Daughter Of The Cuckoo Queen

English is not my native language, and this is my first story ever in which I didn't skip over the sex scenes. Constructive criticism is very welcome!

This story is a bit long, if you're looking for quick satisfaction you might want to read a different one.

The story is, of course, copyrighted. Do not republish it without my permission.

– EchoLaLia

----

I have spent a large part of my life staring into Amnia's eyes. I'm only eighteen, and yet I think if you add up all the time I've spent like that it will be a few months. Her eyes are a deep dark green that I've never seen in anyone elses eyes, and so full of tiny details that I still haven't seen all. I never needed to leave my village to explore a world – I just went to see my friend and looked into her eyes. Amnia didn't mind, she always just sat there as if she were patiently waiting for something.

She really is special: as tall as a man, slim, strong, flawless both in looks and personality. I was sure she'd get married to a very rich man, so I spent all time I could find with her, enjoying her presence and company as much as possible until she would inevitable be taken far away from me.

Me? I'm just an average farmers' daughter, and I'm a bit on the heavy side and I don't watch my words. Like everyone here I have cinnamon coloured skin, brown eyes and straight black hair. The only positive thing to be said about me is that I can read and write well. Amnia often reminded me of that. "Sonma," she would say, "you talk and write like a city girl. I'm sure you'll go far." Such sweet nonsense, there are plenty of smart people in the city. No, I'm not bitter. Life is what Fate gives you.

I'm not sure why nobody ever teased us with my staring. Maybe it's because she was the daughter of the chief. Or maybe people figure we have a special bond because we were born on the same day. It doesn't matter anymore. Everything has changed. I can never return to my village.

The day after one of my people has celebrated his or her eighteenth birthday, he or she must go on a pilgrimage to a temple in Lemechte, the capital of our nation. After participating in rituals there, one becomes an adult, and allowed to marry. I always thought the pilgrimage was unfair to us in our village near the border, but it turns out all routes are equally long. People born in Lemechte have to leave the city, walk to a certain temple, and then return to Lemech's temple. One long straight trip seems better after all!

Amnia and I were born in early spring, and spring was late this year. The weather would make travelling difficult. To make things worse, I didn't want to become an adult. Marrying would mean I would have to spend much less time with Amnia, and that is if we would be so lucky to get married to men living near each other. She didn't seem happy to go either.

It was snowing when we climbed out of the valley, and it was still snowing when we reached the pass. Some wolves followed us for a while, but they didn't come close, and they left when Amnia threw a rock at them. The road down into the next valley was slippery, and when darkness fell I was sure I would break my neck on this first day. It stopped snowing after a while, and the full moon provided some light. We did make it to the next village, but there our luck got worse anyway. We walked into the inn, and before we even had a chance to say "hello" the owner grabbed us by our coats and threw us out. Nobody was willing to give us shelter. They'd open their door, have one look at Amnia, and slam it in our faces without a word.

Finally we found a haystack. It was much, much colder than the heated houses around us, but at least it was soft. The cold made me shiver like an earthquake, and made my arms and legs hurt. I was very surprised when Amnia started undressing herself, so I couldn't look away or close my eyes quickly enough to stop myself from seeing something forbidden. I sat there, head turned away, eyes closed, hands over my eyes, and then she started undressing me!

"Mmamnia. Mat are you doim? Mop mat." I mumbled. My lips were almost too cold to talk.

"I'm saving your life, silly."

She held me close against her, wrapped our clothes around us and piled some hay on top of us. Her skin was hot as if she had been walking in the sun on a summer day. Her small breasts and strong belly pressed against my back made my heart race. I was sure that what she was doing was forbidden! I tried to get out of her embrace, but her arms were too strong. After struggling for a minute I figured forbidden skin contact is better than a cold death. I relaxed and moments later I fell asleep.

We got dressed in the first light, carefully avoiding seeing each others bodies. We left the hostile village before sunrise.

"Sonma," Amnia said, "you have been a great friend."

"Thank you. So have you."

"You don't owe me anything."

"I am your friend."

"You don't owe me anything. I have to leave you now, please don't follow me but complete your pilgrimage."

"NO!" I shouted at her, "I will go wherever you go!" The words came out of my mouth as if they had been prepared long ago, even though I had no idea why I would make such a promise when she didn't want me with her in the first place.

"Sonma, I declare you don't owe me anything. You are free to go."

"As far as I know I don't owe you anything, but what does that have to do with leaving me? And why aren't you going to Lemechte? You will be a pariah if you don't."

Amnia sighed. "Sonma, your family has a blood debt to me."

"Don't be ridiculous. There is no such thing, and we've never harmed you anyway. Now tell me what's really going on."

Amnia shook her head. "You wouldn't believe me. But I will find a way. I have time, it seems I have no choice but to walk in the direction you have to go until I find out how to free you."

Amnia ended the discussion by walking away. The path was narrow, I had to walk behind her. I didn't mind, it had always been nice to observe her. She moved with an elegance that didn't seem to match her strength. Now I had been so close to her, the pleasure was more than aesthetic alone. I felt a kind of hunger, and it grew stronger with every movement of her hips I watched.

"Sonma."

I didn't hear her. I was too busy watching the dance of her body and her hair. Oh gods, her hair.

Amnia stopped and turned to me. "Sonma, why don't you tell me the story of Lemech and Mae'a?"

I grinned. "What, first you talk about blood debts, and now you want to hear that old wives" tale?"

"Some of those things are true, you know."

"Nonsense. There are no gods. Magical creatures do not exist. Magic does not exist."

"Wow, blasphemy while you're on a pilgrimage?"

I chuckled. "Fine, I'll entertain you."

We continued climbing, and I told her an old story I know by heart because she made me read it to her too many times. I left out most of what wasn't related to why she liked the story. I'm lazy like that.

---

After Fate created the Earth and the plants, She worked for a million years to create the creatures that think. Every year she created another species or race, and every year she gave birth to another god destined to rule over the new Kind she had created that year. After that million years, she wanted to rest for a day, but her children were not wise enough to rule yet. All, except one, her oldest daughter: Mae'a. So Fate asked Mae'a to watch over all of Creation for one day.

The other gods were jealous, and Lemech, one of the younger ones, came up with a plan. They would all take turns to distract Mae'a, and then steal a Kind to rule. At the end of the day, Mae'a was exhausted from chasing her siblings all day, and the only kind left under Her control was the cuckoo. Each god had stolen one Kind for Himself, but none had stolen the Kind they were destined for. Lemech had stolen the people with cinnamon skin, black hair and brown eyes: us.

When Fate woke up and saw what had happened, She was furious. But not even Fate is able to punish a million gods at once, or to swap them all around until each is ruling His destined Kind. So instead Fate punished them all by making them jealous forever. She created one more species, more beautiful and powerful than all others, and gave it to Mae'a in addition to the cuckoo.

These creatures, the Mae'ag, are strong and beautiful in their own form, but they can take the shape of any species. Their shapeshifting is not perfect, they cannot hide their soul. In other words, one can always recognize them by their eyes.

To further punish the younger gods, Mae'ag do not take care of their own young. When a Mae'ag egg hatches, the young inside it changes its shape to look like a child of the first creature it sees, which is then compelled to take care of it. The young Mae'ag won't be able to shapeshift again until it is fully grown.

Mae'ag are friendly and always willing to help other kinds of creatures. But humans stay away from them, because they know what will happen when they receive an egg. The Mae'ag don't go where they aren't welcome, so they're almost never seen by humans.

---

"Or, perhaps, they don't exist, that would make more sense, you know" I added.

"The people in that village seemed to think differently."

"Fools."

"Of course. A young Mae'ag doesn't lay eggs, and there is no way a human could stop a grown Mae'ag."

"You're not a Mae'ag, Amnia."

"How can you be so sure?" The path had become wider and flat, she waited a moment for me to catch up.

"You're just a girl with remarkable eyes. Mae'ag are supposed to be neither male nor female."

"How do you know that what's between my legs is the same as what you have?"

My heart skipped a beat. This was too obscene. I felt blood rushing to my face.

"I checked last night," Amnia said, "we're not the same."

She had shocked me twice in a few seconds. I tripped over a rock and started giggling. "Oooh, you got me there. You got me good."

"Fine, then don't believe me. It doesn't change that the day before we were born, your father found an egg, and because he and your mother were so hungry he didn't think of it that it might be a Mae'ag egg. My mother did notice what it was, and took it away from them, but she couldn't get rid of me in time before I hatched."

"Of course, Amnia. Whatever you say." I shook my head. I decided I would play along in this game of pretend, it would be fun and there was nothing else to do anyway.

I was disappointed she didn't bring up the subject again for hours. The road ahead of us took a very wide curve around a place where white clouds seemed to emerge from the earth. "So, what do your great Mae'ag senses tell us is over there, o daughter of the Cuckoo Queen?" I teased.

Amnia stared at the clouds in the distance. "The skin of the Earth is thin over there. Just like many other living things the Earth has warm blood, and over there it heats the water. That's all. It's silly people don't dare to go there."

"What, no demons?"

"Old wives" tales."

"Huh. Let's take a nice and warm shortcut then."

"You don't take this pilgrimage seriously at all, do you?"

"I'm not even going to complete it."

Amnia stared at her feet. "You will want to complete it once I free you from your blood debt. But, fine, let's go have a look. A walk through the field won't be easier than a walk on the road, so it shouldn't count as cheating."

The hot springs smelled of sulfur, but didn't appear to be poisonous – there were plants growing around them. I touched the water, it was nice, not too hot. It reminded me of Amnia's hot skin. Maybe I could have my revenge and shock her here? "Since you've already seen me naked AND molested me, I don't see why I shouldn't undress and take a bath right here and now."

"You have a point" she said.

Oops. I didn't want to lose a game of chicken, so I started unbuttoning my coat. Amnia watched with an amused grin. I took off my scarf, my coat, my dress, removed my shoes, my pants, my shirt, my undershirt – so many layers of gray wool in this cold time of year! (Yes, I know why you're reading this and that gray wool just won't do it, but it's the truth. I didn't have any pretty clothes until much later.) She blushed but didn't look away. She didn't even blink.

I hid my body under the surface of the steaming warm water. "Your turn."

I thought I would look away before she would take off her undershirt, but she wasn't wearing one. Of course not. Just like the night before, she was naked under her dress. Didn't the cold bother her at all? At least I did see she looked entirely human and female.

Amnia sat down close to me. My hunger for her body became a raging beast in my belly. I couldn't resist touching her, so I pretended to wash her. I rubbed her shoulders, her back, followed her spine down, and switched to her front just in time to avoid appearing as naughty as I was feeling. I couldn't avoid it for long. I gave in to my desire, embraced her from behind and ran my fingers over her breasts. For a moment it seemed she wanted to say something, but she simply sighed and leaned back against me. I forgot all about sin and consequences and let my right hand slide between her legs. There was something there that hadn't been there when I looked. Something was slowly growing and sliding out of her slit, something flexible and as thin as my little finger. So she wasn't human after all. So she had a penis, but not one like of any animal I had ever seen (and probably not like a human one either, I wouldn't know). I didn't care. The only thing that mattered was to get it inside me as soon as possible. I let my instincts rule me.

I stood up, and tugged on her shoulders to make her do the same. She complied, I guess she thought I wanted to trade places. Still standing I leaned my back against her chest and let her embrace me. I grabbed her arms, bent over, kneeled and pressed my bottom against her crotch. I felt her hesitate, a conflict between her mind and body. I felt her penis bend and move around as if it had a mind of its own, looking for my entrance, while on the other side Amnia was still struggling a little to get her arms free from my hands to stop me. A small helpful twist of my hips, and I won.

"Damnit, Sonma, you have to be a virgin to be allowed to participate in the rituals."

"I don't care. If you're not going there, why should I?"

Amnia let her full weight rest on my back, I had to let go of her arms to support us and keep my face above water. She was stronger than I am, she could easily have stopped me if she had really wanted to. She fondled my chest, my belly, my hips... all bigger and softer than hers. Even though our bodies were pressed together and not moving, she was still sliding further and further into me. Her breath was hot in my neck, and her part was even hotter inside me.

Time slowly passed as I was losing more and more of my virginity. Wasn't this supposed to hurt? It was nice. When she finally was completely inside me, Amnia grabbed my shoulders from below, pulled back a little, and slammed into me with force. After only a dozen quick movements, she bit my shoulder while her body was shaking violently. We almost fell over. A hot stream shot into me. I felt as if a chain that had been wrapped around my heart slipped off. I mentally tried to grab it and put it back, but couldn't. It didn't matter, something new and positive took its place and tied me to Amnia even stronger than before.

She let go of me and stumbled away.

"Amnia, are you alright?" I could feel that she wasn't.

No answer. She walked away from the hot springs, into the snow. She fell and stayed down, the snow around her promptly melted. And then it happened. A little bit of golden light appeared on every plant and strand of grass I could see. In a flash, all those little droplets of light raced into her.

Where my friend had been there now was a creature many times her size. It looked as if someone had combined a horse, a lizard and a bat into one being. Strong, huge, covered in golden scales, and most of all, beautiful. I stared at it for a full minute until it clicked in my brain that this was Amnia, now an adult and in her own shape. I walked over to her and stroked her snout. "Gosh, girl, you're pretty." Away from the water, the air was cold, but there was a lot of heat radiating off her body. She licked my shoulder where she had bitten me. I hadn't noticed I was bleeding. Her tongue felt like silk, and after a few licks the wound was closed and gone.

Now I saw her as a large beast completely unlike a human, the thought of having had sex with her felt weird. Maybe Amnia read my mind, or maybe she had a different reason to shift back to the shape I knew. She hugged me, thanked me and kissed me.

"Aww, gold looked great on you."

In the blink of an eye, her hair changed to a golden blond curls. Her skin turned pale to match. "Good idea, my eyes won't stand out as much when I look like a foreigner."

I looked at the naked exotic girl in my arms. "You know what? I'm not satisfied yet."

"Of course you aren't. I lost control there. Come on, show me how to make you happy." She took my hand and led me back to the water.

I sat down in her lap, facing her, pushed her face between my breasts and ran my fingers through her hair. That was enough to give her a new erection. I concentrated on the feeling of it slowly pushing and wriggling up into me. That and the colder air above the water made me shiver and made my nipples hard. "Is your tongue always as nice as when you healed that bite?" I asked.

"No, but I can make it like that." She didn't need another hint and started licking one of my breasts, slowly working towards my nipple. I guided her hand to my clit, and showed her the right movement. Little circles. I like little circles. All those nice stimulations combined felt perfect, a wave of pleasure ran through my body. Amnia spit out my nipple just in time, I heard her teeth slam together when she came, again filling me with her hot semen. I gave her my other breast, and we continued the same way. I felt a tension build inside me, and when she came for the third time that day I joined her. I dug my fingernails into her back and screamed my lungs out. My whole body squeezed and pulled her into me.

When in the end I came to my senses I was afraid I might have hurt her. I hadn't hurt her. The first thing I saw when I could think again was two happy dark green eyes looking into mine, completely amazed. Leave it to me to break the mood by saying something stupid: "Will I end up laying eggs now?"

"No," she said, "but I guess I might."

"How does that make sense?"

"I'm made of magic. It's enough that you love me."

"Magic doesn't exist."

"Oh shut up." And with those words she shoved her tongue into my mouth to make sure I would indeed shut up.

Now I knew why she couldn't participate in the rituals in Lemechte. She would have offended her own goddess. And she had been right, there was a blood debt. I paid it off, but at what cost? Instead of owing a favor to someone in exile, I would have to go in exile too. I do think this was the best solution. Sometimes you have to stop listening to those who love you, and start listening to your instincts. And then you make love to the one who loves you most.

To be continued...