Interlude: Nelith's bath thoughts

Nelith sighed, stretching herself out and just letting herself float peacefully in the clear water of the bath. It had been several weeks since the Chief had left for the capital with Katari, Kira, Safara, and (presumably) Chellise. The red-skinned succubus unsuccessfully attempted to squash the spike of worry that shot through her every time she thought about the younger succubus. Logically, she knew that Chellise was almost certainly safe with Fenrir, but there was a small corner of her mind that couldn't help but wonder if she might have been intercepted by something before she was able to catch up with the Chief's party. As soon as they had found her note she and Yumiko had gone out looking for her, but unsurprisingly they had found nothing, so they had been **** to resign themselves to hoping that Chellise had caught up and had been taken along for one reason or another.

Otherwise, life in the castle had been surprisingly pleasant, although Nelith found that she missed Fenrir even more than she had expected. All of them felt more on edge with him gone, though none of them talked about it much.

It hadn't taken long for several of the succubi to start showing baby bumps, prompting a lot of confusion and an equal amount of conversation about the impossibilities of it all. There was no denying the evidence right in front of their eyes, though, as Aimi's stomach grew at a nearly ridiculous rate, followed, though at a more sedate pace, by Yumiko and Lilli's.

Nelith rubbed her own flat stomach, feeling a little hurt. Fenrir had come inside her, too, so why wasn't she pregnant? It wasn't as though she had ever especially wanted children, not like Lilli, but then neither had Aimi, or (so far as she knew) Yumiko. Aimi had admitted that the Chief thought she was pregnant with slimes, which had made her feel slightly better; slimes were among the least intelligent of monsters, at least most of the time. But Yumiko and Lilli were growing too, more slowly than Aimi, but still faster than- well, she supposed she didn't actually know how long pregnancies were supposed to take for succubi. There had been a couple of old stories of succubi giving birth to some powerful Dark-race or other, but she had never put much stock in it. Now, though...

She brushed up against one side of the bath and extended a hand to push herself back towards the center. The real problem, once she got down to it, was that she couldn't help but feel as though she had been considered unworthy somehow to carry Fenrir's children, as though Carnachias had made sure she didn't 'take'.

Shoving down the pang which always followed this thought, she moved forward to when Aimi had given birth. No one had really known what to expect, but thankfully it had been a very simple process, not to mention orgasmically pleasurable for the succubus in question. Now they had to deal with three slimes constantly getting underfoot, but she supposed it wasn't really so bad. Aimi doted on them in a manner she had never seen before from the self-acknowledged nymphomaniac.

And as for the slimes themselves, well, she had to admit they were pretty cute. Not really in appearance, all three were little more than blobs of sky blue slime, but in mannerisms. Within hours of their birth Nelith could have sworn that they had distinct personalities and that they even understood when they were being spoken to. Aimi had refused to name them, saying that that was a job for their father, but Nelith was beginning to be able to tell them apart just by watching them.

One was perky and inquisitive, trying to form itself into as round a ball as possible and almost bouncing as it made its way through the halls, squeezing itself into every nook and cranny in its explorations. The second seemed much more measured and thoughtful. It moved much more as slimes usually did, oozing around at a sedate pace. But she swore it was listening to the succubi as they spoke, especially Aimi when she cuddled it, as she often did for all three. The third was... Well, there was no other word for it. The third one was strange. It was constantly experimenting with itself. Now it would try to form a ball like its sibling, now it would try to grow spikes, now it tried to mimic the shape of a succubus. It wasn't very good at any of it; it simply couldn't hold a shape well enough, but that never seemed to discourage it.

And the older they grew, the more pronounced these personalities seemed to become. Nelith had her misgivings about them, but they did have their uses. Due to their nature as slimes, they could eat almost anything, and after watching Yumiko and Lilli clean the kitchens one day, they had taken it upon themselves to keep the castle interior spotless. They started on the outside as well until Aimi explained to them that the outside was supposed to look messy and rundown. Nelith wasn't sure if they had actually understood her words, but clearly they had gotten the meaning because from then on they left the outside untouched. It was this more than anything else which had convinced Nelith that they were no ordinary slimes, because who ever heard of slimes obeying orders? Or even understanding them?

It was Koreen who discovered the final odd detail about the slimes. Apparently, they particularly liked sexual fluids, so much so that whenever any of the succubi began fooling around with themselves or with each other, it usually didn't take long for one or more of them to show up. This weirded several of the girls out for a bit, but they quickly became used to it, several of the more adventurous even making use of them. Nelith hadn't tried it herself, but apparently they could eat pussy with the best of the succubi. Something they inherited from their parents, she supposed.

Speaking of parents, Lilli had been quietly ecstatic ever since she had discovered she was pregnant. She didn't shout or dance for joy, that wasn't her style, but Nelith had never seen her smile so much. She didn't forget her concern for the Chief and his party or for the succubi around her, but there seemed to be a seed of joy inside her that no worry could extinguish. Every time Nelith saw the wealth of feeling contained in her quiet smile she felt a little guilty about her own dissatisfaction with who had been chosen to be pregnant and who had not.

Yumiko was also happier than she had ever seen her. Nelith didn't think it was quite so much because she was pregnant. Instead, she got the sense that Yumiko was happy because the natural submissive had found a master, and a nearly ideal one at that. Not that she was unhappy to be pregnant either, but as far as Nelith could tell, Yumiko was mostly happy about her pregnancy because of whose children it was, whereas Lilli's source of joy came in large part from the fact that she was having children at all.

Yumiko's best friend, on the other hand... Nelith frowned as she thought over the past few weeks. Koreen had been distraught when Yumiko had decided to stay with the Chief. It was clear that she didn't trust the giant direwolf (or was that the normal size for a direwolf? Nelith didn't know), but she refused to leave Yumiko, claiming that she needed to be there to protect her if Fenrir did anything shady. That was all well and good, but it was clear to the rest of the succubi that Koreen was just as drawn to Fenrir as the rest of them, and since she had refused to approach him for sex (and he hadn't pushed her for it either), she was the only one bar Violetta that hadn't gotten a taste of his dick before he left. At this point she was about the closest thing to a celibate succubus Nelith had ever seen, and her unfulfilled desire was driving her to distraction. Nelith was seriously considering tying her down once the Chief returned and having him fuck her regardless of her own wishes on the matter.

Violetta... Nelith sighed. Violetta was doing much better, but whatever it was she had gone through had left scars that were unlikely to fade anytime soon. Still, there was nothing anyone could do but be there for her when she needed them.

Nelith let herself sink entirely under the water for several long seconds, enjoying the cool and refreshing sensation of the bath before finally pushing herself upright and starting to wash herself properly. Just two days ago the oni had returned. Apparently their chief had liked the gift her Chief had sent them and had been impressed with what he had heard of Fenrir. He had requested a meeting with him whenever it was convenient for the direwolf, and had also sent along a gift of his own, a small selection of high-quality weapons and several fine furs. Nelith had graciously accepted the gift and promised to pass along the message to her master when he returned, and the oni had left her with instructions on how to reach their village.

Despite knowing that it could very well turn out to be wasted effort, the succubi had decided to try to clean up and restore the interior of the castle as best they could, for something to do if nothing else. That had been going quite well. They hadn't touched the chapel, but the rest of the castle was looking significantly better. Nelith wondered whether it might be possible to enthrall a stoneworker of some kind to repair the holes in the walls and ceiling, especially in the great hall, which in its current state was almost unusable. She also wanted to get the waterspouts in the bathing hall working again to make washing up easier. However, she decided to leave any major projects like that alone until the Chief returned.

She was beginning to get a little impatient for his return. He had mentioned that he might be gone for several weeks and the vagueness of the statement bothered her, even though she understood that it would have been impossible for him to be any more specific.

Stepping out of the water and beginning to towel herself off, she thought back to the morning he had left. She could still remember the feel of his hand on her cheek, the way he had smirked down at her in that half-inquisitive, half-amused way of his when he had proposed their deal. With a sigh she left the bathing hall, murmuring as she did so, "Hurry back, Chief."

A short little interlude to catch you up on some of what's been going on back at the castle during Act 2. I'm not starting on Act 3 just yet, but I couldn't resist writing something, and this is also a great opportunity to let you know that I've finished my editing pass. I haven't made any drastic changes, just a little bit here and there, but I achieved what I set out to do, so I'm happy. I have an idea for a second interlude, though I'm not sure whether I'll end up writing it or just skip ahead to Act 3 instead.
Enjoy!