The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 72

Part 13

"You two seem a bit subdued today." Talia said as she indicated Reggie and Helemia with a look at each of them. "Is it anything we can help with?"

The twins blushed bright pink, and shook their heads. "Nah." Reggie stammered after swallowing heavily. "It's just that, ah, you know, as you're always psionicly aware of us, on a subconscious level, we're always aware of you too. Even when we're sleeping, it seems. And it seems our awareness of you is increasing, or maybe we were just sensitized to certain things by what all those Sylvan did all night last night.

"Anyway, we had a dream last night, or today actually, when we were sleeping, and when we woke up, we realized that it wasn't a dream. We were following you, psionicly, while we were sleeping. And you went to this pretty grotto on the west side of the island and uh, well, you know."

There was a long moment of silence as the adults blushed redder than their children had.

"Went to the west side of the island and what?" Valentia asked. "I'm the only one that doesn't know!"

"And had lots and lots of rough deviant sex." Mark bluntly stated. "I'm sorry you two were aware of that. You're getting to be very, very hard to completely block psionicly. We could probably do it if we weren't making sure that we're always aware of you, but it's hard to keep a Link going in one direction while blocking it completely in the other, and your psionics are very subtle."

"The blessing we've made from a curse has saved our lives on numerous occasions, and given us many other benefits as well." Talia carefully stated. "Including Mark's ability to Resurrect Dalia and Bezedil. But occasionally, the last aspects of the curse still make their demands on me. I know Mark would prefer not to, except that the curse is a part of him now, as it's a part of me, and it's deeply integrated."

"If I'd have known what I know now when we first dealt with the curse, I could have fixed this too." Mark admitted with remorse. "But it's too late now. The blessing is too integrated and too... too broadly dispersed within us and within our power for it to be changed now."

"We understand all that." Helemia nodded. "We know the story of how you met and the curses and all of that. We tried to not let the dream affect how we were acting, because we know it's none of our business, but Mother's pretty perceptive."

"She is." Mark nodded. "I hadn't noticed you were acting any different, to be honest."

"There's just one thing I don't understand." Reggie hesitantly revealed. "I mean, I understand why you do it to Mother; because the curse makes you do it, but Alilia...?"

"I've crafted aspects of my Link with Talia, and with Mark," Alilia told him with an expression of thoughtful self-control, "So that when the curse affects them, it affects me equally. I endure exactly what Talia endures, I insist on it. It salves my guilt and remorse for having cast the curse unjustly, and it lets me share fully and equally in our relationship. And besides, Mark has gotten very good at giving a great deal of extremely pleasurable sensations and emotions in the midst of an experience that might not otherwise be very pleasant."

"Do ya like it?" Valentia asked her with a nasty little smile.

Alilia was surprised at the question, and at her daughter's tone and expression as it was asked, but she gave a straight answer. "I'm not sure if it would be true to say that I like it. Not the way I like our lovemaking when the curse is not upon us, which is absolutely heaven itself. But the times when the curse comes upon us... Well, it's gradual. We tend to be reluctant to begin it, so we wait until the urge of the curse is insistent and unignorable. When we do give in to it, we tend to be a bit fierce about it."

She paused for a few seconds to reflect. "No, when all the pleasant and unpleasant aspects are weighed, I neither like nor dislike it. But there's no doubt that I'm addicted to the intensity of it. It's like being in true battle that way. It's not a particularly fun circumstance to be in, but the intensity is incredible and exhilarating, even when it hurts. Every part of you is brilliantly alive, and you're completely in the moment, and you're not distracted by any thoughts about anything else except what's happening right then."

"I absolutely love it." Talia softly revealed, her gaze unfocused as she re-lived their day in her mind. "I absolutely, completely, damn well love it, every bit of it. When the urge comes upon me, I don't hold off because I'm reluctant, I let it build until I absolutely can't resist it anymore, just to maximize the intensity of it."

There was a pause, then she seemed to snap out of it as she considered the effect her words might have had. "But I want you to keep in mind that I love our normal lovemaking without the curse a lot more. The experience of sharing the ultimate in physically pleasurable experiences with someone you deeply love while being deeply Linked with them is the best part of being a wizard, in my opinion. It may be the finest experience possible for any mortal being, without exception.

"Just remember that you won't have to worry about such things for years, and when you do, it's best to take it as slowly as possible, and to carefully savor every tiny aspect of your development."

"We will, Mother." Helemia assured her as she stood and carried her dishes to the sink. "But now we have to go reorganize some Sylvan. We're not sure when we'll be back, so don't wait up."

"And thanks for having a tasty meal ready for us. That was great!" Reggie grinned as he rubbed his belly. "I'm almost too full to move normally!"

"You better cast something on yourself to keep from throwing up, in case we have to take some action." Valentia giggled.

After exchanging loving goodbyes with their parents, the three children Translocated back their new settlement.

After they were gone, Talia and Alilia moved over and sat on either side of Mark's lap.

"Those three are pretty easy to raise." Mark mused. "But still, sometimes this parenting business isn't easy."

"That's some serious truth." Alilia agreed.

"Hey Karz, how are things?" Helemia asked as the three appeared beside the young dragon.

"Ah, Fire, you startled me." Karzog told her after a reflexive inhale.

"Sorry." Helemia giggled. "Good to see you're on your toes, though. It wouldn't do for you to flame me in front of the detainees."

"Thanks. The constructions are ahead of schedule, and yesterday's arrivals will be able to sleep indoors tonight.

"I noticed a few more wild ones poking around beyond the Wards of the camp. I wasn't sure if there were still any left out there after your work this morning, but apparently there are. I think I've also detected some of the other adult Sylvan that are still out there trying to probe me psionicly without being noticed. I doubt they got anything from me though.

"We'll have to start gathering supper for these ones pretty soon, and for the new ones too if you want them to eat with the rest."

"Well I'd like to go hunting, but I suppose I can gather supper first." Valentia mused.

"No, go ahead and hunt." Reggie advised. "We'll gather supper. We'll wake up the new recruits, and just play them a Revealing of yesterday's orientation while we're gathering."

"If you take Stripe and Scout, do a better job of Shielding them than we did this morning." Helemia told Valentia with some remorse. "I almost thought we lost them for a second there. I doubt you'll face another attack like we faced this morning, but there are still a lot of adult Sylvan out there, so you never know. I sure didn't expect them to attack us all together like that this morning either, and it was a good reminder of how unpredictable they are."

"Right." Valentia nodded, and disappeared.

"Actually, we'll need to cast a few copies of the Revealing for all of these to see it." Reggie stated as he surveyed the thousands of unconscious Sylvan who were laid out in tight ranks on the beach.00000000☐☐☐☐☐☐

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