While the Fighters and their Ranger kin plotted the destruction of a small tribe of barbarians, Talla and Yua were climbing down a ladder, plotting out a map of the sewer and drainage system of the Temple of Gern.
"Doesn't smell quite as bad as Tina said," Yua tried not to wrinkle her nose.
Talla tilted her head up, intending to give Yua a look of scorn, but found herself staring at the other girl's bare genitals instead. With a roll of her eyes, she continued climbing down the ladder.
"Do you really want to go without underwear down here?."
Yua might have shrugged - it was hard to tell from just the sounds and Talla didn't feel any particular desire to look up at Yua right now.
'Maybe later,' she thought. 'After a shower.'
Maintaining her Service schedule had been a tough decision for Talla. Certainly, easing off would have left her more time and energy for mapping out the vast, forking tunnels underlying the Temple. On the other hand, she didn't want to arouse any suspicion. There was, firstly, the danger that her superiors might find out what she was really up to. Secondly, less dangerous but more likely, they might begin to think her loyalty to the Temple was failing. Talla had the distinct feeling that the women of Form had been watching her ever since the day they'd made Zhair'lo whip her.
'But I got away with meeting him, didn't I?' she thought. 'Beat you then, you heartless bitches.'
Yua hadn't gone out to Serve this night, but Talla had, and she still had the faint feeling that a bit of semen might be dripping out of her.
They had all accepted there were sacrifices to be made, and if one of those sacrifices was walking around torchlit tunnels late at night with breasts sore from squeezing and legs weak from being held in the air so long, then Talla would gladly be the one to pay that price.
"Follow the yellow chalk marks on the left wall," Talla explained. "We'll head down to the main output pipe and than work our way up toward Pussy's domain."
Yua was still standing by the ladder, looking back up the long shaft that led up to the laundry rooms.
"Why do you suppose the sewers are so deep?"
"What?"
"The ladder," Yua pointed upward. "It's really long."
"The whole system has to slope downhill to prevent backups," Talla shrugged a guess. "Maybe that's just how deep it needs to be for everything to flow down from Sweetness."
Yua marched alongside Talla, looking for the chalk marks on the walls.
"Naw," she said. "Think about it. Sweetness is already way up high on the hill."
Talla tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Okay," she admitted. "We know there are some underground rooms throughout the Temple. They must need room for those."
"That makes sense," Yua said slowly, not quite agreeing.
Now that she knew where she was going, and was far braver for it, Talla was able to lead Yua to the main output trough within very short order.
"The smell does get worse."
"Yes," Talla agreed, looking across a wide canal. "This is the largest tunnel in the place. From here we go up about thirty metres and cross a bridge."
"Why do we cross?"
"Because the information V'shika gave us makes it look as though the Synergist room is on the left side of Sweetness, and Endowment is on the right."
"How do you keep your sense of direction down here?" Yua worried, hugging close to Talla.
"I just do," Talla shrugged. "The chalk helps."
"Yes, Mistress."
Talla could see that Yua was getting worried, but that 'Mistress', thrown in with all the usual banter, was a sign of Yua's faith.
'She's not doing this because she thinks it's a good idea,' Talla realized. 'She's doing it because I think it's a good idea and she trusts me.'
The other point, however, was that the only one who really needed to be down here was Talla. She was the one with the 'direction sense' and the wherewithal to navigate the subterranean maze. Tina, or Yua, or whomever else she brought along, was there to keep her company. Oh, she could pretend to herself it was for safety, that two women in the sewers could cover one another in case of injury. But, when she had an honest moment, Talla admitted she just didn't want to be down here alone.
'It's gods damned dark is what it is.'
Talla squeezed her body along the wall and felt a twinge in her hips that made her wince.
"Spanker?" Yua asked.
"What?"
"The way you're walking," she clarified. "Somebody spanking you tonight?"
"No," Talla rolled her eyes. "Just one of those guys who likes the same position over and over again."
"Ah."
"Here we are," Talla pointed to a stone bridge hanging over the canal.
Whoever had designed the crossing had meant it to last. It was an arch made of solid stone blocks, each one a wedge with the whole assembly held together by a central keystone. The rest of the sewers might seem to be arranged haphazardly, but the bridge had been done by a woman with her head on straight.
'Or, possibly, a woman who never, ever wanted to come back down here again.'
"No danger of this thing falling into the water," Yua remarked.
"No," Talla agreed.
They began their march up the left bank of the free flowing trough.
"Where are we now, you think?"
"Under the Goddess' domain," Talla replied. "We'll follow this up a couple hundred metres into Sweetness and hopefully find a branch that takes us farther left."
Yua gulped.
"We'll get back in time, though, right?"
"Oh, yes, don't worry. The important thing is being able to find our way back to Endowment. But there's only this one bridge, so that shouldn't be too bad."
They walked on in silence.
"Kinda funny, isn't it?" Yua asked.
"What's that?"
"Did you ever think finding your way back to Zhair'lo would mean crawling through this muck?"
"Gotta hit the bottom before you come out on top?" Talla asked. "Is that how it goes?"
"Guess so."
"I think I hit bottom when they made him whip me. Can only go up from there."
Another lengthy silence.
"What was it like, when you saw him again?"
Talla hesitated. On the one hand, everything about sexuality she had ever been taught by the Temple made openness with other women mandatory. She should be willing to tell Yua every detail, so they could learn from each other. These were Temple teachings, which made Talla suspicious, but she had no intention of discarding the few good lessons the Temple offered out of juvenile contrariness.
On the other hand, the relationship she had with Zhair'lo was special. There was an undefinable emotion, a feeling for which she had no word, which made it separate. Talla felt she could still go out and Serve the boys the Temple sent her to Serve. She could still enjoy their penetrations, just as Zhair'lo most assuredly enjoyed the girls he was with. These held no meaning to her. But the meshes with Zhair'lo and the way she felt about him were something else.
The conflict occupied Talla's mind for so long, there was time for Yua for to make a small coughing noise.
'In a way,' Talla thought, 'I owe it to you to say something on the matter.'
Yua, Tina, Zoe and everyone else in her conspiracy had put their asses on the line for her, after all.
"It was a bit crazy," Talla said. "Something electric happened when we touched."
"Electric?"
"A bolt of lightning, literally," Talla went on. "Threw us on our backs. Blew out the fire."
"Wow. What is with you two?"
"I -," Talla stammered, stopping suddenly at the bottom of a short series of steps, "I really don't know. But there's no one else like him, no mesh like the ones with him. I feel ... I feel ..."
Yua held her torch high as Talla turned to face her, a completely lost look on her face.
"There's a closeness," Talla fumbled for words. "It's a feeling where I want to have sex with him, but sex isn't enough. I want - I want him to be deeper inside me than sex can go."
Talla turned around and started walking again. It was a moment before Yua followed.
