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Lauma slowly opened her eyes, the songs of the puffins on her windowsill stirring her from her sleep and heralding the new day. Stretching her arms high and adjusting her sleepwear to sit properly, she rose from her bed and made her way to where the birds had gathered.
"Good morning, friends. I hope you all had a restful night's sleep."
Many voices blended together into a chorus as more of the animal residents of Hiisi Isle stopped to visit Lauma's abode. She suddenly found herself in the midst of a flurry of conversations with the wildlife.
"Yes, of course, I'll make sure to tell her not to disturb your nest."
"No, I hadn't heard. I'll send someone out to scout the area."
"You found one? Oh, wonderful! Here's the Mora, you can seek me out and deliver it tonight."
As hard as she tried, it was a challenge to make out every individual comment or question being sent her way. After responding to several, Lauma settled her attention on a young Rimehorn Deer—one often too shy to speak to her directly. She smiled softly at the fawn pushing herself out of her shell.
"Oh, me? Hmm…I suppose I slept alright. Maybe a bit less than usual, but I only have myself to blame." Lauma chuckled softly to herself while the animals looked on at her in confusion. "Don't worry about me, I'm perfectly fine. If you should be concerned about anyone, though—"
Muffled groans interrupted Lauma, coming from underneath the covers of her bed. The sheets tossed and turned like the shifting of tides, thrashing motions occurring just beneath their surface. Several of the birds hopped back, afraid of what monster their beloved maiden could possibly have been hiding in her dwelling.
A groggy voice emanated from the blankets. "Do you really need to play the role of storybook protagonist right at the crack of dawn? Is your roving gang of woodland critters always this demanding of you?"
"If you all could excuse me for just a moment," Lauma said to her visitors. She stepped back towards her bed, lightly placing a hand atop the mass on the opposite side. "You know they come and go as they please, dear. After all, we are in the middle of their home—you're very lucky they let us have any privacy at all out here."
"You'd think they'd respect the barrier of a stone wall," the sheets grumbled. Lauma rose a hand to the top of the soft blanket, pulling it down to expose the woman cocooned inside. Nefer tensed up and recoiled into herself at the sudden flash of daytime, her eyes unprepared for the harsh sunlight. "Things are so much easier when you just stay over at the Curatorium."
It warmed Lauma's heart to see the ordinarily shrewd woman so—for lack of a better term—pathetic in the mornings. She had spent her whole life waking up bright and early to the sounds of nature, but the same could clearly not be said of Nefer. "Regardless, you need to be up right about now anyways." Lauma stroked Nefer's back as she spoke. "You have a busy day ahead of you."
Nefer slowly unfurled her limbs, weakly glancing up to meet Lauma's eyes. Lauma could have sworn her heart stopped for a moment. "Fucking…what did I forget?" Nefer rarely forgot her commitments—doing so in her field could sever a connection permanently. "It better not be some asinine endeavor the 'benevolent' leader of the Frostmoon Scions has dragged me into again."
Lauma smiled. The jabs Nefer sent her way had long since lost their edge. "We have the monthly League conference this afternoon." She was met with a blank stare from the woman beneath her. "The League we are founding members and chief representatives of."
"Wonderful. Something only mostly pointless." Nefer shuffled backwards and sat up straight on the mattress, resting her forehead against the heel of her palm. "I truly don't know what you expect that body to achieve, Lauma. You can't weed out the divisions of this region overnight."
"I can settle for it being done over many nights."
Nefer exhaled with a laugh. Lauma might have been the only person she knew willing to not only put up with, but go toe-to-toe with her verbal sparring. "All this time and I still don't know what to do with you."
"Well, it seems for once I have the upper hand. I have inside sources that have told me exactly what to do with you." Lauma cradled the back of Nefer's tired head as she placed a soft kiss on her lips. It took her a beat to process, but Nefer soon reciprocated the contact, hands reaching out to hold Lauma's sides. The two stayed connected for a moment, hands softly roaming over each other.
When they broke apart, Nefer's gaze seemed to pierce directly past Lauma, a displeased expression coloring her face. "I understand you have a great many responsibilities to the grove, Lady Moonchanter, but does that very nature really need to bear witness to this?"
Lauma quickly turned her head back to the windowsill, the colorful cast of critters watching the lovers unflinchingly. She choked on her words, "I-I'm sorry, everyone. I promise I'll be available to you all later. If you could just…please give us a bit of space for a little while."
The stroll through the Frostmoon Enclave had become a regularity for Nefer. Before her and Lauma's current relationship, she had very little reason to visit Hiisi Isle at all. Even then, when the rare commission that required a trip appeared on her desk, she would often send Jahoda to sort things out instead. She would say her avoidance of the island was out of practicality—making the journey herself when she could easily send her employee to clean things up in her stead was illogical. There were obviously no other complications that could arise were she to pay a visit to the Frostmoon Scions; she would have laughed at such an absurd suggestion.
Years of avoiding dealing with Lauma on her home turf had been for naught, of course. Now that the two were practically joined at the hip, she found herself suggesting the idea of visiting even more often than Lauma herself.
The stares the denizens of the enclave sent her way were once cold, but had slowly grown kind as the sight of her and their Moonchanter walking hand in hand became a common one. That particular display of affection was at Lauma's request, though it took a good while until Nefer was willing to intertwine their fingers in view of Lauma's people. Even then, Nefer was adamant that particular act not be seen beyond the borders of the small community.
Lauma smiled to herself as she felt the woman walking beside her grasp at her open hand. She quickly reached to complete the hold.
"Honestly," Nefer began as the pair passed by an outdoor gathering spot, "I have far more important matters to attend to than this region's doomed attempt at a council. I don't intend to play the role of mediator out of the goodness of my heart."
"Well, there is a small stipend if you choose to attend," Lauma said. "It's not much, but it all adds up in the end, does it not?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if I could make twice the rate finding some poor child's lost dog." Nefer turned to look at Lauma, her mischievous grin dropping as she met the woman's solemn expression. "You're…serious about this, aren't you?"
The two came to a halt, stopped in front of the Statue of the New Moon on the outskirts of the village. Nefer had never quite been able to look at the sculptures the same now that she was, in some sense, friends with the figure that they depicted.
"I am, Nefer. I know you don't have high expectations, and perhaps that is warranted, but I truly believe we should give this a try." Lauma reached out to take Nefer's other hand in hers as well. "Maybe it does fall through in the end, but we will never know if Nod-Krai has a brighter future in store for us if we don't at least give collaboration a try."
The resolve in Lauma's eyes was impossible to look away from. Time and time again, she proved to be the sole exception to every single one of Nefer's self-imposed rules. "Alright, I suppose—huh?"
Nefer was interrupted mid-sentence by a small creature skittering between her feet, stopping beneath Lauma, and poking at her heels. "Oh, why hello there," Lauma immediately slipped back into the soothing voice she spoke to wildlife with. Nefer would never admit it, but a shiver ran down her spine every time she witnessed the change in Lauma's tone.
The Weasel Thief gripped something in one paw, while the other continued to nudge Lauma's foot. "Do you have something for me?" she asked, kneeling down and extending a hand. The weasel carefully placed the small object in Lauma's palm before skittering away. As she glanced down at the gift, Lauma let out an awkward cough, an imperceptible blush covering her face.
Nefer tried her best to get a clear look at what the creature had actually delivered, but Lauma quickly tucked it behind her back. Nefer had still managed to get a rough impression of the object; it appeared round, and was colored a deep blue. It almost looked like some sort of strange plant.
"What was that about?"
"It…it's nothing important." Lauma stood up straight, her hands still hidden behind her. We should keep moving, it's a long walk to Nasha Town."
Lauma's silver blood and practiced composure had a way of hiding her embarrassment from most people, but Nefer knew her tells all too well. The way she anxiously shuffled her hands behind her, how her normally respectful gaze was trained directly at the dirt beneath them—the actions clearly showcased a flustered woman. Nefer would not let that go unnoticed.
"Are you seriously trying to hide something as ridiculous as a gift from a Weasel Thief from me?"
Lauma fidgeted for a moment before releasing a drawn-out exhale. "I…suppose you're right," Lauma said, bringing her hands back in between them and tepidly displaying the round object. "She wasn't supposed to deliver this until tonight, but it seems she was very excited about her find."
Nefer studied the blue-hued object. It was small by conventional standards—no larger than Nefer's own Vision—but if it were a seed, which Nefer suspected and its textured surface suggested, it was rather big. Nefer donned a weary smile. "I didn't expect collecting bizarre blue spheres to be a hobby of yours." Her weak remark prompted no reaction. "So…what actually is it?"
"A Frostlamp Flower seed," Lauma explained, "They do tend to be rather big compared to the seeds of other flowers, though this one is even more of an outlier." Lauma idly toyed with the seed, running it through her fingers and feeling its surface. "It's rare to find one with these…particular dimensions. She had to scour the entire island for this."
The more Lauma talked, the more Nefer's confusion grew. "Right, but why exactly are you in need of that?" And why did you try to hide it from me? She withheld the follow-up question.
"It's…complicated." Nefer's unamused expression implored Lauma to answer anyways. "It's just…Frostlamp Flowers are of a particularly firm nature. This is especially true before they have bloomed, and doubly so with a seed as large as this. Their stems and petals can be tightly coiled together to form…" Lauma trailed off, leaving the explanation incomplete.
"Yes?" Nefer asked impatiently.
"Perhaps it would be better if I just showed you." Lauma closed her eyes, focusing on the seed in her palms. Elemental energy flowed from deep within her, coaxing the plant she held to bloom at her command. However, instead of the familiar shape Nefer expected the bud to take, it instead grew into twisted bundles of plant matter, resembling nimble vines more than they did a flower. Lauma commanded the furled blossom to move in a variety of ways, flailing about, folding in on itself, and eventually, tightening and untightening its curl, making it it throb as if it had a heartbeat.
When Lauma shyly opened her eyes to look back into Nefer's, she was greeted with a prominent blush.
"I…see." Nefer had little else to add.
"It was supposed to be something for, well, a different occasion." Lauma retracted the flower back into its seed as much as she could. "I'll…find somewhere to store it until after the meeting."
The reminder of the pair's commitment snapped Nefer out of her daze. The corners of her mouth began to turn upward, a new idea forming. Lauma watched as her expression slowly shifted from flustered to something…different.
"I'm sure that won't be necessary, my dear Lauma," Nefer said, stepping around her partner, her hands coming to rest on both of her shoulders. "I think this little League could prove to be very interesting after all."
"I would like to start by thanking you all for taking the time out of your schedules to attend the fourth official meeting of the Nod-Krai League," the brown-haired man at the head of the table began. "I'd especially like to extend my gratitude to Miss Nefer of the Curatorium of Secrets. I know your business keeps you working around the clock, so we are thankful to see you in attendance once again."
"Of course, Tarno. Our project here is incredibly important; it's a shame I had to miss the previous two." Nefer glanced across the conference table, catching the tail end of an incredulous eye roll from Lauma. "The work we are doing here is essential to maintain the place we all call home." She firmly tapped a clawed finger on the table, and Lauma immediately stiffened in her seat, eyes going wide.
"Thank you for your kind words. Well," Tarno said, "let us begin by briefly covering the matter of the Fatui and the Kuuvahki Experimental Design Bureau. As has been the trend, the Fatui have not sent a representative to this meeting, but we have received word that they are continuing to scale down their operations in the region following the demise of both The Doctor and Marionette."
Lauma seemed to regain her presence of mind, nodding along intently with the update. Her people had suffered greatly at the hands of the Fatui, and though the woman that was both her goddess and her close friend had a complicated relationship with the fallen Seventh Harbinger, she was relieved that the terror the Frostmoon Scions had been put through was coming to an end. Nefer chose not to interrupt her moment of closure.
"With that out of the way, shall we turn to the matter of the Wild Hunt?" Tarno turned expectantly to the figure on his left.
"Allow me, sir." The man draped in dark robes rose from his seat. "As you all know, the defeat of Rerir many months ago largely quelled the Wild Hunt in the southern archipelago, though heavy activity in the northern peninsula remained." Nefer caught herself zoning out at Flins's monologue. She understood the need to reiterate the events of the year prior in such a setting, but she could not have found the old intel less interesting. Her focus shifted back to her partner on the other side of the table.
"The Traveler and Young Master Illuga's efforts to quell the abyssal anomalies in the North were also remarkably successful, though neither fully eradicated the threats across the region." As she listened to the rundown, Lauma felt the Frostlamp Flower seed hidden under her dress shift and poke at her once more. Turning away from Flins, she witnessed Nefer subtly twirling her fingers in the air, coaxing movements out of the vines pressed against her backside. As the two locked eyes, the woman smiled and curled her fingers inwards. Lauma began to second-guess her agreement to Nefer's idea.
"Up until recently, that is, when the—" Flins stopped in the middle of his explanation, turning to face the source of the abrupt fit of coughing. "Miss Lauma, are you alright?"
"I…yes, sorry. Merely something caught in my throat," Lauma choked out. Her hands shot up to cover her mouth and hide her face; had Nefer actually willed the vine to tease at her ass in the middle of the meeting? She wouldn't have believed the audacity if it weren't for everything she had come to know about the woman. "Please, continue."
"Very well. As I was saying, recently, the Knights of Favonius's expeditionary team…" The man's voice again turned to background noise as Lauma felt something prod against her entrance. She shifted her eyes to glance back at Nefer, witnessing an almost playful tilt of her head as the plant she manipulated continued to stroke at Lauma's hole, as if asking for permission. Against her better judgment, and with a subtle bite of her lip, she nodded her head.
The bud surged forward, knocking the breath out of her. The way Lauma's eyes rolled back as she tried her hardest to suppress a moan was one of the most tantalizing things Nefer had ever witnessed. She curled her finger again to caress Lauma's walls, watching as she shivered almost imperceptibly. She adored making her lover feel good, but doing so in the middle of the full conference room was a rush she didn't know she needed.
Lauma's hand came to rest against her mouth, all of her energy focused on maintaining appearances. She was ashamed of herself—how could she do this to her people? She was their representative; she had claimed a seat in the League to advocate for them and their needs, but here she sat, completely disconnected from the proceedings around her as Nefer played with her body for her own amusement. It was unbecoming of her. It was disgraceful. It was…
Lauma's thoughts fully derailed as she felt the vine inside of her uncurl, stretching her hole and reaching to press against her prostate. The pleasure she felt surging through her intensified, drowning out the anxieties that had clouded her brain. She had done so much for so long; couldn't she allow herself to have this just this once?
"…Would that be alright, Miss Lauma?" A high-pitched voice cut through Lauma's delirium, immediately reminding her that she was being fucked in public. Her panicked gaze darted around the room, hopelessly searching for a lifeline to explain what was being asked of her. Once again, her eyes landed back on Nefer's sadistic smile.
"I—Apologies, could you please, uh, repeat your question? I may have been a bit…spaced out."
"No worries," the fae woman resumed, "I was just wondering if I could bring a few kids by to study the fauna of the Frostmoon Enclave? I think it would be very beneficial…"
Lauma's jaw fell and the world around her froze as Nefer tightly clenched her fist. She collapsed forward onto the table, the tendril inside of her thrusting hard. Coughing furiously, she stumbled out of her chair and towards the door, snatching Nefer's arm mid-trajectory. "I-I'm so sorry, Miss Linnea—and everyone—I just need a second. Please, continue without us."
"Excuse us, she's been feeling unwell lately," Nefer weakly explained as she was dragged into the hallway. "We'll be back in a moment."
Lauma hurriedly pulled Nefer along behind her, ducking into the first open door she could find—seemingly an unoccupied office.
"Now what's this about—" Nefer's question was cut off as Lauma shoved her against the wall of the room. She came face-to-face with a desperate expression, Lauma panting heavily and nearly looking straight through her. "A bit of a surprising reaction out of the representative from Hiisi Isle. I thought we were supposed to be taking this League business seriously?"
"Please, Nefer, not right now. I just—fuck." The plant thrust deep inside her, the authoritative pin holding Nefer against the wall falling apart as Lauma collapsed into her. Nefer quickly reached out to catch her hips, waiting for Lauma to stabilize her weight before pressing a knee into her crotch. "Oh, Goddess…" Lauma breathily whispered as she began to grind against Nefer's thigh.
"You just what, Lauma?" Nefer asked, idly tracing a claw down her exposed back. "Finish the thought."
"I just…" She cut herself off with a whimper as the sharp nail pressed harder. Her head tilted upwards, a pathetic look covering her face. "Please, just make me cum, Nefer."
As experienced as she was at maintaining her domineering energy in such encounters, Nefer's breath still caught in her throat. She loved to break down Lauma's elegant exterior, getting the woman to make debauched requests of her—though she loved to fulfill them even more. "Of course, Lady Moonchanter. Although, you seem so eager already. Why don't you show me you deserve it?" She shifted her free hand off of Lauma's hip onto the top of her head, gently pushing down.
Lauma grunted as her knees met the cold floor of the office, the pitiful but greatly appreciated pressure on her cock now painfully absent. Her tall stature left her sitting level with Nefer's thighs, her vision dutifully focused on the task laid before her.
Nefer loosened her skirt, unfastening it from her outfit and letting it slide down her legs onto the paneled flooring below. Lowering her hand further, she shifted the fabric of her shapewear to the side, exposing herself to the chill of the room.
The pair sat in silence for a moment, the quiet bustle of Nasha Town humming just beyond the walls. Things had unfolded so rapidly, Lauma had barely processed the sudden shift in her circumstances from but a minute prior.
"I appreciate your reverence, Miss Lauma, but are you going to just kneel and stare?"
Lauma lunged forward, her lips connecting with the smooth skin of Nefer's labia. She gently kissed and licked along her folds, savoring the sparse noises she was able to draw out of Nefer. Her tongue traced the length of her slit, lapping up her partner's slick. As she immersed herself between Nefer's legs, her hands reached to grab at her thighs, stabilizing herself as she worked.
Nefer's head hit the wall behind her, hand coming up to comb through her own hair. She knew Lauma was good at this, but just how good seemed to always slip her mind until they were in the thick of it.
Utterly engrossed, Lauma continued to lick and suck, her lips sealing around Nefer's clit. Evidently succeeding at pleasing Nefer, Lauma felt vines begin to fill her again. Two of Nefer's fingers stroked at the air as if they were buried deep inside of Lauma, coaxing her to the edge—the feeling of the flower's motions closely mirrored theirs. At the same time, a new tendril snaked between her legs, wrapping snugly around her erection.
"Good girl," Nefer said in a drawl through the fog her own arousal. The sharp twitch across Lauma's body was a strong indicator of the effectiveness of her praise. A low moan escaped from her mouth as she felt Lauma press a finger to her core, slowly slipping the digit inside. "Fuck…just like that—"
A knock rung out against the door.
"Um, hello? Are you two alright?" The unusually timid voice asked. "It's been a second and I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
Almost as if she hadn't heard a thing, Lauma continued to circle her tongue around Nefer's clit, a second finger being pushed inside her cunt. She could only hope that the filthy sounds they were producing didn't carry beyond the door.
Barely stopping herself from letting out an unholy noise, Nefer cleared her throat and spoke: "Everything is fine, Miss Linnea. The Moonchanter is just feeling a bit—ah—ill, at the moment. I'm only helping her to take deep—" Lauma's fingers curled and Nefer coughed harshly. "—deep breaths."
"Oh no, it sounds like you might be coming down with something, too! Do you need any assistance? I should have some herbs in my bag—"
"I doubt that will be necessary, Miss Linnea," a second, deeper voice came from the hallway. "I imagine these two ladies can handle things by themselves; isn't that right?"
Nefer was beginning to empathize with Lauma's inattentiveness in the conference room earlier. "I…um… yes, Flins, we have everything under control. I would hate for you two to miss something important because of us." Every sentence was punctuated with a guttural sound released into the palm of her hand.
"Let's head on back," Flins said as the two began to leave towards the meeting. "I do hope you two don't take too long…breathing together. I imagine you'll miss a good deal of useful intel from our discussions."
Nefer always did loathe how perceptive that man was of her emotions—or actions, in this particular instance. It hardly mattered; as the footsteps faded, she allowed herself to become swallowed by the pleasure of the moment once more. Delicious noises echoed from below her as Lauma was growing more frantic in both her mouth's movements and her hips' thrusts against the coil of the vines. If the two of them nearly being caught had phased her, her body did not show it. Nefer rewarded her dedication by increasing the pace at which the other half of the plant fucked into her.
Lauma knew she wasn't going to last long in this position—not with the sheer intensity of the stimuli across her body. She kept her mouth's attention squarely on Nefer's clit, rolling it across her tongue like the ancient prayers she had recited a countless number of times before. She briefly wondered how the long lineage of Archpriestesses before her would regard the way in which she so flippantly disregarded the customs and traditions of the Scions, being so blasphemous as to fuck an outsider in a public building. The thought hardly had time to settle in her mind—surely the sweetest fruit from the Hiisi Isle of old couldn't compare to the taste on her lips.
Nefer's orgasm built up slowly and crashed down all at once, her knees quaking as she felt herself clench around Lauma's fingers. She nearly buckled under her own weight, hands shooting out to grasp Lauma's antlers as she came hard against her mouth.
Lauma sobbed into Nefer's folds, shivering as the bud slammed deep within her for the final time. She gripped Nefer's thighs tightly as she ruined the inside of her dress with her cum, some beginning to spill out and cover the floor beneath her.
The women rested for a moment, labored breaths occupying the space that but a moment ago was filled with the obscene sounds of their sex. Eventually, Nefer slowly retracted the flower back into its seed, Lauma whining at the emptiness. Carefully sliding down the wall, Nefer looked into Lauma's eyes.
"I know this probably wasn't what you had in mind when you were trying to convince me to come along, but thank you. I…needed this."
"As did I," Lauma said through her long exhales. "But do not count on this becoming a regular occurrence. I don't want to imagine the problems it would cause if we were caught."
Nefer's mouth shifted into a slight smirk. "So that didn't do it for you, Lady Lauma? The fact that someone was just outside that very door while you devoured me like I was the first meal you've had in days? That we were one second away from someone seeing you slotted between my legs like it's the only place you'd ever want to be?"
Lauma let out something that sounded almost like a squeak before shifting away. "You can certainly be vulgar when you try."
"You didn't answer the question, Lauma."
Lauma grabbed the sides of Nefer's face and forced her into an abrupt kiss, tongue assertively pressing against her lips. As Nefer automatically parted them, she was hit with the overwhelming taste of herself upon Lauma. She unconsciously attempted to jolt back, but the hold on her face was shockingly firm—there was no escaping their interlocked lips. The taste soon faded into background noise as she melted into the kiss, holding Lauma's body tight against hers.
"Let's head back," Lauma said as she broke away. "I don't want anyone else growing too suspicious."
"I just…do you really think we aren't wasting our time, Lauma? That the conflicting interests and competing factions of this shithole can cooperate? Can actually come together to achieve something greater than the sum of its parts?"
"Are we not a living testament to that?" Lauma asked, raising Nefer's skirt back up and carefully cleaning her legs with the inside of her dress.
Nefer paused, every bit of her doubt in the project halted for a few precious seconds.
"Come on, Nefer, we should get going"
"You still didn't answer the other question."