[TW: Discussions of sexual assault.]
No warm bed that night. Misae had spent her day avoiding notice because apparently, her master's guard was here, and now they were aware she was here, too. She had the money for a room now, thanks to the crazy man earlier, but she wouldn't dare check in.
After all, if you were looking for someone, what was the first thing you'd do? Check with the inns and taverns. Spread a description of the person around those areas.
Misae had no doubt that's what they did, and so instead of checking in to a warm bed and hot meal, she was out here, in the slums, wrapped up in her many layers of clothes that covered everything but her eyes. She didn't need to wear it now; it was night, so there was no threat of sunburn. But it was safer this way, so no one recognized her.
Walking the quiet streets, she found a spot against a wall--someone's ramshackle home, probably--and saw the ground there wasn't too dirty. She checked that no one was around, that the area was empty (well, save for a prowling cat), and took a deep breath. Empty. Good.
Time to work.
With a sigh, she sat with her knees to her chest and tipped her head back so she could look at the sky.
The stars were bright out tonight, and the moon was full, the sky clear. Misae's vision wasn't the greatest, but she didn't need good vision to make out the brilliant spots of light.
Or to work her magic.
Thrusting her sleeve-clad arms skyward, Misae focused on the moon, focused on drawing down some of that light and concentrating it into a tiny beam before her. The moon saw everything, even what her elder sister sun saw, for they often shared the same light. And it was that light that Misae drew down and bent, transforming from a shaft to a tiny sphere that she cupped in her palms, bright and almost blinding as it lit up the dark alley.
Misae squinted as she looked at it--though not directly at it--and focused, putting the image of the one she was seeking in her mind. Hopefully the Sisters had seen something today, and she would have a clue as to where he was.
Slowly, as she concentrated, an image began to form in the light, dark and hazy, but gradually gaining color, form. Misae held her breath, and willed it to manifest faster.
Hurry!
The light was bright, and it would attract people. When this was done, she would have to move, and move fast.
The guards, after all, knew they were hunting an astromancer.
(This is one or those characters that I'd rather not take the time to describe again. I think you know the drill, Rhi)
Au'Nvratyis stared upwards, the night breeze gently pulling on the tattered rags and robes he used to cover himself from the world. The only things visible in this particular case were the bottoms of his cloven feet, and a strip in his head wrap where his eyes could be seen. He sighed in his usual, contemplative manner.
This planet's moon reminded him of the moon above his home planet of Kath, but this moon's pallid face could not hope to match Kah'Ten's purple rings and ever-changing volcanic surface. Still, he supposed Moon (what kind of a name was Moon?) had a certain...enchanting blankness to it.
Suddenly, rushed, furtive footsteps a couple of buildings away alerted him to the presence of another being. He glanced around from his perch on the roof of an inn, deliberating his options. Then, a bright glow helped him to zero in on a location. A couple streets away, in the opposite direction, came the rushed, clanking footsteps of the local Guard.
Deciding on his course of action,he was on his way, intent on following what he surmised to be a sort of fugitive, quietly and almost noiselessly bounding across rooftops as he approached the source of the light, intent on peeking over the edge as stealthily as possible to figure out what the source of it all was.
The figure in the light was quickly manifesting, quickly taking shape and gaining detail, and Misae willed it to come faster, but magic couldn't be rushed; it was its own entity, and well done magic took time. But abruptly she was aware of the quick thud of sandals on the street, and her head snapped up with a sharp gasp.
And the light snapped out with it.
So close! But it was time to leave, and leave fast; she was not foolish enough to wait around to see whether it was the guard or not.
Clamoring to her feet, Misae clutched her robes close, adjusted her head wrap to make sure it was still concealing her, and then turned and ran, quickly, in the opposite direction and down the alley, right as the first soldier reached the entrance and shouted, "You, there! Stop!"
Of course, she didn't. She just ran faster, even as she heard them fall into pursuit behind her. But even as she ran, she didn't feel too concerned. In the day, it would have been another matter; she would have been in a panic. But here, at night, with the full moon shining down on her?
They were in her world, now.
And so she ran, drawing upon the light as she did, praying to the Sisters and god-stars to work her magic--
And vanished.
Or rather, it looked like she vanished, but all she did was a trick she'd learned in childhood. She warped the light around her, and to those pursuing, it looked like she simply disappeared.
Confused voices rose behind her, and Misae slowed her pace from a run to a cautious walk, because if they were listening, they'd be able to hear her footsteps. Holding on to her power, she crept down the street, turned, and pressed her back to a wall to catch her breath, hold still, and wait. She couldn't hold the guise long; it took concentration and energy. So her best bet was to just stand still and be patient. It wouldn't be long before they gave up and looked elsewhere.
Au'Nvratyis watched the scene unfold from his rooftop perch. When he saw that it was a young girl being chased, he changed his stance. He had been in this nation of "Essyrn" for long enough to know that the powerful kept these things called "slaves". The concept disgusted him. On Kath, there were no "slaves". All Kathractians served willingly, because all of Kath depended on it. If these town guards were intent on capturing this young woman to be a slave, he intended to stop it.
But before he could jump down and lend a hand, the young girl disappeared from Ky's sight. However, his sight was the only thing he managed to elude. He shut them, crouching down low so he could focus.
Yes...he could hear...
It was faint, but then again his senses were much more powerful than the idiots trying to capture what wasn't there anymore. As fate would have it, they moved on, perplexed, but they continued moving up the streets, unwittingly still on Misae's trail.
Ky, thinking quickly, stepped over to a nearby rooftop garden, and quietly removed one of the rooftop shingles, deftly tossing it as far back down the opposite end of the street as he could.
Crack!
"You hear that? Come on!" One of the guards yelled, and the entire group turned around and went jogging back down the street. With his work done, Ky walked over until he was above where Misae had hidden herself, and continued to stealthily follow her.
Ears straining, Misae listened to the guards' approach, and it took every bit of self-control to stay still. They couldn't see her, but she could see them, and even though she knew she was invisible, she still felt exposed. It was instinct to run, but that would just give her away. So she had to be patient. Breathe quietly. Hold still. Trust that they'd pass on by.
But then, a loud shattering sound erupted in the quiet, and she heard the sounds of footsteps again.
Retreating.
She waited several long breaths until the sound had faded into the distance, looked around cautiously to be sure she was alone, and then let the disguise drop. She flickered back into view and leaned back against the wall, running a hand over her sweat-beaded brow.
Thank goddess. That had been far too close.
Ky considered how to approach this situation. It'd only be a matter of time until she ran into another group, but he didn't exactly desire to skulk around on rooftops the entire night. It is not the way of the lking to skulk, and if it wasn't for the fact that he did not desire retribution by the town's Guard, he might've jumped down anyways and subdued those men.
He needed to help her, to guide her to safety, and for that, he needed to go down there. But he didn't want to scare her, or she might run off. Instead, he opted to merely speak.
"Child!" He sharply whispered, hoping to get her attention. He would linger just beyond the edge of the roof, out of sight. "Do not be alarmed, I am the one who distracted the guards. I want to help you."
Misae jumped at the sound of the voice, hand flying to her heart and eyes going rabbit-wide, and she whipped around--and looked up. Goddess, she hadn't thought to look up! How stupid could she be?! But before she could think to bolt, she heard the rest of what was said.
He was the one that distracted the guards?
Did he mean that crack she'd heard?
With her poor vision and the darkness obscuring things, she couldn't make out much beyond his silhouette. Still, she relaxed, reassured--but still wary. The last person who had wanted to help her had turned out...unhelpful. Claiming he didn't want her body, even when she'd offered it, and then changing once he'd gotten her alone. She would never forget the way he suddenly went feral--and was grateful, for once, for the intervention of the guards.
"Help me?" she repeated, voice low. "Why?"
Ky glanced about secretively, before casually stepping off the edge, landing softly a couple feet ahead of her. He was tall, almost seven feet tall, but his build was concealed under the tattered rags he wore to cover up his foreign anatomy.
He held out two of his arms, showing that he was harmless.
"This...human concept of slavery. It disgusts me. It carries with it this blatant disregard for honor and the lower caste's liberty to choose how they serve. You are no criminal, it is clear to me. You are a slave, or used to be." He said. His odd alien accent didn't seem to odd, perhaps too many rolled R's with a tad of clicking in between.
Human concept?
Misae cocked her head curiously as she looked up at the stranger, now standing before her. In a bit of a nervous, automatic gesture, she tugged her robes tighter around herself. That was...an interesting turn of phrase he'd used there. Human concept? Why did he need to specify that it was human, unless...he wasn't human himself.
Only her eyes were visible as she squinted at him, trying to get a better look at him, but poor vision and darkness didn't go well together, and from where she was standing, he looked human to her. His voice had a strange accent, so maybe Essyrni just wasn't his native language which could explain the weird phrasing?
"Ah..." Misae shifted uncomfortably. He'd guessed correctly, and was claiming he meant no harm, but it was hard to trust. "Neither of those. I'm not a slave. Why do you think I am?"
Ky chuckled lightly. Her lie was interpreted as humor by him. "Why else then would the guards be pursuing a young woman such as yourself?" He said, leaning his back against the wall. His dark eyes regarded her in an analytical way. She didn't look like a criminal, didn't have the right kind of build. "Also, common thieves do not practice magic." It was a stretch, even by Ky's standards, but he hoped the suggestion would draw the truth from her.
They...didn't?
Misae's eyes widened at that. Maybe the man was bluffing, but she didn't know that--because she didn't know enough about crime in Essyrn to know what was true or false. Her life before her kidnapping had been with her tribe, nomads who wandered the desert, interacting with traders now and then, but otherwise keeping to themselves. There was no crime among her tribe, who shared everything, and whose survival depended upon cooperation. And then once she'd been taken to Essyrn, she'd spent most of her time cloistered within her master's home, much of it in his bedroom, and only a little time outside in the city, when dragged out on errands--because she made an interesting accessory.
She had very little understanding of crime, and what criminals did or didn't do, except the little she'd learned out on the streets. That they used or didn't use magic was one of those things she hadn't learned.
Misae went very still. "...Oh," she said, and grimaced. "Excuse me. Former slave. I am no longer a slave." And then she added, looking away, "The guards, however, disagree."
Ky nodded. His suggestion had worked brilliantly.
Former slave indeed
"That they do. Doubtlessly, they believe to just be doing their jobs, but they are slavers by association. They enable this abhorrent practice, and on my world, they would be executed just the same as the slavers themselves." He said, peeking around the corner. The men from before were coming back around for another sweep, lightly jogging down the street.
"But enough about the laws of Kath. The scum from before are here again, and I fear we may not be able to elude them for long." He said, and turned to her. "I need you to stay here. Does violence disturb you?" He asked, peeking around the corner once more.
In his world? What?
But before Misae could comment on that, he announced that the guards were back, and she tensed in preparation to bolt. Except she never got to, because he told her to stay put...and asked a rather ominous question.
Misae's eyes widened. "Yes, it does," she said, words clipped with tension as she pressed back against the wall, to keep out of sight. The violence of Essyrn had always disturbed her. The Colosseum was the worst offender; her master had taken her there once, but never again, because between the heat of the sun and the first splatter of blood, she'd passed out. "What are you planning?"
"Then look away if you must, but stay alert." He said, before turning away from her, making to leave the alley and step out onto the street. He stopped just before, turning his head to look at her from the side. "Don't worry, I won't kill them, if that's what worries you." He finished.
He stepped out onto the street, directly ahead of the three incoming guards. They all stopped, placing their hands on the pommels of their maces. "You there, stop!" Came the barked order from one of them. "You do not order me, scum. Cease your pursuit of the slave, or I will cease it for you."
The guards processed his words, then started laughing. "You two, kill this idiot." Barked the squad leader, and the two men by his side drew their maces, and advanced.
One of them broke into a charge, and made a wild downward swing. Extending an arm upwards, Ky stopped the mace in his hand, stopping the momentum dead without flinching. A split second later, a sharp punch upwards broke the man's arm.
As he staggered back, clutching his shattered limb, the second man came in with a swing to the side. Ky ducked under, and gave him a powerful straight punch, buckling the armor he hit. As he bent over to cry out in pain, Ky put a vise grip on the back of his helmet, and brought the guard's head down
right into his knee, which he thrusted upwards to complete the maneuver.
In a lightning quick maneuver, he tore off the guard's helmet and flung it straight towards the still-retreating man with the broken arm. It hit his head with a dull thud, and he fell down. In less than five seconds, both guards were unconscious, and the leader took a few uneasy steps backwards before running away back where he came. Ky cracked his knuckles.
Child's play. He didn't even have to uses his other two arms.
Misae didn't look. Instead, she stayed where she was, pressed against the wall, and kept her eyes straight ahead, her body tight with tension as she flinched with each sound. It felt childish and cowardly, but she just couldn't stand it--because her first introduction to violence had been the slaughter of her people, and she would never forget that. Violence brought her back to that moment, all in vivid clarity like it hadn't happened years ago, but was still fresh. And then there was that trip to the Colosseum...
But this man had promised not to kill, so there was some relief in that. The only violence she was familiar with was the kind that ended in blood and death, but the sounds of pain, and cracking of limbs, still made her stomach twist. She took a deep breath and focused on going elsewhere until it was over.
And soon it was.
It was the silence that told her it was over. Blessed, blessed silence. Misae sucked in a deep breath but didn't risk peeking around the corner. Promise or not, she was afraid of what she'd see.
"Is it over?" she said instead, voice a cautious whisper.
"It is done. They will live on, unfortunately." Ky said, stepping over one of the fallen men to return to Misae. When he returned, he took in her frightful state. He constantly urged himself everyday to remember that humans are not Kathractians, that they are not all warriors in some way. At first, he thought it to be a weakness attributed to their lesser physiology, but had learned it was more of a cultural matter.
"Where did you plan to escape to? I will help you reach that place." He said, once again regarding her with his eyes.
Thank the goddess. Misae's shoulders slumped with relief, and she pushed off of the wall to face him.
His question, however, had her drawing a blank.
"I'm...actually not sure," she admitted. "Away from the guards. Somewhere they won't find me, at least for a little while. That was about as far as I'd gotten in my planning--but to be honest, there's no place here that I won't be found, eventually." She smiled awkwardly, though he wouldn't be able to see it, since her mouth was covered.
"My first step was going to be finding a place to sleep, in all honesty."
Ky thought the situation over. He didn't have a place of his own to offer shelter, for he always slept on the streets. The nighttime thieves left him alone, because he usually got the first one who tried to steal from him to tell the others who made him swallow his own teeth.
"I suppose we'll have to stay at an inn somewhere." He stated, and slowly walked over to the other end of the alley, making sure the streets were clear of guards, which they were.
He motioned for her to follow him, and waited for her to catch up.
"There..." He said, pointing to an inn five buildings down and across the street.
"You have no objections to staying at an inn, correct? Do not worry for security, I will protect you."
"No objections!" Misae whispered, following along and looking about her as she went, a little twitchy with nerves, because she was used to being hunted, and that could make a body paranoid. "Provided I can use the bed. And...ah...and provided you're certain it's a good idea."
She moved closer to him and kept her voice pitched low. "I'm a little afraid they may have spread word to the inns. Told the innkeepers to keep an eye out for me. I...have not been able to confirm this, but I suspect there may be incentive to find me. Like a bounty, maybe."
And then she tensed a little and looked at him closely, watching the way he responded to that news.
He might be intent on helping her now, but news of a bounty? That could change things, and she was worried it might, and prepared to bolt if it did.
He might be strong enough to best several guards, but not even he had been able to find her when she'd "vanished".
"A bounty? Your former master must have really valued whatever you did for him, though I cannot fathom what he could desire so much from you..." Ky commented in a disgusted tone. In the darkness, he couldn't really see her pale skin or violet eyes.
"Come, we must hurry across." He said, patting her on the shoulder before hurriedly walking across the street, eyes and ears open. When he reached the door of the inn, he turned around, waiting for Misae.
Misae made a soft sound in the back of her throat, something between a mortified choke and a laugh. Oh, he had no idea. Though, her master had other reasons for keeping her aside from her novel appearance and pleasures of the flesh; he could get that from any slave, and he had plenty of those. Well, maybe he couldn't get a slave that looked like her, but the point was, he was never wanting for women. It was her astromancy he truly wanted her for, and the high bounty was for that--and the fact that she'd robbed him, adding insult to injury.
"You could say that," she said, and followed after him, reassured by his reaction to the news.
At the door, she paused, and waited for him to lead the way inside. "You'll do the talking, won't you?" she asked, just to be sure, and then added, "I really appreciate what you're doing, by the way, and...I just want you to know, I can foot the bill, if needed. I have money! I just, I'm worried they might have been alerted, and I know I'm dressed strange, so--if they ask, just tell them I'm scarred, and ashamed of it."
Ky nodded. "I understand. I owe you an explanation, as I mentioned something earlier I should not have." He made to open the door, and stopped, almost as if remembering something. "I will handle things. Help with the payment would be appreciated." He added, and opened the door, going in first so Misae could follow behind him.
The small tavern on the first floor went silent for a few moments as the newcomers stepped inside. Funnily enough, both Ky and Misae were bundled from head to toe in robes and rags, so although they both stood out, none stood out in particular. If anything, it was Ky who stood out the most, with his prodigious height.
In the light, Misae would be able to see that his skin was pale as well, from what could be seen by looking at his eye area.
He walked over to the innkeep, and laid his visible hands on the counter. "How much for a room for the night?" He said, and awaited the innkeeper's response.
The innkeeper gave them both strange looks--but it was a brief consideration before he went back to looking bored and tired, like he'd much rather be sleeping. And from the bags under his eyes, he needed it. With a yawn, he told Ky the price, then rested his chin on his hand as he waited for one of them to produce payment.
Stepping closer to her helper, Misae gave Ky's clothes a light tug to get his attention, and to stop him from paying if he was planning on it, then set several coins on the counter, making sure to keep her head bowed and her hand covered by her sleeve as she did so. It was enough to cover the room.
Might as well put the money that crazy man had given her to good use!
The innkeeper took the coin and counted it out, then nodded upstairs. "First room on the left," he said, sliding a key across the counter to Ky and giving them both a knowing look.
Ky took the key, and nodded his gratitude before placing one hand on Misae's shoulder and moving towards the stairs. Might as well keep up the facade as long as possible.
Once they reached the room, Ky let out a sigh of relief. He was half-expecting assassins, or mercenaries, but it seemed the coast was clear for now. He stepped inside first, eyeing the room for anything peculiar, before deciding it was safe by his judgement and closing the door behind them, placing the key around his neck.
Even if they were planning on both using the bed, the smallness of it offered only the most intimate sleeping conditions, and Ky distastefully regarded such a design option. Apart from that, it had all the characteristic amenities of a shabby, mid-city inn. Ky supposed he could tolerate it, for the time being.
He gestured towards the bed, and occupied an extra chair that was in the room. He slowly unwrapped his head, his eyes gauging Misae's reaction to his appearance.
Once inside the room, Misae could finally breathe again. She, too, had been expecting a disaster--but that had gone without a hitch. And now, finally out of danger, she just felt tired. It had been a while since she'd had a proper night's sleep.
Heading for the bed at her rescuer's gesture, she started to undo her many layers. "I hope you don't mind, but I've been wearing this all day, and I'm going to take full advantage of not having to wear it," she said. "Just as a warning, so you're not caught off guard, I was born...white. I've been told it can be jarring."
Because when she said white, she didn't mean a peachy skin tone, which was less common in Essyrn, but not strange. As she removed her head covering and veil, she revealed stark white skin, though it was a bit pink from sunburn. Her braided hair tumbled free, also stark white, but just as curly as many Essyrni's, and her physical features, despite her coloration, also looked very Essyrni. She shed the rest of her clothes, down to the loose, sheer robe she had escaped her master's home in, and took a seat on the bed with a relieved sigh, already feeling much cooler.
And that was when she also looked up at her new "friend" and saw...
That he was unusually pale, too, and that there was something...
Odd about the shape of his head, which seemed...
Bald?
He was a little blurry at this distance, but Misae found herself staring without realizing it, trying to puzzle it out.
"White?" Ky asked, before going quiet as she took some layers off. She was indeed white, almost...
...Almost Kathractian white. Ky himself was a bony white color, and her appearance actually visually stunned him. "It's...it's not jarring at all...actually..." He said shakily, before shaking himself out of it. By Kath's white deserts, he could almost see his mate in her face...
Let go, Au'Nvratyis. You will never see your people again. He told himself, before steeling himself properly.
He focused on her eyes. Was...was there something wrong with them? He had looked into the eyes of many a man and woman, but never seen any like Misae's. He scooted his chair a bit closer, before resuming taking off some layers, removing everything except what covered his lower body. She'd be able to see his physique, now, and not to mention the fact that he had four arms.
Misae was so distracted staring at him and wishing her eyes worked better, that she hardly noticed the way the man's words faltered. And when he moved closer and stared back at her, it was a bit unnerving, but nothing she wasn't used to. People stared. They had stared at her all her life, some finding her novel and exotic, others calling her ugly and weird. She'd heard it all, and though she'd learned to hide the hurt in her face, she'd never learned to stop caring.
But she held still and let him look at her, while she squinted and took him in, surprised. He was...really, really pale. Unnaturally so. Was he...did he have her same affliction, or...?
And then she saw his arms.
And that there was an extra pair of them.
With a startled gasp, Misae jerked backwards and gripped at the bedsheets, her eyes going wide when she realized, no, she wasn't seeing things, his head was shaped weird, his skin was bone-white, and his arms--he had four! She should have realized when he talked about his home and humans and such, and she did, but she'd been so worried about other things that she hadn't really processed it.
Realizing how she'd reacted, and how rude that was, she brought a hand to her mouth as though to take her gasp back. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't...I didn't mean...I've just never seen..."
Ky sat there as she reacted in such a strong fashion. It wasn't new, but unlike Misae, a lot less people got to see how he looked in this sort of manner. He waved a hand, as if to dismiss the matter. "Do not fret, child. I have become accustomed to it." He said, a hint of bemusement in his voice.
Presumably, she wouldn't be able to make out that he was more than impeccably built.
"I must apologize as well, for you left me without speech." He added, and gave a solemn bow of his head. He placed two of his hands onto his chest, and extended the other two arms in what was a gesture of proper greeting, and held the offered hands open. If Misae figured out what it was, she might just figure out that she had to place her hands within his.
"I was born Au'Nvratyis Ky'For'Ua, but your species has taken a liking to calling me Ky, for simplicity's sake. May I learn your birth name?"
Thank the goddess he wasn't offended! Misae relaxed at that, and watched him perform his greeting. Though unfamiliar to it, the formality of his gesture and speech made it easy to figure out what it was. She glanced down at his open hands and, after a pause, placed hers in them. Maybe she was completely wrong about this and she wasn't supposed to do anything, but the Essyrni greeting involved clasped hands, so that's usually what that meant!
"Ky," she repeated, thankful for the shortened version, because there was no way she'd ever be able to wrap her tongue around his full name! At least, not without slaughtering it and embarrassing herself. "I'm Misae."
And then, after a pause, she added, "Misae, of the Hjarai." It felt good to make that claim, for her master had tried hard to make her Essyrni, make her forget where she came from.
"Misae of the Hjarai..." Ky repeated, and smiled one of his rare smiles. "I am Kathractian, from the world of Kath. I came from the stars to escape the slaughter of my people, but was stranded here. I am their last king, the last Ky..." He said, taking on a sullen tone. "But my emotions are meaningless now. It is not my place to show them. You must get some rest." He said, finally breaking his hands away from hers and standing up.
He pushed the chair to the side, and sat down on the floor, cross-legged.
"The stars?" Misae repeated, her eyes widening. He...came from the stars? And was a king? Even as Ky dismissed the subject and told her to get some rest, Misae continued to sit there, trying to absorb what he was telling her--and make it make sense with her own understanding of the world.
She rubbed her head, feeling a little overwhelmed, and slowly turned and pulled her legs up onto the bed, shifting and adjusting to prop herself up against the rather flat pillow. The bed was hard, and creaked with every movement.
"To my people, the stars are small gods," she said at length, and cast him a curious glance.
Ky sat in silence, until Misas spoke to him again, sharing that bit of information. "On Kath, my people believed that although the stars themselves bore no life, it is through them all life may exist. Our world was borne from the fiery creation of our star, and our star gave us warmth, like a mother. We called it Kath'Ia. Mother of Kath..." He said. "Our beliefs are not so different, Misae of the Hjarai." He added. To supplement the cross-legged position he was in. He placed the lower set of arms on his legs, and clasped the upper pair's hands together.
He was preparing to meditate throughout the night.
"Tell me of your people, Misae of the Hjarai. My curiosity has been sparked."
"Please, just call me Misae!" Misae said with a laugh, not realizing he'd take that whole thing so literally! "Anyway, about my people? Ah. That's a rather broad topic."
She paused for a moment in thought, then continued, "I guess the big thing is we, the Hrajai, we're travelers. We didn't settle like the Essyrni did. We could never be happy staying in one place, when the entire desert is our home and always has been, for generation after generation. We live off of our animals and the land, and map the desert by the stars. And..."
And I miss it.
She trailed off with a laugh to hide the pang of sadness, and shook her head. "It's difficult to know what to tell! I can tell you that the sun is also our mother, and the moon is her little sister, and the many stars are her children. I guess that's not too different from your story."
With a little shrug, she tilted her head curiously. "I suppose I should ask, what do you want to know? Feel free to ask whatever you like, because I plan on doing the same to you." She paused, looked over at him. "If that's okay?"
Because she was eager to learn more about this...other world thing. A person that came from the stars? Her first thought had been that maybe he was a god--but now, after his explanation, she felt a little silly for that.
Ky lowered his head, contemplating the questions he could ask. Their cultures definitely had some similarities, and he momentarily contemplated what this could mean. The chances of such a connection going past coincidence were quite literally astronomical, yet he held onto some semblance of hope. He knew it was silly, but he could do nothing else.
His Ky'Dr'Ik, the device that transported him, was not the first of its kind, after all.
So, with all that hope he held in his twin hearts, he decided to carry on with his questions. "It is only fair that I answer your questions as well. There is so much I would like to know, Misae...how do your people fare now? Do they thrive out there, in their desert?"
Misae couldn't hide her wince.
"My tribe no longer fares at all," she said, deciding to put it delicately. She pushed on with a smile, deciding to hurry past the unpleasant subject, "But there are other Hjarai tribes, and as far as I'm aware, they're still thriving. We've been doing it for centuries, after all! It's been years since I've seen another Hjarai, but we tended to keep to ourselves so the likelihood that I will is slim."
Then she gestured at him. "And your people?"
Ky visibly sagged, this being one of the few times he ever broke his meditative position. His eyes searched the floor, searching for something he knew wasn't there.
"It's...it's stunning when I think of it, even to this day. An entire civilization...slaughtered. A moon and it's sister planet...cleansed completely of any life, and a star...destroyed...all in a few short years..." He trailed off. Although his face showed no emotion, his voice carried with it the deepest kind of sorrow.
"...I am all that's left."
Misae couldn't really grasp all that. Imagining the loss of an entire world was too big for her, when her own experience of the world was so small. But she did know something of loss, and losing one's people--and she knew that there was no real appropriate response to something like that. Condolences were weak in the face of that kind of crippling devastation.
But saying nothing was also awkward, so after a long pause, she quietly said, "I'm sorry."
Ky remained silent for much longer than she did, caught in a state where he wished he could emulate the humans with their ability to release emotion through glands in their eyes.
"I'm sorry"
"You don't need to be, Misae. I'm the one that failed them, their greatest king. You have nothing to apologize for..." He said, before turning his head towards her. "I had a queen. Chi'Ia Ky'Wen. You...you have her eyes." He added, his voice trailing off into a near-mutter. "That was why your appearance stunned me. You remind me of her effortless beauty..."
Misae winced at that. Yet another thing they had in common, just reverse the genders. Judging by his use of past tense, and the fact that she wasn't with him, she knew better than to ask if his queen had managed to escape.
"I lost my husband, too," she said, and offered up a weak smile. "I understand."
Once again, Ky fell into a deep silence. He made as if to stand up, placing a hand against the wall to push himself up, but he stopped, slowly sliding back down. Instead, he took a deep breath, releasing it through the two short nostrils he had above his mouth. He returned his arms to their meditative positions, and closed his eyes.
"Enough sorrow. You must rest now." He said, going almost completely still save for the light movement of his chest when he breathed.
Misae might have said more, but if Ky's words hadn't put an end to the conversation, his sudden stillness and light breathing did. Was he asleep? Just like that?
With a sigh, Misae laid down and got comfortable, slipping beneath the blankets and curling up. It may have been a desert, but it got surprisingly cold at night, and without her robes, she could certainly feel it. It had felt nice at first after wearing them all day, but now she was just feeling chilled!
"Good night, then," she said quietly, closing her eyes. "And...thank you. For everything."
Ky heard her words, but chose not to reply. Perhaps she thought he was asleep? Many humans before her have mistook his meditation for sleep, and quite a few of those had paid the price. No, Ky would not sleep that night, he'd spend it in vigilance, silently meditating against the wall.
Breathe in...
With meditation, came clarity, and an expanded consciousness. He discarded his sight, falling into a light trance in which his senses of hearing and touch were the only inputs he recieved, and were greatly amplified. He could hear the patrons downstairs, even make out some of their conversations. He felt the vibrations as someone two rooms down turned over in their bed, and the shudder of the foundations as someone ascended the stairs. It was a state he'd spend the rest of the night in.
...Breathe out.
More exhausted than she'd realized, Misae slept a nearly dreamless sleep until the heat of the morning woke her. She roused with a yawn and a languid stretch, arms reaching over her head and toes pointing, and finally she sat up and rubbed at her bleary eyes. She'd kicked the blankets off sometime during her sleep, when it had started to get warmer, so they had landed in a pile on the floor.
Her braided hair was only slightly disheveled from sleep, for the braids held up well! Still, they would have to be fixed, for one had come loose and unraveled, and some shorter hairs on her head were sticking up wildly. With another yawn and back-popping stretch, she looked around the room for Ky, and caught sight of his blurry form on the other end, up against a wall.
"Mm...good morning," she said, with a little wave at him, her eyes still heavy and groggy.
"Mm...Good Morning,"
And with that, he was out of the trance. He opened his eyes, glancing about as they quickly adjusted to the morning light. He caught Misae with the light coming in behind her, and couldn't help but notice how radiant she looked. Dismissing the thought, he stood up, not even stretching or anything.
"I trust your sleep was restful?" He asked, dusting himself off.
Slowly, he stepped over to the blankets on the floor, and picked them up, getting close enough that even in her near-sightedness, Misae could make out just how exquisitely muscled Ky was. He used all four of his arms to fold up the blankets in a flurry of motion, and in a few seconds he held a neat bundle in his lower pair, his upper pair crossed over his chest.
"I slept like the dead," Misae said with another yawn. "Or like the very exhausted," she added with a grin.
Turning, she swung her legs down from the bed and lowered her feet to the cooler ground. Already it was warm; the days warmed quickly here, going from freezing cold to scorching heat with little transition, and today felt like it was going to be especially hot. The city would likely be sleepy today, with most people choosing to stay indoors.
Which meant it would be perfect for her, because traveling would be safer, but also terrible, out in that bright sun in her many layers.
She watched Ky fold the blankets, fascinated with how his arms moved. "I could probably sleep longer, in fact. I'm not looking forward to braving the sun," she continued as she rose to her feet with another languid stretch. "But the innkeeper will likely be kicking us out soon, and I...had better get a move on."
"Yes, we must leave before he becomes adversarial." Ky siad, nodding as he placed the folded sheets on the bed. For some reason, when Misae stared at his arms, he didn't find it as grating as he usually did. He saw actual wonder in her eyes, and it warmed his twin hearts.
He started to put his rags and robes back on, returning to the fully covered state that he was in the night before. With some morning stretches, he was ready to go. "I will buy breakfast in the tavern downstairs. Meet me there when you have finished dressing."
Adversarial? Misae quirked a smile at that. What an odd turn of phrase, like the innkeeper would become some sort of epic foe they had to defeat.
She nodded at that though, and started to collect her clothes. "Sounds wonderful. I know I'm famished." And more than that, because she hadn't gotten a proper meal in...days. Oh, she'd eaten, but not an actual sit down meal, and the thought of that had her stomach aching with hunger, though she didn't want to seem too eager, like a starving stray or something.
Though she wore many layers, it didn't take her too long to dress, for she had it down to an art. Before long, she was fully covered, only her eyes visible.
Walking out of the room, she headed downstairs for the tavern.
Time to brave the day.
By the time Misae was at the bottom of the stairs, Ky was walking away from the innkeeper's counter, putting his coin purse back onto his belt, which he then covered with his coverings as he adjusted them. He looked around at the many tables. They were all empty, for the most part. Some had patrons who also stayed the night occupying them, drinking the staple Essyrni coffee. Ky sat himself down at an empty table, and he motioned for Misae to join him.
Once she was seated, he'd lean in, and start whispering.
"The Innkeeper thinks we're married. It's best to play along, in case anyone comes asking for you after we leave." He said, eyes shooting back over to the innkeeper, who was busying himself by wiping down a mug, before they flashed back to Misae.
"I've ordered stew for us, dear. Stew and coffee." Ky said slightly more openly (And a tad artificially) as he leaned back into his seat, stroking one of Misaes' covered cheeks with one of the arms he ket visible. "It'll be a comfort, having been on the road for so long."
"Laying it on a little thick, aren't you?" Misae whispered, and though her mouth was covered, she was smirking beneath the veil. With a shake of her head, she leaned her arms on the table, getting comfortable--though she was already sweating beneath those layers.
Ugh, today was going to be fun. She'd definitely need a bath after all this, otherwise she was sure she'd start to stink.
A serving boy came by with two heaping bowls of stew for them then, and hot mugs of coffee. Misae thanked him, and then winked at Ky. "And thank you, dearheart."
Layering on the cheese a bit? Maybe. But she'd never claimed to be an actress.
Ky chuckled, before taking up the bowl of stew in one arm. He began to drink it, like it was a seperate beverage altogether. He set the bowl down after two short sips, intaking only the liquid for now. In the other arm, he grabbed the mug of coffee and drank deeply from it.
He smiled, pleased by the energy boost the drink provided, and allowing himself to lose his composure so he could lean back into the seat. Relaxing was not something he did often, but he understood the value of it.
"So, what's our next destination, hmm? The bathhouses?" He asked half-jokingly, leaning forwards again so he could place his elbows on the table. "I could rent us out a private bathing room. Just for the two of us."
Misae used one hand to lift her veil, and took up the coffee with the other so she could sip it daintily beneath the fabric. It was hot, and the first sip burnt her tongue, but she slowed down after that and carefully blew on it before taking the next sip.
At Ky's question, she gave him a look from over her veil. Then she grinned, though her mouth was still concealed. Still, he could probably see it in the crinkling of her eyes.
"Are you trying to tell me something, darling?" she asked sweetly as she took another drink. "Do I stink or something?"
"We probably both stink. We've been on the road for so long." Ky said, stretching his neck. "After that, I suppose it's to the artisan's quarters to get you something to help with your eyesight." He added, and took another sip of his coffee, giving Misae a knowing wink.
The tavern doors creaked open, followed by the sounds of armored boot steps. Ky glanced over to the bar, catching the reflection off one of the metal plates hanging there. Some city guards had just entered, but Ky made no indication of having any concern, other than shifting the grip on his coffee mug, and shooting Misae a look that just screamed the possibility of trouble.
The guards were talking to the barkeep about something, and it was obvious Ky was in thought about how to proceed.
Misae didn't need to look to know they were in trouble. She was all too familiar with the sounds of armored men, and the look on Ky's face spoke volumes. She froze, her hands trembling on her cup of coffee, making the liquid inside slosh around until she realized that might be obvious, and set the mug down without spilling any, miraculously.
"Perhaps we should head to the artisan quarters now," she said, proud that she kept her voice steady. She couldn't hear what the guards were talking about; their voices were hushed. But it didn't matter, they needed to leave, she needed to be out of there, now, every instinct screaming at her to run.
Subtle as she could, she adjusted her sleeves and covered her hands with them, balling the loose fabric up in her fists. "All this eye strain is giving me a terrible headache!"
Silently, Ky stood up, finishing his coffee and leaving about half of his soup. Ky's eyes told Misae that she didn't need to be nervous, that she was safe with him. He extended one of the two arms he kept visible, and placed it under Misae's own, before he'd start striding towards the exit of the tavern.
Both of them being heavily cloaked and pale-skinned, Ky was confident they'd just look like foreigners, or be mistaken for non-humans, but the comment Misae gave about her eyes might tip the guards off, if they knew about her eyesight problems. Hopefully, they wouldn't figure it out immediately.
Misae rose with Ky, and headed for the door with him, not daring to look back at those guards.
They had just about made it to the door, too, when a gruff voice called out, "Hey! Hey, you two, over there! Halt."
Misae's heart seized, her breath catching in her throat. Oh dear. This was it. They were caught. Something had outed her. She drew in a shaky breath and closed her eyes as she heard the boot-steps approaching, her grip tight on Ky.
The soldier came around to their front, one hand on her hip. "You two wouldn't have happened to see anything funny, would you?" she asked, expression severe. "We're looking for a young woman, albino. Have you seen anyone like that?"
Calmly and slowly, Ky regarded the soldier woman with his black, slightly almond-shaped eyes, the only part of his body visible under all of his covering. He made a low "hmm" sound, directing his eyes to the ground as he pretended to think.
"No, we haven't. I apologize if we couldn't be of any help." Ky replied, and he stood there, waiting for the guardswoman to move.
The woman flicked her eyes between the two of them, seeming to consider that, while Misae sweated beneath her robes and tried to force herself to breathe normally before she passed out. After a moment that seemed, to Misae, like days, the guardswoman shrugged and stepped out of the way.
"Well, if you see anyone like that, be sure to contact the guard immediately. She's a wanted criminal."
"We will." Ky said, walking past the guardswoman with a polite nod. leading Misae out of the tavern by the hand. Ky could feel the poor girl's nervousness as her hand shook in his own. Once they were out and a fair distance away from the tavern, Ky stopped, turning his head to Misae.
"Where you headed?"
"For starters? Away from that tavern," Misae said, letting out the breath she'd been holding. Then, with a smile beneath her veil, she added, "Now, are you asking short term where am I going, or long term where am I going?"
"I'm asking you what your final destination is." Ky said, looking at her as if he expected her to catch it the first time around. Although they were clear from the tavern at this moment, he was still alert and attentive, as if a battalion of city guards could round the corner at any moment.
"A pit in the ground and a seat among the stars," Misae answered seriously, before she cracked a wry smile and looked over at Ky.
"Truth be told, I'm not sure. The only thing I know is I must find my husband, but I don't know where he is, or even if he's still alive. He was still alive a few days ago, I know that much. But that could have changed. I haven't been able to get a read on him since."
She rubbed at her arm, casting her eyes toward the ground. "It's likely he has a new life, and I'm fine with that. It's been years; he perhaps married again. Gods know I've been with others. But he was my friend before we were lovers, and I have to know he's okay, and...well..." She shrugged, feeling a little silly. "We promised we'd escape together. Go back home. To what's left of it, in any case."
Ky nodded, able to sympathize with Misae. "Well, where do they take the males? Was your husband a strong man, a warrior of the tribe, perhaps?" Ky asked.
"He was," Misae said, and gave Ky a worried look. "Which means he was, more than likely, taken to do hard labor. Or maybe he was used as I was, because he's attractive. Or..."
She took a deep breath. "Or the one I like least, which is that he's in the Colosseum."
"The Colosseum is open to the public, is it not? Perhaps we should pay it a visit. If we are fortunate, your husband might be within." Ky suggested, already turning his head to look at the Colosseum as it towered over the rest of the city.
"It is..." Misae said, shifting from foot to foot nervously. "Honestly, I think part of me is afraid. What if I see him there, fighting? He could die, and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. And I suppose what might be scarier is if he's not there at all."
She rolled her shoulders back and put on a smile, though Ky wouldn't be able to see it. "But I suppose those are my options! I, uh...I suppose I've been putting it off a while, actually, trying other avenues instead...it's...I really don't handle that place well."
Ky hushed Misae by putting a finger on her mouth while she was halfway through her last. "Do not fear. If he is not dead, I am confident we can save him." He said, and took her by the hand as he resumed walking towards the Colosseum.
Misae squeezed his hand tightly as they headed for the Colosseum. She was tense; even if she didn't see her husband there today, there was likely to be a lot of bloodshed, and already she was dreading it, already she was remembering the one and only time she had been dragged there by her master.
The only time, because she'd passed out.
But she kept that to herself, because negativity would do nothing for them here.
"Have you ever been?" she asked at length, as the colossal building grew closer, bigger.
Ky looked at Misae, "I've visited it before, but I detest the place. I only wish the fights were between volunteers, and not slaves trying to earn their lives. There is no honor in this slaughter."
"I hear some participants aren't slaves, but volunteers who do it for the...fun," Misae said with a shudder. "Not many, but some. I can't even imagine something like that, how murder can be fun."
"On Kath, we had a similar building. My people are warriors and survivors by heart, and our laws are dictated by equal amounts honor and morals. The dishonored would try to reclaim their honor in a place like this, but the building was much smaller. To us, it wasn't a spectacle." Ky said, almost nostalgically. The place reminded him of home, but for all the wrong reasons.
"That...sounds more agreeable," Misae said, chewing on her lip. "I still don't like the idea, though. I don't see why people can't just solve their issues like rational folk, not animals."
Then she cut a look at Ky, flushing. "No offense meant, of course."
"I have taken no offense to that. I am aware that bloodshed will always be bloodshed, but when it comes to regaining one's honor, there are only actions, not words."
He spoke wistfully, as if this was some sort of personal reflection and not an actual quality of his society.
"I agree. But I also think fighting isn't the only means of achieving that," Misae said, and deigned not to mention that she viewed it as boorish and brutish and uncivilized! But then, it was frowned upon in her society. Cooperation was stressed, and community. Fighting only drove people apart.
Soon, they reached the Colosseum, and Misae hedged at the entrance. "I hope it's just a hunt today."
"It's hardly hunting," Ky said, practically sneering at the words Misae used. Looking down at her, he sighed. "I loathe this place as well. Let's get this over with quickly."
Misae rolled her shoulders back and straightened up proudly. For some reason, doing a confident posture always made her feel a bit more confident herself, as though the action bled into her emotions. Like an actor donning a mask and becoming the character, she supposed.
"In we go," she agreed, and, clasping his hand tightly, lead the way in through the large arched entrance where countless other spectators were crowding through.
Ky weaved through the crowd behind Misae. Some of the patrons were giving them odd stares, but together, they were less conspicuous, and looked more like foreigners than anything else.
"It looks like today's games are about to begin..."
"Indeed," Misae said, picking up her pace and leading him along, hoping to get a good spot. They went up some stairs, further up into the amphitheater, before she found a space wedged between some other patrons.
She had to push her way up to the front, but she dragged Ky with her and looked out over the arena below--right as the portcullis on both ends opened.
On one side, a large hippopotamus charged inside.
On the other, a man armed with a spear.
Misae squinted, leaning forward. To her, the hippo was a blur, and the man was worse, no features distinguishable.
"The man," she said, urgently. "What does he look like? Can you tell?"
Aun'Vratyis placed his hand against the low wall implemented to protect patrons, observantly watching the fight. "The man's a bit short, 5"6' probably. Moderately muscled, blonde hair..." He paused for a few moments, squinting his eyes. "Green eyes, old scar across his mouth, vertically."
He looked down at her for her answer.
Misae let out a relieved breath, her body visibly deflating. "Oh...it's not him," she breathed.
It wasn't him going against the enraged and confused hippo, which was now charging forward.
It wasn't him dodging and fighting, opening up bloody gashes in the poor creature's hide.
It wasn't him that made one wrong move, one small miscalculation, one misstep that gave that enraged animal the opportunity it was waiting for and let it snap him up in its massive jaws.
It wasn't her husband she heard scream right before he was torn in half.
Misae went impossibly pale, her eyes clenched shut as she wobbled where she stood, her hands gripping the wall in front of her until her knuckles went white.
Ky watched the fight until it's bitter end, only turning his eyes away when it was clear the man was doomed. The crowd around them exploded into cries, some cheering, some jeering, some laughing. Looking down to Misae, Ky saw she was going all wobbly, and quickly took her in his arms to support her.
Misae slumped against Ky, and it was very obvious he was the only thing keeping her up at this point. Her legs were shaking badly, and her hands and face felt clammy and cold.
She...did not handle gore and death well. She'd never had the stomach for it, or the heart.
"Sorry," she got out, voice faint. "I...I just...that poor man..."
"Why do they do this?"
He started to comfort her with his hands, holding her a bit closer to him.
"Why do they throw away lives like this?"
"Because they don't care about those lives," Misae answered quietly, and sucked in another deep breath, trying to steady herself.
"'They're just slaves'," she said under her breath, repeating her master's words. "That's why. Our lives--the lives of slaves--don't matter to them."
Ky had no words for this, so he just remained silent.
It looked like the next fight was starting a man with a trident against another with two swords, and Ky shook Misae's shoulders. "Misae, describe your husband to me."
The announcer began to introduce the two fighters, so she'd have some more time to recover if she needed it.
"Curly black hair," Misae said, and closed her eyes again to focus on the image of her husband, instead of the violence of the arena. Her words came out in a breathless rush, as she tried to calm herself. "Really tall, black skin, athletic build. He has tattoos on his back--two snakes, one red and one black, and they spread onto his arms."
Ky observed the two men, before frowning.
"No, neither of these two either."
He tightened his hold on her, releasing a sigh. She was close enough to him that he could touch her shoulders with his lower arms.
The emotions that flooded Misae were a strange mix. She felt relieved not to see him, because she knew if she saw him today, she might also see him die. But as more matches came and went without a sign of him, worry built up within her.
Because his absence could also tell a story.
He might not be here because he was dead.
Or he just might not be here because...he wasn't a gladiator. Or he wasn't scheduled for the arena today.
Her head swam with the possibilities, and she leaned her cheek against Ky's chest, disheartened. "It's going to be impossible to find him."
"It was a long shot, but at least we gave it a try."
He nestled her head in his hands, in an attempt to give her some comfort. It was an earnest embrace, with all the pain of someone who had lost their loved one as well.
"True enough," Misae agreed, though it still hurt. She could have sworn her astromancy had pointed to him being alive, but astromancy was also a form of divination, and divination could be tricky and inaccurate. Sometimes, it didn't give visions of the present. Sometimes, it was the future, or the past. The hard part was figuring out which it was.
She let out a quiet sigh as the final match came to an end, which she could tell by the shouts and jeers. "We should leave now."
"Yes, we should leave."
He started to walk out of the arena before the winner of the last fight was even announced, intent on getting a head start on the crowds.
"Where do we go from here, Misae? Have you anywhere to stay?"
"Nowhere," Misae said, walking with him. It was good they were leaving now, before the Colosseum really emptied out and created a bottle neck. She didn't want to get caught in that; she already felt claustrophobic.
"That is, I have nowhere to stay. I've been sleeping in alleys, mainly. Never for long. And I always keep moving. That's the most important thing."
Wiping sweat from her brow, both from the heat and from stress, she continued, "More than likely, this will be my life, a life on the run. But I've made peace with that. Anything is better than what it was before."
Ky was disheartened to hear her outlook, and he frowned under his coverings. He wanted to help her, he really did. To spirit her away from all this. He had sympathy for the poor girl, what else could he do?
"You'll be found, or worse, eventually. Especially if you sleep in alleys. Come with me, let me take you out of this country, where you'll at least have a hope for a new life."
"What? Out of the country?" Misae repeated, blinking wide eyes. "But...what if...?"
She bit her lip. She wanted to say what if he was still here, and she just hadn't looked in the right places yet, but...how long would she need to look? How long before she gave up? What if she never found any evidence at all? Or he'd moved on? And in the meantime she was here, risking capture again.
If she was caught, she didn't know what would happen. Nothing good, certainly. She might be killed. Or she might be sold again, to someone worse.
Even put in the Colosseum.
She held herself, rubbing her arms. "The desert is so big, though..."
"Not if you know your way, Misae."
He glanced around as they passed the guards at the entrance of the Colosseum, and Ky put his eyes forwards again.
"The desert's also smaller with a horse, or with a carriage. The only problem is money..."
He stopped once they were out, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms. He seemed to think for a few moments, before he looked to her.
"Tell me, do you still remember the inside of your master's estate?"
Misae blinked at that question. "Of course I do. It hasn't been long, and I don't think I could ever--"
She froze, suddenly realizing where he was going with this. "You aren't thinking...?"
"I'm thinking..." He started, pushing off from the wall.
"That your master's got a lot of coin he doesn't deserve."
Misae went quiet as she thought that over, and the implications. "I agree with that," she said, folding her arms. "But it would be dangerous. I know the ins and outs of his home, but if he catches me..."
She shook her head. "I don't think I'd walk away from that."
"I'll be there with you, Misae. If we run into anyone, you know full well I can handle them."
Smiling, he knelt down a little (something necessary if he wanted to see eye to eye with her), and laid his hand son her shoulders. "You're brave. You can do this. Besides, if we run into him there, I'll break his nose for you. Sound good?"
"Feel free to break more than that," Misae said, and then gave a light, nervous laugh.
"We'll need to have a plan, first," she said, looking up into his face. "I know you can more than likely handle what's inside his home, but when the guard is called...there will be far more than even you can handle. If we're going to do this, we're going to need a clear escape route. I was lucky not to be caught when I escaped, and it was only because I had his trust. But two people, going in and then out? After my big escape, when he's likely more wary than ever?"
She shook her head. "We can't just jump into this."
"You're right. We need parchment, and a quill. And ink..." Ky straightened back up, and felt at the humble amount of coins in his pouch. It'd do, if they were going to plan this out. "We need to find a cartographer's store. Know any nearby?"
"I'm afraid I don't," Misae admitted with a wince. "I'm...not actually that familiar with the area. I only went where my master told me to go, and I haven't had a chance to explore much since I left."
She gave one of her braids a frustrated tug. "I could tell you where all the fancy entertainment is, though."
"We'll just have to ask around, then."
He stretched his shoulders, and approached the nearest guard, motioning for Misae to stay where she was.
"Excuse me, sir, but could you help out a pair of travelers? Me and my wife over there are looking for a cartographer. Might you know one?" he asked, humbly bowing his head.
The bored looking guard shifted his eyes over to Ky, then cleared his throat and spat off to the side. Behind Ky, Misae wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Eh. There used to be an old guy up the street did things like that," the guard said, jerking his thumb up the road. "Head up that way and hang a left at the potter's. Should be down that way a bit, if he ain't dead."
"Thank you," Ky said, and motioned for Misae to follow him down the street. Unless something else came up, they'd find themselves in front of the store, a dingy looking sign reading "Maps".
"I can't read in Essyrni, what does it say?"
Misae squinted and shielded her eyes against the bright light that hurt her sensitive eyes. To her, the sign was a blur, and she could barely make out the shapes forming the symbols.
"It says...hrm. I believe this is our place. If I read it right."
She smiled at him from beneath her veil and nodded at the door. "Shall we, dear husband?"
Ky chuckled. It might have been the first time he displayed the ability to laugh to her. He was just so serious most of the time.
"After you, loving wife."
He walked up to the door, peering inside before he opened it, motioning for Misae to enter before him.
The first thing Misae noticed was that the building inside was dusty, smelling of old, musty parchment.
The next thing she noticed was the giant world map spread out across the back wall, with Essyrn in the center.
There were books piled all over the place, and rolled up reed-paper scrolls. At a small, ancient desk piled with books on either side sat a stout, black-skinned man with a shock of curly white hair and more wrinkles than Misae had ever seen on a single person. He looked up from his work as they entered, and then beamed a smile at them as though seeing old friends. It didn't look like he got too many customers.
"Ah! Welcome, welcome!" he said as he rose from his chair with obvious difficulty, his knees crackling with the effort. "Please, come in! Don't be afraid to look around. I have maps from all over, you know. I've made them all myself, and they're guaranteed accuracy! What can I do for you? Are you looking for something in particular?"
Ky looked about the cartographer's store, before locking his eyes onto the wrinkled man who ran it. He took a deep breath of the air inside the room. So much dust, this couldn't be healthy.
"We're looking for several rolls of map-sized parchment, the kind you can put in a scroll. I'm also interested in buying a world map. Something..." He rolled his eyes towards the gigantic map spread across the back wall.
"...smaller than that."
The old man laughed, a wheezy sound, and slapped his knee. "Why, lad, I reckon I can help you there! Besides, that beauty there's my pride and joy. I'm afraid she's not for sale, anyhow."
He limped along, bustling about as best as he could to collect the things Ky had asked for, rolling up several blank pieces of parchment together and setting them aside. Then, heading to another stack of scrolls, he plucked one up and turned to Ky as he unrolled it.
It was muuuuch smaller than the giant map, definitely! Unrolled, it was about two feet long--and it was a perfect miniature of the larger map, though not as detailed, since there was less space to fit in. But it covered all the important things, at least, and had all the big cities and landmarks.
"Will this suffice?" he asked, and blew lightly on it to clear away some dust.
Standing behind the two of them, Misae turned her face into the crook of her elbow and sneezed.
Ky looked back at Misae. "Pardon my wife. She has a sensitive nose. Yes, all this will do," Ky said, nodding. He continued to look around, fascinated by this man's trade. "What you do here is an unappreciated art. It's a shame to see all of this knowledge gathering dust on shelves."
For a few moments, Ky was quiet, before he checked the weight of his gold pouch, and he hummed thoughtfully. "Would you also happen to have any maps for the desert?"
"Of course! Of course!" the man said, smiling happily at the complement--because it was true, he was under-appreciated, and it was so rare to find someone who truly respected what he did.
Gathering up two more scrolls, he pushed them into Ky's hands. "Will these do, sir?" he asked. "I'm afraid they're not complete. The desert is far too large. But they do have the important routes to the nearest nations and cities. Why, I once traveled with a group of desert nomads, you know. They charted the stars and I charted the land and we both learned from each other!"
"The stars..." Kruz'Iik repeated, smiling wistfully underneath his coverings. He looked at the two scrolls of the desert, and nodded. "They will do nicely. Major routes are all we need," He said. He glanced over to a quill and inkpot on a shelf, and grabbed that as well, testing the weight in his hand. "I'll take these as well."
He reached down to his coin pouch, and took the entire thing off his belt. It didn't hold a meager amount, but it wasn't exactly too much coin anyways. Probably enough to cover the expenses, with just a little bit left over.
"Will all this do?" He asked, handing the coin pouch to the old man.
"Oh, lad, this is more than enough. Far more than enough," the man said, counting out the coins and plucking a few from the pouch. He held those coins back out to Ky and smiled up at him, eyes crinkling around the edges.
"I couldn't rob you of your coin. Use it to buy your lovely wife something pretty to wear."
And Misae couldn't help but blush at that, and let out another muffled sneeze.
Ky smiled at the man, this time big enough for it to show through his wrappings. Bowing his head, he accepted the few coins, and put them into a pocket. Taking their parchments, maps, and inkpot under his arm, Ky nodded once more at the old man before turning to leave.
"Come on, love."
Misae turned and fell into step beside Ky as they headed out of the store, victorious!
"Why did you need so many blank parchments?" she asked, curious.
"To draw up our plans on, or the layout of the house, if you remember it clearly enough," He explained. Glancing around, he frowned. "We need somewhere quiet and secluded to draw up these plans."
"I could draw it in my sleep," Misae said quietly. "I spent three years with that man, stuck in those halls day in and day out. I could never forget it, even though I'd like to."
Though she was trying hard to be brave and not bothered, stoic and valiant as a gladiator of a different sort, truth be told she was terrified. She'd promised herself she would never go back to that place, whose walls had seen and heard everything. It was necessary, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be hard, or that she would feel nothing about it. Already, just thinking about it, she was feeling the creeping anxiety returning.
"Anyway, there aren't many places that are private or secluded here, at least not from what I've seen. And I'd be afraid to take you to the places I went with my master that were, because someone might recognize me. We may have to settle for an alley somewhere and do what we can."
"I suppose a dark alley will have to do, then," He said, frown audible in his voice.
He knew he must have been putting Misae through something pretty tough, but it was the only source of money he could think of. Everything else involved stealing from people who didn't deserve to be stolen from.
Finally, they found an alley that hooked to the side, concealing them from the street, and Ky cleared the ground (more or less) and sat down.
"Be sure to mark down his most prized possessions..."
Settled down on the ground across from Ky, Misae took out the ink and reed brush, dipped it in the ink, and began her work.
"Of course," she said, her brush moving over the papyrus sheets. "I remember where he keeps it all, unless he's moved it since I left. I doubt it, though. He always underestimated me. He always thought I was just some stupid girl."
She dipped the brush whenever the ink ran thin, and she had to pause here and there to try to remember details. It wasn't so much the details themselves that were difficult to recall--it was that she was drawing an aerial layout of his home, and she had to figure out how to translate her own perspective of that place into map form. Finally, however, she had a crude map drawn out, with her ex-master's stashes marked with a bold "X".
"I'm no artist," she said when she was done, as she set the brush aside and capped the inkwell. "Does this make sense?"
Ky watched her draw the map, eyes narrowed as he focused on learning it as she drew.
When she was done, he picked up the map. Layering his knowledge from watching her slowly build it up against the completed product, he only looked at it for a couple of minutes, before he set it back down.
"yes, I understand this," He said, and looked towards Misae's eyes.
"He was wrong to underestimate you. My people had a saying..."
He paused to roll up the map.
"...Even the weak can lift a blade and kill you."
Misae cracked a smile at that and rose to her feet, brushing dirt from her knees. "That's very true, but the Essyrni don't expect their slaves to fight back. He was very wrong, though, and it cost him, and will continue to cost him," she said. "Though it can never buy back what he took."
She fell silent for a moment, her nerves increasing; drawing that map made the realization of what they were planning sink in more. The realization that they were about to rob her ex-master and flee the country.
Flee the country...
What a frightening thought. She'd never been anywhere but Essyrn and the desert around it.
"Ky," she said after a pause, looking at the ground. "Where is it we're going? After all this?"
"I'm...not quite sure. We should have enough to go very far away," He said, and stuffed the rest of the map-making supplies (and maps) into his knapsack.
He gently cupped her jaw with two of his hands, and moved her head so she'd look at him. "Don't worry, I'm going to help you. After all, I'm an angel by your people's definition. It's my sacred duty," He said, and chuckled lightly.
"If you don't want to go inside with me, you don't have to."
Looking up at him as Ky cupped her face, Misae cracked a little smile, even though it was still hidden beneath her veil.
"I appreciate that," she said, "though...it would feel cowardly not to go. And if I got any details wrong..." She shook her head. "I was drawing from memory alone, Ky, and it's different when you have to draw a 'looking down' view of something you've only seen from a ground perspective. Like I said, I'm no artist. I'll go."
And then she shrugged and tilted her head. "Maybe it'll give closure, who knows? Anyway, what's an angel?"
"An angel, um..."
Ky wasn't too sure about that himself, since he'd only heard the term used out in the greener lands of Serendipity, Adela, all that.
"Well, an Angel's a benevolent servant of heaven. They protect it from evil, and do the bidding of the god they serve. As I told you, I come from a world very far from this one, among the stars, and I'm protecting you and helping you through this difficult time. That classifies me as an angel."
"Oh. So kind of like a seytil..." Misae said, translating it to what she understood. "The Essyrni, their god has winged messengers called seytil that guard against evil and do their god's bidding. Is that the same thing?"
And then she laughed and gave him a teasing look. "Where are your wings?"
"Oh, you mean my two extra appendages? Right here," He said as he pushed against the middle of his wrappings with the two arms he kept concealed. He motioned towards the exit of the alley with his head.
"I can pretty much fly, as well. I can get across these rooftops so easily, you'd think I was a bird."
And then Misae gave him a sly look as she headed out of the alley with him.
"It's said the seytil are also genderless."
Ky was silent for a few moments, seemingly defeated.
"It's said they're genderless. It sounds like it hasn't been confirmed."
Misae laughed and smacked his arm lightly. "Well, those are the seytil. I'm know nothing about the differences between them and angels, if there are any."
"They sound pretty similar..." Ky commented.
Soon enough, they were back out onto the street, and he eyed the passing people, before looking back down at Misae.
"Lead the way."
"It's going to take about a day to get there," Misae said as she took the lead. "He lives on the other side of Essyrn, in the Western Delta."
She grimaced. "I heard they're having crocodile hunts there today. With the slaves."
Ky scowled at that, shaking his head. "Despicable..."
He started to walk faster, anxious to complete the small journey ahead of them.
[Time skip? =O]
It took the better part of the day to reach the noble district, and by then Misae was exhausted. She hadn't traveled that much in a day since her escape! And when she already wasn't eating much at all, or getting much rest, that was really taxing on her body.
She didn't talk much during the trip, lost in her own thoughts and worried about what could happen, what could go wrong, and she finally had to pull Ky to a stop and take a breather. She hadn't asked to stop much during their trip, as eager to get it all over with as Ky was.
"We're almost there," she said, and looked skyward. It was already dark, just a little light remaining, though it wasn't yet dark enough to see the stars. At least, not for her with her poor vision.
"If he's kept his habits consistent, he's probably retiring to bed right about now," she said, adjusting her veil. "More than likely with one of his slaves."
"A shame," Ky started.
"I am not a violent creature, but part of me was hoping I'd run into him."
He knelt down by her again, looking around. "Are you alright to continue? You look exhausted..."
"I'm fine," Misae said with a reassuring smile. "Tired, yes, but eager to get this over with. Don't worry about me--it's just been a long time since I've done the all-day walks my people used to do!"
Casting a concerned glance at her, Ky stood back up to his full height.
"Very well. Where do we go from here?"
"See that place over there?" Misae said, pointing in the distance to a three story home, large and elegant and staring down on the surrounding homes. "That's where he lives. We'll go there, and..."
She looked over at Ky. "And I suppose that's where your skills come in. I've never broken into a place before. I couldn't tell you what the best way is."
"I wasn't really expecting you to be able to, but you can tell me something else..." He started, staring up at the house looming ahead of them.
"The guards carry keys, correct?"
"They do," Misae said with a nod. "Or rather, the patrol officer does--the main guard on duty, who oversees the other for their shift. He carries the keys and unlocks anything the others need to have unlocked. For security reasons."
She pursed her lips, thinking. "He's usually pretty easy to spot. He wears a different uniform than the others, and doesn't patrol just one area--he makes the rounds to check on everyone else."
"Well, then we'll just have to liberate them from him," Ky said.
"Is there any sort of challenge I can expect from these guards, or are they just brutes in armor?"
"They're not just brutes--they are skilled fighters. Some were purchased from the Colosseum, even," Misae said. "If you mean special skills like magic, though, I'm not sure. I never asked, and my escape was quiet enough that I never found out."
Ky looked down to the ground thoughtfully, eyes narrowed. He might just have to use all four of his arms...
"And the patrol officer?"
"He's called Jabir, and he was a gladiator," Misae said. "Or so I was told. He was there long before me, and Master--" She caught herself and winced at the slip-up. It was hard to unlearn the shameful habit after being forced to adopt it. "I, ah, I mean, Alim. Alim did like to brag about him. Apparently, Jabir was pretty notorious in his day, and Alim was so impressed he purchased him."
She gave Ky a knowing look. "And just in case you were wondering, Jabir's loyalty is unquestioning. Alim pulled him from the pits, where he would have eventually died, and gave him a far more comfortable life. He'd do anything for Alim."
Ky nodded.
"It's a sickening thing, but I can understand Jabir's position. I would be grateful as well, put in his shoes. However, I will not let sympathy cloud me," He said.
"If this Jabir stands in my way, I will defeat him. Destroy him if necessary. He's chosen his path."
"He has no choice, but neither do we," Misae agreed grimly, and met his eyes. "I won't judge you for whatever choices you have to make tonight, Ky."
He sighed, shaking his head.
"Why would you? These are the people who helped keep you in chains? Your master should consider himself fortunate that we're only trimming off his excesses, and not ruining him."
"If all goes well, hopefully there won't be much bloodshed at all," Misae said, because some of her did feel bad about the slaves that would be caught in the crossfire. "He kept me in chains, it's true, but I can't fault him when he's also enchained."
She frowned. "Everyone just does what they have to do to survive. I'm no different. Do you need to know anything else?"
"One last thing, yes. Where does this Jabir patrol? Show me on the map."
He unrolled the map, and held it open for her.
"Generally, if I'm remembering correctly..."
Misae drew her finger along the backside of the building map. "In this area. They don't expect smart criminals to come through the front door so he usually takes up the rear."
"Very good."
He cracked his knuckles on both sets of arms, the second set sounding muffled underneath his coverings.
"Then we'll wait for midnight. Once Jabir begins his patrol, we'll strike."
Misae let a slow breath out through her nose. "I think it's the anticipation that's the worst," she said with a wry smile. "Midnight. Okay. We'll have to do something to fill our time until then. That's a few hours off yet, and I'm afraid I'll go mad in the meantime!"
She gave a light laugh to show it was an exaggeration, though she was antsy, filled with nervous energy that she needed an outlet for.
"Well, I'm sure there's a public bathhouse around here somewhere. I think I might have just enough leftover coin to get us a private chamber. So we can wash the stress away."
Of course, Ky wasn't the most well-versed in human modesty. Although he was all bundled up, it was hardly for modesty's sake. In fact, he found it shameful that he had to hide his princely physique from the humans!
Misae laughed at that. "Get clean before we have to sweat from all the running we're about to do?" she said, but added, "Sounds good to me. I...am a bit loath to admit it's been a while since I'm gotten, ah, clean."
After all, being on the run for weeks and having to preserve her money didn't really allow time for that! And besides, that would involve getting naked in public, since she certainly didn't have the coin for a private bath. Modesty wasn't an issue for her; many Essyrni worse sheer clothing. Her own people had been far more modest out of necessity; a life out in the desert meant wearing many layers to avoid the sand and harsh winds, not to mention the sun, and for an albino like her that was thrice as important. But after living in Essyrn for three years and wearing their clothes and fulfilling her duties to her master, there wasn't much that could shame her now.
"I must admit, I haven't cleaned myself in a while as well. I was actually saving coin separately for something like this."
He looked around, trying to locate a bathhouse.
"Are you familiar with any bathhouses around here?"
"Oh, yes. I've been to several of them," Misae said, and motioned for him to follow. "There's one close by, in fact. It should still be open; it usually stayed open late."
She looked over at Ky. "It also has private rooms. The public ones are cheaper, but for obvious reasons, I can't exactly use those."
"Same. My physique tends to draw... undue attention. Although, I think the fact that we're both trying to hide our bodies has helped us blend in immensely," Ky said.
"Alone, we'd stand out. But together, we just look like a pair of foreigners. A lovely married couple," He added with a chuckle.
Misae laughed at that, and looked around cautiously before crossing the road with Ky.
"Oh yes, two foreigners vacationing together," she said. "It's a fortunate thing we wound up matching!"
Ky nodded.
"Fortunate indeed."
He looked to her, and glanced around.
"You don't have any qualms about sharing a private bath chamber, do you?"
There was a building up ahead, a pretty structure set off from the others, and Misae was leading the way toward it. At Ky's question, she looked over her shoulder at him curiously.
"Do people not bathe together where you come from?" she asked. "Because I have no qualms. In Essyrn, it's quite normal."
"Not usually. Water was scarce on Kath, so really, the majority didn't bathe. I was the only one with a bathhouse for myself. Well, myself and my queen..."
Ky fell silent for a good half minute as he fought off the memories.
"The entire planet was actually very much like Essyrn, climate-wise."
"That sounds like a more extreme version of here," Misae said. "Actual soaking in water is for the wealthier. Most use water sparingly, and scrape the dirt and oils from their skin instead."
She took Ky to the arched entrance of the bath house, steam wafting through the cracks in the door, while a bored-looking pair of attendants stood outside.
"Us kathractians don't really get as dirty as humans do, so it really wasn't much of a big deal. Our skin doesn't have as many pores, and we certainly sweat less. We're a desert race by adaptation. You know, I walked the desert to get to Essyrn."
When they came up on the attendants, Ky gave them a bow of his head.
"Hello. Are there any private bathing rooms available?"
One of the attendants, a woman with intricately braided hair, held out her hand to Ky without really looking at him. Misae, likewise, avoided looking at her, because she recognized the woman from previous visits; she always got this way toward the end of her shift.
"We've got one left," she said with a yawn, before telling him the price (which was a bit steep for a bath house!) and explaining that they accepted payment up front.
Ky took his secondary coin pouch off of his belt, and opened the top, counting what was inside. He sighed internally.
One moon-damned coin short
Closing the pouch back up, he held it out to her, deciding to be up front about this.
"I'm a coin short, I'm afraid. Could you spare us travelers the hassle? We've had a long road behind us, and we've heard so many great things about this place..."
The bored woman gave Ky a flat look, looked at her companion, and the man gave a light shrug. They exchanged a quick conversation in Essyrni, which Misae, of course, could understand every word of. Misae bit down on her lip, biting back her laughter.
Looking back to Ky, the woman said, "Yeah, sure, but it's a one-time thing." And then she waved him them through without looking at them.
Ky bowed his head gratefully.
"Thank you! We won't forget your graciousness!" he said, and he tugged Misae along as he entered.
Misae waited for the door to shut behind them before she muffled her laughter behind her hand. "They talked about how we were stinky foreigners and to just let us do it so we stank the place up less," she said, as another girl greeted them inside, providing them with towels and showing them the way to their room. Steam was thick in the air, obscuring visibility, and the place smelled heavily of scented oils and rich soaps.
The girl directed them a room walled off and separate from the rest of the House, and pointed out the rack where they could hang their clothes and towels. Then, with a bow, she went off to attend to the other patrons' needs.
[So, if we're going to do that one-night ship we talked about waaaay in the past, this is the moment]
Ky nodded at the girl who showed them to their room, and looked over the basin. He closed the door behind them, and took his head wrappings off. Sighing, he started to strip down, exposing his physique to Misae for the second time.
He stretched out his arms, rolling his two sets of shoulders as he slipped himself out of the rest of his clothing, going over to hang them on the racks provided.
Even though Misae felt no real shyness about nudity, considering how natural and casual it was in Essyrn, she did always feel a pang of insecurity when she disrobed for the first time around someone new. She was always received as either an ugly thing, or an exotic thing, and neither of those things were really any better than the other; she was still an object, either way. And she never really got used to the looks.
But as she removed her veil and headscarf in that room, and stripped off her robes, she felt none of that, because Ky was even more different than she! She wasn't sure she would ever get used to the sight of him--the odd crest on his head, his sharp teeth, his four arms--which made her feel a little guilty, knowing many people looked at her the same way. He was different, though, and not unattractive, she thought as she studied his physique and the way his arms connected. She'd laid with many unattractive men--ugly body and soul.
And it was the soul that mattered most to a girl with poor vision.
Ky certainly had a good soul.
Crossing the room, she hung her clothes next to Ky's on the rack, then turned and slipped into the water slowly, breathing sharply as the heat hit her, stinging at first before she acclimated. She sank down into it with a sigh. At just an inch over five feet tall, the water came to just below her breasts, and when she sat on the stone built into the walls that served as a bench, it rose just above her chin. With another sigh, she splashed water onto her face and hair, the warmth already soaking into her sore, tense muscles.
"Godstars, this was exactly what I needed," she said, and smiled up at Ky. "It's a bit hot, but it's wonderful once you get used to it."
Ky finished hanging up his own clothing, and shortly after Misae entered the water, so did he. He stood at the edge for a few moments, testing the water with his foot, before he stepped in. He was almost a good foot and a half taller than Misae, so the water only barely made it above his waist. Nevertheless, he sighed pleasantly, streaming his bottom set of fingers against the water's surface as he stretched his upper pair.
He came to rest next to Misae, intentionally lowering himself further than a mere seated position so the water would come up to his neck. The water brought back memories; pleasant and warm. But with those memories, also came the inevitable, crushing sadness. He fought past it though, and smiled.
"This really is wonderful. Reminds me of home..."
Mimicking Misae, he splashed water onto his own face, and groaned pleasantly. Idly, he turned his head over to Misae, locking onto her eyes with his own.
"It saddens me that you have to hide yourself. Someone like you should never have to live in fear..." he said. With her pale skin and vibrant purple eyes, she almost reminded him of female Kathractians. More importantly, she reminded him of his queen...
"It's not all hiding out of fear," Misae said, meeting Ky's eyes. "It is here, definitely. In Essyrn. I was a slave, and I'm easily identifiable, so of course I have to hide. Even if I weren't a slave, I'd still be an oddity, though. I was an oddity even to my own people--though not treated badly, mind you! People like me just aren't expected to live long, and there are some old superstitions around people like me. They'd fallen out of practice in my tribe, but not in others. Thankfully."
Realizing she was rambling a little, she tried to steer herself back on track. "What I'm getting at is, even when I'm truly free and away from here, I still have to be careful and keep covered during the day. I burn very easily, and my skin doesn't darken to help with that. It just burns, and blisters if I'm really careless."
She smiled then, and leaned her head back against the edge of the pool. "This is really nice, though. Not having to hide for any reason. And if we're successful tonight..."
She turned to look at Ky. "I really can't thank you enough."
"You don't need to thank me, although it's appreciated. I'm just doing what's right."
His eyes traced her facial features. This was the first time he'd gotten a proper look at her, so he found some kind of solace in studying her angles and shapes. He smiled, and spread himself out a bit, resting his top set of arms against the rim of the pool. He didn't break eye contact as he did so.
Suddenly, he reached out with one of his lower arms and placed it on her chin. In a weird sort of display, he started kneading the area just under her lower lip with his thumb. He smiled a bit more, before he took his hand off, and rested it on her shoulder.
"Well, if we make it to a different country altogether, past the Essyrn border, you won't have to worry too much about your skin burning. It's a lot cloudier outside of the desert."
"Cloudier? Really?" And even though Misae had heard of that, it was still hard to fathom it, when clouds and rain were so infrequent out here! She couldn't envision a land where she could walk uncovered without fear of burning--and right then she wasn't really trying, anyway, because Ky had distracted her with that little, strange touch to her bottom lip.
A little shiver went through her and she licked her lip, and as he rested his hand on her shoulder, she lightly rested her own on his thigh, her touch soft and almost curious, because perhaps that was a hint? Perhaps he was seeking something more...
They were in a bathhouse, after all.
And there had been very few times when she had been in a bathhouse strictly to bathe.
"Yes, cloudier. In some countries, it rains almost three times a week. I hear tha..."
He paused, almost as soon as Misae laid her hand on his thigh. Had she misinterpreted the lip touch? On Kath, it was a platonic sort of affection gesture, but...did it mean more on Earth?
Not sure how to take this, he just let his instincts and emotions take over. He placed his remaining free hand over hers, and held it tightly. He offered her a gentle smile as he stared into her eyes.
Misae smiled lightly as he covered her hand with his, and looked up into his eyes with her own violet ones.
She was never one for subtleties, and she definitely didn't want to press unwanted affection onto him. But he had done much for her, and...
All she had was her body.
Turning her hand over beneath his, she squeezed his fingers. "Do you want me, Ky?"
His eyes widened slightly at the question, and his mouth opened, words failing him.
"I..."
His upper arms came down from the edge of the basin, although he didn't really know what to do with them, so he just put them down at his side.
"I do, you're one of the most beautiful humans I've ever seen, but...I could never ask this of you, Misae..."
His voice was uncertain, like someone torn.
"You're not asking it of me," Misae said, her smile still soft on her lips as she held his eyes with her own. A small blush turned her cheeks light pink, his compliment making her heart flutter. It...it wasn't often she was called beautiful...
Let alone called one of the most beautiful women a person had seen.
"I'm asking it of you."
Ky lost some of his composure there, just a little of it. It was something that was almost unique, such was its rarity. All the time he'd been here, he haven't even thought about what it would be like with a human woman. He'd spent so much time brooding on the tragedies of the past and the sheer injustice of it all, he'd never once considered the possibility of letting it go, if only for a moment. Perhaps...
He placed a hand on her back, and smiled.
"Then yes. I want you, Misae."
And that was all Misae needed to hear before she turned and climbed onto his lap, the water sloshing around as she moved, and lightly straddled him, her knees on either side of his hips and her arms going around his neck. She leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to his mouth as she settled against him. Her master always took her fast and hard and rough, without much buildup, and so did the men she was forced to serve, but right now, when she had the choice, she wanted to take it slow and tender. Besides, she wasn't sure what Ky liked--and she would gladly adjust to his preferences once she learned them.
"Good," she said with that same smile, her lips ghosting over his, "because I want this, too."
And then she kissed his neck, right beneath his ear, and nibbled and sucked lightly on the skin.
For a good few seconds, Ky was absolutely stunned, but as she began kissing him behind the ear, he became more responsive. It'd been so long, he'd almost forgotten what to do. He might as well have been a virgin at this point!
However, it came back to him. He placed all of his hands on her. Two on her thighs, two more for her breasts, and as he rubbed her thighs, he began to slowly fondle her breasts as well.
Ohh, there were definitely benefits to having more hands than two! Misae let out a breathy moan as he fondled her breasts and rocked her hips lightly, enticing him to harden as she ground her sex against his, and she pressed more kisses, nibbles, and nips all along his neck and shoulders and, finally, his lips as she moved.
"Just tell me what you like, how you want me," she murmured against his mouth, her eyes shut with pleasure, "and I'll do it."
[Oh my god, I just realized...I'm pretty sure that all the active threads I'm in are currently in the middle of a sex scene or something, excluding Just Another Night, I think. Coincidences, eh?]
Under her diligent attention, Ky certainly did start to harden up underneath her. He didn't really know how to respond to her question, other than to return her kiss with one of his own.
"I just want you, Misae. It doesn't have to be anything special. Give yourself to me, and I'll give myself to you..."
[Haaaah! xD The stars and threads aligned! Well, minus Heart of Darkness and Sand in All the Wrong Places too. xD]
That was definitely new for her, to be told something like that, to be allowed to do as she pleased, and at first Misae looked uncertain but then she kissed him again, deep and searching. And as her lips and tongue played with his own, she slipped a hand down between them to grip his hardening cock and stroke him beneath the water, slow and languid from base to tip before she began to to rock her hips and stroke him against her.
Pressing her face to his neck, she breathed in deeply as she moved his cock between her folds, getting used to the feeling of him, building the anticipation between them both, and letting out a breathy sigh each time he passed over her clit. She pressed him lightly against her entrance, letting him feel how hot she was even beneath the warm water, but didn't take him in her yet, content to tease him for now.
[Derp, forgot those, too. Totally. But it's still a pretty big number!]
The sensations were almost vivid, even though it was impossible to see what was happening underneath the water. He didn't need to see, he knew. All four of his arms wrapped around her, three placed vertically along her back with one caressing the back of her neck.
He started reciprocating with the kisses, depositing his own pecks and nips on her neck. Using his sharp teeth, he even harmlessly nipped her earlobe a few times.
[Lololol. xDDD]
Misae jolted a little at the sensation of all those sharp teeth on her ear, but it was a pleasant sensation, just a little surprising since she was not used to such sharp teeth. But the slight hint of danger actually thrilled her, and she arched harder against him with a bitten back moan, because they were in a public place where people could hear, where attendants were just outside the room--
Not that they didn't already know what they were up to, a "married" couple asking for a private room!
And not that Misae actually cared who heard. She only tried to silence herself to Ky's benefit, not knowing how shy he was about this sort of thing! She, on the other hand, was not shy in the least, not after having sex with an audience, or with multiple people at once.
And as she moved against him, her breathing picking up, she finally seated his cock against her hot entrance and began to lower herself down onto him, and as she did, she was unable to hold in her cry as he sank into her, inch by wonderful inch, her sex tight around him as she squeezed him, trying to make it as wonderful for him as it was for her.
"Oh, Ky..."
"Misae..."
Personally, Ky didn't mind Misae's noises. In fact, he thought she was keeping quite for the exact same reason she wasn't!
His arms tightened around her, squeezing her in his powerful, four-armed embrace. He sucked in some air, feeling sensations and emotions he hadn't felt for the better part of eternity. His problem was less one of being shy, and more akin to just being rusty.
However, now was his chance to show her his power!
Placing his hands firmly under her thighs and sides, he began to lift her up and down on top of him.
Show her his power he did! Misae let out a choked gasp of surprise as he began to move her on him with such ease, like she weighed nothing, and soon she cared not one bit that she was being loud as she began to cry out her pleasure. If he didn't like it, he could always silence her, she didn't mind either way! Water began to slosh over the sides of the tub as they moved, her small breasts bouncing from the force of his pounding.
And she clung to him tightly, sobbing with enjoyment, because she hadn't felt this kind of pleasure since she'd laid with her husband all those years ago. This was the first time since then that she'd been able to move at the pace she wanted, to have a partner that also cared about her pleasure, and soon she'd wrapped her legs around Ky's waist tightly as she tried to take him as deep as she could, wanting to feel every inch of him.
Gripping the back of his neck, she smashed her lips against his even as she rode him wildly, and broke the kiss with a shuddering moan.
As Misae kissed him fervently, Ky huffed some air from his nose. Not only was he lifting her, but he was also just pressing her down against him as far as she could go at regular intervals. To bring some of that dangerous element back, Ky nipped her lower lip with a tooth. Once it became clear to him that he didn't really need all four arms to lift her, he redirected the two at her sides to cup her head, allowing them to kiss with a bit more stability.
"Oh, Misae..."
Misae kissed Ky back fiercely, yelping at the feeling of his teeth on her lip, which set her heart to racing. She nipped his own lip back sharply before sucking it as though to sooth the pain, and raked her nails lightly over his shoulders. Each thrust had her crying out, sometimes muffled by kisses, but when she started to grind her pelvis into his on the down strokes she had to break the kiss and bury her face into his neck, shuddering as the motion rubbed her clit against him.
"Gods," she whimpered against him, "I needed this."
And then she bit his neck, not hard, and suckled on the skin there, her breath hot against him.
"Me too...It's been too long..."
He curled his neck inwardly when she bit down there, not expecting someone like Misae to be this rough and forwards!
Two hands became assigned to her breasts, while a third attended to her clit. The fourth remained on the back of her head, gripping her hair tightly as he wove the white strands between his fingers.
Some of her hair had come loose of their braids, and Ky would find that, unbound, her hair was made up of tightly coiled, dense curls. She shivered when she felt his fingers in her hair and despite herself, she found herself wanting him to pull it--but she bit her lip hard instead of voicing that, some deep part of her afraid, despite her freedom, to voice her desires.
Which was completely fine, because Ky was certainly showing her the perks of having four arms! And Misae's moans soon grew in volume, her cries echoing off the walls, her writhing and grinding harder and needier, when his hands found her breasts, and a third stroked her clit--and gods, how long had it been since someone even touched her there? Most didn't care about anything but their own pleasure.
And though they had only begun, it surprised her, and aroused her, more than anything she'd experienced in recent times, and before she knew it that familiar tight, building heat built up within her and came crashing back down, stealing her breath away. She curled into Ky, face buried against his neck as she let out a sharp cry, her sex pulsing around him and body trembling as she came.
Ky had no intention of pulling on her hair, but when her climax arrived so abruptly, and her walls buckled down and tightened in on Ky, he found himself gripping her hair even tighter, pulling it as his fingers contracted.
Misae wasn't the only one surprised by her climax, that much was true.
Ky slowed down so Misae could catch her breath, nowhere near a climax of his own, despite it having been so long. He turned her head to the side, roughly but not too painfully manipulating her by her hair, and planted his lips against hers, kissing her passionately for a couple of seconds before breaking away, smiling.
"Is that all you have in you, Misae?"
Still riding out her climax, Misae whimpered again when Ky pulled her hair and kissed her, and her lips met his fiercely, breathlessly. She had always loved to be taken roughly, even long before enslavement, but it was slavery that made it feel like a shameful, powerless, degrading thing that there was little pleasure in--they always took it too far, and her own boundaries didn't matter.
She hoped Ky wouldn't judge her if he noticed.
"Aah...hardly," Misae finally managed to get out through a breathy laugh, her body still all shivery and tight around him. She smiled at him as she broke the kiss and nipped at his ear. "I can go for quite a while..."
And as she spoke she lifted off of him and turned in his lap so that her back was facing him. Settling back down, she took his cock in hand and guided it back inside her, letting out a low moan as it slid home. She began to ride him then, gasping, and reached down between them to feel where they were joined and stroke him as he left her, before her hand moved lower to massage his balls.
The rougher sex was something that Ky thought was normal, of all things. After all, the Kathractians were a warrior race at heart, and if you couldn't put out a little strength in the bedroom, well...
He smiled at her claim, before giving her a solid spank when she turned around. As she rode him, he leaned up from the edge of the pool, and took her in his hands, fingers probing and caressing her front as he groped and felt pretty much all of her.
Misae yelped at the spank, but the way her back arched and the shiver that went through her body was sign enough that she enjoyed it, and she was certainly enjoying the attentions from all those hands of his as she squirmed on his cock and rode him harder still. Head thrown back and eyes shut in pleasure, she covered one of his hands with her own and squeezed, needing something to hold onto as she alternated grinding with thrusting, sometimes lifting almost all the way off of him, with just the tip still in her, before slamming back down.
"Gods...Ky...!" she moaned, not caring who heard, not at all shy of the fact that anyone in that bathhouse was getting an auditory show. "How...how is that?"
"It's...I can't describe it!" Ky replied, raising his voice around Misae for the first time since they'd met.
He began to kiss the back of her neck, right at the nape. He passed that whip-like tongue of his over its surface, kissed it while his teeth rubbed against her neck. As he did so, he whispered into her ear.
"Did I ever tell you what Ky mean, Misae?"
Misae squirmed when she felt his tongue and teeth on her neck, goosebumps rising along her skin where they passed over her flesh. She cried out, taking him in deep, and rotated her hips on him, shuddering. Gods, those teeth--she found herself wanting to feel more of them, even as her heart beat faster at the thought.
"What...what does your name mean, mast--" She cut off sharply, her eyes widening and face going red, and she clamped a hand over her mouth. Oh gods!
Ky was silent after that, although he didn't stop.
"I...I'm not sure how to feel about that. I..."
The more he thought about it, the more he slowed down.
"Do you...want to stop?"
"No, no!" Misae quickly said, a little mortified. For the last few years, she'd only had sex with people who had forced her to call them that and gods. It seemed old habits died hard, and old ways of thinking, too. This was the first time she'd been in a healthy sexual situation since enslavement...but maybe it wasn't that healthy? Truth be told, she couldn't remember what healthy was, and that worried her a little.
But at the same time, this had been her choice. Didn't that mean something? And the fact that she had actually gotten to choose felt empowering, not to mention having this moment with someone she actually cared about...
Coming to a stop so she was sitting in his lap with him still buried inside her, she half turned on him so she could press a kiss to his lips, a hand coming up so she could caress his cheek.
"I'm sorry, Ky. I, ah...I slipped." She bit her lip, looking sheepish. "I didn't actually mean anything by that. I...I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."
"Oh, no it's not that, it's..."
"Ky", The little nickname of she'd given him translated to "king" in his language, by coincidence! He was going to tell her, but he'd suddenly realized that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to tell the former slave that she'd been calling her new friend and lover "King".
"I know it must be hard for you, I know you've probably been conditioned to speak that way, I...I just wanted to make sure you were alright. What you're doing here has nothing--"
Ky emphasized that last word by pushing into her a bit more.
"--To do with what that honorless filth did to you. You chose this, Misae."
With that, he started back up again, slowly building back up to the pace they were at before.
Misae turned a little more, so she was facing Ky again, and her chest tightened a little at his words even as he began to push into her again. She gasped, grabbing onto his shoulders, and pressed her face into his neck as she started to move in response, timing the movements of her hips to his thrusts.
He'd stopped to check in on her...
He'd worried about her.
She blinked back sudden tears--not tears of sadness, but of sudden happiness--because gods, he was the first person in all these years to care about her thoughts and feelings, the first person who'd paid attention to her own responses rather than caring only about his own pleasure. It made her feel safer--and more human--and soon she was riding him hard again, kissing and nibbling at his neck, her sharp cries rising once more.
"Th...thank you," she managed to gasp out, trembling with pleasure.
Ky answered her gratitude with more powerful thrusts.
Of course, in all his years of being stranded on this planet, falling in love had been the last thing on his agenda. All the wandering that he did, all the soul-searching, it all felt like a waste of time compared to this moment.
"You make me feel like a king again... Misae, I can't get enough of you," Ky muttered, and he began to kiss her more voraciously, nips with his teeth almost regular by this point.
Misae let out a breathless laugh at that, though it was cut short by more moans. "And you make--ah! You make me feel wonder...wonderful," she managed between gasps and cries, shuddering as his teeth nipped her lip.
Her thighs were beginning to burn from that position, though, and she was growing rather breathless from exertion, and after a moment more she sagged against him with a panted breath and pressed her face against his neck. "Oh...you're lasting much longer than I expected," she teased with a kiss to his neck, her tongue darting out to taste him. And it was true; her previous partners had been rather...
Quick.
"My legs are rather on fire, Ky. In a good way! So if you don't mind..." And she rose from him then, sliding off his lap and back onto the bench beside him, and settled on her knees with her legs spread. She bent over the edge of the tub, arms leaning onto the rim, and smiled over at Ky invitingly.
"I jump from buildings and fight guards unarmed, Misae. How long did you expect me to last?" he asked, shifting over onto his feet anrd taking up position behind her. He slapped two of his hands right onto her buttocks, gripping them tightly as he placed himself against her sex.
He pushed in with enough power to jerk her forwards.
Jerk forwards she did, gasping from the force of his thrust, before she let out another breathless laugh as she clutched the edge of the tub.
"Don't get me wrong, Ky," she panted. "I am not complaining!"
"Oh, but now I'm curious!"
It was his turn to hit her hard now, and he pounded into her more powerfully than any human she'd ever touched. Under her his hands went, to grope at her breasts and feel at her clit. The fourth, unused hand clasped around her neck.
But before Misae could answer him, he started pounding into her, harder than she'd ever taken before, and her words cut off with a squeal, and her cries soon grew to near screams as his hands found her breasts, her clit. And when his fourth hand gripped her neck--gods, she was in paradise. She collapsed against the rim of the tub, face buried in her arms as she shuddered and rocked with pleasure, her back arched and ass up as high as she could get it so he could keep slamming into her.
"Ky!" she screamed, sobbing with enjoyment, her body tight with pleasure and sex even tighter. It had been years since she'd enjoyed sex like this, and the way he held her in place and gripped her neck only further excited her, that familiar, wonderful pressure slowly building up inside her.
"O-oh gods, Ky! Oh gods, oh gods, don't stop!" she begged.
"Hah! I'd be mad to stop!"
He leaned forwards and over her back to cover her mouth with his own, intent on muffling her screaming. Ky was less receptive to stimuli, as a result of his long hours meditating and the pruposeful training he'd done on his body. But even he himself could feel his climax coming, and it seemed it was perfectly timed as well.
"Are you ready for my royal seed?"
With her mouth covered with a kiss, all Misae could do was whimper and desperately not--and then she couldn't even do that as she was sent over the edge for a second time. It stole her breath away, her entire body shaking uncontrollably as her sex spasmed and contracted powerfully around Ky's cock. She clutched hard at the rim of the tub, sobbing her enjoyment, though it was muffled by Ky's lips.
Shortly after Misae, came Ky. Even in his orgasms, he was potent. Every fading thrust, delivered with powerful finality, sent a veritable hose of Ky's alien expulsions into her deepest recesses. He gripped tightly to her, pulling her body up off the rim of the bath and flattening her back against his chest as he clamped her to him.
Misae felt him flood her, felt his warmth seeping down her leg, and she shuddered with pleasure and leaned back against his chest as he held her, panting breathlessly and hugging his arms with her own. And when it was over, she collapsed bonelessly against him, absolutely spent, even as her sex still hugged his cock.
For a few moments, she couldn't even speak, and it was all she could do to breathe!
Ky stood firm for a few moments, before collapsing back down onto the raised seats, taking Misae with him. Leaning his back against the edge, he moved around in her a bit, spending the last of his energy in order to feel more of her, even if it was a pretty much token effort.
Even though he had her sex plugged up, whatever was escaping was starting to cloud the water, and Ky smiled, embracing her to himself and holding her tenderly, resting his head on her shoulders.
"I think I love you, Misae..."
Misae was quite exhausted, but when Ky moved within her still, she couldn't help but bite her lip and moan, low in her throat. He felt so good, and she felt alive even as she felt utterly sated. Strange as it was, after years of dehumanizing treatment, it made her feel human, made her feel like a woman instead of like a slave. With a sigh of contentment, she closed her eyes and relaxed back against Ky--
And then he spoke, and her eyes flew open in shock.
She was glad her back was to him, so he couldn't see her panicked expression, or the way she paled even more than she already was.
Ohhhhh dear!
"O-oh. Do you, now?" she said, and suddenly felt awkward. So, so awkward. She'd just fucked a guy she viewed as a friend, still had his cock inside her, and he was making a love confession. Ohhhh dear. She froze for a second, them shifted a little to slide him out of her, more of his seed running into the water.
Looking at him from over her shoulder as she sat in his lap, she mustered up a small smile and stroked his cheek with her fingers. "Slow down, Ky. It's barely been two days--a stressful two at that!--and we just had amazing sex," she said, gently. "You're in lust with me. And that's okay! Just slow down."
He was silent for a few moments, before he shook his head, as if lifting a fog from himself. Moons, she was right. What was he talking about. He took a deep breath, before he nodded.
"You...you're right. Forgive me, it's just...I guess you can say it's been so long, I've forgotten what it's like to be this emotional."
He smiled, and began running his hands up and down her sides and thighs, idly feeling her skin.
"I must remember, you did this to thank me. Nothing more..."
Part of him sounded like he knew that was the truth, but he sounded like he wanted to believe it was for something else. Regardless, he rested his head against the back of hers.
"It's okay," Misae said, sighing in enjoyment as he ran his fingers over her skin. "It's easy to get caught up in the moment and confess all manner of things after a good rut, when you're feeling good about everything."
And he certainly wasn't the only one to give a love confession after she'd fucked them, even when she had been a slave and they a freeman.
"Hm"
Ky loved the feeling of her skin. Perhaps it was that condition of hers, or maybe it was just some sort of subconscious placebo effect, but he found himself enjoying passing his fingers over her, keeping some kind of spark stoked despite their exhausted states. He left a burning kiss behind her ear, and then on her cheek.
"It's very easy to slip up, with someone as beautiful as you, although... I suppose we should actually bathe now. I think all we did was get dirtier...
"Mm, yeah," Misae agreed, and with a sigh and a shiver at his kisses, she slid off his lap and into the water. "Or else we'll never get clean at this rate! If you keep touching me like that, I'm afraid I may get 'distracted' again."
Ky chuckled, and kissed her as she slid off of him.
"It's a risk I was willing to take."
He led the way towards the other side of the bath, where the soaps and other necessities were.
"Me, too," Misae admitted with a laugh as she joined him, selecting a lump of soap that smelled of vanilla.
As she began to soap up, she looked over at Ky. "I wonder what time it is."
"Should be breaking midnight soon," Ky said, taking up two soap bars. He looked over to Misae, offering her a gentle smile, as he made sure to get his body all glistened up and soapy for her.
"We have time."
Misae couldn't help but watch Ky as he cleaned up, appreciating his body in a different way now. She couldn't see all the fine details with her bad eyes, but she could see enough, and she remembered the feel of him.
"Really?" she said, and then laughed lightly. "Time flies when you're having fun, I suppose."
[Oh, dangit! I forgot we entered the bathhouse a few hours before nightfall!]
Suddenly, Ky paused.
"Wait, that's not right. My mind must still be a bit clouded. We still have an hour, hour and a half to ourselves. We could sit down in the bath, talk a bit..."
He noticed her straining to see him properly, and he stepped a bit closer, smiling.
Misae paused in her scrubbing, and gave Ky a sly look. "Sit and talk?" she repeated with a smile. "I won't argue with that. I'm honestly in no rush to leave the water..."
"Well..."
Ky shrugged his shoulders.
"If you're always inclined to do more than talk, I'm all ears."
"Do more than talk? Well!"
Misae grinned at him and rinsed soap out of her hair. "I suppose the depends. Are you going to be able to move later, when it counts?" she teased.
"Me? Hard to move?"
He approached her, and took her by the hips with his lower arms, using the top two to continue washing himself.
"I'm not even sore, Misae. I think you can't really comprehend the physical standard I set myself to."
With a grin, Misae plopped a dollop of suds onto his nose.
"Well, then why don't you show me?" she said. "So I better understand?"
"There's many ways I can show you, Misae."
He started washing her himself, passing the bars of soap over her in quite the sensual manner.
"I can stand on my hands for hours on end. I've meditated on beaches overnight, enduring the tides as they came and went without budging. But knowing you, you're seeking a more intimate demonstration, aren't you?"
He pulled her in against him, his member of kingly proportions hard between her thighs.
"Maybe I'll just fuck you for another hour..."
With a contented sigh, Misae arched against him and rocked her hips slowly, letting him slide back and forth between the wet folds of her sex. She wrapped her arms around his waist, peering up at him with a slight flush to her cheeks.
"That certainly does sound more pleasant for the both of us..."
Ky smiled. He was to tall to kiss her normally while they were standing, so he knelt down in the water, depositing kisses down her body as he went lower and lower. He stopped at her abdomen, and looked up at her.
"Another round it is, then. Allow me to warm you up, Misae."
Misae's hands found his shoulders and she let out a soft moan as he trailed kisses down her body, fingers lightly squeezing as she pressed into him. She kissed the top of his head and smiled against him.
"You don't have to be careful with me," she murmured, hands stroking along his shoulders. "I'm not made of glass."
"But what if I want to be gentle with you?"
He kissed her just above her clit, tongue passing over her skin slowly.
"What if I want to caress you, hold you?"
His arms reached up, and he slowly pushed her down back onto the bath's benches, submerging her lower body as he brought his head back up to kiss her.
Misae shivered at his words, just as sure as she shivered as his breath tickled her skin and his tongue and lips teased her right above where she wanted to be touched. She moaned, clutching him tighter, and when he pushed her onto the bench she sank down eagerly and pulled him down with her because she wanted him, and his words were so different from what she was used to hearing.
"Is that what you want?" she asked quietly, looking up into his eyes.
"I would like that, yes..."
His eyes, never-blinking, stared back at her. Almond-shaped eternities with no whites, they were like two starless night skies gazing back into her.
"...To let everything slowly melt away, to be one with you..."
His hands began to work on her again, probing and exploring as he kissed her.
"I think you'll find that this could be a completely new experience if we take it slow..."
"R-really?" Misae asked, her voice catching as he started to touch her, and she opened her legs wider for him and looped her arms around his neck. She kissed him back hard, but then caught herself and softened her touch, moved her lips against his more slowly, softly.
It took a conscious effort. She was used to sex being a quick, rough thing...
But she was more than happy to learn other ways.
She squirmed against him, urging him on, already aroused beneath his touch. "Teach me, then," she murmured against his lips. "I'll follow your lead, Ky."
Kruz'Iik smiled, and for the first time, he introduced his whip tongue into Misae's mouth to dance with hers. It was considerably more prehensile than a human tongue, and Ky used the opportunity to wrap up her own tongue with his, even constricting hers lightly for a few seconds before he let it go.
"So eager, Misae..."
Ky probed at her sex with his own, circling around the folds. Blanketing her senses with a long, deep kiss, he slowly pushed into her, so she could experience every inch, unlike the quick affair of last time.
Well, that was different. Misae certainly couldn't say she'd been kissed like that before, and she gasped against him in surprise before melting against him, pressing into his kiss, and she couldn't help but smile through it.
Show off...
And she nibbled his lip in response, laughing through a moan when she felt him sliding against her, she she rocked her hips in response and hooked one of her legs around his back. "I am," she said, looking up at him. "Is that a bad--mmph!"
She didn't get to finish, because then he was kissing her deeply, and she felt him start to sink inside her, and she gasped and grabbed at his arms to hold on tightly as he took his sweet time. Her back arched and she shut her eyes in pleasure, shivering and pulsing around him as she felt every hard inch of him, and gods, it did feel different to be taken like that, like some sort of sweet torture.
Ky didn't stop kissing her until he was fully ensconced within her womanhood, buried to the hilt in her pulsing walls. Breaking their kiss and sliding his tongue out of her mouth, Ky immediately began to kiss her neck, tongue playing across the places he knew were the most sensitive.
He didn't begin moving until a god ten seconds had passed, just so Misae could commit that feeling to memory, and when he did, it was with the same slow passion as the initial penetration.
Shuddering beneath him, and gasping when his tongue caressed and teased her neck, she tilted her head so he could have better access--and then shuddered anew when he began to move. It wasn't at all the quick rutting she was used to but long and slow and deliberate, dragging out each thrust, and she let out a low, needy whimper and started to lift her hips to meet him.
"Oh...goodness..." she breathed, and after their quick joining not moments before, this was rather nice. Another frenzied affair would have probably left her exhausted, but this slow, sensual dance? This was nice.
Different.
And she let her hands play along the muscles of his back as she pulled him closer, locking her legs around his waist to keep him there, and letting out small gasps of pleasure, as she truly got to know his body.
Ky shuddered as Misae's fingers explored his alien skin. It'd been too long since the last he'd been touched in that way, and he tell that Misae was more or less new to this as well. He pushed himself forwards, pressing his chest against hers as he slowly moved up and down against her.
He raised his head, just so he could look into her eyes.
"You're so beautiful..."
Misae's blood was already hot, but his words only made her hotter--this time with a surprised blush. Little made her blush these days, but this entire situation was different from what she was used to, and so were his words. She'd heard the word "exotic" before, but never really beautiful. She was always regarded as an oddity. "Exotic" was for animals.
"You...you think so?" she managed to say between soft gasps, as she rolled her hips up to meet his thrusts.
Ky didn't think he had to confirm that sentiment, but he did so anyways by kissing her deeply yet again, then breaking away to speak.
"Your eyes, they're like jewels..." Ky said, smiling. He knew she hadn't heard these things in the longest of times, so he wanted to make this moment as special for her as possible.
The hand that had been at the base of her neck the entire time moved up to the back of her head, threading her hair between its fingers.
"Your skin, your hair...it's all silk..."
"Like silk?" And Misae gave a breathy laugh at that that was cut off by a moan as she ground her pelvis up into his. That was a definite first! She tightened her hands on his shoulders and pressed her lips to the side of his neck, kissing and licking. "I've...ohh...always heard it's more like wool..."
For when it wasn't tamed into braids, it was made up of tiny, tightly wound curls. It tended to surprise people, since her hair color and skin color were white, so pale like some easterner, some Serenian or Connlaothian, while her actual ethnic features had more in common with the Essyrni. It threw people off, because she was distinctly not any of those--and once people realized it, she was either wrong and ugly, or exotic, like a white lion fit to cage.
She nibbled on his ear. "I'm glad you like it, though," she murmured against his skin, and sucked lightly on his lobe, shivering as his fingers made her scalp tingle wonderfully.
"Wool? That's a common material..."
Once more, he passed his teeth over her neck, slowly this time, so she could feel them scrape harmlessly against her skin.
"It's not fit for you."
He passed a hand down her abdomen, feeling the smooth skin of her belly beneath his rough, worn fingers. Ky himself wasn't smooth, not by a long shot. His skin was tough, hardened over the centuries he'd spent wandering this world, stranded...
...but no longer alone.
Misae shivered beneath his teeth, turning her head to bare more of her neck. Her belly sucked in reflexively when his fingers ghosted over it, another shiver of pleasure going through her at his slow, tantalizing touches. His rough skin against her soft skin felt interesting, the clashing textures creating all sorts of contrasting sensations, her nipples brushing against his chest as he moved.
"Silks, though...silks are for the rich," she murmured. He really thought all that of her? Eyes like gems, skin like silk?
That last bit gave Ky something to think about, although it could've just been Misae trying to keep the bedroom "back and forth" going. His other two arms, who'd been employed on Misae's hips the entire time, started to wander upwards, testing the soft skin on her sides that bordered her breasts.
"I am a king. Have I not treated you like a queen so far?"
He responded well to her exposing more of her neck. He even clacked his jaws together, just above her skin, to let that rush of air wash over her. He lifted her legs higher, so he could go deeper. He sped up a bit, although his pace was still relatively tame.
"You ha--ahh!" Misae cut off with a sharp cry when he lifted her legs and sank in deeper, the already wonderful sensation intensifying, his speed increasing, if only by a little. She gasped, throwing her head back against the wall of the tub, and had to grab at the edge with one hand so she didn't slip and dunk under the water.
"Ah...yes, yes, you have," she finished, her voice shaky, strained with pleasure. It was starting to become difficult to talk, difficult to focus on things like conversations with his hands at the sides of her breasts and his cock sliding in deep.
And then, cracking an eye open to look at him with a small smile, she added cheekily, "M'lord."
"Hmp," Ky stifled, eyes closing as he shook his head lightly. He pressed against her more, so her nipples would drag harder against his tight, muscular chest.
He brought his head back up to blanket her lips with his own, teeth poking down on her lower lip as his tongue explored her mouth yet again.
Ky's reaction had Misae curious, but with his mouth covering hers and his tongue occupying her tongue, she couldn't act on that curiosity.
And after a few more thrusts, the question was quickly out of her head. She moaned against his lips, the sound muffled, and grabbed onto his shoulders with both hands again, her nails trailing down his spine and digging in a little.
She broke the kiss with a gasping cry. "Oh, gods, Ky..." she murmured, squirming beneath him as the passion slowly intensified, as her climax gradually built rather than coming on fast and crashing like a wave--or, you know, didn't even get a chance to build at all! "This...this feels amazing..."
"Amazing..." Ky repeated.
"And all we did was change the pace," he added a bit teasingly shortyl afterwards. His own breathing was coming in sharply as well, Ky wouldn't be very far behind Misae. He hooked her legs up higher and higher, pushing the boundaries as far as he could go with every lance into her.
"A-ah!" Misae yelped when he drew her legs even higher, and she gasped and arched, clawing at his back as he went even deeper, hit her at a different angle. It was intense, not painful, but so intensely pleasurable it toed the line of being too much but didn't quite cross. It took her breath away, and she could no longer find the words to describe it as she cried out in earnest, gasping in air between cries, and tugged at him, trying to draw him closer.
Her legs tightened on him, trembling as her thighs clamped against him, and she buried her face against him and bit his shoulder, a little harder than intended to muffle her screams--
Because scream she did when, finally, that slow-building pleasure crested quite abruptly and sent her over the edge, leaving her helpless to do anything more than cling to him fiercely and shudder, her sex gripping him like a vice.
Ky's attempts to hold on as long as he could were commendable, but he started to lose control when Misae bit down on his shoulder.
"Mi...Misae!"
Her sex constricted the last bit of fight out of him, and he gushed into her once more, half of his arms going limp as he struggled to keep himself from falling over on top of her. He pressed down to her, hoping she'd cushion him to at least some degree, and found himself equally as helpless.
Misae held onto Ky, trapped beneath him, and struggled to catch her breath. Now she was officially spent, her legs trembling and sore, and when she could finally speak again, she laughed into Ky's shoulder.
"Gods. It'll be a miracle if I walk out of here!"
"You'll find the strength..." Ky muttered, before he rolled off of her and to the side, pulling out to let his seed out of her again. He pulled her close, and held her tightly to his side, resting his head on the top of hers. He sighed pleasantly, resting his arms on her legs as he held her.
"Let's relax a bit for now. We still have such a long night ahead of us..."
Misae happily curled into Ky, and with all the pleasure filling her, making her limbs heavy and relaxed, she couldn't find it in herself to worry anymore. At least not right now.
"Mm. Well, on the bright side, if we fail and die horrifically, I think this was a good end."
"Ah, but we won't..."
Ky started stroking Misae's hair, the other hands finding comfortable places on her body to hold her.
"We're going to make off with his gold and ride a luxury carriage to your freedom. You and me, alone in a carriage for hours. How does that sound?"
"Glorious," Misae said with a happy sigh as she laid her cheek against Ky's chest. "Though perhaps a little...conspicuous?"
"Conspicuous?"
Although he didn't look down at her, his face still reflected his curiosity. He pulled her in closer to himself, holding her to him in quite the embrace. Naughtily enough, one of his hands came to rest on her ass, but he didn't do much after that.
"We'll be long gone before he can even do anything."
Misae noticed his hand stray, and she wriggled a little to get more comfortable, smiling knowingly.
"Either way, a carriage may not be our best bet. If we're to brave the desert, we'll need something sturdier."
"Well, I was thinking we stick to the main roads, which could be handled by a carriage. What else did you have in mind?"
He looked down at her, depositing a small kiss on her forehead. It was clear he still wanted her, but there was no time, and he was sure Misae didn't have the energy.
"A carriage won't help in the desert, not for very long. The wheels will get damaged after long, and the roads only go so far, and get covered by storms often. We'll need pack animals. Kaadir, or camels. Something meant to survive out there, something that can go where the roads don't go when we need to stray," Misae said, eyes closed as she relaxed.
"Then we'll get ourselves some camels."
Ky himself relaxed as well, willing himself some respite with Misae in his arms. After a few seconds, however, he cracked an eye open, smiling.
"You can't say you weren't looking forwards to the carriage ride, though."
Misae let out a little groan at that and curled in tighter. "I was," she said. "Don't remind me of what I almost had! I suppose we can always pretend with the camels..."
"Well, fucking on top of a camel wouldn't be as comfortable..."
He smiled wryly at her, to see how she'd react to his attempt at humor.
Misae let out a "pfffff!" sound, like muffled laughter, and raised up a little to give him a look. "I don't think the camels would appreciate that very much," she said sternly, though there was laughter in her voice and eyes.
"Neither would my back."
He gripped her ass a bit tighter for a second, peering down at her.
"And how do you propose we pretend with the camels, hm?"
"To be honest, I hadn't actually been thinking about sex when I'd said that..." Misae admitted with a sheepish smile up at him. "I'd more meant that we could pretend the camels were as luxurious a ride as the carriage! Alas, I'm afraid there's no real way we pretend with the camels, at least not in the manner you're thinking!"
"Ah. Pardon me."
Ky chuckled at his own misunderstanding, and when Misae smiled up at him, he tenderly stroked one of her cheeks.
"Only sex I've had in around five-hundred years, so you must pardon me if I get a little caught up in it."
That froze Misae in her tracks. Her eyes widened.
"...Wait. Five hundred...how old are you?"
"Two thousand years. The last five-hundred of which I've spent on this planet."
he looked down at her, a little amused by her shocked expression.
"My people are very long-lived. Relative to human standards, I'm barely in my thirties."
Misae's jaw dropped.
"Two...two thousand..."
That was a number well beyond her comprehension.
"Yes, two thousand."
He cradled her head, laughing lightly as he held her to him.
"Am I a bit old for you, Misae?"
"Not...not too old for me, just..."
Misae leaned up to look into his face. "...You age rather well. I'm jealous."
"Well, when you relate my age to that of a human's, I'm barely in my thirties."
He met her own look, and after a few moments of silence between them, he kissed her.
"Moons above, I don't want to leave this bathhouse..."
Still, she couldn't imagine! Five-hundred years just in this land alone! What sorts of things could one see in that time? What sorts of changes? It was hard to imagine.
But his kiss snapped her out of her bewilderment, and she smiled up at him. "Neither do I."
"Ugh, but we have to. Sooner or later..."
Ky began running his fingers on Misae's back again, just feeling her skin. He cuddled closer to her, and began stroking her cheek with another arm.
"But not for a bit longer. Who knows when we'll be able to spend time like this in the future..."
Misae curled into his touched like a cat, eyes closed with contentment, and let out a quiet sigh. "Well, we'll have to sleep some time," she said, and coasted her fingers over one of his arms. "We won't be on the camels all the time. We'll have to stop and rest, make camp..."
"We can be one under the stars..." Ky added in, and began to stroke her hair instead of her cheeks.
"I get the feeling you'd enjoy that the most..."
Misae shivered at the thought, and placed idle kisses on Ky's chest.
"I would love that..." she said. "On any night, really. But just imagine on a full moon...or during a star shower..."
Ky sighed, just thinking about it had him tensing up and relaxing with anticipation.
"There's a full moon three nights from now," Ky stated, and brought himself to kiss Misae again, this time more passionately.
"It'll be our only witness..."
"Mm," Misae said against Ky's mouth, pressing into his kiss and tasting him, slow and sensual, her tongue briefly slipping past his lips. "What a voyeur, that moon."
Ky chuckled inwardly, and allowed himself to become absorbed into the kiss.
"On Kath, we had two moons..."
He started to feel her up again, ever so subtly.
"...Sisters, we called them..."
"The nights must be very bright," Misae said, sighing beneath his touches. Her blood heated at the rush of sensation his fingers drew from her, despite her best efforts to keep her mind focused. After all, they were almost out of time--and besides, she'd be sore and well and truly tired if they went another round!
It was very tempting, though, and very difficult, and his fingers were very distracting.
Ky broke away, a small line of saliva connecting the two of them for a few moments before it fell away.
"Oh yes. You'd be able to see for miles. Miles upon miles of moonlit desert and oceans. And sometimes, when the rotations lined up, you'd be able to see the lights from those living on the moons."
The hand stroking her hair moved to the back of her neck, where he ran his thumb against the nape.
It was amazing how Ky did that. Just slipped something completely wild and fantastically into his sentences like it was a completely normal, average thing. So casually, too, that she had gotten so lost in the gentle pleasure of his caress and the vivid image he'd painted, of beautiful moonlit deserts, that she'd almost missed the part about...
Misae's thoughts came to a screeching halt.
"Did you say people live on the moons?"
"They did. My people were masters of their worlds. We sailed the skies on vessels of our own design, explored the depths of our oceans..."
It was always jarring, the memories. The king of a high-tech, space-faring species, displaced on a planet of relative primitives. He'd adapted, though. More or less.
"The cities on the moons...They looked so beautiful from the ground. The Sisters glittered, like wives in jewelry, dancing eternally with their husbands, the suns..."
Ky 's voice was wistful, emotionally charged with longing. He held Misae tighter to himself, and kissed her shoulder, lowering his head down and burying his face in them.
"My kind danced with the stars, Misae. We built grand ships that could fly out into the milky darkness, beyond the earth and clouds..."
"Ships that sailed the stars?" Misae repeated, and shivered at the idea, trying to imagine it. "Like ships sail the seas? How did...how did you get them up there?"
It sounded utterly magical, and for someone like her, with the magic of the stars and moon in her veins, it was like a dream. She'd always been fascinated with the sky and gods...that Ky's people could move among them...
"What was it like up there? Did you meet the gods?"
"Up there, all the way up in the stars, you can see the world, Misae. All of it, like looking down at a ball with a map of the world drawn on it. And you're weightless, too."
He decided to avoid trying to explain rocketry to Misae, for obvious reasons. Her question about the gods allowed for quite the interesting answer, though.
"We did, in a way. We could sail all the way up to the sun, and she would lend her heat to us. We'd forge metals by her side. The moons allowed us to live on them, to build cities far above our own on their surfaces."
"Weightless?" Misae said, closing her eyes to let the picture Ky was painting take hold in her imagination. "Do you mean you can fly when you're up there?"
"Well, not fly. More like...float. It's like being in water, except you can't swim around, no matter how hard you try."
Ky pulled her a bit closer, depositing an idle kiss on her neck.
"There's also no air, and it's very cold, so my people built suits that would let them breathe and be warm. Some suits even let you fly around..."
He continued to kiss her, this time behind the ear.
"If only I could show you, Misae. If only I could take you up there to dance with the stars..."
Misae's breath caught as he kept pressing kisses to her skin, and she lightly bit her lip and tilted her head to give him more space, arching into him. Her breath came a little quicker, heart fluttering faster, because she was sensitive there and his touch was deliciously sensual.
"If only," she breathed. "It sounds unbelievable--but yet not. There's so much magic in the world already..."
Turning slightly, she intercepted his lips with her own and smiled into the kiss. "We can still dance under the stars."
"Mm, yes..."
He didn't want to drop the bomb that it wasn't magic, that it was nothing but cold, hard technology. His people had no magic, but using magic as an explanation kept Ky from having a very boggled Misae on his hands.
"...But before any of that, we need to be able to leave this bathhouse. I don't quite know how we're going to manage it, but we've got to get going," Ky mumbled into Misae's mouth as he kissed her, and pulled away.
"I know it's asking almost too much of you, but you're going to need to get off of me."
Misae let out an exaggerated sigh, and slowly, languidly, began to sit up. She really didn't want to leave this place. For the first time in many years, she actually felt equal parts sated and safe, this small bathhouse becoming, at least for a few hours, like a sanctuary. Once they left it, it was right back to business--and risking their necks.
"Somehow, I shall persevere," she said, and shot a small smile his way. "The question is, how are you managing? You have to do most of the work here, after all. I'm less worried about me than I am about you."
"I will manage, Misae," Ky said as he helped her up by placing his hands dead on her ass and lifting her up slightly.
"If anything, I've lost some long-overdue tension. You don't need to worry."
Jumping a little as she was boosted, Misae rose to her feet, sloshing water about, and flashed him an amused smile.
"That goes for the both of us," she said with a laugh as she stretched her arms over her head. "Granted, I'm going to be feeling this tomorrow!"
"When we succeed, you'll be feeling this every day," Ky said rather amorously, and stood up, stretching his own body and arms.
He stepped past her, splashing some water onto himself as he did so, and approached the towels.
Misae laughed at that as she climbed from the bath and grabbed a towel, her cheeks coloring at his words. It was rare that she blushed, at least not from innuendo, but Ky was teasing and bantering with her like a lover and friend, not just directing it at her like she was a pretty piece of furniture. It was something she'd sorely missed, this feeling of normalcy.
"Every day?" she asked, as she leaned forward and wrung out her braids. "You spoil me."
She dried herself off, fixed her braids, and with some reluctance, started to dress in her many layers.
"Is it spoiling if you deserve it?" Ky retorted, drying himself down with two towels at once before he started to wrap up as well. Despite all their distractions and feelings, Ky was dead focused and silent ss he wrapped himself, treating that process as an almost spiritual one.
"Oh, hush, you!" Misae said with a laugh, though it was obvious she was enjoying that. It was also just making her a bit flustered! It had been a long time, and she still wasn't quite sure how to respond to someone...treating her like any lover should treat their partner, as someone to be cherished.
Before too long, she was dressed, her hair and face covered but for her eyes, and she stood silent as she watched Ky get ready, watching the way he moved. She couldn't make out any small details from this distance, but she appreciated his form no less.
Ky took his time getting all wrapped up. He moved very methodically, and the whole act was ritualized, in a way. There was an order to it, something Ky was attuned to. It was something he did every time he clothed himself.
To remember that he was indeed a king, wrapping himself in rags.
He was finished soon, though, and he approached Misae. He took one of her hands in his, and motioned towards the door.
"Shall we?"
Misae nodded, squeezing his hand. "Time to get this over with," she said, and walked with him toward the door.
Pushing it open, she lead Ky out and into the bathhouse proper--and saw one of the attendants, a young woman, watching them with a very knowing look on her face. "Have a nice night!" she said. "I hope you, ah...enjoyed your bath."
Ad the woman looked away as she said it, as though hiding a snicker, and Misae flashed Ky an amused look. Yeah. It was no secret what they were up to. Wasn't like the walls held in sound.
"We did," Ky said happily, not even trying to hide the truth.
He motioned to the entrance with his head, and led Misae along by the hand. After the kind of experience they'd just had (no other words could describe it), it was kind of surreal to think they were masquerading as husband and wife when they came in here, trying to be as platonic as possible.
Everything felt different now, though. Through their union, Ky had become attuned to Misae. He could feel her heartbeat as he held her hand, hear her quiet breathing. He could almost meditate to her natural rhythms.
With a light laugh at Ky's shamelessness, Misae followed him out the door as the attendant stared at them. He wasn't the only one feeling exhilarated and surprised by how things turned out, and how quickly they had changed. Maybe it was just the afterglow of really good sex, but she felt closer to Ky--
Which, she supposed, was no surprise when their bodies had been as close as they possibly could be.
Squeezing his hand once they were outside, and ignoring the looks of the two that had admitted them in the first place, she giggled. "I'm so glad you don't embarrass easily!"
"There was no point in trying to hide. She knew," Ky said in response. Ky didn't really think he could be embarrassed. It just wasn't a concept known to the Kathractians. Skin was skin, and back on Kath, everyone went completely topless, a societal adaptation to the heat. Even royalty appeared that way! It was actually more shameful for him to cover up.
He took Misae's hands in both of his, fully enveloping it.
"We won't have to worry about it once we hit the desert," he added, quite aware that the two attendants outside could hear him.
"Where to?"
Misae grinned at that. "I wasn't worried either way," she said. "Though it'll be nice not having to hide who we are. Well..."
She frowned beneath her veil. "We'll still have to hide, in a way. But not from people. I'm afraid the sun isn't kind to me, so my attire won't much change."
"Yes, I had a feeling your skin was sensitive to light," Ky said.
He smiled beneath his veil.
"I've always preferred the light of the moon, anyways."
Squeezing Ky's hand, she gave him a gentle tug to pull him in the right direction as she cut down an alley, preferring now to keep off the main roads as they drew closer to her master's home.
"I'd only come out at night if I had the choice!" she said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Be completely nocturnal like an owl. I see better at night, you see--the daylight hurts my eyes, but at night, everything's just...better. But alas, everything happens during the day! So, I just have to be more careful. My skin starts to burn in minutes out here."
Ky looked down at her suddenly, eyes wide.
"Your skin burns? You must be brave to come out during the day at all. I had no idea..."
Misae looked blankly up at Ky. Why did he sound so horrified? "I'm not really brave. All people get sunburns, mine just--"
Then she paused. She paused, and thought about it for a second, and then mentally backtracked. Ky wasn't from their world! He wasn't human! Did he...
Did he even know what a sunburn was, or was he like...
...Thinking she literally started burning, as in smoke and flames?
"Oh! Oh, no! Wait! I--I don't burn burn!" she said with a sudden laugh, covering her mouth to muffle it. "I don't--I won't catch on fire or anything! I just, it means...eheh. I just mean I get a little...burn. Like touching a hot pot. It leaves behind a raw spot, and if you touch it too long, then you start to blister. It's like that. All people get sunburn. People with my skin just get it far quicker, and far worse."
Ky sighed with almost palpable relief, and placed a hand over his chest.
"Thank the moons, that's a relief. Back on Kath, the suns never burned anyone."
He took a few seconds to recompose himself, and soon enough, he was calm again.
"Is there not some sort of...alchemical solution for that? Some kind of ointment you can rub on yourself?"
Misae lifted her shoulders in a little shrug. "If there is, my master never got it for me," she said, and frowned, looking down at the ground.
"My place was indoors. In his bedroom, generally. It was more incentive for me to remain inside."
"Well, maybe we'll be able to find some for you when we get out of the desert. If not, I'm sure there has to be at least one alchemist out there who can figure something out."
Ky looked forwards, to the path ahead.
"I know it's not really my place to ask, but...what did he make you do? Apart from the obvious."
Misae brought them both to a stop at that question. Not because of the question itself, but because just beyond that alley...was her master's home.
Though, she would be lying, too, if she said that question didn't bring up painful memories. Painful memories that she had managed to numb herself to. It had been her life for several years, so while she had never gotten used to it, she had built up a hard shell around herself because she had to. If she didn't, she would break.
That shell was apathy. At least, feigned apathy. It wasn't that she didn't care. It was that she was in denial. It was that she managed to convince herself that she didn't care, and that it didn't hurt her. It was the only way she survived it.
"That's a rather broad question," she said. "What did he make me do...as far as domestic things, or bedroom things?"
Ky peered onwards at their target, eyes narrowed as he instinctively got a bit lower. He looked Misae, and shook his head.
"Nevermind that," he said, and he took out his other set of arms from his wrappings, which he proceeded to wrap up as well. He was done up like some kind of four-armed ninja by this point, and he couldn't be anymore ready.
"So, where do we go in?"
Letting the subject go for now, Misae ducked lower and slid in close to Ky.
"I escaped through the back," she whispered. "Through the servant's quarters. There's a door only they use, so as to enter the house unseen, and it leads into a room where they sleep and tend to laundry. I, er..."
She looked over at Ky. "I didn't escape unseen. A servant girl woke and cried out, the others woke, too, so I...blinded everyone. I trust you'll have far more finesse than I."
"There's also the windows," Ky said, motioning to one on the second floor that was open just a crack. Most likely a result of forgetfulness on the part of a servant.
"If you hold onto my back, I can take us both up there, and we'll be in and out much quicker."
"Ah. That. If I remember correctly, that will lead into the study," Misae said, squinting up at the window. She couldn't see it well, but from where they were standing, she could discern the direction and which window it was.
Moving behind Ky, she took hold of his shoulders. "It...should be safe this time of the night."
"All right...hang on, then. Tuck your legs around my waist."
He'd wait for her to do so, before using his second set of arms to hold onto her and make her grip even safer. After that, he took off to the side of the alley, using his momentum to step up the wall a few paces, before lunging forwards and grabbing the edge. He pulled himself onto the roof easily enough, and stood there for a few seconds, judging the distance.
Once he was sure, he got a running start and cleared the gap, grabbing the edge of the roof in front of the window to soften his landing and make it quiet. Looking down to make sure there weren't any guards below him, he placed his ear against the window to listen.
...Oh sweet gods.
Misae clung to Ky for dear life and pressed her face into his neck, her gasps muffled, her cries bitten back as she clenched her teeth to keep quiet. She kept her eyes closed, too, not daring to look--because the first time she looked, when Ky had vaulted from the wall, she'd just about had a heart attack.
Of course, not looking had its own problems, but...
She bore it all as well as she could, even as her stomach leaped and vaulted right along with Ky!
Once he came to a stop, Misae waited a few seconds, then risked cracking her eyes open--and let her breath out quietly. They were right in front of the window.
And so far, it seemed quiet.
Satisfied that his superior hearing picked up no activity, he was quick to enter the study, leaving the window just as cracked as it was when they came in.
He glanced around the study, noting that there were already some pretty valuable things, just in plain sight. He waited for Misae to dismount before speaking up in a low whisper.
"Anything in here of note? Because if we're lucky, we can just hit this room and be gone."
"No," Misae whispered, her hands gripping Ky tightly and thighs squeezing him. Now that they were inside, she was tensing up, scarcely daring to breathe. She was back in this place, where she never wanted to be, ever again, and somewhere within these walls her ex-master was sleeping.
Probably with some poor new girl.
She shook her head. "Nothing in here. His room is up here, though. Be careful." Another deep breath. "We should head for the west wing. It's where he does his accounting. There, ah...may be guards."
"Then I'll dispose of them," Ky said, before taking some glances around the room. Regardless, he took a few things, that could be sold for pocket change off of his desk, emptying the inkpot right on the carpet out of spite before pocketing it.
He motioned for Misae to keep still as he approached the doors, listening for sounds and feeling for any vibrations.
Misae stayed where she was. She didn't have to be told twice, and it was easy for her to remain still--because she felt a bit frozen. What if something went wrong? What if they were caught? Ky was confident, but surely even he had his limits. They'd be killed--or at least, that would be the best case scenario...
Nodding, she held her breath and waited as Ky checked the door--
And somewhere out in the hallway beyond, someone cleared their throat.
Just as he thought. There was a damned guard out in the hallway. He looked back to Misae, and motioned towards the desk. He wanted her to get behind it, and he tried to convey that through his motions.
He put his hands up over his mouth, and unraveled one of his fingers.
He scratched on the wall, ever so lightly, but just loud enough for the guard outside in the hallway to hear. He also made a few squeaks here and there, trying to lure the guard over. Ky was making rat noises, but they were irregular enough to warrant some kind of look.
Misae was quick to obey, once she caught his meaning, and silent as she could be, she crept to the desk and crouched down behind it.
No sooner had she done so when the guard, alarmed by the sound of rats, came rushing to the room to investigate, his hand on his sword, like he intended to murder said rat.
"Bloody hell, not again..." he muttered, opening the door.
No sooner than that, Ky pounced, waiting for the guard to be at least a step into the room before attacking.
It was a simple maneuver, really. With all his strength, he launched a fist at the guard's unprotected temple with enough strength to cave in a helmet. His other arms were kept open, ready to restrain or catch him, if necessary.
There was a brief moment of recognition, a brief flicker of "I done fucked up" in the guard's eyes as they landed on Ky--and then the light left them as his eyes rolled and he slumped, unconscious, against Ky. He didn't make a sound, didn't have a chance to raise the alarm, and he was certain to have one hell of a concussion when he woke up.
Behind the desk, Misae winced sympathetically. She recognized the guard, and he was a pretty decent man. But he was employed by her ex-master, sadly, and decent or not, he would have outed them.
Ky held the man in his arms for a few moments, slinking his coin pouch off of his belt before laying him against the corner and finding something to stuff his mouth with and restrain him.
After he was sure the man wouldn't be going anywhere or yelling particularly loudly, he moved back to the door, and creaked it slightly open to peek out into the hallway.
Beyond the door, the way looked empty. There was nothing across from the door except for a wall, which was decorated with rich tapestries and paintings. There was nowhere to go but left or right down the hallway, and the way was dark save for some low burning wall sconces.
Everything was quiet.
Except for Misae, who risked speaking in a whisper. "Do you see anything?"
"No, the hall's clear. How many guards does your master usually have?" Ky responded, stepping out into the hallway and looking around. The tapestries and paintings were certainly tempting, but Ky didn't just want to steal from this man, he desperately wanted to ruin him.
"This accounting room, would it contain the proof of ownership for his slaves?"
Misae's eyes widened.
She had been so bunched up with nerves, she hadn't thought about that--and her eyes lit up when she realized the implications.
If they found those documents...
They could free everyone he owned.
Misae's mind hadn't even gone to ruining the man. It went to saving the others.
"Oh gods, it might!" she said, keeping her voice down despite her sudden excitement. "I don't know for certain, Ky. He never shared that information with me, for obvious reasons. But it's worth looking!"
"Then be vigilant for them. We can save lives and ruin him, all at the same time."
He moved up the hall slightly, senses kept open.
"Where to, then? To accounting?"
"Left," Misae said, and crept quietly from behind the desk. She tiptoed over to Ky and hovered behind him, letting him take the lead while she guided. "Be careful. There will be guards."
Ky nodded, and he headed left, closing the door silently behind them. He crept up the hallway, wary of any corners or doors that could come up from nowhere.
Misae followed, though not close enough to crowd him. She kept her distance to give him room to work if something came up.
"When you get to the end, hang right," she whispered. "Then take the first door on the left. That'll be the--"
And it was at that moment that an armed man turned the corner, right ahead of them at the end of the hall.
"Hey, Kaleed, you wanna--"
The words died on his tongue when he saw them.
Ky nodded at Misae's words, ever alert.
Ky froze a little too, when the armed man showed up, although it was more like the inevitable tenseness of combat than just freezing on the spot.
The man had just enough time to get his last few words out, because right about then was when Ky rocketed forwards, propelled by the same powerful legs that allowed him to jump across buildings.
One of his hands balled up into a fist, which he fully intended to introduce to the man's face, and at the blistering speed he was going, it edged on lethal. In case the man ducked, Ky also readied a straight kick to the chest.
The man didn't duck--he didn't have the reflexes for that, and quite frankly, he was shocked. Shocked to see a four-armed man, and shocked to see a woman with eyes and a build he recognized, even if she was covered.
That moment of shock cost him. It cost him his consciousness.
But Ky wasn't quite quick enough to prevent his yell of alarm.
It was cut off short by a fist to the face and the subsequent snap of shattering cartilage, but that in and of itself would be a problem. A yell cut short?
Nothing really said "we're under attack" quite like that, and the hairs all along Misae's arms stood up.
She rushed forward and grabbed Ky's arm. "Go!"
"Don't need to tell me twice!"
A switch flicked on in Ky, and he was no longer in stealth mode. His posture changed into something more aggressive as he ran alongside Misae.
"I'll keep you safe, don't worry."
He was ready for anything now, all thoughts of subtlety gone from his mind as he was ready to use his alien martial arts to full effect.
Running alongside Ky as swiftly as she could, Misae turned right at the end of the hall and practically threw herself at the leftmost door--but when she tried the handle, it was locked, and she had a brief moment of panic before she remembered that shouldn't be a problem for Ky!
"The door!" she hissed, and moved out of the way so he could handle it.
And somewhere, from a room beyond them, and from downstairs, she could hear voices shouting.
On Misae's signal, Ky reached into his robes, pulling out a small cylinder, about equal in size to a sword hilt, which he kept concealed under his chest wrappings. He flicked his wrist, and a medium-length blade shot out of the hilt, almost singing as its edge touched the air.
With a few swings, Ky had cut clear through the door, kicking it into several clean-cut pieces.
Misae knew her ex-master didn't have an endless supply of guards; he employed around ten, which left eight, including the captain. And if those guards hadn't been aware of what was going down after that yell, as Ky started hacking down the door, well, they certainly all knew now!
But as soon as the space was wide enough, Misae threw herself through that door and rushed into the room. It was a modest looking space, as modest as such an opulent home could have, that is, with a large desk spread out with parchment and several book cases. An abacus sat on the desk.
"The documents have to be in here somewhere," she said as she began to pore over the desk, scattering whatever documents were useless to her onto the floor. "Ky, check the book case. There's a safe in there, disguised to look like books from the outside. Tap the books--it'll be metal. Last time, I stole the key--can your...thing...cut metal?"
"It can, but I need to find the safe first," Ky said, and began running his fingers across the bookcase. As he did so, he turned his head back to her. "Start pocketing the valuables."
It didn't take him too long to locate it, and he patted it down a few times, just to make sure. He took a few steps back, tightening the grip on his blade. He aimed his swing, going still as he slowed his breathing. After a few seconds, Ky swung, carving a diagonal slice across the safe's door.
Pocket the valuables she did. It was good Ky reminded her, because in her desperation to find those documents, she'd completely forgotten.
Misae grabbed the abacus first, for it was a fancy one plated in silver and gold. She tucked it under her arm and scooped up a few other pretty, decorative paper weights, slipping those into a purse hidden in the folds of her attire. With the desk pillaged, she moved on to the book case. He kept some records in there, she knew, but it was just a matter of finding the right ones. And time was running out, the sands pooling at the bottom half of the hour glass.
And it was while she was thumbing through parchments filed into the bookcase that three armed guards came bursting into the room.
Ky wheeled about to face the guards, wasting no time in delivering the second slice to the safe's door. He sliced the hinge, and the whole thing came down in two separate pieces, due to the damage he'd previously done.
Catching these two pieces, Ky whirled about, sending a piece of heavy metal safe door towards the chests of two guards, and leaping forwards to personally attack the one in the middle, thrusting his palm forwards and towards the man's gut with enough force to buckle a breastplate. He kept his other hands and his sword on the defensive.
Misae tried not to watch, tried not to notice, as Ky took on the guards. She had to trust that he could handle it and keep focused on her objective, and that was exactly what she did as she yanked books and papers from the bookcase in desperation.
Ky managed to take out two of the guards, one with the metal shard and another with the punch to his breastplate, but one of them managed to block the shard with his sword and while Ky was caving in the one man's armor, he swung at him with his blade.
Right as another guard came up behind him and rushed into the room.
It was an expected swing, something he'd planned for by keeping his hands on the defensive when he sprung in. Almost with machine precision, he flicked hi swrist and his sword collapsed back into its hilt, and he stored it back in his robe with one arm as he fought with the other three.
At the same time, he swatted the blade to the side, and sidestepped out of the way of the man behind him as he wheeled his leg around for a mind-altering crescent kick along the head of the man in front of him, balancing on one leg as he lunged forwards after that, putting his hands into a fully defensive stance afterwards.
[Fml I am already losing track of how many guards I need to make a note to myself. xD]
That kick took down one of the men, but the guard that had raced behind Ky wasn't paying attention to Ky anymore.
As soon as he'd recovered from having his sword roughly deflected, he made a lunge for Misae instead. There were more guards on their way; it was a good idea, at least, to capture Ky's accomplice in case it made him more...docile.
And though Misae recognized the guard, in the dark, he didn't recognize her.
There were more guards outside, filling into the hallway, as the one went to grab Misae. She saw him coming, though, and let out a yell of alarm before she swung the heavy abacus at him to try to fight him off.
[you're down five guards. Three left, I think? Well, two after I'm done with this guy]
Ky jumped to Misae's defense, not even hesitating as he saw the guard peel off to try and grab her. He landed besides the guard, and brought down his hand in a mighty hammer fist powerful enough to snap his arm at the elbow. That was followed up by a flurry of rib-shattering punch to the side, and once he was disposed of, Ky turned to face the door again, preparing for the incoming guards.
[Five left! 5 are down out of 10 total! xD Soon to be 4...]
With her attacker taken care of, Misae went back to grabbing whatever she could, and tearing through the bookcase. Gods, it had to be here somewhere! Unless he kept it in his room...
Which was a real possibility. She knew he didn't keep all his money in his safe. He was a paranoid man that had fought his way to riches and he hoarded it all like a dragon. Surely he wouldn't keep such important documents in so obvious a place?
Rushing to the safe, Misae wrenched the broken door open and grabbed the money from it--which was, indeed, a lot, but also a meager amount for someone so wealthy. She tucked it away into her purse and looked to Ky. "I don't think it's here!" she said.
And, notably, the other guards had not entered the room. They seemed to have figured out that trying to fit through the doorway was limiting them--and just asking to get their asses handed to them. They waited outside, weapons drawn and ready, though two of them had rushed off to protect their master's bedroom.
Ky smirked, knowing what Misae's announcement meant. The fight so far had been pretty much child's play for Ky. He was a warrior of a completely different caliber than these guards, despite their training and armament.
He entered an aggressive stance, standing amidst the broken, groaning, and squirming bodies of the men who tried before. Men who he'd taken down using nothing but his hands.
He looked at the two men ahead of him, and spoke.
"If you're slaves, I'm giving you a chance to walk away. You'll be free men before tonight is through, and we'll give you free access to your ex-master's riches."
Even with Ky's offer, Misae could have predicted the result. They were slaves just as she had been--and she understood too well what was going through their minds as the younger of the two, a man no older than eighteen, snapped, "Bullshit. We turn on him, we'll be Colosseum corpses by daybreak!"
She couldn't fault them. They were driven by fear the same way she had been, and that one would know about the Colosseum; her ex-master had purchased him straight out of the arena. She bit her lip and watched as he and the other guard, who looked grim in his agreement, shifted in their stances, ready to spring on Ky once he stepped out of that room.
"Not if me and my associate find the documents that allow him to keep you. Once we find those, everybody he terrorizes will be free!"
He stepped forwards to add urgency to his words, because his voice had remained level the entire time.
"It does not matter whether you resist or not. We will find the papers. Whether you're standing or lying down on the ground with broken bones when we find them... is up to you. All you have to do is step aside."
The younger man laughed, dry and bitter, even as he shifted uneasily. "Yeah, right. Like I'd believe some stinkin' thief," he growled. "It's my neck if I risk it and I'm wrong!"
But the older of the two looked uncertain. He was watching Ky with an odd expression on his face, a conflicted one--
And then he stepped aside.
The younger man whirled on him. "Wha?! What the fuck are you doing?!"
"What's it look like? Screw this, man!" the older guard said, motioning around to all their broken cohorts.
"You can't! Master'll have us hanged!"
"He never found that one girl, did he? I say fuck it."
"But--!"
Before the younger one could get out anymore protests, a fist to his face shut him up. He fell like a stone, knocked out cold. "Now you have plausible deniability, kid."
Ky maintained his stance for what seemed like minutes, before he let up. He placed his top pair of hands together, and bowed his head.
"Thank you. I can only hope your remaining comrades can see reason as well."
He looked back to Misae, and motioned outside, into the hallway.
"Come on. We have someone very important to visit."
Relief flooded Misae, and she rushed on after Ky. She didn't recall the older man's name, but as she passed, she met his eyes and said, "Thank you."
She saw surprise in his face, then recognition, but she breezed past him before he could speak and fell into stride beside Ky.
She wasn't looking forward to this part.
And yet, part of her also was.
"This way," she said, and took the lead down the hall and around a corner, not wanting to lose her nerve. And as they rounded the bend, they'd see an elaborate set of doors up ahead guarded by two men, their swords already drawn and ready for them.
"When we see him, I'm going to warn you in advance that I might lose myself. I'm not going to kill him, but..."
He sighed.
"It'll be rough. I know you don't like violence."
Then, they rounded the corner, and Ky stopped, staring dead on at the two final guards. He adopted his same stance, and prepared to fight.
He took a few steps forwards. Since these men rushed so quickly to the defense of their master, Ky had a feeling they wouldn't be swayed.
"I think on this matter, I can make an exception," Misae said, an odd, hard edge to her voice.
She hated herself for saying it. By rights, there shouldn't be any exceptions. Violence only beget violence. Ky unleashing it upon her ex-master wouldn't undo what had been done to her, and it wouldn't really make her feel better, and she knew this.
But gods, she also couldn't say she particularly cared right then.
The guards that were guarding the doors, one of which was the captain, wasted no time. They charged for Ky as a team, one that knew how to move and flow together.
Ky nodded.
He'd try not to brutalize the man. He had vows to keep after all, but...
The time for thinking was past, and as the two men advanced on him, he adopted a full defense, taking up the hallway as he prepared his defense.
Misae moved behind Ky, well out of the way and back behind the corner to give him space to move. She watched, though, unable to look away even though she knew this was going to be a painful disaster for those two.
One of the guards swung his scimitar in a fierce upward arc, while the captain swung in low, looking to cut Ky down at the knees while his companion distracted him.
Ky was quick to answer with strikes of his own. Bringing a leg up, he stamped down on the flat of the captain's scimitar, with force that threatened to snap it at the impact point. Regardless of the scimitar breaking, Ky brought his knee up to the captain's gut as he lunged forwards and under his comrade's swing, intent on grabbing the other man by the throat and propelling him forwards.
The scimitar shattered, and Misae watched from around the corner as, well...
Ky made quick work of the two.
The captain crumpled, rendered breathless and vomiting, while the other was similarly winded by the grip on his throat. But the captain was more experienced and resilient, and while Ky was focused on the other man, the captain rose and made to stab Ky in the back with the broken shard of his sword.
Ky wasn't so much focused on the other man as he was throwing him. It was a simple motion, really. Made possible by his alien strength, the other man was already off his feet by the time the captain mustered himself up to make his second attack.
Ky turned sideways on his heel, and he reached out with both of his left arms, catching the captain's sword arm. Without a missed beat or moment's hesitation, Ky snapped the man's arm at the elbow, and jabbed a short kick at his face to cut any screaming short.
...And that was the precise moment it became too much for Misae.
It was the sharp snap of bone and the sight of the captain's ruined arm that had her ducking back behind the corner. She slapped both hands over her mouth to hold in her retching, her skin going even paler, if that were possible. Feeling ill and queasy, she sank down against the wall and fell into a crouch, knees to her chest, as she tried to get a hold of herself again--and keep from losing everything she'd eaten!
But Ky was successful. The captain didn't come back up after that, and joined his companions in blissful unconsciousness.
Ky looked down at the unconscious captain, eyes widening back up and he lowered his fist. He exhaled, and stood still for a few moments, before the sharp sounds of Misae's distress reached his ear.
"Misae!" He whispered, and he began taking tentative steps backwards, keeping a watchful eye on the door.
However, his concern was too great. He went back behind the corner, kneeling down to try and calm Misae.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, Misae, but we need to keep moving."
Ky's sharp whisper snapped Misae back, and she sucked in a sharp breath and looked up at him as he knelt near her. Swallowing hard against the bile burning in her throat, she nodded weakly.
"I...I don't fault you, Ky," she managed to croak, still struggling to stamp down her nausea. She kept seeing it, and hearing it, and--hurk. She swallowed again, drew in a deep breath, and held it. Right. Back to business. This was no time for her weak stomach when they were so close, and when they had to leave very soon!
"I'm okay. Don't worry about me," she said, and rose to her feet on shaky legs. "It was unexpected, but I'm fine. Let's just keep going."
Ky placed his hands on Misae's shoulders and on the sides of her neck, cupping her head quite gently as she spoke. When she finished, he nodded, and stood up, offering his hand to help her up onto her feet.
"Alright. Look tough, we're about to teach your master a lesson in karma."
With that done, he rounded the corner, cracking his knuckles and neck as he approached the door to her master's chamber. He was unbelievably ready for this, but for Misae's sake, he'd try to hold himself back.
Despite his martial prowess, he wasn't exactly a fan of violence, either.
"That is something I can honestly say I'm ready for," Misae said, that edge once again entering her voice as she strode with Ky down the hall to the heavy doors to her master's quarters, a walk she'd made countless times in the past.
But those times, she had been dressed in nothing but jewellery, and she had been shaking for a different reason even as she'd walked there straight and proud. She was trembling now, but it was with adrenaline and excitement.
There were so many things she wanted to say.
She just hoped she remembered them all once those doors opened.
She tried the doors when she reached them, but as she expected, they were locked. And so she looked to Ky, expression hard, and nodded at him to do his thing.
Ky was filled with nerves as well. He was constantly reminding himself not to kill this man when he saw him, to remember his meditations and self-training.
Ky would not kill, but he still intended to make a display out of this.
He reached to the door handles, testing them a few times, before chuckling. The wood was fine, that was for sure. But it wasn't sturdy.
With a furious roar, he ripped the handles clean off the door, ruining the locks in the process. Then, he kicked the doors wide apart, nearly tearing them off of their hinges. He looked straight on into the room, and dropped the handles.
He was ready.
Screams came from inside the room when the doors burst open, one masculine, and several feminine, and when Misae looked inside the room, her breath caught.
There was Alim all right, a tall, dark, well-built man in his late 40s--but Misae knew the muscle was all vanity and that none of it was the result of hard work or fighting. He was dressed in a pair of loose, silky pants and a hastily thrown on robe that was hanging half off him, and judging by the three naked young women in his bed, and the musty smell of sex, he had been interrupted when the chaos broke out in his home.
His eyes fell on Ky and went wide with panic, the blood draining from his face, and before either of them could set foot inside the room, her grabbed the woman nearest to him by the hair and wrenched her backwards and against his chest. With his other hand, he grabbed a knife from his desk and held it to her throat.
"Don't come any closer!" he yelled, voice shrill, and pressed the knife in tighter.
Misae froze and tensed, her breath catching, because she knew Alim was the scummy sort to murder a woman to save himself. And all the while the young woman, who Misae recognized as a sweet girl named Farai, watched both she and Ky with terrified eyes. But though she was obviously scared out of her wits, she didn't didn't cry, didn't even whimper, and held perfectly still.
This was despicable. Absolutely unforgivable. He knew this man would be honorless, but to stoop to such a level...
Ky looked at Misae, and then at Farai, and then locked eyes with Alim.
"I wasn't going to kill you. But if you kill her," Ky started, and raised a finger to point at Alim.
"Your life will end tonight. And what will it have prevented? Nothing. Surrender!"
"If you don't leave my home right now, she dies!" Alim snarled, and wrenched Farai's head back until she let out a soft cry of pain, her hands curling into tight fists with the effort it took not to squirm or struggle.
And it was then that Misae got a crazy idea. An idea she wasn't even sure would work. But Alim and Ky were at a standoff, and it was hard to see Farai in pain, and gods, what if Alim killed her?
Misae didn't move, except to reach up to her head and face wrappings--and yank them off, freeing her braided, snowy hair, revealing her stark white skin. "Alim! Remember me?" she shouted, and his eyes snapped over to her, and then widened in recognition, fury, and fear. Farai gasped, a sound echoed by one of the other women--
But not by the third.
Because that woman, a slave that must have been new since Misae didn't recognize her, had used the distraction to grab a heavy book and slam it over Alim's head.
He cried out, dropping the knife, but caught that woman in a backhand as he flailed in pain. She hit the ground hard, but Farai wrenched free, and Misae grabbed the girl and pulled her out of the way.
Ky was considering taking a step back, reassessing the situation, maybe even feigning retreat so Alim's hostage wouldn't die.
But then Misae stepped in, and one thing led to another. Alim no longer had a weapon. Alim no longer had his shield.
Coiling his hands into powerful fists, Ky sprung forwards, tearing a hole in the carpet with the sheer force he used, and landed on the bed, clamping his hands down on Alim's throat and shoulders.
With a yell, he hoisted the man up, and slammed him side-first into his desk.
Alim shrieked, a high pitched, pathetic sound as the desk cracked beneath him--and his ribs cracked with it.
And then he just lay there, sobbing and whimpering for Ky to spare him.
Ky looked down at the broken Alim, begging for mercy he didn't deserve.
Ky raised his fist, setting his sights on the base of his neck. Breaking that would leave to a long, silent, and painful death for Alim, but...
He didn't lower his fist. Rather, he glanced back to Misae.
"The decision is yours, Misae."
"Don't kill him!" Misae gasped, rushing over to Ky's side. Alim looked up at her in surprise--and then hope, shining brightly in his teary eyes. It was an expression that made Misae's stomach twist in disgust.
"M-Misae," he gasped, clutching at his ribs with one hand as he reached out to her with the other. "Oh, Misae. My sweet ivory doll. I knew you'd come back. I knew--" He wheezed, wincing with pain, and grit his teeth as he drew in pained breaths. "Tell him, Misae! Tell him to stop this, please. Please, Misae, don't let him--! Don't let him do this!"
Misae glanced at the other women, at Farai that was huddled by her side, at the quiet one in the corner, at the new slave nursing a bloodied nose. Then she looked back at him and narrowed her eyes. "Where do you keep the papers, Alim?" she asked, voice cold and steady.
"The...the papers? What papers? What are you--?"
"The papers. The slave documents. Where are they?"
"You can't be serious, Misae, I--"
"Don't make us make you talk, Alim."
And Misae couldn't help but smile when she saw the way he startled, for it was the first time she had called him Alim and not "Master".
Ky smiled at Misae's boldness, even nodding approvingly. He lowered his fists, but he still kept them clenched and ready, poised for any sudden movement from Alim.
"She's not your slave anymore, filth, and I'd do what she says if I were you. Unless of course, you like getting your legs broken."
It didn't seem possible, but Alim blanched even paler, his skin turning almost gray. He let out a pained croak and whimpered, looking about to protest, but Misae looked over at Ky and opened her mouth, and Alim panicked.
"Wait! I'll tell you! Just please, don't...ah, yes! They're in the mattress! Cut it open, you'll find them!"
"You better not be lying," Misae said, and she picked Alim's knife up off the floor and strode to the bed. Stabbing into it, she slit it open, and felt around inside it--until she found a bundle of folded up papers.
Pulling it free, she thumbed through them. "These are them? These are all of them?"
"Yes! Yes, all of them, I swear!"
Ky kept his eyes locked on Alim as Misae set about finding the papers. He didn't know if Misae would've actually given Ky the word, but he wouldn't have thought less of her for doing so.
"Good. Anything else we need from him, Misae?"
Misae locked her eyes on Alim, who was still watching her pleadingly.
"That's all we need," she said, before she knelt down close to the quivering man.
"Make no mistake, I'm not sparing your life out of any love for you, Alim. Quite the opposite. You're a ruined man now, and while I'd never wish what was done to me upon anyone, not even you..." Her eyes narrowed. "I hope there's not a day in the remainder of your sorry life that this night doesn't haunt you. I want you to remember what it feels like to be helpless and afraid and hurt. I want you to remember what it feels like to have everything you know ripped from your life by someone stronger than you. I want you to remember what it feels like to grovel for your life."
She looked to Ky. "I say we toss him with the rubbish, where he belongs."
Ky nodded, and he clamped a hand around Alim's throat lifting him up off of his desk, holding him in a way that didn't block up his breathing, but strained it.
"My pleasure."
He turned towards the door, but he paused, and looked at Alim. He looked back to the desk, and without a second thought, he brought a heel kick down to finish it off, buckling it in half.
"Nice desk."
Alim choked, whimpering and sobbing and clawing at his arm, and while Ky dealt with him, Misae went to check on the stunned women.
"Put on some robes from his wardrobe and grab whatever valuables you can. I'm sure Alim gave you jewels to wear? Take them. You're free now, so you'll need the money."
"But...lady, where will we go?" Farai asked, still stunned, as the others went to grab clothing. "We're really free now?"
Ky watched Alim silently, and tightened down on the man's throat, aiming to slowly choke the consciousness from him. To accelerate the process, Ky gave Alim a stiff punch to the diaphragm, aiming to steal the air right from his lungs.
"Try to last as long as you can, Alim. Because when you wake up, your life won't exist anymore."
Alim didn't last long at all.
That punch sent the air wheezing from his lungs, and it was the combination of that and the choke-hold that had his eyes rolling back in his head as he lost consciousness.
Misae rejoined Ky a second later, the women in tow, dressed in Alim's finery. She lifted an eyebrow as she looked at the unconscious Alim, then looked up at Ky. She was about to ask if he was dead, but Farai beat her to the punch.
"Is he dead? Praise Hakeshna!"
Ky shook his head.
"Unfortunately for him, he'll live on to see what it's like to live on the streets. Maybe if he's really unlucky, he'll be picked up by slavers."
Ky dropped Alim onto the bed, patting his hands off.
"Before you girls leave, be sure to let any others know they're free as well. Don't worry about the guards, either. We took care of them."
"I hope slavers do get him," Farai said bitterly, before looking at Ky and Misae both with a smile. "Thank you. You saved our lives."
She bowed to them both, and the other women gave their thanks, as well, before they rushed out the door to collect their meager belongings and inform the others.
And soon, it was just Misae and Ky and the dead-to-the-world Alim.
Misae let out a held breath and sagged with relief. "That actually happened."
"You were valiant, Misae. You saved them!" Ky said, taking Misae up in his arms. He cupped her head, looking down into her eyes
"We did it! Now let's get out of here. We have some slave documents to destroy, and some camels and provisions to buy."
"We saved them," Misae corrected as she squeezed Ky tightly and fought back tears as the reality of it all hit her. Yet despite the tears, she laughed with delight and relief as she held him. She was free. Legally free. Well. Somewhat legally. What they'd done was so very illegal, but as far as the documents were concerned...hah! What documents? They would be ash soon.
Giving Ky one last squeeze, she pulled back from him and sucked in a deep breath. Though she had always had a gift for maintaining a calm surface, inside she was bursting. She wanted to run around, wanted to celebrate! But there was so much that needed to be done still!
"Alright. Alright! Camels. Provisions. Yes, let's do that! Come, before the guards wake! I imagine they'll be pissed!"
"Unbelievably so! At least Alim won't be getting up to fetch the city guards any time soon. Broken ribs and all that."
What Ky didn't mention, was that there was a decent chance Alim wouldn't survive the night with his ribs broken like that. Him beating the odds and surviving, however, would only be even more unfortunate for him.
Ky opened the window to Alim's room, glancing out onto the street before he beckoned for Misae to hop onto his back again. Although they were both slightly burdened down with Alim's valuables, Ky would still be able to move both of them without a problem.
Misae wasted no time in grabbing onto Ky's shoulders and climbing onto his back. She held on tightly, and braced herself for the wild ride that was sure to follow.
Ky wasted no time either, and as soon as she was latched on, Ky lept from the window, landing on the roof of a greenhouse before making another leap to clear the low wall that surrounded Alim's estate.
They landed on the street, and Ky let out his held breath.
"Alright, so now that we're off scot-free, do you know the way to a general store?"
"I'm afraid I don't," Misae said when she could breathe again, cracking her eyes open with a little trepidation--before she saw they were on solid ground. She took in another breath to calm her stomach.
"Not around here, at least. Alim only really took me to, ah...the pleasure districts. And when I fled, I didn't stick around this area long enough to get a feel for all the local businesses. But I'm sure it can't be too difficult to find."
As she spoke, she began to reassemble her headwraps. Now that they were in public, she didn't want to draw anymore attention than they already had.
"I think we'd be better off finding somewhere to stay the night," Ky said.
"I don't think any shops are going to be open at this hour, although there's no harm in trying."
He straightened up, stretching as he too began the process of putting his lower set of arms into his wrappings.
"Who knows? If we're lucky, we might even be able to leave tonight."
"I don't know..." Misae looked skyward, gauging the moon's position in the sky. It was still hours 'til morning.
"You might be right. I sort of lost myself back there--lost sense of time. The only places that will be open at this hour are inns and taverns, but it's only a few more hours until morning. It might be best to just...hold out until then."
"My, a few hours?" Ky began, his voice taking on a sly tone.
"Well, we could always find a nice, curving alley to rest in. "
"True," Misae said, and darted furtive, nervous looks around the area. "I'd prefer it be in a location far from here, though."
"An hour away, at least. Somewhere not visible from the streets, too."
Ky began walking, new urgency in his steps, back in the direction they came from.
Sticking close to Ky, Misae followed in silent agreement.
The one good thing about being out so late was that the streets were empty. Still, Misae walked briskly, because it wouldn't be that way for long when those guards woke up.
"No, we're not going fast enough. Hop on my back again, I'll take back to that alley we drew up the map in," Ky said, waiting for Misae's input.
"It's all the way in the previous district. No way word will travel fast enough to reach us there."
Misae was more than eager to climb back onto Ky's back--even if her stomach wasn't too big on this method of travel--and so she nodded and grabbed onto him, clinging tightly. As much as she was loath to admit it, she was exhausted. The rush of adrenaline had kept it from creeping up on her, but now that it was fading, she felt like she could crash.
It had been a busy day, full of a lot of stress--and a lot of joy. Lots of intense emotions in all directions, and very little actual rest.
But she didn't complain; she wasn't the type to do so, and had always been the sort to push through her own discomfort and keep on trudging along--until she dropped. And right now, it was important. There was no time to rest until they were safe.
"Good thinking, Ky," she said, a little of that exhaustion creeping into her voice.
As soon as Misae was up an accommodated. Ky began to run, moving at a pace they couldn't ever hope to achieve if they were both walking. Buildings sped on by as Ky expertly weaved through and above any obstacles.
Ky too, was tired, but he would push himself to the absolute limits soon enough. He wasn't going to sleep, not at all. He had to keep watch while Misae rested, after all!
"One night closer to that moment under the stars," Ky said, anticipation in his voice.
"I can't wait," Misae said, voice a little faint and dreamy. Despite all his jostling, she was too tired to be bothered--but she still gripped him tightly and didn't dare fall asleep.
Because, well, if she did, she'd fall.
Ky read the exhaustion in Misae's voice, and said nothing else, deciding to allow her a moment of rest.
Misae didn't sleep as Ky carried her; she had to stay lucid enough to hang on. But she did let her head drop against his shoulder, and she did fall quieter as they went, most of her energy going toward just staying awake until they reached their destination.
It was almost an hour of straight running until Ky finally slowed down in front of the alley. They'd remained unseen throughout their entire journey, and Ky was rather proud of that.
He walked them into the alley, glancing around to make sure there weren't any occupants before rounding the bend and approaching the wall.
"Alright, we're here."
With a relieved sigh, Misae slid down off of Ky's back--and abound crumpled against the wall. She slid down it until she was sitting, her legs and arms a bit tired from holding onto him for so long, and every part of her crying out for sleep!
But she knew she wouldn't be getting much of it. Morning would be here soon, and then they'd have to keep pushing on.
With a yawn, she let her head drop onto her knees, which were pulled up to her chest. "Ugh, I'm sorry, Ky. I think I'm starting to fade."
"Don't be sorry, I was expecting you to fall asleep as soon as we got here anyways," Ky said as he knelt down. He placed a hand on Misae's head, petting her to try and lull her into sleep.
"Sleep. I'll keep watch."
"Are you sure...?" Misae asked, her voice a sleepy mumble, her eyes already shut. His hand felt good on her, soothing, and it was quickly lulling her toward sleep. "What about you?"
"I will bear it, if it means keeping you safe."
Ky sat down next to her, and opened up his arm so she could snuggle up against him. He continued to rub her head.
"Hush now, and sleep. You need it."
"Mmhm," was all Misae managed to get out as she tucked herself into Ky and leaned her head against his shoulder. And then she could no longer resist sleep's pull and, despite her own nerves and worry about being caught, she soon drifted off into an exhausted slumber.
Ky kissed the top of Misae's head, and held her close until she fell asleep. He then directed his eyes forwards, and laid his other hand on his lap. His vigil began.
Misae was well and truly dead to the world. Exhausted as she was, she wouldn't wake until Ky woke her--
Or something else did.
Thankfully for the both of them, the remainder of the night passed uneventfully. Ky never let up his watch, not even for a second, and once morning came, he woke Misae up with a kiss.
"Morning's here, Misae."
Misae gave a little jolt of surprise, eyes fluttering open, but when they landed on Ky's face, she relaxed again. She let out a yawn and stretched, working out a kink in her neck she'd gotten from passing out in such an odd position, and wiped a little drool from the corner of her mouth.
Erk. Hopefully Ky hadn't noticed that. It definitely ruined the classy image she liked to project.
"Oh...that time already? I could swear it's only been a couple minutes," she murmured, and let her head drop against his shoulder again.
"No, you've been asleep for a good four hours. That's plenty," Ky said, cupping Misae's head.
"Come, once we get out onto the desert paths, you can rest all you want. We need to leave as quickly as possible."
Misae snapped fully awake at that reminder, having been groggily existing in some sort of half awake state. Jerking upright, her eyes grew wide.
"Gods, you're right! We have to go!"
She quickly adjusted her headwrap and veil, and started to scramble to her feet.
"Have you heard anything? Any signs that word's gotten out?"
"Nothing. It's been calm. Perhaps the guards didn't raise the alarm? Or maybe Alim didn't survive his injuries..."
Ky stood up.
"Either way, I predict we can find travel supplies and a camel merchant at the city's gates. We shouldn't be in Essyrn for more than another hour."
Maybe Alim didn't survive his injuries? Misae looked at Ky in surprise, because it hadn't occurred to her until then that that was a possibility. But though she looked surprised, she didn't look upset.
As much as she hated to admit it, as much as she feared becoming as compassionless as those that hurt her, the truth was...she didn't care.
With her clothes in proper order, she patted herself down to make sure she still had all the trinkets she'd stolen, and the money. "Let's not dally, then," she said, though her words turned into a yawn halfway through the sentence.
"It was always a possibility," Ky said, catching her look. "Of course, if he didn't survive, then he was weak. Fate gave him mercy he didn't deserve."
He tightened up his wrist wrappings, and made sure his coverings were in order as well. He started walking, taking Misae's hand as he passed her.
"Come on."
"I don't really care if he survives or not," Misae admitted as she squeezed Ky's hand, keeping pace with him. "I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I just...don't."
"Don't be ashamed of that, Misae. He was scum," Ky said, covering her hand with another of his.
"No matter what happens to him, you and many others are now free. Focus on the good."
"Oh, no, it's not even that. Like I said, I don't even feel shame over that. I feel shame over admitting my lack of shame. If that makes sense. Like I feel like it should be affecting me more."
Misae blinked at her own words, then shook her head. "No matter. After all he did to me and others...no, I don't feel any guilt at all. I just hope they all got away alright. I just hope they'll all be safe."
"I...understand. When I came to this planet, I made a vow not to kill. That sword you saw me use, I swore to never draw blood with it. However, I don't think a roach like Alim could ever really apply to my vows."
At the mention of the other slaves, Ky made a thoughtful hum.
"Maybe we should've encouraged them to loot the place. Before we left, that is," Ky said.
"Maybe..." Misae said. "But maybe they figured it out. Either way, it's in the hands of the gods now."
Giving Ky's hand another squeeze, she looked over at him. "We both did what we had to do. My people don't believe in violence, and that's how I was raised, but...it's also true that, maybe, if we hadn't been so strictly opposed to it, we would've been able to defend ourselves when our invaders came. I think sometimes, it's okay."
"Definitely. Violence only when necessary is a creed I've lived for my whole life. Even when I ruled as king."
They came back out onto the street, and Ky turned in the direction of the city walls, heading towards the gate. Surely, there'd be a general store along the way to supply travelers, and there would no doubt be a camel merchant at the gates.
"Have you thought about how you're going to live your new life?"
"I haven't even had time to imagine it!" Misae admitted with a sheepish smile, hidden beneath her veil.
"I don't...ah." She rubbed the back of her head with her free hand. "I'll be honest, I knew basically nothing about city life before I was taken. All I knew was life in the desert among my people. Everything I know about life in the city, I know from my time in Alim's household--and the couple weeks I spent alone and free."
She gave a small shrug. "I...don't really know anything about the world beyond that. I snuck knowledge where I could, but, er..."
Her fingers twitched around Ky's, hating to admit it. "I'm...not really sure how to live free."
"Well, then I'll help you!" Ky said, giving Misae a reassuring smile, the outline visible through his wrappings.
"As long as you need me, Misae. I'll be there."
"Thank you," Misae said, her face a little red with embarrassment--and a bit of shame. It had been difficult to admit that, because she wanted to believe that now that she was free, she was truly free. It had been a long three years in Alim's household, a long three years of fear and conditioning. Even those few weeks of freedom after her escape, she hadn't really been free. She had just been an escaped slave.
She had to live like a criminal, not like a free woman.
"I really appreciate it, Ky. I just...I know even less about the world beyond the desert. And it's...I don't know. Old habits die hard."
"Believe me, I know how you feel. When I first arrived here, I was a refugee from another world. If I could do it, so can you," Ky said.
"I know plenty about the country that borders the desert. Serendipity, I think it's called. The people there are touched by magic. You'll fit right in! Besides, I'm sure a capable girl like yourself wouldn't have trouble finding work!"
Misae cracked a smile at that, shifting the veil covering her face. Beneath her confidence was a lot of insecurity, but strangely, she felt comfortable enough admitting her fears to Ky. Perhaps because he could relate, and because he didn't belittle her for those fears. Instead, her uplifted her, encouraged her, and gods, she'd forgotten what it was like to have a real friend, even if she'd only known him a short time.
"You're right," she said, and forced herself to relax, though it was hard; they weren't out of the river yet, and the crocodiles were most dangerous when they were unseen. She couldn't help fear that the guards would be appearing at any moment now.
"And if magic is something they value...maybe my astromancy would be useful for something? Hmm...what's Serendipity like, anyway?"
"Well, Serendipty's like Essyrn, in a way, although I don't think they have slaves. There's cities there, and it pretty much works the same there as it does here. No desert, either. Lush forests, glittering lakes of water, but no desert."
Ky gave her hand a comforting squeeze, and stepped slightly closer to her as they walked.
"I think your magic would be valued, yes! Perhaps you can even practice it as a livelihood. Reading the stars is a rare and beautiful talent."
"It's unfortunately a talent I can only use at night. I hope that won't be a problem?" Misae said, watching the milling people around them as they walked. "Serendipity, though. It's hard to picture a land covered in trees and no--ah!"
Tugging Ky's hand, she pointed to a large building across the street. "I think that's our store."
"I'm sure it won't be, really. As long as anybody who could use your service knows you open for business at night," Ky said. His eyes widened when he spotted their first destination, and he sped up slightly, sparing not a single second as he reached the door. He opened it, and motioned for Misae to enter ahead of him.
Misae slipped inside the building before Ky, and paused to wait for him to enter. "What are we looking for?" she asked him, which felt a silly question. She knew what was needed to survive in the desert, certainly, but she had always traveled with her tribe, where each person had their role and supplies and duties were divvied up.
Just two people traveling together? She had no idea how they could account for everything, or even where to begin, or how they could carry it all! Obviously, they would be carrying far less, but she wasn't really sure what to prioritize.
"I'm sure the shopkeep will have a better idea," Ky said, and stepped in beside Misae, taking her hand again.
He glanced about, hoping to spot the man or woman who ran this place.
There was a middle-aged man near the back that was sweeping up some broken glass, and when they entered, he looked up from his task and set his broom aside. "Ah, hello there! Sorry, I didn't hear you enter. Can I help you find something?" he asked, as he made his way to the front.
Misae looked over at Ky, then back to the shopkeep. "Ah, do you carry waterskins?" she asked, for that was the first thing that came to mind. They would need water, and a lot of it.
"Well, not just waterskins, really," Ky interjected, taking his hand off of Misae's to instead place it on her shoulder.
"Me and my wife are looking to travel across the desert, to Serendipity. We need packs and enough supplies to make it across. We'll be traveling by camel."
"Oh." The man looked at the two of them like they had lost their minds, but his expression quickly shifted. He motioned toward the back.
"Well, you can find some packs back there," he said. "And waterskins, and blankets. But you won't find everything you need for such a trip here. You, ah...you two know what you're doing?"
"Yes, we do," Ky said, and he crossed his arms, not sure if he appreciated this man's tone.
"Well apart from what you have, do you know a place where we can find the rest of what we need?"
"The marketplace, for one," the man said, raising an eyebrow as though it were obvious. "You'll want food, won't you?"
Misae looked over at Ky, ignoring the shopkeeper's attitude. "Let's just grab what we need," she said, and started for the back of the shop as she wracked her memories, making a mental checklist of what they needed.
"Good idea," Ky said, also ignoring the man.
He followed Misei, eyes peeled for the things they were looking for.
Misae managed to locate the packs, and she tossed one to Ky and grabbed one for herself, and promptly began to load it with supplies. She might not have much of an idea of what would be sufficient for two people traveling such a distance--because she had no concept of how far it was or how long it would take--but she did know what sorts of things they would need. She loaded several large waterskins into the pack as well, because they would need plenty of those.
She could navigate the desert to a point; that had been her life, after all. She knew where to find water and knew what plants could save their lives in a pinch. But she didn't know the whole desert, either. There were places not even her tribe had dared to travel.
When she was finished loading up her own pack, she went to Ky to help him pick things out.
Ky had done basically the same thing, grabbing a pack and loading it with as many large waterskins as he could find.
He knew there were oases, nomad wells, and natural on the way to Serendipity, he'd made the walk by himself to get here, after all! Food was going to be the only issue. Not so much for him, as he didn't need to eat anywhere near as frequently as a human, but just as backup.
Once he was done looking for waterskins, he began looking around to see if he could find a tent.
While Ky went to find a tent (which the shop did stock), Misae piled blankets into her arms. They would definitely be needing those for the freezing nights.
It took Ky a few minutes of browsing through the shelves, but eventually, he found what he was looking for, in the form of a single-occupant tent. Conditions inside would be intimate, but Ky had a feeling Misae wouldn't mind.
Once he had that in his arms, he went to find Misae.
Misae was coming to find Ky, done with her part in supply gathering, and she rounded a corner and just about crashed into him.
She came up short with a gasp and grabbed his shoulder to keep from colliding. "Oh, sorry!" she said, and showed him her filled pack. "I grabbed every useful thing I could find. How did you do?"
"I don't consume as much as a human, but I packed as if I was one, just in case. I think we're ready to move on to the market, to fill these packs up the rest of the way with food," he said. He was holding his own bundle of things rather awkwardly, but he managed to hold onto it all.
"Come, let's pay for all this."
With a nod Ky's way, Misae hefted her supplies and carried them to the counter at the front, slinging them atop it. The shopkeeper shuffled over when he saw they were ready, and while Misae fished around in her purse, he began to tally up their supplies and costs, pausing only to wait for Ky to do the same.
"I still think you two are nuts," he muttered as he worked. "This time of year's rife with bandits and sandstorms."
"Well, sometimes we can't choose when to leave, my friend," Ky said, and placed his own items on the counter as well.
He dug a pouch filled with stolen coins out of his belt, and opened it, waiting for the shopkeep to give them their total.
The shopkeeper grunted at that, giving them their total and quickly counting the coins presented to him. When all was settled and the money collected and stashed away, he motioned for them to take their items and bade them a good day--and, despite his skepticism, a safe journey.
Hefting her own pack, Misae started to lead the way out of the shop.
"We'll need lots of dried fruit. Especially dates. They keep well, and you can make them last long in a pinch if you know how," she said. "We'll need to fill all our skins and fill our packs with whatever they can fit. I know the desert to a certain point, but after that, it's all new to me."
"I walked it myself, actually. I know the way, right to the Serenian border. I know where there's nomad wells and springs, too. At least, along the path," Ky said, tossing his own pack onto his back with considerably less effort.
"We'll need to be careful at the market. We're not out of the city yet."
"Thank the gods," Misae said with a sigh. "I keep forgetting you've already been there! I guess because I'm nervous because I haven't."
With a curious look his way as they stepped out into the light, she added, "Why did you leave Serendipity for Essyrn?"
"Well, I didn't leave for Essyrn," Ky said, opening the shop door and stepping outside. He held it open for Misae, and once she was out, he let it close. When they were back out onto the street, he took her hand.
"I wander this world. It's similar to a...pilgrimage, of sorts. Except I'm not doing it for religious reasons. I hope that's not too confusing for you."
"That's not confusing, really. You're wandering for your own reasons rather than spiritual ones. Though I'd argue that a pilgrimage for yourself is no less spiritual a quest," Misae said, keeping her eyes open as she lead the way to the marketplace. She knew where that was, at least.
It would just be a bit nerve-wracking with the sheer number of people that would be there.
"What are you seeking?"
"I...I'm seeking myself. Ever since I came here to escape the annihilation of my people, I've had nothing. No subjects to rule, I'm the king of nothing. So I wander, and I meditate, and I try to find the me that's not a king. My purpose on this world."
He looked down at Misae, tenderness in his eyes.
"Although, I've had a thought. Perhaps we really were destined to meet."
"You think so?" Misae said, looking up at Ky and meeting his eyes.
Ky nodded, and stopped walking so he could take up her second hand.
"In my language, my name means King Above All, Hunter of The Moons," he started. He turned his gaze towards the moon, which was still visible in the daylight. His eyes went back to Misae, and his grip tightened.
"There is only one moon above your world, but you embody her spirit. You are pale, gentle, and beautiful, very much like her. Two moons , Misae. One above, one below."
Misae blinked at Ky in surprise, her eyes going a little wide, and then she let out a delighted laugh and squeezed his hands excitedly.
"Ky, the irony of all this is that my name means, 'white-hot sun'. So not only is there that, but sun and moon are linked together. Opposite, but complimentary, one ruling over day, one over night, and often sharing the same sky."
Ky's eyes widened a bit, but he laughed along with her.
"That, that is very ironic. They are linked. You're gentle and beautiful, but your purity of heart--" Ky placed a hand right over Misae's heart. "Burns as bright as any star."
"Flatterer," Misae said with a hidden smile, glad her blush was hidden. She still wasn't used to such genuine kindness, sad as that was.
"Though if you're the hunter of the moon, does this mean you found her?"
Ky nodded, and motioned for them to resume walking.
"I know I falsely said I loved you in the bathhouse, but as we've struggled through many ordeals together, I can't help but feel connected to you. I've been on this planet for so long, yet out of all the humans I've met, you're the only one who's made me feel like I can smile again."
"The feeling's very much mutual, Ky," Misae said, and squeezed his hand again.
"I haven't felt like a person in a long time, much less smiled because I felt like smiling. I just...can't thank you enough. Nothing I do will ever repay what you've done."
Ky was quiet. He felt that something like that didn't require an answer, just a mild caress of her face through her wrappings.
The sounds of commerce were getting louder. They were approaching the market now.
"Keep your head down," Misae said as they entered the marketplace, which was thrumming with business and people--which made her nervous. The more people, the more chances of being recognized, after all, and even though she was covered, she still felt all too visible.
And as she gripped Ky's hand and lead him along the stalls, it seemed her fears were realized.
Because there were guards patrolling through the area, more than usual, and the tone of the place was unusually tense.
Ky couldn't help but smile at Misae's advice. He was tall, much taller than her, yet he tried to minimize his presence as much as possible. For Ky, who'd spent his entire time on this planet trying to blend in, it was relatively easy.
"Let's not go straight for the food stand. We'll take the long way around, browse as we go."
"Good idea," Misae said, keeping her voice down, and tried not to look toward the guards, nervous as they made her.
"We just have to be careful. Something feels off--though it could be my imagination. I could be over-thinking this." After all, wasn't it just like a guilty person to be paranoid and overcompensate as a result? Though she was just one in a crowd, and covered head to foot, she felt exposed, like the guards could see straight through all the milling people and straight to the truth of who she was and what she'd done.
"You are. Today's obviously a slow day, so there's less people than usual. Less people means it's quieter, and the guards are easier to see, which gives out the illusion that there's more."
Ky looked down at her, and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Don't worry. We'll blend right in."
"I certainly hope so," Misae said, though she still felt unconvinced and paranoid as she looked about the marketplace while trying not to be obvious about it. Instead, she focused on sneaking glances while eying random wares.
"Maybe we should have changed our clothes. If any of those guards or slaves were loyal or just brainwashed enough, they might have reported us. They would have surely given a clothing description..."
"That probably would've been best, but it's too late for that now. Besides, I think those guards or slaves would've been more concerned with seeing healers. I know that captain isn't going anywhere in a hurry..."
He stopped them in front of a random stall selling glass crafts, and he peered down at what was for sale. He noticed a tiny elephant made in pink glass, and he smiled.
"Isn't that elephant just adorable?" he asked her.
Misae paused, drawn from her worried thoughts when Ky pointed out the tiny elephant. For a moment, she was utterly perplexed, wondering how on earth he could find time to admire little trinkets when they needed to get out Essyrn, and get out fast!
But on second thought, maybe he was just playing it smart. A couple rushing nervously through the market would be suspicious. She drew in a deep breath. She just had to breathe and stay calm, though it was difficult after what they'd done--and what the consequences of that would be.
"That is cute," she said with a half smile, leaning in closer so she could see more than just a blur of color. "Oh! It's a little elephant! That's funny, one of my friends actually used to collect them."
"Did she? Sounds like a nice hobby," Ky said. He squeezed Misae a bit, and picked up the pink elephant. He manipulated it rather delicately, in the same hands that could snap a man's arm in half. Another small glimpse towards his tender side.
"We have plenty left, I'm sure we can afford a small indulgence. Excuse me, madam?"
The lady running the glasscrafts stand looked up at Ky, and then towards the elephant in his fingers.
"How much?"
The lady thought for a few seconds, before she replied.
"Three silvers," she said, and looked over to Misae.
Ky looked down at Misae, and smiled.
"What do you say? Want it?"
Truth be told, Misae liked elephants well enough, but they weren't her favorite animal. She would have never picked that small figurine out on her own, and wasn't even all that big on knickknacks like that. Honestly, she didn't see the point! But her life until three years ago had been a nomadic existence. Little knickknacks like that served no real purpose apart from adding to clutter and weight and being yet another thing that could be broken. Even when she had lived with Alim, even with her own space of a sort, her room had remained rather unembellished out of choice and habit.
One of the other girls, though, had been the collector, and that sort of frivolity always amused Misae. They were from such different worlds. And even now that was apparent, for Misae's head spun when she heard how much that little thing cost! A thing that served no purpose but to be looked at!
Maybe part of the reason she didn't care for them so much was also because she related to it a bit too much. That had largely been her purpose in Alim's household--another item to be looked at and touched and even discarded if he wanted.
She blinked, realizing her thoughts had wandered and that it was her answer that was being waited upon. With a small start, she smiled. "If you don't mind?"
Because for all her wandering thoughts, she didn't mind this offer. It was utterly useless, still, if pretty. Elephants weren't even her favorite beast. It would just sit around somewhere and do nothing and it might even be broken in the trip, which would be a shame since it cost too much, in her opinion!
But there was also something very sentimental about it all, too, because she understood what Ky was doing--and understood it wasn't really about the elephant, but about the thought and the gesture, and that was what made her belly flutter with pleasant butterflies. He liked it and thought it was precious, and wanted her to have it--and it was his first gift to her.
Well, second, if you counted freedom as the first.
Kruz'Iik smiled, and handed the lady her three silvers. She thumbed through the coins before depositing them in a little wooden coffer. Compared to the value of wealth they were carrying in just gold coins alone, a few silvers was paltry. They still had plenty of coins left to buy food. He planned to save the other valuables to be sold in Serendipity, since selling them here was a bit too much of a risk.
Ky took one of Misae's hands, opened it, placed the elephant inside, and closed her fingers around it. He motioned with his head and began walking again.
"Put it in one of the side pouches of your backpack, where it'll be safe. If we're careful and just a little lucky, it'll survive the trip, and you'll have something for your shelves in Serendipity."
Misae had to stop to sling her pack off her shoulder, and she wrapped the small elephant in a kerchief she'd swiped from Alim's home and used to wrap coins in. Hopefully that would preserve it! Once done, she grabbed her pack again and was quick to catch back up with Ky.
"Thank you," she said, and had a brief, stunned moment when his words reminded her of what they were doing. Serendipity. It still didn't feel fully real. Serendipity still sounded like a land that was imaginary, that existed in books but not in reality. It was so far away and so far beyond anything she knew that she couldn't wrap her head around it.
"How long do you think it will take? To get there, that is."
"Serendipity's borders lie at around the edge of the desert," Ky said. "If we make good pace, we'll be in the country within a week or so, if we buy the fastest camels we can."
Ky was silent, contemplating some more words.
"You know, when I came to Essyrn, I made that trip on foot. It felt almost like a pilgrimage of sorts. Nothing but sand for miles. It reminds me of Kath..."
"My own people went on pilgrimages, to Seraj Isa," Misae said, growing a little quieter as she walked. "And...well, I guess this is a pilgrimage of a sort. A cleansing. Wiping the slate clean and remaking oneself. At least, that's what I'm hoping for. I want to leave the last few years here, in Essyrn."
"And left here they will, Misae,"
Ky gripped her hand a bit tighter.
"Nothing will follow you to Serendipity. You'll be a new woman."
Misae smiled at that, even if it was a bittersweet one. Of course it was impossible to discard memories and experiences like old, unwanted clothing, but it was a nice thought.
"Do you think it's safe to buy our rations yet?"
"As much as I'd love to continue walking through this market with you, I suppose we should get going..."
He glanced around for the food stand, unfamiliar with the layout of the market.
"This way, then!" Misae said, catching Ky's confused look, and tugged his hand to guide him along.
It was a little ways through the market before they reached the vendors selling fresh produce and meat and live animals and baked bread. They were mixed throughout the rest of the marketplace, too; the market wasn't organized in any particular fashion. But people selling similar things sometimes tended to group together while others just grabbed whatever open spot they could.
"We'll need lots of nuts, and figs, and tea," she said. "You can survive a long time on those."
Ky nodded.
"We cannot split up, it would draw attention. Let's slow down a bit. Take my arm."
He quickly singled out the stands with the prescribed items, while also singling out more presesrvable luxuries like raisins or dates. Even dried meat was in his crosshairs.
He motioned to a cluster of favorable stands, and took the lead.
Taking his arm, Misae let him take the lead, now and then stopping him to point out a good deal or fresher selection, and soon their packs were filled with a variety of goods. Misae wasn't sure how long it would last them, but she certainly hoped that if they rationed it out smartly, it would get them far.
The desert itself provided food (or what would the animals living there eat?), so between that and whatever they managed to hunt or gather, they should be in decent shape. Water would be the biggest challenge.
"Do you think this will do?" she asked as she finished up her final purchase and packed away the dried dates she'd procured.
"Well, we've filled all of the extra space in our packs. Between this and everything we can gather along the way, we'll be just fine," Ky said, cupping Misae's cheek in his hand.
He looked out towards the exit, and his hand slid of her cheek, down her arm, and gripped her hand.
"Come on. All we have to do now is get the camels, and then, well..."
He smiled.
"There's no looking back, then..."
Misae swallowed past a sudden lump in her throat.
This was actually happening. It felt almost surreal, now that they were so close to their goal.
"We'll never be able to return here, will we?" she asked as she gripped his hand tightly and began to lead the way to the city gates.
Ky's hand tightened as well, securing her hand within his fingers.
"Never."
Misae wasn't sure how she felt about that--a few parts sad, for this had been her home for a time, but many more parts relieved. A dark chapter of her life was drawing to a close, and a new, brighter one was soon to begin.
Squeezing his hand tightly, until it began to hurt her own fingers, she took a deep breath and continued to walk, gait brisk and determined, until they reached a woman near the gates keeping a small herd of camels.
"How much?" Misae asked, pointing out two of the beasts--the strongest looking ones in the bunch. It had been a long time since she'd traveled by this method, but she hadn't lost her eye for appraising the animals.
Ky was able to read Misae's emotion, just in the way she gripped him tightly. As they approached the camel merchant, he loosened up on her hand, holding it lightly and tenderly.
When they got to the camel merchant, he kept quiet, and waited for Misae to finish.
The exchange went quickly. The camels were a bit pricy--the merchants stationed by the entrance tended to jack the prices up to take advantage of foreigners who didn't know where else to look--but they had the funds to cover the cost and no time to look for other alternatives. Misae handed over the coin with the full knowledge that they were being screwed, and ignored the smirking satisfaction of the merchant.
Besides, though expensive, the beasts were strong and healthy.
She handed the reins of one over to Ky, and began loading up her camel's saddlebags with her supplies. When she was done, she quickly mounted. "Have you ridden before?"
"No, I don't think I have..."
Ky looked at his camel, and then to Misae, observing how she was mounted. He mimicked her mounting style, pulling himself up and setting himself down somewhat properly. He shifted about, taking up the reigns rather awkwardly.
"How am I?"
"You look fine," Misae said with a grin, though she thought he looked a bit awkward, whereas she took to it like she'd done it all her life. Which she had.
"Relax. Camels can tell when you're uncomfortable, and it'll make her anxious. I'll take the lead so yours will be more likely to follow, but if you've ridden a horse before, it's not that different I've heard. They're stubborn animals, but they respond well to praise. And just as a warning," she added, looking to Ky as she nudged her animal to rise from its laying down position. "You're going to feel very sore very soon. Hut-hut!"
And off she went, her camel falling into an easy walk.
His technique might have been awkward, but his execution was pretty good. He knew how to balance properly and keep himself steady atop the camel, but the actual technicalities of camel-riding were foreign to him.
He'd never ridden a horse, either. There was just something about needing another animal to travel that just scratched at his Kathractian pride. He simply preferred to travel by foot.
His own camel started when Misae spoke, and Ky managed to keep straight as the camel lifted itself up off the ground to follow after hers.
"So, how often do you need to water these things? Feed them?"
Misae pat her camel's firm, fat hump. "These camels are well hydrated, and in this weather...I'd say about two weeks. Two weeks before they'll need to drink. And maybe even longer, if there are plenty of plants along our path. They get much of their water from what they eat, and their humps are how they survive so long. They get...they deflate the longer they go without, and fill back up when they drink. I think maybe they keep their water there somehow."
It sounded silly to say it, but that's what her people believed, and the evidence seemed to point to that.
"They can go even longer in the winter, when it's cooler. Months. Mostly, they'll take care of themselves, and there's not much we actually need to do for them. Ah! We'll need to stop when they..." She waved with her hand, not sure how to politely put it. "When they...defecate. Collect their dung. It's good for burning."
"Two weeks," Ky repeated, looking down at his camel.
Ky himself could go without food or water for a week, longer if he spent a decent amount of that time meditating. Needless to say, he was impressed.
He adjusted the reigns in his hand, and his camel snorted and shook its head. Ky misunderstood this as a sign of discomfort on the camel's part, and returned the reigns to their original position.
He smirked when Misae searched for a polite way to describe collecting camel dung.
"Scoop up the shit. Got it," He said, a little excited to not talk proper, even if it was only for a few seconds.
Misae let out a startled laugh at Ky's frankness, covering her mouth with a hand. She had never been one for cursing, and she cut him a playful look. "Language!"
Ky laughed, and experimentally moved his camel in a bit closer to hers and a bit more ahead, so it followed next.
"Oh, hush!"
"Never," Misae said with a grin, already loosening up a bit more now that they were on the road--well, what there was of it. There was a clear beaten path that travelers and caravans walked to Essyrn, and it stretched for quite a ways, easily seen now since there had been no vicious sandstorms recently to cover it up.
Of course, Misae remembered, it only stretched so far. The further away from the oasis one traveled, the more wild the desert. There were no roads out there, and travelers had only the stars and maps to navigate by.
Misae knew the stars by heart.
"Once we get a good distance out--" A safe distance, that is. "--we should switch up our routine. Sleep during the day, travel at night."
"So you can use the stars, yes. I trust we'll make better progress beneath their light?"
Ky was still trying to get comfortable, slowly getting closer and closer to the perfect position.
"So I can use the stars--and because it's just better to do it that way." Misae smiled knowingly at Ky. "Animals know to sleep during the day, and come out at night when it's cool, and that's what we'll do, too. It's too hot for travel during the day. That's just a good way to give yourself heat stroke, or sweat out all your water. We need to conserve our energy."
"I see..."
He took a moment to process all of that, trying to wrap his head around breaking the usual daily cycles he'd been living with for more than two-thousand years.
"Well, I suppose we should make this coming night as restful as possible."
Misae laughed at that, catching his meaning.
"Perhaps. Though sex is wonderful for relaxation and stress relief, too." And she shot him a sly look at that, already feeling far lighter the further from Essyrn they rose.
"A wise observation..."
The city was definitely far enough away to make their escape complete.
"I'm still looking forwards to that perfect, starry night..."
"That won't be difficult to achieve!" Misae said, and thrust an arm up to motion to the clear sky above them.
"I imagine there will be many starry nights."
"Many indeed..."
Now that they were more or less clear from the city, Ky lowered his head-covering, breathing deeper now that his mouth was clear. He looked up at the sun, not even squinting his eyes as he met its light.
Then, his eyes were back onto the road ahead.
"Not to mention there will be many nights in Serendipity."
"The nights do keep on coming," Misae said with a touch of amusement in her voice. Unlike Ky, she kept herself fully covered; she wouldn't be able to uncover until the safety of night, but that was okay. Her pale wrappings helped keep her cooler than exposure would have, but she was still sweating in the heat.
"We should find a shelter as soon as we can and wait the day out, I think."
Ky nodded, and scanned the horizon, even as he continued to undress until his entire upper body was exposed, kingly muscles catching the sun quite nicely. He stretched his four arms, until one of them pointed off to the distance, where there was some kind of rock formation a minute or two off the road.
"I see a rock outcropping there. The angle looks high enough to pitch a tent under. If we keep going at this pace, we should be there before midday."
Misae nodded at his words, but she was more interested in watching him. Where interested in watching him meant she was more concerned about him and what he was doing!
"What are you doing?" she asked, frowning. "You should keep covered or you'll make yourself heat-sick."
"Misae, Kath had a sun many times larger and more powerful than this one. It was a world of deserts. This heat?"
He motioned out towards the desert.
"It's nothing to me."
"Oh," Misae said, and felt her cheeks warm. She had forgotten that part; it was still a lot to wrap her head around, the whole part where he was from another world!
"Oh, well, just don't overexert yourself!" she said, and then smiled over at him. "How are you liking the ride?"
"It's uncomfortable as all hells," Ky said flatly, but looked over to Misae and smiled.
"But with you, I can manage."
Misae couldn't help but snicker at that. "You say that now. Get back to me after we've been riding a few hours and you can no longer feel your bottom and your thighs are on fire."
"I want to say that I've been in worse positions for much longer, but this is completely new to me," he said, and looked over to Mei.
"I suppose we'll see."
"Worse?" Misae asked, curious now.
"You can't just say something like that and not give details!"
"Well, as you know, I travel this world on a long pilgrimage. I visit natural sites and meditate within them, and I've meditated in quite many a places."
He crossed his two free arms.
"I found this beach, once, on the coast of Serendipity. I was so moved by its beauty that I sat at the very shore, and meditated for two days. When my trance wore out, it's like I was one with the earth. Up to my chest in sand, sticky with dried saltwater, and home to several crabs and insects."
Misae burst into laughter at that, shaking her head at the visual. How he'd managed to stay in a trance undisturbed while the water rose and ebbed around him was an utter mystery to her. But then again, she'd never gotten into the practice of meditation. She just couldn't quiet her thoughts like that.
"And you never felt the water once?" she said. "You could have drowned!"
"Well, if I started drowning, I would've woken up. But apart from the discomfort of waking, it was one of the most peaceful meditations I ever had."
The distant rock was getting closer now. Soon, they'd be able to relax.
Misae shook her head, smiling wryly. "I can't even imagine. Every time I ever tried to meditate, I just fell asleep," she said. "Not that I had much opportunity to try..."
And she clicked her tongue and nudged the camel with her heels to urge it to a steady trot, watching to see that Ky was doing okay. At that pace, it wasn't long at all before, finally, they reached their goal.
"Well, it takes discipline and fortitude that only a life as long as mine could bring."
------------------
The rock was large, and the way it stuck out of the ground at an angle allowed for there to be shade beneath it during the day.
"This looks comfortable," Ky said, looking up as he prepared to dismount his camel.
Misae coaxed her own camel to kneel with a simple, short word, and then slid off its back and adjusted her clothes. It was a little later in the day now, and wouldn't be too much longer until evening. Thankfully, because it was horribly hot, and Misae was definitely sweating, even if her clothes wicked it away and the air dried it fast.
"It'll do, definitely," she said as she headed beneath the shade and sat down with a relieved sigh. Beneath the safety of the shade, she removed her veil and pushed back her head wrap, sighing again as her skin got a chance to breathe. "We should rest while we can, conserve our energy until nightfall."
"I was going to suggest the same," said Ky, mimicking the word Misae used to settle down her camel to take care of his own. He walked over to her, not a single bead of sweat on his body (Kathractians lacked them, heat was vented through the crests on their heads), and sat down. He adopted a cross-legged position right next to her.
"It'll be a couple hours," Ky said, and looked to Misae, meeting her eyes.
"Until nightfall, that is."
"Enough time to be rested!" Misae said as she leaned back against a large, rounded stone. She yawned and wiped some sweat from her brow, feeling rather gross--and gods, if she'd though ahead a little further than just "things we need to survive", she would have purchased some oils, too.
The desert provided everything they'd need to stay clean; sand itself was cleansing. But Essyrn had spoiled her, and she would definitely miss its bathhouses.
"What's the first thing you want to do when we reach Serendipity?" she asked as she closed her eyes against the brightness of the day.
Ky hummed thoughtfully, and then cracked an eye open to look at her. Noticing she had her eyes closed, he leaned in to steal a kiss from her, feeling up to a little mischief.
"Well, the first thing we should do is secure a home. And get jobs, I suppose."
Misae grinned in the wake of his stealth kiss, cracking her eyes open to look at him.
"Jobs. Ah, yes. Those." Scooting a little closer, she curled up so she could lay her head in his lap. "I suppose even when you're free, you're still a slave to money."
"We wouldn't need to make too much money. We can find somewhere small to live. Share a bed..."
He petted Misae's hair and brushed his fingers against her cheeks, enjoying the smoothness of her skin.
"Mm..." Misae hummed, nuzzling against his leg drowsily as his caresses only helped her fade away. "That sounds lovely..."
"It does..."
He twirled some of her hair around his finger, sighing softly.
"I haven't slept in a bed since I was king..."
"I haven't slept in a bed since..." Misae snorted. "A couple weeks ago."
His other hands went to work. Soothingly, he caressed her shoulders, hair, and her cheek.
"Well, we'll have to settle for tents and bedrolls until we make it to Serendipity."
Misae let out a soft hum of enjoyment as his hands went to work, curling tighter into him and sighing happily. "Sounds like an adventure to me. And every moment of it, we spend free."
"Indeed we do..."
He smiled, and leaned down to kiss her head.
"I've told you you're beautiful, right? Because you are..."
Misae's eyes fluttered open with a lazy smile. "I don't mind hearing it again," she said, and tilted her head so she could capture his lips.
Ky's eyes, usually unblinking, closed so he could appreciate the kiss, one of his hands stroking her thigh.
"You're beautiful."
He kissed her again, this time involving his tongue.
"Unique. Irreplaceable."
Those were words Misae had never heard applied to herself before. Exotic, yes. She had heard that much, and it had never felt like a compliment; it had only felt dehumanizing, the same word used to describe foreign rugs. Beautiful? Unique? Irreplaceable? Those were the sorts of words used for people, for people one felt were special to them, and with a sigh, Misae reached a hand up to caress his cheek as her tongue danced with his, her eyes closed in enjoyment.
He made her feel human again.
"You're wonderful..."
Ky smiled, gesture barely visible with their mouths locked together, and the wandering hand down by her thighs started to edge towards intimate territory, testing the boundary between outer and inner thigh.
Misae's eyes fluttered open when she felt Ky's hand edging inward, though the thick robes she wore still provided a rather thick barrier. Still, she smiled against his mouth and reached down to lightly cover his hand with hers. It wasn't a gesture meant to stop him--quite the opposite, as she nudged his hand between her legs.
"Isn't it a little warm for this?" she murmured against his lips.
"It'll be cooler shortly..."
The encouragement was all he needed, and soon enough, he was feeling at her over her clothing, fingers trailing her edges. Two more hands took up her breasts, while the fourth continued to hold stroke her head.
"Should I..." Misae started and cut off as his hands found her breasts while his other massaged her through her clothes, and her hips squirmed beneath him. There was pleasure in his touch, but it was muted through the fabric--which only made her want more. And Misae had never been one to take it slow and torturous in these encounters, because she'd never gotten to take it slow. All she knew were quick encounters, where she was simply thrown down and taken, not where she was even teased. Her pleasure was never the focus; if she climaxed at all, it was merely incidental.
Ky hadn't been the first to bring her to climax, but he had been the first since she'd been enslaved to give her one she enjoyed.
She hadn't been mentally or emotionally present for the others.
"Should I...ah...undress?" she finally managed to gasp.
"That depends," Ky whispered, and he slipped two of his fingers beneath her lower piece of underclothing.
"How quickly do you want this to be over?"
"With you?" Misae sighed, and rolled her hips up against his hand when his fingers slipped under her robes. Her hands traveled down, gripping at the fabric, and she pulled it up until it bared her legs and wadded the excess up around her hips.
"Never."
Her legs bare, Ky took a moment to walk his fingers down the luxuriously smooth skin of her legs, kissing her once again. The hands on her breasts slipped beneath the fabric so he could fondle her more closely. He pulled her closer to him, so she could feel him too.
Sighing her pleasure, Misae placed her hands over Ky's, keeping them pressed to her breasts, and squirmed with need as his other hand traced over her leg. Which felt wonderful, true, but she wanted so much more, and already she was starting to feel uncomfortably hot and stuffy in her robes as her blood heated to match the air around them, Ky's warm body against hers.
Sitting up suddenly, she grabbed at the hem of her robes and pulled them up and over her head, discarding them to the side, and tore the wraps off her head and face. In the shade, the sun couldn't hurt her, and soon her albino-white skin was bare with not a stitch left to hide her. It felt better that way, too; not by much, but enough, and though she was sweating in the heat, it was hot enough that it dried nearly as soon as it hit her skin.
Maneuvering on her knees, Misae spread her robes out on the ground and moved to kneel on them, motioning Ky to follow. "This should be far more comfortable for us both," she said, and darted in to kiss him. "Unless we want sand in unfortunate places."
"All the wrong places," Ky added, and he took off the wrappings that kept his entire lower body dressed, once again showing Misae his anatomy. Now that they weren't in a dim bathhouse, perhaps she'd be able to appreciate him in a new light.
He scuffed towards her on his knees, stopping when they were chest to chest. Ky took her hands and put his arms around her waist, pulling her in for a kiss.
Did she ever appreciate it.
She hadn't really gotten a good look at Ky in the bathhouse, but here in the daylight she could take him in fully--and her eyes widened at the sight. He was...impressively large. No wonder taking him had been a bit of a stretch! Her cheeks flushed and she licked her lips, and she was still studying him when he pulled her in for a kiss. She melted against him, breasts pressed to his chest, hips rocking forward to meet his, and she opened her legs and shifted a little so his cock could slide between her thighs as she looped her arms around his neck and devoured him with her lips.
"I want this to last," she murmured against him to better answer his earlier question, even as she slid their sexes together, and he could no doubt feel how wet she already was. "We can take our time out here..."
"Mmm..."
All of Ky's hand wandered. They went all over her, leaving caresses and lingering trails across every inch of her flesh. He kissed her repeatedly, moving his hips with hers so their sexes could rub together just a little bit better.
Misae was in heaven as all his hands ran over her skin as their hips moved together, and Misae let him know how much she loved it in the form of soft moans and heated breaths. She leaned in to kiss up the side of his neck, tickling his ear with her nose before she licked and nibbled on the lobe.
"I can't wait to feel you inside me again," she murmured into his ear, before she kissed down his throat, dusting her lips along his collarbone and shoulders, pressing her mouth to his chest, and running her nails teasingly down his belly. Her hand dipped lower until it brushed his cock, and with a smile up at him, she backed up a little, wrapped her hand around him, and dropped down so she could lick along his shaft in one slow, languid movement.
Ky shivered at her lick, and he sat back to give her more space to work. Oral sex was taken quite differently in Kathractian society. It was a sign of submission from your partner. Of course, Ky wasn't going to relate that to this, but old habits were hard to break.
As long as he still had his pride as a king, it was an act he'd never perform.
"Warming me up?"
"Mhmm..." Misae hummed in confirmation--right before she slipped him past her lips and into her mouth. She took him in deep in one smooth motion, though with his size, she could only go so far without choking, and then she drew back to swirl her tongue around the head. She bobbed on him, alternating between shallow and deep, between licks and gentle grazes of her teeth, and soon ensured he was nice and wet.
Perhaps her views and Ky's views weren't quite so different on the matter, if for entirely different reasons. It was an act she'd been made to perform many, many times--but sex, for her, was naturally a submissive act already even when she was active and not passive, for it was something she had had to do--and do on command.
It was hard not to think of it that way, even now.
She did it for Ky now because she knew men liked it, and thouht Ky might, too. She was told she was quite good at it, and she brought all her skills to bear here.
Ky let out a slow breath, putting a hand on the top of Misae's head and slowly threading his fingers through her hair. He used his other arms to support himself as he leaned back a bit, letting Misae do her work.
He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, letting her know that she was doing stellar work.
Misae was more than happy to continue, reading his cues carefully as she worked. She sucked lightly on him, then a little harder, and bobbed on him as her hand stroked what her mouth didn't cover and her tongue massaged and teased along his shaft, before focusing more on the sensitive head.
Finally she came up for air and raised up to kiss his mouth even as her hand still pumped him, her kiss demanding as her tongue danced with his. "How would you like me?" she murmured against his lips.
"Immediately," Ky answered, and a hand went to her entrance, hungrily feeling her.
"I just want you right now."
Good enough answer for her!
With a searing kiss to his lips, Misae pushed Ky backwards until he was sprawled on his back on her robes, and she wasted no time in straddling his hips. She wasted even less time mounting him, aligning their bodies briefly before she slammed her hips down until their bodies slapped together. She tossed her head back with a cry as he filled her so deeply, almost too much for her to take--but she delighted in that feeling, and she wasted no time in bracing her hands on his chest so she could start to ride him in earnest, hips rising nearly all the way off of him before plunging back down as far as she could go.
It was quite clear Ky wasn't the only one who had been aching for this.
Ky released a breath through his nostrils, tossing his own head back as well and closing his eyes when Misae came crashing down on him. From that moment, it was clear to him what kind of sex this was going to be.
One pair of hands went to Misae's, and he held them while the lower pair shot to her hips. Using his strength, he amplified their impacts, making her ride truly tortuous.
Misae's moans and cries filled the air, along with the slap of their bodies as Ky helped her move so powerfully. She threaded her fingers with Ky's as she gripped his hands tightly, and soon her skin was slick with sweat--not just from exertion, but from the heat itself. This wasn't really an ideal time of day to do this when they were supposed to be conserving energy and water, but...
She also wasn't going to be the one to call for a time out.
"Ky...Ky...!" she cried out, and guided his hands to her breasts. "Gods, Ky, harder!"
Ky squeezed Misae's breasts, increasing the intensity with which he pounded into her. For a brief moment, he let go of her breasts, and used his two hands to help roll them over in place, setting Misae down on her own robes and spreading her legs wide open to so he could lance into her with more power.
The world tilted, and suddenly Misae was on her back with Ky atop her, pounding into her, each thrust sending toe-curling pleasure lancing through her. She grabbed at his arms and shoulders, lightly clawing for purchase, and threw her head back as she cried out, her white braids making a halo around her head. Gods, it was almost too much to take as he filled her more fully than she had previously experienced, her own body gripping him tightly even as she rocked up to meet his powerful thrusts.
"Ky...oh gods, Ky, please!" she whimpered between panted breaths. "Oh gods, oh gods!"
Ky's own eyes shut, letting him experience their passions through nothing more than touch and sound. Arms went to her hips so that when she rocked up, it had some of his force behind it. His other pair sought out her hands, and he held them tightly as he leaned down to kiss her.
Misae squirmed all the more when Ky gripped her hands, feeling deliciously pinned beneath him, helpless to do much more than be fucked and filled, again and again, a slave to the pleasure they built. Each pounding thrust made her squeal, made her breasts bounce with the force of it, and she was sure she would have bright bruises against her pale thighs later, but she couldn't have cared less about that now.
Her hands clutched his tightly and she cried out until her throat grew raw, the heat and passion and force of it all taking her by storm--and soon she was sobbing her pleasure as she came around him, trembling and bucking her hips hard to encourage him to keep on going, because she was far from ready to be finished and she wanted all of him.
Using her grip on his hands, she pulled herself up a little so she could capture his lips with hers while she was still riding the waves of her release, her tongue caressing against his, before she broke the kiss with a gasp and wrapped her legs around his waist.
"Oh, goddess, Ky, I love how you feel..."
As Misae kissed him, Ky lifted her clear off her robes, the effortless nature of it another display of his power, and he gave her no respite as he continued to lance his full length in and out of her. Every thrust had Ky's entire length disappearing into Misae's depths.
Misae's muffled cries reached a higher pitch when Ky changed up the angle and she squirmed all the more, wildly as though trying to get away though in reality this was the last thing she wanted to escape. It was intense, almost too intense to handle, each thrust drawing out a fresh shudder that made her toes curl and legs tense.
She wanted to kiss him more, but it was too much, and soon she broke the kiss with a shuddering cry and threw her head back as she clung to him, helpless to do much more than take it--and enjoy every second of it.
With the new angle, Ky's motions went from thrusting to lifting her up and down on his cock, his strong arms holding her to him as he relentlessly used her like a ragdoll.
A few mroe powerful thrusts, and he kissed her, rolling over so that he was on his back. Now, it was Misae's turn.
Misae was more than happy to hop into that saddle and take up the reins.
Hands planted on his chest to brace herself, Misae began to work herself feverishly on his cock, her pale white skin flushed pink and full lips parted with moans and gasps. She rolled her hips, gyrating on him in small circles and grinding on him with each downward stroke. She was hot around him and on him, the warmth both of their own making and from the air encircling them, and her breaths came out heavy, sweat dripping off her skin and matting her hair.
She was breathing a little too fast from exertion and the heat, but it felt too good to stop, and soon she was not merely rolling and grinding atop him, but was lifting and falling, her breasts bouncing, their bodies making lewd sounds with each joining.
"Oh gods, Ky," she cried out, pleasure intensifying as she grew close. "Oh Ky, oh goddess, I...I..." A pause, and then she gasped and fell against his chest, panting shallowly. "...I can't breathe," she finally got out as she sucked in rapid breaths.
Funny she should say that. Even as she laid against his chest, she'd find Ky oddly cool to the touch. Kath was an extremely hostile planet, so to Ky, even the harshest parts of the Moraki desert were little more than par for the course.
"It's alright," he said. He locked their lips together, and then wrapped her up in his arms. he continued to buck upwards with his hips, keeping the fire alive.
"We can go slower, if you want.
"Slower," Misae agreed with a hot pant against his chest, which felt oddly cool--for her own body was hot and flushed, from both the desert's heat and their own activities.
Slower wasn't something she was used to. She was used to rough, hard, quick sex, used to her master bending her over and taking her whenever he was in a mood--whether she wanted it or not, whether she was ready for it or not. It never lasted long, for which she was always grateful, and it was never gentle, and though Ky gave her pleasure--so much of it!--she still approached it the way she'd learned over all those years.
But as Ky began to thrust up into her, letting her relax against his chest, she sucked in a shaky breath and let him do the work as she rested against his cool skin. Closing her eyes, she let out a soft moan and rocked back into his thrusts to match him, pressing her face against his neck and whimpering. "Like that?"
Ky's hands slowly caressed her, passing over her back, sides, and chest. His cool skin seemed to sap away the heat, another adaptation the KAthractian race possessed. Nights on Kath were extremely cold, and the Kathractians could not only withstand intense heat that the toughest human would find oppressive, they could also absorb and store it for the night.
Ky kissed the top of her head, low moans escaping him as they rocked in time with one another.
"Want to switch positions?"
Breathlessly, Misae nodded at Ky's question even as she rocked against him, as though reluctant to lose their connection. Tired and hot as she was, he felt amazing, and strange as it was, her own lightheadedness only made it feel better even as the world got a little...twirly. She captured his lips with her own, drawing it out and dipping her tongue past his lips for a taste, then kissed and sucked lightly on his neck before, finally, she lifted off of him with a shudder as he slipped out.
"How would you like me?" she murmured as she reached down and stroked his cock, then brought it to rub against her clit, biting her lip in pleasure and keeping the fire lit even as she waited for his command.
At Misae's question, Ky only smiled, and he put his arms around her, gently turning her onto her back. He was all over her, touching with the hands not being used to support him, chest pressed against hers. He kissed like a storm, and she wouldn't have to wait for long at all for her insides to be graced with his presence once more.
He lifted her legs up onto his shoulder and went in as deep as he could go. There was a moment of loving tenderness, where he stroked her cheek and kissed her. Then, the pendulum swung, and he started to pound her, giving her that roughness she craved.
It was so different, being touched by Ky. Misae wasn't used to such gentleness, such tenderness, and gods help her but the last time she had been touched like this was also the first time: her wedding night. That one night of bliss and love before the world had come crashing down around her in the morning and ripped her life away from her, and she had never thought she would ever experience something like this again.
A little delirious with heat and passion, Misae kissed Ky back hungrily as she pressed him to her, arms around his neck as she enjoyed his skin against hers, as he stroked her so affectionately it made her chest tighten--
And then she cried out as he lifted her legs onto his shoulder and sank back in so slowly, her sounds soon muffled by that brief kiss, but then the softness ended as he started to pound her, so unexpectedly she let out a startled yelp. And she was glad for it, glad for the sudden shift, the sudden fierceness, because if he had kept touching her so gently she might have cried for the ache in her chest.
But now as he took her again, their bodies slapping together in animalistic passion, she could forget and lose herself in the heat and pleasure and roughness, her hands shooting out to grab onto his and thread their fingers together as she threw her head back and screamed.
"Oh gods, Ky, oh gods, I'm gonna come!" she cried as the angle and new depth had her swiftly approaching the edge, that trembling, wonderful pleasure building to the point of bursting.
"Come, then," Ky said, and he pulled himself up so he was at a right angle to her, holding her arms with two arms while he pulled her into his thrusts with the other two. Their bodies clashed in a storm of pleasure so intense, even Ky was showing signs of effort.
"I want to feel you tighten down on me. I want to hear you squeal," he said huskily.
Ky certainly got his wish.
For as her grabbed her and pulled her into his thrusts, as he demanded her to do what he wanted, she let herself go. She threw her head back with a piercing cry as her body tensed and trembled, her hands tightening down on his even as her sex clamped around his cock. Tears actually sprang to her eyes as she shuddered and writhed, riding out a powerful release that left her gasping for air.
Ky didn't let her come down from her climax, and he continued to pound her until he finished inside her. The sheer strength of his climax had even the superhuman Ky gasping for air, and whatever small parts of her his cock couldn't reach, his seed certainly filled in the rest of the space that was left, flooding every millimeter of her with warmth.
Ky leaned over her and kissed her, a bit roughly at first, but then it turned into something soft and passionate about halfway through.
"I want to sleep with you in my arms," he said.
Misae was giddy with pleasure by the time Ky stopped, her body on fire and all tingly from head to toe. For a few moments she just lay there in a daze, panting, chest heaving, body shining with sweat, and when he kissed her it was all she could do to keep up with him. She was exhausted in the best of ways.
When she could finally speak again, she let out a hot breath and let herself go limp. "Good, because I'm about ready to pass out after that!" she said, absently trailing her fingers up and down his arms and smiling up at him. "Godstars, Ky, that was..." She groped for words and failed. "Wonderful."
"It was," Ky said, and he kissed her again. He drew back, pulling out of Misae in the process so he could turn her onto her side and slip in behind her, wrapping her up in his arms as he cuddled her. Ky's cuddling was almost fierce in how protective it was. It was like his arms formed a shield of toned white flesh around her.
"So, we rest until nightfall?" he said.
"Mhmm," was all Misae could muster just then as she let herself go limp and relaxed in his arms, her body sweaty and chest heaving with her pants. She wrapped her arms around his and backed up closer to him until they were flush together.
"The days are now our nights," she murmured, still all tingly and flushed from their joining.
"That is fine by me," Ky said, and he closed his eyes. It had been several days since he actually slept, and he figured the rest would do him good. After all, he'd... expended quite a bit of energy.
"Have you ever seen rain?"
Misae cracked an eye open, registered what he asked, and let out a soft laugh. "Of course I've seen rain! It doesn't rain often, but it DOES rain, and floods yearly."
"I didn't see rain until I arrived on this world," Ky said.
"On Kath, it only rained by the coast, and the capital was right in the center of the desert."
"I didn't think it rained in this area."
"No rain ever?" Misae said with a frown. "How did you survive? Get water?"
"Water was purified and brought in from the coast. Kath also had a series of underground caverns that spanned the whole planet, and the rivers in these caverns created natural aquifers and cisterns for us to use."
Ky held Misae a bit tighter.
"We also imported water from the moon. It rained there. The moon was covered in jungle."
Misae blinked at his description, unable to even imagine it.
"If the moon was covered in jungle...was it bright like our moon? Or dark?"
"I suppose it's a mixture of both," Ky said.
"The moon was green, but our cities left shining gray clearances in it."
He smiled wistfully, and he held her closer. Tenderly. A hand passed over her belly and he kissed her cheek.
"And the lights. Imagine a section of your moon lit up at night by the lights of a city."
"I can't even imagine that," Misae said with a laugh, belly sucking in as his hand trailed over it, the sensation mildly ticklish and 100% wonderful. Sex with him had been wonderful, but it had been so long since she had just been held and caressed--and gods, but how people underestimated caressing! She could lay here like this forever, and she gently began to trail her fingers along Ky's arms where he held her so he could experience the wonders of it, as well.
"I can try, though, and it sounds magical. Unreal. Like something you would read about in a legend. People lived on your moon?"
"Yes," Ky said.
Spooning like they were, Ky raised up the other arm to join the one already around her belly. He placed it gently on her hip, where he stroked as well. He was pleased with how nicely she fit into the curvature of his body.
"We sent them up there in the ships I told you about. Little by little, the cities grew over the centuries."
"That's amazing," Misae sighed, letting her eyes flutter closed.
"Have you ever been up there? On your moon?"
"Oh yes, many times," Ky said.
"Those living on the moon were an extension of our own people. Many went there because unlike our home planet, the moon was covered in jungle, and had plenty of water."
"I can't even imagine such a place," Misae said, dreamily.
"All my life, I've known nothing but the desert. The sands, the storms, the heat, its many animals. Essyrn is the wettest place I've been. I can't imagine that much water, that many trees..."
"Well, I suppose that even Serendipity will seem fantastical to you," Ky said.
He squeezed her a bit tighter, and lifted his head a bit. They still had a long time to go before night fell.
"Of course it will," Misae said with a yawn. "I've never been beyond the desert!"
Ky chuckled, and a hand passed over Misae's hip. He kissed the back of her neck, and dragged his lips against her as he nuzzled her.
"I love how you feel. I can't get enough of you."
"Mmm..." Misae murmured, leaning into his soft affections.
"Likewise. It's been a long time since...well..." She frowned, brow creasing as she trailed off.
When she trailed off, Ky put a hand on her cheek, and the corners of his mouth turned downward.
"Since... you've been with someone? At least, like this?" Ky offered.
Misae nodded grimly and looked away so she was staring more at his chin.
"Oh, I've been with plenty of people," she said bitterly. "But only one other like this, so..."
She flicked her eyes up to his. "Thank you."
It hurt. It hurt just how much he could relate with that, and he held her a bit more fully, using all of his arms to make sure she was nice and safe in his embraces.
"I must thank you too, Misae. For sharing this with me."
"Oh?" Misae gave him a curious look, peering up at him through thick white lashes. "Is it new to you, too, then?"
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"I... I haven't felt affection in so long. I had a wife, so long ago. A people who adored me. An entire world under my watch and call."
His tone was not wistful, and his face showed no happiness. The only memories those words dredged up were painful, so painful that they overshadowed the bliss that came before.
He looked up at the sky, which was starting to dim with evening light.
"I told you that I come from the stars. But I did not tell you why I came here."
He met her eyes and brushed a bit of her hair out of her face.
"You deserve to know."
Misae tipped her head up to look at him, a frown on her lips. "What is it?"
"I was a King. You know this much, but I came to this world as an exile. My people were slaughtered by invaders, leaving only me."
He held Misae tighter, wanting her comfort.
"They were erasing us, Misae. So I escaped. I ran away to preserve my species, but the shame is something I must carry."
Ky sighed, and rested his forehead on Misae's.
"I've never been open about this, but... I just felt like you needed to know. That you're worth telling."
Misae sucked in a breath and held it, going stock still at his words. But her heart beat faster in her tightening chest, her stomach giving a queasy roll at the words slaughtered. Erased. His entire people.
She felt suddenly sick, his words tugging up memories she had long since buried. That one morning, all those years ago, when her entire world had gone red and bloody.
And gods and starlight, didn't she know it. The shame he spoke of, the guilt of living when others didn't. She hadn't chosen to run; she had been spared because she was young and a woman. The elderly, the disabled, most men and children...they had not been so lucky. There were survivors here and there, but their entire culture?
Erased.
She swallowed back her own pain, shaking away the memories, and hugged him a little tighter. "It wasn't your fault."
Ky was silent for a bit, and he closed his eyes. He'd never so much as blinked up to this point. He let his head rest against Misae's shoulder.
"We fought to the end. They set the moon ablaze and turned our planet into a wasteland, and yet we stood and bled for what seemed like a lifetime. I was Aun'Vra'tyis Ky'For'Ua, hunter of the twin moons and king above all, and I had all of Kathractia at my beck and call."
He paused, and dipped his head up to peer at her with those otherworldly eyes.
"I wasn't able to save my people, my friends, or even my own family. I am all that remains."