Iravi's Travelogue

Kiravi

I sat in the crisp, bright morning air outside Quiktu's hut, already feeling as though my eyes were going to fall from my head with overuse. Quisarlay's spellbook sat in front of me, opened to a new formula that Quiktu and I were attempting to recreate that day.

"You squint worse than I do," Quiktu teased. Meeting another who'd trained in magic, and especially one who'd traveled through the Seleyo, had shaved years off of the old alchemist-turned-medicine-man.

"Because your eyes are twice the size of mine," I grumbled back. My natural curiosity and disdain for careful study were at war, but the curiosity was winning so far. We'd had results - a handful of new spells, a potion or two that I'd managed to brew and swallow without vomiting - and that excitement was driving me.

"And you're a third my age," Quiktu laughed and rattled his quills with friendly mockery. "Now, where is that damned pine oil?" He patted around on the leather mat we'd laid out to shield us and our implements from the cold ground. "You! Boy! Go to the grandmothers and fetch some pine oil," he barked at a half-bhakhuri youth who was busy teasing one of the Kroyu's dogs with a deer bone. The boy yelped and scurried away, yipping dogs on his heels.

Three more weeks had passed. Or was it four? My lovers and I rarely spent days together, swirled up into the many routines of village life. Serina meditated with the elders as a whole and with Tukyo especially before joining the wives each afternoon to prepare meals and fuss over the children. Our, well, 'sensual' exploration of her powers continued some nights, but she seemed drained and taciturn at the end of most days, her thoughts turned inwards. Each of those visions we shared had the same inscrutable theme. A woman, or some glowing object, suspended in a void or a storm. Ten lights, gems, or fires. Serina, but not.

Leotie hunted nearly daily, either alone or with Gohika and the others for larger prey. Afternoons were spent either with Moha the totem-bearer or sparring with me as we'd done before the Kroyu arrived. Childish jealousy flared in me some days - well, to be fair to you dear readers, most days - at seeing Leotie spend so much time with another. But the way she desperately begged me to take her every night spoke to her unchanged devotion to me, so I ignored it. Besides, she was learning a little more every day about these strange people that had taken us in and about the far-too-cold land they inhabited. Some of the other hunters had joined in our sparring sessions, too, and I'm still pleased to say that Leotie and I handily bested them on a routine basis.

What I wasn't pleased about, dear readers -- and neither was Leotie -- was how Serina was changing in that land. Twice more, she'd wandered about the village at night with her skin ablaze, and her dreams were constantly so intense that she thrashed about in her sleep. Once, she even sent waves of that strange green magic outwards from her slumbering form to ricochet about within our hut, and the following morning we'd found new buds and sprouts on the logs and reeds of the walls.

What was she becoming?

"Where's your head, boy? Quiktu teased, his head cocked while staring at me. "With those two women of yours?"

I smirked and played into his question, even though my thoughts were much less lecherous than he was assuming. "Of course. Can you blame me?"

He laughed and shrugged, "No, I suppose not. To be young again...that would be something."

"Perhaps there's a potion in here for that?" I said, prodding the spell book.

"Ha! Maybe. Enough prattle, though. Let's see if we can make this work." We ground a fine spread of herbs in skull-bone mortars with river rock pestles and mixed it all into a slurry with the pungent pine oil. I kept glancing at the spellbook, as did Quiktu, and murmured the appropriate words of power while adding each component. It was a different sensation in my conduit, a slow and smoldering flow of magic instead of a sudden and explosive surge.

If only the professors in Anghu could have seen my focus and patience then, I thought.

With all the components and strands of magic added, we stirred and mixed the prototypical potions, occasionally murmuring another word or two to help the magic fuse with the mundane components. They were both reddish, thick, and gave off sharp and tannic odors. Faint specks of raw magic glimmered in the slurry, and Quiktu's looked far more presentable than mine.

"

Aq-mihi-ay-ha?

" A woman appeared beside us with a bulging waterskin. "

Oa? Oa?

" she gestured with the vessel again.

"Ah, um, one moment," I fumbled for the right word, "

Makacha oa. Makacha oa, tapusee.

"

To my surprise, she smiled shyly and blushed but offered me a drink all the same. As far as I knew, she'd asked if I was thirsty and offered water, and I'd said, 'give water, maiden.' She gave Quiktu a drink as well before blushing again.

"

Hikwa-kun-awak

," she mumbled, "

Mecha

." She looked much like Serina but with dark brown eyes, of course, though the sharpness of her features and a faint, almost purplish hue to her hair made me think that she had some bhakhuri parentage far enough back to be almost unnoticeable. She had the kind of wiry frame that only comes from existing a few meals ahead of starvation. Her braids were interesting, entangled, and enmeshed with each other so that her exceptionally long mane had not a single strand loose, and was decorated with shellfish beads.

Of course, as she hurried away, I couldn't help but imagine what she'd look like with a season or two of good meals.

"You called her an...interesting name," Quiktu smirked at me, still stirring his potion.

"I only said maiden, or young woman...I think?" I said in response. Alongside simple alchemy, Quiktu was also trying to teach me some of the Gavican tongues. I'm pleased to say that, or at least I thought at the time, I was picking it up quite quickly.

"You called her

tapusee

, or rabbit." He grinned and pretended to be very interested in something else. "Something a husband would call his wife."

I groaned, feeling as if Leotie's eyes were somehow already boring into me. "And what was it she called me? Please do not say husband, grandfather, or this may be the last conversation we ever have."

He laughed, almost crowing into the morning air, "No, no, but you are right, of course. That huntress of yours is as possessive as a she-wolf, I'd say. Why she's all right with you having two mates, I'll never know," he murmured.

"Enough, grandfather. What did she say?"

A curious look flickered across his avian face. "She called you a name that many here use for you, young Magus.

Hikwa-kun-awak

," he touched my left arm with a talon, "Man-who-catches-lightning."

It was my turn to blush, "That's not what happened, grandfather."

"By what you've told me, it may as well have," he picked up his vessel, peered close at it, and gave a few curious sniffs. "I think we're just about ready,

Hikwa-kun-awak

."

I grumbled at him but picked up my own vessel. It was just as homogenous as I supposed it was going to get. "Me too. Shall we?"

I'll admit to feeling some trepidation, dear readers, but we'd already made a handful of tinctures with no ill effects to speak of other than headaches. Much like Quisarlay's elixirs, it was foul and glutinous, but unlike them, the results were nearly immediate. The blood boiled in my veins, but instead of the nausea and mind-rattling confusion that normally came from such sudden and feverish heat, I only felt a kind of focused intensity.

I stood, bathed in a cold sweat, but feeling the heat and cold in only a distant way. The world was sharp. The floppy-eared, curly-tailed coyote-dogs moved slower. Steam coiled in languid swirls off of pots, even though the stew boiled furiously.

Quiktu's quills clattered against each other with barely contained energy, "This Quisarlay of yours...she really is a master."

I took a deep breath and found I could speak slowly, despite the energy threatening to rip from me, "She ruled a city and ripped a rebellion to pieces, and managed to craft all of these spells simultaneously."

Quiktu stood, seeming to be even younger than Gohika, "And here, we have cast her spells too, and you had more than a hand gutting that same rebellion, did you not?" He turned to stand beside me, basking in the strange and blazing frigidity of this exotic potion. "I wonder, Man-Who-Catches-Lightning, what else it is that you will accomplish."

Perhaps a week later, I sat in the dim warmth of our hut, peering at the precious symbols in Quisarlay's book to determine what I would next attempt. Serina faintly snored beneath our furs, utterly exhausted after helping the grandmothers midwife a half-Bhakhuri infant into the world. According to the eldest matron, it had been our stockpiled food that had let the young mother carry to term.

Leotie was gods-knew-where, and I furrowed my brow at the thought. Wasn't she the one who had wanted to flee? To strike off on our own once more? I'll be honest, dear readers, in admitting that more than a bit of youthful jealousy was fueling my mood. The hunters were a motley and scraggly bunch but not without a few specimens, and Moha was intriguing, if strange.

"Strange," I grumbled in the gloom between Serina's soft snores. This whole damned town was strange, these people were strange, and this land, with its simultaneous overabundance and deficient magic, was strange. Strangest of all was how my mates spent their days trying to understand this place, yet neither had seemed to dig up anything of substance to tell me. So, I just puttered away with my magic, chopped down trees, fucked my mates senseless, and tried to drink in some sense of normalcy.

Leotie swept in and hesitated, obviously surprised that I was still awake. A reflexive snarl sprung to her lips, but that gorgeous face of hers softened in the next heartbeat. I could feel my own annoyance rise like acid in my throat and disappear just as quickly.

"Thought you'd be passed out drunk or rutting little Serina senseless," she teased but yawned and slumped her shoulders so adorably that I couldn't help but chuckle at her.

"And I thought you'd find any excuse not to be around these people," I riposted but beckoned her over. She glowered, but her heart wasn't in it, and she wriggled under my outstretched arm and rested her head on my shoulder.

"Maybe we could stay. Maybe," she paused, fidgeted, and furrowed her brow again, "maybe we should stay."

I sensed something behind her words and buried in the knots marring her brow and shoulders. But this was Leotie, my inscrutable goddess, and I knew better than to press. She'd tell me her feelings or her fears in due time. Probably while I pounded her into insensate ecstasy, but that would be a small price to pay.

"Serina says we saved their lives," I murmured, pulling her closer and drawing a llama-wool blanket over our shoulders. I smiled down at her softening face, "Or, rather, you saved them."

Leotie blushed but scoffed, "I didn't do all that much."

"Liar."

She chuckled and closed her eyes, burrowing her head into my chest, "They could do so much more here. I...I could teach them, I could help them find more for themselves. I just...I don't know Kiravi," she grumbled and left her thought unfinished.

There was no point in pressing; she'd already blurted out more than was usual for her. "I'm glad you're considering staying, lover," I murmured, pressing my lips into her auburn hair. "We might be able to make a home here. Serina seems to be doing something...meaningful, though I'm not quite sure what it is. And you could spend the next few seasons teaching all of these second-rate hunters how it's done in Anghoret."

"Is that all you think about?" She teased, "And what would you do? Tinker with your little herbs and act like a lazy old man while I do the real work? Ogle those maidens always bringing you water and acorn cakes?"

I feigned mock outrage, "Well, there's certainly something else I'm always thinking about. But when would I have any time to deal with maidens? The two of you are already more than I can handle."

"Liar," she murmured back, molding herself into my side. Her hands drifted across my chest and thighs. Neither of us spoke, listening to the heartbeats in our ears and the constant crackle of the flames in the hearth.

Though I surely seemed relaxed, my mind lurched into a sudden sprint. The thing that I wanted most, or thought that I wanted most, a new home, seemed more likely than ever. Leotie's wanderlust and paranoia seemed to be fading, and I'd found a meaningful way to spend my time. And Serina? Well, Serina seemed the least afraid and uncertain than she had in a long while.

So why had my mouth gone dry and my heart set itself into a gallop within my chest?

Leotie murmured something and shifted into my lap. "Don't make me change my mind, useless man," she rested her head in the crook of my shoulder, her lips gently teasing along the skin of my neck.

"Who says I've made up mine?" I teased back, against my better judgment.

She thumped a fist against my chest, more painful than a playful blow from anyone else, like usual, and gave a teasing bite, "You're not helping, Kiravi. So just shut up and make me yours?" Her eyes were tired, half-lidded, urging me to forget everything else but her.

So I did.

It was late, we were both exhausted, and Serina was asleep just on the other side of the hearth. It wasn't too often that my huntress and I found each other without Serina as a participant or audience, and even less often that we came together so slowly, gently. Leotie tugged her breechcloth aside and coaxed my hardness out from underneath hers, grinding down into my lap while we stared into each other's eyes.

Our lips slowly came together, none of the crashing and battling that so often made up our coupling. I slipped my tongue past her pliant lips, massaging hers, savoring the soft coo she let loose into our shared kiss. She twisted and twirled and twitched her hips in slow motion, teasing me with agonizing delay before finally capturing me inside her waiting depths and easing herself downwards.

She gasped, and I groaned, but both were lost to our never-ending kiss. Even more so than Serina, Leotie felt like she was made for me, opening up to my hardness and clenching tightly around me with every roll of her hips. She was perfectly warm and tight but took me to the root in moments, burying me inside her and holding me there as she shuddered gently in my arms.

I pulled her close, feeling her massive chest crushing against mine, loving how she shuddered gently while I dug my fingers into her muscular rump. We hit a rhythm, as we so often did, except it was subdued and smooth instead of frantic and combative, feeling as if it could simply last forever. It seemed like we barely even moved, just slowly grinding and pressing against each other beneath the blankets. We stared into each other, my brown and her red eyes like endless pools. Our breaths, our hearts, panted and pulsed in rhythm.

"Anywhere...anywhere with you is home," I panted to her.

"Anywhere with wine and maidens is a home for you," she gasped back.

"You and your obsession with maidens," I said, already feeling the heat rise in my loins. "Making me think that you're the one looking at them, hmm?"

"Mmhmm," she moaned, content, grinding and pulsing faster and faster. "Just because I love one maiden...."

"Shut up and cum for me," I smiled, but the breath hitched in my throat. Leotie was perfect, felt perfect, enveloping me in her boiling-hot wetness. "My huntress. My bloody-handed goddess."

Her pert ass slapped down into my thighs again and again, and her lusty growl faded into a rapid-fire series of faint whimpers. "Tell me...tell me I'm yours," she cooed, fighting the urge to clench her eyes shut while staring deep into my soul.

"You're mine," I growled back, fighting the same urge, the fire raging inside me and my balls boiling with heat. "You're mine, Leotie. Mine. Forever."

I could feel her stiffen, start to clench, and squeeze against me. "Fuck...right there, fuck Kiravi," a low growl built in her throat, almost drowned out by the wet slaps echoing between us.

"Mine," my fingers sunk deep into her muscular ass, "Let go. Cum for me." I commanded her, hoping that she was as close as she thought I was. Why? Because I was a few heartbeats from losing all control.

I needn't have worried. Leotie buried her face in my shoulder, nails biting into my shoulders, and I felt the wet warmth of her explosion spread across my thighs. I followed her a moment later, pressing my face into her auburn hair and growling as my balls clenched and I unleashed a torrent of seed into her waiting womb.

We held each other. Sweating. Panting. Clinging to each other in the cold gloom.

"So, you want to stay?" I panted. "After all that talk about running? With how gloomy this place seems to be?"

She paused, swallowed something down, then nodded, "Yes...." She was on the verge of saying something else, but just closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against mine, "Yes, I want to stay. With you. All of us."

***

Serina

Six more weeks had passed. Six weeks of pleasure, with lovers whom I felt I didn't deserve. Six weeks of meditation, magic, and potions. Six weeks of living as I'd done as a girl, cooking, tidying, and treating simple stew and porridge as one feast after another. But also six weeks of donning my armor, sparring with my lovers and the Kroyu hunters, and even wielding one of the swords Kiravi had pried from dead hands.

Six weeks of visions of terror and hunger, voids and goddesses, and increasing memory lapses.

The days were growing longer. It only snowed once more, and the sea breezes grew warmer as the sun graced us with more and more of her gaze. A part of me, I think, the part that remembered my past life in Wakh, wished that those days would never end. We'd found what Kiravi and I had been searching for, a new home. And we'd built what Leotie had been searching for: a new band, the three of us, together, but surrounded by the Kroyu. Kiravi didn't have to run anymore. I was approaching...something.

But, as we've all learned on these journeys of ours, things didn't stay the same for long.

We sat in the elder's hut in uncharacteristic silence, Moha cloistered off to the side as he usually was. Tukyo kept clenching and unclenching his narrow jaw, chewing as much on his thoughts as on the

pakira

stew. Even Quiktu, happy and youthful since our arrival, kept his large and golden eyes turned down and away from us.

"As much as I'm enjoying the stew," Kiravi said, still chewing a bite, "What's got everyone so quiet?"

Leotie's eyes flicked towards Moha, and Quiktu coughed quietly. "It's nearly spring."

Kiravi took another oblivious bite, but I could sense the air curdling with unease, "Usually a reason for celebration, no?"

Moha grumbled something in their tongue, and Tukyo waved him down, "We must travel to the coast for the spring festivals. All of the Gavican tribes will be there, and the Undying One." My breath caught in my throat, the spoon pausing halfway between my bowl and my waiting lips. "And you have a decision to make."

My eyes immediately went to Kiravi. It seemed that the gravity of the mood was finally making its way into his thoughts. "And what decision would that be, grandfather?"

Tukyo blew a long breath out through chapped lips, "If you want to remain in Gavic, you must be a part of a tribe. And, to become part of the tribe...."

"We have to be announced at the spring festivals?" Leotie blurted out, already ruddy skin flushed even further, eyes narrowed.