After spending the afternoon psychologically torturing all the merchants they came across, with full bellies and new clothes, they arrived at the only boarding house that would serve orphans. It was a dreary establishment that's definitely seen better days, but it still protected one from the elements outside so it was better than nothing. Aoi had asked Arunika about just using her seed cottage for lodging for the night and was told that they could be apprehended by the enforcement authorities.
'Should I nuke the capital? I feel like nuking the capital all of a sudden...'
"Whatcha thinking about Aoi-chan?," Arunika asked after seeing her wife's creepy smile when she turned her head after she heard an equally if not creepier giggle.
Aoi snapped back and smiled at her like her whole being wasn't covered with a massive killing intent just then. "Huh? Oh, nothing honey. Just thinking of something funny."
"OOH! What's funny? TELL ME TELL ME!"
Aoi pinched her cheek and smiled. "You'll find out when it happens. Anyways, I'm tired, let's go in."
Arunika nodded cheerily and pulled Aoi in behind her. By this time, the innkeeper already heard word of this devilish negotiator. Knowing that she was with the orphan, she figured they'd be coming here for the night and was currently sweating bullets while her eyes kept darting to the entryway.
Arunika, with her usual ball-of-sunshine personality, walked in followed by someone that stunned the innkeeper with her beauty. "Can we get a room for the night innkeep?" Aoi saw the woman and, the innkeeper, even though she looked a little dowdy with frumpy clothes, still had a buxom figure with meat in all the right places, and Aoi liked that kind of figure alot. From the looks of it, even though this woman was on the more... frugal spectrum of wealth, she was still someone who looked like they took care of themselves.
Aoi walked past Arunika after putting on her most charming smile and went up to the innkeeper and lightly grazed her forearm and hand with her fingers. "Well, aren't you pretty? We need a place to stay and I was wondering..," she leaned a little closer while grabbing the innkeep's fingers and playing with them a bit and said in a slightly husky voice, "how much is it for a night?"
The innkeeper immediately had a blush creep up her neck and ears and started stammering in a low voice, "P-pre-pretty."
Aoi let go of Arunika's hand, covered her mouth and giggled. Then she proceeded to take it and rubbed her thumb on the woman's cheek and said, "Well, thank you. So? How much are you charging for us to... stay here for a night?"
"Y-you ca-can stay for f-free."
"Aw~, that won't do. How about 2 knuts for lodging and some hot water to wash~ ourselves."
"*gulp* Th-that's fine, mi-miss."
Aoi turned to Arunika after letting go of the innkeeper from her seduction. "Two knuts honey. Pay the woman?" Arunika reach in her sack and put the money with a slam, which startled the newly love-struck woman, and glared at Aoi with her cheeks bulging like a chipmunk in a pout. "Hmph, still know I'm your wife?!"
Aoi hugged Arunika tightly. "Aw, don't be like this." She whispered in her ear, "I was doing this to get a better deal. I just honey trapped her is all, but if you'd like we can still have her join us."
"NO! You're mine only! Plus, we're activating your mana tonight!"
"Fufu~, I know honey. You know I'm a wolf though, and I can get pretty hungry, so... you better be able to satiate my appetite because when I start eating you, I'm not going to stop until I'm full." Aoi proceeded to lick her lips seductively to which Arunika looked away with a blush. Aoi turned to the innkeeper, "Which room is it?"
The innkeeper shook her head and pointed her finger up the stairs. "First door on the right misses. I'll bring the water up after it's ready."
They both nodded and proceeded to walk up the stairs. After they left her line of sight, the innkeeper grasped her chest and breathed out, "Oh my, I thought my heart was gonna leap right out of my chest. They were right... she is a monster. I thought she was going to eat me up." 'Wouldn't really mind it though. OH GOSH! What am I thinking!'
~~~~~~~~~~
After they settled down onto the bed after 'thoroughly' washing themselves, mostly Aoi just exploring her wife's body, and getting dressed into their new clothes, Arunika had Aoi sit cross-legged at the foot of the bed with her back facing Arunika. She placed her hands on Aoi's back right below the shoulder blades.
"Now, I'm going to push and run some mana into your body. Once you feel it, you need to feel it and run it through your whole body. If I had to explain it, it would be like a warmth from sitting by a campfire is focused on those spots, and you need to just imagine that warmth is going through your whole body instead of just the location I'm putting it in. Are you ready?"
"En. Go ahead and start."
Aoi closed her eyes after noticing the green glow coming from behind her. Slowly, she started feeling a warmth spreading into her back. At first it was just slightly warmer than what she felt with just Arunika's hands, then she noticed it warming up like she had hand warmers placed directly on her back. After a time, it became hotter and hotter, almost to a scorching degree. "Move it now, Aoi!"
Aoi then started imagining herself inside a ring of campfires, warming every inch of her body. Not only did her body not get warmer, but the heat on the two contact points on her back was getting stronger. Arunika stopped and hugged her from behind. "What's wrong Aoi-chan? Can't figure it out?"
"No, I tried imagining being surround by the heat of a campfire, but it didn't work." 'What am I missing? OH! Maybe I can imagine myself lying under a kotatsu [1] with a hoodie pulled over my head!' "I think I have an idea now honey. Go ahead and start again."
"Are you sure? I don't want you to push yourself."
Aoi looked at Arunika with determination in her eyes and nodded. Once again, they started, but instead of sitting around campfires she imagined a cold winter night, lying under the kotatsu with her warmest hoodie pulled up over her head. She noticed the warmth from her back was slowly spreading down towards her feet warming her toes, then to her arms and fingers. Her whole body felt the cozy warmth she would experience lying under that electric heater heaven while watching variety shows during a cold winter evening.
Arunika noticed the faint black glow emanating from Aoi. It grew brighter as it started to flicker with silver light shining intermittently. This was the sign of someone with space magic aptitude. Arunika was stunned by the beauty of it, almost forgetting to stop channeling her magic into Aoi.
"So beautiful..."
The glow finally subsided and stopped. Aoi opened her eyes and turned around. "Hrm... You say something?"
"It was so beautiful. Your aura. It was almost like you were covered by the night sky."
"That means it worked?! YAY!" Aoi pounced on Arunika, hugging her, then nuzzling her head into her breasts. "Fufu, that's awesome! I can use magic now! I can't wait to try it tomorrow!"
Arunika smiled. "Yeah, let's go ahead and go to sleep and after breakfast we'll test it out to see what you can do." They then proceeded to go to sleep while cuddling, which Aoi used as an excuse to grope her wife's breasts. Arunika slapped her hand away. "Not tonight. It's late and we need to sleep."
"Fufu, Hai~!" [2]