Consciousness returned rather abruptly and Yuriko's eyes opened, and she found herself staring at the back of Gwendith's head. The golden curls were pressed against her cheek, and the other girl was snoring softly. She had her arms around Gwendith's waist. There was a muscular forearm wrapped around her waist and a large hand cupping her bosom.
She was squeezed in between two warm bodies, and Yuriko couldn't stretch languidly as she wanted to, not without disturbing their exhausted slumber. Her bottom felt a bit sticky from the dried fluids, and there was that pleasant soreness between her legs. Heron's morning hardness was pressing against her back and for a long moment, she considered slipping him back inside…
Her cheeks flushed as she sighed and spread her perception. As she half expected, Fluffington and Ryoko were already here, but there was another tent set up next to theirs, and the other four were inside. Well, Devotee was not. He was sitting just outside, observing the surroundings and keeping watch.
"Ah…"
The hand on her left breast squeezed her slightly as Heron mumbled in his sleep. He cuddled closer to her and she could feel his breath against the nape of her neck. A bit of heat went down to her loins, but she fought it off. She blinked when she realised how easy that was to do. One moment, she was aroused, then the next, she simply wasn't. Huh.
Well, his hand felt nice against her skin, though, he was wonderfully firm. Trying not to dwell on the events of this morning, which lasted until just past noon, and now, it was close to evening again. She was feeling a bit of hunger now, but in-between the bouts of lovemaking, the three of them scarfed down a ration bar, so it wasn't so bad.
'Why can I see the golden threads?' Yuriko thought as her eyes were drawn towards her chest. She could see a multitude of ethereal strands there, though she felt she could ignore it and not see it at all if she wanted to. A mental command and the threads disappeared from sight. Another command and they reappeared. Two of the thicker and brighter threads led to Gwendith and Heron, while four more led towards her other companions. Fluffington was asleep in the tent, and she didn't need her perception to know that. He was dreaming of chasing down a tasty bunny, and his legs jerked every now and then.
Gwendith was dreaming, too, or rather, she was having a nightmare. Her body wasn't trembling, but Yuriko could feel the fear and dismay seeping out from her lover. She tightened her hug and kissed Gwendith's cheek and that seemed to be enough for her nightmare to change to something a bit less distressing.
Heron was dreaming of what they did earlier, except in his dreams he was a bit more…dominating…after the first round. Yuriko held in a giggle and rubbed her bottom against him. His dreams shifted slightly, and her cheeks heated up again because now, he was dreaming of holding her legs up over her head and pounding her relentlessly. She snorted at that. He had been too gentle, actually, and she wished he had been that bold.
Oh, she was aroused again. Stop. Her body obeyed.
That was more than enough to clue her in on what changed with her being. She closed her eyes and meditated, ignoring everything else around her as she focused inwards.
What changed?
Her Anima had recovered from the fight, and while she didn't stretch it out to its fullest, she could tell that she actually grew over twenty paces from that fight alone, then another twenty from that short moment she was within the Realm of Pure Chaos. Her Anima was now stronger than it was back when they fought the Chaos Duke, even with the burden of Damien's memories. But unfortunately, the rapid expansion didn't come without great cost.
She could feel that the purity of her Anima had gone down by nearly ten percent and she would need to refine it actively for several days before it could return to its original value. Maybe even longer. Still, growing by that much saved her years of time! What was a few days or even weeks of refinement matter? She might not have as much fine control over her Animakinesis if she pushed herself to the limits, but that still left her with a wide margin. Ah, that also meant the ratio of Radiant energy within her Anima was now lower. It would not rise until the purity returns to the appropriate level.
She was tempted to begin the refinement then and there, but she refrained. She still had other things to consider.
A quick check on how many strands of consciousness she could form told her that it was now at a hundred and seven strands. A minuscule increase of one if she looked at it in absolute terms, but even that increase had been unexpected and welcomed. She knew that Magi couldn't split their thoughts that many ways, but perhaps they focused on quality over numbers. For her, a single strand of consciousness was inadequate to cast a spell, even a basic one. She needed at least two to do that, and preferably three. Compared to what was the norm for Magi, it was one spell per parallel thought.
Her physique had improved, though she really had no way to check by how much. It was just that she had an instinctive feel for it. The purity of her Radiance inside her body had not changed so there was little to worry over that one. She used to measure her strength by how much Anima reach she used to suppress herself, but that was unreliable now. Every inch of reach gave out more power now, for every pace she had in Anima reach. She couldn't calculate how much it increased, and just the thought of trying to find out gave her a headache. That was a balm to her feelings though, since she knew Damien would have been eager to find out the exact numbers had it been him.
Well, not much changed there, except for the fact that she could now control her body's minute movements and reactions. Her focus went down to her womb expecting to see the runescript pattern for her Clan's Fertility Control wrapped around it.
"Oh…"
She forgot that she hadn't been using it. Ehehehe. Her periods had not been that uncomfortable now that she reached Transformation, and her cycles had actually spanned the entire Season now instead of four weeks. And because she'd been admonished back home that persisting on using Fertility Control all the time was actually detrimental, she'd forgotten that she'd left it off.
…was she going to be pregnant now? She could feel his seed deep within her, but then again, it was easy enough to remove with her kinesis. Besides, she was sure she wasn't ready to be a parent yet.
So she did just that. Not awkward at all, ehehe, despite what she told him earlier. Well, good thing neither of the two would find out about her slip-up. She examined her body closely after she was done, and determined that, no, she wasn't with child. Not yet, but if she hadn't done anything, she would have been. Ah, that's a relief. Come to think of it, was there any real need to use that technique when she could control the intimate parts of her body? Hmmm, something to think about.
Slightly shamefaced, she turned her attention to other changes only for her to realise something she missed earlier in the afterglow of lovemaking, and the fuzzy comfort of cuddling. How in the Abyss did she know what Fluffington, Gwendith, and Heron were dreaming about?
She looked down at her bosom and at the threads that connected Gwendith and Heron. When she stared at the specific thread, the one to Gwendith, she could see pulses of light moving from the other girl to her. When she focused on those, she felt…comfort? Definitely lethargy. But then, Gwendith was napping, after all. And long enough for dreams to occur, too. How long had they been napping, anyway?
She looked at another thread, one that led towards Ryoko. There, she felt contentment and more than a little bit of envy. For what though? Yuriko didn't know, but she felt that it wasn't directed at her. Ryoko's thread was much more active, and the handmaiden was currently in a focused mood. She pressed into the thread, hoping to glean more details, and she got the impression that Ryoko was fixing Yuriko's clothes and arranging supplies.
Yuriko sighed and shut off the sense. It was a rather deep invasion of private things, and she felt uncomfortable prying. She shifted a bit since Heron was rubbing his hand across her bosom and his fingers were tweaking her sensitive bits…he was still asleep though.
Come to think of it, how was she not exhausted from holding her Anima back?
Yuriko frowned. At the beginning there, she'd done as she usually did when she and Gwendith made love. But something changed soon after. Her Anima stopped pressing down on the other two and simply accepted them. Even now, her Anima enfolded their's easily, and held them as though a mother holding her babe.
The only thing that differed was that she'd lain with a man, as opposed to with another woman. It was probably her Mien's doing, but she wasn't sure she liked the implications. Then again, the Mishala Mien aided the clanswomen when it came to matters of pleasure and procreation, so…
Or perhaps she could think that it changed because she'd done it with both of them, huh? Either way, at least it let her enjoy the activity without tiring her out excessively. Speaking of that, she'd really like to get up now. Enough cuddling.
She wriggled out of Heron's embrace, noting that he mumbled and moaned in that adorable way. Prying his hand off had not been that difficult, but his morning hardness looked painful, didn't it? It was throbbing, after all. She bit her lip and banished those thoughts.
Gwendith was the one who stirred and awoke once Yuriko got up. She moaned and rolled off the bedroll until she was on her back. Her eyes shot open, then blinked at the ceiling, before they turned to seek her out.
Despite her resolve, Yuriko couldn't help but open the connection…just a bit, to find out what Gwendith was feeling.
An outpouring of love, lust, and longing drowned everything else out, but then, when she glanced at Heron, the emotions within her spiralled into the opposite end. Fear, loathing…and self-hate. Gwendith controlled herself quickly, but being naked, Yuriko didn't miss the slight shiver.
Her arms went around her lover and she tucked Gwendith's head under her chin. Then, she used her Animakinesis to surreptitiously cover Heron's nudity with the blanket.
"Shhh, it's alright," she murmured, and at the same time, fought down the feeling of guilt. She felt Gwendith's emotions stabilise within her embrace, so she just tightened her hug.
Well, she supposed this morning's fun wouldn't happen again anytime soon. Yuriko couldn't abuse the other woman's grace.
While hugging, Yuriko's Animakinesis slipped towards the other tent and she retrieved her clothes. They slipped inside the tent, but the opening of the flap caught Gwendith's attention and she pushed herself away from Yuriko.
"Thanks, and sorry," Gwendith murmured.
"Nothing to apologise for," Yuriko insisted.
"Yeah…" Gwendith eyed Yuriko's body, and her gaze went downwards. "We'll need to wash up…" she muttered under her breath.
Yuriko raised an eyebrow, then said, "Cleanse spell."
"Huh…oh! You're right, Ahahaha."
Shaking her head, Yuriko cast the spell for both of them and once it was done, she pulled on her clothes. "So…tell me about those Ancients you've met."
Gwendith blinked, then sighed. "Yes. I think we're going to face some troubles there."
"Don't we always, heh." Yuriko looked at Heron, who was still fast asleep. Then again, she'd wrung him completely dry after all, so he needed to regain his strength. "So, tell me about the Eternal Tower…"