This chapter wraps up the characters stay on Hibreon, with Chapter 9 taking them to Xian. I recommend getting caught up on the previous chapters, or this one won't make any sense. If you're enjoying Saving Hibreon, my other related Literotica stories are Getting Lost and They're All Crazy. Also Angel in Bronze 1 and 2 take place in the future in the same AU.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you're enjoying the story.
-Guinevere A. Hart
***
Sabrael's journal answered a few of Lost's questions. His mission with the Blight world where he'd found her was to observe, record, and report. He'd chosen her because of the unusual circumstances of her birth, and she was little more than an interesting subject for his research. Over six years of long-distance study, Sabrael had begun to care for her.
It wasn't his intention to take her away, but her home and family had been attacked. When her mother set Lost on a raft by herself, Sabrael had panicked. He easily recruited his colleagues to help him rescue the orphaned child. But afterward, he had the herculean task of convincing them to allow him to take her home to Arcadia. The Eloua didn't interfere in raising the children of other sentient species. The Oracles who worked with them came to Arcadia as young adults. What Sabrael wanted was unprecedented.
In the end, he'd won his argument. She had the potential for great power that required a balance with the enlightenment of the Divines. Her strengths could be more effectively cultivated in a peaceful Elouan environment. From there, Lost knew the rest of the story.
Sabrael's journal occasionally referred to a curiosity about the being that had spawned her, but he didn't understand who or what she was. It was Sabrael's belief that the person he'd taken in was a direct descendant of the gods the Eloua worshipped. In nearly ninety years, she had been his subject, his ward, his partner, and his lover, but she had always been his "Divine Responsibility."
She snapped the book shut and spoke to it as if she spoke to Sabrael, himself. "Pfft. You told Dakath I have to know what I am before I can help the ghosts, but you don't even know." In a momentary huff, she folded her arms and stared at the journal and photos as if to chastise them.
Then an idea came to her. To Lost, it was only a year ago that Sabrael had died. To the rest of the multiverse, two centuries had passed. As traveled as the Eloua were, they would have had to encounter a person like her birth mother. She'd ask Araquies about it later.
Feeling a little better about things, Lost packed the book and pictures back into their container, then she went through her own old things from the past. Her extra stash of embroidery thread had rotted and could no longer be used. Her craft box was full of brittle, yellowed paper, dried up pots of paint and glue, rotted fishing line, and sticky tape that had long lost its stick. She did find a few jars of finely powdered glitter in a rainbow of colors.
She held the jars up to the light to admire the sparkling shimmer of her newfound treasure. A devious plan began to form in those glimmering colors, and Lost giggled in anticipation. She snuck back to the room where her lovers lay sleeping. Then she silently slid their bags into the hall where they wouldn't be disturbed by her preparations.
***
Kytia couldn't remember the last time she'd been up to her elbows in a bucket of soapy water. When she really thought about it, this was probably her first time. She grinned as she listened to Lost babble orders at Wyfrost, glad that she wasn't the only one who could be bossy. Taking a break, she pushed a stray hair off her sweaty forehead with her upper arm and sat back on her heels.
Lost fluttered from one surface to another, cleaning furiously. She wanted the ship spit polished to a high gloss before the Sil engineer showed up to make his assessment. Kytia could tell Lost was nervous, probably afraid the engineer would find some reason to take
Luma
from her. "Hey," she tried, "It's okay, Lost. We've got this."
Lost groused back at her. "This me
Luma, nai
dirt clot."
"Dirt
clod"
, Kytia corrected.
Exasperated, Lost blew hair out of her face, then stared pointedly at the floor bucket. Once Kytia finished laughing, she said, "Yes, ma'am."
Wyfrost entered then and shook his head. "Role reversal has my head spinning."
"Poor baby," Kytia remarked with an eyeroll, while keeping her brush in contact with the floor.
He had a crate in his arms and spoke to Lost about it. "This is everything from Pol's room. Do you want to go through it before I take it to storage?"
Kytia paused and turned to look in case Lost needed her. She admired her witch's resolve when Lost latched the lid on the crate. With quiet reverence she said, "Pol
es nai
in these things, Wy. We need a space for the people that live, people we gonna save."
Wy nodded, and with a sly wink at Kytia, he said, "Yes, ma'am."
Then quietly, Lost said, "I not 'ma'am'."
Kytia thought she and Wy had teased too much. Apologies weren't something she was good at, but she'd learned they were necessary in a relationship. It turned out she didn't need to say anything because Lost wasn't hurt.
With a smile, Lost pointed at herself and said, "Ilyana. Me name
es
Ilyana."
Kytia nodded her approval. "Well, you're definitely not lost anymore. Your name is lovely, Ilyana."
Wy asked, "Did you make it up on your own?"
"Nai, me mum and dad called me that."
"Okay, then. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ilyana."
Ilyana laughed, pleased with herself and her real name. She took her dust rag and flitted off to the next room. Just to make sure they understood she was still playing the part of boss, Ilyana briefly stuck her head back through the door and said, "Please, you keep clean up."
When she was gone, Kytia looked at Wy. "I stink at people skills. I'm going to screw up and call her Lost."
"Yeah, just say it in your head before it comes out of your mouth. And if you screw up, well, we both love you. Even if you do stink."
"Fuck off, Wy. Didn't Ilyana give you something to do?"
Wy headed for the door with a mock grumble, "Surrounded by bossy..."
"Bossy what, Wy?"
"Bossy, brilliant, beautiful ladies." He answered with a big dumb grin.
By the time they'd finished scrubbing down the ship, the three of them were hot and getting cross with each other. Kytia had screwed up at least three times and was sick of apologizing. Joking and banter degenerated to terse words accompanied by exasperated sighs and frequent eye rolling.
It all stopped when Wy began to strip. Miffed or not, Ilyana wasn't one to turn down an opportunity for sex, so she started to undress as well. Kytia maintained herself control and demanded, "What the fuck are you doing?"
Wy dropped his undershorts and shrugged. "It's hot as the Infernal Tempest in here. I'm going for a swim."
Ilyana immediately pulled her shirt back on and shook her head. "Oh, fook,
nai."
"She's right, Wyfrost. It's the gods damned artic ocean!"
"Yeah," he stated, "So it should be nice and cold." He bent over his bag and retrieved his rolled-up towel.
Stark naked, Wy headed for the door. "Come with me if you want. Or you can stay here and be hot, bitchy, and crazy by yourselves."
He went out at a jog, and Kytia nearly went after him. "You know what? I'm not taking the bait. Not this time. He always does this. He tries to piss me off, so we'll fight. But I'm not going to play this time. If he wants to go out there and freeze his balls off, let him go."
In their ylf'nim tongue, Ilyana said, "People shouldn't swim by themselves. It's not safe. We should probably go out to the shore at least. Besides," she joked, "If he freezes anything off, he's going to want a healing spell."
Ilyana went to grab a towel for herself and Kytia, then she asked, "You coming?"
Kytia sighed. "Yes. But I absolutely refuse to have any fun whatsoever."
Ilyana had a funny grin on her face as she handed Kytia her towel. "What?" asked Kytia.
Ilyana shrugged,
"Nai."
Wyfrost finally managed to get both Ilyana and Kytia into the water with him. The two ylf'nim women only spent a few minutes, mostly clinging to the frost giant for warmth. His body heat offered a delightful sensation against the icy water. Once back on the rocky shoreline, all their previous irritation with each other was gone.
Ilyana wrapped up in her towel and climbed on a sunbaked rock to warm up. Kytia grabbed her towel to dry off and Wy did the same. She happened to glance over at him and paused, because Wyfrost was suddenly covered from horns to toenails in sparkling multicolored glitter dust. "Uh, Wy, you've got a little something going on there." By "there" she pointed her finger up and down the length of his body.
Wy stared at her for a long moment. Then after glancing down at himself, he tossed his chin towards her and remarked, "I'm in good company, then."
Kytia slowly, reluctantly looked down at her own body. Sure enough, she was also coated in a fine shimmering layer of dust. Both she and Wyfrost looked up at Ilyana who was still perched on her rock. Through a giggle fit, Ilyana announced, "Pretty Wy! Pretty Kytia!"
Kytia felt a bubble of laughter erupt from her own belly. Then she put on a mock glare and declared, "Oh, you're going to end up wearing some of this shit too, girlfriend." Kytia tossed her towel aside and ran for Ilyana's rock.
With a small squeal, Ilyana jumped down the other side of the stone. She tried to scramble away, but Wyfrost was on his way in. With the sea at Ilyana's back, Wy on side, and Kytia on the other, she had nowhere to run.
Ilyana surprised them both when she suddenly dove between Wy's parted legs and popped up behind him. She paused long enough to blow a raspberry at them and sang, "You can no catch me!" Then she made a mad dash for the ship.
She thought she would give a good chase, until she crashed into the Sil engineer who'd come to inspect the ship. The Sil caught Ilyana to help keep her on her feet. Then he stared at Kytia and Wyfrost, both naked and coated in glitter. Baffled, he said, "Uh, wow. Okay, should I even ask what's going on here...or...?"
"Nope," Kytia said, and she didn't offer anything further.
The Sil straightened himself up, smoothed his scales and collected himself. "Right. I'm Cole, and I'm just going to have a look at the
Nephilumen,
