Get something to eat and then off to the library...

4th Venardae, the 29th day of the month of Semens (Sem), the 3672nd year of Salvation's Landing

Having met up with Lim and Boll, the three of them finished up the rest of their shift in relative peace. Nothing of note to report from them once they had returned to the Watch room. The guys had asked what he had done with his relief session off and Reglin told them about his patrol. When the subject of Oliyah had come up, both men seemed overly tickled at her antics.

Lim elaborated, “The Princess Yelena tends to be the most well esteemed of the sisters. Not to say that Cirsha is not liked, but she’s young still… Hard to not see that. But anyways, part of the reason we all like Yelena so much is because of Oliyah. She’s a laugh-riot more often than not, though not trying to be. She knows she’s awkward and has kind of come to embrace the fact.” He gave a small shrug, as if that were all the explanation necessary.

Drawing a chuckle from him, Reglin could see that. Her mannerisms were endearing. “Well lads, it’s time for me to get some food in my stomach. I’m absolutely famished. Feels like my stomach is eating itself.”

Giving Reglin a measuring eye, Lim raised a brow, “Aye… You do seem to be a growing boy. All that exercise looks to be payin’ off for ya.” He gave a despondent shake of his head, “Not like you need any more advantages…”

It was true, what Lim had said. Throughout the day Reglin had found his uniform was becoming tighter and tighter… It was too the point, that he was starting to worry. His boots were cramping his feet uncomfortably even. This could prove problematic.

Getting dressed in a rush, Reglin hurried himself out and over to the library real fast. He was hoping to ask Tabitha if she knew of any tailors or fitters that could do some fast work.

When he got inside and found the Magistricia, she was putting books away in the order that she had devised for the tomes. He really was starving, so he was brief in his questions and his mentor seemed to be understanding, looking him up and down with a gauging gaze, “That shirt of yours looks fit to burst indeed… And the trousers.” She gave an overstated raise of her brow, “Those too do not seem to be holding you very comfortably.”

Reglin rolled his eyes but snickered at her heavy-handed flirtations. She assured him that she knew of someone that could help out in a pinch. And that a cobbler would not be out of the question. With that laid to rest in his mind, Reglin said he would be back shortly and went to give his stomach some greatly needed nourishment.

Once Reglin had gone through and received his evening meal in the servants’ dining hall, he went and found a table. Asha and Lina were nowhere to be seen, so he found a bench with a Gamil and Magnurs. Sitting with the two monster guardsmen, Reglin wondered how much he stood out in their company. Or had his size changes made it less noticeable? He could not tell while sitting with them.

The big men were that way for a reason, it seemed. They took their food very seriously. There was no time for pleasantries while there was salted ham, roasted potatoes and vegetable, and bread rolls to be devoured. In a way, Reglin was relieved. He felt a need for haste as well. The entire time from leaving the library, to finishing his dinner had taken no more than twenty-five minutes. Putting up his dishes, Reglin managed to sneak by the roll bin and grabbed a couple more. His pit of a stomach still felt oddly empty given all that he had just eaten. Eating the rolls in the servants’ hall, the even larger than normal young guard headed back to the library. The first smallbell could not be far off now…

Coming back inside the walls that felt so comfortable to him, Reglin breathed in the smell of parchment. The man looked around and didn’t see anyone in the near vicinity, so he went to the Magistricia’s office.

Doing his usual stopped at the doorway and peer in move, Reglin saw Tabitha sitting at one of the tables talking quietly with his studymate for the evening. Yelena, nor Tabitha had noticed him, so he looked to the desk and saw Asha had already arrived as well. It looked like the Magistricia had already found material for the laundress turned student to get to work on.

Giving a subtle clearing of his throat, Reglin drew the eyes of all three women in the office. It was Tabitha’s office however, so she’s the one that reacted first, standing up, “Welcome back, Master Reglin. The princess asked if it would be ok for you two to use my library for some aura seeing. Like I told her, I do not mind. Just be careful. There are some tables in the library proper that you two can use with no interference. Mistress Asha here has some grand aspirations for her lessons, so I may be pressed in here.” She looked over at Asha who had raised her head from her current reading material at mention of her word.

From the look on Tabitha’s face she was not poking fun at the young brunette. Instead, a sense of pride seemed to come from the Royal Advisor. Reglin felt the need to ask about something else though, “I know it hasn’t been long, but were you able to gain any help for me this evening?”

That caused the two younger females in the room to look at him with some inquisitiveness. However, he did not elaborate further. Tabitha gave a nod and smiled, “I will come and get you when the aid arrives.” She looked at Yelena then, “Remember those little aids I just gave you. They should ease the experience for you if you are rusty.”

It was Reglin’s turn to look at the princess with a bemused expression. She gave him a shrug and approached him, bit speaking over her shoulder at the Magistricia she just passed, “I will do my best, Mistress Tabitha. Thank you.” The diminutive princess stood in front of him now, tilting her head back to look him in the face. Her brows furrowed in confusion for a moment before she shook her head. “Come Master Reglin. Let us commence with some practice before you are torn away for some other pressing need, it seems.”

Reglin gave the tiny slip of a princess a respectful bow of his head, then turned to lead the way to a secluded alcove in the corner of the library where the two of them would not easily be observed. Going to a leather-wrapped padded chair, the strapping young guard pulled it out and offered it for Princess Yelena. Looking at her, he finally took her in.

The little princess barely reached his chest now but wore a plum-colored dress that clung to her feminine form just a bit more than would be considered the societal norm. With her breasts being the size they were, it was easy for them to be hidden in the somewhat conservative garb. Yelena’s brown-blonde hair was braided into twin tails behind both of her ears, borrowing from one of the more common northern styles for women.

As she smiled at Reglin, she approached in a more deliberate stride than he was used to seeing from her. Did her womanly hips sway a bit more? Was she standing more upright and pulling her shoulders back? Reglin filed those things away but did notice that her cheeks were flushed with pink, drawing the guardsman’s eyes to those adorable freckles on them. His already friendly smile broadened at seeing those.

She looked up at him with those pale blue eyes of hers when she got to the chair, a slight squint at the corners, “What brought about that smile? You look like something amuses you, Reglin.” She turned then and sat down. Reglin then went around the table to the other chair, waiting to respond. At him getting ready to sit, Yelena interrupted him, “Would it be too much to ask for you to bring your chair over to this side? Sometimes these exercises are easier with closer proximity.”

“Of course!” Reglin responded, picking up the chair and bringing it over so that he would sit a few feet from her. Sitting down, he finally got around to answering her question. “I’m sorry… It’s not amusement necessarily…” He paused, trying to think this one through.

The pensive look on his face caused Yelena to giggle, “Reglin… dear… After how I spoke the other day on our ride, you should know that I am comfortable with you talking in any fashion… I’m a big girl… Well, not really, but you know what I mean.” She giggled again in self-deprecation.

Taking a deep breath, Reglin laid it out there, “Well, it’s just that you are showing some color in your cheeks for some reason. And in doing so, it causes those faint little freckles to pop out… and… I guess I just find them adorable. Your whole face just brought out that smile.” He gave a small shrug.

The little blonde gave a slight squint of her eyes at him, her lips turned down just a bit, “Adorable? Well… I suppose there are worse things to be considered…” It was her turn to take a breath, “As to the heat in my cheeks, what do you think I was doing with the Magistricia when you arrived?”

Of course, she was working on something to help her along with these exercises. When he said as much, Yelena gave a small nod, “And what do you think I may have been doing then?”

Closing his eyes and inhaling slowly, Reglin realized it all, “You were reading the auras of us in that room…” He didn’t want to elaborate any further, not sure just how much or how prevalent certain auras were to her at her level of reading.

Smiling lazily, the princess looked at him through hooded eyes. “Yes Reglin… Both of those women in that office were lit up like a beacon fire. Swirling prisms of color… And when you arrived, those prismatic colors stopped swirling so rapidly and three main colors coalesced into dominance. Both were covered in blue, red and green… And even I know what that means.”

Raising a brow, he silently questioned her statement. Reglin smiled vaguely, not willing to give away any more still. He would see just how much Yelena knew.

“Both of those women adore you… and to a lesser degree, each other. At least that is how I see it. I would be willing to wager a fare sum on that estimation.” She looked at him with more gauging eyes, “And that is not taking into account the effect your own aura had on them and them, yours.”

His own eyes squinted as he evaluated Yelena’s words and the summation of her thoughts. He still did not want to give away too much. “So there was an abundance of those three colors… from both of them. And myself?”

“More of the same… But they way your auras intermingled, it was… it was like they were caressing one another. There was an intimacy in see the three of your auras swirl about each other.” The pink in her cheeks deepened as she thought about it.

He nodded slowly, trying to give off a sense of noncommittal. “And how does my aura look you when you look at me now.”

Peering with squinted eyes at a space just about his head, she looked intent, “Similarly… Blue if more dominant for certain. But I do see the reds and greens above the other minor colors.”

He nodded once more, “So my aura has changed since leaving the office with Tabitha and Asha in there… Interesting. So, would you say that our auras are reflections of our current settings as well as our overall feelings?”

Her head bobbed a silent concurrence at that, “I suppose that would be an apt summary. But why am I seeing so much green and red within yours now?” She looked bemused at that.

Reglin’s lips cracked into a wry smile as he looked at the princess with a raised brow, “Well, that could be a couple of things if we go along our current thought pattern. Option one: Perhaps I just now exude affection for everyone around me all the time. And to a lesser extent, I love easily and see a sexiness in all. Or option two: The blue is more dominant because it is the prevalent emotion with my present company. But it is not the sole feeling I hold for said company.” He watched Yelena’s face work through those two paths of logic. “I’m sure there are more options, but let’s leave it at that for now… Which do you think?”

The tiny, adorable princess looked pensive herself this time, biting her bottom lip as her eyes looked off unfocused, “I can see both of those as a possibility oddly enough… You have changed significantly, Reg. Three days ago, if anyone would have asked me if you were a ‘sexual’ entity, I might have laughed myself to the floor…” She was taking this quite seriously, from the looks of it. “But now?... I saw those women. The unspoken and raw feeling that they both sent off at you… It was… impressive.” She thought some more, “But the second option seems to ring truer. Your present company, me, you seem to hold a good deal of affection for.”

Reglin watched how Yelena’s neck flushed to match her cheeks, her thoughts getting the better of her. Holding onto that wry smile, “Oh, I think that is a fair assessment. I do hold you in great affection… But what else does that mean?” Princess Yelena tried her best to hold herself upright and proud, but Reglin could see the nibbling of self-doubt crack. Her back bowed slightly, causing her shoulders to slouch forward just tiny bit, “Yelena… Speak your thoughts. I promise they are safe here. I just want to hear you say what you know to be true…”

Those three sentences steeled her, Yelena’s back straightened once more. Yet, the voice she spoke with still held a bot of doubt in it, “That you have some love for me? And that… you have… thoughts about me?”

The timidity in her word choice showed Reglin just how inexperienced Yelena was with men. Easy for Reglin to say. What? With all five days of knowledge he had in regard to relationships. He spoke softly, trying to make sure his voice was full of the care he felt for her, “Yes Yelena, I have thoughts about you… As much as I would love to act on them someday, I am still but a guardsman. And that is not even taking into account not knowing what your own feelings about me. You spoke of you even taking notice of me. But taking notice is a far thing from some of the thoughts I have…” He shut himself up at that, not wanting to embarrass either of them.

They were quiet for some time then, both thinking about what had just come out between them. Finally, Yelena spoke, “Well, you could do a bit of the practice you are supposed to be here for and perhaps you will see something…” She gave him a soft and caring smile.

“Not a bad idea, Princess… Maybe I will.” Reglin then tried to recreate the exercise that Tabitha had shown him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He began to do an inventory of his emotions that he felt for all in his life…

In the blackness of his mind, he heard Yelena speak, “Tabitha just gave me a small hint of how to help yourself along… If someone is hard to sort, imagine them naked and how you would react to seeing them so… That helped me with a problematic one or two…”

Reglin sorted away the question about who it helped her sort her feelings about and went about his own sorting. With this new little cheat, Reglin quickly became a bit uncomfortable with just how many women he would do marvelously debauched things to. But more surprising is the couple more women that he wanted to do passionate things with. Not just a lusting after… He noticed that he had developed a growing platonic love for his shiftmate Lim. How he hoped for the stout guard to find love for himself. That one felt… wholesome? That was probably the best. After going through the rest of the guards, he left his present company for last. He did indeed hold her in high affections. Probably getting close to his current lovers even. He thought about the possibilities of Yelena as a lover. The thought created a stiffness in his pants that made his already too small britches uncomfortably tight. But along with all the imaginative ways he wished he could use her petite little body for pleasure, it was always accompanied by a desire to make her feel just as good. And to protect her with all of his might.

In what seemed like many minutes of thoughts, Reglin slowly opened his eyes, as if waking. The room looked flush with strange ambient lighting that he knew to be representation of auras. His eyes also came to see Yelena’s own eyes… staring… at his engorged crotch. Apparently, she had not noticed him rousing from his meditation. He took the opportunity to look at her, his inner pride burgeoning at her evident interest in his ‘manly properties’.

Deciding to give her an out, Reglin shifted his legs while hooding his eyes, hoping that Yelena wouldn’t notice that he was aware of her peering gaze. He saw a tendril of grass green mana make itself apparent from the aura of the princess and reach out to his own fingers of color. With him still being quite new to this, it was still a bit surreal.

Yelena’s color could not regain its normal hue for the entire duration of Reglin’s time with her this evening. And that color was deepened once more. Reglin peered into her aura, watching the kaleidoscopic roiling of her aura. “Can I ask you something, princess? I will admit now that is beyond propriety now, if that’s ok…” He couldn’t keep his eyes from squinting as he tried to differentiate the strands.

Princess Yelena looked down at her legs and rubbed her thighs, trying to break her train of thought for a couple moments. She then resumed looking at him, her brow raised, “Oh? This should be interesting… Go ahead…” The small curve of her lips seconding her words.

Tilting his head, his eyes still squinted, “Don’t you think this is a bit… uhhhn… voyeuristic?” Watching his mana playfully interact with Yelena’s own mana. The sky-blue streams trying their best to wrap up one another in an embrace. The crimson red streams were much less numerous but made up for it in their elegance. The greens were way more aggressive with one another, the urgency of their movement revealing themselves to be the representation of the two people’s lust.

And the color somehow intensified further. Lowering her eyes very quickly again and cleared her throat, “Ummm…. I-I guess?” she took another moment, appearing to think about that, “Why do you say so though?”

Rubbing his chin in thought, “Well, when you see the auras interacting with one another, it’s like these fingers of mana are flirting and playing. It seems incredibly personal. Which is fine when I watch my own and someone else. But to watch others?” He watched her eyes opened up a little wider at his idea, causing a look of befuddlement of his own.

There was a look of slight astonishment, “You see all of that? With that kind of detail?” Reglin responded with a slow nod, his confusion still holding. Yelena shook her head with wonder, “I do not see auras with such… definition? What I see is vaguer. Like two miasmatic forms just roiling into one another… You see colors acting so distinctly?”

There was the sound of approaching feet. The two both turned their heads to look in the direction. Coming around the corner was Tabitha. The beautiful Magistricia smiled at the two of them, “Sorry to interrupt you two, but the tailors are here to help us out Reglin.” Her smile held that very knowing quality to it, of course. Was she looking at their auras, knowing full well what they were going to be practicing?

Reglin was surprised to see the auras of the two women interact. And more surprising still was the number of green streams of mana that moved from the princess and reached out for Tabitha. So, his initial thoughts of her was not so far off… He wondered if Tabitha knew about it all along. Smiling to himself, Reglin rose and gave an exaggerated sigh. Offering the princess a hand and a smile, “I apologize Princess… hopefully this will not take too long.”

Smiling knowingly, Yelena reached out and took the offered hand, “I suppose I can take a break for a few moments.” Reglin then pulled her gently to standing.

And then the three of them turned and headed to the Magistricia’s office…

~This is knowledge for the Reader~

The Affection Multiplier

~Mana: 185 (+20) 205~

~Mana Channels: ~Labiae Passionii (Lips of Passion) free, ~ Corpu Vigorii (Vigorous Body) 100, ~ Uirtau Proelium (Martial Prowess) 100, ~Mensu Lucidae (Bright Mind) 100, ~ Tactu Beatae (Blissful Touch) 100, ~Plurem Amatrixae Normalii (The Normalcy of Many Loves) 500, ~Corpu Libidaem (Lustful Body) 100, ~Corpu Spectabilum (Intimidating Body) 100, ~Mentulae Potencii (Potent Cock) 150, ~Limbu Infinitum (Endless Loins) 100, ~Voluptae Gustatum (Delightful Flavor, Gratify the Appetite), ~Figurae Cultura (Shaping Culture), ~Vulgum Venerae (The Love of the Masses), ~Corpu Vigorii Magii (A More Vigorous Body) 400

~Lovers~ A: 200 E: 200 L: 200
~Tabitha~ Affectionae: 100 Erosii: 100 Libidae: 100 (Effective 68)
~Asha~ A: 100 E: 100 L: 100 (Effective 51)

~Royal Polivander House~ A: 59 (+6) 65 E: 10 (+2) L: 6 (+8) 14
~Princess Katya~ A: -52
~Princess Yelena~ A: 85 (+6) 91 E: 10 (+2) 12 L:9 (+8) 17
~Princess Cirsha~ A: 18

~Nobles~ A: 80 E: 5 L: 28
~Lady Wilmyna~ A: 54 E: 5 L: 28
~Lady Falina~ A: 16
~Lady Vidala~ A: 10

~Royal and Noble maidens~ A: 131 E: 3 L: 53
~Maiden Caterina~ A: 18 E: 1 L: 2
~Maiden Gwynfuir~ A: 15
~Maiden Erynna~ A: 5
~Maiden Oliyah~ A: 12
~Maiden Iridia~ A: 4
~Maiden Freighla~ A: 55 E: 2 L: 40
~Maiden Deela~ A: 12
~Maid Camilla~ A: 10 L: 11

~Day watch~ A: 238 E: 3
~Grahm~ A: 40
~Lim~ A: 62 E: 3
~Boll~ A: 40
~Halpern~ A: 29
~Nimit~ A: 22
~Gamil~ A: 7 (+2) 9
~Magnurs~ A: 10 (+2) 12
~Canith~ A: 12
~Yohan~ A: 9
~Sebestin~ A: 3
~Yorick~ A: 4

~Evening watch~ A: 22
~Thedin~ A:10
~Vorn~ A: 12

~Night watch~ A: 6

~Palace Staff~ A: 55 L: 6
~Lina~ A: 48 L: 6
~Govren~ A: 7