Thoughts on a Deserted Coast Pt. 01

"I was afraid that this might happen," Rhuna said unhappily, "I am back to having nowhere to go."

"Never mind Rhuna," Marishe growled quietly as she carried an almost sleeping Yergei on her hip, "If it isn't a problem for you, I'd be happy to let you stay at my place until I can get this sorted out.

"You are very kind," Rhuna said humbly, "I will do nothing to trouble you."

Marishe actually found herself grinning a little, "If that means that my belongings are safe, then you're welcome to stay with me for a while. I can even offer you a better bath."

She smiled and raised her finger, "My place might not be much, but I've got a warm pool to wash in."

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"This is wonderful," Rhuna sighed as she eased herself down into the pool later. She wasn't even fully seated and she could feel the miles beginning to fall away. "How did you come by this place for yourself?"

"A lot of bloody work," Marishe said, "I found it and before I could even spend an afternoon here, I had to chase the previous inhabitants out and just start washing it down. Of course that goes a lot easier if the water you're needing for that happens to be the main reason that you're here in the first place. It's a long walk to get here, but that's one of the reasons that nobody knows about it much.

Just promise me that you'll help by doing the cleanups with me and I'll be happy."

"Done," Rhuna smiled.

Rhuna looked over to where Marishe stood washing Yergei. He looked happy holding very still and humming while she rubbed and scrubbed to get the dust out of his pores. If they'd spent most if not all of his young life wandering the dusty wastes, then she didn't want to think about what the sheets on the guest bed would look like without this.

Her fingertips tickled him as she worked at dislodging the dirt in his fur, but he giggled and hummed just to hear the effect on the sound.

"What's in the big leather bundle that you've been carrying?" Marishe said, "I've been meaning to ask."

"Our few belongings" Rhuna smiled, "my clothes, some clothing for Yergei, as well as my wares. I did not come all of the way here just to be a burden on the generosity of this settlement.

I sell goods; leatherwork that I craft myself, mostly. Also, I sell clothing, though I do not make it. I will need to find a place where I can arrange to buy my stock wholesale. The clothing sales just come as customers find other things that they wish to purchase."

"You know, Rhuna," Marishe said with a knowing smile, "I'm coming to understand you a little more. It's also about the unspoken things, isn't it?"

Rhuna laughed and nodded, "Alright, I will be fifthcoming. I -"

"Wait," the guard said with a grin, "Don't you mean forthcoming?"

"Not precisely," Rhuna grinned back, "My mother told me when I was young that more will come to me from life if I expect more. If I say it this way then why settle for only fourths coming to me when I might have fifths, yes?"

"You do understand that a fourth is a larger piece than a fifth of anything?" Marishe asked.

Rhuna nodded, "Yes, but wanting only fifths leaves more room at the trough. Customers are like piglets sometimes. I wish to make my money on volume, as well as ... specialty items. I sell bits of jewellery and little things which I offer to the right customers at a quiet price."

"Such as ...? "Marishe asked.

"Well, Rhuna said, looking up at the cavern ceiling, "A little perfume, only the best, very subtle scents, of course. Things such as one might not be able to get here.

Lotions which warm the skin. Things like this sometimes need to have the effect demonstrated in a little privacy. I also offer other things, such as restraints and small, discreet and very subtle weaponry. But these things are not offered to just anyone.

For instance, I see that you carry a large and heavy bow, Marishka. I am sure that you know your business, but there must be some times when you might prefer something a little more ... discreet for use in quiet surroundings, places where there is no room to draw a bow.

Such as a bed."

She waved her hand as though a fly had suddenly appeared, "Let us just enjoy this, Marishka. I will show you everything after. I would ask for your help and advice, regarding location and how best to begin. I do not wish to need to carry that bundle to the market and then home again at the end of the day.

I would rather carry more money and less bundle," she smiled.

Marishe pronounced Yergei to be clean and he pranced before his mother, who looked at him strangely, "Who are you again? You do not look like anyone that I know."

She looked around, "I had my son Yergei here with me, but I do not see him anywhere now.

Ah well ... I shall have to find another son then."

She smiled at Yergei, "Would you like to be my son? You are very clean and handsome."

Yergei nodded, enjoying the game very much.

"Come then," she smiled as she stood up, "Please bring me the towel so that I can dry myself and the fine young gentleman friend that I have made. I will take you to your bed and shower you with affection."

They walked off down the short corridor while Marishe looked on, charmed by them.

"May I call you Yergei?" she heard Rhuna ask her son, "I will have less trouble remembering your name if it is the same as my son's name. I wonder where he has gotten to, but I supposed that it does not matter much and you look so clean and you smell so... mmm, good to me.

I know that I will have trouble keeping myself from offering you a bedtime drink of warm milk. Would you like that?"

When Rhuna returned, she quietly said that Yergei was asleep, "My poor little boy," she smiled, "He has been so good though everything, the constant walking day after day and all of the hiding from the beasts in the wild lands that we had to pass through. I want so much to give him a better life here.

I saw that you are very good at washing him. I have had the same rough journey which made him so dirty."

She smiled as she took off the towel that she'd been holding against herself, "Would you like to wash me now, Marishka?"

Marishe nodded slowly. There wasn't any other response, after all.

Rhuna was a very lusty and earthy girl. She wasn't thin to Marishe's eyes. If anything, she was ... well, ... she was a little ... juicy.

Her body had been made for one thing, one purpose more than any other and it took only one look at her like this to know it.

Marishe nodded, stepping closer and they stood in their first embrace. Marishe kissed the side of Rhuna's neck very slowly, enjoying the feeling of holding this girl so much.

"We are different," Rhuna groaned softly into Marishe's ear, "Yet we are also very much alike. I am a little shorter and I am made a little softer, if you like this about me. You are harder and I like it about you, my generous friend.

I will never forget what you have done for me, but I know that there is something for us both here. We were made to trade pleasures, you and I. I knew this about you from my first sight of you. It is why I waited the whole day long, Marishka.

I wanted to leave nothing to chance. I wanted to speak to only one there at the gate.

I needed help. I knew it. But I also wanted a friend. I will say and do what I must to sell my wares and bring in coin.

But at the heart of it, I also need someone for myself."

She looked at Marishe's face, her eyes taking in details and features for a moment, "I also know that you can see into me, so there is no need to hide from each other.

Tell me that I am yours and then make it so, Marishka. I want to belong here. I want to belong to my friend who looks at me with green fire in her eyes."

Marishe lifted her hand and cupped Rhuna's breast and Rhuna moaned softly in response.

"I want you more than anything," she whimpered.

Marishe couldn't take any more and she kissed Rhuna then, tentatively at first and then as she felt Rhuna's hands on her, it became more urgent between them.

Rhuna had a bit of a magic way to her. Marishe couldn't really understand it. One minute, they'd been kissing each other and the next, Rhuna had worked her way down and after a few minutes spent making Marishe's breasts feel very special, she wandered on and ended up exactly as she'd been before - on her knees in front of Marishe.

She reached back and gathered her long dark hair, reaching then for Marishe's hand, "For you to guide me, lovely Marishka."

The next thing that Marishe was fully aware of was that she was on her back on the floor - not in the pool at all with Rhuna holding her hips and making amazing love to her. No one in Marishe's past had ever done it this well.

She shook her head to clear it and decided to get into the game.

She did manage to wash Rhuna though - eventually.

There was a lot of dust and dirt stuck to her, but Marishe went to it and before she pronounced Rhuna clean, she spent a while learning what she could by leaning over Rhuna's rump and using her fingers slowly.

Rhuna told her anything that she wanted to know then.

"I was in a village to the south of Stone Mountain for a time," she said, "I worked at whatever they asked of me. People there were getting nervous about a war of some kind and I knew nothing of it. I only knew that I would get as much money as I could before I left myself. I did not even know where to go then.

As time went on, more people left until at last the ones who owned the inn packed their things. I asked where I could go and they told me to stay if I wanted, they didn't care.

So, I stayed," she smiled.

"But nobody came at all. I was thinking of stealing the silver, but they left me only old and worn out things. I saw that they'd also forgotten about some of the drink there. I decided that I would leave the next day, but I thought that it might be a little nice to enjoy a quiet drink by myself."

She looked back, "The door opened a few hours later and a male walked in. He asked for an ale, but there was none, only more like what I was drinking. I told him that I would share with such a handsome one.

And of course," she winked a little, "There was only one goblet for us both."

Rhuna sighed, "And he was so handsome, too! We talked about everything and nothing and he told me that he was traveling; trying to learn of what had the people so frightened, for he hadn't seen anything after some days of travel. He also hadn't seen any people and more than anything, he now wanted to know why.

He asked my name and I told him. In that instant, I felt that I knew who he was. I was only not completely sure. I asked him his name but I didn't know it."

She smiled, "Well I am not from there and they had SEVEN princes. I cannot be expected to know all of them, can I?

I asked him if he missed his female in this traveling that he was doing and he looked sad and shook his head. What he told me wasn't a surprise to me at all. I do not come from Stone Mountain, but even among my people, I had heard of one of the wives of the princes.

Even where I was from, we knew her as the screamer and not in a very nice way. I was surprised because I had heard of the youngest and most handsome prince having a few little ones. I wondered how it was possible. What he told me did not sound like the love life of a prince to me.

"It was arranged before I was even born," he'd said. "I suppose that I am lucky. She is a famous beauty, after all. I have four children."

He held up his open hands, "I have been to bed with my wife about ten times."

I asked him why so few and he told me that his wife decided on the nights and then it was only ever once each night and that sometimes there was no child from it.

Well I liked him, Marishe," Rhuna said, "We were both a little drunk and I made us a meal. We ate together and I thought about some things. He never said or did anything like he wanted something else from me. I was alone there.

I wanted to have a little one myself, but I had not found a male that I liked for it.

I liked him, but I could never have him. I do not come from Stone Mountain. I come from the Mesharti Plains. If they do not wish to drink or gamble or buy something, the people of Stone Mountain try to avoid speaking with one of us. But this man was not like that at all. He knew what I was from the first moment. He even asked me about some of the people there and if I knew them.

I decided then and I said to him "You are traveling, trying to learn of your people."

He nodded and I said "I am not one of your people. They do not wish to know me but you do. I can see this. You even speak my dialect well. You are a fine man who is better than his people. You are fine to me and your wife is an idiot.

I offer you my body and a little of my love. There is no one here to know either of us. We can give each other what we wish. I wish to have a fine stallion for me - even if the time is short. For as long as we want, I will be the wife that you deserve.

We are not a prince and a wandering girl. We are the same here. When we part, we will never see each other again. Why not let me give you pleasure?"

Rhuna smiled back, "So, that is how we began that night. I never told him that I had a headache or anything. I never told him no, and he did for me anything that I wished."

She shook her head a little sadly, "I think that he saw the truth of his life when I asked him to fuck with me again. He stared and I asked why I could not ask. I kissed him and told him that he was the finest stallion I had ever seen and far better than any that I have ever had in my bed. I told him that there is more to a life than only fucking once a night and then not again until the girl learns if they made a little one. I told him that I would do anything for him if I was lucky enough to have him for me - anything on any night - if we hadn't already done it three times before the midday meal.

We stayed together for three days. He left then, still seeking to learn of the thing which was emptying the kingdom of his stupid brother the king. Nothing happened, but the south of the land grew empty with only towns and villages waiting for their people to come back.

I did little the day after he left. I hoped that with all of the seed that he put in me that I would have a child, just for me, not to parade before the king and demand an easy living. I would take my child and raise it alone. I knew that it would be hard, but it is what I wanted, since I saw no chance for me to have a male of my own.

I cried a little," she smiled, "because in spite of myself, I fell in love with him. But that was the way that it was to be and I as a little sure that I'd gotten what I'd wanted and if not ...

Well loving with that stallion had been much better than with anyone else. So I had a few memories in my heart. The sense of threat became slowly darker and I have heard that a few weeks ago, Stone Mountain was destroyed and everyone in the kingdom killed.

I do not know what happened to my handsome prince, but it is my prayer for him that if anyone lived, that he did.

That is my story."

Marishe looked at her for a long moment and then she got to her knees and pressed her face against Rhuna's labia as she slid her tongue in to part them.

When she pulled back a little while later, she said, "Your story tells me that I was right about you, Rhuna. You are everything that a woman should be. I've never heard of that place, but I hope that prince would see you when he closed his eyes during the rare times when his rotten bitch 'allowed' him the smallest of pleasures - and I'm very sure, sad to say, that it must have been that way for him. His wife must have had a cunt filled with sand from birth."

She kissed Rhuna there again before going back to what she'd been doing, "Somewhere, a god or goddess must be smiling down on Rhuna, for she is a queen."

They made love most of the night and when Marishe had her next days off-duty, she helped Rhuna get her business set up and running. Within three months it had become very fashionable to shop there and Rhuna was a very happy girl. Yergei grew a little and he made friends in the neighborhood quickly.

They moved to a better place after a time, and they stayed very close, always finding ways to love and laugh together.

Just knowing Rhuna was a blessing. To be allowed a place next to her in her bed was living on the high side to Marishe.

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She was standing her duty at the colony gates about six months later with another when the sorceress Miyarra-Loukh came running up - which was more than a little unusual in the first place.

"Marishe, I need you," she said, "There is something terrible about to happen and there is none better here in my service than you for the task. You MUST succeed!"

She heard the tone and told her partner that he had the post alone until she returned.

"What is it Miyarra-Loukh?" she asked, "Only say it."

"It affects more than us, the colony, I mean," she said, "There is one approaching from that way. He is a little distant yet, but he was a friend to me once. He comes from across the wastes and he is a little injured.

It limits his speed, and he is being hunted by ... I think more than twenty beasts. He is a warrior, a noble Bishran from afar and he seeks my help desperately for something and he is alone. Go and aid him. He must win through and reach us!

I cannot act myself or the location of the colony will be known to the enemy. His enemies are also agents of our own enemies." She cursed up a stormcloud in her frustration at not being able to just ... help.

Marishe pulled up her hood, adjusted the mask that she often wore, and cinched her sword scabbards to run more easily, "That way?" she pointed.

The sorceress nodded, looking a little anguished - another strange thing.

"Yes! And also, he carries a satchel looped around his neck. This, he brings to me for my help that he needs. What is inside is ... delicate, so do not drop it if you find it in your hands, such as might come to pass.

Help the Bishran and protect the satchel, no matter what happens. I will sense what I can and help if I find a way.

Go now, GO!"

She ran, wondering what had been meant by 'a little distant' since it would help her to know whether to pace herself or just dash and run her hardest.

Miyarra-Loukh was sometimes a little vague in what she needed and it annoyed Marishe because they'd known each other for a long time. A little detail once in a while couldn't hurt, could it? She was one of them after all.

In the colony, there were three women who held themselves a little apart from the other colonists. They knew themselves and each other as "Children of the Sky" and though they weren't related at all, they called themselves sisters.

Each of them had been helped in the early parts of their lives by a stranger who'd told them what they were and who they were descended from. Miyarra-Loukh and Marishe had met each other after the stranger's departure from their lives and they'd come here together. Ashkhet was one who'd come alone.

They were all very different to the usual kinds of Sangans.

In little time, she reached a grassy knoll and ran to the top of it, hoping for a glimpse.

At first, she saw nothing, but then she noticed a little dust and stared in that direction.

She thought that she saw one of the Bishran people limping slightly and struggling to stay ahead of a group of ... it didn't matter, many predators; the really snarly, large wild-dog kind. The kind that you could swing a sword waist-high at and be guaranteed to hit something on them kind.

No one had a name for them. Marishe just called them shit hogs out of politeness.

She was annoyed with Miyarra-Loukh again. More than twenty, she'd said. Well fifty is also more than twenty and it looked closer to fifty to her than twenty. A little more information and Marishe would have brought a shitload more arrows ...