During supper Ria gathered two silver pieces in her arms and carried them up in front of the dark-skinned server who delivered Kal his food. The woman gave the mage a sly look and she held her hand beneath the sprite.
The mage smirked from where he was sitting, "Don't be mistaken, you will be at her beck and call, not mine."
The woman's smile vanished, replaced by a mask of confusion as her eyes darted between the mage and sprite.
"You will be with him," Ria reassured the woman. "But I will be the one deciding what you two do together."
The waitress looked over at Kal, "I do not understand, why does she speak common when you speak Fazalan?"
"I will explain when you come to my room tonight."
Nodding, she looked back to Ria, "Thank you," she said in halting Common, "I will be looking toward later." Dropping the coins into her pocket she gave the sprite a small bow before leaving to take care of her other customers.
"You forgot to tell her about the tent in the middle of the room," said Ria as she landed on the table.
"Then I guess I need to finish this ale so she can come over and give me a refill," said Kal before taking a large swig from his mug. Setting it back on the table, he started working on the meal in front of him.
"Kal?"
"Hmm?"
"Is it bad that I'm thousands and thousands of years old and the first thing I ever buy is a prostitute?"
The mage spent the next minute trying to not choke on the food in his mouth.
---
Kal stood outside his door waiting for the woman to arrive. While he ate, she made several more stops at his table where he learned her name was Shakri. The unfamiliar style of the name took a few tries for him to get right. Despite being paid to bed him after her shift, she seemed to genuinely enjoy his company and took every opportunity to drift over to his table and chat whether it was for a few minutes or only a few seconds. Kal had to admit that he hung around in the dining area far longer than normal because of her.
He heard footsteps coming up the stairs and saw Shakri poke her head out looking both ways down the hall before seeing him. Smiling, she stepped out into the hallway and made her way over.
"Normally, I just knock," she said, stopping in front of him. "Before we go in, is your little friend really the one paying for tonight?"
Kal chuckled, "Yes, she has a thing for watching me with different women, although, this is the first time we've done something like this."
"Good, then before we go inside..." Shakri stepped into Kal and pressed her lips to his. The mage moved to put his arms around her, but she put a hand up on one side to stop him. As her other hand gathered up the front of her dress the one stopping his arm directed Kal's hand downward and underneath the fabric until it came to rest on her naked mound. He could feel the heat and moisture coming from her sex already. Widening her stance slightly, Kal took the opportunity to slip his hand down and caress her folds while pressing the heel of his hand against the top of her pussy.
The sound of boots coming up the stairs reminded them both they were still in the hallway. Kal pulled his hand away, but not before collecting some of her juices on a finger and dragging it across her clit. By the time the man coming up the steps reached the top, Kal and Shakri had separated and were doing their best to look as though nothing interesting was going on only seconds ago.
Once the stranger disappeared into his room, Kal pulled her in front of the door. "I need you to promise that you not speak of what is inside my room to anyone. As fun as that was," he glanced over where they had been standing a moment ago, "if you can't promise me then I can't let you come in." As the words left his mouth, he suddenly wondered why he had not been this cautious with Tetas two nights ago.
Shakri gave him an odd look but eventually shrugged, "As long as it's nothing illegal I can promise to stay quiet."
Nodding, Kal opened the door to reveal the magical tent taking up most of the room's floorspace. Shakri looked at him in confusion, "There's a perfectly good bed, why set up a tent in your room? Was it not good enough?" she asked, her voice taking on a tone of indignation.
"Come," he replied, putting a hand in the small of her back and guiding her forward, "once you see inside, you'll understand."
Kal pulled the tent flap back and Shakri stopped dead in her tracks. She had been with a few magic users, all significantly older than the young man currently taking too much pleasure in her reaction. Most had done their best to impress her with their abilities before bedding her, but none had an entire room inside of a tiny tent. "How?"
"I can't tell you, unfortunately," the mage replied. "It was gifted to me and I'm still learning all of the things it can do."
Shakri cautiously put a couple of fingers over the threshold, expecting them to pass through an illusion or bump into a magical moving picture with the way the fire in the middle of the large room beyond danced and flickered. Her eyes widened and she jerked her hand back as the scene inside the tent suddenly changed. The man's small, glowing sprite from dinner came flying out of one of the side rooms and flew over to greet her.
"You're here!" cried Ria, grinning. The sprite grabbed the server's hand, tugging her inside. "I know you've been working for some time, so the first thing will be getting you a bath."
"Not that I'm complaining, Ria, but you know there were plenty of times when Perra and I had some fun in the middle of the day when we'd both been working out in the fields."
Shakri and Ria both looked at him with knowing smirks. "Impatient, are you?" asked the sprite.
Kal brought the fingers that had been playing with the dark-skinned woman to his nose and breathed in her scent. "Maybe a little."
"Too bad. You said if I got her for the night you would do whatever I say, and I say she gets a bath, so you will just have to wait."
Kal raised an eyebrow, "You seem to be getting a bit demanding lately."
"You treat me like one of your women, so I'm going to make sure my man gets the best I can offer. Which means you get a woman who isn't soaked in the smell of ale, pipe smoke, and sweat."
"We have a room downstairs for baths," said Shakri, "but the kitchen workers don't like it when people ask this late at night." Her Common wasn't very good but she he was picking up most of what the sprite was saying and hoped to diffuse the growing tension in the room. It didn't help that her curiosity made her want to shake the tiny, winged woman loose and explore the inside of this strange, magical tent.
"No need," said Ria, beaming up at her and pulling her off to the left. "We have a bath in here that I think you are going to love!" She took a moment to glare at Kal, "No peeking."
The mage rolled his eyes but couldn't hide his smile as the sprite disappeared with the dark-skinned woman.
---
"Ready Kal?" called out Ria.