Maya tied a bunch of fresh heather to the end of her broomstick, the wooden handle soft with age, and began sweeping the floors of the Traveler's Inn and Tavern. She hummed while she worked, and when she brushed over thresholds she muttered the words her late mother taught her:
see wicked out,
show worthy in,
as outside, so within.
Dustmotes swirled through the air, dancing with the breeze that filtered in through open windows. Rhoda and Zale, her two darling cats, watched her from the sunspots where they laid. "Excuse me, please," Maya said softly to them. "I'd like to sweep the floor there now." The cats yawned and stretched before moseying off to find another place to nap. Maya opened the front door and swept the last of the dirt outside, careful not to soil the comfrey and dill that bordered the pathway.
When the broomstick fell from her hands and clattered on the ground, she did not stoop to retrieve it. Instead, her gaze was fixed on the depths of the woods that enshrouded the tavern. She smiled when at last she saw Zephyr running towards her, knowing Corbin wasn't far behind. "Hello good boy," she cooed as she dropped to her knees to hug her four-legged friend. His kisses were sloppy and she giggled as she tried half heartedly to push him away.
"It seems you hardly need these herbs," Corbin joked as he came into view. "You already have a lover right in front of you!" He smiled, but Maya could see that it was feigned.
"Ah, yes," she nodded as she stood. "I can end my search here and now, live blissfully with the love of your dog, never to be harassed by the sovereign king again."
"Oh don't be rude," he chastised. "Zeph is more of a wolf than a dog; those terms are hardly interchangeable." Maya rolled her eyes before finally picking up her broom. "Are you ready to get cooking, anyway?" Corbin asked her.
"I certainly am," she said. "Shall we?"
Corbin and Zephyr followed her inside, through the mess hall and into the kitchen. The hearth was already alight with flames that licked the underbelly of the cauldron. Corbin looked in to see the oils shimmering from the heat. "Something phallic?" he turned to her to ask. Maya held up her broomstick with a crooked grin. Corbin's jaw dropped for just a moment before he regained his composure. "That'll do," he nodded. He dumped his satchel of herbs into the pot and stepped back to give her space. "My mother suggested you stir three times counter clockwise, then four times clockwise."
Maya stepped hesitantly up to the cauldron and dipped the handle of her broom in. She stirred it just as Corbin's mother said. When she pulled it out it was coated in the infused oils.
"Ready to fly?" Corbin asked her.
Maya smiled and tried to hide her nerves. "You'll stay with me, right?" she asked.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said tenderly, resting his hand on the small of her back. "I'll follow you to your chamber."
Maya pulled a leg of lamb from the ice box and handed it over to Zephyr. "That'll keep him busy for a while," she said. "Ok I guess this is it." She held the broom in front of her with both hands as she walked the hallway to her room. The oils had dripped down the handle and soaked into the wood. She paused at her doorway and turned back to look at Corbin, who had a curious expression on his face. "This will work, right?" she asked.
"I swear on my family name," he said, his eyes full of earnestness. Maya nodded and walked forth to her bed. She looked back over her shoulder at him before unbuttoning her dress from hem to hem. "Should I..." Corbin started.
"No, please stay," she insisted. Without letting her dress fall from her shoulders she climbed on top of her blankets and lay on her back. Corbin couldn't take his gaze away from the hills and valleys of her body, though he felt her eyes scrutinizing his face. "I'm nervous," she admitted quietly.
Corbin came to his senses and looked at her as a gentleman ought. "No need to be nervous," he said. "Close your eyes, relax the muscles in your face and jaw, feel your body grow heavy and sink into the bed." In a bold move, he wrapped his hand around hers and helped her hold the broom. "You are not your body, nor are you your mind. These are only tools which you control to serve your higher Self." He guided her hand lower, lower, until the soft aged wood of the broom rested on the apex of her thighs. Her breath hitched as the oil slicked handle began to sink between her spread legs. Corbin leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "Delight in this," he said, as he helped her ride her broomstick. "Let your soul soar, and find the one with whom you can settle."
A warmth and buzzing sensation began to spread throughout her body, as if the very atoms that made up her flesh were moving with such speed that soon she would completely fall apart. Yet, the feeling wasn't unpleasant, and she found that the moans which escaped her lips were beginning to sound far away and ethereal. Corbin was enraptured by the flush that rose to her cheeks, and the way her eyes rolled back into her head when he stroked her at a particular angle. His breathing was as heavy as hers, and he was reluctant to stop even when she began to slip into a daze. Eventually, her muscles relaxed completely, and she was transported to a world in which time and space are no obstacles. Corbin let go of her hand and stepped back, admiring her body sprawled out in such a wanton way.
Maya's astral body rose up through the cracks in the ceiling until it reached the open sky. She let the breeze carry her in whichever direction it was going, and revelled in the feeling of being airborne. She floated above the tree tops and looked down into their crowns of green. On the pathway which wound through the thickest parts of the forest, she sensed more than saw a small group of travellers on their way to her inn. Her soul was too light to worry, and she found herself smiling though her face held no form. A sense of knowing overcame her, and she twisted and twirled with the wind as if rejoicing with dance. There was a man among them that could easily reach her heart, a fact that seemed to have bloomed inside her from a seed already planted there. She felt dazed and unhurried as she continued to soar, for surely the universe brought him to her at precisely the right time. She would enjoy right now, and come back to her senses after she'd had her fill of flying.
Corbin was interrupted from pleasuring himself to the image of her by the sound of loud banging on the tavern door. Zephyr began barking loudly, so Corbin hurriedly fixed himself enough to welcome the travellers inside. "Quiet, Zeph. Go lay down," he said as he rushed through the mess hall. When he opened the front door, three young men about his age but much more robust in stature stood before him. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, hoping the bulge in his pants was unnoticeable. "Um, hello," he managed to say. "Welcome to the Traveller's Inn and Tavern. Please come in." Corbin stood aside and held his hands out in invitation.
As they entered the tavern Corbin noticed that they all had the tattoo behind their ear which marked them as the king's guardians - an elite group of men and women from the citadel rumored to have access to Deep Magic, which is naturally stored at the center of the earth. "You have food, I presume?" one of the men asked.
