Sow the Seeds of Confusion

It was a good hour later before Lilly was able to don her clothes and return to her senses.

“How do you feel?” I asked gently, setting some herbal tea before her and tightening my towle to hid the hardon I’d had for the last two hours. She didn’t notice.

“Dirty,” she swallowed some tea, tears brimming in her eyes as dozens of emotions ran across her face.

I nodded. “It’s natural you feel that way, but everything you’ve done is completely normal.” I patted her head gently and she gazed up at me, but didn’t flinch away. “You sinned, and you paid for your sin, you shouldn’t feel bad anymore.” I gave her a reassuring smile, “trust me, you’re not the only one who masturbates in your order.”

Lilly’s eyes widened and I shrugged in response to her unasked question, “isn’t it odd that your roommate didn’t turn you in? Isn’t that a grave sin of hers?”

Lilly nodded, “yes… but…”

“Why would Charity, a fully initiated Red Riding Hood, risk such a thing unless…” I waited for her to think about it for a moment. “Unless she’s done the same thing, and not been caught. That would make her feel guilty, and maybe she chose not to turn you in because she felt that guilt for her own sin.”

“That’s…. awful…” Lilly exclaimed.

“I frowned deeply,” and very dangerous.

“Dangerous?” Lilly asked quickly.

“Yes,” I nodded judiciously, “if she’s guilty, and not being punished, then her sins are piling up, an offense to the Goddess. It could have disastrous effects on her, and those around her, maybe even the whole order!”

She gasped and I carefully suppressed a smile, there was a reason I’d chosen Lilly, to take her on as an apprentice swordsman, to offer her my services as a blacksmith and advice whenever she chanced by. She was good, to the core, but naïve, and that was a combination I could work with.

“What can I do about it!?” She asked, eagerly.

I suppressed a grin.