Hybrid

"Well, yes," Trina said. Her words came out in a rush. "Serisi, in the last 30 years, we've had nine novices. How many of them do you know?"

"I know none," Serisi said. "Why do you ask?"

"The reason you don't know them is that they're dead," Hal said. "Every one of them. I don't ... we don't..." He was overcome, apparently by powerful emotions, and I was stunned.

Jynn spoke. "We need to tell you something, Serisi. As far as we are aware, only three people in the history of this order have ever borne children. There has never been a child here such as you. You are like our child. I know you belong to Guerin; we all know that. He is the youngest among us. He is also probably the most capable among us. He is like our child. You are like our grandchild. We know you, and we have come to love you, child. We, the order, will not allow you to take contracts we believe are beyond your capabilities. We love you too much to lose you."

Serisi sat quietly for a moment. I braced myself for the explosion. She had quite a temper, when aroused. She rarely showed it. There were two sides to it. One was a raging hurricane and the other was cold stillness. One brought the wrath of burning fury upon your ears, and the other froze you into non-existence. I had been the victim of both. Neither lasted long, and she was always contrite, sooner or later, but she had an independence that would not tolerate any interference. I didn't know which to expect.

"I submit myself to your will," she said. I was as stunned as the rest. "I love you, as you love me," she said. "You are wiser than I am, individually, and collectively, you are the wisest people I have ever met. I will seek your advice and wisdom. What do you want me to do?"

A collective exhalation of held breath escaped the whole group. They well knew her, and they had the same expectations I held. Jynn crossed the room, lifted Serisi to her feet and embraced her. The rest of the group rushed to do the same. Everyone spoke at once. "So happy, want to help, love you so much, look at contracts together, help you any way we can..." filled the air.

Serisi laughed and her merriment filled the room. "I love you all, but please, just let me speak. Would you be willing to select the contracts for me? Look them over, select three you think will fit me, give them to me and Guerin and I will make the final choice? This is acceptable?"

They all hurried to assure her that it was, and I believe that there was an easing of tension and a camaraderie like we had seldom seen in the order. Serisi became a full novice, and her first contract began. It was a simple task of discovering a thief, and she proved adept, setting a trap, bringing the constables to the house, catching the thief with the money he had stolen and fulfilling her contract.

She was on top of the world when she returned with her payment. We celebrated, every one of the order who was there, joining us. She waited two weeks and took another. It became routine, and so far as I knew, she never suffered during the one or two weeks they usually took from her "being apart from Guerin" issues.

*****

Eighteen years old! She had been away for a week, doing a job we got through Zee for my bastard of a father. She didn't tell me a lot of the details, just said she was a courier and it wasn't likely to be dangerous. Some sort of escorting some high official.

When she got back, I was in the yard, soaking up the sun and reading a book. When she saw me she gave a little squeal and came running across the courtyard to throw herself on me. My book went flying and she nearly knocked me down. She was heavy, solidly muscled and as lithe and flexible as a cat. She kissed me all over my face and told me how much she missed me and how much she loved me about 1000 times.

She finally got her fill and went away to take care of her horse. I retrieved my book and sat back down, waiting for her. I got absorbed with the book, a biography of one of the first colonists, and didn't notice she'd come back until her shadow fell across me. I looked up. God, she was heartstoppinly, excruciatingly lovely. A little smile played across her features and she just stood there, letting me look at her.

She was a woman, in the full blush of her beauty, all hair, blue eyes and dark smooth skin. "You make my heart stop," I told her.

She dimpled up. "Thank you. You are very beautiful, too, Guerin." She always said that.

"Men aren't beautiful," I told her. "Stop saying that. I've gotten a complex from you saying that."

She laughed. "No. You aren't the boss of me."

"Turn around so I can get a good look," I said. She did a little dance step or two, giving me a look at the mystery that was Serisi.

"Do you know what today is?" I asked her.

"Yes, it's my birthday!" she said. I could tell she was excited. "What did you get me, Guerin?"

We didn't know, in fact, exactly when her birthday was, but this was the day we celebrated it. "I was feeling too lazy to go shopping," I told her.

She slapped my foot. "Ah, bah. I shall not get you anything for your birthday, then."

Of course, she knew I was lying. I felt around in my pocket. "Well, I do happen to have this," I told her. I drew out my hand and opened it. She gasped. "It's beautiful, Guerin," she said.

I had paid a small fortune for a cut and faceted red-stone. It was large, and seemed to pulse with a red fire. It was set in gold, with a heavy chain of very small gold links. "Let me put it on you," I said.

She turned her back to me, and I pulled that mane of hair aside, exposing her slender neck. Her hair was heavy in my hand. Unbound, it hung shimmering below her waist. When working or exercising, she wore it bound or in many braids. I reached around her, pulling her back into my embrace. She seemed to almost purr. I undid the clasp, pulling the chain around her neck. I kissed the side of that dusky column and she shivered, goose-bumps rising. I did the same with the other side, then fastened the clasp. Looking over her shoulder, I saw the stone settle down into the mysterious canyon between creamy brown hills. She twisted away, offered me her lips and I kissed her. She stepped back and her little pink pointed tongue tasted her lips.

"I am going to wash the travel off," she said. A swish of her hips, and she was gone. She had a tub in our rooms. I made do with the bath house. Dinner was a riot as she was welcomed home and everyone got a chance to be singled out by her love and affection. They all gave her gifts, and we drank wine. Serisi wouldn't touch anything fermented, and she drank her usual cider.

The party wound down, and she got up, made a little speech, thanking everyone and expressing her love. She went to our rooms, and I followed not more than a score of minutes later. I undressed and got in bed. I could hear her moving around in her room. There was a lamp and two candles burning, and I assumed she would come as soon as she had stowed away her presents.

There was a whisper of sound from the doorway and I glanced up. My breath caught in my throat. She stood in the doorway and she was a vision to topple kingdoms, cause battles to rage and despair in the hearts of men. She was absolutely naked, except for the chain and the redstone that pulsed between her breasts.

The imagination is beggared when describing the visual impact of Serisi. It began with that mane of hair. It swept in waves and billows around her, stirred by the breeze through the open window. It was snow-white and shocking in its magnetism, causing everyone who was close to her to have an almost irresistible impulse to touch it. Her face was... elven. She disliked the term, but from the exotic tilt of her eyes and the startling contrast of the blue/grey with the darkness of her complexion, her tiny pointed ears, her high cheekbones, small patrician nose, the lusciousness of her lips, the heart-shaped face and her little pointed chin, it was a face to launch a thousand ships.

Her skin glowed. It seems impossible for something to glow with a rich brown tint, but she did. Her throat was a slender column, sweeping to join broad shoulders. She was very muscular, yet there was a softness that formed fully-rounded curves. Her breasts were full, heavy and perfectly formed mountains, proud, high and with all the firmness of youth and fitness. Her nipples were surrounded by rich mahogany circles, slightly thicker than the skin of her breasts so that they looked a little puffy, capped by small, very erect points that tilted slightly upward and inward.

Her chest and ribcage were wide and deep, the perfect support for those breasts, and her waist swept inward to a slenderness I felt I could span with my hands. Her belly was flat and ridged with two rows of highly-defined muscle, her navel a slightly elongated oval, small and mysterious. Her hips flared from the small waist and curved dramatically, drawing in again to impossibly long legs, her thighs swelling with muscle, small knees and muscled calves. Her tiny feet were things of beauty in their own right, and between smooth brown thighs was a tuft of that shocking white, just a fine and silky reminder that this was a woman.

I had not seen her naked in some time, and her beauty stunned me. I tried to speak, but only a hoarse croak emerged. I cleared my throat, trying again. "God, Baby! You're..." I had no words.

Her laughter was like crystal, ringing across the room. She turned. Gods, that ass! It was a firm, jutting thing, forming a near shelf, as gorgeous as anything in imagination, shaped like an upside-down heart, with a small dimple where it swept gloriously into her broad back. She continued her turn, coming to rest facing me. "Do you like me, Guerin?"

"I have no words, Serisi," I said. "Poets have no words."

She strode across the room, moving with purpose, liquid in her movement and naked splendor. Stopping beside the bed, she pulled the cover down, exposing me to her eyes. They moved down my body, then up, locking with my own. "Do you love me, Guerin?" She asked. "Do you love me, forever?"

"With all my heart," I said. "For the rest of my life."

A small smile of satisfaction formed on those Cupid's-bow lips. "And I love you, for the rest of our lives," she answered.

She moved over me, one knee on either side, stretching her arms upward to move her hair behind her, her breasts tautening with the movement, standing proudly forward, and it was the most erotic thing I had ever seen. It was totally unselfconscious. That was the most amazing thing about her. She was completely comfortable in herself. She leaned forward, erect nipples scraping on my chest as her lips sought mine. I had kissed Serisi thousands of times; I had never kissed her, or been kissed by her, like that.

Her lips were alive, and fire from her eyes flashed. All that bare dusky skin against mine felt as though she was running a fever. She had always felt warmer than anyone else I had ever touched, but she was on fire. She crushed herself against me and her passion was contagious.

"Guerin... Guerin... I'm... I feel like I'm running away," she gasped. "Something, something is happening..."

I rolled, taking her with me so that we were on our sides, facing each other. "Serisi, what are you doing?" I asked.

"I've been waiting," she said. "I've been waiting, all my life, and I will not wait any longer."

"What were you waiting for?" I asked.

I was waiting to be with you, like this," she said. "I was never ready, before, and now I am. I am a woman, now. I was a little girl, but not any longer. I feel my blood singing, I have an ache for you, in my belly, in my heart, in my loins. I will be yours. You will be mine. This is the right day, I know it, Guerin. I know it in every fiber of my being."

"Serisi, do you remember what the wise woman said?" I asked. "She said I could not have children, but with you, I would. Is that what you want?"

"Yes, but not now," she whispered. "There is... something in you, Guerin. It is like a broken string. I can't explain. I know how to tie it back together. I will not until both I and you are ready. It is good?"

"Everything about you is good." I reassured her and claimed her lips again.

She squirmed, trying to get closer to me. One brown leg draped across me and I could feel the downy softness of her little tuft on my thigh. She moved it in circles against me, and I could feel heat and moistness. She pushed me over and her little hands ran across my body. She was exploring, and I left her to her voyage.

She lowered her head to my chest and her little pointed pink tongue appeared. She drew a circle around one nipple with it and I shuddered. I had never really thought of my nipples as an erogenous zone. I was ignorant, because my member became an iron bar with her teasing.

She felt every muscle, as if memorizing my body like a map. Her warm fingertips soothed every scar, trailed down my stomach and she pushed impatiently at my undergarment. "Drawstring," I whispered, and she giggled. She pulled the strings and I lifted so she could remove them. She gasped at my erection. We had bathed at many a camp, and neither of us was particularly modest, but she had never seen me as I was, rampant and pulsing.

The little tongue flicked out, swiping the head, and I lurched. Her hot little hand grasped, and she explored, touching, squeezing, tasting, her exploration a thing of wonder and as enchanting as everything else about her. Her intensity increased, if that was possible, and her tongue became a thing possessed, laving the surface of my member with her slickness and heat. I groaned and she looked at me with triumph in her eyes. "What should I do?" She asked.

"Whatever your heart leads you to do," I said. "Imagine it is a winter icicle and you are melting it." She nodded.

Her mouth, those incredible lips, engulfed me. There was wetness, heat and she sucked, her tongue circling the head as she slid down, then back up, savoring the taste and textures. She went a little too deep and gagged a bit, returning immediately and enveloping me again. This girl, this moment, this love, bursting my heart, all combined to cause me to lose all control. I was going to erupt and I needed to warn her.

"Serisi... stop, baby. I'm about to erupt!"

Her face tilted up. "No," she said. "I want you to. I am giving you great pleasure, I can tell. What... what should I do when you... erupt?"

"Can you swallow my seed?" I asked. "If not, you can spit it out or just let it run down."

"Of what will it taste?" she asked.

I laughed. "I have no idea. I am not attracted to men and have never tasted it, Serisi."

She cocked her head to one side. "What does Zee do?" she asked.

"She swallows, but that doesn't matter," I said. "You are Serisi."

She nodded and engulfed me. Her eyes locked with mine and never left. The sight of that face, those lips, seemingly dwarfed by my maleness, soon had me on the edge.

"Coming, Serisi," I groaned. She seemed to redouble her efforts. The first blast caught her by surprise and she choked a little, but she continued, sucking even harder, if possible. A little creamy liquid emerged from one corner of those luscious lips, trickling down her little chin.

It quickly became more than I could stand and I pulled her up. She wiped her chin with one finger, putting it in her mouth and sucking, bringing it back out with a plop, in one of the most erotic gestures I had ever seen. She scooted up, nibbling on my ear.

"Did you like me, Guerin?" she whispered in my ear.

I squeezed her tightly to me. "'Like' is such a puny inadequate word that it does not begin to describe what you did, baby," I told her. "I thank you for your gift, my little lover."

I held her tightly to me and rolled so that she was beneath me. "It is my turn to worship you," I said.

"Oh, yes, please," she giggled. The giggle turned to a gasp as I thrust my tongue into her ear, tracing the outline to the pointed tip, running down the underside to the little hollow where it met her head just above her jawbone. I nibbled on her neck, feeling her heat and the pulse of her heart in her throat, grazing her with my teeth for a moment. Her breathing increased, and she moaned as I reached the hollow of her collar bone, nibbling my way downward across her silky warmth, finding the swelling of her breast.

I licked that luscious mound, kissed every inch of it and across to the other. I gave it the same attention and she was writhing beneath me, seeking my mouth with her spiked nipples. I avoided them, kissing the darker raised circles around them until she growled in frustration and seized my head between her hands, tangling her fingers in my hair and holding me firmly as she guided her nipple between my lips.

I drew it in, circling its soft hardness as she groaned, pulling me into her breast, gasping her arousal. "Guerin... something... oh, gods! Guerin!" Her words became unintelligible, and her motions frantic. She was peaking, just from my play with her nipples! She crushed my face into the pillow of her breast, nearly smothering me in that soft firmness until I twisted free and took its twin on her other breast. She continued to jolt, her body writhing and her mound seeking contact with my thigh until she whimpered. "Wait, wait, Guerin."

I claimed her lips again and she shuddered for a moment beneath me, her movements gradually slowing until she was still, her lips and tongue against mine her only movements. I gazed into her eyes and those azure pools were filled with tears.

"Are you sad, Kitten?" I whispered.

"No, oh no, never think so." She was quick to answer. "I am so joyous I could burst! Is there more, Guerin?"

"Much more," I told her. "This was a beginning."

"I shall die," she affirmed.

I laughed. "No, baby. You won't, but you will expand and accept. It is nature's way, between a man and a woman. I was only beginning to play with you, though."

"You may continue," she announced.

I gave those luscious nipples another taste, making sure that I remembered every detail. They were glorious, but other treasures had to be found. I moved, leaving no inch of her body untasted. The warmth, firmness and silky feel of her was intoxicating, as was the taste. She had even a distinctive odor: clean, fresh, faintly girl and all Serisi. It increased as I made my way downward, nipping at her skin from time to time, thrusting my tongue into her navel, making her squirm and giggle.

I tugged at her tuft, taken those silken strands between my lips and her movements became a slow writhe. I continued, sliding down to the dusky thighs, kissing my way to the inside, moving upward toward her center. Her legs were widely parted and the prominent tendon running up the inside was nipped and tasted until I reached her juncture. She was as beautiful as I imagined. Her outer lips were the same dusky hue as the rest of her. The tiny bud above was the same. Her lips were tightly sealed and small, forming a straight line pointing toward the pleasure nub above. I swiped them with my tongue and her hips lurched.

Parting the seal, my tongue moved inside and there was even more heat, moist heat that had a slickness and taste like no other substance. As soon as the seal opened, her wetness was apparent and I lapped at her essence, causing her hips to shift as she moaned out her pleasure.

I was not an inexperienced lover, and I used every trick I had ever learned, heard of or imagined on my little lover. I tormented her button, lashing it with my tongue, flipping it back and forth and sucking it into my mouth as she trembled beneath me. Her thighs would tremble, building to her peak and then she would explode, crying out wordless ecstasy over and over, her capacity for climax seeming insatiable. She peaked easily, and often, and I kept finding new ways to bring her to joy.