The four of us drank almost the entire bottle of wine and stayed up much later than we should have, sharing tales and reliving some of our old adventures. Tási had been sneaking sips from her glass when she thought we weren’t looking, so despite our cautions, she passed out before the night was over. So, while Venna and Broda finally went off to sleep, I had to carry Tási’s limp body upstairs and put her to bed.
Bane had followed me upstairs, and once I got Tási tucked in, I motioned for him to lie next to her.
‘Keep an eye on her, Bane,’ I sent to him. ‘Since Tási’s out of it, I’m going to stay with Venna tonight.’
I will make sure she is safe, my Sintári.
As I left the two of them, Bane wrapped himself around Tási and snuggled himself against her protectively. He had grown even fonder of her since I had unintentionally bonded with her water spirit, and the two of them had been spending as much time together as possible since.
I walked downstairs and knocked softly on Venna’s door. I didn’t want to wake her if she was already sleeping, but when she called for me to come in, I opened the door.
“I thought you might want some company,” I said as I sat down beside her.
Venna was still struggling to get out of her Armor, so as she pulled off a gauntlet, I tugged at one of her boots to help her get ready for bed.
“Some company?” Venna asked suspiciously.
“I’m here, with you,” I said as I finally got the boot free. “For a short while, or the whole night. For as much or as little as you want.”
Venna smiled broadly as she pulled off her other gauntlet.
“I’m not sure what I want,” she replied. “But I don’t want to be alone. Are you sure you can stay all night?”
“If that’s what you want, I’m yours.”
Eventually, we both got undressed and lay down together. I wasn’t sure what Venna really wanted from me, but I knew that she missed Stel, and didn’t want to be alone. So, I wrapped her up in my arms, held her against my body, and sent warm feelings of comfort and reassurance gently flowing into her. She hugged me tighter and basked in the sensations I fed her as a soft moan of happiness escaped her lips.
I felt her loneliness, and the depth of the love she had for her absent husband. Stel was a truly amazing man, and I was happy that the two of them had each other. Feeling Venna’s isolation gave me a sudden inspiration, and I poured my own images of Stel into the tendrils I sent to her.
Venna curled up against me as I added little touches of Stel, or at least my perception of him, into the peaceful waves of comfort I fed her—he had only been gone a day, yet she missed him terribly, and her loneliness was only magnified by knowing that he would be away from her for so much longer. But as I combined my impressions of Stel into the reassurances I was sending to her, I felt her body relax, and the tension she had been holding inside melted away.
I’m not sure how long I kept feeding her those images, but eventually I heard her snoring softly against my shoulder. Once I realized that she had fallen asleep, I slowly withdrew my influence from her and listened to the soft sounds of her breathing until they lulled me to sleep as well.
“How did you do that?” Venna asked me as soon as I opened my eyes the next morning.
“Do what?” I asked as I tried to rub the sleep from my eyes.
“I was lying next to you,” she said with a tone of confusion. “But then it was Stel in my arms. I felt him. He was here.”
I hadn’t intended to create such a strong illusion for her, I only meant to help her not feel so alone. I tried to explain what I had done to her, and I hoped that she would understand.
“I’m sorry Venna,” I offered my apology. “I sent you some of my own images of him because I thought that you might find them comforting. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“That’s all you did?” Venna asked incredulously. “I would have sworn he was right here. I’m... I’m not sure how I feel about this, Dreya.”
“I’m sorry, Venna,” I repeated. “I was only trying to help. I promise that I won’t do that to you again.”
She reached out beneath the covers and took my hands in hers before replying to me again.
“I never doubted your intentions, Dreya,” she reassured me. “I’m just not sure how I feel about what you did. Maybe if I had known what you intended to do, I might feel differently. I just wasn’t expecting to feel his presence so strongly.”
“I might actually be interested in letting you try again when I know what to expect,” she offered. “Give me some time to think about it.”
Once we settled the issue, we got dressed and ventured into the common room where Tási was feeding Bane some eggs from the platter of food she had already cooked. While she pretended to be happy to serve us when we sat down, I could tell that she was upset that I had left her alone the previous night. Or, more accurately, she was upset about where I had spent the previous night. So, once I had my fill, I excused myself and as I went back upstairs to my room I motioned for Tási to follow me when Venna wasn’t looking.
“I know. I know,” Tási whined as she shut the door behind her. “It’s just that you’ve never been so… blatant before. You left me alone and spent the whole night with her right downstairs.”
I had obviously hurt her, and I didn’t want to make things any worse, so I tried to explain.
“Tási,” I responded calmly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel this way. I thought it would be alright since you were already… asleep.”
“You mean passed-out drunk,” Tási chuckled mirthlessly as she replied.
“We did warn you not to drink so much,” I reminded her.
“You did,” she lamented. “I just didn’t realize that you’d abandon me so easily.”
“Tási,” I replied more sharply. “I thought we had settled this—both of you are important to me. I spend almost every single night with you. I’m here for you virtually whenever you want. You know how bad Venna was the last time Stel was away for so long. She needed me, and I wanted to be there for her.”
“I know that,” Tási snapped back at me.
“Sorry,” she apologized immediately when I glared at her.
“Do you want to know what we did last night?”
“Not really,” Tási objected.
“I held her and sent her images of Stel until she fell asleep,” I told her anyway.
“You did what?” Tási responded in disbelief.
“You know, I’m good for more than just one thing,” I replied in mock offense, echoing the words she had once said to me.
It took her a moment, but when Tási recognized her own words, she looked down in embarrassment and apologized.
“I’m sorry,” she offered softly. “Ever since you bonded me, I’ve been feeling much more attached to you. I know how things are with you and Venna. I know she’s important to you, and that the two of you need each other, but it’s more difficult for me to handle the emotions that come up when I think about that now. And when I realized what happened, where you were last night, I had trouble… I’m having trouble accepting it.”
“Tási,” I said as I guided her to sit beside me on the edge of the bed. “No one can replace you. No one–not even Venna. But I can’t give her up either. Venna and I may not be bonded together like you and I are, but she’s important to me, and you’re right, we do need each other.”
“But as much as I need Venna, I need you even more. Things are different between us since I bonded with you. You’re not alone, I feel it too. So, I promise not to do that again. I will not be so, what did you say? Blatant? Ever again. Not without your permission. I cannot abandon Venna, but I will never leave you for her again.”
Tási clearly hadn’t expected such a strong statement of commitment from me, and my heartfelt words of devotion brought tears to her eyes. She hugged me tightly and I opened myself up to her and flooded her with my love. Tási returned my feelings with her own tendrils of e
motion and despite the far weaker nature of her power, I felt her devotion as powerfully as my own.
We stayed locked in our embrace for a long while, neither one of us willing to let go or relinquish the power of the emotion that the other was sending us. When we finally parted, I kissed Tási gently and offered her a final promise.
“I’m yours, Tási,” I told her solemnly. “First and always. I will never let you feel abandoned again.”
“Thank you,” Tási’s voice cracked as she replied. “I know how important Venna is to you, so I never thought I’d hear you say anything like that.”
“Venna may be important to me, Tási,” I said as I stared into her eyes, “but you’re everything.”
It was a long while before we headed back downstairs again, but when we did, Broda was sitting down eating the last of the food Tási had cooked earlier.
“How’s your head this morning?” Broda asked as we entered the common room. “After Dreya had to carry your sorry arse upstairs last night, I imagine you’ve got a bit of a headache.”
“I did,” Tási confessed. “But I am a healer, so it wasn’t too hard for me to get rid of it.”
“Where’s Venna?” I asked when I noticed that she had left.
“She went off to the infirmary,” Broda told me between bites. “She left when Bane flew off for his daily scout.”
“I guess that means I get to join you while you make the rounds today,” Tási beamed.
“You certainly do,” I smiled back at her as I adjusted her collar to lay just a bit more open than usual.
Tási’s eyes widened and she flushed red as I finished with her collar, but I took her hand and dragged her out the door before she could complain.
“New dress code for the day,” I told her as we walked towards our first stop. “Anytime you pass out drunk, I’m spreading your collar even wider the next morning.”
“No more alcohol for me,” Tási declared as her cheeks still burned red.
Thankfully, after the eventful morning, the rest of the day went well, and when Tási and I returned after finishing our tour, Broda was cooking a stew for dinner while Venna sat at the table sipping a glass of elven wine.
“Broda said dinner will be ready in a little while, would you like some while we wait?” Venna said as she offered to fill a glass of wine for each of us.
“I’d love that,” I replied, and took the glass when she filled it for me.
“Tási?” Venna prompted when the halfling hesitated.
“Um, no thanks,” Tási finally answered.
“Ha! She had a bit much last night, Venna,” Broda chimed in. “I’m not sure she wants to be lugged up the stairs again.”
“It’s only elven wine, Tási,” I softly teased. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
Tási reflexively reached for her collar and I glared at her before she could adjust it back to its usual position. She reluctantly let her hands fall back to her sides under my intense stare, and then surprised me by accepting Venna’s offer.
“Maybe I don’t mind as much as you think,” Tási whispered back to me as she took a sip from her glass.
Broda’s stew was soon served, and we enjoyed our meal along with more of the elven wine while Broda poured herself a mug of ale from the keg Khorim had left behind. We discussed the various things we had done that day, and I informed Broda and Venna of the progress I had noted all around the valley. After cleaning up, we retired to our rooms far earlier than the night before.
“Do you think it would help Venna if you put her to sleep again like you did last night?” Tási surprised me by asking as we were getting ready for bed.
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “I kind of caught her off guard, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted me to do it again.”
“Well, as long as you come back to me once she’s asleep, I won’t be upset,” Tási offered.
“Are you sure?”
“No, so you better go now,” she prompted me.
I took Tási up on her offer before she could change her mind and left our room quickly. When I knocked on Venna’s door, she once again bid me to enter, and when I did, I found her already in bed.
“Two nights in a row,” Venna exclaimed in mock surprise. “To what do I owe this honor?”
“Not to what, but to whom,” I replied. “Tási sent me here to see if you wanted me to help you get to sleep.”
“Tási? I’m surprised,” Venna responded. “She was obviously upset with you this morning, and I assumed that I was the cause of that.”
“You were, but we settled that issue,” I told her honestly as I sat next to her on the bed.
“Tási and I have grown much closer,” I confessed. “And while you and I will always have a special relationship, I need to be more considerate about how we engage in that relationship. I can’t simply flout it in her face like I did last night.”
Venna’s smile at my admission caught me off guard. I’d expected her to be angry or offended, but she clearly wasn’t feeling either of those emotions. Thankfully, my confused look prompted her to explain.
“Congratulations,” she offered me. “That’s exactly how I feel about you and me regarding Stel. He may know about us, but I don’t make our… liaisons too obvious.”
“Are you saying Tási and I are… married?”
“That, or close enough that it doesn’t really make any difference.”
Venna wasn’t aware that Tási’s water spirit had bonded with me, but I couldn’t help but think that the bond had been the catalyst for the change in our relationship. We had both fallen under its influence, and Tási’s jealousy and my own declaration of devotion in response were ample evidence of how much our relationship had changed since that bond had been forged.
“I really need to think about this,” I finally muttered.
“Yes, you do,” Venna smiled back at me, clearly amused by my sudden confusion.
“Now, why exactly are you here again?” Venna teased.
“I… I was going to see if you wanted me to help you fall asleep,” I replied uncertainly.
“And if I do, will you still be here in the morning?” She continued to prod at me.
“No,” my shoulders slumped as I told her. “I would only stay long enough to make sure you’re alright.”
“Thank you for the offer,” Venna said as she finally let me off the hook. “But I think I’ll let you go for the night.”
I rose from the bed and made it only halfway to the door before Venna plunged the dagger in my back.
“I’ll have to talk to Tási sometime,” she said in words that dripped with honey. “I decided that I do like the way you put me to sleep last night. I’ll have to work out some sort of arrangement with your wife and see if she’ll let me borrow you from time to time.”
My steps ground to a halt and I tried to come up with some sort of reply, but my mind was a jumble of confused thoughts and emotions, and all I could do was resume my slow, silent march out of Venna’s room. As I climbed back up the stairs, I considered what Venna had said, and despite my reluctance to accept her conclusion, I realized that she was right.
“That was fast,” Tási commented as I closed the door behind me.
“Venna said she didn’t need my help tonight,” I replied as I slowly made my way across the room and crawled into bed.
“Your clearly upset,” Tási observed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I replied. “But she said some things to me that I really need to think about.”
“What did she say to you?” Tási sat up and asked as a hint of anger crept into her voice. “If she’s back to that jealous, hateful shit again, I will go down there right now and take care it.”
“No, nothing like that,” I assured her. “Actually, quite the opposite.”
It took me a while to explain everything Venna had said to Tási. While it had been a short conversation, I needed quite a bit of time to muddle my way through the heavy emotions
that Venna’s words had stirred up inside me. While I loved Tási with all my heart, the nature of our growing commitment had snuck up on me. Venna’s clear recognition of it, and the sudden revelation of it to me, had caught me unaware.
“She really said that?” Tási asked incredulously. “Venna called me your wife?”
I nodded my head slowly in response as I stared away blankly, still trying to come to terms with that very concept.
“How do you feel about that, Tási?” I finally asked her. Even though I hadn’t come to terms with it myself, I wanted to know what she thought of the situation.
“I haven’t been completely honest with you,” Tási said as she slumped back against the headboard. “There was more to the message my mother left for me than I told you.”
“I don’t care about that, Tási,” I told her. I tried to look into her eyes as I spoke to her, but she turned away and refused to meet my gaze.
“You need to know,” she whispered. “I have to tell you now, before it goes any further.”
“We didn’t meet by accident, Dreya,” Tási explained as she continued looking away from me. “My mother didn’t give birth to me by random chance. The water spirits sensed your coming, and they created me so that I could help you on their behalf. I bonded you without permission, Dreya, and that bond is what has drawn you to me so closely. Your feelings for me are not real, not entirely. I never meant to, but I have manipulated you into loving me.”
“This is a very familiar conversation for me, Tási,” I replied as I gently turned her face towards me. “I’ve had ones very much like this with Venna.”
Tási finally picked her head up, and I saw the pain and confusion in her eyes.
“Your influence on me is very much like my influence on you, and everyone else for that matter,” I began to explain to her. “Once I recognized it, I struggled with the implications for a while. I thought that I was exploiting people, turning them into mindless servants, but that was never the case. What I realized—what Venna made me realize—was that my influence was a much subtler thing than that. It was never about manipulation, it was always about giving people the strength, the courage, to do the right thing. To do what they truly wanted to do but needed some extra motivation or incentive. I never made anyone do anything they didn’t want to do, I only lent them the strength or resolve they needed to do what was already in their heart.”
Second Skin: Unified: A litRPG Adventure (Second Skin Book 3) Page 32
