“How many can you recall?” Thendra purrs.

I’d spent the last hour or so rambling on to her about the words and phrases of the Fae-Song I’d begun learning the shape of, and this was her first question.

“Um… I… I didn’t count?” I reply, suddenly self-conscious.

She considers, but doesn’t add anything.

“But… I don’t know how many are… like… true.” I huff.

She perks up at that, a little twitch I’d learned to watch for when Thendra was suddenly paying closer attention.

In the week since our first sex, the only other real attention she’s aimed my way was to bring me food, make sure I bathed every evening, and to… um… eat more of my Amwella. After our first night I’d welcomed her touch and kept urging her to take more and more of me. It… It felt amazing and drowned the little parts of me that chafed at this new life.

She seemed pleased and surprised that first morning, when I’d woken with a fully repaired Amwella core. Since then she seemed just as eager to embrace me multiple times a day.

But… Other than that she’s just… left me to work through this book. It’s a thick tome, but I’ve read through it three or four times by now. When I’d finally gotten the courage to ask if I could read something else, she’d sat down and asked me to explain what I’d found.

So here I am, hoping that she’ll be satisfied enough to let me read something else.

“My mother told me that true Fae words, spoken in understanding and with emotions that match them will make my songs more real.” I clutch at her sudden interest. “The ones I know are mostly of change, and hiding!”

She leans over onto one arm to study me. “What can you change?”

“Um… Well, the change mostly lets me… eh… sing back into this shape. I had to learn it to complete my body.”

“Ah. What else can it change?”

I sag, feeling her disappointment. “Nothing. Just me. They’re… kind of… just me. Not like my name but a… instructions. A map of myself. It lets me heal more easily.”

“Hm.” She murmurs. “And the other? Hiding?”

I nod. “I ask the world to help me go unnoticed. It’s strongest in the forest.”

“I wondered how you avoided my Reaver’s attention till you were already upon us.”

“Mhm! You’d have never caught me if I had decided to run!” I nod, a little pride bubbling up. “I… I don’t know how good it would be here though. In this desert city.”

“What words would you like to test?” She taps the book.

“Oh! Um…” I flip through the pages, thinking furiously. “I have a few that… that I was thinking about trying tonight, actually. Next time we… um…”

She quirks an eyebrow at that.

“You're just…” I don’t fight the blush, or the little grin that rises. “You’re always asking me to sing during sex.”

“What would it do?”

“I don’t know for sure!” I giggle, “I won’t… Fae song is like anything else. I’ll have to use it to even begin to understand it well.”

Thendra hums, considers. “Will I begin to understand it as well? Be able to identify what it’s doing?”

“Hm?” I glance up, see… careful worry? So I quickly add. “Yes! That’s how this human learned them. It’s… Yes. So long as you're trying to.”

She nods, and seems unbothered now. So I relax.

“Leave them for later then.” She reaches out, stops my page turning. “What other words can we begin to learn?”

And so Thendra has me sing out and piece together possible meanings for these new words.

We started sitting for hours and hours at the smaller table, working together. Eventually she cleared off her desk and had me sit there with her. She would take notes and compile lists. Of words and phrases she wanted me to try, ones I couldn’t possibly decipher ‘in time’, and ones we thought I was grasping at.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I’m so… consumed by it. By her. By the routine she lulls me into.

Occasional morning sex before food, then work until lunch. Sometimes sex again, if we’d made good progress. Work until the evening meal. Then sex and a bath before sleep.

And slowly… Thendra smothers my aching for the forest. For my old life… even for my freedom. My desire to sing becomes intermingled with the longing for her to command it.

She’s breaking me. Or already has. And I’m glad to help.

I… I hope my mother never sees me like this.

“We’re going out today.” Thendra purrs as I begin to settle at her desk.

“Out?” The word… doesn’t make sense. Has no place in my life. Out?

She hums a growl and walks to the opposite side of the table. “Our work here is good. But not fast enough. We need to get those three words into your songs.”

She taps some notes, ones she seemed the most eager to have me practice these past few days.

Fear, Pain, and… ugh human words can’t convey their depth and subtleness. Especially this last one. We simply called it Spite. I’d only seen them mentioned once, a jumbled scrawling at the bottom of a page. I hadn’t expected to be able to form them well, but… they’d felt so familiar…

All ugly words, and I couldn’t help but wince at them. In my practice songs I’d always ended up spitting blood and bile. Thendra had been careful from the start to always command them directed elsewhere, making sure they were never directed at her or myself.

Their effects could always be seen, but not… it’s hard to explain. They aren't right yet. I don’t grasp their depth, and I’m kind of glad about that. But… Thendra is hungry for me to weave them into songs that could be used on command to a full effect.

“We’ve heard no word or whisper from the Matron since Voe and Zitra’s visit.” She murmurs, “And I’d like to know if their library contains texts that can assist this.”

That runs my blood cold.

“But… what if they try to–” I stammer.

“Then the entire city will know her word is worthless.” She cuts me off. “Bonds will be shaken, or shattered if she violates our peace. She’ll not risk centuries of careful work for one Fae, even one so dangerous as you Lyra.”

And then she takes me through the city. I’d expected her to bring the other women. A sort of honor guard of protection. But… she doesn’t.

“If the Matron truly wishes war on us, we’ll need speed, not strength. I’ll get us out.” She assures me.

That doesn’t help my anxiety as the dry air of the desert cities' brimstone and jade pathways pass by us, as strange beings of various shapes crowd the streets.

She’d not given me more to wear than usual either. Just a clean shawl and underthing. I can’t help but shudder and shake as brumble flesh races across my skin as we move through more crowded areas.

There is such a variety of people though! All types of skin tones and weird hair things and even some horns and claws. Once, a woman with eyestalks passes near us, but she doesn’t even look our way.

Most ignore us, some give Thendra a quick glance or nod, but others… I can feel their gaze wash over me. Examining me, even… well it feels like some considered worse things. I could swear some could even see my Amwella, maybe even the curses that pierce it.

But eventually we’re passing down a large stairwell, and I realize the city is much much larger than I’d thought. Huge caverns and winding tunnels seem to lead in all directions. If it wasn’t for the past week or more confined to Thendra’s room and home I’d probably be having a bit of a panic at it all.

Instead I have my panic spike as we take a side passage and end up in a very nearly deserted corridor, down farther I can see it open up and just make out a huge set of slightly ajar doors. Each bearing half a symbol, an image of some androgynous creature with far too many eyes.

“Lyra,” Thendra purrs, lays a hand on my head and kneels to match her jade eyes to mine.

“Mhm?” Is all I can whisper.

“What are your instructions?”

“Don’t talk unless directly spoken to, but look to you to see if I’m to answer.” I squeak. “Ask if… If I need to sing. But only quietly and to calm myself. No big magic.”

“And if things go poorly?”

“We’ll leave.” I repeat back her commands. “You’ll snatch me up and run if we have to go fast. I’ll try to be small and not limit your movement.”

“And if we get separated?”

“I–” she’d not spoken to me about that. Not even–

“We won’t.” She purrs a smile and rises. “Don’t attempt to wander off, little Fae.”

I nod furiously, the surprise answer to the unexpected question shocks me out of my little spiral.

Then she’s moving, and I scurry to follow.

The doors are huge, easily twice Thendra’s height. The symbol’s eyes sparkle and entrance me with fear. Each is empty, but the void seems to stare back at me.

She doesn’t even hesitate, just moves to the large space between the open door and the closed, and steps inside, I follow.

I’m instantly hit with a sweet smell as my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness. Inside is big, and after half-a dozen feet the hard stone floor gives way to what looks to be a very very soft rich purple carpet. At least a dozen stairs and side tunnels lead away and out.

Thendra has stopped, waits patiently. I begin to fidget.

Then there is a call, and a woman is rushing down one of the steps. She’s barely taller than me, wearing a dress of blue scales over dark skin. Deep turquoise eyes shine from both her young face and a dozen eyestalks.

“Greetings!” She grins up at Thendra, coming to an abrupt halt three feet in front of us.

“I’m here to reclaim a debt.” Thendra purrs down.

“Oh! Okay!” the little woman tilts her head, each eyestalk moving with the motion, “Which member should I call for this? Or do you have a token for payment?”

“Voe, or Zitra if she’s not available.” She looks past her, “I’ve won unrestricted access to your library.”

That makes the little woman purse her lips. “I… Don’t think I can…” A pause as she thinks. “Give me a moment, please?”

Thendra rumbles, a growl of acknowledgement.

The woman steps back, turns, and scurries off down an entirely separate side passage.

Uncomfortable silence passes. I continue to fidget. Thendra just stands, seemingly unbothered. But… I can see her little tells, and can almost feel her tension. We’re in a predator's lair, and she’s ready to become violence and speed at any moment.

It… somehow comforts my own terror and slows my drumming heart. She’ll take care of you. She’ll not leave you behind.

A few eternities pass, then we both catch running footfalls as the blue-eyed woman comes back into the room. All in a huff.

“Thendra of The Thirteen?” She grins through a few recovered breaths.

Thendra nods.

“Right this way.”

She leads us through winding passages. At the end we arrive at another set of doors, these just simple wood with subtle embellishments. The little woman opens the doors and motions for us to follow as she steps inside.

Past her is… well… a big scary paradise of knowledge. A cavern as large as that entry room filled with endless shelves of books and scrolls and maps and paintings and–

“Is there anything I can send for you?” The woman interrupts my wander, “Refreshments, or such?”

Thendra steps past her and observes the room. “A catalog or basic layout. Directions to your private collections.”

“Oh! Um…” The woman fumbles, then recovers “Of course! Right this way.”

She leads us over to a tall desk that holds a single giant book on top, with dozens of scrolls kept on little shelves beneath.

“This is our logbook, and these..” She motions to the scrolls, “Are the catalogs!”

“Hm…” Thendra turns. “And the private and restricted sections?”

She squirms, “I… eh… don’t have access to them myself. So um…”

Another purring growl.

“An escort will be along shortly with the keys and such. Will help you find whatever–”

“Are the vows of your Matron so cheap, little watcher?”