Eli POV

I stretched on my stool in the early morning. It was a simple thing, but the grey stone of the surrounding walls only had the soft golden glow of the mana lamp above me to break the dull monotony of their textures. Though, the metal case in front of me was at once exhilarating and equally mundane.

The simple steel shell had various racks spaced inside its 5-foot height while being only a foot wide. Squares representing input and output ports were cut out along the top while the back had a hole for a power plug. A computer had many components but I wanted to get the voltage measurements down first. Spending months making circuits only to turn them into small black heaps of metal was not the general trajectory I wanted for this project.

It was a straightforward thing with all the steps, tests, and endless fine details laid out before me. On the other hand, the end of the project was more heart-pumping than any battle I had in this world. Pulling my head out of the future, I went over towards the table on my right. Spread across it were jars filled with assortments of refined carbon and resins along with the magnetic disk and copper wiring for a crude voltmeter. The general requirements of the power brick and resistors needed to fine-tune the electricity being delivered wasn’t a problem, but getting the mixtures of their various components down was a matter of some trial and error. Since electric current was also involved in radio communications, setting up these meters was the best use of my time.

With my little den of experimentation and fiddling giving me no way to tell time and letting my mind fully engross itself in the process of creation, the sudden knock on the hatch sitting in the right corner almost made me drop the box I was assembling. As the small hatch swung open, the ivory horns of Salamede rose through the hole, quickly followed by my beloved wife’s face.

“They’re back,” Her rough voice had a hint of panic in it.

My mind quickly reached for the most obvious reasons for her reaction.

“Were we discovered or did someone die?” I responded as I set my crude voltmeter down.

“Neither. At least, not yet.” Her hand wave prompted me to come to her as she left. Coming down into our bedroom, the hatch opened by the corner near the dresser on my right. Pushing the ladder up and sealing the false bit of stone in place, I turned towards my wife who was nervously playing with her hands even as she retrieved my smiling metal mask from the bedside and took care to fix its straps on me. A little thing she had begun insisting on doing when she could.

With a final snap, she swung her head towards the meeting room. I moved with a tremor of worry thumping in my chest as I walked across the stone floor and closed the stone door behind me. Following her down the hallway that quickly twisted right, I came into the wide stone room with columns along the wall. The mana lamps dotting the walls shined down over the wide circular table in the middle of the room and the people sitting at it. On the right was the small, brown-furred Kelton woman that was Salamede’s mother.

“What’s the problem?” I asked as I moved forward and took a seat.

“Mole Hill is probably going to be a pile of ash in a week or so.” The pilot replied in as plain a manner as possible.

She went on to explain everything that had happened on the men’s journey and the location of Passtoons Watch. Taking it all in, I could only tap on the table with my fingers while she proceeded to lay out the tale that was both encouraging and disheartening. In spite of the problems presented, I still had to commend the brothers for their measured response to the situation. It wasn’t easy to stay in a doomed town for the sake of the mission.

“All right,” I declared to the two Kelton’s present, “Who else knows what’s going on?”

“I sent the Frojan to tell the Orcs and Baloo.” The older Kelton quickly stated as she leaned forward.

“Tell Kantor as well. We’ll need to get some shock troop equipment up and running but the first item is getting a better idea of what we’re dealing with. How long did it take for you to get back here?”

A huff was her first answer.

“Short enough to do another scouting trip. Honestly, we spent more time flying in circles around that slug of a boat than anything else.”

Nodding, I got up as did the other two.

“It seems that worked out for the best. We have another ship ready to perform scouting duties but you’ll need to head back immediately.”

An excited nod from Salamede emphasized the achievement.

“Is that hunk of crap finally ready to fly?” The pilot asked with excitement that her rough voice couldn’t hide.

Hunk of crap?

Before I could list off several improvements I had made to the ship's design, her daughter spoke up.

“Mother,” Salamede scolded patiently “Eli has untold expertise and ability, even his laziest efforts would surpass the greatest workings of the world.”

Taking a moment to soak in my beloved wife’s praise, I turned to thank her.

“Besides, you know how Eli gets over his craftsmanship. Don’t disparage his works.”

Women. They’ll make you feel like the master of the universe then cut you down for your hubris all in one breath.

“The point being,” I said, trying to steer the conversation back on course. “We now have the means to conduct two operations at once. I’m not trusting the timetable given by a likely sellout. Head back to the town with a few extra Frojan armed with magical guns. The interceptor will do a quick look around the local military base to see what the Rodring fleet has as far as strength goes. Once that’s back, I’ll have come with the Interceptor and a proper assortment of weapons, armor, and Kelton fighters.”

They both turned to me with raised eyebrows.

“Dear, are you sure you want to be so close to the danger?” Salamede asked as she put a hand on my left shoulder. The nod I gave her seemed to only make her more worried.

“Normally, I wouldn’t take the risk but the boys have the right of it. Getting in touch with the Orcs is going to be impossible if panic and mayhem start taking hold. Maybe the local fleet can handle this flare-up of piracy, but we need everyone ready to deal with whatever situation arises. Even if nothing happens, a wasted day or two is worth making sure everything goes right here.”

Satisfied, she gave me a light kiss. Her sweetness played on my lips for a moment far too short before we pulled away and got to work. She accompanied me into the main hangar as we worked on various measurements for bracers, shields, and helmets. We only stopped as the blade-like ship on our right lifted into the air. The thinner hull, large spear gun on the front, and strips of wood along the sides meant to spew molten stone below gave the ship a predatory look. Considering it was specifically designed to move fast and kill other airships, form and function were in perfect union.

As big of a pain as it was to make sure the thrusters didn’t sheer off the side of the ship at full speed, the bigger gun on the tip didn’t crack the hull, and the furnace fit inside the smaller inner space, it was all worth it as the balloon above filled with heated air and the wooden deck lifted into the air. The majesty of the moment was lost on the young Kelton pilot, who was sweating as Gula’s mother, Durka, kept her student under a strict eye as he worked the levers controlling the furnace output and the minor air enchantments designed to provide meager backward thrust.

When the blast of cold air came inside from the parting of the roof, the Kelton man whose wrist I was measuring drew back before giving me a sheepish look and staring at the floor.

‘Sorry, grand mage.’ He apologized in a spirit connection.

‘It’s quite alright. Just don’t let yourself get distracted when you’re out there on the battlefield. A single moment is all it takes for both opportunity and death to come your way.’

I continued working on various steel pieces of armor until one of the farm workers came into the workshop from my left through the meeting room. Unlike so many who tended the Coalitions fields, her black-furred head was covered in thick leather and her body was protected in a special suit of armor.

“Sir, there’s a problem with the crops.” She bluntly stated before turning around. Salamede was off to my right working on the healing enchantments going around the neck and midsection pieces of the leather harnasses and I promptly left the soldier I was fitting armor on to talk with her.

“If you know of any good metal workers, get them to start fitting the armor around the men. It’s past time they learned the finer points of working metal that isn’t instantly ready to use.”

A quick nod was all she gave me as she placed a triangle of golden mana in a long leather backstrap. Moving between the large shelves on the sides filled with wooden slabs and the various goat-headed people sitting at tables in the middle of the room while they worked with pieces of metal or wood, my path took had me walk behind Gula as her white sleeved arm propped her up on the table. Sitting opposite of her was the blue snake woman and the fire ape, though both seemed to be in their own little world as the familiar helped the Enten heat up a long rod of steel.

The Orc had her bang of black hair across her right eye limping down as she instructed a younger Kelton lad on the workings of a shaft for turning the wheel. I waited to get behind her before I stretched out my hand.

“But the gears won’t- hmm?!”

When my palm collided with her black pants-covered bum, she quickly turned to me with furrowed eyebrows. Keeping a stern look in my eyes, my first response was a simple handwave.

“As you were, soldier.” My commanding voice sounded out as I started walking off.

Her golden eyes had a pouty air and she stuck out her sharp chin, but the smile she couldn’t keep down meant the universe was now back on its center. Raising an eyebrow to ask what her objection was, she could only roll her eyes before she turned back to her student. Though she now seemed a bit happier and her small smile remained. My main task for the day finished, I made my way through the meeting room and into the hallway.

Of the three doors to choose from, I took the right iron door as the kitchen entrance on my left sounded out with what sounded like a decently packed canteen. Moving into the housing area, I looked up to find the farmhand from earlier heading into the garden area on the sixth floor as a few maids cleaned around the three floors above her and five below her.

Making my way up the staircase on the side until I got to the right floor, I walked past the rows of iron doors until I finally got to the one leading into the farming complex at the end of the walkway. As I came into what would hopefully be our main source of food going forward, the long rows of wooden troughs fixed into the walls drew my eyes, as did the stone staircases beside them allowing workers to harvest their bounty. As the mana lamps above illuminated the large room with its stone walls and smooth rock floor, the item that immediately drew my interest was the table on the left filled with a colorful array of vegetables in front of which were four farmhands decked out in near full plate armor.

The potatoes on the left end were a mix of blue, red, and a brown far darker than what they should be. In the middle was a small stack of red carrots with bits of smoke coming off their green leaves, though the beans at the right end helped cool down the carrot's temperature with a spout of water occasionally coming out of the pile.

“What happened?” I asked the group of onlookers as I came forward and prodded one of the blue potatoes. My first reaction was visceral disgust as the spud squished and moved in what millions of years of instincts told me was a late state of decay. It took a moment before I realized that it was perfectly fine, the magical qualities making it move like the unbroken potato skin was filled with water as opposed to starchy flesh.

“I guess the magic doesn’t make them bigger past maturity,” a burly Kelton man said to my left. The black-furred Kelton woman from earlier came up on my left.

“They were reaching the time for peak harvest last night. But when we came in this morning, they started taking on all of these various properties.”

She took up one of the carrots and held it to my face. When the heat brushed against my face, I looked at her hands to see how calloused they were, because there was no way touching them barehanded like that could be done without serious insulation.

“Interesting, but they’re still edible despite their appearance. What about parasites? Any incidents with those?” I enquired as I looked at the other Keltons all done up in metal plate armor and thick leather. The head shakes in denial at least set that worry to rest. “All right, this is good and bad.”

A sea of furrowed brows and puckered lips greeted me but I pushed ahead before they voiced their objections.

“I’m not outfitting you in these suits because they go with the décor of the room. The crop's magical qualities weren’t harmful this time, but we were supposed to catch them before that could ever be a problem. I’m going to make a few more fire extinguishers, water weapons, and set up a watch. You’ve been handling our farms this whole time, so I’ll leave it to you lot to decide on the times and shifts.

What about the rest of the harvest? How have they turned out?”

The woman turned around towards the rest of the hanging garden beds.

“We turned off the growing enchantments, but I suggested we get these from several different troughs to get a better picture of the whole yield.”

Well, it looks like I found my head of agriculture for now.

“Smart. I’m leaving you in charge to maximize yields in as safe a manner as possible.”

The lack of objections or irritation from the others further solidified my decision before I nodded to all of them and went back to the workshop to retrieve the needed wood and metal. It was a good hour of setting up the needed weapons on racks just outside the farm door along with the long tubes of wood for fires, but fires and closed spaces don’t mix well so I considered it time well spent.

As the afternoon came, the Interceptor came back. I had a scout in the cave who would keep an eye out for a ball of mist hovering around the hangar and when the blast of cold whirled through the workshop and forge, no one seemed to mind. So eager to get news of the outside world, several workers stopped to look at the sleek, blade-like hull floating down into its designated spot.

The soldier I was working a steel breastplate around was having a particularly hard time getting comfortable around the shoulders and I was content for the scout to come to me with their report.

“My lord,” The Kelton somewhere between lad and his prime insisted for the third time over the course of his armor fitting. “It’s merely uncomfortable. Wasting so much time on-“

“If it’s uncomfortable now, it’ll be hell after a few hours of nonstop use in bloody battle or marching.” I refuted in a patient tone. “I’m almost done –“

“Great mage!” A rough voice called to my right.

Taking my eyes off the metal casing, I turned to see the young pilot who Durka was apprenticing. Between the look of fear in his brown-furred face and the breaking of the typical deference all the younger ones showed me, a ball of worry dropped in my stomach.

“It’s bad.” Was all he managed to say before he put his hands to his leather pants and started gulping down air.

“Gather Salamede, Baloo, Kantor, and Gula,” I responded before turning back to my work. Whatever it was, I needed just a few more seconds to buff out the sharp edges on the internal surface of the breastplate. When the armor finished, I gave the Kelton man a firm pat on the shoulder before leaving to attend the debriefing. Moving through the workshop and into the meeting room, I saw Kantor on the right in a suit of steel but the room was otherwise barren.

Walking towards the left and taking my usual seat by the bedroom door, it was a few minutes later when the other wooden chairs started getting filled. Salamede sat on my right, wearing a white shirt and brown pants, while Gula sat on my left with her mother plopping down beside her. The last member, Baloo, finally arrived. When the big green frogman plopped down in his seat beside Durka, a simple wave of his blue robe initiated the meeting.

“So,” I announced, “I guess the Rodring forces have not faired well.”

Gula’s mother snorted, drawing all eyes to her. The Orc mothers’ ridged nose and bone piercing moved as did her twin brown braids when she shook her head sadly.

“I’d say there are no more forces.”

I leaned back into my chair, taking a deep breath as I prepared myself for the coming blow.

“How is the fort holding out? Could they at least-“

Her shaking head hit my stomach harder than that damn troll in the woods in what seemed like a lifetime ago.

“The fort is, for all intents and purposes, gone. The docks were mostly smashed and the ruins of a mighty castle with a giant hole in the left side were all that remained. Though, the giant beasts in shells with claws that were scattered about the place were more than enough to make up for the failing walls. Combined with the bouts of steam everywhere, I’d say those misty pirates have taken the place for themselves.”

Meshing my hands together, I pulled my head behind the chair as I covered my eyes.

“They bet it all.” My dead voice said to no one in particular. “They took their forces and dashed them on a fool's hope in the southern seas of the Coalition. My fucking god.”

“If I may, sir.” Kantor's rough voice bounced throughout the room.

Putting my hands down, I nodded to the older, black-furred Kelton man dressed in metal armor. An outfit that was almost impossible to get him out of nowadays.

“To be totally fair to them, my lord, it may not be all of their forces as Rainbow’s Piss is a rather large port city if what I’ve heard from the occasional trader is true. Even if they did, given what I’ve seen here, I can’t say it was a risk ill-taken. Not if it meant having you in their ranks.” He complimented in a serious tone. The nodding faces around the table only made me scoff.

“Pff. Flattery will get you far, but-“ I put up a finger as I leaned forward and put my elbows on the wooden table. “It won’t crush the skulls of the pirates currently slitting all of our future neighbor's throats. I suppose we’ll need to start preparing then.”

“The north is going to die,” Salamede responded, sounding as upset as the statement warranted. “All the towns get by on trading ore and magical items for food. If the trading lanes get cut, they’ll all starve in short order.”

Surprisingly, it was Kantor who shook his head in disagreement.

“No. It wouldn’t be the first time things in the south have gone sour. The families who can’t survive here will make for the warmer coasts along the southern shores called Pirates Call. If they have the means to do so.”

Salamede furrowed her grey eyebrows as she crossed her white-sleeved arms.

“And what of those too poor to get passage on a ship? What of those orphans in those settlements only just getting by?”

Kantor sat still for a moment, the black fur with grey flecks staying still over his pursed lips and smooth cheekbones.

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“They will have to make do with what they can get. No matter how little that may be.”

I had a distinct feeling he was saying they were going to die, an assessment I grew more confident in when I looked right and saw Salamede’s grey fur pull back to reveal her teeth and her lower jaw pull into a frown.

“That,” I interrupted, pulling all eyes back to me. “Can be dealt with next now that we have two ships. In the meantime, we have to get ready for whatever happens in Mole Hill. All of the Frojan aside from one or two will be heading out with the magical guns and dropped off on the main ship. When they get back, we’ll have some properly armed Kelton troops to bolster our numbers.”

A cough from Gula on my left stopped my train of thought as she threw in her concerns.

“What about the Orcs on the Waveborn ship? And their husbands, of course. How are we going to evacuate them if it comes to a slugging match?”

Her golden eyes got a bit more worried when I bit my lip in concentration. It took a moment before I had the right way to say what needed to be said.

“What we’re doing here will uplift millions of people in the future, both Orc and Humans. One of the biggest threats to that future is us bringing in one of the Orc mating men who turns out to be a spy. If they get threatened by the pirates and the spy’s all try to abandon their posts, we can bring them in. Otherwise, for the sake of millions of others, Jeff and Andrew will just have to jump ship and the fate of those left behind will be what it will be.”

“Speaking of newcomers,” Baloo interrupted, the deep bass of his voice reverberating around the stone walls. “What is the plan if every settlement in the north gets a spear in the eye? Will the Keltons out on the wastes be enough for whatever future projects we need?”

I leaned back in my chair, strumming my fingers on the wood table as I went over the figures in my head.

“Why do we need more people?” Kantor asked the group. “Can’t we just hole up here for a few years until we’re ready to sally out?”

“We may not have years,” I dismissed as every eye turned to me. “Ultimate mage's bodies eventually breakdown and in a far more agonizing manner than regular old age. I won’t die and I may be able to simply lay still while I direct Cell in finishing my work. Or the pain could be constant, crippling my ability to think.

It’s not a risk I’m willing to take. We need somewhere between hundreds or a thousand plus people depending on the details.”

Durka leaned forward and raised a brown eyebrow at me from behind her daughter.

“What kind of details?” She demanded.

“Mostly based on how many external resource outposts we’ll need to set up.”

Salamede took the opportunity to interject her thoughts.

“We’re about halfway through our metal reserves. The regular food is still holding strong and should be fine until we get our farms up and running. But we don’t have the means to make leather. More than simply acquiring resources, our goal isn’t to drop out of the sky and blow everything up.

If we show up as a fleet of ghosts a few years from now with no connections to the Orcs or the people we’re trying to help, we’ll still have to do the work of ingratiating ourselves into the public. Better to do it as fellow neighbors rather than conquerors.”

“More than that,” Gula offered, “We still need to know what’s happening around us. Ignoring the rest of the world doesn’t mean it can’t still affect us.”

“Pff,” Kantor grumbled, “What a painful dance this all is.”

I nodded before I stood up from my chair and turned to Baloo sitting opposite of me.

“Select two of your men for crafting water shields and enchanted range weapons. Get the rest ready to move south. We need everyone in the workshop focused on making as much armor as they can.”

With our meeting closed, we all rushed out of the room. Baloo and Kantor got their fighters in order while the rest of us started fashioning a small strike force. Gula had gotten some basic training done for the soldiers, but they were still too inexperienced in basic group tactics. Giving them magical guns was asking to get their heads cut off, so we stuck to water blades, both as swords and axs.

Gula took on the role of commander, as these forces were almost exact copies of her wayfarer role back in the swamps. She had also cut down on volunteers as a few eager souls offered to come fight. An offer she politely rejected, as having so many people with not even a bit of training would only make things harder to coordinate. When the last piece of armor was forged, I headed back into the living area. The Frojan except for two had left on the Interceptor, leaving running drills on the soldiers the only thing left for them to do. Likewise, I spent my free time making a simple wooden armor for me and Gula.

As the ship still hadn’t come back, I decided to spend the rest of my time working on a new section of housing for our potential newcomers. It was going to be another nine-story affair with a hallway entrance directly on the right of the first housing section. As I was moving stone in the soft glow of the crystal star behind me, its inner flame bathing the smooth rock in soft, orange light, I heard someone come in through the hallway with iron doors that provided eighteen or so feet of distance from the other housing section.

“Eli.”

Gula’s voice was soft, both eager and uncertain. Turning around, I saw she was wearing the typical white shirt and brown pants. What really drew my eyes was the stalk of yellow-tinged celery in her right hand. When she brought it up to her mouth, she made sure to look at me as she chewed on the vegetable. Her nervous expression twisted with distaste as she struggled to swallow her meal.

“UGH!” She threw the yook root down as she swirled her tongue “How does Salamede eat this so often? It’s more bitter than the bad winter we had a few years back.”

I knew what she was doing and why. There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask her, but curiosity was quickly laid to rest. All my mind could concentrate on was that my wife was finally ready to receive me and I could practically feel my frontal cortex hand the reigns over to my loins.

Moving across the room and pulling my mask down, Gula opened her mouth to say something, but I caught her lips before she could say anything. That wondrous sensation of heat and vinegar flooded my mouth as I plundered her with my tongue. Pulling her body into mine, I molded her hips and butt with grasping palms as her moans reverberated around the room.

When her lower jaw started quivering, I finally pulled back a bit. Her golden eyes held a forlorn hope while she bit her now free lips in worry.

“Is that too much?” I asked, trying to slow myself down even as my hands kept going about their work.

“No. Never,” The Orc whispered, her eyes doing a roll into her head as I squeezed her bum. When she looked back at me, her eyes had some concern that was hard to pin down. “Look. I know this is a stupid thing to ask, what with all the kissing, slapping, and pinching you’ve been giving me.”

“And constant leering.”

She puckered her lips as she raised an eyebrow, a face she struggled to maintain as I ran a finger up her spine.

“Really?” Gula demanded.

“Oh, yes,” I said sagely as I wrapped an arm around her back. “I assure you, everytime you walk by, my eyes are getting their full satisfaction.”

“Pff. You beast.” She scolded even as she put her hands on my chest with a lick of her lips. “Are you sure the problem in the Coalition was that you weren’t laying with the women?”

I smiled as I pulled her closer and took her chin with my right hand.

“I can keep my pants on when I need to. But when you love a woman, it does things to a man that are hard for even the best of us to control.”

Those golden eyes shimmered with unshed tears. Pulling her close to me, I planted a kiss on her forehead before whispering in her sharp green ears.

“Why the fuss? You already know my feelings for you.”

Gula put a hand around the back of my head as she took a moment to collect her thoughts.

“Even after the swamps?”

I pulled back and made sure to look her in the eyes.

“That was a mistake. An honest mistake. I don’t blame you or anyone else but Borba for what happened.”

Hearing the cursed name drew Gula up short, her face going blank for a moment before she pressed forward and kissed me again. This time, we paced ourselves. After a few minutes of making sucking sounds reverberate around the small cave we both came back up for air. Taking in each other’s eyes, we stood there with wet lips and heaving chests.

“Salamede said she’d get us if the ship came back before we finished. How long will that leave us?” Gula asked as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“We’ll be sending out the new troops when the Interceptor gets back. But between travel time and dropping off frogmen on another ship one at a time, we should be able to see our task through to a satisfying conclusion.”

Nodding, she stopped as she looked around the half-formed room.

“Eli… are the other Orcs going to be staying in the base with the rest of us?”

“Yeah. It’ll send the wrong message if we go on this long monologue about bringing humans and Orcs together peacefully under the auspices of science, only to then push them away to a separate base. ‘Yes we said all that stuff about magical potential not mattering in the long run, but let’s not pretend you’ll be able to control yourselves around the quad mage’ would undo whatever other words come out of our mouths. As… ambitious some of them may be, it’s better to work out this issue now rather than later.”

My wife’s breath suddenly steadied as she stuck out her sharp jaw. She crouched down for the briefest of moments, leaving me only just enough time to catch her as she hopped onto me and wrapped her legs around my stomach with a hard squeeze.

“or your wives could drain you dry, leaving not a single drop for them to take.” Her voice was a low growl as her eyes took on a positively feral hunger. This time, she shoved her mouth into mine. Unlike our first encounter all those weeks ago, she had enough patience to scour my tongue and cheeks as she sucked out all of the salivae in my mouth. A task her hot, vinegary taste made very pleasant to be on the receiving end of. When I started moving us towards the iron double doors out of the new housing area, Gula shook her head.

‘Blankets,’ She said in a spirit connection as we continued our duel. ‘I am not waiting for us to get to the room.’

Looking down the hallway, I saw a small pile of blue blankets and sheets she had laid down on the right side of the stone hallway. That she had placed them between two mana lamps showed she had put some thought into their placement.

‘Are you sure?’ I asked. It was her first time and I had wanted to give her the best experience possible.

‘Yes!’ She almost screamed into our connection. ‘I’m not going to die a sexless wife and by the bastard's beard you will relieve me of my virginity here and now.’

A hiccup came up my throat as I pulled away.

“I won’t let you die. Not if I have anything to say about it,” I firmly responded, my hard tone bouncing all over the walls.

“Eli,” Gula said, looking me up and down with clear interest as lust and impatience battled for their due on her face. “I’m a soldier and have been my whole life. All it takes is one arrow from a farmer boy. Sure, with your abilities and crafts, that chance is almost zero. But it’s not, nor will it ever be, zero. This I know without a doubt, as do you.”

Begrudgingly accepting what my pride would not, I grabbed her face and pulled her into a kiss. Another long moment of heated oral play and tongue lashing, she pulled away.

“All right,” Gula announced. She didn’t say anything after that, instead she was content to stand still as her eyes stared at my crotch.

“Gula, if you want to see it, just come over and take what you need.” I teased with a smug raise of my eyebrow.

Her golden eyes rose to meet mine and in them I saw some pain. It occurred to me, given her anguish over her existence and how her kind came to be, and still manage to come into the world, that asking her to do anything aggressive when it came to sex itself might be too much. Affection and kissing were probably alien enough to her that she could avoid those thoughts. The act of assertively consummating those things, though, was probably too close to the horror stories for her.

Hooking two thumbs around my pants, I pulled down the brown fabric along with my underwear. Of course, this play with my beloved wife had the unavoidable effect of bringing me to full mast. As my erection swung out of its cage and the tip touched the white shirt I still wore, I noticed Gula idly put a hand to her own brown pants where her privates lay. Her eyebrows furrowed, pulling the vertical scar across her left eye as she looked on with fascination in equal parts to lust.

“Is this your first time seeing such things?” I asked.

Another roll of her eyes was her first response.

“I was familiar with the concept, it's just actually seeing one and it being… ready is another thing altogether.”

“Conceptual penises?” I teased with a raised eyebrow.

She pursed her lips, making the horizontal cut across her nose stretch. But she didn’t say anything else for a second before speaking up again.

“Is it ok if I touch it?”

“I’m hoping you do a lot of that, so sure.”

Walking forward, she got down on her knees and before I could talk about how she didn’t need to skip right to a blowjob, she put her hand under my sack. Lifting it up to a bolt of pleasure through my loins, she looked at the stretched skin beneath. She wasn’t in a sex-crazed haze, it was more like she had found a particularly interesting-looking branch or bug on a hike and was now inspecting it. Even then, her dark green cheeks and hard breathing said her instincts knew well what the purpose of this curiosity was. Running her hands along my balls, I had to ask a question before I decided on how loud to be.

“Is anyone in the housing area?”

“No. Even if there were, Salamede made some noise deadening crafts.” She replied, taking in the item of interest. When she did another push on my balls to look at the sides, I decided to not hold back. Letting loose a low grunt of pleasure as she went about her inspection, her black bowl-cut of hair swung with her head as she looked up.

“Are those sensitive too?”

A nod with a bit lip was my first response as I took in the pleasure of her hands on my sack.

“Damn sensitive, especially when a beautiful woman is touching them.”

She raised both eyebrows in surprise before going back to her examination. When those green fingertips wrapped around my stem, sending a bolt of pleasure shooting through my nervous system, she jerked back in surprise.

“It moved.” The shock was clear in her voice. I could only chuckle as her astonishment caught me off guard.

“Yeah, when a woman grabs it, it will pulse as more blood is pushed into it.” I did a little hip shake to emphasize my point as Gula looked on with furrowed eyebrows. That lick across her lips as my manhood swung near her face made my ego expand thrice over. When she looked up at me and saw my teasing face, her green hand swatted my stomach.

“It moves, twitches, and every part is waiting for pleasure. Do you finish just from walking? How do you even sit down?” She demanded like an expectant teacher.

“It’s a miracle of biology,” I declared as I bent down to her eye level. Her gaze was still on the stem pointing up at her, but she quickly shifted her eyes to mine when I put my hands down her shirt to work the buttons. Once that was done, I pulled up on her white top. She offered no resistance to any of my efforts, but her breath caught and the trepidation was plain on her face when I lifted the white fabric over her head.

The first thing I noticed, as any proper man would, was her breasts. While they mostly matched the green skin around the rest of her body, the areolas were small plates of dark green around smaller nipples, though the breasts themselves were barely a handful for me to palm. It occurred to me how different they were from Salamede’s while being still as tantalizing in their own way even with the long scar above the top of the left breast.

My eye’s having gotten their fill of the wonderous orbs, I looked over the rest of her. Her abs, sides, and stomach now had some fat mixed in with the muscle. Gone was the lean frame stuck between firmness and emaciation, though the long faded vertical cut on her left was still present. I got a bit of a hiccup in my throat for a moment, the pride at having given her such a better life than what she had when I found her catching me unawares.

“I know I’m not as lean as I used to be or as well endowed as Salamede. So, don’t feel bad for making the comparison.” Gula said nervously. Despite her words, her ears were perked and her eyes looked more vulnerable than any time during battle that I had seen them. My moment of hesitation had clearly been misinterpreted.

“You’re beautiful,” I said as I took her face in my hands and kissed her. “We’re here to have fun, Gula. You’re not a sex goddess and I’m sure there’s a man out there with a bigger dick, better hands, blah blah blah. Don’t compare yourself to Salamede or anyone else. Let’s just enjoy ourselves. That said, I think I need to show you how much I want you.”

Kissing down her chin, then her neck, the small gasps and coos above made my blood boil with need even as I schooled myself to patience. When I approached her breasts, I stopped to give her right one a proper suck. Capturing her nipple in my mouth, I ran my tongue over the dark green. I looked up to see her throw back her head with a moan escaping her mouth in a long drawl of pleasure.

“Damn. Salamede warned me you’d go right to sucking. Shit. That… Ooh. That’s new.”

Her words devolved into a slur of animals grunts as I continued my licks. After a few more seconds, I let her tit fall from my mouth as I started moving southward again. When I got to her brown pants, I lifted my head to meet hers. Putting my hand behind her head and raising her up, I moved us both to the blanket pile a foot away. Her golden eyes were wide and she looked at me with raw need, though she still wouldn’t act on it even as I put her on top of the blankets.

“You-you want this, right?” She asked, with a quick look down towards my exposed dick.

“Definitely,” I answered as I pulled the white shirt over my head and flung it to the left. I resumed my kissing until I got to her belt. Pulling her pants down, I found there were still more scars along the legs and thighs. Making sure to give each one its own kiss, I eventually moved towards my destination as I pulled her pants completely off.

As I came up towards her opening, I made sure to look her in the eyes as I made my approach. She looked confused at first, clearly not getting what I was doing as I kissed up her inner thigh. The pubic hair around her vagina was ill-kempt and as I approached the fluffy mound, her eyes went wide as saucers.

“You’re… do men really-EEK!”

Darting forward, I silenced her with a long lick of her lips. Though no duel of tongues followed this time.

“We … if, there” An outpouring of gibberish from my wife was the first reward of my efforts. Pushing my tongue forward across her inner folds, I took my time savoring the salty flavor and the jerking motion of her hips as I went about my work. Slow and methodical, I worked around her inner domain while making sure to only lightly brush the pea-sized clit.

Gula, for her part, had no idea what to do. Her hands first went to her thighs to spread them further apart for me. But that must not have felt right for her because she quickly pulled them back even as her chest rose and fell like she was sprinting. Those golden eyes were hungry now and I could tell she was struggling not to be more forceful as her hands pawed at the blue blankets beneath us. I was certain she would get some sexual advice and some cruel little voice in my head said to give her something she might not have even considered doing before.

Grabbing her hands, I pulled them down to rest on the back of my head.

‘Gula,’ I commanded in a spirit connection ‘Pull my head into you. Force me into your inner sanctum.’

She looked at me for a long moment, her breasts still swaying from her heavy breathing as she lay paralyzed. The only movement she gave me was her face puckering, followed by a loud moan, as I worked her inner tunnel. Realizing I wasn’t going to get any kind of aggression from her no matter our positions or demands, I decided that I would take on the sole responsibility of domination.

Putting my hands underneath her bum, I lifted her lower half into the air as I got on my knees.

“Ooh! Eli!” Gula squealed, the delight in her voice unable to be contained. Using her elbows to stabilize herself, her face was a mess of rapturous pleasure and lust. As her legs slapped against my bare backside, I couldn’t tell how many times she came. Her body didn’t seem to become more lubricated as the seconds became minutes and she had been twisting with ecstasy since my tongue had made its first lick in her depths.

After a few minutes of wonderous cooing and moaning, my tongue reached exhaustion and my stem was demanding its turn at penetrating the sumptuous green woman. I removed my mouth from her channel and set her below me. Drool rolled down the right side of her mouth and down her sharp jaw. With a heaving chest and her breaths reverberating over the stone walls, she put her shaky hands on my sides as our loins lined up for their destinies.

“And you’re sure you want this, Eli?” She asked again.

There was a faint stab of annoyance at the question that I quickly surpressed. As grating as it was to have to give consent on every position change, I couldn’t deny her what she needed. Besides, her circumstance demanded more sensitivity around the issue than Salamede or Beth had. As I lowered myself to give a speech about my boundless love and desire, a sour memory re-asserted itself. Far clearer than the cloud of bodies and rainbow lights, the smell of misty lands and a feeling of shame at having so many onlookers came back to me as bile rose in my throat.

Perhaps we both needed that reassurance.

Leaning down to kiss Gula, I banished the memory of the other green woman. Pulling away, I moved my head into her left ear.

“Yes, Gula. By god, I want you,” I whispered before I pulled back. Looking down, I grabbed my stem at put the point up to her entrance. Getting only the edge of the tip in, I pulled my arms up and took my wife in a loving hug. Her lips quivered as the moment of consummation drew near. Taking her lips in for one more kiss, I savored the smoky flavor before pushing forward as I kept our eyes locked. Wet heat enveloped my cap before Gula took a sharp breath.

“Ah!”

I stopped and was getting ready to offer to wait when she put her hands up to my chest.

“Don’t stop. I was just… you can keep going. If you want to.”

Given the all-clear, I shifted my legs to move forward again.

“Gula. Ooh.” I moaned excitedly as her wet heat moved inch by inch until she took my full length, “Damn what a phenomenal pussy.”

Her bit lip and rolled eyes told me the compliment was appreciated. She still couldn’t figure out what to do with her arms, however. They whirled around aimlessly until I put them up to my sides. I stole her lips again before releasing her and pressing my hands against the pile of blue blankets around her shoulders.

“I’m going to start thrusting. Just hold on and squeeze whatever parts of me you want.”

With that, I pumped my hips forward. An electric ecstasy shot up through my spine, as it did on the second and third thrust. Each time I made sure to punctuate each movement with a low growl to make sure she knew what her body was doing to me. Around the fourth pump, I shifted to laying more fully on Gula. Continuing on our journey, my wet thrusts reverberated around the fine cave as Gula started moaning. Finding our preferred positions, my hands started their work.

Feeling her up and down with varying pressure, force involving anything harder than what dough would require to mold seemed to not excite her. However, the light grazes on the skin made her breath catch each time no matter where I did it. Laying kisses on her lips, breasts, and neck, it was when I was just above her collar bone that she let out a proper growl.

Finding a weakness in her defenses, I attacked the opening with everything I had. Between that, the thrusts, and my hands softly molding her body, she was shaking like there was an earthquake going off right beneath her. Her body didn’t seem to have one peak, rather she remained on a constant high of pleasure. All the while, I soaked in all the love and joy her golden eyes had to offer as sweat started falling down my nose and cheeks.

“Eli,” Gula moaned like a mewling cat, “How dare you.”

She pulled up to take a kiss from me before continuing with fiery eyes and pouty lips.

“All this time we could have been doing this. All those cold nights I could have had this heat and you let me get by on back rubs and kisses.”

I laughed as I thrust my dick into her with increasing abandon.

“I’ve made my desires quite clear these past few weeks. Besides, we haven’t had a cold night in a long time.”

Her hands went to my chest, feeling up my pecks and shoulders.

“Sooner. That night we met in the fort when you were dressed in that ridiculous getup. You should have taken me right there on that burning lawn.” Gula growled, her teeth bared as spit flew from her mouth and those green hands kept feeling me up and down. I smiled before I took her mouth as my fingers rubbed her backside. After a few seconds of savoring her taste, I pulled back with a loud pop.

“You didn’t think it was ridiculous at the time.” Was all I could manage to say before I realized what was stirring in my balls. That familiar tingling mixed with approaching release. “Gula, I’m near my limit.”

She furrowed her eyebrows, looking down at my knees stretching the blankets then the sweat dripping down my bare chest.

“Not that,” I yelled with primal need. “Fuck! I’m going to drown your womb in my seed.”

The Orc got a determined look as she pulled herself up to fully press herself against me, pushing those lovely green pillows against my skin as our nipples rubbed together.

“It’s yours to take. Do with it as you please.” She roared as she fully pressed herself against me. Our bodies now totally fused, I looked into those golden depths and shoved my tongue down her throat as I felt the pressure build to its peak.

When the moment of release approached, my deepthroated scream was muffled as it traveled throughout my wife's body and only some of its volume escaped to the surrounding air. Seed shot up through my stem, leaving my mind floating in a whirl of colors, smells, and textures. As the pressure finally released in my balls, it occurred to some corner of my fevered mind that I was committing the greatest crime my new world had ever known.

Taking the time to really savor this moment, forcing my manhood to shoot as hard as it could for as long as it could, my only thought was how delightful sin in this world was.

Collapsing in a heap, I laid on top of her as we both gasped for air and our sweat mingled on the mound of now-soaked blankets. All the while, we never broke eye contact as we took in each other’s every move.

“It’s warm.” Gula moaned below me as she ran her hands up and down my neck.

I started moving my right arm to get off her when she caught my jaw with a single finger.

“No. I want to feel the difference in our height and muscle. Stay on top of me.”

Nodding, I let my legs and arms out from under me. Laying on the smaller woman like she was a pillow, her light smile and coo of delight assured me the dominant position was most welcome. Putting my hand through her hair, I took her lips for that smoky flavor.

‘How was it?’ I asked in a spirit connection as we dueled tongues.

Instead of answering, I felt some tears fall from her eyes and onto my cheeks. The look of pure joy on her face left me regretting my new world’s lack of cameras. We continued kissing for a while as everything aside from her smile and moans of joy faded from my mind.