A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 56: Planning

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 56: Planning

Despite being insulted by the now absent nymph's assertion that she needed Caleldir and Ashyr after that emotionally charged sexual encounter she had just witnessed, the mage did not try to snatch her hand back when Ashyr reached out and grabbed it. The older pulled the younger over to the part of the bed filled by Ashyr and Caleldir. Their lips met over Caleldir in a quick, surprisingly tender kiss. Selene settled into a reclined position after their lips parted, her body casually pressed against Caleldir's. Ashyr shifted into a very similar position on the male's other side.

"So... that turned out a little... differently from what I expected." Ashyr observed with a slight smile. Her focus shifted equally between her two lovers, for both had emotional reactions that they may have wanted to talk about.

"Yes." Selene agreed softly. Her gaze was towards the middle-distance, unfocused. "What even was that... I've... I've never seen something so intense." The younger drow's voice was very soft when she said this - almost out of the range of hearing for both the people in the room.

"I am not sure what to think about what just happened." He said at last. He sighed, then gave Ashyr his trademark lopsided smile. "I think that if any other women want to tag along with our group, we should fervently deny them. Four ladies is quite enough for me."

"Bah, what if I'm not done adding to my harem?" Ashyr retorted playfully.

"If you want to keep adding to your harem, that is fine, I suppose." He said with resignation. "But women in your harem tend to becomes women in my 'harem', after a fashion, and I really do not have the emotional or physical stamina to keep up with more than the two of you, let alone five or more." He went pale even thinking about that, although the heat across his body showed that at least part of him was thinking about the possibilities in a positive manner. His emotional stamina was likely the weak link here, as it was becoming increasingly obvious that his physical stamina lasted exactly as long as he wanted it to.

"I am not in anybody's harem." She grumbled irritably.

"No. No you're not, dearest." The older drow responded, but she had a feeling that that was not what bothered Selene. The mage had to know that the two of them were joking (mostly.) "Both of you are too important to me to even remotely be considered 'harem' status."

That seemed to calm the mage a little - or at least, Caleldir felt her tensed muscles relax. She still had a grumpy look on her face. He gave the elegant woman a fond squeeze. "Harem is really the wrong word for me. I am more of a multi-user sex slave than a harem master. And you are my primary owner, in the sense that you were first." His tone was joking, and his words probably not to be taken seriously. Probably.

Selene grunted at Caleldir's reassurance. Ashyr chuckled for a moment. "Yeah, I guess we have sort of been treating you like that. I'd apologize, but I know you like it. And I'm not at all sorry."

"I will never admit that I like it." Caleldir said airily. "But I accept your apology all the same." The fact that she had not apologized did not enter into it, as he was of course just being difficult. For a certain value of 'difficult'.

She shot the male a knowing smirk. "You can certainly keep up with us physically - you can't fool me; I bet we could double the females here, and you'd still keep up. You're just going to have to stop falling in love with all of them. I'm certainly not in love with everyone I've fucked regularly."

The look on his face was almost comical. It was something between excited lust, stricken worry, and puritanical scandalization. "I do not know how to properly respond to that." He muttered. It was not as if he was in love with every woman he had had sex with. Althaia was more of a friend, and Naliira, Carlotta, and the other four nymphs were all just acquaintances. But he had great difficulty separating sex from love. He was not even sure that that was something at all desirable.

Ashyr curled up against Caleldir. Their legs tangled together automatically. Selene likewise settled into the three-way cuddle, but not before using mage hands to float over one of the remaining bowls of food. She set it within reach of herself and the other two and began absently snacking. Caleldir was half inclined to eat, but the other half was more inclined to keep his arms around the two drow. Fortunately, Selene had a Mage Hand spell, he had near-unlimited telekinesis. But eating while lying down and floating food into his mouth made him feel like a complete slacker, so he sat up against some pillows propped up against the headboard, and used his right hand to begin eating. That happened to be the one around Ashyr, much to his regret. Then again, it would have been an equal amount of regret to let go of Selene, so...

She didn't seem to mind so much that Caleldir had to remove his arm to eat. Ashyr joined him in a partially upright position and began more than just absently eating. All that sex was hungry work, even though she hadn't participated as much as she usually would have. She caught Selene shift deeper into the bed as if the younger drow was uncomfortable. "Got something to say, dearest?" Ashyr asked.

"I am not your 'primary owner.'" Selene protested. "As Matron, Ashyr is."

"Tell you what: we can have equal shares in ownership." The older drow responded when the same amount of amusement she held for the conversation so far. She gave the man in question an affectionate rub on the shoulder closest to her. "He can be like your sire, Sornamal. That is, unless you don't want to be the Duskhaven Consort, love." Her gaze, which had been trained on Selene to gauge her reaction to this, finally moved to Caleldir. She didn't much like talking about him like he was some object to be owned - which, of course, was ridiculous, because that was how she often treated him anyway. Ashyr blamed her upbringing.

"It was different with my sire." Selene claimed with her usual haughty expression. "That was political. We needed the Lltkahril line to get the other major houses to recognize us as a legitimate house. The city was not enough. No one will see a pale half-nymph the same way. I may have come to terms with the fact that I carry his offspring, but I didn't have much choice."

"Come to Terms..." Ashyr repeated in a mocking voice. "You've more than 'come to terms' with it. Or did you think I haven't noticed the way you look at him sometimes?"

"That is not the point!" Selene said quickly as she pulled away from Caleldir to better face her cousin.

Caleldir was rather quiet as he listened to them talking about sires and consorts. There was an increasing suspicion in his head was that Selene was becoming something of a Tsundere: that was, she pretended to have less feelings for him than she did. Ashyr knew her far better than he did, but if the cousins were going to force each other to confront their feelings, he felt awkward being here. Especially if said feelings involved him.

"I understand what Selene meant, Ashyr." Caleldir said gently. "But she does not need to worry. Althaia gave me that Ring of Race earlier today." He closed his eyes, concentrating, before shrinking down a foot of height and a proportional amount body-mass. His skin and hair each became photo negatives of themselves: turning from white to black and black to white. He opened his eyes again, and they were a fiery orange-red. Even as a drow, though, his nymphen good looks shown through. He smiled brilliantly, his snowy white teeth flashy against his charcoal skin. "See? No one has to come to terms with anything!" He looked at the two drow. "Wow, the two of you are... rather big, all of a sudden. I think that Selene is actually a bit taller than me." He put his hand to his forehead. "This is going to take some getting used to." He seemed to sway a bit.

Selene studied his race-changed appearance. Then she sighed, and tension she did not realize she was carrying eased slightly from her mind and body. "I had forgotten about that ring." The mage admitted.

"Magic artifacts cure a lot of ills." Caleldir said sagely.

"But even then, he may be a good choice for us genetically, but socially, he's no one." Selene observed." We cannot publicly declare him like our mothers had with my sire. We need to find another son of another house if we decide to do that at all."

"I don't want some other lame-ass noble's son." Ashyr declared. She slipped onto his lap, now finding that she had to look down at him slightly when she did this. He was probably around the same height as her. Not even Tsabdrin was that short. A smirk pulled at the edges of her lips as all sorts of naughty ideas ran through her head. "And face it Selene, neither do you. You already have the social benefit or whatever the fuck it is from your Lltkahril blood." As she said this, Ashyr's hand ran across Caleldir's dark face and through his white hair as if the visual proof of his change had not been enough. Any excuse to touch him, really.

"Noble lineages do not spring out of thin air. Ultimately, they form because they are strong, and stay as long as they keep that strength. Which means, if you want a 'sire' who is someone you can publicly declare, then all I have to do is become that sort of person. Or, at very least, messily murder anyone who says that I am not. That is the drow way, is it not?" By his tone, he might actually have been serious.

"You probably don't have to do anything!" Ashyr exclaimed. "As soon as they see the daughters he can sire, even our society will be impressed. Haven't we been over this before?"

The younger drow made a noise of agreement, mullified for now, but in need of some serious thought. Selene shifted back into more or less the position she had been in before, cuddled up as close to Caleldir as he could.

"Wait, you are not suggesting that I be the focal point of another Duskhaven breeding program, are you? Because I would not be down for that."

"Yes and no." Selene answered. "A publicly declared Consort is, as far as I've seen and read, the closest thing the drow get to arranged marriages. It's more a marriage to the house than to an individual: not nearly as exclusive, and not necessarily permanent (but usually lasts until the Matron or Consort dies.) If a female of the house wants to breed, they would generally prefer to use the Consort as long as he's not directly related to her. It's up to the Matron's preference; she can deny breeding rights to anyone. The Consort also typically controls the affairs of any males and children of the House and sometimes even the lesser workings of the properties the House owns to lighten the load of his Matron."

"That makes sense." He mused in reply to Selene. "Since there are only two female members of House Duskhaven, both of whom I am sleeping with all the time anyway, I have no objections to such a plan." Basically, as far as he understood it, if he were made House Consort, he would be the de-facto spouse of both Ashyr and Selene, formalizing their current relationship. He would also be a sort of steward or overseer, working for Ashyr in administration. Well, he had already planned on doing that. He was not completely sold on the idea of playing second fiddle, but as long as Ashyr did not treat him as a lesser, he did not mind his formal position being in theory lower than hers. He preferred reality over symbolism, after all.

"So like I said, the situation is similar to what I've read in books about monarchical society. With the gender roles reversed, of course. Its purpose is both genetic and political. But I have a feeling that Ashyr's motivations are emotional as well." Selene shot a glare at the woman in question. "It makes all of us vulnerable, Ashyr."

"If you are worrying about people harming me, remember that I am, effectively, completely immortal." Caleldir noted. "Goelon can be killed, but it would take a near-divine level force to do so, so unless Aralolth is the one targeting House Duskhaven, I am the last person you should worry about protecting. That said, if it is kidnapping that you are worried about..." he grimaced. "I suppose I have a tendency to get myself captured by things a lot, which would royally inconvenience everyone, I am sure." Plus, he had heard bad things about drow torture techniques. He had cracked pretty fast under the efforts of the Port Afron interrogator, and that guy had been small potatoes compared to the reputation of the dark elves.

The ranger's face grew serious. "If we declare him, there will be less chance of petty acts against him by another House. Harming a Matron's favorite male is merely obnoxious. Harming a House's Consort, however, is an act of war between Houses."

"So, as I said, all I need to do is become someone powerful enough that the other drow houses will respect me. Do not drow respect the sufficiently strong, even if they be from unknown origin?" He shrugged. "Then again, maybe they would just think that a lowly male is getting above his station." He thought for a moment, then an idea popped into his head. "Alternately, I can resurrect a vanished noble house, and claim to be the last scion of that house. Deusterra was allied with drow city by the name of Blackdawn underneath my home country for one and a half centuries before I was even born, but though the city was effectively part of Deusterra, they never formally severed ties with the drow capital, nor openly foreswore Aralolth despite being secret Ellistraeans. The Blackdawn family were planning to declare their true allegiances and turn on the other drow once The Incomplete was, well, completed, but you already know who that turned out." He paused for a few seconds. "It may be a long shot, but what do you think the results of me claiming to be from the Blackdawn family would be? It would not be a lie, as I was given honorary membership in the House due to my having mentored their heir: Lady Nirza Blackdawn."

"Blackdawn?" Selene responded thoughtfully. "I have read a little about them in the histories. Mostly that they were more closely related to another part of the world than the Capital, and then contact with them and the rest of the Underdark was split after the undead invasion that the Grandmatron fought back, which ended a particularly catastrophic cave-in. We never managed to retrieve anything about them - which was a shame, since despite their growing disconnect with the rest of our society, they were generally accepted to be well-bred and respectable. Any noble who paid attention to their lessons would have similar information and likely not much else. The histories had no idea they were on the cusp of betrayal. If we introduce the concept correctly, they might accept that farce. The name would never be as prestigious as Lltkahril, of course, but... it would gain us a little respect. We could have done much worse." Selene explained.

"Honestly, although I knew the Blackdawns I did not know anything about how the other drow viewed them. I guess the main hurdle we would have in establishing my identity as one of them would be the fact that, as far as I am aware, they vanished at the same time as the rest of country. That is, twelve hundred years ago." He pursed his lips, as he often did when thinking. "Perhaps I could go with a variation of my own history: something about ghosts or sealing or something." He shrugged. "If we can find some excuse as to how I am a member of a house that has been extinct for more than a thousand years, I could do my part." He smiled broadly, and switched to fluent, very archaic, Undercommon. "I think that I could do a good job of convincing people I am from the past, right?"

"I think you could pass. And naming you official Consort would protect you from being interfered with by lesser Houses. But then there are a couple of greater Houses that Ashyr has already pissed off. Specifically by 'interfering' with their Consorts. They could still hold those grudges and retaliate similarly." Selene let out a sigh of resignation. "But, overall, there would be less to threaten you. And those that would, would probably do so anyway whatever title we give you."

A grin spread across Ashyr's face at her cousin's mention of her interference with other Houses' Consorts. "Hey, those males weren't forced to do anything they didn't want to. It was their Houses' fault for not keeping them happy enough to keep them loyal."

"And I have told you a dozen times that the Matrons don't see it that way." Her exasperation was hard to miss. It was clearly a very, very old argument.

This did not stop Ashyr's mischievous grin. If anything, it made it wider. Her hips rolled a couple times against Caleldir's now dark skin. Her body was already beginning to have its usual effects on him. For one thing, it was now apparent that he had left one part its regular size... Unsurprisingly, she was still thinking about the sexual possibilities of Althaia's - now Caleldir's - ring despite the serious conversation that persisted. Quite frankly, she was surprised that the nymph never saw fit to use it - no, no, it made sense if she gave it even a little thought. When one was a sexy nymph with literal blinding beauty, why would one choose to be anything else?

Selene's information about how Ashyr had interfered with the consorts of other Houses caused Caleldir to blush a bit. His blushing was far less visible with deep charcoal skin than it had been with his pale marble features. "It seems as if you have led quite a life, Ashyr." He said diplomatically. He was worried a bit about what Selene meant by 'retaliate in a similar way'. The image he had in his head was an army of Ashyr's from other houses trying to subvert his loyalties through seduction, which was mostly disconcerting.

"Well, I am almost two hundred years old. I was actually conscious for most of it, and sexually active in the Underdark for at least half that time." Ashyr responded with a grin. "One gets around." By the look on her face, one would assume she was proud of herself. And she was.

"Two hundred, eh? I am both considerably more and considerably less than that. So I am not sure whether or not I qualify as your elder." Caleldir mused.

"Of course, you are the conquest I'm most proud of." She informed him with a lopsided grin. Then she pressed an affectionate kiss against against his lips.

He smiled. "I am flattered. I am glad you 'conquered' me." He thought for a moment. "Although, I suppose that, unless you have known a lot of half-nymph half-titan ghost kings, I am almost certainly one of your most unique conquests." He returned her kiss with one to her cheek, though Ashyr was unsatisfied enough with that that she kissed him on the lips again, this time with a bit more passion.

"Dearest, don't you think we've had enough sex for today?" Protested Selene. She had a feeling that she knew where this was going - that is, if she didn't manage to stop it. "Besides, we're trying to figure out this 'Blackdawn' thing. You're distracting all of us."