Author's Notes:
This story is erotic fantasy, set in a world of magic. I reserve the right to be listed as the author of this work, wherever it is posted. If found posted anywhere except Literotica.com with this note attached, this story is posted without my permission.
© Darkniciad
This is the beginning of Danica's tale, leading in to the story "Danica", which is Book I of a three book series.
I make use of modern weights and measures quite often in my work, because those are the weights and measures of my fantasy world. I know many fantasy readers prefer more archaic terms, and I hope those readers can overlook my use of miles, feet, and other such measures.
This is an edited version of this tale, making use of what I've learned since starting to post at Literotica, and the services of my tireless editor, Roust Writer.
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Danica hurried to close her mageware shop, shutting all the display cases and enabling their magical wards. She locked the coin box and enabled its mystical protection as well, placing it in her magically sealed vault.
Reaching into the neckline of her robe, Danica pulled out a rune stone that hung around her neck. Placing it in the blank spot at the center of the vault's sigil covered door, the runes sealed the vault against intrusion and detection. Her money – and the items she stored there for herself and others – would be safe from all but the most powerful magic now. Sometimes it paid to have older sisters who were strong in the Art.
Danica looked around, scowling at the dust and other assorted debris that had blown into the shop that day. It had been hot in the morning, but the breeze from the open door and windows had made the shop comfortable. That gentle breeze had unfortunately transformed into strong gusts later in the day, blowing half the outdoors into her shop, before she could get the doors and windows shut.
She waved a hand in a dismissive gesture and sighed, deciding that the sweeping could wait until tomorrow.
Seeing someone walking toward the shop she recognized, Danica quickly locked the door and turned the sign to read
closed
. She let out a sigh of relief as old man Sorrel turned, and walked back the way he had come upon seeing the sign. He always took forever to make his purchases, which were always things of minimal profit to Danica. Normally, she would have stayed open for him anyway, but tonight she was meeting someone, and needed time to get ready.
A quick spoken word activated the wards and alarms on the door, and Danica turned to head for her private chambers at the back of the shop. She sighed again as she passed her lab, knowing there was a lot of work in there that needed to be completed as well. Odds are she would be opening up quite late tomorrow, considering all the work she had to do before she could start the business day.
With a little luck, she hoped that maybe she would have a good reason to sleep in after tonight as well. Danica had been seeing Robert for a few weeks now, although they had only had the opportunity to step out together two or three times during those weeks. She liked him, and it had been a bit too long since she had been with a man, for her tastes. She was starting to get itchy and touching herself, which always bothered her.
She had wanted him from the moment she had met him, and the need was getting more than a little difficult to ignore. It had been six months or more since she'd had sex, when she met Robert. Somewhere between too little time and the wrong men, it had just happened. Danica was just afraid of jumping into bed with him and finding out he was an ass afterward – it had happened before.
After going out a few times, and spending quite a bit of time talking in the shop during the weeks they had known each other, Danica didn't think that was the case with Robert. He was charming, considerate, handsome, strong, and shared her interests. He worked as a healer, and that is how they had met. Danica was about the only source of many healing herbs in the area, and she either gathered or grew them herself to ensure they were fresh.
Danica had also had ample opportunities to notice the bulge in his trousers while they talked. She smiled and licked her lips thinking about it, as she opened the door to her private room in the back of the shop.
She could see him in her mind's eye, as she daydreamed for a few moments in the doorway. His wavy brown hair always seemed to be just a bit mussed, and a smile always decorated his clean-shaven face. His face had an almost boyish quality, but his deep, brown eyes shined with an intelligence and compassion that changed his whole look when she was caught up in them. He was lean and well muscled, which was obvious even in the modest clothing he commonly wore. That modest clothing could also do little to hide that bulge between his legs. Every time her eyes wandered there, the sight made Danica long to see – among other things – what was beneath that thin layer of cloth.
Danica felt a tingle between her legs as she thought about Robert, and shook her head to clear it. If she kept thinking like that, she knew she would end up having to play with herself or go crazy. Her sexual needs were not her only concern in seeing Robert. Lately, she had felt the grip of depression tightening around her. Her life was a continuous cycle of mediocrity, and she knew she needed a change, if she didn’t want to become one of those bitter old spinsters. She needed a shock to turn her life around, and she hoped Robert might be the person to provide that spark. More than anything, Danica wanted to be excited about life again.
She had put the kettles on to boil a while before closing up, and all four were whistling now from the next room. Danica stepped into the small room, a combination of kitchen and bathhouse that had once been her Master's room in the shop. Only one wall of his room connected to the rest of the building, and so the heat from the stove made the place less oppressive in the summer. It had also allowed Danica to run a drainpipe, giving her the opportunity to have more than a simple washtub. She was able to have daily baths in relative comfort, thanks to her permanent bathtub with its drain. It had cost Danica a ridiculous amount of money, but to her it was worth it.
Stepping out the back door, Danica made several trips to the water barrel out back with buckets, filling her tub with water. Once it was full, she poured in three kettles of water, bringing it to what she knew from experience was the perfect temperature.
Untying her robe, Danica let it fall without a thought to the floor. There would be time to deal with that later as well. Pulling off her undershirt, Danica winced at the smell. She had been sweating lightly ever since she opened, and washing with a cloth, even often, could only do so much.
She cupped her large breasts in her hands, lifting them and letting air circulate under them for a few moments. Her thoughts about Robert had caused her nipples to harden and stick out to their full length, about as long as the tip of her pinky and just as big around. Turning toward the mirror, she looked under them to make sure the heat and sweating hadn't caused any red lines. There was nothing to see, which was a good thing, because any imperfection would have kept her from considering taking her clothes off in front of Robert.
Reaching up, she removed the pins and ties from her hair and shook out her auburn tresses. They fell perfectly straight down to her shoulders, just resting upon them. It was longer than she usually chose to wear it, but when Robert had mentioned he liked it, she had put off trimming it back to her more accustomed style.
Danica's face broke into a crooked smile, and she posed in front of the mirror. She pushed her hips out to the side slightly, raising her arms up over her head and crossing her hands. She blew a kiss to the mirror, then laughed and dropped the pose. She knew she could not compare to her sister Devan's lithe dancer's figure, and perfect, firm boobs, but she had her own assets.
Danica's breasts were much larger than her sister's, and she had just the right amount of curve in her waist and hips to balance them. Her fair skin and freckles set her apart from her sister, and she had been told more than once that her face had the ability to mesmerize a person with its expressiveness.
Slipping off her panties, as she chased away her musing, Danica frowned at the long stubble on her legs, mound, and labia. There was an imperfection that had to be dealt with, if there was any chance of anything happening with Robert tonight. Shaving her legs and pussy was something she had done daily for years, but she had just been very busy in the shop lately. She had been staying open well after dark many days, and had simply been too tired to care.
Danica sank into the tub with a contented sigh. She grabbed her razor from next to the tub, and lifted one leg to where she could reach it. She wanted to get her shaving out of the way so she could relax for a few minutes in the warm water, letting it soak away some of the ache from being on her feet all day.
She shaved her legs with all the speed and skill of someone who has done it daily for so long it has become automatic, requiring little thought. Rising up to her knees in the water, she turned her razor upon the stubble on her mound. Within a minute or two, she was shaven completely bare with only a thin strip on her mound. Danica had always thought of it as an arrow pointing at her clit, showing a denser man where he was supposed to be licking her. A few quick snips with a pair of dainty scissors trimmed her arrow of hair down to a length she liked.
Pulling her knees up, Danica dunked her head under the water. She grabbed a cake of lavender scented soap, which she made herself, and started to wash.
Once she had washed, Danica relaxed back into the tub for a time. She got up at one point and walked, dripping, over to the stove for the last kettle of hot water. It allowed her a few more minutes of soaking before the water started to get a bit too chilly to be comforting.
Danica stood up, feeling her nipples become painfully stiff, and goose bumps popping up all over her skin. The air seemed chilly in the room despite the season, and the stove still burning. She had the oddest sensation she was being watched. Crossing her arms over her breasts, she looked around. There was naturally nothing to see, so Danica shook her head, pulled the plug, and stepped from the tub.
Danica patted her body dry with a towel and went back to her bedroom. She pulled on a clean pair of panties, frilly things that had been made with a fine weave of cotton. The thin strip of hair she left on her mound, and the outline of her labia, were plainly visible through the cloth. She smiled a little wondering what Robert might think of them, and then opened a cedar chest at the foot of her bed.
