We made camp in an old, ruined inn that had been reinforced by previous travellers. Only the old common room was entirely intact, and it was clear that many had used the place to camp before us.

Victoria and one of the guys I didn’t recognise in this form made a beeline for the old hearth and checked to make sure it was clear of debris. When they found it open, they moved to build a fire there using whatever fuel they could find that would produce the least amount of smoke. You didn’t want to advertise your presence out here in the wastes.

Hefting my pack, I walked over to the hearth and dumped it next to the two firestarters. They both jumped and looked up at the heavy thump. Victoria was back to staring at me with guarded suspicion, but it wasn’t as intense as before. I guess I’d quelled her distrust in me somewhat, but not enough yet.

“I have some spices and stuff to help make dinner a little more interesting, if you want them,” I said, smiling despite the looks they were giving me. The good thing about having a family who loved and accepted me was that I didn’t have to give a fuck what these people thought anymore. Plus, they couldn’t hurt me physically either.

“Sure,” Victoria nodded, while the guy just stared at me like an inquisitive toddler.

He didn’t look like a toddler, though. Tall and wiry, he had the build of a long distance runner, even if that was obviously something he didn’t do. Like Victoria, he appeared to be a mage of some kind. His ears were longer than most of ours, and combined with his blue eyes and dark hair, it made him look more elfin than usual.

“Hi,” I said to the dude, raising an eyebrow Bassi-style. “I don’t recognise you based on your character, sorry.”

“Oh, um… I’m Kory,” he blurted after a few seconds of awkward silence. “Kory, um… Porter.”

It took me longer than I’d admit to remember the guy. He was one of those quiet types who was pretty good at the coding side of things, but otherwise unremarkable. I didn’t remember much else about him, if I was honest.

“Well, nice to see you again, Kory,” I said, offering him a hand.

His hand was much bigger than mine as he took and shook it, causing a little squirrely spiral of happiness to bounce around in my stomach. I might be tough and strong, but I was still small compared to most of the guys.

Once I had my hand back, I pulled a bundle of small pouches from a side pocket on my pack and handed them to Victoria with a smile. “Here’s the herbs. They should be labelled. Let me know if you need any help, too.”

“Kory and I can handle the cooking,” she said curtly, although her tone didn’t have any real bite to it.

“Suit yourself,” I shrugged, picking up my pack and heading back to where Bassi and Jitters had set down the bedrolls. Just two though, because Bassi had a double, big enough for both her and myself to sleep in.

Feeling irrationally nervous about revealing just how deep my relationship with Bassi had gone, I sidled up to her quietly. “Hey, we all good over here?”

"Now that you're here, yes," she said, snaking an arm around my thin waist.

God, why was my heart beating so fast? I'd literally just been telling myself that I didn't care what all my old classmates thought of me.

Bassi's slitted snake eyes narrowed as she looked at me, and I received a close-range eyebrow raise. "You're nervous. Why?"

Heat flamed across my cheeks. "I-I… I don't know."

Her lips twitched with silent amusement, and she leaned down to whisper into my ear, "Is it because you are different now? Feminine and soft, compared to the hard, hairy masculine body you used to have? I've noticed that there is a gender imbalance among your old friends, which leads me to assume that your society also holds men to a set of certain standards. Is that correct?"

"Yeah?" Where was she going with this? Why was it so fucking hot when she used that low, confident voice in my ear?

"Now you appear as a woman and seem to enjoy that fact," she continued, her tongue flicking out with inhuman speed to trace one of my ear's whorls. "So, if I were to guess, I would say that you are nervous and excited by the idea of your old friends seeing you so submissive to me. Seeing how our relationship has developed with me taking the role of the man, and you the woman."

I swear I should have been vomiting blushing butterflies as she spoke, because oh my god I think she was right. I had to correct her on one thing, though.

"Bassi," I whispered, trying with all my might to keep the breathlessness from my tone. "Neither of us is the man here. That's sort of the whole point of being a lesbian."

"Ah, very true," she chuckled, withdrawing from her whispered assault on my sanity so she could look me in the eyes. "You are so very beautiful, Mist. Did you know that?"

I blinked, struggling to make the leap from one topic to the next. "I'm… oh. Thank you."

"She thanks me," Bassi drawled, licking her lips and smiling. "In that case, you're welcome."

If she kept this up, the two cooks could just press their kindling to my face to get the fire rolling. Goddamn, I was so extremely embarrassed, but also just as turned on now. Fuck, and I could see Leon watching us, along with Victoria and Beth… and quite a few others.

So, what did Bassi do? She gently bent me back and pressed a hungry kiss to my lips. I was forced to put my arms up around her neck to avoid falling over, further reinforcing just who was in control right then.

With our lips blocking their view, she slid her long tongue into my mouth and danced the tip across the roof of my mouth. My eyes blew wide open in surprise, and I made a small sound of arousal. Oh no, this was too much. If she kept going…

Claws of shadow coalesced around my fingertips, and I gently pricked the skin at the back of her neck in request. Please don't take this further in front of everyone, was the message. As hot as this was, and oh god was it hot, I don't think I was ready to get choked by her tongue in front of all my old classmates.

She nodded ever so slightly into the kiss and retracted most of the length of her tongue, until only a normal, human amount was involved. Much better.

Of course, then she swapped from raw dominance to loving worship, and I finished melting into her arms. She kissed and kissed me, gentle, loving, and hungry. It was communication, it was a message from her heart to mine. She loved me.

When she finally pulled back, I'd forgotten about everyone else. All that was left in my thoughts were her beautiful, dangerous golden eyes. They shone like firelit windows on a cold evening, and I was drawn to their warmth.

"Everyone is watching," she murmured with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah, I'm not fucking surprised," I grumbled quietly. "That's what happens when you throat fuck their genderbent classmate with your tongue in front of everyone. People stare."

"Will you let me go further when we reach my homeland?" She asked inquisitively, obviously open to me saying no.

An evil grin tugged at my cheeks. "Oh hell yes. This full fae girl is head over heels for you, and we'll make sure they know it. Bigoted turdslupers will get all the throat fucking they can handle and more."

"That is an extremely vulgar way to put it," she said, letting out one of her rare giggles. "But yes, it would be nice to show them that I found love and acceptance without their help."

"Sweet," I said, and booped her nose with mine. "Cool as."

"Cool as what?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"That's up to your imagination," I laughed, remembering how that colloquialism always confused people. "It's like a choose your own adventure compliment."

“As cool as you, then,” she said with disarming sincerity. “Because in my eyes, you are everything.”

“That was way too smooth,” I laughed, even as my heart fluttered. God, she was a lot.

She gave me another smile, but it morphed into a scowl when she looked up at everyone. “Are you all going to get to making this place livable, or are you going to just continue staring at my lover and I?”

“Bassi,” I said with an amused shake of my head. “We’re making a scene, of course they’re going to stare.”

“They’re right, you know,” Beth said from nearby. “Two beautiful ladies makin’ out? There aren’t many with a pulse who’d be immune to that.”

“Hmph,” Bassi grunted, pursing her lips.

Did Bassi need some fresh air? Now that I was looking, she seemed to be a little stressed.

“How about we scout the area a little?” I asked her, trying to convey how much I cared for her via eye contact alone.

Searching my face for a few moments, she nodded and gave me a squeeze of gratitude. Yup, something definitely had her wound up tighter than one of Jitters’ contraptions. If I had to guess, I’d say it was being surrounded by all these people she didn’t know or trust, as well as the fact we were trekking towards her old home.

“I’ll… um… get everyone else to draw straws for watch duty,” Leon blurted suddenly and very awkwardly. “The windows will… uh, they need to be covered too, so that the light from the fire doesn’t get out.”

“Good thinking,” Bassi said, releasing me so that we could both head for the door. “And yes, that is actually something we should do. Don’t want to find out some nasty monster has made a home nearby.”

“Adventurers go this way all the time, though,” one of the others said. “I doubt they’ll be this close to the wall.”

“Complacency leads to death,” Bassi replied absently, already staring out the doorway that had long since lost its door. “And the wastes have been getting more and more dangerous recently. It can’t hurt to check.”

“And I want to play around with my growing shadow-form thingy,” I said excitedly. There was a lot going on with my powers that I needed to test, to be honest. I really didn’t want to end up in a situation where a lack of familiarity with my magic led to something shitty happening.

My new girlfriend met my eyes as I said that and quirked the corner of her lips in acknowledgement. Goddamn, this was going to be one busy scouting mission.

QuietValerie

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