Royal Heart 3

by Nuit du Loup

The ship was under attack?!

For a long timeless moment, Ilona felt too stunned to think about what that meant. But another loud concussion broke her out of it and she instead felt a strong desire to put herself between the danger and Kaede. But that was impossible since the only thing that could attack this skyship was another one.

"Kaede," she said, using her fingers to turn the frightened girl's face upward to look at hers. "What are we supposed to do when this happens?"

"What?" Kaede blinked in momentary confusion as Ilona's words cut into her fear.

"I know they must have told you what you are supposed to do if the ship is ever attacked," Ilona said. "Where must go? We can't stay here."

"Oh! It's...umm...Father! I'm supposed to go where he is and then stay quietly out of the way so that the soldiers and sailors can fight the ship." Color began to slowly return to Kaede's face. "Father will be on the bridge and I know how to get there."

"Then let's go!" Ilona shifted Kaede off of her lap and then she stood, lifting Kaede up to her feet in the same motion. Again something dark whipped by and this time she saw something explode in midair past the ship. As she half-carried Kaede back to the hatch, she caught a brief look out over the bow-end of the ship and she saw the two forward, topside turrets rotating to track at the distant enemy she couldn't see from this vantage.

Suddenly everything seemed to darken and dim, as if something was drinking in all the light. Down below she saw the turrets' barrels, long and sturdy wooden shafts with multiple thick bands of magic inscribed copper on them were starting to glow from those same bands with a ruddy, angry, red light. Then glowing rings made of searing light and sigils appeared along the length of each turret and out into the air. Flecks of light swarmed inside the magic circles. Then, with deafening booms of thunder, all of the turrets, even those she couldn't see, fired great roaring blasts of blue-white light out into the distance. She heard echoes of the same sounds coming to her ears and she knew the other ships had fired as well.

"This is definitely not the place to be," she mumbled.

She dropped to her knees and hurriedly assisted Kaede with getting started down the ladder. Once the princess was at least a body length down, she also began to descend and she made damn sure she closed the hatch behind her. Instead of going all the way down to the level they had climbed up from, Kaede got off at the first opening they came to.

"This way!" Kaede shouted. "We're already in the command tower so it's not far at all."

Ilona followed her and they found themselves in a very short hallway. Kaede hadn't been kidding. It was impossible for the bridge to be far in a structure this size. At the far end from where they stood was a thick hatch that was flanked by two Guardsmen with both weapons and armor equipped. She guessed it must be behind there.

The soldiers saluted at their approach, and the one standing on the right-hand side touched his hand to a shiny copper plate set into the wall beside him. A light shimmered briefly over the door, and then it slid aside all on its own. Normally Ilona would have been fascinated by the magic in that, but this was far from normal. Once she and Kaede crossed the threshold, the door snapped shut again behind them with a sharp click. Then they were on the bridge of the ship.

The bridge was a large space, but it seemed small at first because there were over a dozen uniformed men in it. Some sat at strange looking devices set around the perimeter at various stations. Those same sides were also windowed along three entire walls. Two men stood looking out the right-side window with binoculars held to their eyes. Ilona looked out in that direction and in the very far distance was what looked like fifteen or so black specks.

A small group of older looking men were all gathered in the middle of the room around a strange table made of transparent glass with what looked like threads of metals woven inside. It was very wide in diameter, but what was weird was what was above it. Images floated in the air, supported by nothing. There were three green-glowing gems made of light in a partial, vertical diamond formation and on the far side of the table, on the right-side, was a loose cluster of black gems that were moving slowly toward the green ones. The King stood in this group next to a big, solidly built man that looked to be just past his physical prime. The man wore a green greatcoat and his dark eyes were deadly serious as he looked at the images.

"Kaede!" the King had noticed them and he frowned. "Sorry to jostle you about, but someone has decided to pounce on us before we could ascend to the Dragon Line. If you want to watch, you may, but please stay silent and don't interfere. Ilona, please take care of her if you would." He turned back toward the big man. "Admiral, any idea of who they are yet?"

"Unfortunately, no," the man rumbled. "But to send this many skyships so far from anyone's homeland, we can narrow the possibility down to one of the bigger, wealthier kingdoms."

A loud snap-crack sound came from outside and Ilona saw an ovoid shimmer of light flicker around the outside of the ship. It was a magical shield.

"Looks like at least one of them have gotten the range on us now," the Admiral said, not sounding at all happy.

Another man, this one was also older but he still had full color in his thick, shaggy brown hair and a trimmed beard, raised his right arm in a pointing gesture. "Fire!" At his command, six of the men at stations made a motion on their devices with their hands. Outside, the light dimmed and the turrets unleashed their magical fury once again. On the table, one of the black gems dissolved into dust and vanished.

Ilona took Kaede by her shoulders and guided her over to an empty space by a wall where they were out of the way, but could still watch what was going on, just like the king had asked that they do. Kaede leaned back into her, taking comfort in Ilona's larger physical strength and warmth. And then Kaede squeaked in terror when the loud sound of shattering wood came to them and was immediately followed by the roar of an explosion that rocked the ship and made it shake.

"Damn!" the king swore loudly. "Can't we kill them any faster?"

"There's a limit to how fast we can fire full volleys while away from a Dragon Line, Majesty," the Admiral said. "And we need to keep the fire that heavy to guarantee a kill every time we fire a salvo. But we could have the other two ships switch to a rotating fire plan."

"Do it," the king ordered.

"Send the signal," the Admiral said to one of the men assembled about them. The man in question darted to an empty station and traced fingers over a metal plate. Shimmering light followed the hand as it traced glowing shapes onto the plate. Ilona guessed it to be a code of some kind being sent to the other ships to relay the order.

Again the sky outside darkened, but now it stayed that way and a steady boom-boom-boom of firing magical cannons filled the air. It was like the drumbeat of a terrible giant. Another of the black gems dissolved and yet another began to fall down toward the table.

"Two more down!" the king said, glaring at the image.

His victorious moment was brief, because almost as soon as his last word left his lips, the great skyship shuddered around them from another direct hit. And this time one of the men at a station cried out in angry frustration and then stood to look at the King and the Admiral.

"Sirs," he said grimly. "Surface-gun one has been destroyed. It's beyond the ability of the ship to regenerate it with any speed and the on-mount crew is dead."

"Thank you, Lt. Merros," said the man who had given the firing order. "Go and join the damage control teams down on deck two."

"Deck two?" Kaede moaned. She looked up worriedly at Ilona. "That's were our cabin is and where Nana and the others will be."

"They're still okay," Ilona said, unsure as to why she was confident of this. "Just stay calm and let your father and his men fight. Hold onto me and everything will be fine."

"The Asagiri has been hit hard!" this shout came from a man at another station and Ilona saw that one of the green gems was falling out of the formation. Two more black ones also dissolved. That left nine more.

The ship shook again, but this time no one called about major damage and they fired back. Kaede was shivering now and Ilona desperately wanted to do something to calm her down. But they were close to defeating whoever this foe was, so she just held the girl tight to her chest and stroked through her hair.

"Another one down."

"The Asagiri is falling out of the battle formation."

"Shield restored!"

The battle chatter rolled over them and Ilona tried to tune them out. Instead she just held Kaede tight and continued to stroke the girl's hair in a calming manner. Kaede closed her eyes at her touch and her breathing started to slow back toward a normal rate. Ilona sighed in relief.

"Second enemy attack group incoming from three o'clock high!"

Ilona's head snapped back up to the display table and she saw that another mass of black gems were moving in their direction from about the same heading as the first. She counted them and her breath caught short when she realized that this group was larger than the first one. Kaede began crying softly. And inside her mind, Ilona felt something that sent a tingle down her spine. It came to her as a translation of Kaede's frightened mind-voice, "Protect me!"

With those thought-words, the strange, powerful, something inside of her stirred like it had earlier in the morning. She felt suddenly very hot all over, but it didn't discomfort her at all. In fact, that heat flowed out through every nerve in her body in a sort of battle readiness. Ilona tilted Kaede's face toward hers and gave the frightened girl's lips a soft kiss. As soon as they touched, the world exploded around her.

Not literally, but Ilona felt new senses opening up within her, with a hyperawareness that was more than a little frightening and verging on overwhelming. The world took on a painful new vibrancy and everything became clearer and easier to see. The heat in her body roared and she felt the same kind of excitement she felt whenever she got into a fight. Like she could take on anything and obliterate it from her path and protect Kaede.

The black lines on her body began to glow with an inner light. It was soft at first, like a bluish fire that was just getting going, but in short order they were all blazing bright, causing many of the men in the bridge to look at her in shocked terror. When Ilona removed her lips from Kaede's surprised ones, she looked out at the world for the first time as an awakened true Mage with her magic completely unchained. Initially it was confusing because even though she could see everything around her with the utmost clarity, to the point that she could see a stray hair on one man's shoulder, but she was also somehow seeing through it all into the world around her with those new and strange senses.

She turned her head to the right, and in the far distance she saw dark shapes made of wood, steel and sizzling magics. She knew them for her enemy and within her body she felt trembling magical power waiting for her to release it and strike them from the skies like they deserved. But she knew somehow that there was another way closer to hand. Laying Kaede gently down onto the floor, she stood.

"Ilona, no, you must not use your magic!" the King, Kaede's father, was shouting at her but she was deaf to his words. All that mattered was protecting Kaede from this threat. "You don't know what you're doing!"

Ilona took one step away from Kaede, then knelt down and looked into up through wooden ship hull and into the sky beyond. There she found what she had felt in the distance. A massive river of pure magical power was flowing there in the sky like a blazing stream made from the same golden material as the sun. She reached out with her mind and magic and called to it. Shimmering magic coursed over her body as she did so and sigils of that power formed all around her in the air.

From the magic river she drew down just a tiny thread. It was no thicker than a hair from her head, but she could feel the unknowable power it contained. It snaked down in the irregular pattern of a lightning bolt, but finally, it came through the ship and touched her. As soon as it did so, she used both a hand and her magic to grab hold of it.

"Hiyaaaaaa!" the pain was terrible, here skin felt like it was on fire and there was an internal pressure that gave the feeling that she might explode from the inside out, but Ilona held tightly onto the thread of power and reached down to touch the deck of the bridge with her hand. She fed the power into ship.

All around her voices cried out in shock as sharp, black lines like those gracing Ilona's agony wracked body, surfaced like ink all throughout the ship on the bulkheads, ceilings, decks and even on its exterior hull. Beneath her hand, two lines appeared to either side and came inward toward a common center and then curled around in a partial circle where her hand lay, matching exactly what was on her forehead, minus the Stone.

Ilona's new awareness flooded through the ship and she felt the sparks of life from every living soul aboard it. She felt immense relief when she felt the three sparks she knew to be Nana, Liana and Amelia. But she also felt the ship's damage as wounds and expressed a desire that it be made whole. The power followed her will.

"Bloody goat pissing hell!" cursed one of the sailors nearby. "The ship won't respond at all and it's repairing at an impossible speed at the same time. The whole damn forward turret is re-growing already!"

Ilona felt an angry, irritating speck speeding from the threat in the far sky to threaten this ship and Kaede on it. She pushed her will that way and the ship's shield blazed with power from the magic being pushing into it. The incoming shells exploded as ineffectually as eggs on stone. She left a small portion of her power there to keep any more enemy shots from penetrating.

Ilona started to feel massive fatigue dragging her body and mind down, but she knew she was not done yet. There were still threats to Kaede out there. In her mind she turned the ship like she would a toy and the real, massive thing obeyed. She fed the borrowed power from the Dragon of Heaven into the hot, glowing core of the ship's own living magic, as she manipulated the turrets and aimed them.

Outside, the sky went black as she gathered more magic. When she fired her weapons, the beams of horrendous magical power were no longer straight lances. She curved them unerringly toward the dodging enemy ships and when they connected, terrible explosions ripped outward into the sky, taking swaths out of the enemy formation. Debris flew everywhere. As she did that she felt the sparks of life in the destroyed enemy ships snuff out like candle flames. She knew she had just killed many men.

That horrible realization crashed into her mind like a storm surge. She wrenched forward and retched onto the deck. Bile burned her throat with an acrid taste and her stomach ached with dry heaves. Yet still the power flowed from her in a fury. She cast out desperately with more blasts of magic from the turrets and more lives ended with sudden finality. Her body ached all over, and her mind was beginning to go oddly fuzzy, but she couldn't make herself stop. She had to protect Kaede.

"Stop!"

The shout was like a clarion call through a fog that turned her mind toward it. In that instant, her entire being focused on the sound of Kaede's tear filled voice. Ilona turned physically toward Kaede and saw she was crying for her now, not out of fear. Kaede held out a small, pleading hand. Unable to deny Kaede in her addled daze, Ilona lifted her hand away from the wooden deck of the ship and gasped as her controlling super-awareness of it vanished.

"Ilona," Kaede sobbed. "Seal!"

The magic drained out of Ilona in a crazed rush, just as she had started to take a step toward Kaede. Her strength was gone in the same instant, as if a great steel wall had slammed down to block her magic, and then she collapsed forward and only barely kept from smashing her face into the surface of the deck. All her senses snapped back to her merely human ones. It was then she became fully aware again of her own body.

"OOOohhh," she moaned wearily into the floor.

She hurt so badly. Her skin felt burned all over and every muscle felt like it had worked way past the point of complete exhaustion. Cramps and muscles spasms wracked her body and her heart was beating irregularly. Breathing became difficult and it took a supreme force of will to make hers lungs inhale with her chest against the floor. The clothing on her body felt charred and stiff against her already tortured skin.

"They're retreating! It's the Hitoriga, she caught up to us!" the man decrying this sounded elated. "Our Mages are sending them running!"

Ilona was too detached from the world to acknowledge anything at the moment other than the hard, flat surface of the deck. It felt cool against her skin. The man's words meant nothing. Only one thing was left in her mind. As if she had heard, Ilona felt a hesitant touch on her burned cheek.

"Oh, Ilona," Kaede's two saddened words said so much. For the first time in her life since her parents died, Ilona felt tears pouring from her eyes. They seared painfully on her tortured skin.

"Turn her over onto her back, she can't breathe," said a male voice she no longer recognized. More hands touched her then and even though it hurt terribly, she didn't have the energy to cry out. All she managed was a grunt. But when she finally lay on her back, it was as if half the world had been taken off her chest and air rushed into her lungs.

Soft, feminine hands clasped together onto one of hers, she didn't know which anymore, and she forced her lips to curl up into a ragged semblance of a smile. Before blackness claimed her, she managed to get out the most important thing.

"Kaede."

And she was gone.

******

"Ilona! Ilona!" Kaede threw herself down onto her knees with the bruising swiftness of fear and her hands flew back up to touch Ilona's now slackened face. But the older girl's eyes remained shut and a stab of deep, icy terror shoved into her heart. She wanted Ilona to wake up and tell her she was okay. She wanted her to say anything at all. But she remained still.

A near deafening groan rumbled from the entire ship. Then there was a massive lurch and Kaede squawked in surprise as she lost all her balance and fell directly onto Ilona's unconscious form. Her very first instinct was to remove herself from the injured girl so that she wouldn't exacerbate the damage. But she found that she couldn't do that. Instead she wrapped her arms onto Ilona and held her tight as tears leaked from her eyes. There was another tiny jolt and someone gave a happy outcry.

"I've got her again Captain!" she turned her head and saw it was one of the pilots sitting in the two seats at the very front of the bridge, looking out over the ship's bow. The one on the left was using sure movements of his hands on the controls and his partner appeared to be looking carefully over the various dials and readouts in front of him.

"Kaede," she glanced upwards as her father approached with that sure stride of his and knelt down beside them. "You have to let go of her, she needs time to heal and rest." His calm, soothing baritone was a balm on her frayed emotions. Her arms relaxed and she slid back off Ilona to kneel again beside her, next to her father, but she kept her hands on Ilona's arm. Father's arms went around her in a gesture of paternal comfort and she was glad for it. Right now he was not the King; he was simply a father with his daughter.

"You know why this happened, don't you?" he asked after a moment. He reached out with his free hand and she saw him accept the Admiral's greatcoat from the man. The Admiral himself gave a shake of his head and returned to handling the small task group. Father flung the garment out over Ilona and then down to cover the girl since her clothing had flaked into crumbling dust, leaving her mostly nude again. The coat provided at least a modicum of modesty for her. Oddly enough though, Kaede saw that Ilona's shoes appeared to have survived.

"I do," she nodded.

This mess in front of her was all her fault. She had let her unreasoning terror at the thought of being involved a real battle with the possibility of actually getting killed, consume her. Ilona had felt her fear and had tried to calm and comfort her. But instead, Kaede had sent out a mental plea for her own safety. Somehow Ilona had heard that desire and it had apparently been enough to grant Ilona permission to use her magic. Ilona's own strong desires to protect her had done the rest. But she had gotten the boulder rolling.

"This is why you both must have training when we return," father said calmly in an instructor's manner. "One of the very first lessons that a Companion must learn is to control their own fear and become its ruler instead of the other way around. Otherwise moments like this can happen. Companions must be on guard because their Mage will be especially sensitive to any spikes of fear or anger. As you saw, Ilona is frighteningly powerful when she lets loose, and I have never heard of or seen her equal. Had she made just one mistake, we might have been the ones being torn from the sky by her magic. We were just lucky she had a clear target to focus her anger on. But as you can see, she needs training too. She could barely control her magic."

Kaede could still see what had happened. Ilona's skin markings had blazed so brightly that all in the room had been forced to avert their gazes. Ilona's eyes had taken on a frightening intensity and she seemed to stare straight at the bulkhead and see beyond it. But as she had done so, Kaede had still been close enough to see wild, stray sparks of raw magical power whirling around Ilona's form like mad serpents nipping at her flesh. They had burned and torn at Ilona and yet she never budged from that kneeling position on the deck. Her body had seemed bent on tearing itself apart from the inside and out.

The sailors had been terrified too. The ship had suddenly wrenched out of their control and moved in ways that defied all laws of physics and magical strictures. Then the ship had blasted the enemy from the skies. It hadn't taken very much for them to match that to Ilona's raging magic in their midst. Now they were eyeing Ilona warily with sideways glances.

Kaede looked at the Prescient-Table in the middle of the bridge, and far less than half of the black gems representing enemy ships remained as they fled. A small, fast-moving green one was chasing after them like an angry guard dog. Ilona had been the cause for a large majority of those enemy losses. That too was making the men look at Ilona warily. They were probably thinking something like "if Ilona could do something like this now, when she was untrained and lashing out, what might she be able to do later on?"

"How badly hurt is she?" Kaede asked, not noticing the worry still lacing her speech.

"Ilona will be just fine," father smiled wearily. "Mages like her are fully imbued with their magic on a level we can't imagine. Her body is already at work doing repairs as she sleeps. We also have more than a few people with us who are skilled at using healing magics, so we can accelerate that. It was good that you shut her down when you did. I don't think she could have withstood all that leakage for much longer. There is a limit to what she could have endured."

Kaede heard the bridge hatch snap open with a metallic clank and when she turned to look, two navel corpsmen entered. One had the two canvas wrapped poles of a stretcher in his arms. The other was older and had the collar leaf that marked him as an officer. Father raised a hand to them.

"Over here, we've only one wounded," he said to them.

"Nature of the injury, Highness," the senior man asked.

"She has extreme magical exhaustion and overexposure damage done to her entire body. Take her to my daughter's cabin and put her on the bunk. She is a Mage."

The officer nodded as if he knew exactly what her father was talking about. Kaede was unfamiliar with the nature of the man's training and experience, so perhaps he did know. He pulled a thin notebook from a back pocket and checked something written there. "Right sir," he said with all seriousness. He put the notebook away and gestured to the other man carrying the stretcher.

Together they rolled the thing out onto the floor and very carefully lifted Ilona onto it. Kaede cringed inside when Ilona let out an unconscious groan of pain, but she knew better than to interfere or complain. This was the only way to transport Ilona to somewhere she could rest comfortably and recover. But she did feel a sense of relief deep inside to know that Ilona would be fine.

They had only just started to get to know each other. But Kaede had greatly enjoyed Ilona's strange combination of strength, solidity and that caring warmth she'd kept despite her unfortunate young life. The brief moment they'd had out on the platform had been so nice. She didn't want Ilona to be torn from her and to loose the possibility to have many more such moments together.

She smiled at that thought. A couple of hours ago that would have still bothered her. But every reason she had dragged out to try and convince herself that being Ilona's companion would be ruin on her life, it fell flat. Instead she had been forced to see the possibility in it. Not to mention Ilona's touch and physical presence was a magic all of its own. Kaede had greatly enjoyed lying together.

"Can I go and be with her?" Kaede asked in a yearning voice.

Father just smiled knowingly and squeezed his hug a little tighter for a second before answering. "Of course you can. I need to make sure things get cleaned up properly so I need to remain here. I will stop by when I can," He looked at the senior corpsmen. "My daughter will be accompanying you."

Again the man nodded. "Aye, sir."

The two men hefted the stretcher between them with a practiced ease that made it look effortless even though Ilona was solidly built for a girl. The man in the lead, the officer, set the pace and they headed out. Kaede took one last look at her father as he rose to address the Admiral and Captain, then hastily stood and followed the medics.

She vowed silently to be there when Ilona woke up. She owed her that much.

******

When Ilona opened her eyes, she felt vastly confused and slightly perturbed. She was yet again looking up at a strange ceiling when she couldn't even remember falling asleep at all. But unlike when she awoke in the Viceroy's manor, she felt really good. She felt entirely refreshed. Not a single muscle was stiff or sore. It was like she'd had the best sleep of her entire life.

Then she became aware of a solid, warm something against her right arm. She glanced around before turning to see what that was and saw that she was lying in her and Kaede's shared cabin. Sunlight was coming through the porthole window and a soft rushing sound came from everywhere. Occasionally the light dimmed as if a cloud had passed in front of the sun outside. The bed itself felt sinfully soft and incredibly comfortable compared to the hovel cot she had made back on the island and she was heartily tempted to just go back to sleep again; except for the fact that she felt perfectly rested at the moment and sleep was about the furthest thing her body wanted.

She raised her left arm to brace it against the bed in order to rise and see what was against her side. After it only moved a few inches there was a tiny popping sound and an odd, partial cylinder of light rippled over her body and then disappeared. She frowned at that, but she raised her head up and then pushed herself the rest of the way with her arm. The soft, red sheet over her body dropped down to reveal that like last time, she was completely naked. She also saw that the markings on her body had increased again into even more complex swirls of flame-like lines. The ones on her stomach went up and around as if to cup and support her breasts.

That was when she remembered what had happened. Her eyes widened as she stared at her body in shock. She knew why she had been asleep. She also felt distinctly queasy as she remembered that she had killed the men aboard those other ships. She had gone absolutely berserk, letting the power within guide her actions because she had wanted to protect Kaede. The end result was her body being severely hurt.

"Kaede!" she gasped out the girl's name and her gaze shot to where she felt the warmth. There she saw that a second bunk had been added to the cabin to double the bed space and that a petite, honey-haired girl was curled up there in deep slumber. Air rushed out of Ilona's lungs from a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding. Kaede was still safe and that sent relief flooding through her.

She made to lift her right hand out from under the sheet, but frowned and stopped to hold it in the air when she saw that something was attached to her. On her forearm was what looked like a strangely hinged copper bracer with other metals and stones embedded in its surface. One small stone was glowing with a yellowish light. She frowned at it, studying it, and realized she could feel a tingling from that part of her arm. Was that magic?

A soft groan from across the cabin drew her attention away from the thing on her arm and her eyes widened when they settled on the two chairs placed against the far wall near the clothes chest. Amelia and Liana were seated there, leaning against each other with heads touching slightly as they also slept. Ilona thought it must be uncomfortable to sleep upright like that, but she also wondered why they were here and not in their own beds. The groan came again and she saw Liana nuzzle herself against her sister gently and then flutter her eyes open. For a moment she just sat there staring, then here eyes widened and bright consciousness awoke in them.

"Lady Ilona?! I see you've finally woken up!" she said in a quietly controlled voice. Then her eyes dropped, scanning Ilona's bare chest and then back up. Her cheeks flushed a little. "And you look very good too."

At that moment Ilona felt a strong prompting from her body that it needed something very badly at the moment. "Umm, thanks Liana," she smiled at the woman. There was no point in being modest now since Liana had and would see her naked again. "I seem to have slept for a very long while."

"Yes, this is now the second morning since," Liana agreed with a nod. She paused to adjust her sister's posture so that Amelia would be a little more comfortable. "You've been unconscious the entire time, healing your body."

"I see," Ilona said. She did remember the pain and absolute exhaustion. "I don't know the polite way to ask this, Liana, but could you tell me where to find the privy?"

"Oh! You would need one after being out so long," Liana responded cheerily. She gently pushed Amelia until the older sister was leaning against the clothes chest. Amelia gave a sleeping groan of protest at being moved off of Liana, but she remained asleep. "Sorry sis," Liana said softly, giving Amelia a sisterly kiss on one cheek before rising.

Liana moved around front of the chest and slid out the bottom drawer. She withdrew a fluffy robe of some kind. Liana grimaced at it. "This will have to do you for now. Good thing the privy isn't far. Think you can get out without waking the Lady?"

"I think so," Ilona said. She slowly slid to the edge of the bed, away from Kaede. It was just lucky that Kaede was sleeping on the side against the wall. She didn't think she would have been able to climb over her without waking her since the beds were so soft. When she set her bare feet on the deck an electric tingle entered her and she became distantly aware in part of her mind of the entire ship.

"Whoa, this ship is fully alive!" she whispered in wonder to Liana. It wasn't as strong a connection as before, she couldn't demand any control, but she could feel the life and power in the vessel as well as a sense of its functioning.

"Yes, but the making of these skyships are a closely guarded secret," Liana said knowingly.

Ilona stood, enjoying the feeling of the ship in a corner of her mind, and stretched her arms out a little. Liana, Ilona saw, was watching her with an avid interest and more than a little sexual desire. She approached Liana and at a gesture she turned around. She held out an arm at a touch and Liana helped her into the robe and reached around from behind to tie the sash. Ilona ignored the hand that gave her breast a good feel. Since the garment was sized for Kaede's much slimmer and shorter form, the robe was more like an incredibly indecent shirt that barely hid her chest and only went halfway down her ass. Liana let out a long, disappointed sounding sigh.

"The Lady is so very lucky, if you don't mind my saying," Liana said when Ilona turned around with a raised, questioning eyebrow. Liana reached out and adjusted the robe's hem a little to try and hide her womanhood a little better.

"I don't know about lucky," Ilona responded with a smile. "All I've done is caused her trouble so far. But I do thank you for the compliments on my appearance and for the help."

"I do think she is lucky," Liana countered with a grin. "And not just because of how...uh, physically impressive you are." She licked her lips a little at that and smiled wider. "Sorry about that, but as my sister says, girls are my weakness, and you are very exciting to look at."

"I don't really mind you looking at me," Ilona told her turhtfully. Then she laughed quietly at Liana's questioning look. "I take your appreciation of me as a compliment. It's nice to know you enjoy how I look. So feel free to look all you want."

"Ooh, I will," Liana accepted with a grin. Then she shook her head. "Sorry, I'm supposed to be showing you the privy. It's not very far at all."

Liana left the cabin first. And after declaring it to be all clear, Ilona followed her out. The privy chamber proved to be a very, very short distance away. It was just around the corner from where their small side passage connected to the main corridor. There Ilona encountered her very first experience with real plumbing.

Liana dutifully kept watch outside the single-person chamber. So Ilona, lacking pants or any real lower covering at all, just sat on the fascinating water filled bowl. After doing her business and cleaning herself she wondered what to do. In the end she cracked the door and asked Liana.

"Silly," Liana giggled. "Just pull that chain coming from the ceiling near the wall."

Ilona pulled the indicated chain and marveled as all the waste was whisked away by flowing water. It was so much better than her privy pit back home. This way it would not smell so bad at all if you kept it clean. Civilization was a wonderful thing indeed.

After fighting the robe back into its pretense of cover, she called out to Liana again. They waited for two sailors to pass by, and then Liana urged her back out. They hurriedly ducked down the short corridor and as they approached they heard loud shouting coming from the room. Ilona recognized it Kaede's voice.

"Oh dear," Liana murmured.

Ilona got to the door as fast as she was able since she was worried about what had Kaede so disturbed and almost whipped it open. As soon as she did so her eyes immediately went to the joined beds where Amelia was trying to console a crying Kaede who was clinging to her. Kaede had her face buried and didn't see her enter.

"Kaede?" she called into the room.

"Ilona!" Kaede threw herself away from Amelia with one heave, planted her feet onto the deck and practically launched herself at Ilona. She caught the younger girl in her arms with a soft grunt of effort and Kaede's slim arms whipped around her into a tight embrace. Ilona also wrapped her arms around Kaede and enjoyed a moment their bodies being together.

"What's wrong?" Ilona asked, holding Kaede's crying face into her chest.

"You were gone!" Kaede sobbed.

"She has not left your side except for bodily necessities since you collapsed," Amelia said, frowning at her and Liana as if looking for something to disapprove of. She was still seated on the bed with both legs tucked under her. "She wanted to be here when you woke again. Yet when she awoke just now, you were simply gone."

"Oh," Ilona said very softly, incredibly moved by Kaede's desire. She reached down with one arm and Kaede's tears cut off with a small squeak as Ilona scooped behind her knees and lifted her up. Ilona crossed back over to the beds as Liana closed the door and sat them down next to Amelia. In the same movement she had Kaede onto her lap sidesaddle. Kaede looked at her with a slightly stunned expression and wet, flushed cheeks.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke up," Ilona said, looking right into Kaede's gleaming eyes. "But I'm here now."

"But...I wanted to—"she cut off as Ilona touched her lightly on the lips.

"I know," Ilona said. "That you wanted to do so makes me feel wonderful. No one has ever expressed such a thing about me before. So I'm very sorry I wasn't able to let you. Unfortunately, I had a very unromantic thing to take care of and couldn't wait."

"What thing?" Kaede asked, now much calmer and leaning back a little into the arm Ilona was using to hold her upright. She looked at the small robe Ilona was attempting to wear and then at Liana who was seating herself on Ilona's other side. "Where did you two go?"

"Just around the corner," Liana said. "Lady Ilona had been asleep for over a day, so she needed to...empty. I just showed her where it was and played lookout."

"What...Oh!" Kaede's pale-skinned cheeks reddened. "I probably should have realized that. Sorry."

"Why?" Ilona laughed. "I didn't exactly put up a sign to tell you. All that matters is that we're both okay and that I have you back in my arms, again."

This time Kaede did a full-on body blush at Ilona's words and after glancing from side-to-side at her maids, to see them smiling, she slowly buried her face in the soft robe over her chest. Ilona just held her there and enjoyed having the girl where she was. This was where they had been before the attack had happened and it seemed appropriate that they had returned. Amelia just smiled and Liana predictably giggled.

A knock came from the door. "Excuse me," called a female voice. "I'm here to check on the Mage girl."

Kaede pulled her face back out from where she'd tried to hide it and turned toward the door. "You may come in."

The door opened to reveal an attractive woman in her early thirties with her dark brown hair held back with a flower-patterned scarf. She wore a long white and blue skirt, a white blouse and a dark-blue vest. Three ink-like dots graced her forehead. She looked right at them for a moment, then her eyes widened and she turned about to face behind her. It was then Ilona saw another face, a youngish man with close cut hair and a thin line of beard, starting to appear.

"You stay in the hall!" the woman said in a 'do what I say or else' kind of voice. The head stopped and moved back. "No men allowed."

The woman closed the door behind her, then turned and gave a very shallow part-bow of greeting. "I see you are awake!" she said looking at Ilona appraisingly and then at Kaede. "Very awake."

"We were just talking!" Kaede protested quickly, but she did not get off Ilona's lap or even make a move like she'd considered it. Ilona was in full agreement with keeping things as they were.

"I'm sure you were!" the woman chuckled. "But it is good to see you up already, Lady Ilona. You have recovered from your injuries with remarkable swiftness even with my skilled assistance."

Ilona remembered the odd light that had flickered over her and the metal thing still attached to her arm. She raised that up. "Is this yours?"

"Indeed it is!" the woman took two steps forward, extended her hands and pressed on the glowing stone in the bracer. It went dark and snapped open to fall into the woman's hands. "This device was just to help slow some of your metabolic processes while you slept so that you could continue sleeping until the healing was done."

"My thanks then, was that other magic yours too?"

"Yes, it was just very basic healing field," the woman explained brightly. She slipped the device into a pocket in her skirt. "It was just assisting your already potent healing abilities to help you save some energy and time."

"Then thanks again."

The woman waved a hand in dismissal. "It was no big deal really. All I did was help you to help yourself. You were much more impressive than I was from what I hear. Did you really take control of this skyship and wield it as a weapon?"

Ilona wasn't sure she wanted to answer that and her stomach tightened again at the reminder that she had killed people. Enemies trying to kill them, but still people, and she didn't even know who this person was. She could be anybody.

"She is another Mage, like you," Kaede said, correctly interpreting her facial expressions. "She was on the Hitoriga and after they chased those other ships off, she came aboard to help make sure you'd be alright."

"Myra Locana," the woman said, doing another tiny bow at the introduction. "I felt your powers awaken four days ago, so I've been curious to really meet you. I'm glad I finally have."

"I'm not really anything impressive," Ilona said, feeling a little embarrassed herself now. "As for what I did, can't you feel the ship too?"

"What do you mean?" the woman asked.

Ilona pointed at her bare feet on the deck. "I can feel the life of the ship as a living organism. Can't you feel it too since you're like me?"

"Nope, I can't," the woman said in a thoughtful manner. "We all have different talents and things like that, but that is interesting. I've never heard of that being felt before. Maybe you're just special like that."

Ilona rather liked the woman. She seemed easy going and friendly and Ilona was interested in knowing more about her since Myra had to be more experienced with magic than she was. All she knew for sure was that it was easy to go out of control and that Kaede controlled the tap.

"Who was the guy outside?" she asked.

"Hanni?" Myra grinned happily and had a conspiratorial look in her eye. "He's my Companion. I caught myself a good looking one, huh?"

"Wouldn't really know," Ilona smiled back. "I've never been interested in men. I mean, he seemed handsome from the little I saw, but he's far from my tastes."

"Ho-ho! So that's how it its?" Myra laughed delightedly. Then she grinned at Kaede. "I can't wait until you see Tanis again."

"Who's Tanis?" Ilona asked.

"My cousin, the one that Father mentioned is like you," Kaede explained. Then she turned to Myra. "What does she have to do with Ilona and me?'

"Until her power kindled, Tanis bedded both men and women," Myra said with a smile. "But she usually preferred women. She's going to tease you when you next meet, especially when you bring home an exotic beauty like this one. She's also going to try to drag every detail out of you while also congratulating you."

"I thought I'd heard something along those lines about her," Liana said in a thoughtful tone. "There was a rumor that she shared her bed with both of her maids."

"She'll admit that she did," Myra agreed. "But that was years ago when she was in that wild teenager phase of hers. Now she's happily marrying her Companion." She smiled at them again. "You two seem to be getting along well already."

"We've had a good talk about it," Kaede said primly, but one hand touched on Ilona's.

"I'm just glad you aren't fighting against it like some do," Myra said seriously. "I did for a while since there was another man I'd had my heart set on at the time when my power kindled. It was all useless though and only caused unneeded stress for both of us. It took me quite a while before I felt like I'd apologized to Hanni enough for what I put him through."

"So you're happy now?" Kaede asked.

"Oh yes!" Myra brought her hands together in a pleased gesture. "You'll see very shortly how enjoyable a life you two can have together despite the rarity of a female-female bonding."

"It doesn't happen very often?" Ilona asked as Kaede leaned a little more against her to get a little more comfortable.

"Maybe once in three hundred," Myra confirmed. "Right now I know of two other such pairs, one of which consists of a girl that was the daughter of a Count who ended up bonding to her closest friend. I heard their relationship was a bit awkward at first, before they got settled in."

"I can imagine," Kaede said. But she sounded a little relieved that they wouldn't be the only such pairing among the Knights and their Companions.

"Well, since you are doing fine now, I'll just take my leave," Myra said and then she inclined her head to Ilona. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you can really do once you've gone through some training. Let me know if I can help with anything!"

She let herself back out into the corridor and they heard her cheery voice pick right back up with the man's to join it. The man's voice was low and his amused laughter rumbled pleasantly. Their conversation seemed energetic as they faded and walked away. But after a minute or so they were gone.

"So you really talked things out?" Liana asked with perky curiosity. She leaned in very close. Any more and her face would be pressed to Ilona's proud bosom.

"Liana!" Amelia leaned forward to look around Kaede at her sister as she chided her. "That is none of our business!"

Kaede looked up at Ilona's face for a moment, and then smiled happily. "It's alright Amelia," she said. "I don't mind the question, at least not from you guys. Ilona has managed to convince me that this might be a good thing between us. And like I told Myra, we had a very nice...talk right before we were attacked. Ilona is very persuasive when she wants to be." This last came with a smile that turned up a little in open amusement.

"Oh!" Liana's eyes grew very round. Liana leaned even closer so that her face was right in front of Ilona's chest and barely a foot from Kaede's face. "I see! So she used that kind of persuasion?"

Kaede's cheeks blushed again and Ilona felt her physically stiffen to resist turning to hide it. But she held still, only leaning her weight into Ilona a little more. Almost unseen, she gave a tiny nod. Liana noticed this and smiled wide.

"Was it nice?" Liana asked, as if this was the best gossip news she would hear all day.

"Liana!" Amelia protested again, leaning forward to glare at her younger sister around Kaede. "Stop that! It's bad enough I have to listen to that from you!"

"Listen to what?" Ilona asked curiously.

Amelia rolled her eyes and leaned back on her arms. "Like I mentioned, Liana gets girl crazy sometimes. And when she gets really excited I get to hear her explain everything in tiny detail since she has a very vivid imagination added atop plenty of experience. Once she made me reenact an entire lovemaking session with her so she could show me what happened. Yesterday she got herself so worked up about the two of you that I had to take her aside and vent a little of it. Hearing about the actions of others also gets her going too."

"That's not what I'm doing!" Liana complained earnestly. "Honest. I would not do that to them. I only asked because I love Lady Kaede and I was hoping she enjoyed her first time being with another woman."

"Liana, I know you both care about me very much," Kaede shared a smile with both sisters. "You're as much family to me as my blood relations." She glanced at Liana in a slightly embarrassed way. "But yes, Liana, Ilona was very nice to me. But we didn't do very much. I think I am beginning to understand some of the things you've shared with me though."

"See Amelia?" Liana said happily.

"I suppose." Amelia sighed. Then she glanced over them again only to sigh even deeper. "Liana, staring at Lady Ilona's chest like that is not appropriate."

"It's at least partially my fault this time though," Ilona told her with a smile and nodded down at her body. "Somehow it seems I'm always naked in front of the two of you."

"Actually, I think you've been naked, more than you've been dressed since we met!" Kaede laughed in great amusement with the other two. She too glanced down a little to see the assets that were barely concealed by the robe and her eyes shined. "Maybe it's not so bad a trend."

Liana grinned at Kaede in satisfaction. "Finally! Someone who understands me! I was just telling Lady Ilona earlier that I am quite jealous of you, my Lady."

"Too bad, she's all mine!" Kaede grinned and then smirked up at Ilona. She felt very warm inside from that expression on the small, delicate featured face. "She even told me she was."

"Kaede," Ilona matched eyes with Kaede again and couldn't help her leaning forward to give Kaede a soft, emotion filled kiss. The younger girl seemed to melt in her arms and their kiss deepened. Ilona loved the feel of touching Kaede again and it seemed the feeling a mutual. When they parted, both of the maid sisters were smiling at them in a happy manner.

"Should we give you two some privacy?" Amelia asked. Ilona shared a look with Kaede and they both nodded at the same time.

"Awww, but it was just getting interesting!" Liana protested good naturedly.

"Which is exactly why we need to go, Liana," Amelia retorted in good humor. "If you want, we can go to our cabin? We can spend some time there before finding some more clothes for Lady Ilona."

"Really?" Liana grinned and Ilona saw her reach a hand down to touch herself briefly through her uniform skirt. "That's the kind of argument I like! Thanks Amelia!"

Amelia stood and Liana eagerly dismounted the bed to catch her arm in her sister's. Amelia pulled Liana closer and Ilona could see the deep sisterly love they held for each other. Then, after they both gave a respectful bow, they slipped out of the door. Ilona stared after them in slight bemusement for a few moments after they were gone.

"Are they...?" she began asking.

"Yes," Kaede said, still smiling up at her. Ilona saw a wonderful heat in those crystalline-clear eyes. "Those two love each other very much and Amelia, as much as she usually prefers men, is a more than willing participant with Liana. They both enjoy their private times together. I've always found it to be very sweet, though I don't think I could do that with any of my sisters. They're just that close. Did you see that look in Liana's eyes as they left though?"

"That hungry look?"

"Yep!" Kaede leaned down into her chest a little and giggled in amusement. "I learned that expression means Liana is particularly excited, even for her. Liana isn't going to let up on Amelia for hours if she can help it and Amelia is never the one who stops it. So we might not see them for the rest of the day."

Kaede raised a small hand up and slowly ran over Ilona's cotton covered belly. Ilona made a soft sound at the touch and used her free hand to trail fingers along Kaede's smooth thigh, protected only by thin sleepwear. This also got a strong, pleased verbal response that sounded like a mix between a purr and a moan. Kaede's hand steadily continued on up onto her breasts and Ilona sighed deeply. Kaede's touch on her was amazing and even his little bit was getting her worked up.

"Can I push this robe back off?" Kaede said, looking in her eyes intently. "I would like to see you again now that you're awake."

"Go ahead," Ilona answered. Kaede's hands undid the sash of the robe, but they paused when they grabbed onto the edge of the material. "Go ahead," Ilona prompted again. "Why hesitate? You were just sleeping with me while I was naked and you saw me in the bath."

"I know, but I was too worried about you just now to really look," Kaede said with a small, embarrassed smile. "So I want to really look at you again. But I'm already feeling a little..."

"Excited?" Ilona finished. She leaned down and licked along the edge of Kaede's ear. Kaede gave out a soft hiss of pure pleasure and turned to present that ear for another one. Ilona was happy to do it again, even nibbling on it a bit. She also moved her hand inside Kaede's cotton pants and onto her thighs to touch the soft sensitive parts along the inside. Kaede slowly spread her legs a little in approval of the touching and to allow it to happen.

"Yes, my heart is beating so fast," Kaede said a little breathlessly with lidded eyes. "I feel...very hot."

"Then let me help you again," Ilona put her hand onto Kaede's and while looking the girl right in the eyes, she moved Kaede's under her robe to touch on her bare flesh. Small fingers kneaded her breast as if she was trying to memorize everything about it and to Ilona it stoked the fires of her arousal immensely. Kaede tried to shift outward on Ilona's legs to free her other hand, but she almost fell right off and moaned in protest.

"Careful," Ilona smiled as she used her arm to keep Kaede in place. "Let's move a little."

Ilona gently set Kaede back onto her feet. She tried to rise, but Kaede leaned in quickly and kissed her. This time it was Kaede who opened her mouth and Ilona gladly reciprocated. Ilona stroked the side of Kaede's neck as they continued kissing and lightly touched along her arms. The kissing grew hungrier and when they parted, Kaede was flushed in excitement and they stared in mutual desire.

"I really like kissing," Kaede said as she gained a little control over her breathing. "It makes me tingle all over and your lips feel really nice."

Ilona shifted all the way back onto the doubled beds and patted the mattress in invitation. Kaede climbed on and Ilona pulled her against her side and recaptured those small, sweet lips again. They both moaned into the kiss and Ilona rolled her shoulders to make the robe slide off her. When Kaede felt her nudity, her eyes flew open and she groaned loudly in approval.

Ilona pulled her lips away for a moment to pause and throw the robe off to the side. Then she laid down flat onto the bed. Kaede followed her down and ended up lying over her at an angle. Now Kaede's delicate seeming hands touched her body and explored her heated, aroused flesh. When Kaede found her big, rock-hard nipples, she gave one a firm tug and Ilona moaned loudly for more.

"Kaede," Ilona said softly when their lips parted again, her own hunger rising strongly. She rolled them over so that Kaede was against the bed and Ilona was on all fours over her. "Are you sure about this with me? I can still stop."

"I'm sure that I want to explore this," Kaede said with their eyes locked. "I've never felt like this before. I've never worried about someone so much as I did when I saw you collapse. When I saw you come back in with Liana a bit ago, all I wanted was for you to touch and hold me again, to feel your body against mine. Right now, I feel perfectly happy."

"But not scary?" Ilona asked. She lowered down and tilted Kaede's chin upwards. She kissed up Kaede's throat and the girl shivered a little. She liked that response. She wanted the girl so badly, but she would not force anything. They both had to want this.

"Not at all," Kaede's smile was very warm and she was adorable with her hair splayed out on the bed. "I was completely wrong about all of that stuff." She giggled again as Ilona gave her soft, fleeting kisses over her lips. "While you were sleeping, I even asked Liana for some advice to distract myself from my worries. That was why she was so excited earlier."

"Advice about what?" Ilona asked.

Kaede blushed deeply but she smiled wide. "I wanted to know what I should do when I was with you like this," she said. "I thought that I could impress you or something stupid like that when you woke up. I wanted to apologize for dragging you through all that unimportant, adolescent whining."

"It wasn't unimportant," Ilona said gently. "Had you wanted something else, I would have done everything to let you do as you wished. You were naturally scared of a big change, me. So apologizing isn't necessary."

"That's about what Liana said you'd say," Kaede laughed. "But that was pretty much it. I asked her to tell me how to make you feel good too, but all she said was 'exploring and learning is all a part of the fun'."

"That sounds perfectly fine to me," Ilona said in agreement. She ran a hand up Kaede's pretty legs again. This time she stopped only just short of her covered crotch. "I'm just as inexperienced as you are, but we have plenty of time to learn about each other. I want you to know as much about me as you want and I about you.

"Okay with me," Kaede sighed and rolled her hips as if trying to get Ilona's stroking fingers to touch her clothed pussy. Her breathing was getting heavy again.

Ilona removed that hand and smiled in amusement as Kaede groaned and pouted out a protest. She kissed her to quiet the complaint and shifted her weight back to her knees so she could bring both hands up to the buttons on Kaede's pink pajama top. She put her fingers on the first and stopped. Kaede's eyes opened once to acknowledge her acceptance and then closed them to enjoy the kissing some more. Her own tiny hands had moved back up to Ilona's hanging breasts and they were playing with them in the nicest of ways. Kaede especially liked to tug on her nipples and Ilona moaned every time from that.

Ilona's fingers deftly undid the six buttons keeping the garment closed from her. Then she rose fully up and back onto her knees. Kaede's hand stayed on her breasts for as long as possible before they had to let go. Kaede looked up at her, panting, and with a desire that made Ilona sopping wet. She was pretty sure her own face was telling Kaede the same thing about her.

With both hands she took hold of both sides of Kaede's top. Kaede nodded that she was okay with it, and Ilona pulled them aside. Kaede's smooth, petite form came more fully into her view. Her skin was pale and flushed with blood from her rising sexual excitement, but Ilona stroked a hand over her small stomach to confirm the soft smoothness of it. Kaede breathed in sharply at the touch. This was a special moment for both of them.

Ilona loved Kaede's tiny belly-button. It was really cute to see. She brought a hand in and ran a finger around its edge and she saw Kaede try to hold in her giggle. Wanting to get a stronger response, she bent over and gave it a swirling lick with her tongue.

"Ilona!" Kaede complained, smiling anyways.

"Sorry, but you're really cute," Ilona smiled back. "It makes me want to touch every inch of you."

Her eyes traveled up a little to the pair of bright-pink capped cones. While they were still small because of her age, Ilona still loved the look of those breasts. The little nipples were standing straight out, demanding to be touched. So she took a breast in each hand and gently caressed and massaged them with her hands. Kaede started to sigh from the pleasure, but she cut off with a sexually laden hiss when Ilona pinched her nipples with her thumbs and forefingers and pulled.

"Feels good?" Iona smiled at her.

"Gods yes!" Kaede groaned at her with a wide smile. She began a slow humping motion with her hips. That made Ilona smile wider as well. She was making Kaede feel really good and that in turn made her feel good.

She slid down Kaede's legs a little to sit over her shins. She pushed herself down enough so that her own wetness was against the girl's leg. Kaede gasped at the hot contact. After a second of moaning from Ilona's fingers and hands, Ilona felt one leg lift and cross over the other to push more firmly into her naked pussy. Then Kaede began rocking her legs from side to side against her wetness. It felt amazing.

To thank her for that wonderful attention, Ilona dropped down, removed one hand, and began kissing all over Kaede's little breasts. This brought an increase in the volume of Kaede's noises. She kept away from the sensitive nipples, only just grazing the areola. When she'd covered one firm mound, she switched to the other. She kept it up for a long while, enjoying the musical cries and sounds of pleasure coming from above her. When she finally took Kaede's right nipple into her mouth to suck hard on it, Kaede bucked against the bed and a quiver passed through her.

Ilona liked that reaction. She tried different things to see what else Kaede enjoyed having done to her. The best response came when she bit gently onto a nipple and nibbled on it lightly. She'd heard of people doing that before so she tried it on Kaede. When she did, Kaede began making soft, whimpering and begging noises while squirming her legs vigorously against Ilona's dripping slit. She knew the girl was just inches away from her orgasm and wanted it badly.

Not wanting to torture her by prolonging it for too long, Ilona ran one hand down Kaede's stomach. Her fingers slipped under the hem of her soft sleep pants. Kaede wriggled her hips in encouragement of the action, so she knew the girl didn't mind her going there.

First she felt the downy softness of Kaede's small patch of pubic hair under her finger tips. She curled her fingers through the thin growth and this drew a hiss from Kaede, who seemed to enjoy that very much. Ilona smiled and made sure to remember that. But she had a more immediate goal.

She went around Kaede's small, demanding clit, and ran fingers softly over the soaked and very tight lips of her young girlhood. Kaede rolled her hips at the touch to demand more. Ilona obliged and rubbed a little more firmly in tight circles. She was having a little difficulty concentrating on her actions now because Kaede's moving legs on her own pussy had her right on the ragged edge. Only her will was holding it back.

When Ilona thought Kaede was at a high peak of pleasure, she quickly found the girl's hard little clit and stroked it like she enjoyed doing to herself. Kaede's butt rose off the table with the force of her hip thrust as she came hard. Ilona felt hot wetness dripping out onto her had and that was enough to set her off. She let go and her own orgasm ripped through her. She shuddered over Kaede and became dimly aware that the younger girl had taken one of her big nipples into her mouth and was moaning loudly onto it.

When her orgasm settled down like a beast only momentarily placated, Ilona rolled off of Kaede and laid onto the bed, panting. Equally out of breath, Kaede then moved to lay partial onto her. Their mouths came together slowly and the kiss was soft and gentle. Then Kaede laid her head down just above Ilona's left breast. Ilona hugged her arms around Kaede and they snuggled close. Their naked skin felt perfect together.

"That was really nice," Kaede said softly, much later after they had lain together in comfortable silence for what had to be hours. "I think I'm still tingling all over."

"I'm glad you liked it," Ilona answered, kissing the top of Kaede's head. "Now that I have someone like you, Kaede, I want to make you happy. Having you in my arms is one of the greatest joys I've ever had."

"I like it a lot too," Kaede said with her wonderful laugh. She squeezed Ilona tight for a second. "I think I want to be like this a much as I can. You touching me is the greatest feeling ever, even if it's just a hug or lying down with you like this. It makes me wonder why I was ever afraid of it." She stopped and let out an exhausted sounding yawn.

Ilona frowned and brushed a bit of stray hair away from Kaede's pretty eyes. "Are you tired?"

"Somewhat," Kaede answered, closing her eyes from the enjoyment of being together and Ilona's fingers touching her. "I haven't really slept much at all since the battle. I was too worried about you. I couldn't have been asleep for more than a couple hours when I woke up a little bit ago."

"Then go ahead and take a nap," Ilona said, stroking the girl's head and running her fingers through the honey locks. "I'm as far from sleep as I can be right now, but I don't want to let you go just yet. So I'll just lay here and hold you close while you rest.

"Okay," Kaede's voice became light and breathy. Soon her breathing evened out and her slim arms went slack.

Ilona smiled as Kaede gave into sleep. She loved this part of her new life. Kaede was the perfect girl for her and her imagination created all sorts of wonderful scenarios about their future together.

She also began to put more thought into her magic. She wondered what her training would be like. Myra had seemed happy with being a Knight for the king, so she figured it couldn't be too terrible a job. But she also remembered that she had killed people when she had blasted those other ships into scrap. She would probably be much like a soldier and end up having to do similar things in the future.

But she thought that she could also use her magic for constructive purposes as well. She slowly reached out a hand and touched it to the wooden bulkhead. The tingly awareness of the life within the ship returned. Magic like this and having the power flowing inside her just felt natural and good.

There were so many possibilities and futures.

******

Several peaceful hours later, a knock sounded against the door to their cabin. Ilona had been musing over various things to the soothing sound of the rushing wind in the background and the harsh staccato startled her. Kaede also groaned at the intrusion on her sleep and blinked her eyes open. Then she nestled closer to Ilona with a soft sound.

Ilona smiled and hugged the girl, then said aloud "Yes?"

"Lady Ilona," said Nana's voice from the other side of the door. "His Majesty requests that you and the Lady join him for lunch in half an hour."

"Sure, I understand," Ilona said back, and then she looked down at her nudity and Kaede's wonderfully topless state. "But I have no clothes and Kaede is still in pajamas."

"No problem!" this was Amelia's voice. She sounded very cheerful. "Can I come in?"

Ilona pulled a sheet over herself and Kaede. Kaede woke up a little more fully and her small lips curled into a happy smile. "Yeah, come on in Amelia," she said.

The door cracked open, Amelia slipped inside, and then closed it behind her. She took in their closeness on the bed and the slight smell of sex in the air. Then she smiled in an understanding way and her cheeks turned pink. Ilona noticed that her hair looked a little mussed and her normally immaculate skirt was wrinkled on one side. She had a bunch of clothes draped over one arm.

"What happened to Liana?" Ilona asked.

"Oh, she's back in our cabin having a nice recovery nap too," Amelia answered with a happy grin. "I decided to let her remain asleep and come alone since she really tired herself out and I've still got plenty of energy. Who wants to go first?"

Ilona looked down and saw an interested gleam in Kaede's smiling eyes. She understood and gently shifted out from under the girl and the sheet, onto the deck. Kaede's eyes followed and scanned her body avidly since she had turned over to sit and watch.

"Looks like you need some clean-up first," Amelia said in open amusement. She pointed and Ilona looked down to see the drying wetness around her upper thighs and between her legs. Amelia set the pile of clothes down and drew out a small hand towel. "Here, I came prepared."

Ilona took it and wiped the worst of the mess. Then she stood there and let Amelia dress her. Amelia had a calm efficiency and none of the playful groping Liana had given her the last time. Ilona actually kind of missed the younger sister. Liana was a very fun person to have around, even if the cost was being playfully molested. Amelia though, had a very deft touch and in no time at all, Ilona was dressed in a long red skirt, and a nicely styled tan blouse along with a new strap of cloth to hide her still hard nipples.

"These clothes are some of mine," Amelia said in her ear as she adjusted the fit a little. "So I would really appreciate it if you took these off the normal way."

"I'll try not to turn them to ash Amelia," Ilona laughed back. "But thanks for letting me borrow them."

"Oh, it's no problem," Amelia said happily. "You look very nice in these with your darker coloring. What do you think Lady Kaede?"

"I agree," Kaede said, nodding. She had slid to dangle her legs over the edge of the bed while holding the sheet up to casually cover her bare chest

"I still say I prefer pants," Ilona cautioned them.

"We know," Kaede giggled. "Now move over, I need to get dressed too."

"Right away!" Ilona laughed. Kaede dropped the sheet and slid off onto the deck. Amelia's eyes widened slightly at her soaked shin on one leg and the damp circle over Kaede's crotch. Kaede very carefully ignored the looks.

"Do you need to clean up too?" Amelia said in a teasing tone.

"Uh, no," Kaede blushed. "I think my pajamas kept the, ah, mess to a minimum."

"Well, off with them!" Ilona watched with interest as Amelia quickly had Kaede naked and then dressed into a blue dress and a white top. Amelia also pulled out a brush from a pocket and brushed both of their hair into order. She protested when Ilona snatched the brush from her and moved to return the favor.

"Just let her," Kaede said with more giggling. "You've been walking around looking like you just got out of bed too."

"What!" Amelia stared at them in horror. "Liana said I looked fine!"

"But how awake was she when you asked?" Ilona said. She got Amelia to stand still and got most of the young woman's hair under control.

"Thanks," Amelia sighed, tucking the brush back into its hiding place. "Shall we go?"

Ilona shared a long smile with Kaede and then said, "Yes."