Chapter Eighteen: Shacking Up

+++++Anise+++++

The whole way to Sidoade Island, Anise was terrified that somebody was going to find her, pull her aside, and drag her back to her parents in disgrace. She knew it was silly because Sorceress Binar hadn't even sent the letter to her parents yet. Nonetheless, the fear persisted throughout their ferry ride to the island.

Yes, they had to take the ferry because she was burnishing brushpins and the airship was simply too expensive. Five brownbacks! Too expensive! Thus, she spent the whole five-hour ferry ride nervous that somebody was going to recognize her and turn Anise in to the port authorities. Abstractly, she knew that she and Franyi just looked like a pair of young women of means on their way to one of their parents' places to enjoy a mid-autumn harvest festival.

It struck something deep within Anise that, in a very real sense, she no longer was a woman of means. Her means were entirely at the largesse of her parents, and she would be incredibly lucky if they didn't outright disown her after they discovered the startling panoply of trouble and indiscretion that their daughter had got herself into. Her weekly allowance of twenty brownbacks was already spent down to just six, and then one more of those went to the ferry ride plus snacks for the trip. Those five remaining brownbacks were her last until she could earn her own money… and she'd never in her seventeen years actually earned so much as a brushpin from anything that might be considered a job. Well… she'd probably have to start. She couldn't exactly write to her parents for money now. What would she say?

Mother and Father,

I, your daughter, Anise Lyrica Derrigin - yes, the one who just got herself expelled from St. Quillia's and embroiled herself in a scandalously sapphic romance - request that you forward my weekly allowance to my little love-nest on Sidoade Island. I realize that this isn't what you wanted from me, but it's either that or your daughter joins the working classes of St. Arbalest… and would you want your daughter to *work* for her keep? There are some things that we Derrigins just cannot do. Oh, and please send a little extra so I can give my lover, Franyi, something to thank her for her hospitality.

Your Devoted Daughter,

Anise

Yes, Anise was sure that would go over about as well as a squirrel at a dog show.

"What are you thinking about?" Franyi asked.

"My parents," Anise said.

"Yeah… me, too. My parents, I mean. It won't be more than a day or two before Binar lets them know that I've run away from school. I mean… I know it's not the same. I probably won't get expelled or anything…"

"You should go back," Anise said. "We'll go to Sidoade Island, spend the night, and then you have to go back first thing in the morning. If you're lucky, you can just say you were homesick and…"

"I can't," Franyi said. She squeezed Anise's hand. "I… may have left a message in our room. A pretty definitive one. I think I said that, if the etudium was going to expel the sweetest, most promising, most insanely beautiful future sorceress out of the school, then their diplomas weren't worth the paper they were printed on…"

"I bet they're pretty nice paper," Anise said. Her ears burned pink. "You said I was insanely beautiful?"

"Yeah… well… I might have said crazy beautiful. One of the two."

"Aww!"'

She leaned in to kiss Franyi, and only her girlfriend's frantic dodge attempt saved the day. What on Medias was she thinking? There were people around! Yes, a little casual hand-holding and maybe a very brief peck on the cheek could be construed as sisterly affection. That wasn't the sort of kiss that Anise wanted to deploy after being called 'insanely beautiful' by Franyi, who was actually beautiful, unlike Anise, who was, in her own expert opinion, not especially displeasing to look at. That was about as far as she was willing to go.

"How long do you think we'll have? At your parents' place, I mean…"

Franyi shrugged. "They flew out here not so long ago, so I'd be surprised if they visited again before Harvestend in a month."

"We can figure something out in a month." She leaned in - this time for a chaste peck on the cheek, which Franyi allowed.

+++++Anise+++++

They arrived at the port in Juzulali half an hour before sundown and took a public coach to the Jashopo residence about a kilometer outside the town. The coach was a worn old thing that squeaked whenever it turned left, but it was only three par apiece and they only had to share it with two other couples. It smelled like old shoes but, considering some of the things that Anise had been smelling of late, that was quite tolerable. Her excitement ticked up as they approached Franyi's parents' place until she was practically bouncing in her seat, and Franyi couldn't hide her grinning and giggling because she knew exactly why Anise was so excited.

They exited the coach so quickly that Franyi almost forgot to tip the driver - though she didn't. Two par was plenty for such a short trip, she figured. And then Anise wondered how anybody could ever afford to live as a coach driver. Assuming they made a par per passenger and moved a hundred passengers a day, that was only five brownbacks. How could you support yourself, let alone a family, on just that per day? People had, Anise recalled, rent, groceries, transit, and a host of other costs. Everything in the city cost money… everything everywhere cost money… something that you only really noticed when you didn't have any.

"Sorry it's so small," Franyi muttered.

"It's cozy," Anise said. "My parents don't even own a second home."

Franyi's parent's getaway home was 'only' three bedrooms, though those bedrooms were plenty large and the house was nice for its size, nestled in a small cliffside community of nearly-identical white brick houses overlooking the ocean, set on 'only' one acre or so apiece. Like Anise, Franyi's family was situated in the upper echelons of the lower gentry - people with prestigious careers and nice houses in the city staffed by a number of servants that you could count on one hand. They sent their kids to the best schools and had enough money for one or two serious splurges, like a vacation home on Sidoade Island. But they didn't have stupid amounts of money like Virtupi-Grace's family, who bought a ten-bedroom, ten-acre place somewhere up the coast and then turned it into an artist's commune because her father discovered a love for watercolors. But, Anise was slowly coming to realize, her upbringing had been extremely sheltered, and her means were modest only in relation to girls whose parents made the newspaper front page on a regular basis.

Anise felt like a criminal as they crept into the house, invigorating all of the lighting crystals. There was a display of rare shells in a glass case, the steering column of an old boat mounted to the living room wall, and six… no, seven pictures of lighthouses. The place had all sorts of 'oceanfront getaway' vibes. They stalked back to the master bedroom at the back of the house…

Franyi sat on the edge of the bed, adorably nibbling at her lower lip. "I don't know how I feel about sleeping in my parents' bed…"

Anise had to agree - it somehow felt wrong. But it felt just as wrong to sleep in the children's bedroom upstairs with its two bunk beds - enough for Franyi and her two brothers plus one extra… or for Franyi, Anise, Eloise, and Virtupi-Grace, as they'd done several times. Instead, they crossed the hallway into the guest bedroom, with its single big bed and the less-than-ideal window view looking into the neighbor's yard. Anise sat on the bed and bounced up and down a few times.

"It's perfect."

"No, you're perfect," Franyi said. She sat down next to Anise and finally, finally leaned in and kissed her on the lips, her hand cradling Anise's face so softly yet so confidently.

Their lips smacked as they disengaged. "I'm not perfect," Anise said. "I just got expelled from St. Quillia's…"

"And I quit. So tell me, who's more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows her?"

"You're not a fool," Anise said. "You're probably the smartest person I know."

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"Same. And the most beautiful."

"Stop," Anise said, her ears burning red as she blushed. "I'm not." It embarrassed her because Franyi thought it was true, and she was confused that Franyi, whom everybody agreed was brilliant and beautiful, would even think that. She didn't deserve somebody like that. She just didn't.

Franyi ran her finger along the bedsheets. "I… I know it's nothing special. But -mmph!"

Anise had enough of the self-deprecation from her girlfriend… it felt absurd to even think that word. Anise Derrigin had a girlfriend, and that girlfriend would not second-guess her beautiful self on Anise's behalf. So Anise leaned in, kissed her, and then found herself on top of Franyi, straddling her and planting kisses desperately, hoping it might make Franyi feel the same way about Anise that she felt with every thrumming beat of her heart. As she looked down at her girlfriend, her hair a halo of perfect black around her beaming face, Anise couldn't help but tear up, and she couldn't quite put why into words. Franyi's smile shifted into confusion.

"I… I think I love you," Anise said. She didn't think it, though… she knew it like she knew that water was wet.

And Franyi was crying beneath her now. Anise unstraddled her and lay next to her on the bed, looking deep into those dark eyes and wondering what she'd said wrong. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" she said.

Franyi shook her head and struggled to get the words out. This was it - she was finally coming to her senses about Anise. Finally, she croaked out: "I'm so happy… I… I don't deserve this…"

"You do. You do," Anise whispered back, finally wrapping her girlfriend into a great hug, smelling her hair and the faint smell of her bath oils, and wondering why her heart felt so wonderfully close to bursting on what was supposed to be the worst day of her life. And she gritted her teeth at the world that would make her and Franyi feel bad about being happy, because she did deserve this. They both did.

+++++Anise+++++

Between the two of them, they had about twenty brownbacks, which was plenty to live on for a while. They had a cozy cliffside house just a kilometer and a half from Juzulali, the little port town at the southern end of the island. Each morning, they walked down to the town and purchased food for the day, and Anise found enough odds and ends around the house to start building a coldbox so they could keep food for longer. She used some of the old reference texts that Franyi's parents used in their studies - both of her parents were academics, and both were 5th elevation mages, though Franyi didn't say much about what they did, other than that her father was a highly-placed bureaucrat and her mother was magistress somewhere… obviously, somewhere less prestigious than St. Quillia's, but that was just about everywhere. There were plenty of books to read, and maybe even enough to work by if you were a professional mage. But there was a lot more non-magic books, including a seven-volume series on the history of Yuya-Sasetù.

"My parents have exactly three bookshelves," Anise said. "Medical references, magic books, and children's books… I guess they're waiting for the grandkids…"

"Hopefully, your brother gives them some," Franyi said.

"Yeah…"

That was an odd thought - that, if she and Franyi were an item, they would never have children. Anise was young enough that she'd barely even thought of it before, but the reality was that, whatever happened to flutter your heart and stoke your loins, reproduction required a very specific arrangement. An arrangement that Anise felt no spark for - so she would remain childless. She found herself a bit melancholy at the prospect…

"Are you ready for bed?" Franyi whispered.

That was enough to draw her out of her sad musings. Franyi was enough light for the whole world - or at least for Anise's whole world. For three glorious nights, they basked in one another's company. And, just like before, they kept their action restricted to kissing, caressing, and perhaps a bit of more insistent friction. Anise couldn't imagine a more sensual feeling than Franyi's warm, smooth skin sliding against hers, the tiny hairs of her body intersecting with Anise's, pulling with delightful little bouts of friction. Sometimes, Anise forgot where her flesh ended and Franyi's began, like her awareness and her soul were extended out into two bodies instead of one… which, of course, was a ridiculous notion, since humans were permanently embedded in their bodies. But that's how amazing being with Franyi was - it made her brain think crazy things.

She finished the ice box on the morning of their fourth day, fashioned from an old metal cabinet with foamwood around the outside for insulation, and sigils along each plane drawn into a receptacle for a single crystal. A cheap 3-F crystal could keep the thing cold for a few days. And, life being what it is, they never even got to use the thing.

Franyi waltzed in from the wardrobe wearing some of her mother's summerwear - it was unseasonably warm and she might get away with it. It was a light gray frock dress with blue accents and black buttons and, of course, Franyi had ditched the poofy underskirt, because only old people wore those anymore. Thus, the dress flowed over her like a fluid, the hem flipping about as Franyi sauntered down the stairs and into the kitchen. She kissed Anise's cheek with such casualness that Anise went weak in the knees and had to brace herself on the counter. Franyi placed her hand in the coldbox and squealed.

"It works! You did it!"

"I did it!" Anise said.

"I can't believe you're so brilliant!" Franyi kissed her on the lips. Anise thought it was a bit silly - Franyi was brilliant enough that she probably could have kludged together a coldbox in a few hours, but here she was, acting like Anise had invented the wheel. But Anise wasn't about to pass up kisses from Franyi.

Having Franyi's lips upon her, having her amber eyes take Anise in whenever they parted, however briefly, having the soft skin of her fingertips tracing patterns along Anise's side… all of that did crazy things to Anise's brain, and she found herself unbuttoning Franyi's frock and lifting the silky bralette underneath.

"Anise!" Franyi hissed, and she giggled, and already she was backing toward the bedroom. Their trip into town would have to wait.

She eased Franyi down onto the bed… Anise's heart thudded in her chest. And it yearned for Franyi. She knew they weren't about to just kiss and cuddle, she knew this was what relationships usually progressed toward. All the same, she couldn't believe she was about to make love to Franyi. Already, Franyi was in nothing but her underthings, and her legs were inching upward and angling to pull Anise toward her on the bed. Anise unbuttoned her own blouse and let it fall to the side, her breasts too large and her stomach too soft… she had to remind herself that, contrary to her own self-image, Franyi clearly didn’t see a chubby girl when she looked at Anise. She saw something that lit her eyes afire, dark and sparkling as the autumn light filtered through the window.

"You deserve this," Anise whispered, and she planted little kisses along Franyi's face and down her chest, taking a moment to nuzzle against a breast, her nipples dark and hard.

"We deserve this," Franyi said, and her thumbs hooked under her cotton-white underpants, so contrasted against her silky brown skin, and there she was, her womanhood bared for Anise.

Her kisses worked their way down Franyi's taut belly, her mind reeling, scarcely able to believe that this was actually happening. And, when Franyi was spread, wet and pungent in Anise's face, she couldn't help but worship her, kissing her little bud and nuzzling into her delightful sex as Franyi let out little gasps and moans that sent Anise's spine to tingling. Honestly, Anise had no idea what she was doing, but it seemed to be enough for her girlfriend, Franyi's fingers running through her hair and pulling her face further in. And, then she glanced up to see how Franyi was responding, Anise's girlfriend shot her a look of such smoldering passion and crooked her come-hither finger so perfectly, Anise was like a marionette drawn up to kiss her.

"Show me how you like to be touched," Franyi whispered. "How do you touch yourself?"

Anise ran a finger down to her own sex, her brow knit in puzzlement as she slid the rest of her clothes off. "I… I'm not… I don't…" She'd rarely ever touched herself before. That was something that bad, immoral girls did, after all, not upstanding young women. She realized now that this was all absolute and utter rubbish, but such ingrained habits did not die easily.

"Let's find out," Franyi said.

As Franyi's fingers trailed down her belly, tracing through Anise's soft thicket of hair and sliding along her wetness, Anise could only whine and stare into Franyi's beautiful eyes. And, when she finally got over her initial shocked, gasping moans, the utterly brilliant and delightfully novel feel of having somebody else probing at her womanhood, her fingers tracing along little patches of delight that Anise hadn't even known about… after she got over that and brought her own hand down… Anise gazed into Franyi's face, somehow able to take in every little facet. She catalogued every little reaction, adding them to her growing internal databank of Things Franyi Likes, and Anise felt something glowing inside of her.

As her pleasure ratcheted up, her awareness of her girlfriend seemed to elevate, every little facet of Franyi's responses known to her, even as a thrumming pleasure pulsed through Anise's sex, throbbing through her abdomen, tingling up her spine, her face flush and ears burning as hot blood amplified every little nerve. Something was happening. Franyi gasped and mewled into her neck, the fingers of her free hand digging into Anise's buttocks and caressing along the sweaty small of her back. Anise's body was on autopilot, her thumb circling Franyi's little nub, her fingers hot and wet as they worked along and within her folds, seeming to know what to do through some instinct that transcended knowledge. Suddenly, a great sensation welled up within her and Anise found herself trembling, hips bucking, her womb convulsing deep within herself as white hot pleasure spread across her body. And Franyi? Her eyes were actually glowing as she cried out, pulsing white light as she cried out in climax.

The windows rattled. The bookshelves rocked back and forth, spilling their volumes to the floor. One of the bed's legs snapped, sending Anise and Franyi tumbling through the floor in a mess of tangled sheets and discarded clothes. It took Anise a moment to understand what had just transpired. She'd climaxed… Franyi had climaxed… her eyes glowed, if only for a few seconds… crazy things had happened all over the room…

"Sweet lord," Anise whispered. "I… I think you just elevated."

"No," Franyi mumbled. "Your… your eyes glowed. I think you elevated. It shouldn't even be possible, not so close to your last elevation…"

It was impossible, according to everything that Anise knew about how soul elevation worked. And yet it had happened - she and Franyi had simultaneously ascended to the 5th elevation, which was practically unheard of in two people so young. It hadn't happened in hundreds of years and, Anise was willing to bet, it had never happened quite like this.

"H-hello? Who's in there?" a voice called from outside the room.