The group around the fire joked around for the rest of dinner and an hour or so after, feeling a sort of tension that had existed between them beginning to lift. They told each other a little about themselves, and what it was that had brought them there. Herrog was primarily interested in the challenges of breaking into vaults, secret rooms, and the like. However, he also liked the idea of having a chance to work on the castle itself. The compensation didn’t hurt him either. Trevik had been the landgraf’s cook before the delve and went where she went. Kitch sought a romantic defeat of evil and a triumph of good, which Elaina found quite charming. She didn’t even intend to keep the coin she would be paid. Instead, she would give it to her tribe to use as they saw fit. Though a little rough around the edges, she had a certain purity of heart and clarity of purpose that the swordmage found refreshing.

“I could show you a thing or two if you like,” Kitch had said to her about her swordsmanship. She’d observed that Elaina was using a style of handling that favored shorter blades and wasn’t taking full advantage of the distance a longsword like hers provided. It was true; her instructor in the blade had been a vampire who used exactly that sort of style. However, he had no fear of getting up close and personal because of how much more durable he was and how much faster he could heal. Elaina lacked such luxuries, and, being that it was coming from a good place, she agreed to a few sparring sessions with the kyrsahn.

Resius motivations were known to her. He had made no secret about wanting to see anything dangerous in Willowridge removed or destroyed. Of course, he’d also be paid, but she imagined most of that would go to financing the esoteric tools he used, not to mention the booze. Even now, he was leaning heavily on the sauce, more so than before. She wondered what had driven such a habit in the man but decided asking him pointedly in front of everyone would be in bad taste.

“What about Royce?” Elaina asked no one specifically around the fire.

“Ha, surprisingly wholesome for such a sleazy whore,” Herrog said gruffly into his ale, “she’s trying to recover stolen artifacts of her people.”

Elaina’s brow furrowed, taking a little issue with how the dwarf referred to Royce. It was a sentiment that surprised even her.

“During the Scattering,” Resius explained, “A lot of the vishanti left Tenebre Dontae seeking asylum, better prospects, new homes, that sort of thing. They found them in some places, but in more instances, people took advantage of them, stole from them, or various other more unsavory things.”

Herrog lifted his tankard, “Aye, and she wants to recover whatever is in the vaults here to bring back home.”

“Why?” Elaina asked, confused, “She hates it back there from what I’ve gathered.”

“True, but it’s still her home,” Kitch speculated, “if she returns with parts of their culture that were stolen from them, surely they would welcome her back? Perhaps she could rejoin her people and live a more normal life.”

Did Royce want to go back home? Something in Elaina doubted it immensely but doubted even more that such people would be willing to welcome her back home. But perhaps there was more to the whole situation than Elaina truly understood. What had been lost to the vishanti was worth so much to them that they might be willing to finally compromise with the witch.

The sound of a violin rose from somewhere beyond the tents, and the conversation around the fire tapered off. Elaina didn’t recognize the song, but then that wasn’t unusual. Her exposure to music, in general, had been relatively limited. Exposure to the music of this world specifically was even more so. It was nice, with a crisp, clean sound that felt like it was telling a story, though she had no idea what that story was.

“Who’s that playing?” Elaina whispered.

“Lady Amberdeen,” Trevik said in a similarly hushed whisper, “She hasn’t played in a little while, but when we first set out, she would play every night for the men to keep their spirits up.”

Trevik’s features almost universally catered to his dour, cantankerous demeanor, but everything about him seemed more soft and relaxed in that moment. The music appeared to have precisely the effect the landgraf had intended, at least with the knocker.

“It’s beautiful,” Elaina complimented, noticing how well-received the music was with everyone based on their expressions. However, with the hour being late and the lot of them wrapped up in the evening’s miniature concert, the swordmage decided now was likely the best time to have a little privacy to get washed up.

No one stopped her when she got up and returned to her tent. There she grabbed her pack with some fresh clothes and the dirty ones she might be able to wash. The sound of the music faded gradually as she made her way down the rows of tents in the bailey to reach the passage that would eventually lead her back to the baths. When she reached the baths, they looked much different than when she had been there just that morning.

With the water flowing more freely through each of the large pools that served as the communal baths, everything looked cleaner and clearer. Even though they had been in use all day, something about the quality of the water made it feel almost like the place had been constructed just yesterday. The whole room was terraced carefully so that there was a pool for hot water toward the top and one for cold toward the bottom. It was further partitioned for areas to rinse off, dry off, or get a steam. Belias had evidently wanted the whole Solacine experience when he’d had it built. It was very close to having all the facilities of a full-fledged bathhouse.

Only one person was there when she arrived, and he was already getting his things together to leave. He had a towel wrapped around his waist with a newly trimmed beard and dark, slicked-back hair. As he passed her at the entrance, he gave her a firm nod, muttering briefly how great the water was. Elaina returned the nod with a smile before glancing around the chamber to see if there was anyone she hadn’t yet noticed. She even checked in the various partitions to ensure she wouldn’t be caught unaware while she was naked.

Rather than bring her dirty laundry in the hot bath, she used one of the side partitions with the showering fixtures. She scrubbed them down as best she could with some bathing salts, rinsed them off, and hung them near the arches to the balcony to dry while she undressed and got into the hot water.

The heat took her a little off guard at first, but she adjusted quickly, sinking into the water up to her neck with a long, relaxed sigh. She sensed a hint of magic nearby and supposed it was how they kept the water as hot as it was. Usually, there would be a tank where servants would tend to fires and coals, but it made sense to Elaina that the head of a magical cult would eschew such personnel with magic.

Elaina let herself soak for a little while to let the tension of her stress and the tightness from the healing melt away in the heat. She’d brought a few scrubbing salts with her to put on the edge of the tub along with a wash rag and got to it after she felt sufficiently relaxed. Elaina was sure to get all the various places she’d accumulated the most sweat and filth, getting a deeper clean than she’d had in quite a long time. Once satisfied with her scrub, she waded over to the miniature waterfall of hot water that flowed into the tub and stood under it.

Whatever was left of the tension she carried was washed away with the soap and suds. She put her arms out to prop herself on the wall behind the waterfall and bowed her head, letting the heat wash over her without thinking about where she was or what she was even doing there. It felt good to escape and get out of her head for a few minutes amid the steam and heat of the bath.

It took her completely by surprise when she felt soft, warm breasts press up against her back as lithe arms wrapped around her quickly, “I’ve been looking all over for you,” Royce purred against the back of her neck.

Elaina’s heart jumped at the woman’s voice, the two having just skipped past many intermediary steps to bathing together. She turned her head to look over her shoulder, water splashing her face in the process, “Royce. What...what are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” the witch cooed as her hands slipped up Elaina’s chest to grasp each of her breasts tenderly, “I’m putting the moves on the sexy swordmage who’s been teasing me since the moment I saw her.”

Elaina felt a bit of panic welling up inside of her. Though it was possible to completely submerge oneself in the pool, it was basically by sitting down and stretching out. Standing the way she was under the waterfall, the water line was just above her knees. It wasn’t a pool for swimming, after all. This meant that were it not for Royce being directly behind her, the quirk of her anatomy that she’d been fretting over time and again would be revealed plain as day.

“W-what if someone walks in?” Elaina stammered, trying not to think about how good the woman’s hands felt on her chest and how desperately she wanted to submit to her attention. She’d bottled up her lust for so long, and dealing with disgusting fiends in swamps had helped that process, but now that she was clean and relaxed, it would be much more difficult.

“Then I guess they’ll get an eyeful, won’t they?” Royce grinned against her ear, working her breasts in long slow circles, “Just relax.”

“Royce,” Elaina began but couldn’t find the words for the excuse she needed, instead simply shaking her head, “We can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?” Royce teased a little as her hand snaked swiftly down the front of her in search of her sex, “I think you could use a nice hard fing--- oh!”

Elaina’s whole body went rigid as Royce’s delicate fingers found her erect cock instead of a pussy. She didn’t realize it initially, but she was holding her breath now, cheeks puffed slightly as if to brace against an incoming blow the way a child might.

“Well, now. What have we here?” Royce purred as her fingers slid down along the shaft to eventually thumb at the swollen glans of her cock head, “that’s quite the extra bit of meat you’re packing there, isn’t it?”

Elaina exhaled sharply and breathed hard, feeling the lustful fog that so often tried to assert herself over her reason already beginning to set in, “Uh, yeah. I suppose.”

The witch's hand now grasped at her length, squeezing it firmly as her thumb rubbed against the head. Gods, it felt good, Elaina thought as her eyes half closed and her body began to tremble. She felt Royce’s lips kiss the back of her neck, “I would have come to help you with this if you’d told me sooner, you know.”

Elaina’s breath came a little faster as she hung her head, slowly resigning herself to Royce’s unsolicited hand job, “It’s... rather unusual. It doesn’t bother you?”

“I adore the unusual, my dear,” Royce assured her as her hand began to move in long slow strokes up and down Elaina’s shaft, “especially when it’s so hard!”

“Royce, you barely know me,” Elaina protested weakly. The water of the waterfall running down her back added extra sensual warmth to the experience.

“Oh, I intend to,” Royce promised, the base of her hand growing a little faster as her other hand tugged at her sensitive nipple, “Intimately. Again and again.”

There was no talking her down. Royce had gotten the scent of Elaina’s lust and saw the very thing she’d been afraid to reveal as some gift by how she acted. The swordmage reflexively pushed her hips back, grinding her ass up against the witch. Royce pulled closer to the redhead more firmly, holding her in place as she added a little twist to her hand on each down stroke.

“Vida’s breath,” Elaina gasped, “That feels so good.”

“You like how I stroke your cock, baby?” Royce moaned against her, the pace of her hand quickening. Elaina felt like she would melt into the witch’s hand as the pressure inside her increased. The fog in her mind closed in like an approaching storm building on the horizon. A thunderhead of ecstasy began to rapidly build within.

“Y-Yes. Don’t stop,” Elaina pleaded, her fingers on the tiles behind the waterfall curling a little as she braced herself for what was coming, what she so desperately needed. She’d convinced herself that dream sex would be able to satisfy her, but in that waking moment, just being jerked off by a witch, she hardly knew felt better. Maybe it was the taboo of it. Maybe it was the warmth she was surrounded by. Whatever it was felt heavenly, and she never wanted it to end.

“That’s it,” Royce approved, “That’s what I like to hear. Let me take care of all that pent-up tension you carry around.”

The witch switched breasts with the hand tugging and kneading at the soft flesh of her chest, offering a renewal of sensation as she began to work the other pillowy mound. Elaina could feel Royce’s warm slippery tits squished deliciously against her back as the witch held her in place, preventing her from attempting to escape.

“Come on, I want you to cum,” Royce whispered in a husky voice against the back of her neck, braced against the water pouring over the both of them, “Cum for me, baby.”

“I-I think,” Elaina gasped and closed her eyes, “I think I’m going to..”

Her mouth fell open in a gasp that quickly transitioned into a silent scream. The pressure from deep within poured out of her in hot sticky ropes of creamy white cum. One after another, thick globs of her seed spattered against the tiles behind the comforting warmth of the waterfall pouring over them. The swordmage’s body went tense, hips bucking in little spasms against the witch’s hand as the woman milked her vigorously. The sound of the water around them fell away into a silence that stretched on and on.

When the sound returned, so did Elaina’s voice in the form of a feral groan of satisfaction. “Ohhh, fuck!”

“There’s so much,” Royce exclaimed happily, “and it’s so thick!”

Elaina’s hips spasmed a few more times, her body loosing a few more powerful spurts of she-cum before tapering off into an oozing dribble. The pleasure didn’t ebb. It continued to grow and shift toward pain. The sensitivity of her post-orgasmic state was too much to continue straight through as Royce’s hand persisted with its milking. Elaina took a hand off the wall and placed it over Royce’s, arresting the movement of it to buy herself a moment to recover.

“Stop, stop, stop,” she begged in a whisper, “Just for a moment. I just need a moment.”

For once, Royce listened to what Elaina was saying instead of simply pressing on. Her hand slowly came away from Elaina’s flesh as she eased back from the swordmage. For a moment, she thought she might collapse face-first into the water, taking a few breaths to steady herself. Perhaps getting herself worked up like that in this kind of heat hadn’t been prudent. Despite this realization, though, she laughed. She felt the post-orgasm relief wash over her like a cleansing rain and pushed herself off the wall and out of the waterfall that had accompanied them for the whole lewd performance they’d just given.

When Elaina turned to look at Royce, she saw the witch licking the cum from her fingers, eyes fixed upon the redhead invitingly, “Such an interesting flavor you have, Elaina.”

The swordmage swallowed bashfully; her face would have grown hotter if it weren’t for how hot she was already in the bath. Elaina looked down to see her cock still half-erect and smeared with her cum from the handjob and gave a short laugh, “I, uh, should probably get cleaned up again.”

“No, no,” Royce objected, sucking the last of the swordmage’s seed from her fingers, “Allow me.”

Before Elaina could ask her what exactly she meant by such a statement, the blonde had moved down to her knees to take the spent cock into her mouth. The swordmage felt the weakened erection in the warmth of the witch’s mouth grow once more to its maximum hardness almost immediately.

“O-oh!” Elaina gasped in surprise before relaxing into the witch’s oral attention, “Ohh, you’re not going to give me a break, are you?”

Royce’s warm, plump lips tracked back to the tip of her cock to give a lingering suckle at the end before releasing it with a chuckle, “Oh, the things I’m going to let you do to me.”

Elaina’s eyes widened slightly as she became suddenly aware of where they were again. She glanced around the chamber to see if anyone had walked in on them but didn’t see a soul. Royce placed kisses down the length of the swordmage’s shaft to the base, “You’ve got both here. How interesting.”

“Yeah, sometimes it can get difficult because they both want attention,” Elaina confessed.

Royce raised a brow, pushing the cock up to get a better look at her pussy, “That won’t be a problem. I should be able to handle both for you.” The witch leaned in and licked along the soft petals of her pussy that began at the base of her cock. Elaina’s body quivered as a tingle ran up her abdomen.

“Mmm, does any part of you not taste incredible?” Royce asked with groaned approval.

“Ha, my ass, I suppose,” Elaina quipped, but Royce’s gaze shifted upward to meet hers.

“We’ll see,” the witch promised with a note of finality. It sounded to her like Royce and kink were old friends.

Elaina laughed the comment off a little nervously as Royce turned her attention back to the swordmage’s complex genitals, the hand on her cock massaging it gently as she did.

“Would you like me to continue here, or should we go elsewhere?” the witch mused.

Glancing around the chamber again, Elaina supposed that her luck would not last forever. It never did. It was probably best for them to move things elsewhere if they were going to continue. But then she wondered if there might somehow be a better bet when she remembered that “elsewhere” would end up being one tent of many in a long row of tents. Elaina doubted that she would be able to ensure any amount of restraint. On the other hand, people hearing them fuck was moderately preferable to people walking in and watching them fuck.

“We should probably go,” Elaina decided, which earned a glimmer of approval in Royce’s eyes, “I’d like it if we didn’t have to rush or hide, you know?”

“Absolutely,” Royce agreed, slowly standing in the tub once again. Elaina wondered then how the vishanti had sneaked up on her as easily as she did. Obviously, the tingling sensation that seemed to be warning her of danger lately wouldn’t have warned her due to the lack of actual danger, but shouldn’t there have been the sound of water as she came up behind her? Looking around, Elaina didn’t even see the witch’s loose-fitting dress or any clothes for her, for that matter. So had she just sauntered across the camp in the nude to join her in a tub while moving silently as the grave?

“How did you...?” Elaina began to ask when Royce raised a finger to her lips and shushed her.

“Hold on to me,” the witch instructed as she pulled the redhead closer, their wet slippery bodies crushed against one another, supple curves softly competing for the same space. Royce’s eyes met with Elaina’s, looking deep into her as the smirk on her lips grew.

A moment later, the two of them vanished from the baths completely.