The Fallen Ascending 01 -- Rebirth
Morning Regrets

The next morning, I awoke to find Crystal snuggled up tightly to my side, while drooling slightly on my arm. Her fair was draped in a lovely manner across her face, and it just seemed to invite a casual caress to brush it out of the way so I could enjoy the view of her peacefully sleeping face. Glancing down, she was wearing what looked like a pale blue, silken bathrobe of some sort, and it was obvious from the way it was opened in the front that it was the only thing she was wearing.

I had to take a few moments to simply enjoy the view as the morning light slowly danced and dappled itself across her pale bare flesh, from the small cracks where the front and rear of the canvas wrinkled and draped carelessly. Le’Nara truly had picked out a beauty for me, but now wasn’t the time to get too involved and indulge myself -- we’re in the middle of a rescue mission!

Taking a few deep breaths to get myself under control, I finally gave in to temptation and gave Crystal a gentle push to roll her on over to her back. Sleepily, she began to stretch slightly, and I used to opportunity to lean forward and taste the lovely red cherries that were sitting on top of her luscious mounds of womanly perfection. Half expecting an early morning slap for my action, I was instead surprised as she lightly laughed and gently stroked my hair with her hand. Slowly, and without reservation, her knees opened and it was obvious that she was inviting me to indulge in even more of her womanly charms.

“Good morning, My Lord.” Her voice was soft, gentle, and relaxed as she yawned and tried to fully awaken.

“Morning Crystal,” I finally replied, as I sucked and slightly bit on her womanly peaks once more before finally pushing myself up so I could lean and look down at her fully.

Seeing my gaze travel hungrily up and down her body, Crystal smiled up at me and then deliberately opened her robe fully. “Like what you see, My Lord?”

“I do,” I told her honestly, and with admiration. She wasn’t as perfectly soft as Le’Nara, nor as perfectly sculpted as De’Nara, but she had her own beauty which seemed to remind me of both of them at the same time. Soft in the right places, but firm and sculpted in others. She really was an exquisite beauty – and she was letting me stare and view every curve of her, shamelessly.

Reaching down, I gently cupped a breast in each hand and squeezed them gently to indulge in the soft and gentle warmth of her cushiony goodness, before forcing myself to get up and walk outside. I like to think of myself as someone with a strong will, but if I were to remain in there much longer with her willing acceptance, I’d end up falling to temptation. People’s lives might be at risk. My personal manly needs will simply have to wait for now.

But when we get back to town, and I have a chance to sneak away and visit her privately in the house she bought with my coin…

“Morning Michael!” Jess’s light and cheerful voice interrupted my daydreams before they could spiral out of control.

“Morning, Jess.” Glancing around, I didn’t see any sign of Dino. “Is Dino still asleep?” I asked curiously.

“He’s up.” Jess giggled all at once and turned her back and started playing with whatever she was cooking on the campfire. “He’s just down at the creek taking a cold bath this morning. I told him it might help him settle down and not be so up.. tight.”

“OH!” I couldn’t help but laugh myself. “I guess he was feeling a little stiff this morning?”

“He was!” Jess confirmed. “You could say he was almost wooden this morning!”

“So he was feeling pretty cocky, once again?”

“He was! But don’t hold it against him. He’s just a little stiff and upright sometimes,” Jess agreed and laughed even harder.

“Yeah. I just hope he gets a hold of that part of himself and gets it under control.”

It was finally too much for Jess. She was laughing so hard, her knees gave out and she simply sat on her rump in front of the campfire. “Uh huh! Get a good hold of himself!” Tears were leaking out of the corner of her eyes and she was holding her sides. She squeezed suddenly and tried to get up and wobbled towards the nearest bushes. “I got to go pee!”

“You could always help Dino with his shower,” I cried out helpfully, and it was too much for Jess. Her knees buckled once again and she clutched her sides as laughter burst from her lungs and a sudden wetness stained down her leathers and spread onto the ground.

“MEN!” A hard smack resounded upside the back of my head, causing me to blink several times in confusion. “I don’t know what’s going on out here, but you shouldn’t push her past her limits like that! Idiot man!” Crystal stomped past me, dressed now in her leather pants and tunic, but still barefoot; and walked over and wrapped her arms around Jess.

“You should be ashamed of yourself.” She glared back at me while gently stroking Jess’s hair. “It’s OK, hun. Get it all out, and then we’ll go get you cleaned up. And if those clueless men things out there don’t leave and give you some privacy, they may find themselves never having to worry about being stiff and uptight ever again. My sword and I will give them a massage that they’ll never forget!”

“I’m going! I’m going!” Holding up my hands in defeat, I turned and started walking off. Might as well take a moment to go check and make certain Dino hadn’t slipped and drowned himself in the creek or something equally stupid this morning.

“And let that other man know to get out of our way this morning as well. We’re going to the creek, Jess is going to get clean, and we best not see either of you before we get back!”

“I’ll warn him. We’ll make ourselves scarce for a while,” I promised. Pulling in a trickle of earth magic, I felt the stands of energy and sensed along them to quickly locate the energy that I knew represented Dino. Smiling, in a good mood, I whistled slightly to myself as I worked my way to his location.

By the time I got to the creek, Dino was already dressed and was sitting on the creek bank and tying his sandals. “Morning Dino!” Smiling, I waved freely to get his attention.

“Morning Michael.” He half waved back to confirm that he’d seen me. “You finally up and going to take a bath?”

“Not this morning,” I told him simply. “We need to gather up some extra firewood this morning. Jess isn’t going to be able to finish breakfast with what we have right now. She’s going to have to take a break and finish our meal in a bit.”

“Why’s that?” He asked curiously. “I thought there was plenty of wood for breakfast. It shouldn’t be long before whatever she’s fixing is done.”

“Not this time,” I told him while shaking my head from side to side. “She got interrupted. The Lady Crystal wants to take a bath this morning and she’s conscripted Jess into helping her. In fact, we should probably clear on out of here for now so we won’t bother them when they show up.”

“Well, that makes sense,” Dino said matter-of-factly. “A Lady such as she is probably used to a maid helping wash her hair or something. I’m not surprised that she’d get Jess to help her. Folks like us just have to wait until she’s finished with her. Jess can finish our meal after helping the Lady with her bath.” Getting up, he started walking over to join me.

“Let’s go grab some more wood then, and wait for the ladies back at camp,” I told him. “They can come join us when they’re finished.”

“Might as well,” Dino agreed as he started to walk deeper into the forest with me, unaware of the sudden inner sadness that tried to swallow me.

I’d picked on Jess a little too hard this morning, and now we were going to be delayed so she could take a bath, relax, and get cleaned up before finishing breakfast. I could’ve given in to temptation back inside the tent, indulged myself with Crystal, and we’d still end up on the road at the same time!

Damn it! If I’d only known then what I know now, I could’ve, would’ve, should’ve….

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