Acolyte of the Pleasure Goddess

Delyssa woke to Jahroud nudging her knee as he sat on the side of her cot. She blinked, stretched and sat up. Her black hair was tangled and matted, and as she peeled off of the thin mattress, she realized much of her skin was still sticky from last night's passion in her cella with the four priestesses. Far past the temple walls, beyond the tall rooftops of Gra'tan, dawn was slowly breaking over the distant mountains.

"You had a late night," said Jahroud. He was wearing only a white sheet wrapped around his waist as a skirt, his long, roped hair tied behind him. He looked more tired than Delyssa felt.

"I did," she said, smiling. Her voice was still groggy from sleep. "Were you here all night? I was already asleep by the time Gala carried me back, I think."

"I saw you to bed, then went to my own. I woke just a little while ago. I was worried you might oversleep." They were both whispering in that natural volume of speech before sunrise. Outside, the first songbirds were beginning their calls, filling the air before the temple chants and city music took the melody.

"I need to find Kruit," Delyssa said through a yawn as she stood. "He said that he'd give me some of his old adventuring gear."

"What you need is a bath," said Jahroud. "If you show up to meet these campaigners sticky and smelling of sex, it will be a bad first impression."

Delyssa looked down at her naked breasts. There were pale streaks down her chest, dried remnants of last night's intimacies. Her long hair stuck together in clumps that broke apart as she ran her fingers through it. She hadn't realized how much of a mess she was.

"I suppose you're right," she said. "Though part of me fears that once I step into the baths I won't want to leave. We'll have to be quick."

Jahroud stood and wrapped one hand around Delyssa's skin as he guided her towards the door. "You'll have to be quick. I can stay in there all day," he said with a smile.

"As if you don't have any of your own duties to see to," said Delyssa.

"Hmm, that's true. When you're camping in the dust with your rugged companions, remember that I am toiling away here: servicing worshipers and supplicants, helping to set the hall before the feasts, dancing in the moonlight with the priestesses..."

Delyssa playfully pushed his arm away from her waist. "And don't forget about sweeping the halls, mopping up after the feasts, changing the pans in the ward. Stop trying to make me homesick before I've even left, Jahroud."

Her initiate-brother laughed. "I suppose the road will give you plenty of opportunities for that."

The walk to the baths from the dormitory was a short one. It was early enough in the morning that the long pools built into the stone in the center of the temple grounds were mostly empty, just a few older clerics gathered at one end. The water steamed in the breaking daylight, lifting in a fine mist that drifted over the stone and across the grass. Jahroud unwrapped his skirt and bundled it by the edge of the pool. He sank down into the water with a sigh while Delyssa eased herself in beside him. The water was only about hip-deep, but when Jahroud sat by the edge of the bath it came up to his shoulders. Delyssa sat in front of him, cross-legged on stone floor of the pool, the water up to her neck.

There was little sensual about her bathing: the scrub of the rag she brought with her left her skin gleaming raw. Jahroud was mostly relaxing, his head leaning back against the side of the bath. Delyssa wondered if he was making a show of falling asleep.

"I know what you're doing," she said, and she saw the corners of his mouth twitch, though his eyes stayed closed in the pre-dawn light.

"What am I doing," he said.

In response, Delyssa pushed his knees apart beneath the water and sat back against his chest, his arms automatically wrapping around her belly.

"You're worried that I'll fall in love with adventuring," said Delyssa.

"Do you think so?" Jahroud laughed. "When Mother Corporeal suggested it yesterday, you almost started crying." Delyssa could feel the bass of his voice reverberate from his chest into her back.

"I was just surprised is all," she said, straining her hair through her hands. "Now that I've had time to think about it, and talk things over with Allarane, Kruit, and Mother Corporeal, I think I'm looking forward to it. Excited even. You seem to be the one more worried about me actually leaving."

Jahroud nestled his face into her shoulder. "You're too clever," he said. "You could have been a magician."

Now Delyssa laughed. "I don't think I could ever do anything but serve the Goddess," she said.

They sat together in the pool for several long moments, listening to the gathering birdsong and the low, intermittent chatting of the clerics at the far end of the bath.

Eventually, Jahroud spoke. "You know how sometimes, some young woman will come to the Temple for the first time, only having heard about our practices second-hand? Maybe it will be for a wedding, or for a fertility rite, or renewal, or some such. She'll come in and see how we worship, see our priestesses, and how we love one another, and she won't want to leave. That morning, she thought she was attending just some god's service, but by the end of that night, in the arms of the priestesses and acolytes, she thinks she's found her new home. How often does that happen?"

"Often," said Delyssa. "Once or twice a moon. Do you really think that I'll like adventuring more than this?"

"I suppose not. It's a funny thing. I didn't think I could be jealous. I've seen you coupled with so many other people, and you've seen me the same, and it's never bothered me. I still think adventuring will be good for you, but... I thought I'd have more time to say goodbye before you left."

The sun broke over the eastern mountains, an amber glow that pushed its way across the temple grounds. Delyssa sat up and removed herself from Jahroud's embrace. He watched as he hoisted herself out of the pool. "That eager to leave?" he said.

"Mother Corporeal taught me a ward to protect myself," said Delyssa. "It can only be cast at daybreak."

She stepped away from the stone and onto the grass, reciting the motions and incantations that the High Priestess imparted upon her the previous evening. She bent at the waist and saw Jahroud watching her from between her legs. Running her hands up her body to her scalp and back down again, she felt the sun's heat against the cool drops of water that trailed down her flesh.

She finished the prayer and watched with amazement as her skin shone in the morning light, a pale glare that emanated from every inch of her dark body before slowly fading.

Still sitting within the bath, Jahroud shook his head. "You're the quickest study I know, Delyssa," he said. "Mother Corporeal taught you that just last night?"

She walked back over to the bath and helped Jahroud step out of it. Her skin felt no different than before, but there was a dim tingle in the back of her mind, the presence of some new energy that assured her the prayer had taken effect.

"You don't need to worry about me," she said. "The temple will always be my home. I'll be back before you know it."

Jahroud pulled her into a hug. "I know. I'm going to miss you," he said into her ear.

Delyssa could feel his naked penis press against her hip. "Show me," she whispered back to him. "Show me how you're going to miss me."

Jahroud's eyes widened, and he stepped back before breaking out into a grin. He reached down and stroked up the inside of her thigh, fingertips brushing her sex.

"Just one last touch before you go," he said. "It might be months before you come back."

Delyssa grabbed his hand from between her legs and guided it to Jahroud's cock, wrapping his fingers around himself. "When I'm on the road and weary," she said as they both sank to the ground, "I want to think of how you'll think of me."

Jahroud sat back in the grass, his legs wide apart as he began to stroke himself. "Are you sure you don't want to couple before you go? Who knows how long you'll go without."

Delyssa shook her head. "I'm still sated from last night. Besides, I don't want my first steps along the road outside Gra'tan to be bandy-legged from fucking."

Jahroud made a face. "Such language! You'll fit right in among the campaigners with an uncouth tongue like that."

Delyssa laughed. "Blame Brother Kruit. I get the impression that he was a model adventurer back in his day," she said.

"I'll thank him. I want to taste that uncouth tongue of yours. Or feel it," said Jahroud. He was hard now, the skin rolling back off the head of his cock, its pale head glistening and pointing towards Delyssa. A shiver rolled up her spine as she matched his pose an arm's length away from him: she arched her back and leaned away from him as she spread her legs, baring herself before his gaze.

She did not feel the urge to follow suit and rub herself along with him; she was still both sore and satisfied from the priestess' revelry. But there was a thrill to watching her friend pleasure himself in front of and for her.

She teased one of her nipples with a thumb and forefinger. "You'll have to wait for my return, then. Right now I want to see how you'll stroke yourself at night thinking of me. Of how I took your cock in my mouth in front of Mother Corporeal. All those other times we lay together."

Jahroud was settled into a rhythm now, pumping up and down his length, his thumb rolling across the top of his wet glans. His other hand tugged and fondled his loose sack.

"When you lay in your bed at night," Delyssa said, beginning to feel the heat from inside her working through skin cooled by the morning air, "I want you to look up at the Goddess' moon and think of how, somewhere off in the wild, I am laying amidst a crowd of rough campaigners, exhausted from the road, trying not to make a noise as I touch myself while I think of you and the rest of home."

Jahroud's face contorted in a familiar mixture of pleasure and concentration. "Keep going," he said through clenched teeth.

"When the nights are cold and it's my turn to keep watch as I sit by the smoldering flame of a dying campfire, I'll keep myself awake with two fingers inside myself thinking about the heat of your seed on my face. Don't save any for me -- when I'm away, I want you to play with yourself every night like you are now, thinking of me."

Delyssa watched in hunger as he worked himself, her gaze alternating between his masturbation and the tensing of his stomach muscles, the rolling work of his shoulders. Her eyes rose to meet his--almost, as she found that Jahroud's gaze was following its own path up her body: the cleft of pink spread between her legs, her graceful torso and two full breasts that she kneaded in front of him, her lips that just yesterday had been wrapped around him. Their eyes met, and Jahroud groaned loud enough to startle some of the songbirds in a nearby olive tree.

He fell backwards, feet planted on the ground, hips thrusting in the air as he came. Delyssa watched, rapt as his balls tightened and pulsed as thick ropes of cum burst out of him and splattered his hands, belly, chest, and neck. Jahroud collapsed onto the grass, gasping.

Delyssa crawled over to lay beside him, running her fingers across her initiate-brother's still-wet hair.

"Thank you," she murmured into his ear. "That's just the sight I needed to keep me company on my adventure."

Jahroud was still breathing heavily as he nestled his face against her neck. "Weeks or months, it doesn't matter. I'll miss you until you return," he breathed.

Delyssa gave him a long kiss on his forehead before breaking away. "Maybe by the time I come back your rank will be disciple," she said.

Jahroud smiled "I'm sure you'll catch up to me in no time."

A shadow of a figure fell across the two acolytes. Both initiates, still naked, Jahroud still covered in the spray of his own seed, looked up. Brother Kruit stood before them, his golden eyes blazing in the rising morning sun. A heavy bundle wrapped in cloth was tucked under one arm, his other hand holding the wooden frame of a leather backpack, clearly filled and swollen. A wooden quarterstaff was looped about his shoulder by a leather thong.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, Delyssa. I checked your room but you weren't there. Are you just about ready to depart?"

Delyssa glanced at Jahroud, held his stare for several heartbeats. "I think so, Kruit."

The older clergyman nodded. "Have you eaten? We'll break your fast in the great hall, and you can equip yourself there before you go. I want to give you some last words of advice before you depart." Kruit looked over at Jahroud, hesitated. "You're welcome to join us as well, acolyte."

Jahroud shook his head. "I've already said my goodbyes. Delyssa, I'll see you soon, and think of you sooner, okay? May the goddess Shevlana keep you safe."

Delyssa nodded. "You as well, brother Jahroud."

She stood and took the bundle from Kruit, hefting it into her arms. Together, they set off towards the great hall, and she took one last glance over her shoulder at Jahroud. She left him in the grass, naked and messy.

#

They sat at the far end of one of the long tables in the great hall. More and more people were filtering in as the morning progressed, but Kruit claimed the width of the table as he settled the packs of gear atop it. He slowly explained the kit while Delyssa worked through a breakfast of spiced porridge, bread and cheese.

"Your pack has to hold everything you need on the road but can't be too heavy. It all fits in tight -- you're familiar with such things, I'm sure," Kruit said, causing Delyssa to choke on a mouthful of bread.

"Watch how I pack your gear: if you just throw everything in, it won't all fit again. First is a spare pair of sandals, they'll keep the bottom of the bag flat, giving you more space to work with." Kruit slipped the sandals into the bag and pressed them flush against the cloth. Next came a small, tightly packed tent; a mess kit of stacked tin cups that held fishing wire, though Kruit told Delyssa that she would have to find her own bait on the road. A bundle of short torches wrapped together by a length of rags for bandages and hygiene; two flasks of oil for the torches; rations of bread baked with nuts and fruit wrapped in dried palm leaves; a bundle of medicinal herbs, moss, and poultices tucked into a small mortar and pestle. After these, Kruit fastened the flap of bag closed and gestured towards two large pouches on the sides of the pack.

"Keep a water-skin and a wineskin in there," he said. "And for Saint Zenzeret's sake, make sure you refill everything at every water-hole you pass. I know that a lot of advice you've received must have seemed to be common sense, but you'll be amazed by the foolishness of some of the people who call themselves adventurers."

Kruit lifted the pack easily and settled it back atop the table before grabbing the cloth bundle. "Your temple robes are decent for day-to-day use -- though you're probably less frequent in your apparel than that," he said, gesturing at Delyssa's body. "But they won't fare well on the road or in the wild, unfortunately. I took the liberty of visiting a clothier during my walk to the market this morning. I bought you some dress that will hopefully serve you a little better."

Kruit unfolded the bundle, which Delyssa realized was actually a heavy woolen cloak. "The nights in the desert get cold, and if the rainy season starts early this year you'll want to keep yourself dry," he explained. The next item was a long, thin strip of white linen. Delyssa held it up to her hips where it unfurled and fell between her legs and snaked out across the stone floor.

"I found in my time campaigning that having a little extra length of fabric wherever I could manage it would eventually be useful. It's intended to be a loincloth. Do you need me to show you how to fold it?"

Delyssa shook her head. "I'm sure that I can figure it out." She began wrapping the cloth around her waist as Kruit moved on.

"The rest is simple garb. A light skirt -- you can tear its hem if you need to make a bandage in a pinch -- and another long sheet you can wrap about your chest. It's a good thing you pick up wards and prayers as easily as you do. If you couldn't manage the ward that Mother Corporeal taught you last night I would have had to buy you a set of chain armor: you'd be sweating your tits off dawn to dusk."

"Will the ward be as effective as a real suit of armor?" Delyssa asked. "Mother Corporeal told me the incantation will hold as long as I don't attack anyone, but I'm still a little worried about how safe I'll be in a fight."

Kruit grunted. "There's no such thing as 'safe' in any kind of fight. And mind what you call 'real,' Delyssa. Your faith in Shevlana, your prayers and wards, are as real as any suit of mail. But if you do get into a scrap, try to make yourself as small as possible, stay out of the way, and let your companions do the fighting. Defend yourself if you need to, but if your party members have any sort of sense they'll put themselves between their foe and their healer."

"I suppose I'll just have to see if they have any sense, then," Delyssa replied. She finished wrapping the loincloth about herself, enjoying the cool, clean fabric snug against her skin. The two ends of the cloth flapped loosely between her knees. She dressed herself under Kruit's watchful eyes -- the skirt she wrapped about her waist and tied in a knot in front of her. She folded the other square sheet into a tunic about her shoulders that she fasted with a pin offered by Kruit. Finally, she laced up the leather moccasins, wriggling her feet against the stone floor.

"Well," she said, springing off the bench and standing before Kruit. "Do I look like a seasoned campaigner?"

Kruit laughed. "As you'll recall, I haven't seen any adventurers in many years. But from what I can recollect, the only uniform look for campaigners are boredom, hunger, and terror repeating in a cycle."

"Those aren't very good words of encouragement, Brother Kruit," Delyssa said with a frown.

He shrugged. "Has anyone told you campaigning would be fun or easy? We worship the goddess of pleasure, Delyssa, and that makes temple life sweet and the wider world seem sour. But many things in this life are only pleasurable after the fact. I have many regrets from my time as a campaigner, but setting out on that path of adventure in the first place is not one of them. I hope that you find pleasure and meaning in your journey, though it will surely be of a different form than you enjoy at the temple. Though goddess knows, perhaps adventurers nowadays are a different breed than when I was among them."

"Perhaps," Delyssa said, thinking of the story Priestess Allarane told her in the baths. Despite all of Kruit's warnings, she could not divest herself of the heroic fantasies she had grown up hearing about the land's adventurers. Daring battles with unimaginable beasts, lost ruins, mysterious spells, terrible curses; there was something thrilling, romantic about those tales. She did not need Kruit's reminder that adventurers were largely a bunch of roughened scoundrels -- she had spent enough time in the healing ward hearing their grumbling and profanity. But now that she was garbed in traveler's clothes, finally resolved to walk out into the greater world, the allure of those stories persisted, though Delyssa knew with the logical part of her brain that they would not likely last long after leaving Gra'tan.

"You'll need this as well," Kruit handed her a small leather pouch. Delyssa could hear the muffled clink of coins and could feel the shifting weight as she held the purse and tied it to her belt.