She walked over and leaned against the counter next to him, looking around at the three other people in the commissary before saying, "I see you're actually busy now."
"Window shoppers," Jaq replied with a sneer. "Unlike your group, they don't actually ever buy anything. Wasting my time while they just browse."
Jaq didn't bother to keep his voice down, but apart from a few quick glances with a couple frowns, the others didn't say anything. Beth assumed they had found out that speaking against the shop owner in his own domain was a one-way ticket to a weeklong ban. She shook her head before returning her attention to Jaq, finding him giving her a slight frown, his eyes narrowing a bit.
"What?" he asked.
"We need supplies," she replied.
"Okay," he said, still staring at her.
With a sigh, she said, "a couple packs of rations, another length of rope, a spare canteen, and something that acts as a ward for camp. Do you have anything like that?"
"Hmm, I'll check what I have; the other items are not difficult," Jaq replied, disappearing into the back through the right door. Beth narrowed her eyes before turning her back to the counter and watching the others in the room. The other three were basically ignoring her, or just not interested, but she saw a bunch of surreptitious glances being thrown Blood's way. She supposed a very tall, very beautiful woman with wolf ears, a mane, and claws would attract a little attention.
"Here," Jaq said right behind her, Beth not jumping at all this time. She had heard the near-silent swish of the door and knew he had returned. She turned around to see what he had brought, finding several packs of rations, some rope, a couple canteens, and a handful of small objects on the table. "Extra fire starter, water purifier, and a small tester that can detect simple poisons."
"And what's this?" Beth asked, picking up one of nine identical items that looked like a two-feet long stake with runes engraved into it.
"Warding array," Jaq replied. "You place the stakes in a ring around your campsite and activate them with mana. They provide a very simple barrier that will prevent someone or something from wandering in, but won't withstand more than one or two powerful attacks. It also has an alarm function, alerting you when anything hits the edge of the barrier."
"How much?" Beth asked, looking at everything on the counter.
"Eight golds," he replied.
"Here," she said, making the coins appear. Jaq swept his hand over the coins and made them disappear before setting the items to the side. "Also, can we get some more clothes? I think you'll have to measure Blood, but we should get a few extra sets." She said the last part while glancing at Blood, who had walked over while Beth was making the purchase.
Blood simply walked over to the measuring device as it unfolded, well familiar with the process at this point. It took only a few moments to get her full scans, and a few moments after that Jaq had two stacks of clothes on the counter for them. Blood walked over and gestured to Beth's underwear, where she had both panties and boxers, and Jaq, with a roll of his eyes, produced the same for the wolf as well. They paid a handful of silver for the new clothes before grabbing the rest of their stuff and walking out. Beth remembered the admonishments not to flaunt their necklaces, so they waited until they were down the hall and out of sight before making the purchases disappear.
"You want to go down today, or wait?" Beth asked Blood.
"Wait," the wolf replied immediately. "You should spend some time with Sabs. And we should study."
"Okay," Beth replied with a shrug, thinking that she really should spend some more time with Sabs.
With that thought in mind, she made her way back up to the library, Blood trailing behind silently as usual. She picked up one of the tablets at the front for reference, using it to identify several books that she needed. She wasn't just after a runes primer, but also several of the books on the list Tazeen had given her, all of which, it turned out, were available as either hardcopy or digital to rent. She browsed through the tablet and found, even more conveniently, that she could request a digital copy of any work be available to her room, meaning not just her wallscreen but any personal device in her room could bring up the material.
After requesting everything she needed, and losing track of Blood, though she could guess where the lupine woman wound up, with Soph still in the library, she decided it was time to study. She left and made her way down to the underworks yet again, a little annoyed at all the up and down movements that day. She was done with all those movements for now, however, settling down on the couch in the living room of the suite to read. When the information had said personal devices could access the books, that apparently also included communicators, as she had the option to pull up the books in a window somewhere within her field of view.
She started on the basic introduction to runes she had picked up first, not expecting to become an expert overnight, but still hoping to get a bit of a foundation over the next few hours. It turned out, runes were harder than she had initially thought, making her all the more impressed not just with Lyrissa, but with Soph as well. Her younger sister had taken to the medium like a fish to water, and Beth was going to have to spend many long hours of study and practice to catch up.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
She put a few of those hours in that day, still reading when Sabs showed back up in the middle of the evening. Beth hadn't even noticed the time flying by, but paused to greet her girlfriend and help her in making dinner. There was no sight of Blood, but that was far less of a problem now, especially since they both had communicators. Beth shot her a message and got an immediate response that Blood wouldn't be returning to the room at all that night so they shouldn't wait up. After telling her not to get too carried away, she informed Sabs they wouldn't need to cook for Blood, to which the shorter woman replied, "So we have to cook for what, five tonight, instead of eight or nine?"
"We don't eat that much," Beth huffed, to which Sabs replied by merely looking down at the two full meals worth of food in Beth's hands she was about to heat up. "Okay, maybe we do eat a bit more than usual."
"I'm afraid what more than usual would be if this is how you define 'a bit'," Sabs replied with a shake of her head.
"You’re not calling me fat, are you?" Beth asked with narrowed eyes, though she couldn't quite pull off the angry look as the corners of her mouth tried to twitch upwards.
"God no, you're amazing, Beth," Sabs laughed, caressing Beth's lean, muscular stomach through her shirt. "If eating like that gets you a body like this, scarf as much down as you can."
"I think it's the thousand of hours of fighting powerful beasts and leveling up that got me the hot body," Beth replied while tapping her chin, eliciting a laugh and a little hip bump from Sabs.
"So, what were you doing today? It's odd you were the first one back, even though I was a little later than usual today," Sabs asked.
"Well, we didn't go anywhere," Beth replied as they finished the first part of their meal prep. "We went up and down through the Hall a few times, then I settled on the couch to read for the rest of the day."
"What's got you so interested you even forgot food?"
"Runes," Beth replied with a sigh. "It's apparently a really good idea to learn them, so I got a basic book that I can view on my communicator. I spent the whole day reading through maybe the first half of that. Might have been a little more, wasn't really keeping track."
"John's had me look at some runes, too," Sabs commented. "It was more in an effort to up my Lockpicking than anything, but I've learned a lot so far."
"Oh, did you ever get that box I found open?" Beth asked as they moved into the living room with their food.
"Oh, yeah, there was a bunch of silver coins and a small gem inside," Sabs replied. "I sold the gem for two gold coins to Jaq. Helped me get my new breastplate earlier than I otherwise would have."
"I'm glad it helped," Beth said, sitting by Sabs's side on the couch as they started eating. Despite eating more than Sabs, Beth was the first to finish, sitting back and sighing before letting out a loud belch.
"Beth!" Sabs exclaimed, though there wasn't any heat in it.
"Sorry," Beth replied, also clearly unapologetic.
"Do you want more?" Sabs asked.
"Nah, I made enough," Beth replied, trying to get up to help with the dishes but getting pushed back down by Sabs.
"I've got it, Beth," she said.
When Sabs returned to the couch, Beth grabbed her and pulled her into her lap, to which Sabs protested, "Beth, stop. I still have to shower."
"Don't care," Beth replied, kissing Sabs’s neck as the older woman stopped wriggling and sighed, allowing Beth to keep going.
"I stink," Sabs muttered.
"Like your smell," Beth grunted back, slipping her hands under Sabs's top while kissing the side and back of her neck.
Sabs let her go for a while before pushing her back, saying, "I can see you're wound up, but let's at least move to the bathroom."
Beth didn't reply, instead standing up with Sabs in her arms, carrying the squawking girl into the bathroom. Beth set her on the counter for just a second before making all of her clothes and underwear disappear. She then grabbed Sabs's shirt, which she was in the process of taking off, pulling it off while kissing her girlfriend's torso. She then lifted Sabs up by the hips, grabbing the waistband of her pants and sliding them down, managing not to get her underwear at the same time. She kissed Sabs's legs on the way down, Sabs giving a small moan when Beth's lips brushed her thighs before she refocused and unclipped her own bra. As Beth stood and tossed Sabs's pants to the side, Sabs hopped up and quickly stripped out of her own underwear, not wanting Beth to get too distracted.
She dodged Beth as the younger woman came in for a kiss, grabbing her hand as she laughed and led the way into the shower. Sabs turned the water on extra hot, and the two spent plenty of time thoroughly washing each other before rinsing off. Sabs wasn't able to escape Beth a second time, the taller woman grabbing her and pulling her into a deep kiss, caressing her small, well-muscled back before focusing on squeezing her small, plump butt. Sabs leaned into the kiss, groaning appreciatively at Beth's efforts on her rear end, which she was enjoying quite a bit.
She eventually broke off, getting some air but leaning against Beth as the younger woman continued kneading. "That feels really good, Beth," Sabs murmerred.
"It does feel really good," Beth replied with a chuckle.
"Let's get dried off," Sabs sighed.
"Shower has that function," Beth laughed, triggering the dry function of the shower. That bought her more time without them having to move, but Sabs eventually forced them to get out and finishing the last bit of drying with a towel.
From there, they moved into the bedroom, with Beth placing Sabs on the bed before getting on top of her. Sabs didn't mind in the least, welcoming Beth and her attentions as the taller woman lavished her with love. Sabs did get her own back as well, having come to enjoy Beth knelt down overtop of her, reaching up to play with her large breasts while she licked aggressively. It took them quite a long time to get it out of their system, proving that it wasn't just Beth's long absence that had had them horny the day of her return. They did eventually settle down to sleep, much content, though Sabs did blearily complain that they should probably shower afterwards instead of before.
------------------------------------------------------------------
They were up bright and early the next morning, with still no sign of Blood returning. Beth wasn't worried, knowing that there was little that could challenge the wolf, and that they had two forms of guaranteed instant communication that they could always use to get in touch. Sabs grumbled again a little as they got in the shower together, though the grumbling definitely stopped when Beth distracted her with a very deep kiss, putting her hands to good use as well.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Sabs asked as they dried off.
"I'm going to chill," Beth replied firmly. "I think I'll wring some time out of Baelvyr and then come back down here and study some more."
"Sounds good. Maybe I'll come back a little early today," Sabs said with a grin. "Oh, and on a slightly more serious note, I think we only have a handful of days left on the room. I haven't put any more money down on it recently."
"Don't worry, I've got it covered," Beth replied before leaning down to give Sabs a quick kiss, eliciting a small giggle from the short woman.
They made their way into the living room before Sabs went into the kitchenette area and grabbed a ton of fruit and some cereal for both of them. She also put a huge thing of oatmeal in the microwave to heat up for Beth. It wasn't really the best oatmeal around, but the stuff the CRA had was good even when it was done up in the microwave. The two ate fairly quickly, with Beth beating Sabs to finishing everything again even though she had far more to eat.
Sabs threw on some clothes in the bedroom while Beth reclined on the couch, letting breakfast settle before getting up and doing anything. Sabs returned to the living room and geared up before stepping over and giving Beth a warm kiss, giving her boobs a quick, cheeky squeeze before darting out of her grasp. She waved goodbye as she ducked out the door, Beth smiling as she pulled up the enchanting book, spending a little reading through it before getting up herself. She willed her clothes on from her necklace, willing her armor on just after before making her boots appear while she walked to the front door, making sure the door was closed behind her before heading upstairs.