Garden Thorn, Part 4

by Nuit du Loup

Briar let out a long, silent breath of relief as she finally slipped into the dark, shared bathroom of Coral's dorm suite.  There was hardly any light at all, but the shadowy shape of a toilet called to her painfully insistent bladder. She quickly seated herself and let loose.

Extracting herself from the enfolding embraces of the two girls without waking them had been a long, eventually unsuccessful ordeal.  In the end she woke up Tessa but she was quick to understand Briar's need and helped to gently pry Coral's hands open so she could climb off the bed.  She must not have been asleep for very long, because the storm was still rumbling away outside and it was still dark.

After flushing and cleansing herself she paused at a sink to wet a small washcloth from a pile and used it to clean some of the dried mess on her legs so she could more easily get back to bed and fall asleep with the girl that was even now drifting in her thoughts. Every fiber of her being was telling her Coral was special and would be much more than a friend.  The thought of that 'more' was interesting and tantalizing.

She froze.

Older, deeply trained instincts woke up within her and she moved into the deeper shadows near the doorway with swift, perfect silence. Crouching there, she narrowed her eyes so they would reflect less light and waited to see what had triggered her warrior's awareness.  Her patience was satisfied when the suite's door to the dorm hall opened slightly as if checking to see if it squeaked and then opened more fully to admit a slinking, shadowy form.

Briar gathered her strength and sank deeper into the calm place in her mind used for fighting.  Just as she was preparing to pounce and subdue the intruder, the door next to the bathroom open and Tessa walked out with bleary, sleepy eyes, followed a moment later by an equally drowsy Coral. Dangerous ripples swept across her calm place.

"Briar?" Tessa said, half-asleep. "We need to go—"

She cut off when she saw the invader moving towards her in rush and yelled loudly in surprise and fear. In the same instant, Briar leapt with power infusing her every muscle and bone.  As fast as a thrown knife, she was there, and her driving kick struck so hard into the belly of a man wearing shadowy gray clothes that he didn't even have breath anymore to voice his pain. Without stopping for an instant, Briar spun around and as the man was doubling over, her leg dropped and connected at his neck where there was a dull crack and the man slammed face first into the floor, paralyzed or dead.

Only then did time seem to move again. In the span of only a few short seconds, she had struck and killed the man.  Her first reaction was a self-chastisement for killing and not maiming the man instead, but then she saw the knife in his hand, blade oily with poison.  His tight-fitting, dark gray clothes bespoke of a man who had been trained to fight in the dark. Or just to kill.

"Briar?!" Tessa's voice was sharp with fear and confusion and her eyes were wide. She was starring at Briar in complete incomprehension. Before Briar could try and calm her and explain, the suite door slammed open with enough force to shatter it as two more men and a woman rushed inside.

"They killed Ivis," said one man, he was like the others and wore the same gray attire.  He was lanky and all sinewy, but he also carried a long blade like he knew its use. "Useless sod, getting deaded by a scrawny bitch and a couple of kids."

"Shut it,' the second man growled.  He was missing several teeth, but the weapon in his hand was unfortunately familiar.  It was the same contraption she'd seen on the mountainside that shot metal tipped missiles with great velocity.  "Our target is right there. We can still kill her and be done with this foul place."

"Makes me feel filthy, standing here," woman spat on the floor. She was just as greasy and unpleasant looking as the men.  Her eyes were hard and full of a desire to inflict pain and hate.

Missing Teeth began to raise his weapon towards her so Briar tensed and readied herself to dodge and follow up with her own attack. But the weapon's tip moved past her, right towards where Coral was standing half-awake in the doorway to her room. Knowing she didn't have time to stop the attack the normal way, she reacted by instinct and through an all consuming desire to protect "her" Coral.  She used magic.

Her repertoire of external magic was pathetically tiny, but over the last three weeks she'd been able to see one particular magic fairly frequently.  This magic was the little balls of fire they used to light the White Lily. During her visits there to see Lisette, she'd discovered they were quite simple. She also knew that Sister Claris's umbrella had been a very simple manipulation of air. So in that moment, she combined them, backed by the massive reservoir of magical energy and stamina stored inside her. For the first time, she saw the magic streaming out of her body like luminescent ribbons of differing colors that she formed together with her mind.

It happened in an instant; or a second at most. First, the ball of flames bloomed to life around the man's head. It was just big enough to engulf it entirely. Then she fed a great deal of power into it as she forced and compressed a vast amount of the nearby air into that same space. Bright as the noonday sun, it flared to a glorious, blazing existence and spun rapidly as a superheated ball of roiling plasma, not that Briar actually knew those terms.  It was so hot, that instead of just killing the man and making a big mess, all the water in his head and surrounding body vaporized into steam and explosively desiccated him. Then the remains blackened into a charred, dry pile.

His two partners didn't fare too much better because of their proximity. Their skin blistered and all hair burst into greasy flame, stinking enough to almost induce vomiting from everyone else in the room.  They tried to scream, but the magic Briar used had consumed all the oxygen in the immediate area and they fell, gagging for breath.

In the next few seconds the ball of fire winked out and air came rushing in from the open doorway to fill the low pressure vacuum it had created with a loud pop. Briar was shocked by what she had wrought, but she followed up, creating a blanket of solid air that she slammed down on the gasping attackers to hold them in place and smother their burning hair.  It all happened so fast that she hadn't noticed the other bedroom doors were now open and she had six terrified girls staring at her.

"Briar?" Coral's voice was just barely above a whisper. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Am I alright?" Briar gasped, shaking a little now as the adrenaline flushing her blood started to wear off and the danger feeling went away.  She moved, dropped to relieved knees, and took one of the girl's hands in her own and tried not shiver.  "I'm just glad you are!"

"They wanted to kill you Coral," Tessa said, almost in tears but holding up well. The other girls were gathering now, clamoring loudly after hearing that pronouncement. They would begin to panic soon and that would be bad.

"She's fine!" Briar said firmly, her commanding voice slicing through the fear.  They quieted some and regarded her with young, dread filled eyes. Briar stood, wrapped her arms around Coral from behind and faced them all while taking her own solace from her young lover's body. "Show them Coral, you're friends need to know you aren't hurt."

"I'm fine," Coral told them, taking strength from Briar's calm words and comforting embrace. She wanted to shake too, but she couldn't do that with Briar watching.  "She saved us from them."

"Who are you?" one of the girls asked.  She was incredibly young, maybe not even ten yet, and wearing soft pajamas.

"I am Briar," she answered, deliberately spacing her words to reinforce her calming influence. "I'm a Garden and I am with Coral tonight."

"I remember now!" Another girl said nodding. Then she stopped and frowned and then pointed at the two invaders, both grunting and moaning under Briar's prison of air. "But you used magic!"

There was a burst of chatter from every direction as this realization spread.  Briar stood a little straighter behind Coral and clapped her hands once, loudly. Again quiet descended. "Girls," she began. "I know you are all upset and want to know what is going on. I understand that completely. But this is not the time for noise and chaos.  What we need now, is for someone to run and send for some of the red Sisters.

"I can do that!" a new girl stepped forwards; she looked more determined than afraid.

"Good," Briar nodded. She pointed at her prisoners. "They can't hurt you. So just jump over them and run. But be careful. I'm not sure if the singed area of the room it still hot."

"I'll be fine," the girl insisted.  She separated and after giving the distance a calculating look, she sprinted forward and made the leap easily, ignoring the body of the unburned man. Then she was gone.

"Okay, everyone else, please follow me into Coral and Tessa's room," Briar instructed. They were obviously confused by this and still a little afraid, but the five girls all did as she asked. Once inside she moved in and sat on the bed, seating Coral next to her.  Her nerves were still clamoring about keeping the girl safe. "Please take a seat with someone and just hold them. It will make you feel better and calmer."

They hesitated this time, but Tessa grabbed the youngest girl that Briar had noticed before, pulled her over to her bad, sat her down on her lap, and hugged her close.  Seeing this, the other two quickly paired up on the floor between the beds, trying to be as close to everyone else as possible.  Once they were all quiet and calming down together, Briar noticed Coral was looking up at her face. The fear was gone and the intelligence was back in her blue eyes. Then Coral smiled a little and leaned closer to give her a quick kiss.

"You were kind of scary in there," she said softly so the others wouldn't hear more than a murmur.

"Am I still scary?" Briar asked feeling a little worried.

"It's the good kind of scary now," Coral grinned. "It's like you're my scary person, but you still feel warm and nice like this.  Your eyes aren't scary either. You look intense, but I know it's for us."

"Were you with her 'ntil just now, Coral?" asked one of the girls sitting between Briar's legs on the floor. She and the other girls were watching her and Coral closely with open curiosity.

"Yeah!" Coral confirmed with a little pride in her voice. "Briar was my first and she's really nice.  It feels really good when she holds me because she feels warm and strong."

"She's pretty," added the youngest one from where she was clearly enjoying Tessa's hug.  Rather than just wrapping her arms around the girl, Tessa had their cheeks together and was gently stroking at about where her nipple must be with a finger.

"Oh Great and Holy Lady!" the loud exclamation from the other room halted the conversation and they turned towards the door. Then the voice came again. "Where is everyone?!"

"We're in here!" Briar called back, careful to maintain a calm appearance. There was a thump as someone jumped her prisoners, followed by two more.  The face of the girl that had gone for help appeared at the door and she looked flushed and excited by all that was going on.

"Why are you all in here?" she asked.

"We are just having a nice talk to calm down," Briar explained peacefully. "You can join us if you want."

"But the interesting stuff is out here!" the girl exclaimed with a pout.

"But there's gross dead guys," said the other girl between Briar's legs with her head resting against Briar's thigh.

"It's not that gross," complained the girl at the door. Then a hand settled on her auburn head and another pulled the door wider, silencing her. 

"That'll be enough of that," said a serious, familiar voice. "Go in with the rest of the girls, Nira."

The girl pouted even more dramatically but she complied and slinked over and onto the other bed where she sat next to Tessa and the other girl. The owner of the voice stepped fully into view and Briar felt mild astonishment that it was Isanda, one of the Preceptor's guards. They locked gazes and the other woman's eyes opened wide. "Briar? What are you doing here?!"

"I came here for Coral," Briar replied, giving Coral a gentle squeeze. "Tonight was my first request."

"Coral!" the woman's eyes locked onto the girl's face with an expression of horror. "Lady! That was tonight?!"

"Hi Isanda!" Coral said in a bright greeting of familiarity. "Is Greta with you too?"

"You are supposed to call her by her title, Coral," Isanda said in what sounded like a reflexive chastisement. "This really isn't good.  Which one of you girls did that out in the other room?"

"Briar saved us!" volunteered the youngest girl, apparently having completely decided that this was all exciting now; though a little of that had to be from Tessa's wandering hands.  One was rubbing her thighs. 

"Briar?"

"Yes Isanda," Briar confirmed. "I did all of it. I apologize for damaging the room so badly."

"You're worried about the room?" Isanda's chuckle was darkly humorous. "Briar, how is it that you used magic?'

"I've always been able to use magic," Briar answered. "I was using a little of it to boost my body when we first met. I just lacked the training and a few other requirements I wasn't aware of until now to use it externally."

"But we thought you were a Garden?" Isanda replied, stunned.

"I am both. It seems that the diverging paths of our two peoples resulted in the Mei of my people and the Sisters and Gardens here. In my people the two exist in the same body, with the exception that we still require a man to procreate. I didn't realize this either until I had sex with Oriana and received a boost to my magic and awakened my ability to use it outside my body."

"How do you know Briar already?" Coral asked, openly curious.

"The Preceptor was the one who brought Briar to us," Isanda inform her. "She is from a village to the north where the surviving native people live.  I traveled with her for most of a week, though I didn't actually see her very much. Briar, what did you use in that room?"

"Well, the only magic I managed to learn without trying it myself were those little flame balls and the air shield I saw Sister Claris use when she escorted me here because they weren't very complicated. So I made a ball of fire with a hundred times more power and pressed it into a small space to restrict the damage, while feeding it lots of air."

"Great Lady!" Isanda's face went white. "You made a sustaining plasma ball indoors, and in a room!  Do you know what would have happened if your containment failed?"

"Exploded probably," Briar answered.

"Yes!" Isanda hissed. "You would have blown up half this building! This is why we don't let students even awaken their magic until they know some of the math, science and the basic metaphysics behind what they are to learn.  You must not use magic like that again until you learn these things as well.  You may know how to enhance your body, but this is much different. Understand?"

"Of course," Briar replied easily. "I would not have done what I did if there had been any other way of saving Coral's life.  The man had one of those missile weapons pointed at her. I knew it was reckless when I did it.  The alternative was to let Coral be harmed, and that I could not, and will not, allow."

"As long as you understand," Isanda said, relieved. She turned away toward the other room.  "Did you hear all that Corina?"

"Briar...magic...Coral...yeah," Corina called back between grunts of effort.

"Corina and I were on a small errand when your runner found us," Isanda explained to Briar. "Her shouting raised a bit of a ruckus, but we came running.  We should have more help here soon, and we'll take care of the mess out there.  Do any of you girls need to pee, because we're going to need you guys to stay in here for a while?"

"Me and Tessa do," Coral said. "We were going to the bathroom when those people came in." Two other girls also had to pee, so Isanda escorted them there.  When they came back Coral said Isanda had used some kind of distortion wall to block sight of the room. Then Isanda closed the door with instructions not to open it until they were told they could.  Briar assumed it was so they could deal with the dead bodies and the two prisoners and the related messes without the girls having to see it all.

The girls were a bit worked up and wanted to know all about her, Isanda and her magic, but she shushed them and declared that it was time to get back to bed and she would tell them the story only if they all stayed quiet and lay down.  They moaned a little at this, but complied.  There wasn't nearly enough room on the two beds for seven people, so Briar sat on the floor between the beds and against the wall.  Coral joined her and snuggled in close. The girls on Coral's bed giggled and teased about the strong sex smells on it, but they all eventually got quiet and she started telling them about what had happened since she left her village.

The story wasn't very long since it had only been three weeks, but she told it in a calm and soothing narrative.  Throughout her telling, Coral proved to be quite affectionate and they shared many long glances and smiles.  They could both still feel there was something growing between them. About three-quarters of the way through the story, she noticed all but Coral had fallen asleep and Coral was getting there fast.  Ten minutes later, Corals face was pressed to her breast and all eyes were now closed in slumber.

When Briar awoke, sunlight was streaming in through the window and she felt momentarily out of place.  Her body had already gotten used to being awakened with sex, so waking peacefully to a hand on her shoulder was disorienting.  After blinking her eyes clear of sleep and carefully not jostling Coral, she saw a weary looking Isanda standing over her.

"You're very good with the girls," Isanda whispered. "The mess and prisoners have been taken care of, and except for the burned carpeting and walls, it's mostly back to normal. When the girls wake up, tell them they are excused from morning chores, but not their afternoon practices and exercises.  As soon as you're able, you should go back to the Gardens. Word of this has already started to spread and your friends will be concerned."

"But what about...?" Briar trailed off at Isanda's warm smile.

"Don't worry about Coral. You'll see her again very soon. You're magic will also need to be discussed, but it can wait a few days."  Isanda stood and walked out of the room. 

Briar looked down at Coral with a roiling heart.  She wanted to go back and see her circle of friends again, but she also wanted to stay with Coral for as long as she could.  It was a tugging war between her strong love and loyalty for her girls, and...the stronger tie that was being laid between her and the girl sleeping next to her.  As she was thinking on this, Coral's eyes fluttered open and she was once again treated to sapphire brilliance.

Coral's small lips curled into a vivid smile and they wordlessly came together and kissed.  They kissed for a very long time with varying intensity, and their disparate ages did not inhibit the feelings they were sharing.  Some time later during this, they somehow ended up between each others legs and Briar cried out as Coral's tongue entered her.  They made love like that for what had to be at least an hour or two, each climaxing over and over, sometimes in rapid succession and sometimes after long, recuperative lulls.

When they finally felt sated and Briar was holding a panting Coral on top of her lap, she remembered they hadn't been alone.  Blushing in chagrin, she looked around them and saw all the other girls were naked, flushed and pleasuring themselves as they watched. It didn't take long for orgasms to sweep the room like lightning had swept the sky last night. Then, when the spell over the room seemed to break, they all started giggling happily.

"That was the most amazing thing!" Tessa exclaimed, slipping down to the floor next to them.  Her tiny pussy lips were inflamed and soaked, but she seemed unconcerned as to how anyone saw her. "You guys just kept going on and on."

"It was amazing, but I'm tired again," Coral laughed, her face pink with embarrassment.

"Well, you can't sit around all day," Briar told them what Isanda told her. "That means I need to head back soon."

"But I don't want you to go yet!" Coral complained, though her eyes said she knew better. What surprised her was how vocal the others were to second the opinion. 

"Coral, you can request me all the time now, right?" the girl nodded. "So just do that as much as you want and I'll come running. Also, Isanda said something about us seeing each other again soon anyways.  So this isn't a permanent goodbye.  So you and your friends need to go and take a bath and get cleaned up for the day, alright?"

"I suppose," Coral murmured. 

So they all clambered out of the room, now smelling more strongly of sex than ever, and into the main room.  There was still an area that looked charred, but any damaged furniture had been replaced and any human messes were entirely gone. A new door had also been installed but needed staining because it was a much lighter color than the old one.

She discovered the girls had a bath large enough to hold all six of them at once because as they waited for it to get warmed up by some kind of magical method, the girls all teamed up to help her wipe the worst of her own mess off her body. Also, they each wanted a hug and a quick peck. Then, with her dress back on, Briar shared one last long kiss with Coral at the door and it was time to go. 

As she made her way back out of the dorm she passed a large number of other girls of different ages.  Isanda's warning that word had spread seemed accurate.  She received looks that ranged from speculative to lustily interested, but they all seemed very friendly.  She also saw two other Gardens and they exchanged quick pleasantries in passing.

Back out on the grounds, the sun was out in full force and the remnant humidity after the storm made the air feel sticky. Sweat almost instantly soaked her dress. But the heat felt good on her skin so she took her time walking and watched the busy daytime bustle of the Palace complex.  It never occurred to her to wonder why there were so many red-cloaked Sisters in sight. 

At the Garden's front counter she was greeted warmly because the attendant servant was one of her newer friends that stopped by occasionally. She asked about Briar's night, apparently not having heard about things, and made pleasant small talk.  She had a young daughter that would be joining the Gardens soon when she turned eleven in a couple months and for some reason she always asked Briar about what kind of advice to give the girl on different subjects.  Briar had agreed weeks ago to take the girl in when she joined and to help her out.

The walk to Moon Hill seemed to take forever.  Normally she didn't mind at all when people stopped her to asked about something, but today she just wanted to get back and see her friends.  Eventually it seemed that they picked up on her mood because they just smiled, said hello, and let her pass on.  When she finally got home she found Lisette lying in the grass, also soaked with sweat, but happily naked. Judging from the sun's position above, they must have only just finished the morning exercises.

"Briar!" in one smooth motion Lisette rolled up her feet and leapt.  Briar caught her and laughed. Lisette went through life at full speed with small breaks to rest.  She, along with Kaya and Oriana were her closest friends and the most frequent partners in her bed, or wherever. At the moment she smelled strongly of sweat and was slippery to hold onto. "We were hoping you'd be back soon. We heard about what happened while we were working out and Oriana's really worried.  We made her go with everyone else to the bath, even though she wanted to go and find you."

"I'm fine," Briar said, seeing the question on her friends face. "We're you on watch duty or something?"

"No, I was just enjoying the sun after all the gloomy weather last night.  It feels good. Did you know you reek of sex? It's really nice."

"Thank you and yes I do know how I smell," Briar chuckled and tried not to laugh harder when Lisette made a show of sniffing and rubbing herself against Briar.  If she didn't hurry and go now Lisette would start licking her. One of Lisette's 'things' as Oriana called them, was a woman covered in sweat or sexual fluids. She could be content for hours cleaning you with her mouth which usually resulted in more mess because the recipient always came at least once. Briar made that mistake once and lost an afternoon.  "Let's go so I can see the others."

"Poo," Lisette grinned, seeing through her excuse but was not unduly bothered by it. She'd find somebody to play with.  But they walked up the cleanly cleared steps to the shaded entrance tunnel of their mutual home.  She could hear lots of talking and splashing from the pools interspersed by the occasional moan. Her arrival was like throwing a rock in a still pond.

"Brair!" her name was called from multiple directions at once and everyone stopped what they were doing.  Relief was the predominant expression she noticed and she was more than greatly flattered by how much they cared about her.  There was a louder splashing and when she turned she saw Oriana clamber out of the cold pool and then come flying at her.

"You're okay!" Oriana's clung to her tightly and started crying softly.  Briar knew how emotionally sensitive Oriana was, so she let the girl expend her worry and relief. After a few minutes passed she relaxed again to look at her more closely. "You're okay?" she asked, this time making it a question.

"I'm perfectly fine, Oriana," she assured her closest friend. "Only the bad guys were hurt."

"You're sure?" Oriana stepped back a step and regarded her body with close appraisal. Then her face shifted to surprise. "Lady's teats! You have the look now!"

"Look? What look?" Briar asked in confusion.

"Not a look. The look,' Oriana replied, clarifying nothing.  She pointed back towards where she'd gotten out of the water and where Thera was still sitting and watching in silent amusement. "Like her.  Was it the girl you went to?"

"What are you talking about Oriana?" she asked.

Surprisingly Oriana burst into a fit of giggles and flung herself at Briar again. "You're in love silly! I've seen it lots of times and they always have a look like you have now."

Oriana tugged at her and insisted that it was her turn for the traditional welcome home they'd developed.  Briar didn't resist all that hard.  They took her into the hot pool and it felt really good to have Oriana and three other girls washing her clean.  Now that she was sitting and still she realized that her pussy was kind of sore from the unusual attention it had received and her helpers picked up on it and were very gentle. When she was deemed clean, which took a while, she laid down on the pallet she'd put in this room as her friends gathered around to chat.

Then Kaya, the undisputed best at giving a massage, worked her over while everyone cheerfully interrogated her about the entire evening. They were shocked at the description of the fight. Quite a few were also incredulous for some reason when she told them about her time with Coral. When she ran down, she was quite amused when a large number of her girls expressed a desire to meet the girl that had ensnared their Briar. Oriana just seemed happy for her and giggled a lot.

When she thought about Oriana's insistence that she was in love with Coral, she felt strangely right about it. She loved Oriana, Lisette, Kaya and the others of her big family, she didn't question that, but with Coral there had been some kind of profoundly deeper connection. But Kaya was done with the massage and her body was feeling loose, relaxed and renewed.  So she rolled over and stood with a smile.  Her stomach was rumbling and it was time to take her friends to lunch.