The evening after the girl's returned home from the auction, they remained quiet during dinner about the day's events, instead choosing to make small talk about frivolous matters. After cleanup, the bath lineup changed, with Suvi going first, followed by Reina and Devin, and last, Azalea. Waiting for their fairy lover to finish, both human and whitehorn relaxed in their room.
It was warm in front of the hearth. Reina lay naked on a flatweave rug, her legs tucked under her, sipping a new blend of tea, the same Suvi was drinking. Her crest assured she wouldn't need to do anything, but she was inspired by the ratgirl's efforts. She wanted to contribute in her own small way in providing her body with all it needed when her milk let down.
The crackling flames danced in her eyes as she watched the shadows playing off the shirtless form of Devin. He sat within arms' reach, eyes closed, focusing on training his affinity. It'd been about an hour since he last moved, and she wondered if he had fallen asleep.
Her ears perked up at a door opening. The soft fluttering of wings behind drifted closer as Azalea emerged from the bathroom, having finished her nightly routine. With cloth in one hand and brush in the other, she landed on Reina's shoulder and sat down to comb her hair.
"You smell nice," Reina complimented.
"I wanted to try the lilac-scented soap tonight. Can I have a sip?"
Reina held up her glass.
"This is really bitter."
"It's a tea Suvi's been drinking. Supposed to improve your milk."
"Oh?" Azlea took another, bigger swallow. "Bleh. Wish we had more of that bee girl honey."
"That would make it taste more palatable. I hope our trip proves fruitful for Herd-mate and Mavis."
"I'm confident it will." Steadying herself on Reina's shoulder, Azalea slid down onto the whitehorn's bosom and folded her arms behind her head.
"Comfy?"
"Yes, so warm and bouncy!" Crossing her legs, she peered over to Devin. "How's Life-mate progressing?"
Devin took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "There is no progression. I mean, I can access my affinity now, but what do I do next? We are both giving it to Reina in some way, yes?"
"Yep," Azalea raised her arms, letting herself slide down between Reina's breasts and out the bottom. Running over, she climbed into Devin's lap.
"I haven't done it, personally, but I was taught it'll have two parts: activation and periodic refilling. Refiling is simpler and much, much more fun." Azalea stroked the outline of Devin's partial erection. "Activation will be trickier since we'll have to coordinate the flow and amount to be as close to each other as possible. Yet before all that, you'll need to learn how to direct it to your hands."
"Any tips?"
"Imagine you're squishing it together in one place. Similar to this," She fished out Devin's penis and squeezed the base, causing the head and shaft to plump up. With every heartbeat she lightly tapped his twitching penis."Let your heart carry it through your body, a little at a time with each pulse. Let it pool at your fingertips."
He didn't tell Azalea, but the method he was employing in his mentalscape already involved his hands, but it might not hurt to learn in case he needed to divert to other parts of his body.
Devin stretched. "I'll give that a try next time. Are you ready for bed?"
"Almost, I want cuddle time and pillow talk with Life-mate and Reina first!"
She grabbed both their hands and pulled them toward the bed. "No, over here, Life-mate. A liiiitle more, there. And now Reina. Perfect!"
Even laying on her side, Reina was large enough and the bed low enough for her upper half to lay mostly on it. Azalea took her spot on Devin's right shoulder while Reina occupied his left.
"Am I too heavy, Herd-mate?"
"Not at all." Devin wrapped his arm around her shoulders while Azalea snuggled into his other cupped hand.
"Did you have a good day, Life-mate? How's the preparations going?"
"They are going well. It's taken longer than I wanted, but we have a very long trip ahead of us, and I want to be as prepared as possible. It normally takes three weeks to cross the mountains and another to reach the capital, and that's during good weather. We are traveling at the start of winter, so it'll most likely take us longer. As such, we'll need a lot of supplies. Reina and I have been going around looking for the best deals on many bulk items.
"I've also been in contact with the regulars I do business with and let them know I'll be gone on an extended journey. I've managed to forge a few deals with some investors willing to fund our trip for a portion of any commodities we bring back."
Reina paused her light tracing of Devin's chest with her fingers and interjected, "so far, Herd-mate has bought two hundred pounds of accumulated rye, wheat, and millet flour. We also have sixty pounds of dried fruit, which we can also boil down into sugar, thirty pounds of dried beans, ten pounds of salt and oil, a small keg of vinegar, and a dozen jars of spices."
"Reina will be burning a lot of energy, so I considered packing a lot of fresh veggies. One of the few odd benefits of going this time of year is we can keep things fresh by packing them in snow. But she said we didn't need to take too much, though, cuz she can forage for moss and lichen in the wild."
"Sounds dry and bitter," Azalea muttered with a sour face.
"It's an acquired taste. It'll only be till we reach more inhabited areas."
"Aside from foodstuffs, we've ordered spare parts, in case we break down, and tools for repair or clearing the road if needed. If everything works out, we'll have everything we need ready to be picked up by the time we come back from Jeni's little errand. And how about you, my mysterious little fairy? How are you and Jeni's secret project going?"
"You ask at a perfect time, Life-mate! I can share one of them now!"
Azalea jumped up and ran over to her clothes box on the nightstand. Pulling out the heavy coin purse, she dragged it to him and opened it. "Tadah!"
Devin made a rough count. "This is no small sum of money!"
"Jeni helped me sell a tincture of my affinity at the guild auction house."
"Look at you being entrepreneurial! I'm proud of you!"
Reina pressed her cheek against her. "As am I."
Together, they kissed her all over, making her burst out in a fit of giggles.
Devin was curious. "But why, though?"
"There are some things I wanted to buy for myself, but primarily, I wanted to help out our family. You said you had to take out that loan thing for the new wagon."
"That is very thoughtful of you but you didn't..."
"Stop. This is precisely why I did it in secret, cause I imagined you'd say something like that. I don't like not being useful. Families share things, and I wanted to contribute. What I don't spend I want to give to you, Life-mate, to help with the wagon."
Devin kissed her again. "You're right, and I appreciate it."
"If she has personal affects she needs to buy, you should take her shopping tomorrow, Herd-mate, just the two of you since we've been going out every day since Mavis' dinner."
"Is tomorrow a good time, Azalea?" asked Devin.
"Tomorrow is perfect! I won't be able to sleep tonight. I'm so excited!"
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Despite her declaration the night before, Azalea fell asleep almost immediately, allowing her to wake up with the dawn. It was too bright to open her eyes, so she buried her face into her pillow... or what she thought was a pillow.
What's this?
