it could very well be repulsive to Caleldir.

"One day, perhaps I may." Caleldir responded. "But until then, and even after. I will continue to be your student in both love and war." He bowed formally, putting his hands together in a manner reminiscent of the disciples of the monks. He then joined Ashyr in the bed underneath Althaia's tree. The drow had guessed more or less right about Caleldir's current attitude towards sex. While Ashyr may have been able to get him into the mood with a sufficient amount of persuasion, his instinct was to simply transmute his new armor into underclothing and cuddle up next to her ready to sleep the night away.

Sensing that the fighting was done from the night, Selene came out from behind her tree, book still in hand. She stood for a moment still reading it, then she closed its pages and got herself ready for sleep. The book was very interesting, but she still felt exhausted from the night before and a long day's walk. After warding the area, she set up her own bed away from Ashyr's like she had the night before. As was her habit, Selene got completely naked before curling up to fall asleep. Unlike Selene, Ashyr chose to sleep in her loose undershirt rather than sleep naked. Usually she didn't even take her armor off. The ranger wore it so often that it became like a second skin for her. It was dreadful sleeping gear when one wanted to be close to another person. Besides, what if she got astronomically horny in the middle of the night?

Caleldir noted that Selene still had no compunctions about getting naked. On one hand, the view was nice, on the other hand, it was rather annoying as well. At least her attitude had marginally improved these last few days. "Goodnight everyone." Caleldir said, yawning. "We still have a long journey ahead of us." He looked up at the sky, now darkening. "Although..." He said with a frown. "I am not sure why we tend to travel during the day rather than at night. It is not like we have any light-dependent humans in our group."

"I for one, would love to get out of the sun more often." Selene said emphatically as she turned over to face Caleldir and Ashyr. Apparently she had not gone to sleep yet.

The older drow made a non-committal noise. "We would have to find a very dark place to sleep. Have you ever tried to fall asleep in the sunlight? I never managed it properly. Always found a cave or something the bury myself in." She curled into Caleldir tightly, nearly going so far as to be entirely on top of him. Ashyr absently pressed a light kiss on Cal's cheek before continuing. "We'd also have to readjust our entire sleeping schedule. We wouldn't be able to avoid the day entirely; the nights are only going to get shorter now. But I'm up for it if you're willing to go through all that."

Selene grumbled something about stupidly complicated surface world stuff. All this was never a problem in the Underdark. "Well. I'm too tired to think about it right now." The younger drow grumped. Then she turned back over to resume trying to go to sleep.

"Eh, I can stay awake pretty long if necessary. But yeah, the nights are already too short, and will only get shorter. So perhaps we can continue being diurnal creatures." So saying, he yawned again, wrapping his arms around the smaller drow on top of him.

"I could help you with the darkness part." Althaia's voice came from the tree, sounding a bit... wooden. "I can dig out caves in a matter of seconds. All we need is a hill and you will never have to sleep outside again."

"Well then, let us travel by night. Tomorrow night." After saying this, Caleldir dropped off to sleep. His rest was mostly dreamless, except for a brief scene of old Magolben Hissael showing him how to properly activate his weapon and armor runes. "This way, you will not be able to lose everything. Again." The crusty old Titan informed him. Then darkness.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Selene had given up and pulled her bedroll so she could sleep next to Ashyr. While the older drow curled up as close as possible to Caleldir, the younger curled up to the older's back. It was stupid, but she felt so much safer, so much more relaxed to feel another person beside her. She was never so dependent before... everything happened. There were no nightmares on this night for either drow. Hopefully, that was becoming a thing of the past.

Caleldir awoke in the early morning. Looking up, Althaia's tree was gone. He thought he could hear her singing nearby. "Good morning Ashyr." He whispered, seeing that she was already awake.

"Morning Cal." She responded. The ranger gave him a soft smile. There was only a hint of mischief. Ashyr shifted slightly when Selene groaned and shuffled even closer to her warmth. This was decidedly the best way to wake up in the history of ever. It might only be improved by more nakedness. Maybe next time. Ashyr was still sort of sore from their time from the nymphs. The older drow disentangled herself to sit up and stretch her arms above her head with a lusty groan. "So, what do you think?" She asked the party in general, though one she was pretty sure was still asleep and the other was probably out of earshot. "Take it easy today so we can travel into the night tonight?"

Caleldir disentangled himself from the bedding and the drow (huh, Selene was not so distant while asleep...), stood up and shifted his runic underclothing to padded armor once more. "That sounds like a good plan." He said with a yawn. "We are nearing the edge of this forest, and when we enter the rocky foothills the sun will be oppressive. Fortunately, we will not have to cross the mountains to get to our destination, but - unless we want to go on a pretty impressive detour - we will have to endure the stone hills for a few days before we come out into the inhabited plains. If I remember correctly from when I passed through this area with Artur's caravan, the foothills are largely deserted except for some goblin tribes and a few kobold mines. I do not think that we need to worry too much about security there. The fun starts once we head back out into civilization."

When Caleldir finished musing about the route they needed to take, Althaia flowed back into the camp. She was wet, and very naked, her damp blond hair providing a cover for her breasts, but not for the juncture between her legs. Much like the drow though, she did not seem to care. Caleldir blushed and looked away, which did not go unnoticed by the nymph. "My cousin is right." She said in a sing-song voice. "We will likely leave the forest later today, and the sunlight in the hills can be harsh." Sitting down, she produced some fresh fruits from wherever she seemed to stash everything. "But first, breakfast!"

Her usual lecherous grin spread across Ashyr face to see the naked nymph. She had to admit, all that nudity was tempting. Images of their bodies writhing together flashed through Ashyr's memory. She saw Caleldir blush and look away and chuckled lightly at him. How could he be embarrassed by nakedness even still? She shook that thought from her head and turned to her cousin. "Selene, dearest, time to wake up." She said as she brushed some platinum hair out of the sleeping woman's face. Ashyr was happy to see that the other drow was sleeping much better than she had been. Not for the first time she found herself glad that Selene had been included in the nymph trap. Even more so, she was glad that Althaia was there. Whatever she did to Selene at the side of the pool worked wonders on her brokenness.

Selene shifted and made sleepy, reluctant noises. Then her eyes fluttered open. Either she squinted in the sun, or she was glaring at her older cousin. "I thought we were going to travel by night from now on." Yup. It had been a glare.

"Didn't you hear anything he said? No? Well, we're at least going to get to the edge of the forest." Ashyr informed her.

"Probably could have slept in. I'm so tired..." Selene turned so that she was stretched out on her stomach. But, despite her reluctance, Ashyr managed to get her motivated, dressed, and packed. That done, the drow sat down to eat with Caleldir and Althaia. Selene eventually woke up enough that she didn't look exhausted. Merely grumpy. Selene really was not a morning person.

Althaia gave Selene a big smile. "Good morning! Hope you enjoyed the book!" She said cheerfully. As usual she exuded maddening amounts of vivacity. It would have been inaccurate to describe the nymph as a simply being a morning person; she was simply a bundle of bouncy joy.

Caleldir, not quite so much. It would not have been entirely fair to say that he resented the nymph and her flirtations or exuberance, more that the more energetic she was, the less he was. He spent the meal in silence after she returned, and Althaia was happy to fill in the lull with happy prattling about her usual favorite topics. Since this inevitably included sex, the inexplicably still a bit prudish half-nymph found himself matching Selene's grouchy demeanor. Althaia seemed to find this funny, and had more than one giggle at his expense. Ashyr seemed equal parts amused and annoyed at the bubbly nature of their new traveling companion. She seemed much less grumpy about it. The ranger had the advantage of knowing that she could easily get away from the prattle if she ever wished it.