"Aye, we even found pieces of the boar up a tree 'bout forty paces away from the rest. Whatever this beast is it must be huge."
"Damn it! If this thing gets any bolder it'll be our guts hanging off branches."
"The help promised by the Monastery can't arrive here soon enough, our hunters should not be the ones facing this threat."
The grim subject of an unknown monster in the region had most folk gripped and afraid for days now. But despite the gruesome details being shared and prayers of hope murmured under breath, Katya still had to cover her mouth to hide a yawn. She sipped her beer and studied the people gathered around the fire telling tales of the Beast that haunted their nightmares.
The village of Greenbow had congregated at the Hornleaf's property to celebrate and give thanks to the Morninglord for the life of young Kazzyn Hornleaf, only survivor of an attack by the Beast. But the prayers and rituals had been done with hours ago, by this point in the evening this gathering had just become an excuse for the villagers to get drunk on maize beer. Katya's own husband among them. She watched as Vydahl stumbled back towards her from pissing in the bushes and gave a disappointed sigh, he wasn't drunk enough to not fuck her later tonight.
His awkward pawing of her tits were less of a problem a year ago, when they would occasionally meet in the woods for a quick romp pressed against a tree, but she had since gotten pregnant and they of course had since gotten married. Now that her breasts were engorged with milk his pawing was less awkward fumbling and more painful bother.
Katya looked over at the farmhouse where Sythaeryn Hornleaf sat in porch drinking with his fellow hunters. Now there was a man who knew how to treat a woman's breasts. The memories of him caressing her nipples and kissing her neck made her body so warm she had to step away from the fire. A drop of beer escaped from her cup and fell on her cleavage and Katya couldn't help but imagine Sythaeryn drinking it then and there. Sucking on and on and slipping his fingers in...
"Katya, are you listening to me? What do you think?"
She paused and blinked twice confused. Her best friend Thayssa was standing in front of her, brow raised waiting for an answer. "How long had she been there", Katya thought, "what had she been talking about?" The pregnancy had made Katya so horny lately, now even in public the lust was clouding her mind.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"The Brothers coming from Vinrault. Miriam says they arrive tomorrow and she was telling anyone in earshot how she's sure she'll get the honour of hosting them in her home. I was thinking of talking to Father to ask if we can't try to host. The house has been so empty and boring, and rubbing it in Miriam's face would be an added benefit. What do you think?"
"I suppose..."
The rumour mill had been churning ever since word came down that the Monastery was sending Sworn Brothers to all nearby villages and towns to safeguard them while the Beast was still being hunted down. Hosting them could be seen as a sign of favour by the Church and among village busybodies there was no greater prestige. For Katya herself, feeding and cleaning after a pious monk or pimple-faced acolyte couldn't be further from her desires.
"Even if you convince your father, do you really want to play housemaid for however long they're here?"
Thayssa shrugged "Dunno, Miriam says she heard from Rochelle who overhead her husband talking that the Brothers coming to Greenbow are paladin candidates, so I'm picturing young, virile..."
"Wait... paladin candidates? Are you sure?" Katya knew that there were currently only two candidates for a paladin novicehood in Vinrault. The aasimar raised in the Imperial Palace and...
"Grubling!" Katya ran, or at least tried to with her short legs and overgrown stomach, when she saw the two men clad in white habits walk towards the Hornleaf farmhouse. The tall one with blue skin looked startled and confused at her approach but the other one gave a wide smile and stepped forward with open arms. The tight, warm embrace made Katya's eyes well-up. Apparently lust was not the only emotion her pregnancy had exaggerated.
It had been a couple of years since she saw her milk-brother last. Ever since he had officially become a candidate for paladinhood he was almost never permitted to leave the monastery. She took a step back to look at him, he'd not changed much. A bit taller and more muscular but otherwise the same she'd remembered. White skin, black hair, dark brown eyes and that smile. It revealed his dimples and angled his face in all the right ways, and made the otherwise ordinarily plain human quite handsome. She gave a hard punch to his shoulder. "You still look like a corpse, don't they have windows up there?"
He kissed the top of her head. "I missed you too Kit."
Behind him the blue-skinned aasimar was being escorted into the Hornleaf manor. Katya nodded her head in its direction. "Don't you have some sort official business to take care right now?" He shrugged. "Nah. SΓga can handle the meet and greet by himself. Now where's the beer?"