Bard's Tale 02 - First Outing

"You put away a lot of food," Tahna commented.

Before he could respond, Tia leaned down and kissed his cheek. "He's doing fine. He's been working hard the past few days."

"Hard being the operative word," Tahna said with a grin.

Moving behind him, Tia ran her hands over his shoulders. "Husband, I think your second wife is feeling neglected."

"Is that true, beautiful?" he asked.

The monk's snarky answer died on her lips. There was that word again. Knowing he meant it disarmed her. She remembered how good he'd felt the day before. Flushing, she refused to meet his eyes.

"Tahna?" Tia asked. "Do you need him to make love to you right now?"

Before she could answer, there was a sound behind them. A naked Mindal walked into the room. There was the another sound, a distinct one of a stomach gurgling. It looked like the bard was headed to the bathroom, but then she saw Reison, and did a hard turn in his direction.

Tia intercepted her, and touching her pendant, defused her younger sister's resistance. "Did you even eat lunch today?"

"No?" the bard answered hoarsely. "I was busy." The look she gave him was definitely predatory.

"No wonder he ate so much! You made him go hungry, too. You should have taken a meal break. And your lips are dry..." Their voices faded as Tia guided her to the bathroom and closed the door.

Reison shook his head, then turned back to Tahna. "You didn't answer the question. Do you need me to make love to you?"

"Yes," she admitted. "But only after spell wears off on Mindal first. Tia will make her eat and drink up. Maybe even clean up a bit. But then she'll need you for hours more tonight. Once she gets pregnant, she should start returning to normal. Maybe we can have some time tomorrow."

"Normal? And here I was hoping that this was normal for her."

It was his deadpan look that flummoxed her. Then she saw the twinkle in his eyes, and they both grinned at each other. "You are incorrigible!"

"While I'm having a wonderful time, I would like to do other things. You know, go out to eat. Take in a show. Fight some monsters. Meet the rest of your family here in town. See some daylight. She never gave the time to do anything else the whole time you were gone."

"Should I say I'm sorry?" she asked him archly.

"No. I'm up for this. But I want to talk about something else if you don't mind. How long does it take to reach the capital from here?"

"We can be there by horse in about two weeks."

"I was thinking of going by foot," he said.

"We'll have more encounters that way," Tahna commented. "Oh, right. More experience, and more treasure. Okay. Should be fun. Travel is easier on the north side of the Crescent River. On the south side, the terrain is slower-going. But half-way between City of the Suns and the Capital is Castle Goodfellow."

"I don't think I've heard of it."

"The ruler is Antumus Goodfellow. He's getting pretty old now, but he's a Hellene paladin to Athena. His wife, Natasha, is a younger sister to the Queen. She's a psionicist, a bard, and a martial artist. She's better than me."

"A martial artist? And a bard, you say?" he asked, intrigued.

"They have an extensive library, and Mindal says there are some rare books within their collection."

"Sounds like it's worth a visit then."

When Mindal exited the bathroom, Tia herded her to the table, and made her drink three full glasses of water. When Mindal reached for the wine bottle, Tia told her no.

"You are already dehydrated. You need water, or by morning you will have a splitting headache, and it will take hours for it to go away. If you continue to act stupidly, come tomorrow, I'll let you suffer on your own."

Tia stood next to Mindal the whole time she ate, making sure she didn't eat too fast or skimp on eating at all. The way she was acting now was almost as bad as trying to deal with her when she was drunk. The second time she tried to slide down off her seat to escape under the table, Tia grabbed Mindal's hair and held her, staring into her eyes.

"Something isn't right," Tia muttered. Glancing at Tahna and Reison, she continued. "Magic doesn't always affect everyone the same way. Fertility is a very simple spell. It prepares a woman's body and makes her ready for sex. Now, if there's other spells at work, spells that might affect personality, or even a disease or a curse - that might explain this. I could check, but I'm not aware of anything like that in place. She should be horny, yes, but also capable of taking care of herself, too."

Reison frowned. "That's not good."

"What about addictions?" Tahna asked her. "Alcohol impairs judgment. I told you what Elisabeth passed along, that this past winter she had spent some night drinking herself to sleep. There is the possibility she's an alcoholic in the early stages."

Tia nodded. "The spell does tap into basic instincts, loosening inhibitions. Having one addiction makes other addictive behavior more likely. It might indeed affect her this way."

"Like what way?" he asked.

"She's closer to a bitch in heat than a woman eager to make a baby," Tia answered him. "It's normal when you're involved with a partner to skip a meal and get little sleep. Most will take a break to do things like go to the bathroom, get cleaned up, eat some food, or even nap together. A person sex-addicted, when hungry and presented with a meal and sex, instead of eating and then having more sex, will skip the food and drink their body needs and go straight for the sex."

"What do you intend to do?" Reison frowned as he watched Mindal started to slide under the table toward Reison. Tahna grabbed her and firmly sat her back into her chair.

"I wouldn't normally contemplate doing this, but if she doesn't drink enough liquids or eat enough, she'll wake up with a horrendous headache tomorrow. Right now she's not in her right mind, and I need to deal with it. Tahna, I need you to hold her, please."

The monk pushed the plate of food away and pinned her sister to the table. "Going to heal her?"

"No, she's not injured per se." Tia cleared her mind, then cast the following spells. Dispel magic first. Mindal's body was now cycled for optimum fertility, so the fertility spell itself was no longer needed. Taking a single strand of hair for the material component, she yanked it from Mindal's head, and cast repair phenomic form.

The first spell seemed to have no affect at all, but when Tia touched her back with the second casting, the bard froze, then shivered and moaned, holding one hand to her head as she winced in pain.

"You can let her go, now," Tia told Tahna. Then she cast ease pain and touched Mindal on her head, and followed it with cure disease to deal with the alcoholism.

Settling into her chair, Mindal exhaled and looked around, slowly blinking her eyes. "What happened?"

After instructing her to eat and drink, Tia pulled up a chair and sat next to her.

"You are healed, Mindal. If you had any cravings before, those should not trouble you any longer. You are effectively cured, and all the damage you did to yourself with your drinking is now fixed. Be temperate in your drinking, Sister. You can still get drunk, it will take less to make you so, and you will be prone to renewing your addiction."

Her mouth full, the bard paused to stare a moment at Tia, taking in her words.

When she nodded, Tia leaned over and kissed her temple. "I love you, little sister."

Upon returning to her normal place at the table, she sipped her tea, then grimaced. It was cold.

"What's wrong?" Mindal asked.

"My tea. It's cold."

Getting up, the bard moved by her sister, then cast warm cantrips on the cup of tea and the teapot. "There. Least I could do for you putting me right." Sitting back down, she drank down a full glass. Tahna got up to refill it for her. Turning to Reison, Mindal asked, "I haven't put you off me, have I?"

"No." He grinned at her. "I was worried, but I'm happy that you are okay."

Tahna sat down the fresh glass by Mindal's plate.

"Still want to bone me?" the bard asked him.

Tia sputtered, choking on her tea. Tahna, grinning, moved over and patted her back until Tia's breathing was clear.

"Every chance I get," he avowed.

"Good," she growled. "Because I still want your baby."

He finished his drink, then got up, the others watching him. To their surprise, he went around the table to Tia, kissed her thoroughly, let her catch a breath, then kissed her again. "You are a good woman, Tia. That's one of the reasons I love you." Leaning in, he whispered into her ear. The priestess sighed and smiled.

Then he came around to Tahna. When he leaned down to kiss her, she closed her eyes and gave herself over to it. After they broke apart, he looked at her.

"What?" she asked.

"You are so beautiful. Will you make yourself available to me tomorrow?"

Feeling herself flush from ear to neck, all she could manage was a nod.

With that, he came back around to Mindal and helped her up. "Come on, my songbird. Let's go make some noise."

Giggling, she bounced ahead of him. His hand smacked her bare butt. With a yelp, she glanced at him, then dashed into the bedroom. As he passed the cover blanket on the floor, he picked it up, whistling.

Tahna shook her head slowly. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"Marriage," Tia quipped. "He's treating you good, and you are happier, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. Yeah, better than... I'm..." Then her breath hitched.

Tia, concerned, asked, "Are you okay?"

The look her sister gave her said a great deal. Getting up, she pulled Tahna to her feet and pulled her over to the couch. "On my lap," she instructed.

Tahna did as she was bid. Suddenly she blubbered out, "What is wrong with me?"

"Nothing, little sister. All those years of heartache and grief still need time to adjust. Lysandra was the catalyst, but it's not just her. It's also the decades of horror for the children you've given justice to. You've buried it all deep, putting all your pain behind your wall. When you began to deal with your feelings about Lysandra, the rest started coming out, too. More importantly, it needs to come out."

"What am I going to do?" she cried.

"Tahna, when it all gets to be too much, just let it out. Mindal, Reison, and I are here for you. You are a strong woman. Crying does not make you weak. Rather, it shows that you care, that you feel, and in my view, that makes you even stronger. So weep and let your tears flow when you need to. Weep for the poor, lost babes and the woman that you loved and lost. Weep for joy that you are finding happiness again, that you find it within yourself to laugh and have silly fun. Acknowledge your feelings. Express them, so that you can come to terms with them. In the meantime, it's okay to love Reison. Make a place for him in your heart. He's your husband now. We are family."

Burying her face in her sister's neck, she sniffled. "I love you so much, Tia. I don't know what I'd do without you."

The priestess said nothing. She just kissed her and continued her slow rubbing of her sister's back.

Then the monk muttered, "Crap."

"Something wrong, Tahna?"

"I'm getting your blouse wet. And... I'm getting snot on you, too."

In her best, droll voice, "Oh, what is this world coming to? It's a good thing I love you in return then, isn't it."

Tahna paused, then snickered. "Yeah."

"Besides. What's a little snot between sisters?"

"Ewww. That's totally disgusting."

"So says the woman smearing her boogers on my clothing." She paused to let that sink in. "I consider it a privilege to be here for you. I'm honored to share my life with you, Tahna. As we get used to being married women, I'm glad we will share a home together with him. You may not realize it, but as much as you need me, I also need you."

Letting out a shuddering sigh, the monk embraced her sister as she quietly wept.

Tia gave her a squeeze, then caressed Tahna's back, slowly, soothingly. Whatever support her sister needed while she purged herself of repressed emotions, she would give to her. That was part of being a family, and part of the joy of love.

In the bedroom, Reison and Mindal reveled in their union as their hearts soared to their music and love, trying to create a new life. In the front room, Tia comforted her sister, helping her heal.

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